help I need help

I think I am addicted to online scrabble via facebook. I am not very good at it either. Just finished Harry Potter and the deathly hallows and cried my way through the last 4 chapters, I blame my hormonal state, I am not normally so hopeless.

July

Long blogging absence due in part to not having much to say. Not that what I have to say now is particularly riveting but here it goes anyway.

Knitting circle starts tonight and less than an hour. I am so excited. I found this pattern and now three of us are going to knit it simultaneously. It is very gorgeous but will take us I suspect over a year. We intend to drink lots of real (ie made with bitter choc and milk) hot chocolate and do lots of chatting to make the time pass quickly. you may expect occasional updates as to how its going

Also
Just got back form my first pampered chef conference. Really quite determined to make this business work for me. I was getting a bit down with it but now I will give it until the end December (a natural breaking point) to see how it goes. The conference was quite something, lots of loud music bopping and flashing stars! And some really useful information and encouragement, so here goes. Someone ask me in a months time if it has made any difference please.

Well we missed the floods but......
So while Sheffield was gripped by the worst floods in ages and all 5 rivers burst their banks, we were off on our summer holidays! Don't think we were let totally off the hook however we did manage force 8 gales, power cuts and several days of constant rain ourselves (just a few moments of wondering if we wouldn't be better of at home with the toys to entertain the girls). Despite all that it was great to get away and Crackington Haven was gorgeous as usual. The girls were able to venture into the sea on two days when the waves weren't too big due to high winds and although most of our time on the beach was spent in waterproofs and jumpers we downed a number good number of ice creams, clotted cream teas and spent hours in the cottage concocting fine meals instead! A double rib of very fine beef from a local cow cost us only £13, i would eat it more often at that price. Here are a few pictures of our time away

More Photos
Even more photos that you have missed out on in the past month.
5 blogs in one day should make up for our inactivity.

Photos
A selection of photos from the past month we would have blogged about if we had been organised.

Flamenco - Part 2
As promised here are the photos of the girls in their flamenco gear. Enjoy.

Steam Train

Last weekend we took the girls on the steam train from Haworth to Keighley. They loved it. Here are a few photos, the quality of them is not very good as they were taken on my mobile.

Rain

That is pretty much all that has happened in Sheffield for the past few days. Thought that I'd share a photo of the puddle I had to drive through on my way to work this morning. Spare a thought for the poor owner of the Nissan Primera!

Porridge Spiders, a warning.

Half way through my porridge this morning and one of the slightly burnt grains of porridge (there are always a few are there not) began to look a bit suspicious. It was only on very close inspection that i realised it was indeed a spider (dead, well dead). Obviously i picked it out but I have to say i was put off most of the rest of the bowl. What gets me though, is it would have been so easy to miss, I mean if the girls had had it they would have eaten it for sure. And I was very nearly convinced it was just a regular grain. Watch your porridge carefully. they are masters of disguise.

Flamenco

Ruby and Coralie have been given the most lovely Flamenco outfits by their Grandad Noble after his latest trip to Spain (Gorgeous photos will be forthcoming as soon as I load them up). So today I thought I would put them and their Friend Hannah through their paces! Starting on You Tube we found some great videos to watch and soon they were stamping and strutting away. The video below was their favorite, you have to watch it and while you are at it why don't you stand up and do a few moves, if they can, you can. It is very educational, watch the ears dancing as well, I recon if you can do that you really are an expert.

Bananas

And there I was imagining, Giant, life size bananas stalking helpless humans. Never mind, quite amusing.

Oh Yes

I forgot to say, Ruby can draw. She has suddenly developed the skill of drawing people that are recognisable, with heads, eyes, arms and legs sometimes ears, hair, hands, and Brian gets a body and belly button. It was quite a shock the first time it happened. I saw a person on the paper and looked around to see who else was in the room.... but we were alone. It feels like a bit of a milestone, she is now able to express herself even more clearly in another format, very exciting. Today she even managed a snake and a snail although I have to admit that if I had not seen her do it and heard the running explanation of her drawing I would not have been confident of the interpretation.

Last week

Well last week was VERY exciting. I got to go out in the evenings loads (thank you thank you thank you mum for sitting in). Like never before, in fact possibly more than in my pre motherhood days. Its quite good fun isn't it?

The River Cafe was of course fantastic. I don't expect I will ever go again but it was just lovely, pity I couldn't have any of the lovely wine, but the food was scrumptious (pork and tuna thing for starters, pigeon for mains, and a lemon tart that i have to admit was better than the one I made last week).

I got to go to the theatre courtesy of my lovely sister. A fab night out, although getting to the venue i did feel like Sammy country mouse going to visit Johnny town mouse. I have been away from London so long, it feels very foreign to me and i had to keep asking where i was!

The Nigerian wedding (congratulation Wole and Elizabeth) was great too. Lots of dancing and singing, the best bit was when the bridesmaids and groomsmen (including an none Nigerian friend of mine from university) had to dance their way into the reception.

The girls had their first real train experience. In fact a total of four trains that day when we we went to visit Naomi and Joel (me and two toddlers on the train for and hour each way!! I hope you are impressed). Ruby predictably wanted to paint the train pink and was most disappointed that it was yellow.

