Come rain or shine

I love it when lovely, lovely friends (who you don't see nearly enough) come to visit for the day and almost as soon as they arrive the grey, miserable clouds disappear and out comes brilliant, scorching hot sunshine.

 D and her little friend loved hearing the story of the rather large policeman who got stuck in Squeeze Gut Alley, where this picture was taken.

Incidently, almost as soon as our friends left to go home today - it didn't just rain, it poured.

Letting go

September is a month of letting go for me.

Letting go of a wonderful, sunny, happy summer and firmly embracing Autumn. Thankfully September so far has proved to be sunny and warm, so maybe summer is still hanging on by a thread...

The other BIG letting go is the BIG starting school one.

F started at his new Junior school yesterday.

It is obviously a big change, having been at his wonderful, nurturing Infant school for the last 3 years - to suddenly have to get used to new routines, teachers, children and buildings where he will spend the next 4 years. But we were so relieved when yesterday he came out smiling and happy, and it seems I was the one struggling more with the 'newness' of the school and all the new routines.

Now we are just playing a waiting game with D, who starts at the wonderful, nuturing Infant school on the 20th September. My last lot of letting go. She is missing her brother, but I am trying to make the most of the time with her, knowing that in a few shorts weeks the house is going to be quiet.
Very, very quiet.

I cried when F first started school as he just seemed so tiny and far too little to be experiencing such a huge, big thing as school without me right there by his side. He was of course fine.
But with D, she seems a whole lot older and more grown up and totally ready for this next big step in her life, I'm just not sure I'm ready for the big changes - it makes is so official. Her babyhood will officially be, OVER.
It's quite tricky this letting go thing!

A little bit of making

Well I think that's it. For the UK at least it seems summer is over.
Much as I love Autumn, it does seem to have crept in a little early for my liking. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny September though...

We are all set for school, which starts again next Thursday for one little person in our house. The uniforms are brought, everything has been labelled, new shoes and lunch boxes purchased so we are just about ready...begrudgingly though. I am not looking forward to those early mornings again.

My littlest, D, doesn't start in Reception until the 20th September, so still a few weeks of holidays for her - which means we can help F settle into life in his new Junior school.

Talking of F - I forgot to post a pic of the quilt and cushion I made for his 7th birthday on the 1st August.

Sorry it's not the best picture! It is made of quite big squares and backed in the same fabric as the binding.  I always feel so guilty with the kids, making things for presents, shops etc - that I never end up making things for them.  I made D a quilt for when she went into her bed, from her cot but I had never made one for F, so I thought it was about time.  He's a 7 year old boy so his reaction wasn't WOW a quilt, just what I always wanted!!! But he seemed pleased and a few days later when I was tucking him into bed he told me that he loved it because I made it.  That was good enough for me!

I've also made a couple of make-up bags. 

All bunting inspired as you can see!  They are in my Folksy shop at the moment, and I am in the middle of making some for Taking the Plunge in Whistable too.  More mermaids being made at the moment too!

Before I finish this post, I must say Happy 7th Birthday to my lovely neice Kyra whose birthday is today xx

Windy Miller

A few months ago, my mother-in-law discovered a little Windmill in a place called Sarre (near Canterbury), totally by accident, when she was on her way somewhere else. We have been meaning to visit ever since and finally made a little trip there a couple of weeks ago. It was cheap too, £2 for adults and £1 for kids.

The working mill was so interesting - the kids liked climbing up all the ladders to the top - although D got a bit scared when we were up there and we had to come down pretty sharpish! There is also a lovely teashop there, with gorgeous vintage books, packaging, toys, cookers, prams, signs etc all dotted around. I could have spent hours just looking at them.

F especially liked the old toys and cars.

And D liked the local cats, which we were told were wild but decided to make themselves at home in the mill. Now I'm not a cat person at all, but they were beautiful looking cats and one in particular liked to wander round and then made itself at home in a little basket in the Mill farm shop!

It was a lovely day. Before we left though,  we happened to see this gorgeous wood burning stove in the shop.

