Dinosaur Roars & More

Perfect age now for some Natural History Museum exploration. Roaring like a dinosaur, pressing every knob, wheel, door possible and, of course, playing hide and seek amongst the displays.  Lovely London Sunday afternoon.

Roarring like a dinosaur

A little too realistic for George who feared for me and my camera!

So much to see (and happy days for his daddy who has a strong sense of inner geek)

So much to press, lift, open.....

And places to hide

Escalator to the Earth Hall

Broken Resolutions....

... So Christmas was lovely, in a chaotic kind of sense, I figured out that I prefer the excitement and anticipation of Christmas Eve and the relaxation and leftovers of boxing day to the big day itself.  But that was a long time ago, whoops, onto those broken resolutions:

Cook better meals
Take pictures of said meals and post to blog
Worry less

Miserable failure on all fronts. But I do have an excuse. I am 21 weeks pregnant.  I have barely said  those words out loud for complete fear of losing this precious being.  The first 16 weeks were the hardest. Days when I could barely catch my breath for fear of losing another angel. Each week and scan passed with promises to myself that this would be my last week of worry if all were to be OK. If only it were that easy.  Each time I feel that tiny flutter, that little push of a limb, I am ecstatic - but try as I might I can't let go of the fear.  But I am so so very grateful and blessed and cannot put into words the joy that I feel at the prospect of a new baby in our family.  I have learnt so many things about myself in this journey over the last 2 years, not least the blessing that children are.  I hope I am a better person and my children could never be more loved.

My little being is also my excuse on the cooking front. I could barely contemplate food let alone cooking it for the first 14 weeks and the last week saw me bed bound for the first time in years with a tummy bug. That's the pits.

So, now we've caught up a little, here are some pics:

Mince pie, Port and reindeer food

I started off well - mustard & Herb crusted Salmon (Lorraine Pascal, Home Baking made Easy recipe)



Hugh Fernley Wittinghsall's 'Family cookbook' choc chip cookies



Car racing in paint

Frosty Morn

Doggy on a frosty morn

Christmas Hampers

My labour of love over the last few months finally came together as I put together my festive homemade hampers for some of my nearest and dearest.  I have to admit to feeling a certain surge of pride :-) 

A mixture of:
Pickled Onions
Spiced Plum and Port Jam (My personal Fave)
Clementine and Cranberry marmalade (Gutted as I overboiled this and it went veeery sticky!!)
Chilli Jam
Christmas Mincemeat
Green tomato chutney
Runner bean & Courgette chutney
A George made sparkly robin christmas decoration!
All Butter Shortbread Stars

Snow fun!

So it only lasted a few hours but much fun had.  I remember that feeling of pure joy when I was young waking up to a snow covered garden and some things never change.  On being told we could go and play after breakfast I don't think I have ever seen a bopwl of cheerios and rice krispies demolished so quickly. Time to get the boy on skies me thinks.

The most wonderful time of the year....

Nativity, Christingle, sneaking chocs off the tree ... loving this christmas time....

Must learn to sew - this was a Nanny creation. I did manage the crown though!

Christmas Shopping & Trees

With my severe aversion aversion to shopping, at any time of the year (I travelled in disbelief past miles of shoppers for Bluewater and Lakeside the other week - how can people do that to themselves?!!) I've been starting to panic at my total lack of christmas organisation. I even ventured into a shopping centre with George yesterday, the atmosphere was nice for 5 minutes until George ran off in John Lewis and I spent a panicked minute running round with a boxed new duvet, duvet covers, spur-of-the-moment-pressies and a giant sized special agent Oso (strapped into the pushchair unlike his owner).  Thankfully today, we have broadband back and calm has been restored. Phew.

Apart from the shopping I adore this time of the year. Without doubt my favourite. The feel in the air, the smell of the food, the excitement and anticipation of something magical. And of course the tree - we have a beauty. Shopping for trees in the woods - that's more like it.

Magical times

For one little boy, the highlight of his 3 years so far.  Since returning nearly a week ago, each morning through bleary eyes I'm asked in hope and earnest "are we still in Mickey Land?"

The Disney Hotel - 5* location!



High five for Stitch




Loving Christmas Goofy



Mickey's Wild West Show - George most put out when not asked to join in on stage.  Always the first volunteer!



Lots of theme park and roller coaster fun and games





A magical start to the best few weeks of the year