Bye Bye 2011!

Please excuse the poor photograph! My dresser is back to normal now and all the Christmas things have been packed away.  I can't be bothered with decorations when the day has been so I always take them down early!!

Well I think 2011 has been a bit of a funny year.  There have been lots of happy times.  It's been amazing to watch our little boy grow and he brings us so much happiness.  My sister and her family have also moved closer to home which is great (she used to live in Hong Kong!) and it will be lovely for our boys to grow up together.  There have been sad and stressful times too.  However, I feel very lucky to have the love and support of my family.  I'd be lost without them!

I like the thought of a fresh new year and all that it holds.  I'm sure that 2012 is going to be a good one. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!!!

A Late Christmas Wish!

Hello!
Not popped my head in here for a while because it has been busy busy in our little world.  Hope that you've had a lovely festive time.  I've had a nice time catching up with family and spending time with my favourite boys.  I'm off work until the 10th of January so am trying to make the most of no work!
Here is my little santa boy!

Cosy Day

Today Leo and I are having a cosy day at home. He's still in his pjs and I have my new fleecy trousers on. Lovely new magazines to read too. Now to get the kettle on. Hope you all have a lovely weekend xxxx

Feeling ....

....a teeny tiny bit Christmassy! The fairy lights are on the trees in the city. I'm awaiting a knitted personalised stocking for my special little person and I have my new mince pies plate!!

Ripple Love

At the moment I'm working on a crochet ripple blanket and I love, love, love it!
The wool is fab to work with (stylecraft special dk), and the colours are working really well.
I stole the idea directly from Heather at little tin bird (www.littletinbird.co.uk). I loved her ripple so just had to give it a go!

Coffee Date

Today I was lucky enough to have a coffee date with my husband and get paid for it! That's right! The little boy who I look after (M) has a gym class on a Tuesday so I have 45 mins of free time with no children!
Max goes to uni round the corner so it was easy to meet up. Was such a nice treat.
This is posted from my swanky new iPhone! Fingers crossed it works.

A Great Big Thank You!

I was very very lucky to win my first giveaway!  The lovely Lenia over at Ferns at the Balcony (don't know how to do a link but you can go to my blog list!) sent me some gorgeous mountain tea in a lovely tin that she customised herself.  I love it and it was great to get something from faraway in the post!  She also included a lovely letter and it really made my day.  There are lots of nice people in this world!
We haven't tried the tea yet. Max loves sniffing it and says that we have to keep some in the tin just so that he can smell it!!  We are in the process of sorting something little to Lenia but thank you so much!

xxxxxx

Leo is as rascally as ever at the moment but also lots of fun!

I bought him some new wellies too!  Excuse my hand in the pic and the general mess in all my pics!

Hope that you all had a lovely weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Hope that you all have a spooky Halloween filled with fun!

Hello!

Hi!  Not had much time for my little blog recently.....last week I was on hols from work but sadly had a v sore throat so wasn't feeling great.  Thankfully I'm much better now so here I am!  The violas above are in a hanging basket in my garden- don't you just love their little faces?!

I got my veg box last week and was a bit disappointed to get beetroot again ( getting a bit bored!) so decided to transform them from this

to this for my mummy!

Hope it tastes ok!

Leo has also been keeping me v busy at the moment.  You have to watch him constantly as he can get up to so much mischief!  He loves pulling everything out in the kitchen so his Granny (Max's mum) has bought him a little kitchen as an early xmas pressie! It's so cute!

Sorry the pic is blurry but he just won't stand still!

It's a nice crisp autumn day here in Edinburgh so I think a trip to the park after school for the little boy I look after this afternoon!

1 Year in our little house!

I'm back! Not been on here for a little while as I've been working some extra hours and also there is a certain little person who has been up to lots of mischief too!

Here is Max and Leo outside our house last year not long after we moved in!  I can't believe that a year has flown by so quickly.  We love our little home and its so good having a driveway and little garden after living in a little 1 bed flat in the city centre.  We've had lots of happy times here and it's just perfect for Leo.  He is into everything at the moment!  We are trying to lock cupboards, put up extra gates etc to stop him getting into too much trouble!  He's also been climbing out of his cot so he's now sleeping in a little toddler bed.  He is growing up so fast!  Sorry the pic is a bit blurry but he can't keep still!

Hope that you have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing!!

Beetroot Brownies!

With my veggie box I have been trying out some new recipes.  We had fennel and lemon risotto the other day and while Leo was emptying out our recycling box and whole packet of baby wipes on the floor (!) I tried to make some beetroot brownies. 

