Starting again

To start with I thought I'd show you something I have been working away on for some months now. It was a birthday present for my big sister- so I couldn't blog about it. Big sister had dropped some big hints at Christmas after I made this wreath for my Mum.

Realising that her birthday was around the same time as the big move I started early. I decided to make the attic24 Autumn wreath 

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2013/11/autumn-wreath-ta-dah.html

as my sister has a woodland theme in her living room. So here's it finished 

I am a bit in love with the hedgehog in the middle and am hoping to make one for us in time for Autumn (it's on the end of a big internal list of crafting things to do!)

In the meantime I am making another attic24 blanket In the cupcake colour pack

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2008/08/the-ripple-ta-dah.html

I haven't got too far but I only started it after the move. I have been manically unpacking and have only one more room to finish. Not bad as we have only been here 11 days and were away for the weekend! 

Berwick feels like a blank piece of paper and I have been trying to start again meeting people, creating a timetable of things to do. Until we decided to move I never realised how my life as it was with the children had been built up over years. 

There are as always good things and bad things with moving. 

I definately felt one of the bad points today as I sat rather awkwardly in a toddler group I went to for the first time. I felt like a lemon and trying to integrate into conversations without appearing intrusive or even worse desperate! 

I am also feeling another bad point as I am suffering a rather bad back after too much moving furniture on my own as I am too inpatient to wait for hubby to get home!

There are however many good things like living so near the beach.

Nemo and Pebble just love the beach. Nemo loves building sand castles like his Dad and and they both go crazy in the sea running around, screaming with delight! Of course the inevitable always happens, they both end up falling in and leaving the sea crying and wet! 

This is Nemo on a time out having a time out after having a tantrum as he didn't want to leave the beach! 

I also love the amazing scenery on our doorstep. Excuse this rubbish photos but just walking into Berwick town, there are such amazing views!

Nemo loves standing on the big bridge and watching cars go over this little bridge and the trains on another bridge.

Our first weekend in our new house actually involved us driving down to Birmingham for my Grandad's 90th birthday. The children did pretty well considering all the traveling but I think the upheaval of moving then going away the next weekend confused them and made them grumpy. However the last few days have seen them seem more settled and happy. 

Here is Pebble in her cute party dress having a dance with Daddy. 

And here she is playing with Nemo's hat. At the moment she is definately more of a poser for the camera then Nemo who is much too busy to stop for his Mum! 

Here are Nemo and Pebble with my Dad. It reminded me of this scene from last weekend

On moving weekend Pebble fell totally in love with Grandma. She suddenly decided that Grandma was the best, even sometimes better then Mummy (completely unheard of for Pebble).

Nemo is very excited as my Parents are coming to see us this weekend as they are staying not far away for the weekend. This will be the third weekend in a row of seeing them but at least my Mum won't have to cook this time!

Anyway I've just been rambling on so I will leave you with a couple of cute pictures! 

Location location location!

It's been 2 months since my last post. People have been asking about it. Well the reason behind the silence has been that in April we made a decision to move to..... 

Ok well a bit more technically we made the decision for Andy to work in Edinburgh. We had a great deal of stress and house searching (not easy when landlords don't like dogs and you live hundreds of miles away. Anyway we actually found a house in Berwick-upon-tweed; south of Edinburgh. 

I am ecstatic with the house we have. It's has so much room, such a lovely design, a massive gardens and even a log burner. Hubby has to get a train up but seems pretty happy with his quiet commute alongside the Scottish coast. 

It wasn't official for ages whilst hubby's transfer was confirmed so couldn't blog about it and thn once it was official I've been just a little busy packing up the house. We moved on Sunday and having tried to be so organised it seemed to descend into chaos when on Saturday our movers called saying they couldn't move us until Monday. Really really long story short we did move in Sunday but it did not do wonders for my stress levels! We had from different people in regards to the move but my poor parents featured majorly in the efforts! It's funny that however old your mum and dad still parent you! 

It's such a relief to be in our new house with all our things, having spent weeks clearing out, packing and cleaning. It's been a tough few weeks saying goodbye to so many friends in Bristol. Over the past 6 years we have met so many lovely people who have become an important part of our lives. However it is exciting to be starting a new chapter in our lives. I'm just hoping I can find lots of toddler groups here! 

The kids are so excited to be here. They love the garden and on the night we arrived they were both enthusiastically running around the garden in the rain! (Including Pebble who is now walking rather then crawling)

Nemo had his first pre school preparation session and had a great time. When we came to see the house in May we came to visit the pre-school and Nemo played so happily we could have left him there! All the Mums had to sit their children in a circle on the floor before leaving them on their own. Nemo was fine until all these children started screaming, at which point he became so confused and worried that he started to cry! To be fair the way those children were screaming I think I would have been pretty terrified! However when he walked in an hour later him was a very happy little boy who had clearly had a very good time. 

