A really normal weekend.

:: After a day of rain on Friday the sky cleared and we went to our local fireworks display, swaddled in probably too many layers (I made the kids wear leggings under their trousers), sweating slightly and carrying a thermos of mulled wine in our backpack. Sparklers were waved. Angus refused to wear his glow-in-the-dark gloves to hold the sparkler, as predicted.

:: I had my first experience of that Yorkshire bonfire night tradition, Pie and Peas. It is a pork pie - served hot - and smothered in mushy peas with mint sauce drizzled on top. I realise that everything about that sentence sounds disgusting, but it was good. Mind you, when you are cold and hungry, and you're eating something warming outside while waiting for a (reluctant, damp) bonfire to be lit, anything is tasty. But still, I really enjoyed it. I'm proper Yorkshire now.

:: Maths is fun! That's what they're always telling us, anyway. Well, if maths homework involves whiling away a wet afternoon flicking through old issues of Ideal Home and Country Living, looking for examples 2D and 3D objects, then yes, I will concede that maths is actually a lot of fun indeed. And I learnt what a hemisphere is too.

 :: We ate really good bacon rolls.

:: Angus is a pro at lounging, a skill he inherited from his equally talented father.

:: Sylvanian Families are currently the toy of choice in our house. I do love Sylvanian Family products. The retro touches, the lack of an obvious gender bias, the gently old-fashioned feel of it all...it's charming. I was probably as excited as Bella when she unwrapped her car and caravan last Christmas. This year Angus has asked for the motorbike and sidecar. 

:: And talking of Christmas, I bought the patterns for Miss Dandelion Doe and Mr Basil Fox. The rabbit was a huge hit last year and so I let Bella and Angus chose a softie each for Christmas. I am already anxious about sewing that teeny, tiny shirt for the fox. I haven't used my sewing machine for about six months. Making the softies is easy, but the clothes....agh. Also,  while we're on the subject of the clothes for the toys, I'm not ashamed to say that I'd happily wear this entire outfit.

:: When I took this photo of the kitchen, I was thinking how happy I was. I was making chutney, John was making a key lime pie...it was all so domestic and lovely. Fast forward an hour. The finished, baked key lime pie is cooling on top of one of the hob rings (a stupid place to leave it, John!) because our tiny kitchen is a mess and we ran out of worktop space. I am trying to ladle my chutney into jars and cook the kids' tea at the same time. You can guess what happened, can't you? I switched on the wrong hob ring. Ten minutes later, I wonder what the burning smell is then jump, when the ceramic pie dish makes a loud bang as it cracks into lots of pieces. 

Also, hot pie dishes make bin liners melt. Just so you know.

Some weekends are exciting, others drag. Sometimes you get to the coast or the woods, for a walk or a day out, you throw parties and see friends. Other weekends are lost to illness, work, DIY, homework, chores. Some are full of photos, other times the camera sits untouched from Friday night till Sunday.

But this weekend, it was just really, really normal. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible, just busy to-ing and fro-ing, a bit of fun, a bit of lazing. A bit of pottering. 

I'll take normal.