Easter Goodiness & A Wish for You

Happy Good Friday to you!!

It's the Easter weekend and a big birthday weekend for us.  The past week of the Easter school holidays has passed way too quickly and in an effort to stop and savour some of those precious moments I thought I would share some of our Easter decorations / preparations with you.

#1  The Oh-So-Necessary creation of Chocolate Nests!

These are so quick and easy to make - and a favourite Easter treat in many houses across the world I'm sure.  Little Lady had a corn flake and chocolate mix while Little Man had mashed up shredded wheat, chopped hazelnuts and chocolate chips in his mix.

The only tricky bit with these is always to get the chocolate spread across the entire bowl contents before the chocolate sets.  Hmmmm.

Also, Little Lady completed her nests first and initially had 3 mini eggs nestled in each chocolate case.  I had only purchased a single bag (just why are mini eggs so expensive- or is that just my opinion?)  With a little discussion and strong encouragement we managed to achieve a single egg in each nest so that no little chocolate nest was eggless.  Despite the rationing, they still tasted great, were plenty in terms of sugary naughtiness and one bag made it's way across 24 nests (result).

A rare photo of me - and yes, the kiddos are still in their PJ's!!!  It's a hard life eh?

#2  The Easter Tree

Apologies for the quality of photo - the light when I took this was appalling but you get the idea!

#3  Spring Flowers

I managed to get this set of grape hyacinths for 50p and the hyacinths in the above photo in their basket for £3 at our local garden centre.  They were reduced as they were considered to have 'gone over' even though they were just in bud.  It was my gain anyway.  I have been lucky enough to have hyacinths in my house since early March - always three bulbs at a time purchased ready planted and always reduced!  The combined scent and flowers have provided many moments of happiness for me.

#4  Homemade Easter Cakes

This sponge cake was a combined creative effort between myself and Little Lady.  One night while the boys were at football practice, she and I sat and did a tad of sugar crafting.   We chuckled while we mixed up the fondant icing colours and talked about our overall plan for the cake.  I had previously pinned a cake with a bunny going into the side (like a burrow) on my Easter pinterest board and thought it would be quite easy to recreate (obviously in a more amateur fashion!).  Little Lady moulded the chick on top and I put the Bunny bottom together!

We also made the shards of grass, flowers and the chick cupcake toppers (in the photo above this one) on the same evening.  It was really enjoyable to spend this bit of time chatting and making with each other.

I made the sponge and assembled the bits together this afternoon - the icing had dried out so it was more solid to work with and the cake would still be fresh when cut tomorrow.  When Little Man saw it he announced "Wow, that cake will taste GREEN!"  Not quite sure if that's a good thing?

It is the Hubby's birthday tomorrow (Easter Sunday) so it's a cake to celebrate both occasions.  My birthday is Tuesday so it's a happy week for us!!  I remember my 18th birthday was on Easter Sunday many moons ago!

#5  Easter Kiddie Crafting

The past week of holidays has been quite wet and cold.  We've managed to enjoy a fair amount of outdoor time (the kind of grab your coat spontaneously and go time).  However, we have also balanced this with some rather enjoyable crafting time.  It was lovely to collate a few of the little Easter themed makes of the past week.  There have also been Harry Potter themed makes - lots of them.  I'll share that another time.

Thank you as always for your lovely comments on my Target Squares Blanket.  I haven't done any crochet this week and hope to put that right soon!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.  I hope you find blessings across the weekend and that the Easter Bunny delivers some choccy goodness to your door.

J9 x

Half Term Happies

This half term has passed quietly and far too quickly.  I love these days of unscheduled activity where we can do whatever the heart pleases.  My Littlie's are growing noticeably at present - physically and emotionally.  These treasured days together are good for the soul and we tried to balance rest, purposeful activity and catching up with loved ones.

::  Pancake day and Baking naughtiness...

::  A couple days in Cornwall staying with my Mum...

A visit to the Hubby's biggest bro and family in Devon...  Normal family time in the interim moments.  Moments of chaos, calm or creativity.  All so very precious in the fabric of our lives.  It's a pleasure to reflect on these snippets of our simple life and to share them here with you.

I know you lovely people will enjoy the next photos.  This spot which edges a country road in my childhood village is always beautiful for spring flowers.  Initially the snow drops are abundant and later, the daffodils flower in wonderful tones of yellow which are followed in turn by primroses in cream.  I was completely adoring these stunning swathes of snowdrops...

I hope you had a wonderful half term / fabby week whatever you have been doing.  I'm looking forward to showing you my Ta Dah for the Painted Roses Blanket later this week.

Happy Monday Folks,

J9 x

Happy Moments #2

Morning Lovely people and a big WELCOME to all you new followers and readers.  It's lovely to have you follow along and I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better in the year ahead!

It's been a mixed week in my part of the world.  Lots of good things and a few good challenges thrown in for good measure.  I was reading a leaflet on one of my newly diagnosed conditions last week and literally laughed out loud.  The one and only symptom in a long list that I didn't have was weight loss.  It seems the good Lord has a little giggle sometimes and thinks - ahhh, she can handle it but something she wants...nope!  Due to this diagnosis I've had to cut out caffeine and reduce sugar intake so perhaps the weight loss in future could be a by product of this.  It's strange how my will power (which has been so lacking in the last few months) has become cast iron in resolve since needing to do it to help with my symptoms.  Good strange though.