He got a book bag with a new book in to take home, here is is walking home very proudly carrying his bag!

The children were again playing in the garden. Poppy loves the extra space and has spent a great deal of the day rolling around in the grass.

Grandma spoilt the children and got them several thing for the garden including a wheelbarrow set and some windmills. 

Unfortunately Pebble took a nasty stumble on the paving stones and ended up with a bruise on her forehead and grazes on her nose and cheek. I feel so sorry for her however after a short while she was running around again!

 You can see that the ordeal hasn't affected her appetite! 

I have been frantically unpacking, so far the living room boxes are unpacked, as are the kitchen ones and our bedroom boxes. There are of course two wreaths unpacked already, my spring one 

(Note the fairy lights also!) 

And this lovely wreath a craft group I go to made for me as a leaving gift!

I'm off now, I haven't crocheted in around two weeks and I have this bundle I got for my birthday that I want to make a start on! 

Enjoying spring

I actually love winter, I really don't mind rain or the cold. I'm quite partial to getting wrapped up to go out and Autumn is probably my favourite season as I can get wrapped up and have the beautiful colours of the trees. Having said this with Nemo and Pebble I definately have a new appreciation for the start of spring.

I can send Nemo and Pebble to play out in the garden more and don't have to stuff a plethora of coats, hats, scarfs, waterproofs into the bottom on the pram. 

I realise most of my blogs have been crochet based so I thought I would catch you up on some of what we've been up to over the last few weeks.

We haven't been to our favourite woods in a few months now due to an outbreak of Alabama rot (which is dangerous to dogs) across the country. There were a couple of suspected cases from our woods but nothing for some time now so we eventually decided to go back. This was just in time to see the bluebells in the woods. 

Pebble really appreciates the natural beauty of the woods!

Now Pebble is attempting to walk a little and is playing out in the garden we realised she needed some shoes. Now I am always a bit stingy when it comes to shoes. I keep an eye out for second hand Clark ones which cost a fraction of the price and already have Nemo's next size and Pebbles next 3 sizes in shoes. However Pebble feet were too tiny for the shoes I had already acquired we went to the shoe shop and saw these....

How ridiculously adorable right? 

So now armed with shoes I can get rid of both children to the garden :) 

Here they are both playing on the trampoline (this rarely stays without incident for very long!) 

Most weeks we get the bus to Bristol. We go and meet Hubby for lunch and go to the museum. 

For Easter me and Nemo made the usual chocolate crunch cupcakes. 

Licking the spoon afterwards it definately a highlight for Nemo. He loves 'helping' in the kitchen. Whenever I cook I get Nemo trying to help, Pebble crawling on the floor crying to be picked up and Poppy walking around ready to pounce on any morsel of food that might be dropped. After we made the cupcakes Pebble went for a sleep and I popped upstairs to put some clothes away. This was pretty stupid though only away for a short amount of time I returned to discover Nemo had emptied a large tub of salt and a whole box of cornflakes onto the kitchen floor. 

I explained to Nemo that he shouldn't have done this and got him to help tidy up which he did happily. Afterwards I told Nemo that although I wasn't happy he made the mess I was happy that he helped tidy it up at which Nemo asked "sticker chocolate?" Which is his treat when he has done something good and has collected 5 stickers (it entitles him to a chocolate coin from Christmas which we are still getting through!) 

This was the vacuum cleaner afterwards. I thought mixed in with the bath bomb debris (leftover under our bed from another little incident) it looked quite pretty! 

We had a lovely Easter weekend with hubby being home. We enjoyed the lovely weather with a walk in Ashton court on the Friday. 

Nemo must have walked a good hour or so but needed a little carry for the last bit! 

We had some paninis afterwards in the lovely sunshine :) 

The kids did some Easter craft 

Easter Sunday saw me bring out another once a year recipe! It's hot cross buns with marmalade cooked in vanilla custard! (To be fair it tastes nicer then it looks!) 

Here's a picture of Pebble looking cute- just because!

Lining up all the cars on the mat is a daily job for Nemo! 

There have of course been plenty of walks in our town. We are keeping our local charity shop in business! 

We have also been to soft play. 

This would have been a lovely picture if Pebble was cooperating!

And just before I leave you- Darth Vadar is still very much 'in' with Nemo. This morning I found Nemo had done this- because even Darth Vadar has a soft side!