It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Last weekend turned out to be a very festive weekend! We hadn't planned it to be that way at all but we certainly ended up starting December super excited about Christmas.

I heard about a local garden centre having Santa's reindeer there last minute, which I knew Lily would absolutely love to see! So we bundled our little family into the car and off we headed very excited!

The garden centre was so lovely, with very Christmassy scenes of the North Pole to walk through, with life size moving polar bears and woodland animals, gingerbread houses and snow covered trees. Lily was absolutely amazed by it all, and when we reached the end and found the real reindeer waiting for us, her face was an absolute picture. It really was magical for her! We then stopped for lunch and had a browse of their Christmas trees before heading home.

Sunday morning, still feeling very full of Christmas spirit, I suggested going and buying our tree to David. To begin with he thought I was mad, with it still being November, but I managed to persuade him, and loving Christmas as much as I do, it wasn't too difficult!

Once we picked our perfect tree, we took it home and began decorating it as a family, with The Santa Clause on in the background and our roast in the oven. Lily loved putting decorations on the tree herself and spent so long admiring every little detail once it had all finished. Christmas this year will be extra special now she is old enough to understand everything that bit more and really get excited!

We ended our weekend with belly's full of roast dinner and the fire on as we relaxed in our cosy, Christmassy living room with a glass of wine, very much ready for December to begin.

xo

Berry picking

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't been able to do very much at all recently, which is incredibly frustrating! So when we had spontaneous family day out at a pick your own farm this weekend, it was such a treat.

We had never been to a pick your own farm before, and arrived to find huge fields full of all sorts of different types of fruit and veg, with handwritten signs explaining what each crop was with a few handy tips here and there for the more inexperienced visitor. There were piles of baskets and punnets and sacks to collect your chosen fruit or vegetables in, excited children hunting for the biggest, reddest, juiciest looking strawberries and couples strolling hand in hand leisurely filling up their baskets as they went. Initially we were a little unsure and hesitant, not really knowing what we doing at all, but after a bit of advice from one of the lovely workers there, we were soon getting stuck in just like everyone else! For our first trip, we just stuck to the strawberries and raspberries. It didn't take long for David to lead the way having figured out the best location for the ripest fruit, and I soon discovered the parts of the bushes people had missed and big, juicy strawberries were hidden, waiting to be picked. Lily absolutely loved helping us hunt for the reddest berries, learning how to pick them off the plants and collecting them up in her own little punnet. She even managed to find a few muddy puddles that were perfect to jump in along the way! 

She was so, so proud of the fruit she had collected, and was talking all the way home about her 'barspberries'. We picked up some chocolate on the way home and planned to put together a fruit fondue in the evening, but Lily was absolutely desperate to get her hands back on her lovely 'barspberries' and they were gone very soon after we arrived home with many 'mmmmm yummy' and 'Oooh, delicious!' exclaimations from her. The strawberries then waited for later on, when after dinner, we sat around our table watching Jamanji and dipping them in warm, melted chocolate. 

It was the perfect way to spend a quiet Saturday afternoon, and we are now planning our next visit where we will be a bit more adventurous and pick some vegetables! I think it will be the perfect way to get Lily excited about veg she doesn't usually eat, and I'm sure will make her much more willing to try them if they are 'hers' she's picked herself! 

xo

Snow!

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I know your probably all getting sick of the sight of snow if your in England, but I couldn't not do a post about it! It's just so pretty!

I love it even more for the fact it meant I was sent home from work early on Friday, and got to spend a lovely afternoon cosy and warm, watching films with my princess at home!

This weekend we went for a little family walk, and it was so lovely! Everywhere in our usually slightly run down area suddenly looks so beautiful. We even let Lily have a little stomp around in her new Hello Kitty snow boots! It was her first time in the snow and she loved it :)

Have you all been enjoying the snow? If you have any blog posts with pretty snow pictures in, I would love to see, I can't get enough of it!

x ♥

2013

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This may be a little late, but merry Christmas and happy new year everybody!! Oops. I had a few posts planned for over the last week or so, but celebrations got in the way a little!

