Easy Summer Days

Hellooooooo! We are back home again after a fulsome and very enjoyable jolly in Connievan last week, boy it was certainly fulsome! I'll be uploading my holiday snaps in the next day or two to share with you, I'm looking forward to doing that very much.

The past few days have been spent easing back into our lazy summer routine at home after all the activity and hectic-ness of last week. It feels rather wonderful and luxurious to wake and greet each day with a blank schedule. No timetable, no appointments, no arrangements. Just me and the three Littlies hanging out at home.

After a rather wet and dismal weekend, today has been super-duper here in my patch. Stunning blue skies, warm sunshine and a breezy breeze. Perfect for doing Easy Things and making the most of outdoors.

This morning I took my coffee and snook out to the back yard, bare foot and still in my jammies, tiptoeing quietly out the kitchen door away from the children. The morning sun was creeping into the yard through the gate, it was a wonderful, sneaky little bit of me-time. Those quiet sunny moments alone were very much appreciated I can tell you.

Once my coffee was warm in my tummy, I went about my daily chatter with my flowers. Oooooooo the glorious orange of the marigolds in my hanging basket really made me smile! Can't normally grow marigolds in the back yard as they are prime fodder for the sizable slug and snail population, but in their hanging garden they are safe.

And my sweet peas have finally begun to flower too, I was so excited to see them there at the weekend. I am completely over my fear of cutting them, in fact I mercilessly cut them the instant they show any sign of petal. Snipetty snip and indoors they come, I am so addicted to the smell of them, I just have to have them right there under my nose.

I'm so very proud of my little ink bottle garden posies, so proud that these delightful flowers have come from My Very Own Garden!! Every year I bring in these small but precious little handfuls of flowers and love them to bits. Like really love them in a totally over the top way. I can't get enough of them. I sniff them and admire them and want to somehow eat them up. They're just sooooooo beautiful!

I screech like a Mad Thing when Little B climbs onto the table and pulls them all out and tries to drink the water from the bottle. Uh-huh, it happened. Twice. The climbing-pulling-drinking-screeching. Followed by precious re-arranging. Twice. Gosh. Calm me down. Tell me, do you think I am a nutjob?

Breakfast on these lazy, easy summer days happens as and when. As and when the Little People realise their little tummies are empty and grumbling. I've started bringing in their brekkie things on a tray when I make my morning coffee, then leaving them to help themselves as and when they are ready. It's all a bit sloppy really, but they seem to like it this way. They like pouring their own milk and seeing how much sugar they can get away with administering. They sprinkle liberally when I'm not looking, I just know they do.

I do eat breakfast with Little B though, we eat together every meal. He is pretty good at feeding himself now, just needing a little help with scooping or stabbing, depending on whether it's a spoon or fork job. Today he had mashed banana with warm ready brek, yum yum. He opens his mouth ridiculously wide to accommodate the spoon, it makes me laugh every time.

Ahhh I just LOVE being home in the hols with my Little Peeps, I really do. I love them so much. Their simple requests, their happiness when they are granted their wishes.

Little Man says Mum, can I make myself a honey sandwich?? Yeah, sure, go right ahead I say. He punches the air with a happy Yeeeessssssssssssss, delighted at the prospect of extra food between meals. Happy happy.

Little Lady says Mum, can you paint my nails like you did last holiday, with red and blue nail varnish?? Yeah, sure, why not. Lets do it. She rushes upstairs to my bedside drawer to get the little drawstring bag which contains my modest nail varnish collection. I have five bottles :: pearly white, pink, red, peacock blue and clear with glitter. Happy happy.

All three Littlies have been treated to new wheels this week. Little B has this new plastic cart that he pulls and pushes along and it's proving to be a huge hit. It only cost a few pounds from the supermarket, it had some sand toys in it with a dinky little red spade and watering can (strewn across the back yard now I think). He doesn't like to put anything in the cart mind you, he insists on keeping it empty but he appears to love it very much.

