Finally here comes winter!!!

I think that February is going to be payback for our recent exceptionally warm weather.  Early January I walked home from town with just my body warmer and a light weight jumper, now our house is so blimming chilly I am contemplating sleeping in my body warmer.

However I do love the snow and it was great to watch Mimi playing in it.  She was very cute, when she went out the front door she kept saying "Crazy", "This is really Crazy", "Help me help me I'm really stuck".  Bless some of the snow drifts up here were up to her waist.

Yesterday was the first time in a week that the temperature has risen above freezing however the wind chill makes it feel considerably colder.  Between us and France is the English Channel the beach and a field so when the wind blows from the East or North East it howls in.  Our kitchen is currently about 11 degrees.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

All this snow is great but with it being so cold outside for little ones means that you have to think of indoor entertainment.

So we made "Pink" (our favourite colour at the moment) butterfly cakes. 

Then we made a cardboard monster and guess what??
We painted it "Pink"!

Our obsession with dresses and tights continues and is continuing to stress me out especially when the weather is so cold.  I took Mimi to have her feet measured yesterday for new slippers and ended up buying slippers and shoes.  We ended up choosing the most hideous coloured pair of Kicker Boots ever.  We have had Kicker Boots before and they were great, so its not the choice of shoe just the colour.  The thing was they were in the sale (probably for good reason) however for little feet you just want something warm and waterproof.  Slippers were much easier as there was a limited choice but we decided to go for a lovely pair of pink flowery ones by Startrite.  We have had a pair before and I having tried others I have concluded that the little Startrite ones are good value for money.  They have a firm sole with tread which means if they go outside its not the end of the world and much more importantly they have support around the heel to prevent them from walking on the side of their foot.

New Slippers - Guess What?
They are Pink!

    

New Shoes - Check out those cool colour!!!

At least they go with the dress.
Jury's out on leggings and socks!

 Yippeee I have one day left at work.  For the first time ever I am hoping that we don't get more snow tonight as we are planning on going out tomorrow night for a few drinks and I would quite like the school to be open.


 

At a loss - modern technology!

How did we all survive before the internet and even more so pre-broadband?  Our connection went down on Friday.  We finally managed to get it reconnected last night!  My poor husband is trying to run a business from home which is internet dependant.  So much is done online these days that I too have been at a bit of a loss.  I couldn't book in for spinning at the FitnessMix, check my Weight Watchers pro points or most importantly ensure that I had transferred enough money into my bank account to cover the bills.

Whilst I am on the point about technology I really considered all of my options when choosing my new phone.  After much deliberation I finally opted with the HTC desire as it seemed like the best option for the money.  However just lately I have become very jealous of iphone users and wish I had shelled out the extra money.  Whilst I think the android app market has improved it is seriously inferior to the iphone.  What brings me to this conclusion is that there are several apps I would like to download but they are all only accessible on the i-phone.

Instagram allows you to take photos with filters on
your phone and then share them online

I would really like to use instagram (just think how good this would be linked to my blog), the weight watchers app and the Annabel Karmel app but unfortunately I can't and I am feeling increasingly frustrated.  According to the online forums instagram is coming to the android SOON!!   I think that Weight Watchers could make far more use of their website and apps and I am surprised that they have not created an app which lets you scan the bar-code of a product in the supermarket which tells you the pro points value.  I have emailed them to complain and they said that they have a team working on it!  However I have now been waiting a year!

Modern technology aside life in our house has been fairly busy.  Saturday I had a morning on my own - it was amazing and I had totally forgotten what that feeling of "me" time felt like.  I went to have my hair done at The Chair then on to meet K for coffee.  I truly believe that my hair has never looked so good since I have been going to The Chair.  Over the years I have struggled to get a good haircut as my hair is so curly but Katie is just amazing.  I would highly recommend having your hair done at The Chair.  Sunday we had a two back to back birthday parties.  Good job I went shopping in the Christmas sales and stocked up on a heap of birthday presents.

Mimi is becoming fairly independent and will only wear what she wants to.  It is becoming a little stressful and I may have to start hiding some of her favourite outfits.  Not because I want to be mean but because they just don't fit any more and its a bit too chilly to be wandering around with leggings up to her knees.

