my family and other animals Archives - Page 3 of 14

6

February 10, 2015

As you would say…..oohhh la la! 6 today! 6!!!!! What the chicken?????*

This picture sums you up so well, little man. Always on the go. Always making sure no-one is left behind.

My thoughtful, kind and caring boy.

When you came home to us you were so sad, so broken. I thought you’d never see the sun in the world.

But now…you are full of life and joy and tiggerish bounce. No-one’s heart should be broken so young, but yours has healed so big that sometimes I think it will burst clean out of your chest.

You are a whole bag full of fabulous contradictions. You are brave and gentle, loud and sensitive, hysterically funny and with a ferocious temper. Any time you want to do something about that last one, count me in!

Demon scooterer. Budding footballer. Maths whizz. Classic Mini obsessive. Cake fiend. London Underground’s biggest fan. Shocking flirt. Old fashioned gentleman. Kisser of hands. I love watching the ladies melt when you offer to hold a door for them, or insist on carrying my shopping because “ladies don’t carry their bags”.

We adore you, my darling boy, and see the man you are growing into. He’s going to be amazing. Because you are amazing.

Happy birthday, sweetheart. We love you 10 hundred and 36 with Smarties on top.

*“What the chick-en!” Boy’s favourite exclamation. We don’t get it either, but it’s hilarious!

7

January 14, 2015

Oh my darling girl…how did you get to be 7 so very quickly?

It seems but a blink of an eye that you were that tiny wee person who first came home to us nearly six years ago.

Since that first day we met you, you’ve held our hearts. We’ve watched you grow from a shy and quiet little tot into the confident, outgoing and exuberant girl you are today.

Now, I’ll be honest, there are days when I truly believe that you completely overdo the “confident and exuberant” thing with it slipping into “bolshy and obnoxious”, but never be fooled, little one, I wouldn’t have you any other way.

I love your strong sense of self. Your joie de vivre. The fact that everyone who meets you loves you. Your kindness to others is humbling and your sense of justice ferocious. I pity the fool who gets on the wrong side of your right hook…your daddy taught you well!

So, happy birthday angel girl…keep it up. Keep fighting for what you believe in. Keep loving with every ounce of your being. Keep dancing like no-ones watching (although learning to sing in tune would be marvellous). But most of all keep being you. You are amazing and we love you to the moon and stars and back, with jelly tots and lemon icing.

Oh, but one last thing….no…you can’t marry Harry Styles! 😉

Note….it was Button’s birthday on Monday, but I’ve been a wee bit too overwhelmed about her growing up too fast to write before now. Believe what they tell you…time goes by in a flash.

Sweet dreams

December 3, 2014

Whilst The Husband is working away in London he phones every morning before heading off to work, and every evening before they go to bed, to speak with the munchkins.

Yesterday he was asking Button if she’d had a good night’s sleep.

Button: Yeah….(yawn)

Daddy: Did you have any nice dreams?

Button: I had a lovely dream, Daddy?

Daddy: Oh, what did you dream about that was so lovely?

Button: I dreamt my brother left home….

She loves him really, the wee beastie!

Cardigan

November 5, 2014

We’re back from our Autumn half term holiday in Wales and much the better for it. It’s been 4 years nearly since our last holiday so it was well overdue. After a delayed start for a day whilst we confirmed that the 100.4 temperature that Button was running wasn’t, in fact, scarlet fever (phew!) the week ran smoothly and we had a relaxed but still very lovely time doing pretty much nothing except walking, eating and watching movies.

Oh, I love these guys

Of course there was the minor incidents of small folk rampaging out of earshot and the neighbouring holiday makers knocking on our door at 6.30am begging for relief.

And The Incident of the (toy) Dragon in the Nighttime, which included a beanie baby dragon, a table lamp, and a pesky small boy, that could have ended up very badly had Button not realised that the Rubicon had been crossed and come to wake me.

That said, here are a few pics that aptly capture the real essence of our break and the beauty of the Welsh coast and countryside around Cardigan bay. They are phone photos because very early on I decided that I wanted to actually be in this holiday rather than spending time observing it from behind the lens. I highly recommend this strategy…making memories is more fun than simply capturing the images.

Searching for shells for Grandad. A very serious endeavour!

Llanerchaeron woodland walk

The Frenchman and St George

June 24, 2014

Today the children’s school is having an International Day where each class celebrates a different country. I love these kinds of days because the kids have a load of fun, but learn a little more about the world, without really trying.

Boy’s class is doing England and Button’s, France. At the risk of perpetrating xenophobic stereotypes of these countries, he has gone to school this morning as St George, she as a Parisian.

I give you The Frenchman and St George:

:: Thanks to Ma, Ma SIL, Liz and The Husband, who all contributed in some way to these costumes.

:: Apologies to my fellow countrymen and any passing French folk! And any professional costume designers!

