52 Weeks of Happy...31/52

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

It's Friday, which seems to be my "happy" day, and so I'm joining with the lovely Jen at little birdie. Here are a few of the moments which have made me happy this week:

1. Opening a box of new Cable and Cotton lights, admiring the rainbow colours and planning where to hang them.

2. This new crochet book - it's a good one. Full of projects that I really want to make, in particular that beautiful throw on the front cover, and a bath mat.

3. Smoked haddock chowder for tea. One of those meals that was a combination of two or three different recipes and made with whatever was in the fridge, and it was delicious.

4. Discovering my inner graffiti artist with a can of spray paint. Picture frames, plant pots...nothing is safe. More on these projects later.

I hope you all have a very pleasant weekend wherever you are, whatever you are doing. I'm going out tonight for drinks and some food in a new local restaurant with friends, which should be a lot of fun. My weekend will hold a birthday party for a little boy, a trip to the local carnival and probably some trips to the park...let's hope the weather is kind.

Pink

Pink. Glorious, happy, vivid, joyful pink, one of my favourite colours. 

I sacrificed two of my precious raspberry-pink tulips from the garden for this little display,and padded them out with peachy-pink, spiky-leaved supermarket roses and some almost tropical looking primulas stolen from the window box on the children's play house. It's the perfect display to brighten up my home, and my mood, on this cold, wet and windy day.

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

The Little Homemaker

He cooks.

 He cares for the baby.

He feeds the dog (a bit forcefully).

And all this while he's pregnant, too.

 The dog is walked...

...while he rides his scooter - he's learning to multi-task already, bless.

I love watching the children play when they don't realise they are being observed. Yesterday I went upstairs to do some housework and Angus, who is still young enough to want to me near me while we're in the house together, followed me. While I stripped the beds and sorted piles of washing, he made dinner at the little cooker in his bedroom. I snuck up on him and eavesdropped ("...you must put the toys 'way and tidy up cos tea is ready...") and took some photos. He's fascinated by babies at the moment. Ever since my friend Rachel had her baby he's taken to putting a doll under his t-shirt and struts around with his baby in his tummy. He and Bella tied skipping ropes around their toy dog's necks and have been playing "walk the dog" a lot. When I started vacuuming, he went and found the mini vacuum cleaner and joined in. If I'm ironing, he'll drag out the toy ironing board and iron and demand clothes from the pile so he can join in.

I don't remember Bella doing this. She probably did, but because she's a girl I never thought anything of it. Is Angus this interested in domesticity because he's at home with me all the time, or because he has an older sister? Or because "grown-up" jobs appear fascinating to children just because they are "grown-up"? If John is doing some jobs around the house that involve a hammer Angus will get out his little tool kit and follow him around, banging random surfaces and chipping the paintwork. Children copy what they see. And if I raise a son who can cook the tea, iron the clothes, walk the dog, care for babies and hang a shelf, well that's just fine with me. 

Not have babies though. That would be weird.

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Thank you for your comments about Angus's party and the Telegraph mention. You are all so kind. And I've just remembered that I've still haven't taken any photos of the snake I crocheted Angus for his birthday - I will try tomorrow, if the clouds part for long enough to allow for any decent photos.

Bouncy Castles, Burgers and Cake

Can I just say that I am shattered. If I stop now and sit down I will slump over while I stare into the distance and possibly dribble a bit.

The party is done. We survived. Actually, it was great fun. The nice bouncy castle people upgraded our inflatable to one with a roof, for free and unasked, when they knew what the weather would be like. But apart from one brief shower, the rain held off and the sun even came out. Below is a photo of said bouncy castle filling our entire back garden. It's not that the bouncy castle is huge, it's more that our garden is very small. I am standing in one corner and our neighbour's wall is behind the castle. Luckily we live near lots of parks!

It was too cool and windy too eat outside as I'd hoped, so we had an indoor picnic consisting of mini burgers, chicken nuggets, fries and salad. No child would touch the salad until one Dad there told them all to think of it as a bushtucker trial and bet them that they couldn't eat any...of course then they all ate the salad.