I just found her neatly lining up her shoes with Mr Doggy on the naughty mat.  I asked why he was on the mat and apparently he had touched the orange shoes hence why they are not paired up!

We made some gorgeous birthday cakes for my Mum.  Mimi had as usual a lovely time baking and I think even more fun eating the end results!!  I asked her last night what she would like to do today and she said "make something".  I suggested a cardboard monster but that idea was dismissed.  "No mummy I want to make a big cake with pink icing."

Birthday Cupcakes!  Yum Yum. Goodbye Diet!

So we have made scrummy brownies from Fay Ripleys book (no wonder it is taking me so long to loose some weight!) and done some painting.  No pink icing but someone had fun!!

How messy?!?  I think that there is more on her face than in her mouth!

Different types of markings using a comb in paint.

What an amazing start to October.  How many of us are in denial about the fact that winter is looming just around the corner?
I was woken up to a beautiful sunrise and Mimi clutching a lovely present for our Wedding Anniversary from my fab husband.  I love all things to do with stationary and today was no exception.  Mike brought me a beautiful Orla Kiely note book.

Last night for the first time in as long as I can remember Mike and I went out to dinner, just the two of us and it was great.  I had a truly great evening.  I think that this is something we are going to have to try and aim to do more often.  However we are off to Venice in a few weeks on our own for 4 days and I can't wait, although I am apprehensive about leaving little Mimi behind.

What an amazing sunrise 6.30am:  This is something that people without children might have missed!

Mimi helping put the rabbit out this morning.

We have had a great day helping Daddy in the garden and playing in the paddling pool.  About 2 weeks ago our neighbour asked Mike if he would mind cutting back some of the brambles to the side of the house.  They were quite out of control and were starting to infringe on his lovely manicured garden.  As always with projects like this Mike has taken to it like a duck out of water.  What started off as cutting a few brambles back seems to have turned into an earth moving exercise.  Unlike Mike in situations like this I shy away from the hard graft, this is not an area I particularly enjoy.  I am not overly keen on all the creepy crawlies.  I did however go out and help today.  I nearly wet myself when a whopping big frog or as Mike likes to call them a "marshary tap tap" leaped up and nearly landed on me.  Don't ask where "marshary tap tap" originates I still after 6 years of marriage haven't worked that one out!!!  There are a few other weird ones such as dog = noggers woolly, aeroplane = cobwob (because they make the cob webs wobble).

Mimi helping Daddy with his garden landscaping at 7.30 this morning!

Then after popping over to see Mikes parents for coffee we came back for more earth works.  Not wanting to shirk my duties it was too hot for me in the garden and I have the start of a cold so when Mimi went for her afternoon sleep I caught 40 winks too.  I feel really lazy but sometimes what the hell!

When Mimi woke up I decided we would get the paddling pool out.  Can you believe it here we are in October and Mimi was sitting in the garden in 27 degrees playing in the paddling pool.

Bargain of the week.

Yesterday Mimi and I met up with one of my oldest friends and her little girl.  We went to the Tented Village in Ashford.  This is a retail outlet centre.  It is usually full of a load of old rubbish, however it is a great place to pick up good stuff for Mimi.  And this trip was no exception.

This week right up until the 26th Gap have a 30% off voucher which you just need to print off from their website. This combined with their standard discount meant that I managed to get a whopping 55% off a beautiful coat and a bundle of other bits and bobs for Mimi.  The coat went from £32.00 down to less than £15 - What a bargain!!!!

Mimi trying out her new clothes at the Tented Village.

Every Thursday we go to music for an hour in one of the outlying villages.  Mimi loves it and comes home singing all of her little songs.  Its really quite cute.  We all sit in a big circle and join in.  The class isn't very big - probably about 6-10 children and it is quite structured.  We sing a few songs, learn about a different musical instrument each week which we all get to try and then we finish with sleeping bunnies which seems to be a favourite.

