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Sunday, 31 March 2013

Happy Easter



Nat and I have had great fun this week getting ready for Easter.



We painted cut out eggs and made a chain of yellow chicks.



He loved blowing eggs and painting them.  I then decorated them with ears or little gems and we made little stands for them.



We put everything around the fireplace to create a little Easter display.



Nat bought me a lovely Narcissus plant so that joined the display too.



I accidentally dropped one of the eggs and it smashed.  I knew Nat would be upset so I popped it back on the mantlepiece and stuck a couple of feathers inside.  As far as Nat is concerned  - that one hatched!!

Had a slight crisis on Thursday when I went to Sainsburys supermarket after work to pick up some chocolate eggs for the boys.  Imagine my horror to find their shelves completely bare of eggs and a shop assistant telling me that apparently there has been a national egg shortage.  A National Egg Shortage?  You have to be kidding me!!

Anyway, Friday morning I went to both Tesco and the Co-op and both shops were also out of all the decent eggs.  I managed to pick up a couple of eggs to make do.

Fortunately I needn't have worried as by the time grandparents and other friends had dropped over the eggs that they had kindly bought for our boys they had plenty of variety to choose from.

Nat helped me decorate some little Easter cakes - spiced fruit simnel cup cakes with a nugget of marzipan inside.





 
 

We hosted a bring and share supper on Saturday evening for my church women's group and their
partners.

It was great because I cooked a couple of Lasagnes, made some Chilli Con Carne and Rice and a Maccaroni Pie and the guests bought salads, bread, deserts and drinks so it wasn't nearly as much effort as it would normally be if I had been preparing all the food.

It was a great evening but we were then up half the night with Nathaniel who woke with difficulty breathing.  He was really struggling to breathe and had a very definite wheeze.  I ended up calling the out of hours doctor in the early hours of the morning and they made an appointment for  later in the day.

Consequently we didn't get much sleep but by the time Nat woke up he was bright as a button and nothing was discernably wrong with him.

Nat was very excited to come downstairs and find the white powdery trail of bunny prints leading from the front door into the lounge where a pile of Easter eggs had been left for the boys.  The little paw prints then continued through the lounge and into the kitchen, through the conservatory and out the door.

Nat was thrilled with his chocolate eggs and drove all the way to church clutching a small white chocolate bunny.

It was a lovely Easter service and Nat came out with another Easter egg.

We then drove up to the hospital where the out of hours doctors surgery is held.  I was really embarrassed to take Nat in looking so well.  The doctor was lovely (in fact I think I have met her before on a previous occassion when I made a trip to the out of hours doctor.  It seems that every special occasion one of the boys gets sick.  I was at the hospital Boxing Day, New Years Day and now Easter Sunday too)

Anyway she listened to Nat's chest and could hear a wheeze so I didnt feel completely stupid for having taken him.  She diagnosed a viral wheeze and told me to keep on giving him the ventolin inhaler five times a day but she also prescribed a steroid inhaler that she wants us to use on him for the next week.  Hopefully that should do the trick and we might get a better nights sleep tonight!

Back home Nat discovered that the Easter bunny had left an Easter bucket and a trail of eggs in the garden for him to collect.

 


It has been a nice lazy day.  Hopefully the weather might brighten up for Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow.

Thursday, 21 March 2013

George and Joe's Wedding

I have had such a busy week I haven't yet had chance to blog about last weekend and my best friend's wedding.

David and I drove down to Cornwall on Friday morning.  It took us six and a half hours to get down there but when we arrived we checked into our room, at the Royal Duchy, which had a lovely view of the sea.




We then went to find George in the spa area and enjoyed a drink with her and her sister Sam.

 
 
Later that evening we went out for pizza and pasta with George and her family.

I wasn't feeling too great so decided to get an early night in readiness for the wedding the next day.

Had a good nights sleep and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast. 

Spent the morning helping George and chatting as she had her hair done.


Then David and I got changed into our wedding outfits.

 

George had all three of her daughters as bridesmaids and her niece Abbie.

Mary and Abbie looked beautiful in their twenties style dresses and headbands


The service was held in the same church that Holly was Christened in last year. 


It was a lovely service and George looked absolutely stunning in her dress.


The wedding breakfast was absolutely delicious and we enjoyed sitting on a table and chatting with George's family.




The evening was great fun with two great bands and lots of dancing.

All good nights come to an end far too quickly don't they?

The following day we had another yummy breakfast and then I had to bid farewell to my beautiful friend and her new hubby so we could drive the seven hours home again!




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Nat's 3rd Birthday Pirate Party


It has been a busy and fun weekend getting ready for and then celebrating Nathaniel's 3rd birthday.

Pirate Nat


I am friends with Rain, a girl I met in Hospital.  We were both on the same ward after having our ceasarian sections.  Her little boy Heath was born the day before Nathaniel and we have kept in touch ever since.

This year for their third birthdays we decided to host a joint party in a local Scout Hut.

Rain is a children's entertainer so she agreed to do the entertaining and sorted out the games and party bags.
Pirate Rain

I offered to take care of all the food and drink for the children and their parents.

Heath had wanted a pirate party so that was the theme of the day.  At first Nat didn't have a clue what  a pirate was but by the time the party came around he was very excited.

Pirate Nat and Captain Sebastian


Even David and I dressed up and made ourselves look ridiculous to get in the party spirit.


Me
Pirate David

Seb looked particularly good in his costume.



It was lovely when Nat saw his birthday cake which I had made and decorated as he exclaimed "oooh that's an amazing cake" which was very sweet.




The highlight of the weekend was that my brother and his wife and three children drove down for the weekend to attend the party.  They came down the day before so we had time to catch up and the children were able to play together.  It was particularly good because we hadn't seen them for over 18 months as they spent a year in Australia and although they came back last November they have relocated to Sheffield so have been busy looking for a new house and schools.

The boys really enjoyed seeing their cousins again.

The cousins all together
Susannah, Sebastian, Samuel, Nathaniel and Joshua


Anyway the party went really well and all the children seemed to enjoy themselves although it was quite an exhausting day.

Pirate Nat and Pirate Heath in the middle of a parachute game


After we had cleared away we went back to my parents for lunch and then waved goodbye to Luke & Carolyn and the kids.  Hopefully we will be able to go and visit them in their New Home very soon.

Nathaniel has spent the rest of the day playing with all his new toys.