Sleepover fashion show posers!!

A was interested in my blog when she saw me making the slide show. I said that although I had written about her, I had never posted a picture and would have to ask her mum before posting a picture as she may not want one on here.A said "You could have one of me facing away from the camera" I said I would do a slide show if they wanted to take pictures during the night of the sleepover.Off they went with the camera.Took a couple of photos and some video clips that we can't get to work.

Not enough to do a slide show really but here they are posing :-))

Snowy sunday.

A nice quiet start to the day,pottering doing a few jobs whilst Emily watched TV.She was a bit tired after a sleepover with A on Friday and a full day shopping with Alan on Saturday morning for my birthday present and then a very long walk to pick brambles in the afternoon .

Unfortunately the day took a downward turn, Emily and I were not seeing eye to eye and words were had, it all became a little tense. Thankfully as we began our journey we saw the light and made friends again.

A funky, stripy, Milly leads us on a tour of a local Animal Sanctuary.....








So amusing hearing "Hello there" and "Goodbye" from this very talkative bird.

Most of the animals are rescued and the released into the wild again,we have been a couple of times and a few of them seem to live here. This little fella really likes to put on a show for the camera :-)

Back home again and we began a family cooking session to make use of the brambles and a bag of apples our neighbour had kindly given us from their garden.We decided to do a crumble and to have a go at shortcrust pastry,I would normally buy pastry but Emily said we should give it a go and not worry if it didn't turn out:-)


Chatting animatedly whilst waiting to weigh out more ingredients.Milly says that "cooking isn't my thing" but likes to be involved and chose the bits she wanted to do :-)

Making it snow after sieving the flour.

A novel way to clean down the counter.

Verdict was that the pastry was awful and the apple crumble that looked awful was actually lovely!

Unconditional love.

Great link from Deb at Muddy bare feet .

Been thinking a great deal about unconditional love recently(well for years actually,but in even greater depth this last few months) trying (cos it is a work in progress)to live in a non coercive and respectful way with Emily is having knock on effects in all other relationships,including the one with myself:-)

Cookie dough conscience...

A song for my little Em,written for her by a very talented and gorgeous teenage friend,another Emily who is affectionately known around here as Tom:-)
You make my daughter very happy and we LOVE spending time with you.xxx

Paper hearts and cookie dough
A happy song with a smile in tow.
A pink unicorn with feathered wings
The loyal royal advisor of fallen kings.
I look to you when all else fails
You listen to my empty wails.
And build up an imaginary wall
That we'll climb behind
And stay safe from it all.

So paint me a dream of rainbows
And soothe my aching heart.
Your smile makes the day so much brighter
A perfectly invisioned fresh start.
Its like you're my higher guidance,
My guardian angel and my conscience.
So paint me a dream of rainbows
And soothe my aching heart.
Your smile makes the day so much brighter
A perfectly invisioned fresh start.
Its like you're my higher guidance,
My guardian angel and my conscience.

Golden stars and glitter dust
I love hanging out with you just
Because you're amazingly fantastic
Not a friend strung up by elastic.
You've a pure heart and cleansing soul.
It's like you've filled up a bowl
With strawberries covering up my pain
I could eat all of them again.


So paint me a dream of rainbows
And soothe my aching heart.
Your smile makes the day so much brighter
A perfectly invisioned fresh start.
Its like you're my higher guidance,
My guardian angel and my conscience.
So paint me a dream of rainbows
And soothe my aching heart.
Your smile makes the day so much brighter
A perfectly invisioned fresh start.
Its like you're my higher guidance,
My guardian angel and my conscience.

Paper hearts and cookie dough
A happy song with a smile in tow.

Tom gave her permission to print this,she has asked me to point out that it remains her property and as such should not be copied.

I love our life

Had a great day today.After a rather hectic start to the day(had to be out by 9.45 and I usually take quite a while to get going in the mornings!)making a picnic and gathering things we would need like spare clothes,wellies,water shoes, etc etc.

A group of us are gathering regularly at a local farm.We have use of a camping barn with log fire or if that is in use we can use another barn/workshop.There is plenty of outside space the children are free to play in, a wooded hillside with dens and apparently, according to the children, monsters, and a stream where they can paddle.