The Little Peeps both have new scooters. High excitement. Little Lady's scooter broke last week at the caravan site so we bought her a replacement which she is very happy with. Little Man has a Birthday coming up in a few weeks so we treated him to his Hearts Desire and bought him a much longed for JDBug scooter. He has not been separated from it since, and is more than happy with it.

We head to the park almost daily now, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. You can see the Little People scooting down the grassy slope look, fast tracking their way to the swings. We often take other children with us from the street too, whoever's about and wants to come along really. I had 5 of them with me this afternoon, and it was fun! Once I got over the heart-in-mouth nervousness of watching the boys tackle the ramps and slopes in the skate park on their scooters, I had fun! Honestly!

In between the business of mothering my brood, I am amazingly managing to carve out little snippets of me-time. The past few months I've had no time or inclination to stroll in Magazine Wonderland, for some reason I just haven't wanted to sit and read at all. But like a parched and dehydrated addict who's not had a drink in a fair while, I've been totally indulging in recent days. I think I've read about five magazines cover to cover, one after the other. Three issues of Country Living and two of Country Homes, with one still left to go. It's been wonderful!!! So much visual lovliness and sparkling inspiration, quite overwhelming at times, but oh so good for the Creative Spirit. I remain Addicted, no question about it.

It's late in the day here now you know, eleven pm. I am riding on caffeine (tut tut) and feel like I could sit and chat with you pretty  much all night, but really I do need to sign off and go to bed. It'll be a 5-6am start in the morning and although the days are easy (ish) and lazy (ish) they are still long.

But I've had such a lovely day today. Full of sunshine and breezes, kids and friends, play and chatter. Easy summer days filled with nothing in particular. Just the way I like it.

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Edit to add :: for those not in the UK, the breakfast cereal the Little People are curently devouring is Weetabix. It was my fave brakfast as a child too.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[milton]

Your breakfast lazy ness reminding me my days...

[wall mounted electric fires]

Your lazyness for breakfast is reminding me of my days.....

[isabel]

Très joli blog ! Bravo !

[Daisy]

Aah, enjoy the last of summer- it won't be long until cosy winter is here! Eeeee! I love winter!

[Patsy]

My Fav cereal too.Hugs.XOXO

[Lisa Clarke]

I am sitting out on my back patio, enjoying my morning coffee, while my kids entertain themselves inside, so I can relate! I have food shopping on the docket this morning, but I am tempted to ignore it in favor of squeezing as much lovely do-nothingness out of this gorgeous Summer day as possible. If the cupboard were not so bare, I totally would!

P.S. I just discovered your blog a few weeks ago, while hunting down granny square projects and I am very much enjoying myself here :-)

[Annie D]

I love that you are saying "yes" to your childrens requests as much as possible...that's one of the only pieces of advice my mum has given me about parenting....'try to accommodate if you can' Annie x

[Jenny]

Hello Lucy,

I totally love your blog and always can't wait for a new post!
So, I have a question. Since I live in Germany I know that I probably won't get the same wool that you use for your projects. But could you tell me what type of wool you use? I would love to find yarns over here that I could substitute for them. I love the bright colors you use, but haven't found really good (and hopefully cheap ;)) yarn yet. Maybe you could help me out there.
Thanks a lot
Jenny

[Helen]

I know how you feel about the magazine binge, I arrived back from holiday last week and had country living AND mollie makes to read, it makes the fact that the holiday is over a little nicer! Your children sound sweet, its so nice that they like simple pleasures :) xx

[Annie]

You do have such beautiful flowers!

[Kathy B]

Ahh! Enjoy these day with the little ones, I cherish the memories of when mine were small. I love your photos they keep me inspired!

