Surprise!

As most reading this will know it was Tem's 30th birthday last week and he was quite happy to have it understated and quiet, you'd have thought he'd have known that the Field in me wouldn't let it pass without a family party! On Sunday we went to my mums house for what he thought was a quiet Sunday dinner but turned out to be a small surprise party for him. After the initial shock, it took him a good half hour to talk to me, he did enjoy it thankfully, though not so much the being sang 'Happy Birthday' to part. Meira also had a brilliant time and I am convinced she thought it was her party.

Two weeks have passed

I have just realised that nearly 2 weeks have passed since I last updated what we have been up to and a few things have happened. The weekend before last Tem and Penny put up the coving in the dining room and boxed in a couple of pipes, its looking much better with that up, it feels more finished.
Meira and I have been in the garden as much as weather has allowed. Meira is a fantastic digger and soil mover, and is becoming an excellent bug spotter. She has been helping me to put some log roll around the border to the grass and helping me to water all the plants on sunny days. I have put a photo of the boarder here and also a photo of my Echinacea flower for Grandma to see, hopefully next year yours will look like this.
Last week on Tuesday we had a play afternoon here with 3 of Meira's friends; Faye, Zac and Tyler, and their Mummies. It was a lovely afternoon even though the weather meant we were all inside a little cramped with the amount if toys removed from the toy box. I set up the small play tent and play table (filled with toy animals, not water) in the dining room so the children could use both rooms and it worked quite well.
This Monday was Tem's 30th birthday but as he was working we celebrated on Sunday. We just had a lovely family day, decorating free, a nice walk over to the nature reserve strip, and a lovely Sunday dinner. Meira and I baked some fairy cakes topped with butter cream and mini marshmallows on Monday for Tem, it was a struggle not to eat them all before he got home from work though, he he.
Yesterday Meira and I had Lynn and her nephew Joshua come to visit. They came on the bus, well 3 buses here and 3 back and with the change time I think it took just over 2 hours each way! It was a much appreciated visit and lovely to see Joshua. Meira had great fun playing with the ball with him and trying to copy him heading the ball, made myself and Lynn laugh.

Summer Children's Fun Day

On Thursday Jeanette and I braved the drizzle to take Meira and Faye to a children's fun day at a national park in Northamptonshire and had a great day.  Dispite the on and off rain there were quite a few people there enjoying themselves and quite a bit for the children to do, Meira and Faye played in a sensory tent, coloured in a picture of circus performers, saw inside a police car, played in a sandpit, and decorated an elephant made from a milk bottle.  We had taken a picnic too and after all that play and some yummy food both girls slept soundly on the way home.  

 

Busy times

It feels like a little while since I updated what we've been up to, though looking at the last post it wasn't that long ago.  With the general day to day things Meira and I have been to playgroups, the park and round to play at a few peoples houses and Tem has been working, decorating his fish tank with a large piece of lovely shaped wood (followed by a lot of water changes due to the discolouration as the wood settles) and sanding down the plastered ceiling in the dining room. 

Due to the sanding it looked like a snow storm was hitting our dining room on Sunday so Meira and I went to visit Becky and ended up having a lovely day at Ikea.  Becky bought Meira a cubed tent for playing in the garden with and it has been a hit!  I'll get some photos of her playing with it, I promised Bex, and possibly Daddy too as both of them have been throwing balls into and out of the round holes and openings.

Yesterday Meira and I had an visit to my Grandma and Grandad's house with my Mum, it was a lovely family day and we had such great weather too we spent the day in the garden.  Meira had great fun looking at all the flowers, fruit and vegetables, playing with a bowl of water, and chasing butterflys, and when we went for a walk around to the library I though we would have to leave her there as she was so happy reading with her Grandma.

This week we are going to a summer fate on Thursday with Jeanette and Faye, looking forward to having a picnic so hopefully the weather cheers up again by then.  It's Zumba again for me tonight, yes I have kept it up and I am really enjoying it, then Meira is going to stay at her Dada's (Tems Mum) house over night on Friday and Tem and I are going to see the new Harry Potter film, really looking forward to that. 

So it's bye bye from me until the next update, here's hoping the weather stays sunny for picnics and playing in Meiras new tent so I'll have some lovely photos for next week.

To bead or not to bead

Well it's not really a question I have to think about, I love to make jewellery when the time and inspiration allows. Here is a matching necklace and bracelet with black and green glass beads interspersed with smaller white glass beads all joined together with Silver plated handmade links, and I rather like them. The second piece is made from some lovely shaped wooden beads from a number of old or broken pieces threaded onto a leather lace and knotted into place. It has a very summer walk feel to me.

Saturday and Sunday

We went on a lovely walk on Saturday, just over the road from our house is a strip of Nature Reserve which, though slightly awkward to get to with Meira (down a narrow path overgrowing with stinging nettles), really is a lovely little place.  There were lots of Butterflys around and we could hear many Grasshoppers too, we even saw one briefly.  It gave me a chance to dust off my camera and take some photos too, we did go a few weeks ago when the weather was nice and I took my camera then but I hadn't checked the battery and of course it was flat!  I have put some photos of the walk onto my flickr page on which I hadn't put anything up since the 27th June 2010.  Posting on here seems to be getting me back into taking a few photos so hopefully it won't be so long until next time.

On Sunday Meira and I went to visit Lynn for lunch and to meet baby Tristan, a friend of Lynn's 12 week old baby boy.  What a beautiful baby he is, so alert and strong, so like Meira when she was that age, was she really that small?  It was lovely to catch up with Sally too, who I haven't seen for around 4 years, what with this thought, flickr posting and Meira growing I am definitely having a feeling of time flying by me without noticing it.  I must remember to stop and smell the flowers, or at least photograph them!