…Lately…

Life lately has been rather busy. Quite often the only way to catch up and remember the things we've done as a family is to scroll through my photos!

There have been lots of days out involving… exploring, paddling, sandcastle building, adventuring, digging, thinking, picnicking, jumping, questioning, tea drinking, cake scoffing and ice-cream eating.

52 Weeks of Happy: 20/52

Well it's Friday again (plus 4, oops). Time for a weekly dose of happiness:

1. Lily the Dinosaur. I made a blue polka dot version of this dinosaur for my son a few months ago, inspired by a monster from his pyjamas. He absolutely loves her. My daughter decided she wanted one too, so last week she chose her fabrics from my stash and helped me to make her. Making the first dinosaur was so much fun, that I started looking into what it took to make and sell soft toys. So far my research has told me it's: Not. Very. Easy. The hoop-jumping involved in making sure a manufacturer (i.e. little old me) can prove a toys safety is mind boggling, and quite frankly a little off-putting. But, the more I pick through all the bumf helpful information that my local Trading Standards sent me to help, the more it's starting to make sense, and I'm going to push forward with a test run of soft toys to (legally) sell. And making the new Lily made me remember that making toys is actually very good fun. Watching Lily's little face and personality come to life was lovely. Making toys: a bit like giving birth. But with far more stitches (unless you were very unlucky) and much less blood.

2. A trip to The National Trust's Lacock Abbey. I am loving National Trust outings at the moment. I've had a single membership for years, but haven't really made the most of it because hubs doesn't have a membership, so when we have the odd day out to a property we have to pay the entrance fee for him. But we decided to upgrade to a joint membership and now we can all enjoy day's out. Yippee! Cue lots of picnics and days out. We went to Lacock Abbey which isn't too far along the M4 from Bristol. It's a very haunting, beautiful old Abbey bursting with history, and which has also been used to film some Hogwarts scenes from the Harry Potter films. These places are always set in huge grounds too, which makes for happy children to run around and explore. Which is lovely until you realise you've lost the little darlings in the mass of trees and nicely clipped bushes. Just mention the cafe though and they soon make an appearance.

3. Bristol Hippodrome. Months ago I bought tickets for us to take the twins to watch a theatrical version of Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. I think I was the most excited out of everyone in the lead up to the big event. So giddy with excitement was I that I happily parted with ten whole English pounds for two pieces of twinkly, noisy tat wands out from a pavement trader. Ah well, it made them happy.

4. Blossom. Having children is like learning about the world all over again. Their curiosity is infectious. At the moment, it's all about blossom. Which got us all talking about it during sunny a walk around a lake… does it only grow on fruit trees? Or is does it refer to any flower which grows on trees or bushes? Seeing the world through their eyes is wonderful, noticing the little things that sometimes us grown-ups just walk on past, and asking the questions that adults are too embarrassed to ask out loud.

52 Weeks of Happy: 19/52

Still playing catch up here! Posting this just a few days late this time, hopefully I'll be back on track to post this project every Friday from now on. 

I've noticed my posts on this project are turning into quite lengthy trips down memory lane inspired by my Instagram's. I've always found writing to be very therapeutic. Writing things down has always been my way of making sense of things. Since starting this project, I've been really enjoying writing about happy 'little' things. It's a wonderful way to record the small details of life that would otherwise slip away and be forgotten, and to relive the memories that they stir up. I believe in the little things. I believe that they add up and contribute to the way we are... to the choices we make... to the way we deal with the good, the bad and the just plain ugly parts of life.

I hope nobody minds my reminiscing!

1. A visit to my Nan. She lives down in Hampshire, just an hour and a half away from Bristol and yet our visits there are far too infrequent. Her 95th birthday is just around the corner, quite an achievement! Now the twins are a bit older, they were less bored, and talked to Nan about their toys, had cuddles with her and enjoyed the visit as much as we did. We had hoped to take her out for Sunday lunch but she wasn't feeling up to it, so we had a lovely carpet picnic instead.

2. Following on from Nan's house, we stopped to eat at a pub on the way home. On a past visit to Nan's, we had a very upsetting experience at this particular pub. We took Nan there for lunch when the twins were about 18 months old... when the waitress brought our food over, she managed to pour hot gravy all over my sons head. Ouch. It was distressing for us all as we tried to gauge just how hurt he was, whether he needed treatment, calm him down, and lots of tears (from me and him). It was awful. We left having not eaten anything: too upset to eat, to angry to remain on the premises. A few days later, I called the pub to complain about what happened as I didn't feel they handled the situation very well. So, they apologised, and sent me a voucher for a free meal. And that's what we did. We stopped back at the same pub and enjoyed a very delicious, very FREE meal! It was actually nice to go back and put the horrible memory behind me once and for all. It's a place we'd been to several times before with my Nan, and it's special to me also because that's where I felt my babies kick for the first time when I was pregnant.