This afternoon Mimi spent some of her time painting with some water colours I had forgotten I had.  She was sitting quite happily in the high chair in the kitchen whilst I was cooking the tea.  I was turned for about a min and when I looked back she had tried to paint herself as a tiger.

I think we will go and get some proper face paints at the weekend.

 She then proceeded to sit Mr Doggy at the table and feed him some of the rabbits lettuce in an upturned Frisbee.

CUTE.

We have also taken to dressing up all the time and pretending to be a princess.  She is becoming quite obsessed with it.

Check out this crazy baby.

I wish this weather would decide what it's up to.  In between all these showers we have eventually managed to get outside to finish potting our planters.  Mimi even managed to persuade me to get the paddling pool out.  When the sun comes out it has been surprisingly warm.

Mimi helping with the planting

Not sure who's taking a photo of who

I think we have finally cracked the potty training.  We have had no accidents for the last few days and she has even started to wake me up in the night so that she can go for a wee wee.

I did find it really hard going but I am pleased that I stuck with it.  Once she realised that she had to use the potty it only took us a couple of days.  However we still have an issue with public toilets so we have to take our portable potty with us.

Today Mimi's little friend came round for lunch.  They were so cute sitting together at the table.  They kept copying one another.

Mimi taking "MR Doggy" for a walk

Happy Wednesday

After an early trip to Sainsburys (Mimi free) I had the most amazing breakfast.  I am not a breakfast person and usually have to force myself to eat something.  Today however was a new experience.  Yesterday I made a blackberry compote which I had with some Greek yoghurt and grenola and it was delicious. 

    

Once we were sorted we decided that the weather was looking good so we thought we would give the new paddling pool a test run.  Whilst the weather started out OK it unfortunately didn't last very long with the cloud rolling in and the wind picking up.  Mimi and her collection of peppa pig creatures seemed to enjoy it until they all became a bit too cold.

I am starting to reach the end of my tether.  Mimi is really pushing the boundaries and is refusing to use the potty.  Now this is not because she can't or she doesn't understand as she managed it several times over the last two days.  It is because she is choosing not to.  Not even the temptation of treats or chocolate is now working.  She has also become really clingy and has been hanging on to my leg most of the day or demanding cuddles.  In sheer desperation as I don't like to ask too often we have rung Mikes parents who have very kindly said that they will take her for a couple of hours in the morning for me. Phew!  A couple of hours peace and quiet on the other hand this may mean that I can actually clean the house!  We have got a succession of guests over the next few weekends and our house is a state!

I took my car to the garage yesterday for a service and investigation into this weird knocking noise - we were really worried as the knocking was getting louder.  This knocking noise turned out to be the spare wheel bolt which had worked itself loose!  I expect they thought - "Typical - Women!"

What a difference a day makes!

Two days ago we were on the beach and yesterday we had the paddling pool out.  Today we sheltered inside from the driving rain.

To keep ourselves busy today we have done some baking.  We made the Jamie Oliver Chocolate & Chilli cake although I adapted the recipe and made it with dark muscovado sugar.  I also adapted the icing.  I placed the broken up chocolate in a bowl and heated the cream with a knob of butter on the stove until it was boiling, I then poured the cream over the chocolate and left it for about 5-10 mins.  I then stirred it  altogether and when cool placed it in the fridge until it started to set.

Chocolate and Chilli Cake

We played Hide N Seek

Mimi's idea of hiding.

In between the showers we managed a quick trip in to town to grab a few things for the weekend (we have my brother and his girlfriend coming to stay).  We brought Mimi some new socks.  I had my back turned for 1 minute and she had put them all on!

I have managed to squeeze in a spare few minutes to upload my first items on to Etsy.  Quite nervous about how people will view my work and whether I will get any interest or not.  There is so much good stuff on there like these fab bracelets which I am going to order as soon as I have completed this post.

I Love Knots Bracelet

Just after putting Mimi to bed I was looking out of the window when I saw this cute little cruise ship going towards Dover.  Looking at this photo now it almost feels as if we haven't had any rain today!  

I am hoping the weather improves tomorrow as we have to go out for the day.  Mike has a business associate coming down from London.   Having your wife and noisy child knocking about doesn't really give that "Professional Edge".