Our Christmas this year was crazy busy, but wonderful. Usually David and I spend Christmas day with our own family then spend boxing day together. But as this was our first Christmas as a family, and Lily's first ever Christmas, of course we spent it together (our first Christmas day together in 7 years!) and our families all wanted to see Lily. We had a day with my family, a day with David's dad & his wife, a day with David's mum & brother, a day with David's sisters, a day with my auntie, a day with my Nan, a day with my Grandma, new years eve with my family and a day with my brother. We have such a big family! It was so lovely, and Lily was completely spoilt by everyone.

 I recieved some wonderful gifts too, David got me some amazing presents, including new GHD's, Daisy by Marc Jacobs, Soap and Glory goodies, a beautiful jewelry stand, the compete Harry Potter box set (some of mine had gone missing, and I had Philosophers Stone on VHS!), Topshop earrings and lots and lots of sweets (including some Wonka bars!) and my parents got me a new camera (which I didn't have for all of the pictures in this post which is why some are better quality than others!), a new leather jacket, an amazing Lady and the tramp jumper plus lots of  other lovely goodies!

It was so wonderful having our first Christmas as a little family too, and opening Lily's presents from Santa on Christmas morning was so special. And in these few weeks over Christmas she has reached lots of little milestones, and seems to have changed and grown a lot in such a short amount of time. I can't wait to write her 10 month update. It's like she was saving them all for mine and David's Christmas holidays so we could share them together!

2012 was an amazing, life changing year for us. There was sadness- we lost people we loved and there were some tough challenges, but there were some wonderful events too. We got a new house, and David and I both got the jobs we really wanted- David in a big company in the animation & film industry, me in a school- and of course, the arrival of our Lily. Becoming a parent and having such a beautiful little girl, and getting to share every moment with her as she grows, discovers and becomes such a special little girl is really the most amazing experience, especially with David by my side. Our little family feels so right, it seems as though I have been waiting for these two my whole life. I have so much love for them and they have made me the happiest I have ever been.

2013 looks as though it is going to be an amazing year too, and I really do hope our luck continues and it is! I have a few resolutions too:

♥ To try my hardest to stick to our savings goals 

♥ To use those savings to get married!

♥ To apply for my PGCE

♥ To drink more water & live a healthier life in general

♥ To make sure we have lots of quality family time together

♥ To be the best mother I can be 

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas & amazing 2013's! Do you have any special plans or goals for this year?

♥ x

sand, sea & swings

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 Just a little update, I will get back to some proper blogging soon! I have been terrible at remembering to take any photo's lately to post here, but I did get a few from a little family trip to the beach we had this weekend while visiting my Aunt in Brighton. It was a very cold but lovely, crisp day on the beach. Lily seemed to enjoy herself too, and absolutely loved the swings that were close by! She couldn't stop giggling the whole time she was on them, and she was laughing particularly hard and grinning at the dad pushing his son on the swing next to her. She's a little flirt already!  David & I had a great time in the park too, and may have had a sneaky go on the swings and zip wire while Lily played with her Grandma.

Lily and I also had a little trip to London recently where we met up with the lovely Charlotte and Sara. We had such a wonderful time, and it was so lovely finally meeting two pretty ladies whose blogs I have loved for years. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get many good pictures, but hopefully we will be able to do it again one day and I will make sure I remember to take lots!

I have a few outfit posts planned as I haven't done one for ages, sorry for being such a rubbish blogger, I think I'm gradually getting better at balancing being a working mummy and fitting in other things around work, nappy changes & feeds!

x ♥

Home

We finally have a house! This is just a quick update to share the news and let you all know where I have dissapeared off to. We wont have internet for a little and I miss blogging a lot, but there is plenty to keep us busy. Our new house is little, cute, old and cosy, oposite a river with lots of ducks as neighbours. It has a red front door and a little vegtable patch in the garden. We love our first family home and I will be sharing lots more pictures and news with you very soon...

        x ♥

My wonderful weekend adventure!!

