Missing

I know I've been missing for a while - sorry. I have been busy this week and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down much until after the weekend. Will try and do a proper post soon (and take some photos!!) xx

A card

Another good day. After seeing Emily off to school, I got stuck in on the second basket of ironing. Probably got about half way through before it was time to take Claire to work and meet up with my friends for coffee at Caffe Nero. Always good to meet up with the coffee ladies and because we don't always get to see each other between coffee mornings, always lots to catch up on. Home by lunch time, another lovely day so made lunch for Hugh and myself and then I sat outside to eat. I love our back garden, if the weather is good it's beautiful sitting out there. Didn't linger too long though because I wanted to get the ironing finished. Ironing complete and it was time to start on a birthday card for a friend's birthday tomorrow. I didn't know what I was going to do so just played around with scraps and punches and I'm happy with the final result. I'd just finished the card when Mum and Dad arrived. Dad had some plants for our garden so we left him to it while Mum and I sat outside chatting. Once Dad had finished we had coffee before they left again. Very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. I'm now going to do some reading and have a cup of rooibos (redbush tea) before bed. xx

Update: Wasn't sure about the happy birthday stamp on the card so I typed up a new Happy Birthday and matted it with the brown. ~Which one do you prefer?

Good day!

What I mean is .... today has been a good day - productive! I did the ironing this morning, had a break for lunch and have just completed 6 months of filing! It's been bugging me, I don't like piles of filing and although I can hide it away in a drawer, I still know it's there - waiting to be done. Today, I went through every piece of paper, recycled what I could, shredded what I couldn't and filed all that needed to be filed. A good day indeed! Now I can enjoy my coffee morning tomorrow ;o)

Hope you have had a good day too.

xx

Still playing

A few more photos while I play with the lens

My new orchid

Charlie

Tulips and wall flowers

Azalea bush

Interesting!

Out for a walk this morning

Loved the blue glasses at a friend's house

I'll try and find something to write about soon ;)

xx

Playing with my camera

I've been trying to play with my camera a bit more recently. I have just got a Gary Fong Lightsphere for my flash (early birthday present from dh) and took a few photos the other day. I liked this one of Tom - doesn't look like it's taken with flash. Then after seeing Karen's photos taken in Highland Park and contacting her to see what lens she had used, I've been looking at lenses. I remembered that Dad said he had a 60mm f2.8, so I gave him a call and asked if I could borrow it to see what it's like. Emily and I walked round to their house this afternoon and picked up the lens and I started playing with it when we got home. First victims were the plants in our garden ;o) I love cherry blossom and thought this one turned out well.

This one of the wall flowers is straight out of the camera and I love the colours.

Another of the wallflowers. After that I persuaded Emily to come outside for a mini photo shoot (or I would post an unflattering photo from earlier, lol!) We just walked around our road and took a few photos in different locations. Here are a few that I liked.

Yes ma'am

Throwing a leaf up in the air - I couldn't believe I actually got the leaf in the photo!

Lots of leaves ;o)

Had to have a photo of the converses

leaf examination ;o)

Peek a Boo!

I have to say, so far I'm enjoying the lens and I'm looking forward to trying it out some more.

Hope you're having a good weekend

xx

Another video to watch

On Sunday, my sister Kay was telling us about a woman they had seen on Britain's got Talent. I didn't see the show but saw the video today and you might like to have a look too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwendysmedley%2Etypepad%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded All for now. xx

Wednesday

The Easter weekend went by very quickly but was most enjoyable. I hope everyone else enjoyed their Easter break as well. Emily "won" the Easter egg hunt while Claire gave up after finding a couple of eggs and was then happy to sit and watch Emily find the rest. Chocolate was cut down a bit this year as the children have had so much in the past there have been occassions where we have thrown eggs out months later. I didn't take many photos when family came round on Easter Sunday for a bbq/braai but did take some of Tyler who had a great time running up and down the garden.

I set my camera to sport mode and got a few sequences of him running so decided to make a simple scrapbook page to remember the afternoon's fun

I love little children's laughter and seeing them really enjoy themselves. I wish I had half their energy - after running around for a good part of the afternoon Tyler suddenly became very tired and decided it was time to go home for a nap. Too cute!

Off to Newhaven this morning with Emily - we're going to the South African shop to pick up some of the things we miss from SA - yum!!

xx

Raindrops on tulips

Just a few photos of the tulips outside our back door after the rain last night.

xx

Claire's birthday (2nd post)

Claire's had a fun packed birthday and has now gone out for the night. This morning she was picked up by Oli and Sam and taken in to Crawley where she "needed" to do some birthday shopping. They got back this afternoon just in time for family arriving for tea and cake (Oli and Sam stayed too)

Oli, Claire and Sam

Birthday cake with polka dot candles :) Oooh, surprise!! ;)

She did well blowing out her 19 candles

Whew!

Tyler was very impressed and then resumed going down his nan's "slide" legs

Emily and Michaela listening to the banter between Claire and the boys

Time for cake

Once everyone had left we popped in to town so that Claire could see everyone at work and they wanted to give her a birthday present. We had time to change when we got home before going to The Emperor Chinese Restaurant. Unfortunately Hugh wasn't able to join us because he was working a late shift. The food was delicious, as always, and we had a lovely evening.

Claire had time to get changed again before Oli and Sam came to pick her for her night out. They were starting out at Wetherspoons and then moving on to Whitehall (the local club) where Claire had booked a party. However, tonight Whitehall were having a school uniform dress code because of the people coming back from Uni. I found out that this was why Claire had wanted to go shopping this morning - she got a new skirt, tie and shirt for the occassion. I've no doubt she will have a wonderful time and by the sound of it she's expecting around 30 friends to join her. Best of all is that I know the boys will make sure she gets home safely.

Finally, I'd like to try and add a link to a video that Dave Powling shared on his blog which gave me goosebumps. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop..swf?clip_id=2539741 I hope you enjoy it too.

xx

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire is 19 - as I type it's 9.18am the exact time she was born! She LOVES birthdays (and Christmas) and has been counting down to her birthday for the past month. Today is the day!! Here she is waiting for everyone to come down so she can open her presents. Jon is working from home today so we didn't have to get up super early but by 8am she was anxious to get started.

Presents piled up next to her and she can start opening.

One from Emily

The final one came in a little jewellery store bag - she had no clue what was inside :)

I think she liked it!

Couldn't resist adding this photo of Hugh. He doesn't enjoy being hauled out of bed when he doesn't have an early work shift but is a good sport and gets up for all birthdays. I think he was just counting down till he could go back to bed!

As you will have realised, Claire got back safely from Dublin yesterday. She brought little presents for each of us, which we weren't expecting! She knows me well, I love my little notebook and pen and you can never have too many!

Birthday wishes also go to Morag and Duncan - two members of our extended family with birthdays on the same day ;)

I'm sure there will be more photos soon.

Enjoy your day - I know Claire is certainly going to enjoy hers.

xx

What a difference!

I know, two posts in one day is virtually unheard of for me but I had to share these photos :) As most people who read my blog will know, Emily is my youngest child.

Emily, Faith and Claire - photo taken last month

Well, tonight Emily and I went to have our hair cut and before we left, Emily was trying to decide whether to have hers cut short or not. She found some photos of a hairstyle she liked and took them along. After chatting to Mary, she decided that she would go ahead and have it cut short.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take photos until Mary had got to this stage This is how much was cut off and .... .............................. .............................. ..............................

Isn't she stunning!

xx