Near the beginning I thought that they were not going to work and that it was going to be a waste of chocolate (2 bars!!).

However the mixture got more velvety and they turned out well

Perfect with a cuppa!

I wouldn't be in a huge rush to make them again though as I did have a sink full of pink dishes to wash!

Happy Friday!

Sorry for the random photo on this post!

Today has been a happy Friday for me so far because....

1. The sun is shining

2. I passed my driving theory test this morning- Hooray!!

3. My veg box arrived today.  Is it really sad to get excited about vegetables??!! I have to get looking for recipes...mmm so much potential!

4. My friend is coming round for coffee this afternoon

5. Leo is having a nice long lunchtime nap.....

Hope that you're having a happy Friday too and enjoy your weekend!

xxxx

A busy old week....

It's been pretty busy round here of late.  Max is back at uni now and I started a new job at the beginning of last week.  We also had a bit of a fright with Leo and had to have a late night hospital visit with a high temperature.  Luckily Leo is fine now though and as cheeky as ever!

Max has gone into his final year of uni and suddenly there seems to be loads of work to do....his dissertation, film scripts, production files, storyboards, test shoots etc etc.  He's also helping with looking after Leo when I'm working so its a bit of a juggling act at the moment.

I have left my job in the nursery and now work as a part time nanny for a family that I have known for a few years.  I pick the little boy up from school three afternoons a week and on one of the days I collect his little sister from nursery too.  The first week went ok.  On Monday we went to the museum which was great, on Wednesday we went to a pottery painting place which was also fab and then all went well on Thursday until a major tantrum at the park on the way home....its better than being stuck in the nursery though!  While I'm working Leo is with my mum or Max and because I only work in the afternoons we still get to go to our playgroups together in the mornings.

Off to study for my driving theory test now.....it's on Friday so I can't put it off any longer....eeeeeek!!!

This and that...

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I made some yummy earl grey tea cupcakes....

...bought some bulbs for the garden.  Oh I love love love spring bulbs!

We even had some time to play in the garden.  Leo is walking now and he loved exploring and peeking through the fence to see the children next door!

Oh and for the lovely Tracy over at Romi and Bob, here is my newly painted table!

I want to do my dresser next but can't quite decide what to do and painting is also quite difficult with my little monkey about!  I was thinking of painting it green or cream and using some Cath Kidston paper on it too but I'm not sure.  I really want some fairy lights for it though!

Any ideas welcome!!

On my table...

On my table this week there have been some different meals!  This is thanks to our new vegetable box that will be delivered fortnightly from a local farm shop.  I'm hoping that it will make me more adventurous with my cooking.  The first box did not disappoint and was packed with beetroot, a marrow, broad beans, chard, salad, as well as potatoes, carrots and onions.  It was very exciting to look through what we'd been sent and get looking for recipes!

Tonight we had couscous salad with goats cheese on toast. Yum!

We also tried bright pink creamy beetroot risotto.  Even Leo liked it!

And we also had a stuffed marrow bake but we're still not sure if we actually like marrow!

In other news, Leo has had such fun today playing with a lemon....

...and some tub trugs! Who needs expensive toys?!

Hope that you all have a lovely weekend xxx

Back again!

Haven't blogged again for a while but here's what I've been up to recently.

Most of my time is spent with this little chap!

I have also been enjoying a hot chocolate with marshmallows in the evening with my lovely husband

And getting very excited about our home grown veggies!

There has also been a little time for crochet....

....and cakes!

Our Little Lion is 1!!

Leo turned 1 year old last week!

We had a little party tea with Leo's big cousins

And I made a lion birthday cake!

Its been such a fast year but probably the best ever!

3 years....

Last week, Max and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!  We had a rare night out (3rd since Leo's birth!) going to The Scotsman Hotel for cocktails and then our favourite restaurant, David Banns, for a lovely meal.

We got married at The Hub in Edinburgh.  We had a lovely day with photographs taken at Calton Hill, lots of champagne and music from The Upbeat Beatles.  We then had a fantastic 4 week honeymoon going all over Japan and up Mt Fuji! It's strange to think that it has been 3 years already but we have done so much together since we first met in 2006.

Not long after my 21st birthday we set off to travel round India for 3 months and then travelled the transiberian railway accross Russia, Mongolia and China finishing off in Hong Kong.
We came home, moved in together and got engaged not long after.  We married a year later in 2008.

Here we are on my 21st, sorry the pic is a bit blurry.

Since then we've moved house a few times, travelled a lot more, Max started uni and been joined by our gorgeous boy.

Thanks for being a lovely husband and great daddy to Leo.  We love you xxxx