No patriotic theme here, just finally using up the very last of the Jubilee party things...

The individual bottles of strawberry milkshake were a huge hit. I will definitely do that again. There were no breakages - the bottles are really quite sturdy - and they are much less inclined to spill than those paper cups which seem to tip over at the earliest opportunity.

In the last week, Angus has requested a car birthday cake, then a tiger birthday cake, then finally a green monster cake. Which frankly was a relief as the green monster was easy to bake and fun to ice.

I've recently had a revelation regarding kid's birthday cakes which goes something like "You are not a professional cake decorator. Give yourself a break." The cake is the buttermilk birthday cake from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, my go-to birthday cake in my go-to baking book. The buttercream icing is horribly, perfectly green and it was great fun to make. Angus grinned and said "My green monster cake!!" when he saw it, so at least he could tell what it was.

I made about one hundred (no, eighteen) strawberry milkshakes cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery: Home Sweet Home. They are yummy but my word, they are sweet! Tooth achingly sweet.

I decorated them with cut up paper straws.

I like to see a mass of cakes lined up before a party, like a little cupcake army - it makes me feel like I've done something right. If all else fails, there will be cake!

And remember those sunflowers? I potted ten in little plastic pots and added a bow.

With a cupcake and a balloon, they made for very economical and hopefully fun party bags. 

Here is the birthday boy, wearing a mask that someone left behind, happy, probably quite over tired and definitely over fed.

Today we met up with John's parents in York. We visited the National Railway Museum, always a hit, and had a lovely lunch out. A great day, and we will all sleep well tonight.

Happy Birthday Angus. You are four today. My baby, my big boy, stubborn, affectionate, questioning, quiet in company but non-stop chatty at home, hater of vegetables and liker of Peppa Pig, quietly adoring of your big sister and beloved by everyone in this house.

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Last weekend, this little blog was featured in The Telegraph. I am both very happy and very shy about it. Many thanks to those who happened to read it and sent lovely emails and messages. And many, MANY thanks to you out there who visit here and read, old followers and new, nearby and thousands of miles away - it's really wonderful to me that you stop by and your comments continue to make my day.

52 Weeks of Happy...30/52

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

It's Friday, and so I'm joining with the lovely Jen at little birdie. Here are my happy moments from this week:

1. My fabby new flamingo tumblers from IKEA. So pink and summery!

2. The tulips are opening in the garden. I've moved them to the decking in front of the french doors so I can see them all the time. Their position means they are bathed in afternoon and evening sunlight.

3. Angus the gardener and Bella the cake decorator. He is excellent at emptying an entire watering can of water over one poor plant, while she is my expert icing-swirler.

4. Miracles. This truly incredible news story made me happy, and tearful today. And another miracle - my very good friend Rachel gave birth to a son last night, a few days early. I cannot wait to meet him and sniff his gorgeous newborn head.

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Your response to my post about the party book was wonderful! I loved hearing about your favourites children's tales. And it seems that many of us have a weakness for a rather seventies style of party planning. Alas, there will be no sausage roll snakes or cheese and pineapple hedgehogs tomorrow, I'm going for a sort of diner menu instead: mini burgers, fries, milkshakes and ice cream.

I've been having loads of issues with blogger this week. For some reason it "unfollowed" me from all my blogs on Google Friend Connect and my blog roll was empty. I had to re-follow them all again (yes, because I really had a spare hour to do that this week), but I'm sure there are some that slipped through the net. So if anyone has noticed that I've suddenly stopped following or reading their blog - it's not personal, I promise!

Also, some of you who stop by here may also follow June's blog Cats, Dogs and Eiderdowns. For some strange reason, all June's posts have stopped showing up in her reader's feeds and so her visitor and comment numbers have dropped. It must be lonely, and depressing, to blog and feel like no-one knows you are out there and to be suddenly invisible after having a loyal and regular group of readers. So, if you feel inclined, do pop over to June's blog and say hello. I know I'd be gutted if I suddenly lost all my readers and their comments; those interactions with the blogging community are what makes blogging so rewarding and fun.

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.