Hello- I'm still here!

Hello
Here's a little list of what I've been up to recently!
1. Leo had a v long overdue hair cut and then celebrated with a babychino at Costa.
2. Oscar is doing v well with eating and is almost sitting by himself.
3. I've been v busy making crochet owls and selling them! As a result of this I have not had time for much else!
4. I've been having plenty of cuddles with these gorgeous boys.
5. I did a teeny bit of gardening and have some primroses in my window boxes. They are v cheery.
6. I went out for a meal with my lovely husband last week to our favourite restaurant. I love David Banns.
7. I have been doing lots of wheeling and dealing on the pottery front! Loving my dressers just now.
8. Yesterday my husband bought me some lilies and a box of chocolates! Wow!
9. I'm having tea with my mummy and big sister tonight and having lunch with them tomorrow. Can't wait.
10. If its a nice day tomorrow I'm hoping we can have a family walk in the park.

Thanks for reading and hope you have a happy weekend! Xxxxxx

Snow at Gardener's Cottage

It's been rather chilly round here and we've had snow.
Leo loved watching it fall and kept saying "snown" and "snomannnn"!!
He had even more fun playing in it and would only come inside if bribed with chocolate or cake!!
Xxxx

Happy New Year

Happy New Year friends!
Hope that you had a lovely time celebrating the start of 2013!
We had a v quiet time at home wearing our matching slipper boots (v sad!!) and had some champagne for the bells and then went to bed.
I'm hoping that 2013 is going to be a good year. 13 is my lucky number after all.
2012 had joy and sadness. We had Max's graduation, we moved house we welcomed our beautiful boy Oscar into our little family and sadly lost my beloved Grandma.
Here's to 2013 and I hope that it brings you everything you wish for!
To start with I've decided that January is going to be a month for organising! This little house is full of stuff and more messy than I'd like it to be. I've already sorted our linen cupboard and tackled the garden shed. The pantry and piles of toys everywhere are next! This is what they are like just now.... groan. Hoping I can show you nice tidy spaces soon!

I

A post Christmas hello

Hello. I've been a v absent blogger of late. My babies have still been ill with coughs and colds and poor Leo has had a nasty ear infection too. Hopefully we're over the worst now. Such a shame as we've missed doing lots of Christmassy things and have been stuck at home.
We've had fun times too though. My baking has been up and down!! Made some gingerbread star biscuits that were like rocks! My Christmas pudding turned out ok and Max is still ploughing through it! Christmas cake was alright for my first attempt but a bit wet inside. I'm thinking of a small square cake for next year!
We've had some lovely family get togethers, attended a village drinks party and had some nice cosy evenings at home with candles, mulled wine and treats.
Hope that you've had a lovely time over the festive period :)
Xxxxxxx

A little hello

Hello
Not been in blogland as have been looking after all my boys!
Leo had a chest infection, Oscar had croup and Max a terrible cold. They are starting to get better thankfully but it's hard work looking after them!
We put up our Christmas tree today!

Makeover ideas!

This is my dolls house from when I was a little girl. It's been a bit abused over the years and is missing a few windows and the inside looks quite sad. Leo has taken an interest in it recently-Mostly moving cars up and down the stairs!! So I think it needs spruced up a bit. Any ideas?
Here are the before pics!

This and that...

I've been busy doing a bit of this and that....

-A big clearout of china- too much pink in this house! I've been replacing with some lovely greens and blues!

-Some batch cooking. I have 3 veggie shepherds pies in the freezer now.

- making a Christmas pudding!

- walking in the rain with my massive buggy and 2 flat tyres in one week. Not fun :(

- having cuddles with my babies!

What have you been up to lately?

Homemade Mincemeat

Hello
I've been oh so busy doing all sorts of things round here so sorry that I've not been in blogland!
One of the things I did get round to was making my own mincemeat. I've never made any before but fancied giving it a try after my mum made some last year and it was yummy!
I used a recipe from the good food website and my mum leant my a huge bowl that belonged to my Grandma to do the mixing.
It's sitting maturing in the jars just now. Looking forward to trying it. Mmm mince pies and mulled wine. Can't wait!!

Christmas Preparations

Ooh I'm so excited about Christmas this year. I hope that my little family will have a lovely time. Leo still has no idea about Christmas but knows about toys and presents so think it will be lovely!
As well as mincemeat I've made a Christmas cake for the first time ever. It looks good, so hopefully it wi taste good too!
I've also made some little gift tags and have been experimenting with a Lino printing set to make a few cards.
Lots more on my list o Christmassy things to make and do but plenty of time yet!
What have you got planned for Christmas?

