Having a Party

Lately, my scatterbrained and distracted thoughts all turn towards Angus's birthday this weekend, in particular his party. I am writing a lot of lists and trying to make sure I've remembered everything. Trying to balance what matters with what doesn't, the essentials with the extras. And thinking that I blame my ideas about what constitutes a good children's birthday party on this book, Having a Party, published in 1973. It's part of a little collection of books from my childhood which are stashed away for safe keeping. None of them are particularly good books or classics, but they are special to me for the memories they hold. I was fascinated by this book as a child and would spend a long time poring over the illustrations and committing them all to memory.

I mean, look at it. The colours, the clothes, the decorations...it's so rainbowy, so self-consciously inclusive.

I'm sure I'm not the only child born in the seventies who remembers "hedgehogs" made from cheese and pineapple sticks poked into a foil-wrapped grapefruit at all parties.

Lemonade, anyone?

How I wanted to cook sausage on a fire. Even the clean up afterwards looks fun.

I think I'm there. Everything is either bought or coming in tomorrow's supermarket delivery. 

There is a bit of a red and blue theme going on, mainly because I wanted to use up all the plates, balloons and straws left over from last year's little Jubilee party. Angus wont mind.

I very much want to use this bottles - they look so cute with the straws in them - but have paper cups just in case we decide that glass and very excited small children might not be a good idea, Perhaps the older ones can use them. 

And the crochet snake is growing. It's about 70 cm long at the moment. I will crochet as many more rows tonight as I can, then tomorrow I'll start the head. It will be done in time, of course it will! 

What about you? Any random children's books that you adore for no good reason other than they were part of your childhood memories? And any tips for a happy children's birthday party? We are on weather watch at the moment as the forecast for Saturday moves from "sun and cloud"  to "sun and showers" and currently "cloud and showers", and hoping fervently that it's dry otherwise we'll be cancelling our bouncy castle and Googling "fun indoor party activities for ten disappointed and hyperactive four year olds".

Bank Holiday Weekend

Here in Britain it's something of a cliche that bank holiday weekends are either spent doing home improvements, like DIY or gardening, or going on a day trip - preferably somewhere suitably day-trippy like the coast or the countryside. And, because it's Britain, it will invariably rain throughout said bank holiday, and everywhere will be incredibly busy. We do love to put a positive spin on things!

Well, this bank holiday was a beauty. My parents have been visiting and it's been lovely to have so much time with them, especially as John has been working. The sun shone throughout and we made the most of it by driving up into the Yorkshire Dales with a picnic lunch. Over the weekend we gardened; all my seedlings were carefully re-potted and transferred to their new home in the growhouse, where I really must not forget all about them. At least when they lived on the kitchen windowsill I remembered to water them. I have a fun idea for the sunflowers which I'll share with you later in the week. Sweet peas were planted, tulips are blooming and rhubarb is growing steadily in a little corner of the garden. We may have enough to actually make a rhubarb crumble or pie or something! 

With my parent's help I started dealing with the peeling paint on the front of the house, ready for John and I to start painting it tomorrow on his day off. He's just thrilled about that, as you can imagine, but I think shame at out house's shocking lack of kerb appeal has galvanised us both into sorting it out. We went to IKEA to get some bits and bobs for Bella's bedroom - more on that later. We sailed round IKEA quickly and easily without a hitch - children behaved, everything we wanted was in stock, I only bought two random objects that I didn't need - only to have to wait for half an hour for the ice cream machine to be fixed. The children (and John for that matter) only tolerate IKEA for the ice creams at the end.

There is lots still to do, inside and out. But that's ok, I like a project. This week I will mainly be frantically completing a crocheted snake and preparing for a birthday party this Saturday for a little man who is about to turn four. A bouncy castle has been booked and games planned - all we need now is another rain-free weekend. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. 

52 Weeks of Happy...29/52

Joining in with Jen at little birdie, here are my four happies from the last week:

1. Tulips are always good. But a husband who comes home on a Friday night with a bunch of tulips, two steaks and a bottle of very nice red wine, just because, well that is very good indeed and rather begs the question...why don't you do this every Friday??

2. Saxifrage in the pots by the front door, flowering beautifully.

3. New blue patent Saltwaters!! So shiny and pretty!! Now where is my nail varnish, I need to paint my toenails...and where is the sun?

4. A cup of tea and a jam doughnut: always good things but extra happy-making when consumed while sitting in the sun in the garden.

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend everyone! 

Evening Light

We've had the most glorious weather here today - warm and sunny with fresh breezes and deep blue skies. Perfect. It was John's day off (he'll be working right through the bank holiday weekend) and we spent as much time as possible pottering in the garden. The kitchen door was wide open all day long, something which always makes me happy. I love to feel that connection between outside and inside and to hear the sounds of summer coming through the house; you know, buzzing bees, lawn mowers, neighbour's radios, kids shouting, traffic (I do live in a city). It makes me feel alive and connected to those around me. 