:: Button would not keep the beret at the appropriate jaunty angle.

:: Is is me or does Boy bear a passing resemblance to Baldrick in that helmet?

:: I think I need to start saving for their therapy now!

Conversation with a small girl

June 4, 2014

Over breakfast this morning, and the din of Boy racing round the house shrieking like a Banshee, Button asked me if I was working today.

Me: No, I’ve got a lovely day of sewing planned.

B: What are you making?

Me: A dress.

B: For me????

Cue big blue eyes and a hopeful expression.

Me: No, sweetie, this one’s for me.

B: But Mummy, you’ve got at least four things in your wardrobe and I have absolutely nothing to wear.

In tone of absolute astonishment and dismay.

I have created a monster!

Like riding a bike!

April 16, 2014

It’s time for a certain little miss to lose the stabilisers on her bike.

Initial wobbles….

….followed by lots of concentration and encouragement…

…resulted in triumph.

She’s nearly as proud of herself as we are.

We have lots of practice ahead of us, but she’ll soon be flying solo.

And obviously the best outfit for learning to ride a bike is a tutu and hot pink accessories!

ps…we’ve promised her a new bike when she’s mastered it. When did she get so tall?

Devon

April 15, 2014

It being half term, and the house being ripped apart in the name of safe electrics, the kids and I took the opportunity to visit Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat in her new home in Devon.

Be warned…this is a picture heavy post.

Alice & the adorable Huggie

Travelling in style in Gertie. Absolutely the highlight of their trip.

and so to bed!

This is the kind of holiday childhood memories are made of.

Flowers

March 23, 2014

This afternoon the menfolk headed off to the supermarket whilst the girls got Button’s homework done.

As they passed the flowers, my wonderful little man turned to his daddy and declared “I want to buy some beautiful flowers for my beautiful mummy”.

Who knew that a simple bunch of supermarket flowers could be the most beautiful blooms in the world? And bring such joy to this mummy’s heart?

Johnny B Good shirt

February 18, 2014

Despite my own best efforts not to finish this shirt, I did, and in good time for Boy’s birthday party on Saturday. Phew!

Before I get into the review of this shirt, let me just remind you that this shirt was upcycled from a shirt gifted to us by our friend, Martin. The fabric is a thick and temperamental cotton, that acts like a very brattish polyester.

But…it’s wonderfully soft and cosy and Boy, who normally throws a fit of the screaming ab-dabs when you ask him to wear a shirt, couldn’t wait to get it on, and didn’t want to take it off. So it’s a win, as far as I’m concerned.

I did change the buttons. On the original shirt they were a yellowy cream button and really looked a bit odd against the lilac/pink/blue fabric.

The new buttons are a variegated lilac that I found on our local market stall. I like them much more.

Oops…a bit blurry, but you get the idea, no?

And, in one final change, I “drafted” a mandarin/grandad collar by simply folding the collar part of the pattern up and using just the stand to cut my fabric. I did, of course, remember to add a seam allowance to the top of the collar!

The pattern is Shwinn Designs Johnny B Good shirt, and, I’ll admit I have mixed feelings about this pattern.

Let’s start with the good:

The tiling on the pdf is really good and the pattern tapes together quickly and cleanly.
The drafting of the pattern is excellent. I found all the separate pieces stitched up perfectly.
The sizing is good too. Boy is a small 5 and this shirt fits him now but has room to grow into. In my book this is perfect. If I’m sewing something for the kids I’d like it to last more than a couple of weeks!

However, this pattern does have some challenges:

I found the instructions to be a little less than straightforward and clear.
I thought the sleeve placket is a little long. It reaches right up to the elbow. This is, of course, just a matter of personal taste.
I also thought the sleeve placket to be placed just a little too far towards the front of the sleeve.
There are no placement marks for the buttonholes on the sleeves. The idea is that you place them where you’d like them to go, but, personally, I would have preferred them to be added on the pattern.

I think this shows how far forwards the sleeve placket sits on the sleeve and also how high up the sleeve it goes. Please ignore the shoddy buttonholes.

Despite the things I’m not fond of with this pattern, I will be using it again. I think I’ll adjust the sleeve placket to move it more to the back of the arm, and shorten the placket a little bit.

I plan to measure this shirt to get a really good idea for button placement and mark them on the pattern.

And lastly, I think I’ll redraft the hem of this shirt to give it tails rather than a straight edge. I think it will look really cute.

Once the pattern has been tweaked there’s one other thing I’ll change. I’ll use better thread so the topstitching isn’t quite so shocking. I’m eternally grateful that this fabric hides a multitude of sins!

However, all my gripes are moot. Boy loves his shirt, which is nothing short of a birthday miracle.

And yes, that is a bus cake. As his party was held on the play bus (officially making him the coolest boy in the class…who knew?) I really had no say in the matter.

He loved it 😉