3. After our meal hubs suggested driving further south to Bournemouth for a walk along the beach. I suggested going a little further afield and catching the ferry over to Swanage. I lived there for a few years in my late teens... not really long enough to say I have many 'happy' memories there... mostly I just remember being incredibly bored! Small seaside towns are very dull to their teenage residents, aren't they? But one happy memory I have of living there is from one Easter break when I returned home from university. Hubs and I had only been seeing each other for a couple of months and were immersed in our university life... unlimited freedom, seeing each other every day, hanging out at the pub most nights, far away from home with new friends. Then half term crops up and couples across the campus are prised apart and sent their separate ways for a month. Him to Sussex, me to Swanage. Halfway through the break, he came to visit me. When the day came, he called me from the ferry, saying he'd be 20 minutes. I raced down the hill to meet him in front of the amusements. We were so happy to see each other... I knew then that this wasn't just another boyfriend. This one was a keeper. I only returned to Swanage once or twice after that. We spent future half term breaks together in our uni town of Falmouth, working a variety of coffee shop/ice cream kiosk/supermarket jobs to top up our diminishing student loans. When we graduated, I moved to Sussex with him briefly before we moved on to Bath and Bristol. Shortly after that Easter break, my parents moved away from the area so there was never any real reason to return. Until I saw it on the signpost, and then just had to go back. Returning to that same spot on the seafront where we'd met up, sitting on the bench dusting sand from our children's feet, I felt very happy thinking how far we've come since that day 13 years ago, and how far we've still to go.

4. Bank holiday Monday. Sitting in the garden in peace and quiet. The children are so worn out from the weekends antics that they took themselves off to bed for THREE whole hours! We're in the middle of the city and yet our garden is so quiet we could be in the middle of nowhere. The hot sun is finally shining on us after an epic winter. While the children slept we cracked open the naughty treats... crisps and dips, a cold beer... and spent some quality time together in the sunshine... bliss.

52 Weeks of Happy: 18/52

Playing catch up here! Here's week 18/52...

1. A family walk. On weekends we love nothing more than packing up a picnic and a couple of flasks of tea, and seeing where the day takes us. We headed to one of our favourite spots along the Kennet and Avon canal for a stroll, a spot which boasts a fantastic view across the beautiful city of Bath. I love this walk because it reminds me of the time we used to live there, in a top floor flat of a magnificent Georgian townhouse. We moved to Bath after graduating with nothing more than a few months rent money and a belief that we would find our dream design jobs there (which, yay, we did!) On sunny days we would ride our bikes for miles along the canal to Bradford-on-Avon, a gorgeous little town outside of the city, and have a pub lunch by the water. It's funny how much life changes when children come along, so it's goodbye fancy pub lunch, hello homemade sandwiches! But I wouldn't have it any other way.

2. I enjoyed a stroll through Bristol one evening on my way home after a trip to the hairdresser, and was reminded just how fabulously creative this city is. This particular street is filled end-to-end with street art. Huge, vibrant, colourful art which stretches up several storeys high. It's breathtaking and inspiring. I'm proud to live here. Plus it's home to Banksy and he's done alright for himself hasn't he?

3. Because the weather was so beautiful, I surprised the twins with a picnic at our local farm when I picked them up from nursery. Happy faces all round! We had a lovely, relaxed lunch on our new blanket by the ducks and geese enclosure. I love that I can do these sort of impromptu activities with my children. Being at home with them is the best thing in the world. Being a SAHM wasn't really a decision I made so much as it was the best option for our family. I wasn't confident I was 'housewife' material. But here we are, three and a half years down the line, and it's still all good. Watching all the other mums and babies nearby, I suddenly felt sad that the twins are growing up so quickly and starting school in a year. Days like this are very precious, and are eventually going to dwindle into weekends and holidays only. But, they're here now, so I'm enjoying them while they're still mine.

4. Treasure hunting. I unearthed this retro flan dish in a charity shop (and another one for lemon meringue pie) so of course, homemade quiche was on the menu. I've never made one before and, after this, I'm never buying a quiche from the supermarket again. It's stupidly easy to make and tastes delicious (if I do say so myself)! I also found this lovely vintage sheet, which will be the backing for my slightly bonkers looking quilt-in-progress.

52 Weeks of Happy: 17/52

Time for some happiness again... I'm playing a bit of catch up with this project, so the next post will be along shortly...!

1. I made my first ever piece of clothing, and have worn it out and about too! I'd enjoyed watching the Great British Sewing Bee, and felt very inspired by it. I'd seen the pattern for this skirt in Mollie Makes, but had skipped past it thinking 'I can't do that'. After the show I went back to the magazine, read the pattern properly and decided that, stuff it, I'll give it a whirl. It took me a grand total of 1.5 hours to complete start to finish and cost me £3!

2. I've been itching to make a quilt for the longest time. So after finally packing off a large order I've been working on I had some time to spare, so immediately started chopping fabrics before I found any more excuses! I've not really planned a colour or design theme, I'm just throwing all the lovely scraps and my favourite fabrics at it and hoping for the best. Here I covered the living room floor with the squares to try to make some sort of 'design'. Now it's on with the task of stitching all 156 squares together.

3. Sunshine, lovely sunshine. Doesn't it just make everything better? Of course, the paddling pool came out immediately and the children spent a fun morning splashing around while I caught up on a bit of crochet in the garden whilst trying to dodge the flying handfuls water.

4. Quiet time. After dropping the children off at nursery one afternoon, I came home and enjoyed 10 minutes in the garden feeling the lovely warm sunshine on my face. Alone. With tea. And a cake. A lovely treat because I don't often make time to sit still and just, well, enjoy a quiet moment all to myself. Days are spent dashing in and out of the house to the supermarket, post office, ballet, nursery... playing with the children, taking them to the farm, baking with them... refereeing fights and wiping away the tears, tripping over toys, glueing back together the tripped-over-now-broken toys. On the days when I'm child-free I try to cram as much work into those 3 hours as possible. My life is fun, busy, hectic, noisy... and I love it. But sometimes, it's nice to just sit still, clear the mind, and enjoy a huge gooey cake... in peace!