The stream was off limits today though as Douglas a manx sheep was in amorous mood and was proving to be very bad tempered and had taken to charging people who went in the field!! Apparently he usually has a very sweet temperament:-)

Four and a half hours of play,walking in the woods searching out mushrooms,chatting with friends,eating lunch together with a log fire crackling,watching the animals in the feilds,throwing sticks for the dogs. Many more visits in the future to look forward too,with the prospect of some craft on occasions and maybe cold winter days playing games in front of the fire.Admiring the fantastic lakeland scenery surrounding us,seeing things changing with the seasons and being out in it,living in it.

I love our life.

Karma

“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.”
Wayne Dyer

Touching base...

Been feeling bogged down and unmotivated,focusing too much on negative things,lack of sleep (hot flushes) meaning I have been feeling like a zombie during the day and find it difficult to string two words together,there seems to be a road block between my thought and actually getting the words out:-(

Not a frame of mind conducive to blogging:-)

I hope to be up and running again soon,I have taken action!! I have joined weight watchers and hope that the change in eating habits will translate into renewed energy and a reduction in the severity of the hot flushes, loosing a few stone will help on all levels:-)

The very fact I have posted something even this short may be a good sign;-)

Will just leave you with a few pics of things that have been happening around here,because of course things are never all bad.....

A late night investigation of a spiky visitor.

Look closely and you can see that Lyras companion has moved up and along the rope.


How many herbs can one girl eat?

Another great car boot sale find by Alan.£2.00 for the set.

Getting some use, reading about lions and large cats, Milly's passion at the moment.

And then of course there are the animals that share our lives. to lavish some love on.

Meet blanky....

Walking upstairs today I saw these familiar threads ,I find them everywhere,an especially large mound is usually found near the sofa. I can sometimes get irritated at the pesky things, especially if I have just vacuumed.Today as I bent to pick them up an image of Emily walking up the stairs clutching an arm full of blanky,scruffy dog,elephant and dummies, sprung up and made me smile.She loves blanky...



This is Blanky,a (once pink) baby blanket that had swaddled a very premature Emily!It goes most places with us.It has been rubbed by a dummy and cuddled to within an inch of it's life.It doesn't get washed.She did let my sister wash it once but she said it took ages for it to "smell" right again:-)




It's also quite useful as a kind of exercise band when watching a movie:-)



We decided a long time ago not to hasten her separation from the things that give her so much comfort and have been surprised at quite how long the love affair has lasted:-)Some have said that we are trying to keep her young by allowing her to continue with them,and we should take them away and let her grow up.I have struggled with this but have come to understand that it is not about us not wanting to cut the strings.In so many other ways Emily acts older than her years,she is not immature and I believe allowing her to have them has in fact allowed her confidence to grow because of the comfort and security she feels from them.This is about honouring Emily's need for her soothers.When she is ready she will let go of blanky and dummies. Eventually scruffy dog,the bestest dog in the world, will spend more time at home.I do get embarrassed sometimes,we get the odd strange look when at the cinema and she is sat with a dummy and blanky but that is much more about me and my concern about what others think of me as a parent than the fact Emily has a dummy or blanky because she is generally unconcerned about what others think(I have asked her if she minds me telling it on here and she said she didn't,she sat on my knee while I read through it for her and as I got to the part about honouring her need she lent in and gave me a really big hug and kiss).I do notice that if we are in the car and are passing children of her age or older she will discreetly lower her dummy and put it on her lap till we pass and she is leaving them at home more often,so she is beginning to separate from them in her own time.

I love blanky too, despite the threads ;-) because it is part of Emily.While she still gets comfort from it I will keep on holding it in my bag for her when we are out,trying to find my purse through the tangle of material that was once a blanket,I take responsibility and ensure it always comes home from whatever outing we have been on and I will carry on picking up threads numerous times a day:-)

Wordless wednesday

A couple of links about learning...

Just found this piece about learning on Carens blog and that led to this at the Journal of unschooling.I liked the diagrams showing the connections made just from one interest.Very interesting.....

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing....

Making a tyre swing with Daddy.

Idea taken from The boy in striped Pyjamas film.After seeing a trailer Milly asked to watch this.She decided not to watch the whole film but loved the swing he had , so her and Alan set about using one of the old tyres we had used in the veg patch last year.

Photo's by Emily.






After putting a wooden frame inside,Al then drilled through and threaded strong rope through the tire and wood.Milly added a nice comfy cushion to pad it out and off she went.


Took this one this morning,I love the dreamy look on her face while she twiddles with her toe:-)

Paper dolls,hours of fun.....

Rhyming slang...

Milly a short while after waking and chatting in bed,
" Let us proceed down the apples and pears " .

Stairs,just in case your not up on the cockney rhyming slang!:-)