just the 6 of us

this week

It has been such a busy week, we have hunting high and low for vinage lovelies, here is a peek at what we have brought home with us...

brunch

Birthday brunches are becoming a tradition in the family lately, a tradition which I am LOVING.  A great big brekkie minus the getting up too early, it doesn't get much better than that!  This weekend was my brother's birthday, so it was round to my mum's to celebrate over bacon, eggs and croissants.  I don't think the bigger boys were planning on stopping too long as the coats never came off but plenty of food was consumed, in Jays words it was 'exquisite'.  He wants to be a food critic, a job I feel would suit him well.  Little Freds is just so desperate to join in with the bigger kids, it must be so hard to sit back and watch while they are having such fun but it won't be long, it won't be long. 

It's MC Hammers birthday this weekend, a birthday that I think is worth celebrating.  I need to let my mum know.

detox

The time has come for me to get my butt in gear and start losing the baby weight that I gained with Freddie.  With the three older babies it just sort of happened but this time it's not that easy and with Spring on the way and my pretty dresses crying out to see the light of day again, last night I decided it starts today.  I have been looking into various diets lately, not really with weight gain in mind, just different ways of eating that the whole family can benefit from.  I think it's so important to instill healthy eating habits in children while they are still young, that way it's just the norm to eat healthily and with variety when they adults.  The first thing I looked at was maybe a wheat-free diet.  That would suit me really well, that would be a great option, if it was just me.  I have read into it and have found very positive things with regards to the whole family following it but I do worry that starting Freddie on a wheat free life before he has really ever had it might bring trouble in later life if he then has a product with wheat in so I'm not totally sold on that one.  It's a work in progress really.  But to give myself a kickstart I am doing the GMs diet this week, it's more of a 7 day body cleanse which I feel I could do with but it looks pretty managable, and pretty easy.  Today is a 'fruit only' day so I have been pigging out on melon and strawberries which is goooood.  I will keep you posted.

yesterday

What a beautiful day yesterday was.  It's amazing how much difference a bit of sunshine can make.  The world feels good.  Here few of the treasures we picked up on our travels and my little lad 'helping' me take pictures.  How could I refuse his attempts at rearranging my pyrex?  I wonder what goes through his head when I get out a pile of plates and take pictures of them?

bounce bounce moves house

We found an amazing dolls house at the carboot sale this weekend, Daisy was over the moon.  It is the new home to her favourite little friend Bounce Bounce.  Him and his girlfriend have officially moved in and have very smug looks on their little faces (they are toys but for toys their faces are pretty smug).   It inspired a clear out of a lot of stuff in Daisy's room on Sunday, 2 bin bags full of cuddly toys, she can still only just fit in her bed with the toys that she couldn't part with.  It turns out that each and every toy on her bed is somehow related to Bounce Bounce (girlfriend, dad, brother, uncle, and a few very close friends).  This was her reasoning for not splitting them up.  It would be cruel and unfair.  I know her room still looks very full but believe me it looks a lot better than it did.  I could only do so much before she came home from my mum's house and intervened.  

This little man is getting better and better at the sleep thing, he is going down between 6.30-7pm and sleeping soundly until 7am, we are a very spoilt Ma and Pa.

 

belated love

Last week with Daisy home from school ill we had lots of time to get out paint and make stuff. She declared 'being ill is soooo boring'.  So, we decided to get crafty with Valentines Day as the theme and we made potato stamps to print a garland and some love cards.  And since then our internet has not been working hence my lateness.  It is working sporadically today so I am being speedy in getting this post done before it gets the hump with me again.  It's very annoying.  Very.  Our weekend has been a busy one, consisting of a house clearance in which we filled up a whole van then that whole van decided to break down at the bottom of our hill, in a very dramatic smoky noisy styley.  Then the van needed to be towed up the hill, still full of furniture.  Sunday morning was a very early one at the carboot sale, it was such a great day with the sun shining, lots of great things came home with us, mainly on the roof of the car as the van is still in a critic state.  But nothing matters when the sun is shining.  Here's to a new week, have a happy one x

happy pancakes

Happy pancake day!  I do love pancakes so am very excited about teatime.  This weekend we have had a poorly girl with a streaming cold who is relaxing on the sofa at this moment, we have had a Chinese New Year party at my mum's house with red packets for the children, Chinese decorations and lots of yummy food.  I have been having a move about again and have stolen a chair from Freddie's room (he really didn't mind) to replace a table that has been annoying me for ages.  It was in the hall and was generally used by all as a space to put anything you couldn't be bothered to put away/throw away.  So it's gone.  And in it's place is a lovely chair, perfect for dumping things of the clothing variety...

We also knocked up a delicious lemon drizzle traybake, we got the recipe form Mary Berry's Baking Bible, a super dooper easy cake to make.