[PinkCatJo]

I felt relaxed just reading this. Hope you have many more easy sunny summer days! x

[Alita]

Hola, disfruto mucho de tu blog y de la simpleza con que amas la vida, a veces cuesta encontrar lo bello de las cosas simples. te sigo desde ahora, Saludos desde Arentina.
Alita

[Rhystan]

Hello.....as you love crochet and I have learnt how to crochet hexagons from you, I thought you may like this tutorial on 'rings'. So cute and happy like your things. Your work really cheers me up, so bright and happy.

http://lolanovablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/mary-go-round-crochet-flower-ring.html

Cheers Rhystan (Australia)

[CecilyMae Handmade]

Hi Lucy, lovely photos! Thanks for adding me to your blog, lots of people have found me! The Watchhouse is lovely now, it's been taken over by the same people as The Hive, but it's nicer, not as crowded, and not as expensive. Brilliant! Joey x

[Brenda]

Lucy, I just love reading your posts. You should write a book, I love the way you write!
Your coffee looks so yummy with the little star on it. Care to share how you make your yummy coffee and cute decorations?
yummy, creamy coffee in the morning sunshine, what could be better?

[Shirley Flavell]

Great post Lucy. A lovely peep into your life. Fascinated with the joined houses in a row,like Coro Street (of which I am an avid viewer here in N.Z. and being 14 mths behind U.K.!)could almost hear the chatter and happiness of your wee petals. I recognised your brekkie cereal. We have the same here called Weet Bix.I always like to have flowers in a vase in my home too.At the moment Camellia's are flowering and I have a lot of trees round our cottage. Pick a flower fresh everyday and pop into a small vase or jar covered with a crocheted jacket. Lovely. Shirley

[Anita]

Lucy,
How's your mama doing? Better I hope.
Love your flowers.
I glad you are enjoying your children. Such a special time that will pass before you realize.

[Jane S.]

Mmmm, Weetabix! Or as my children called it, Mushabix since it turns to mush so quickly once the milk is added.

Had quite a laugh over the "climbing-pulling-drinking-screeching". I wouldn't call you a nutjob, I would just call you a mum.

Wonderful photos, fun post to read.

[Debbie Mitton]

Hi
What a lovely post you inspire me to enjoy every minute of every day, to notice all the lovely things around me, to keep hooking and take lots more pics of lovely thing.
x

[Brenda]

So glad you had a lovely holiday. Did you know "Weetbix" is actually Australian so I know it well, I still have it for breakfast every morning! xx

[Linda Solaiman]

What a lovely happy post Lucy, so glad you enjoyed your holidays, no need for me to say savour these precious times with your little ones because time goes so fast, you do that already. :)

[Doreen Ganley]

Glad you had a lovely holiday. I can't wait to see your pics of connievan. Weetabix is still my fave breakfast cereal. When I was a little girl !! there were cardboard vans and lorries on the side of the packet to cut out and make up. (It was just after the war and we didn't have many toys) You just reminded me. Must get crocheting I spend too much time looking at these blogs. Dojo

[Sandi Lee]

I love flowers and am so happy when ever I receive a bunch, but the ones I love the most are the little bunches of home grown flowers and like you I pop them into little pots or jars or bottles and have them in a few differet rooms through the house. Your days sound very much like mine used to be when the children were school age.
Finished my granny stripe blanket last night :) Will blog about it over the weekend, I am ever so happy with my very first effort.
x Hugs Sandi

[Sarah west mids uk]

Dear Lucy as I sit up in bed after reading your post the wind is howling around outside bringing the rain with it. At 6.30am this morning I went to put out the rubbish for the dustbin men and it felt very chilly. Later in the day a dear friend of mine arrived for a visit (we meet up once a year during the summer hols) wearing her boots! I like the link to the crafty books on your sidebar. Look forward to your holiday pics. Have been making some bunting and am going to crochet some ric rac to join it all together. Found a little tutorial on Foxs Lane blog. She and her family are making a six month tour across Australia in their caravan!!
Enjoy the rest of the week. xx