There have still been many things to be grateful for in my simple life.  Here are a few of the happy moments I've been thankful for in the last 10 days:

::  Signs of spring slowly becoming apparent.  These snowdrops were sheltered underneath an oak tree on a sunny bank.  Spring flowers are among my favourites and snowdrops just make my heart sing.  Whilst I don't hate winter, I do find that the cold and lack of sunlight exacerbates most of my symptoms.  I understand why so many people in their retirement winter in warmer climates!!  Still, these lovely flowers bring great joy.

::  Wonderous textures in our countryside.  The bark of some of these trees was gnarled and curved.  It created beautiful shapes and textures which just needed to be captured.  The bracket fungi growing on one tree was really prolific,

::  Precious moments with Little Lady as per our 'plan'.  Looming of 3D objects is the current obsession.  So many patterns identified through books and some through YouTube.  The cute picture is of a pink banana.  She has also made peas in a pod "Percy, Pat & Paul" and cheesy chips in a cute carton - very creative.

::  Grateful for medication that keeps me going and the ongoing care of Consultants new to me (through those recent referrals).  New diagnoses produce mixed emotions but also bring hope.  I start a new medication, which takes twelve weeks to start working but hopefully when it does... it could relieve some of my symptoms.

::My lovely 'little ones' playing along with "The Voice" on Saturday night.  They rigged up a system next to me in bed where they could press their makeshift paper button and turn around for the acts which they too found enjoyable.  I know I'm biased but their giggles were more entertaining than the show.  Little Man could do a great impression of Sir Tom Jones! 'Yeeaaah'

Hope there were many Simple Things to make you happy this week.

J9 x

Happy Moments #1

These posts are nothing new or original.  They are an illustration of my gratitude for Simple Things in my life over time.  Project Gratitude helped me to heal emotionally following my accident and has now become habit in my everyday life.  This was a major reason for me creating this blog as I was writing about these things anyway.  Through adopting this practice I have found (as have so many others) that taking the time to reflect and be grateful for all the little things that make up our days... changes the routine into special times to be appreciated.

I'm really enjoying...

::  My Energetic Companion
Hee hee, this picture makes me laugh!!  Milo is such an indoor dog I cannot begin to tell you - excepting his two favourite places: the garden (in dry weather only) and any beach.  Last Monday (an inset day) we made the most of a dry spell and ventured out to Brean Down.  It is a favourite choice - great for blowing the cobwebs away and for burning off some energy.  Milo literally ran and ran, playing fetch, eating seaweed, meeting new friends and generally bounding around in complete exhileration.  It is lovely to watch.  As you can see from the picture though, he got rather messy and after a bath I'm sure there was approximately half of the beach in the bottom of the bath tub!!

::  Loom Creativity
Apologies for the poor picture quality but this 'fad' is still in full swing chez nous.  Little Lady struggled with the return to school and missing out on time together.  To solve this constructively (I told her it's the law to go to school much to her disgust) we established a "Time Together" contract.  Essentially, we make the most of the hours after school (when clubs allow) to create, make and play.  I felt really positive about this - she requested to spend more quality time with me and we carved out a plan so we could make sure this happens - regardless of my health.  So, we can loom, read, play cards etc (from a predetermined list I'll have you know!) in my big bed if needs be.  She just wanted to know we could do it and when... LuSH!

This week it has comprised lots of looming.  She received £10 from her lovely Aunty and Uncle for Christmas and chose to spend it on the above magnificent case.  She was beyond delighted.  We have made bracelets, people, butterflies and have many more patterns in our sights.  Little Lady is far better than I - my bands keep snapping much to my frustration but it is the time, not the act that we both value.  The gentle conversation that ebbs and flows so naturally whilst sat in concentration together.

::  Hyacinth Love
I bought this for myself last week and it is just coming into bloom.  I have such anticipation for the smells that these pretty flowers produce.  The anticipation of slowly watching the flower heads grow each day and begin to open out on my kitchen window sill gives me pleasure each time I enter the room.

::  Comfort Food
My meal plan has included some lovely comforting home made food this week.  Shepherds pie with cheesy topping, a nice roast chicken and our favourite homemade pasties!!  These were swede, potato, onion and cheese - a pinch of seasoning and a small knob of butter to aid the juices.  Hmmmm.  The diet isn't going too well ;0)

::  Date Day
Enjoying a cappuccino with my Hubby in a 'new to us' sheltered nook on Clevedon sea front.  I think we'll come back another day with the kids for an explore!  Why does sipping coffee that has a frothy top and is brought to you by someone else seem so very luxurious?!  I'm a cheap date I think ;o)

I find real joy in pausing to appreciate the little things in life and know that it adds greatly to my well-being.  It has been a week where I've needed to recognise them; whilst trying to fight off some horrible virus.  I hope you have enjoyed some happy moments this week too.

Happy weekend lovely people.  Next week I shall provide an update on my hall Pretty Me project  and my Make Me project!!  Both of these have consumed my child free time this past week and have meant I've not been online at all since my last post!  Hopefully I'll grab a while to catch up with your lovely blogging soon!

J9 x