 

225g softened butter

225g caster sugar

275g self raising flour

2 level teaspoons baking powder

4 large eggs

4 tablespoons milk

finely grated rind of 2 lemons

for the topping

175g granulated sugar

juice of 2 lemons

Pre-heat oven to 140, grease and line a 12x9 inch traybake or roasting tin then line the base with parchment.

Measure all the ingredients for the traybake into a large bowl and beat until blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top gently with the back of a spatula.

Bake for 35-40 mins or until the cake has shrunk away from the sides of the tin and springs back when pressed in the centre with your fingertips.  Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.  Stand the wire rack on a tray to catch any drips of the topping.

To make topping, mix the granulated sugar with the lemon juice to give a runny consistancy, spoon it over the traybake while it is still a little warm.  Cut into 30 squares when cold.

 

 

christening party and a 9 month milestone

Freddie's christening is going to be here before we know it so I am starting to gather ideas and little pictures to get myself organised. What would I do without Pinterest? This is a little christening inspiration board to help me with my planning.  A kind of visual list.  It is actually really hard to find a little outfit suitable for a christening to fit an 11 month old boy, most of them look like he is either headed to a black tie ball or a mob meeting but after searching and searching I found this one from Vertbaudet.  It's perfect.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I love these colours, the best thing about Springtime parties is the beautiful colours of flowers after the white of winter.  We are hopefully going to have the party in the garden and as much as would like a pink party it is Freddie's christening so this touch of blue and green is a good compromise!  So I am thinking lacy tablecloths, little doilies with plenty of big cakes and puddings on stands, little sandwiches (so you can eat them quickly and get onto the more important course - dessert).  

 

And no self respecting English garden party would be complete without bunting of some sort. I love these rag garlands, they make a very pretty backdrop so I need to get busy...

It was Freddie's 9 month birthday yesterday and he learnt how to clap to celebrate.  He is practising this lots and lots now and really liking this new skill.  The toys of the moment are his cars, they are by far his favourite things to whizz off the end of the coffee table and crash into each other.  He is turning into a proper little boy

happy find

I am having a major clear out and move about, emptying cupboards and drawers and just getting rid of the un-needed.  I can't believe how many duvet sets one family could possess but I must have thrown out at least 15 and we still have enough for the world and his wife to come round for a sleepover.  In my rummaging I found an old memory stick for my camera and look what I found!  It made me so happy to see these pictures from Daisy's first Christmas, she was such a little thing, and a video of her opening her very first stocking ever with her lovely big (they are a lot bigger now) brothers.  My heart is actually smiling...

 

 

pyrex princess

I am so into Pyrex, I have collected so much over the last year.  There are so many different designs and I love them all.  These are a few bits that I have recently picked up but when I search on Etsy, oh my goodness, the designs they have in America are so much cooler than ours.  Unfair.  Pyrex is so heavy and postage costs are an obstacle (I would move there just for the Pyrex patterns) but I bought these 2 sets of mugs (below) and they really are my favourite buys ever.  

happy monday

Another jam-packed weekend.  Freddie has learned to wave, oh my goodness it's heart-melting!  He is growing up so quickly, he has also mastered the crawl, for the last few months it has been more of a commando style floor drag but he's on all fours moving at top speed today... We have nearly finished the teenagers bedroom, Nathan and I did all the hard work and yet Jacob was the one who felt tired?  Teenagers are funny creatures, nearly an adult but yet a lot harder work than a baby - more washing, more mess, more mood swings. Keeping the teenager happy is an artform and the guidelines change daily but the decorating of the room should keep him content for the next few days at least.  In between said task we managed to bake our first ever lemon meringue pie, it was so good.  We still have some left and it's been in the back of my mind all morning (when is a suitable time to eat dessert?  Breakfast, elevensies or should I wait until at least lunchtime?)   Nath and I are getting pretty into baking of late, sometimes we wait until the kids are all in bed and he will head to the shops to gather ingredients for a yummy sweet something.  It doesn't do my post baby diet any good but we have such fun, a bit of 'us' time, a bit of a giggle, followed by cake, a discussion about how good we are at baking and how we could so win Great British Bake-Off.

little corners and vintage finds

I have a definite case of Spring fever (just to be clear, this is not Spring cleaning, it's Spring fever).  Symptoms include the need to rearrange little corners of the house, find little vintage 'things' decorated with flowers and arrange parties and gatherings for the coming months to get me through the winter days.  So yesterday this was the little corner that I set my sights on and above is a picture of the pretty little glasses that I found on a shelf in the charity shop.  Daisy is completely bewildered as to why we would have glasses that you can't drink out of - they are to look at.  To look at and adore and to make you feel thankful for pretty things.  This weekend we are going to do the big boys bedrooms, I am quite excited about this, especially Jacobs room, we are going to make it a proper pad for a teenage lad, very cool.  Freddie's Christening is booked, decorations are being made and a tea party menu is being put together, Daisy's 7th birthday party is also on the calendar, it's all go in this ol' house.