I tried a new recipe for peppermint thumbprint cookies from this book. John, whose favourite ice cream flavour is mint choc chip, declared them a great success. 

The kids ate their tea outside and afterwards, in between clearing the plates away and tidying up the toys and bringing in the washing, I noticed the light. That dreamy, hazy, low and bright early evening light that makes everything look golden.

It's the promise of summer coming.

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In other more tedious news, it appears that my email has been hacked so please ignore and delete any random-looking emails from me that say "hi" in the subject header, and don't click on the links! Many thanks to those who alerted me, you are lovely.

A Handpicked Posy For The Bedside Table

What a difference a week makes! Last week my garden foraging was all green and yellow, as that's all there was, but this week there was so much glorious colour to be found.

It's incredible how much has grown and changed in our tiny back garden just in the space of a week. I found the bluest of blue grape hyacinths, deep purple and yellow primulas with stems long enough to actually make them worth picking, more bright yellow forsythia, and some beautiful pink and green blooms from two plants that I don't know the name of. I will find out!

And I always think there is something joyful and slightly decadent - and a tiny bit selfish - about picking flowers for my bedside table. Just for me to enjoy.

After giving the bedrooms a thorough spring clean this week - dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the windows, changing the sheets, washing and packing away quilts and blankets - it gave me so much pleasure to go out into the garden with my scissors and pick a few blooms and put them in a small vase.

I chose a simple clear glass bottle; I wanted the vase to be almost invisible so that all you notice is the rainbow colours against the white wall. I absolutely love this posy.

Joining in with Lou's Nature In The Home series at her blog littlegreenshed.

Inside/Outside

Inside: We woke to this on Saturday morning so abandoned our plans to get started on the exterior paint jobs. (As I'm sure you can imagine, we were devastated by that turn of events...)

Outside: So then of course the sun came out, but a cold wind blew and the rest of the weekend was a typical April mixture of sunshine and showers. This is my neighbour's forsythia. Isn't is glorious? I wish mine had blossomed like that.

Inside: We tried a new breakfast recipe from this book: Persian eggs with halloumi. Very tasty, the oily juices mopped up with sourdough bread, but next time I would use less cheese and more tomato.

Outside: The grass had it's ceremonial first cut of the year.

Inside: The filing cabinet was tackled with similar gusto, as I did battle with old bank statements and the paper shredder. We have a very mature and responsible attitude to filing in this house which involves ignoring the bulging folders for as long as possible, then a day long purge accompanied by lots of muttering, huffing and under-the-breath swearing.

Outiside: My first run in weeks on Sunday morning, accompanied by two very good friends and lots of resolutions to go more often.

Inside: New trainers for Bella (hot pink and white with Hello Kitty designs, the last word in cool) for outside PE lessons at school in the summer term. She will be very unimpressed when they get muddy.

Outside: More garden foraging for posies.

Inside: Name labels were sewn into new school summer dresses.

Outside: The new wooden growhouse was assembled and will soon be - I hope - bursting with growth, once I get around to re-potting the sunflowers, basil and tomatoes that are currently residing on the kitchen window sill.

Inside: Another new recipe tried from my Mother's Day gift, Jaffa Cake Cupcakes. Plain sponge cake, with a little spoonful of marmalade hidden inside, topped with chocolate buttercream and mini-jaffa cakes. Very, very tasty.

So there we have it, a weekend that was all about the changing of the seasons, a weekend of firsts and of the new, of sorting and clearing and planning, of getting the house and garden ready for the coming months. Not exactly a bumper "look at me!" weekend, but one of those quietly productive ones that are so pleasing.

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Many thanks for all your kind words about friendship in response to my last post. I know that my friend and I will stay in touch - we have the wonder of the internet to help! There is email, Facebook, Skype and probably other ways that haven't even occurred to me yet, not to mention good old hour long chats on the phone.

52 Weeks of Happy...28/52

Hello there! It's Friday, the end of a long week. The weekend is upon us and so it feels like the best time to join in with Jen at little birdie with this week's happy things.

1. My friend Rachel. We met at antenatal classes six and a half years ago when we were both expecting our first babies. I've met up with her every week since then for coffees, lunches, in soft play centres, at toddler groups and birthday parties. We've had many hurried conversations about anything and everything snatched in between feeds, tantrums, nappy changes, endless trips to take toddlers to the toilet. On Tuesday morning, while all our children were occupied at school and nursery, she came over for a coffee. She brought her knitting and I did some sewing. We sat on the sofa and had an uninterrupted conversation and it occurred to us that it was the first occasion in the whole time we've known each other that we'd met up in the week without any children around. As you can see she is heavily pregnant with her fourth child, so there will be another baby around soon. But it's bitter sweet, because she and her family will be relocating to Bristol this summer and I am going to miss her friendship and our regular get-togethers so very much.

2. Watching Angus watch Peppa Pig. Great big belly laughs.

3. Signs of growth inside. Hello sunflowers.

4. Signs of growth outside.

And hello new followers! It's very lovely to have you here, thanks for coming and you are so welcome. Have a great weekend everyone. x