Little lady Five

Little Lady Spring turned five this week. 

I've been lucky enough to get some time alone with her a couple of times in the past week. We held hands, we talked, we explored, we took apples to the eager horses, we got stung by nettles, we ran to get out of the rain, we ran because we could, we felted, we puzzled we built. She is happy, she is kind, she is strong willed and independant. She multi-tasks, often not finishing what she's doing before she moves on, she is frustrated by being unable to do something straight away. She is caring and creative. She is imaginative. She is gentle and loving. She is smart.

We had two parties for her. One on her birthday with the wonderful people we are with and one last week at the family farm like her sister's but with the added bonus of Granny and Pompa. She played a big role in choosing and organising how the parties went. She helped to decorate each time and chose flowers for the tables. 

Most of all she wanted egg and spoon races (she personalised each egg with a face for a particular person), three legged races and a cake with a fairy. Most of the guests at both of these parties were at least ten times her age but all joined in with good humour. She chose where to hold the party and what to wear for each of them. A kilt was appropriate for the birthday in Scotland.

As a kid you never think about what a birthday means to your parents. But, wow. This little lady changed our lives and made us better people. It is a time to remember not only the changes in them but the changes in you.  

This love

These two women share something. I'm not sure it can be put in words but there's something. They seem to 'get' each other. My mother, my daughter. These souls seem similar. I sometimes get this odd thought; I feel as though I am parenting, raising, my mother. 

Whenever we are together, no matter how many others are with us, they are together. And amongst it all somehow they often appear to be alone, as a pair. Their own little planet in orbit. 

They discuss, they decide, they disagree. They dawdle, they doodle, they dream. They do.

I love it. I nurture it, this relationship, I adore each of them and it brings me happiness, in that deepest part of me, that they adore each other.

The Battle at Whispering Trees

We stayed with Granny's cousin for a few days. They have a house with most magnificent view. This turned out to be an adventure with some really big kids (read: two grown men who happily express the child within).

There was fire making,

snails to be found in freshly harvested lettuce (Can you see his eyes, he's looking right at you!),

courgette (zucchini) added to banana loaf because there were so many from the garden that called to be used,

There were walks down the hill

where small men began a journey of defining what was 'real poo'! His parents listened, appreciated and chuckled.

We learned how to manoeuvre a cattle grid,

built damns,

swung on a river swing

and explored till legs got tired.

But the event of the stay was the battle. Our host made swords for all the family and a shield for one. And battles were had day after day. We're not sure who won The Battle of Whispering Trees but when it was all over there were a few tears, a few injuries, some hungry tummies, many laughs and lots of happy memories.

Around about

The past few weeks we've been spending time visiting and staying with wonderful and welcoming family.

While this time can be intense and difficult at times, living in each other's space, especially with small children, it is also rewarding and joyful because when you visit people in this way you get to share many moments. Many difficult moments, many interesting moments, many happy moments.

It is in these moments we lay down the foundations of or develop new stories of relationships. 

It will be these memories that help connect us to these people. This shared time is so valuable. The children learn about the kindness and care of people they have not met before but who care already because of the relationship we hold, no matter how distant it may sound when put in words. Second-cousin twice removed is irrelevant when you pretend to fish together or make clothes or make swords and shields. 

And in amongst it all, the sometimes whirlwind of a day, in moments we still get to be together. And sometimes, there are moments of still.

Wonder full: something for the senses

Something to hear, something to see, something to smell, something to taste, something to touch, or something to know....

Something to be thankful for.

Welcome Ellissa Jayne

08/09/11

We are yet to meet you 

but 

we love you already.

Wonder full: something for the senses

Something to hear, something to see, something to smell, something to taste, something to touch, or something to know....

Something to be thankful for.

Summer stripes

So. 

This jumper has been all finished bar the shouting for probably a few months now. All that remained was picking up the stitches around the neck band, darning the ends in, and attaching the sleeves. I procrastinated because I so wanted to get the picking up stitches around a curve right. I needn't have sat on it for that long, it was really quite simple. As always.

  

We are very happy with this jumper. That cotton is oh so soft and floppy. It flows and follows all the fast movements this small man makes. He put it on straight away and wore it for days. Sometimes with nothing else. It's already dirty. He knows how to make a Mama happy.  

It's a bit late for this northern hemisphere summer. We're days from it's official end and weather has been less that summery of late. Here's hoping it fits him for the cool summer evenings back home. But we'll wear it with necessary layers underneath for the time being.