summer

blackberry fun

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blackberry-landscapeJust in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love where we live. I love that this view is a 5 minute walk from my house in one direction, and 5 minutes in the opposite direction we have a gorgeous sea view.

Both country & coast. I love it. We are so blessed to have found ourselves settling here.

Yesterday we headed to this little clearing just down the road because it is simply overflowing with blackberries at the moment. Also we had some unexpected sunshine that coincided with a little play date we had arranged.

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I remember loving blackberry picking as a child so I was hopeful my little Miss and her friends would enjoy it too. We had a very quick lesson on what was ready for picking and what was not… and they were off!

blackberry-picking

They did brilliantly, for only being 2 and 4 years old I was so impressed. Very clever girls! Naturally around 50% of what was picked went straight into little tummies instead of their boxes, but who can blame them!

blackberry-hunt

After we had picked (eaten) enough it was time to play. This involved making use of the little woodland area in the best way we could… a Gruffalo hunt of course! With it being one of Emma’s favourite books, between Vince and myself we can recite the entire story from memory. So off we went for a walk… through the deep, dark woods….

blackberry-woods

The girls (and Vince) took it in turns to be the gruffalo and much growling, running, shrieking and laughing ensued… and fun was had by all!

This was followed by games of hide & seek, rolling down the hill (still including Vince, I didn’t think he was going to stop before the brambles!) and a little more berry picking. I am so glad I have such a fun husband!

Then it was time for a little sit down and little more blackberry eating before heading home again.

blackberry-trioIt was such a gorgeous morning, fresh air, fruit, friends and fun!

Naomi x2

 

 

 

 

collecting leaves

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This afternoon I found myself at home with Emma but with no ideas for entertainment. Vince was working late and Emma was tetchy and I think a bit bored of the games/toys/activities we have at home (to be honest so am I… I need to work on a better/new rotation) to the point of asking to do nothing but watch DVDs…..

I have no problem with Emma watching a little kids tv here and there or the odd Disney film but there is a line to be drawn.

So in line with my current yearning for autumn to hurry up and be here already(!!!) I shoe-horned my reluctant little Miss out of the door for some time with nature. Emma required a better reason than to just be walking so we settled on collecting leaves for a potential arty crafty session tomorrow afternoon.

It was unexpectedly sunny after a night of heavy rain and felt fresh with a nice breeze… perhaps autumn is on its way!

For a change I also remembered to pick up my camera on the way out!

So off we set with a little bag very specifically designated for the gathering of leaves… and woe betide me should I try to put anything else in there!

leaf-walk-grownup

leaf-walk-bag

We had much fun looking at every tiny thing, naming everything we saw and I enjoyed listening to Emma chatting away telling me all about everything we were doing. I love how chatty she is now and her speech has come so far in the last few months, although I realise while I understand her most of the time she is still quite often incomprehensible to other people!

leaf-walk-cricketWe spotted all sorts of little critters which were interesting but I was always told to “leave alone now mummy”, we never get too close for comfort!
In the end we were far more impressed by the leaves the same size as her head!

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“Ooooooh BIG one!”

Such a lovely afternoon out and about…. I’ll try to pop back in with whatever we do with our collection next week 🙂

Side note:: Can someone please tell me when my baby became so grown up?! :'(

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Naomi x2

 

happy moments…

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… quite often involve hooky time for me and not as often as I would like include home making.

Given that my primary role is that of housewife or homemaker I am trying a lot harder to a) be better at it, b) enjoy home making much more, and c) remember why I am a homemaker in the first place!

This week while floating around the blog world I came upon this Homemakers Creed from The Time Warp Wife. It pretty well sums up just what I believe and am striving for and it is available as a freebie on her blog if you like it too 🙂

homemakers creedSo now I am finally finding the joy (or choosing to find the joy!) in my daily tasks and I can think of them as happy moments too…. but don’t worry, there is still plenty of crochet happening here too!

sink-joy

::: Doing the dishes is probably my most disliked household job. I’m not even entirely sure why if I’m honest, which is ridiculous in itself. However, in a bid to help me choose joy, I am in the process of cheering up my sink area – bright colours, a little herb plant, crochet cloths, and a cute oversized teacup & saucer that acts as a ring keeper and washing up liquid holder. Small things really, but I can’t tell you how much it helps to get me motivated out there, and once I have some music on the repetitiveness of washing up is really quite relaxing, now I choose it to be!

laundry-joy

::: Laundry I don’t think I have ever really minded doing, even if it is never ending and one little person can produce as much as 3 adults! Having recently lived 3 weeks without a working washing machine I have never been more grateful for this modern convenience and more thrilled by the sight of fresh laundry on the line!

mandala-joy

::: Oh here are those happy crochet moments as promised… 😉 Some mandala love at last! The plan is to make maybe 3 more and turn them into a feature on one of our front room walls. Even better than this, is that the Mr seems quite keen on the idea!

tt-heart-sandal-joy

::: A new & improved sandal pattern – prototype pair… Excited about these… Pattern coming in the next week or so!!! 🙂

granny-joy

::: Lastly some good old fashioned granny square appreciation! We were out and about yesterday an I needed something to I could do in waiting rooms/trains etc… I originally just intended this to be a colourful dish cloth or flannel… But I love it too much so now it will most likely become a cushion cover!

I missed my happy homemaker post yesterday but these have been some of my happy moments today 🙂

Naomi x2