The list goes on......and now, back to life.....which is OK, nothing special but nice.

First Shoes

Yesterday Coralie was treated to her first pair of shoes by her grandad. She absolutely loves walking around in them. This weekend Coralie has progressed from 3 or 4 steps to 20 + consecutive steps and this transformation happened as soon as she put her new shoes on for the first time.

Profiteroles

I impressed myself last week by making profiteroles. Actually I made 72 profiteroles! it was quite a sight i can tell you and they didn't taste too bad either although probably not perfect, it was my first attempt. The occasion was my friends hen day, which went very well, or at least she was reduced to tears at one point so i think it has to be deemed a success. (I now have very pink toes that Ruby loves after my time in the Spa) This also meant Brian had to look after the girlies form 8.00am- 11.30 pm all by himself (though i did pop back to help with bathing) and he did very well but he is not in the mood to load up the pictures to show you.

I am very excited because on Saturday I am being taken to the River Cafe in London by my dad as part of my birthday present. I am very excited by this as I love using their recipes but will have to try not to order something we cook already so we can compare the two. I may have to write about what it was like later. I am also excited because the following Saturday I will be at a wedding, also in London, which sounds I think like it will be a bit of a university reunion...... and.......wait for it.........mam and Hannah are looking after the girls so we can go as proper grown ups!!! (my friends will have their children but never mind) I am sure I will be anxious and worrying a bit, but not too much. I hope mam and Hannah are prepared for what they have let themselves in for hahahahahah. I do fancy a reunion, and a wedding.

It was an accident

Ruby was lovely this morning, we went to the botanical gardens with a friend and We were full of the joys of spring when we got home ( which may partly account for what happened next). Over lunch Ruby got dressed up in her long ballet skirt and started spinning urgently requesting 'some ballet music mummy'. So I turned on Classic FM, as you do, that was when it all started. It was lunch time requests. I suddenly became possessed by a strange spirit of adventure and did something I have never done before and made an online request. Thinking that was all I had to do that was ok. Well sure only until they ring back! (canny so and so's ask for your phone number when you request), and the next thing I know I am on national radio talking about shepherds pie and requesting swan lake music. I was mildly traumatised to say the least ( I hate to hear my own voice, I sound like an old man with a cold) but I am sure I will get over it. Ruby needless to say danced for ages to classic FM but when the request actually came on was too obsessed by the washing up to dance to it.

And the moral of the story is. When the spirit of adventure takes hold and you decide to go with it then you have to be prepared for the consequences however mundane the adventure may have seemed at first it can be worse than you think.

PINK

At the moment everything has to be pink as far as Ruby is concerned. No other colour will do. So you can imagine how happy she is with her new pink bike. Her parents are also happy with the bike as it was bought for the bargain price of £7 from the Fulwood Church Playgroup sale. She loves taking the bike to the park, but she has not quite learnt how to peddle properly. The bike also has a little seat on the back so that dolly can go for bike rides with her.

After Sunday afternoon's bike ride we went home for a pink dinner. Pink ham, followed by pink milky jelly (surprisingly good, just substitute evaporated milk for half of the water and whisk) and Ruby loved it and ate everything up. Maybe we should colour the rest of our meals with pink food colouring. Coralie also enjoyed the pink milky jelly, so much so her face went pink in her desperation to reach out for seconds.

Monster

This morning there was a monster in the bath! No kidding. It had eight eyes. We brought Ruby to see the monster and she was well impressed. However when asked if she liked him she replied 'no I like pink incy wincy'. Well that says it all really. If she going to like at the moment its got to be pink (no encouragement form me I hasten to add). I shall have to find one...Well I have found a pink toed bird eating spider, but the best I have come up with so far is this, the purple bloom bird eating spider. Ha ha ha i will have see what she thinks of that in the morning! The one below is the found in the bath. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it then you can see the hairs on its legs and its eyes shining on its head, lovely.

A day of firsts

My first day using a rotavator. Great, very addictive extremely satisfying and effective. Much easier than the alternative.

The first time we used our new camera. Having lots of fun, there will be some photos to follow.

AND most importantly, drum roll please, Coralies' First steps! she was just about to go to bed then she just let go, aiming for a pot of sudocrem, three steps the first time. Witnessed by my mother and I. Then Brian arrived on the scene and she took another four (twice) it was so lovely. we were all clapping but she didn't know what she had done and just gave us a marvelous grin as if to say what are you clapping about. Ruby of course had to show us she could walk two steps too and did a queer little shuffle, for which she also got a clap. We shall have to see what happens tomorrow perhaps she will have forgotten all about it.

Now some photos , just because we can.... a shadow on the wall,
now some of you will have seen another picture rather like this!I have a thing for hairy plants and I was given this blue poppy today by mum. Just look how hairy it is. Looks itchy. reminds me of caterpillars . I love it.

A Ranunculus flowerBy the way. By next Monday evening our old mobile phone numbers will be restored to use. So if you feel like calling us next Monday that would be great so we have your number on our newish phones. Ta.