Gosh I have so much to write about!!! My weekend with my family was wonderful!! There were lots of suprises waiting for me, such as my new outfit...
New slippers...

New socks...

and a wonderful drawing!!!

(it says: "you are pretty and i miss you from Oliver", just with spelling mistakes and words added in randomly and in odd places!!!)

I was spoilt with lots of yummy homemade food, sweets and hot chocolate all weekend!! We also went to a cafe which seemed to have a star theme, and they were the tastiest stars I've ever had!!
I also got to see the little fairies that live around my room..And also my cat, who I adore!! His name is snowy, which you may find odd as he is black, but I was 6 when I named him and I thought it would be funny!! However as he has got older, the most wonderfully magical thing has happened... little white flecks and patches have begun appearing on his fur, making it look like he is covered in snowflakes!! I am sure it is because of the name :)I have also been watching lots of films over the weekend with my family! We watched; a cinderella story, snow white, star wars, the nightmare before christmas and an old mr blobby video!!

My little brother became rather Mr Blobby obsessed, and requested that I make him a mr Blobby out of my clay, so, of course, I did!!
After such a wonderful weekend, there were lots of tears this morning as I left and made my way back to uni on the train.

But I am back, and have a working computer again, and was able to read all the wonderful comments left for me over the weeknd, so thank you, lovely bloggers, for making me smile!!!

One last little note, my boyfriend has joined the blogging community!!! His blog is called Bitmapbox and it would be so nice if someone would visit him and give him a warm welcome!! He is an animation student, and is rather good at it :) Recently he made a father christmas I made out of clay on the computr, and I love it!! You can view it on his blog :)

I must go and make me and D our dinner now, so thank you all again for being so sweet and take care!! x

Notebooks, made up worlds and the land of nod :)

Hello all!! Thank you for all my sweet comments, there are some very lovely people in blogging land!!

Today I had a wonderful day :) I got to discuss my work with some MA students this morning, which was amazing and very inspiring!! They gave me lots of helpful advice and ideas, one of which was to get a notebook that I carry with me everywhere and write down my thoughts and feelings all the time, so the first thing I did was go out and get a new notebook! It was just a plain red one, that I didnt find very inspiring, so I decided to jazz it up a bit and beautify it with thoughts and sequins and ribbon :) The paper I used was from the parcel my nan sent me, making it extra special!!I was jotting things down all day long!!! I spent my evening eating pink sweeties and decorating a chocolate cupcake, that I had to un-decorate to eat again, but still lots of fun and so yummy!!

I also realisd I havent mentioned my absolute favourite artist in my blog yet!! Her name is Julie Arkell, and she makes little creatures and dolls who all have stories behind them, and she makes trees, and toadstalls, and bunting, and boxes for their little world that they live in together :) Her work is so enchanting and wonderful, you must take a look!! I was also the luckiest girl in the world on my eighteenth birthday in July, because my parents brought me a brooch made by her, and took me to a gallery where her work was being exhibited, and I spent all my money on buying the only piece of her work I could afford, which was on of her toadstalls :) I made a display box for it and it is hung pride of place on my bedroom wall at home :) My dad also managed to get her number off a website and speak to her, and she invited me to her house and studio to chat about her work!!! AMAZING!!! unfortunately, I was starting uni that wekend and couldnt, I was so dissapointed, but she was so sweet and hopefully I will get to one day. It was very surreal and exciting!! She is lovely though :) Heres my brooch that I adore:

I am also very excited because Im going home and visiting my family this weekend!!! I cant stop smiling!!! I miss them all so much, but will see them on Friday. That means drawings from my brother, mums cooking, talking for ages with my parents, and me and my sister laughing at each other, and playing with lots of toys!! :) Perfect!!

It is very late so I do apologise if this hasnt made sense or I have rambled and made lots of typos. But my eyelids are heavy, and my duvet looks snuggley and inviting, and soon sleepy dust will be sprinkled over my eyes and I will drift off to sleep and dream of the lovely weekend I have to look forward to!!!

Good night and sweet dreams to you all!! x