You might be able to spot the For Sale sign on it, but well...it's not anymore! No it wasn't me, it was my mother-in-law! She showed the picture to her husband that night and said the magic words 'it used to live on a french boat' and she was back to buy it the next day! Ha ha!

I didn't come away completley empty handed, I did buy a bag of Mill flour!!! Not quite a gorgeous stove, but good enough for me.

Seven

Our lovely little monkey turned 7 on Sunday.  I kept sneaking looks at him all weekend thinking how amazing and special this little boy is and also HOW did that happen?

And what is our funny little man like?

Well he is.......very handsome, never without a smile (he even got a certificate at school for always smiling). He's funny, crazy, loving, loud, excitable (he jumps up and down when he is really excited), warm, jokey, happy, stubborn, an extrovert and skinny as a bean. He loves drawing,  has an amazing imagination (if he doesn't have it - he will make it out of whatever is to hand!), he hates ice-cream but loves lollies and white chocolate, his favourite food is fresh pasta and he loves fruit. He's an entertainer, is confident and quirky. He cannot sit still for more than a couple of minutes and is normally running up and down the length of the lounge with a toy in his hand (this currently involves a toy red arrow plane). He loves his little sister, but can also fight like cat and dog with her. What can I say, he's amazing.

And now he is seven.....and I love nearly* every minute I spend with him.

Happy birthday number seven monkey.

*Much as I love him, he does drive me bonkers sometimes!

All change

Alas, I still have no camera - borrowed images for now!

We don't really have the funds to buy a new one and to be honest, I just couldn't spend money on a new one when I know that my camera is hiding out there somewhere - just where is the mystery! I hate not having it though, especially with it being the Whitstable Oyster Festival this week, which means lots of exciting events and photo opportunities.

I will have to borrow one for F's 7th birthday this Sunday. Thankfully I have borrowed a couple of cameras for some special events in the last few weeks, so I have managed to record a few things.

Such as D learning to ride her bike without stabelisers.

F's sports day (too many other children in the pictures to post a pic) and D's graduation from playschool, which was very sweet.

F also left his Infant school and will be going to Junior school in September, whilst D starts at his old Infant school. 

It's not just the kids for whom big changes are happening though. ,My husband left his job a month ago after years of hating his old job in the motortrade. Long hours, not very good pay and constantly being shouted at had taken their toll, so after huge amounts of research he told me that he wanted to leave his job and train to be a plumber! As the sole breadwinner in our house, that was VERY scarey, especially with a mortgage and bills still to pay.  But for some reason, as a natural born worrier I have felt suprisingly calm about the whole thing. He is now 4 weeks into a 10 week college course and loving it, THANK GOD!

So come September, in our house there will be 2 new schools to attend and a new career to start. All very exciting, although scarily for me I think it also means I am going to have to start looking for a job too!

But for now, we plan on enjoying our summer holiday, even though we won't be going on holiday. We live by the sea which is obviously a bonus!

Happy holidays where ever you are spending the summer.

Teachers pet

I am feeling a little lost at the moment as is my poor little Fuji Finepix camera. Somehow I managed to lose it at the weekend at my Mum and Dad's house, during a party for my Dad's birthday.

Fingers crossed it will turn up eventually - not in time for F's school performance tomorrow though, when he shall be appearing as one of the lost boys in Year 2's performance of Peter Pan and the World Cup (I have no idea how they are combining the two things either....something to do with Captain hook kidnapping the England Football team...).

Luckily we can borrow a camera for that, so I will hopefully get some snaps...

I can't believe there are only a few short weeks left of school. I must start thinking about presents for teachers. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas of what to make or give? Including all the ladies at D's playschool  I have about 10 teachers to get presents for...but what to get?

The lazy me thought a big bar of chocolate and a lottery ticket would be a good idea, but the crafty me wants to get the kids to write their names, scan them in and print on photo transfer paper and make purses.....
The first idea sounds SO much easier...............

Ps I couldn't do a completley photo free post, so the picture is of my little D when she came and helped me on my beach photo shoot the other Saturday morning  for my Folksy shop - I had just arrived back from a run so it was only about 7.30am, which is why she is still wearing her nightie!