Happy Halloween!

Today has been a better day.  Play dough and cbeebies have helped Leo's mood but we were still stuck indoors as it has poured with rain ALL day :(

Hope you're doing something fun for halloween- I'm doing washing up, tidying and laundry- how exciting!!

And breathe!

Oh my goodness Leo has been such a handful these past few days. Terrible whining and screaming orders at me. Things like CAKE! at breakfast time!

Last night I went to get Oscar's milk from the fridge and it was frozen solid because Leo had been fiddling with the settings! Today we had eggs smashed on the floor, orange juice sprayed on the wall and I had a throat injury. They don't call it the terrible twos for nothing!

Thankfully both boys are in bed now and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

I have lit my little oil burner with some lovely new seamoss oil my mum gave me and have made a cup of tea in my nice figgy mug!

Xxxxx

Autumn walk in the park

I had a lovely walk in the park with the boys yesterday. The colours are just amazing and I can't believe how quickly everything changes.

The air was cold and crisp but the sun was shining and it felt like the best place to be!

Leo had lots of fun crunching though the leaves, picking up stones, splashing in muddy puddles and running about. He was very tired when we got home.

Oscar slept the whole time in his buggy but at least he got the fresh air too!

Hello again

Eek. It's been a whole month since I last blogged!

It's been busy here. Here's a little round up!

Max started back at uni and is enjoying his course so far. The workload is huge so we've not been seeing much of him which is hard. Leo looks out of the window and says "dada goed away".

Leo has started at a local Playgroup a couple of mornings a week. He seems to be settled now but we had a tricky first few weeks with him crying when I left! He seems to be enjoying it now and comes home covered in paint and glue and his face all flushed from rushing about!

Oscar is now 3 months old. I just don't know where the time is going. He's smiling more now and makes little noises when you talk to him. The poor little thing had croup a couple of weeks ago but has recovered now. He's sleeping a bit better at night too.

It's a beautiful sunny autumn day here in Lugton. Hopefully it will stay like this for a few days. I've got lots of jobs to do in the garden.

Hopefully I'll be back soon!

Xxxxxx

A stormy wet day!

Today is a day for wearing fleecy trousers and looking out my Christmas china!

A walk in the park!

We are so lucky as with our new house we also have a key that lets us in to Dalkeith country park. There is a little door in the wall opposite our house and it's like a secret garden! It's massive in there and there is so much to explore. Woodland walks, an adventure playground, caves and an amphitheatre. You normally have to pay to get in and the main entrance is in Dalkeith itself.
It's so lovely for Leo to have somewhere safe to run freely. We've been trying to go out for a long walk each afternoon.

A bit of a catch up!

If you were wondering what i've been up to these past few months when I've not been blogging here is a little round up!

May
We decided to start looking for somewhere else to stay. The bills and our rent were a bit of a stretch for us and we didn't like the area too much either even though the house was nice.  We gave notice to our landlord and at first it was v depressing seeing what we could afford.  At one point it looked like we were going to have to move quite a bit out of town (and away from my family) to get somewhere nice enough for our budget.  However, after lots of internet searching I found our dream cottage!  My mum and I went to view it and immediately knew it was the right place.

June
We got the keys to Gardener's Cottage on the 1st of June and moved in right away.  I also turned 27 the next day but we were in such a muddle it was a non-birthday really.  We love living here so much.  We're in a little village just outside Edinburgh and it feels like a little sanctuary in the countryside without being too far from town or my mum and brother.  The house is just the right size and has a lovely safe garden for Leo to play in.
Max also graduated from his 4 year degree in June.  I'm very proud of him and all his hard work has paid off.  He'll start his masters course in a few weeks time.

July

My maternity leave from work began on the 8th of July and it really wss such a relief to be finished and be able to spend some time with Leo before baby no2 arrived.  

My dear Grandma passed away in July.  She was an amazing person and such an important part of my life. Here she is with me as a baby!

And of course life for my little family changed completely when baby Oscar joined us on 25th July (6 days past his due date)!

My family think that Oscar is more like me.  Leo is a mini Max!

August

Leo turned 2!  Don't know how our sweet baby boy has grown so fast.  He is full of fun and a joy to be with!

Think that's enough for now.  Well done if you read the whole post!  Off to wind Oscar and get him to bed.  Fingers crossed for only one waking tonight!

xxxxxxx