What Saturdays are for

5 days…

Not including today it is 5 more days until Robyn goes back to school and 5 more days until Katie starts playgroup 3 afternoons per week.

I have on the whole enjoyed the summer holidays but it has been stressful and now I am on countdown. Very soon I will be able to get back into a routine. No doubt I’ll be moaning before long about the rushing around in the mornings etc. I’m never happy lol.

Normal blogging service will hopefully resume soon

And breathe…

I have calmed down now. Katie is asleep and will hopefully awake in a better mood.

I love my children so much but they are so so different. I sometimes struggle with their differences. Robyn has always been the sensible one and I wish Katie was more like her. On the other hand Katie has so much more confidence and sometimes I wish Robyn could be more confident.

If they were the same I guess it would be a boring life. I love both my children. I love them for who they are but everyone needs a rant sometimes, right?!

The Incredible Hulk

That is what Katie sounds like right now. All week she has tested my patience to the limits. This morning I have reached breaking point.

The photograph below was taken yesterday when we took the girls along with my nephew and Robyns best friend to a country park. We intended on staying all afternoon but Katie ensured that we came home early after she did nothing but whinge unless she was doing precisely what SHE wanted to do. Maybe I should have let her run into the muddy bog or fall off a wobbly log into a huge patch of stinging nettles. Maybe I should have let her climb over the fence and into the water? Silly mummy should have conjured up some more bread to feed the ducks once we had used it all up and I should have let her stay stood in the car park when it was time to get in the car.

This morning she has repeatedly thrown rediculous tantrums when she hasnt got her own way. She is now in her bedroom while we both calm down. I love her to pieces, I really do, but I am left wondering where on earth I went wrong with her.

My new toy

So after thinking I’d never get the DSLR that I was dreaming of before my OU course starts I am so chuffed to announce that I have got a Sony a200!

It has been made possible by my wonderful, supportive family. I am so grateful to them!

I’ve already been out taking pictures and I am loving it already. All the limitations that I struggled with on my compact camera are now lifted and I am learning so much. It is giving me the motivation to get up and go outside. Yesterday we went blackberry picking and this morning we went to the park (OK, so it resulted in Katie’s bump but it was good up until then!).

Here is a mosaic of some of the pictures I have taken with my new toy. Thankyou again to my friends Mel & Becks for their help, advice & encouragement. Also thanks of course to my wonderful family, without them I wouldnt be making this post now!

Bumps & Bruises

I suppose it was only a matter of time until Katie ended up with a monster of a bruise. It finally happened this morning.

I got up and decided since it wasn’t raining I would take the kids for a walk round the park before breakfast. Today is my first day back on a healthy lifestyle after lots of weeks off.

We were having a lovely time. The kids were running and playing beautifully together. We looked at the chipmunks & birds in their enclosures and I was snapping away with my new camera (will blog separately about that exciting news!)

Then Katie ran smack bang into a bench and within seconds she had a huge lump on her forehead
I was about to turn to go home when I realised we were closer to my mum and dads house than ours. I rang mum to warn her & then ran most of the way (what a sight that must have been!) and mum had a bag of frozen sweetcorn at the ready.

She seems ok, just very very whingey. She keeps telling me it “Hurts!”.

My poor baby 😦

Let’s go fly a kite

At the weekend we decided to get away. We’re very lucky to have access to my parents lovely apartment in Morecambe. It is situated right on the seafront and being on the 4th floor (there is a lift, thank goodness!) means that the views across Morecambe Bay are amazing.

We can be there in an hour on a good traffic day and so it is perfect for a quick break. Boy did we need that break! We had some lovely walks, we had a good breakfast at our favourite greasy spoon café, we took the girls to soft play and we played on the beach. Most of all though, we just relaxed in the apartment watching the tide come in and out.

If you have ever been fortunate enough to just do that for hours on end you will know it is compelling viewing. At Morecambe the tide swirls round and comes in from different directions. The picture I currently use as my banner here on my blog is the view from the beach at the front of the apartment. When the tide is in we watch them bobbing around. When the tide is out we see them sitting on the muddy sand. Often there are fishermen walking out to the sea. We love to watch the boats when the tide is on it’s way in. The way the sea carefully picks the boats up and allows them to be free once more is something that grips us.

We’ll often sit in silence and then one of us will announce “There’s someone on that boat!”. Then we’ll watch until the tide is in far enough for the boat to set sail. Once the boat gets going we’ll watch until it’s out of sight, and then wonder where they are going, how long they will be gone and what sights they will see.

On Sunday teatime we all went down to the beach armed with buckets, spades and a kite. The girls built sandcastles and tried to dig to Australia. Anthony flew the kite and I sat. I sat watching my beautiful family having fun. I sat watching the wonderful sea. I sat watching the boats beached on the sand and I watched the kite blowing in the wind.

It’s so important to us to have family time. We love to be together having fun. I’m so thankful to my Mum & Dad for giving us the chance to go to Morecambe and be together and to create so many happy memories.