day tripping

Sometime early in June we went for a day trip to Castle Rising and Hunstanton beach. It had been lovely weather all week long but of course as we drove further north the weather turned and it was decidedly chilly! Good job I packed clothes for all eventualities (even for a day trip!). So this is Castle Rising, I'm trying to remember why it was special and I think it's meant to be one of the best examples of a castle it's age and type... The girls loved walking round the walls but weren't quite so sure going into the darker corners...

After the castle we to Hunstanton beach. It was pretty cold and windy by then and the first thing Alice did was to fall head first into a rock pool and then sit down in the wet sand making one wet sandy baby who didn't like being wet and sandy.

Needless to say we didn't stay long at the beach. Long enough for Esther to paddle in the sea though. She made a picture of Ben and I in the sand too.

It was a fun day despite the weather!

Just as a Sunday morning should be

Recent craftiness

Recently I've finished a few projects - sooooo satisfying to have them done even though they were quick ones. Earlier in the year I joined the facebook handmade pay-it-forward type thing(not sure what to call it really...) where you promised to make something for the first 5 people who replied to your status and in return they had to make something for 5 other people and so on, get the picture? So Bex signed up on mine and I decided I would make her a comfy camera strap cover (she is the photographer of 3 weddings this month!!) I got the pattern from here and got out the sewing machine, it only took a couple of hours and would probably take less if everything was set up and ready to go!

And here is Alice's quilt that I finished a few weeks ago, also would only take 1 week of evenings if you had some free nights in! I love it! Why oh why didn't I make it in a kingsize?!

I'm going for the ruffle effect on the edge on the flower but here's hoping it doesn't fray through my handstitching!

The adorable recipient!

Other than this stuff I have been painting a whole load of picture frames I bought at the charity shop ready for our picture wall, found a new extension for our baby gate so I can relax when we are upstairs knowing Alice can roam free without going headfirst down the stairs (now if I could just instill into the girls the importance of closing the gate behind them...ok,they're not bad), got 2 bookcases so we have no more, I repeat no more boxes/books piles in the hallway or living room (only taken 5 months!), sorted out our summer holiday,had 6 visitors stay in the last week with 3 more to come next week -Ben went to the states earlier in the week and won't be back till then end of next week so it's been nice to have the company! Anyway, I'm feeling pretty motivated at the progress in the house but lots more to do, hopefully Ben's crazy 'work till 2 in the morning everyday and at weekends' workload will calm down when he gets back from the States then he can help me with those grand plans...

Reunited

On 1st June Joel's fiancee Jessica flew over from the States for good. They hadn't seen each other in over 6 months! After Joel picked her up from the airport they went to buy their wedding rings in Birmingham and drove on down to our house to spend a couple of days down here. To say that the girls were excited would be an understatement! Esther made a 'Welcome to England' poster for the front door. It was very detailed. Each line had different pictures and each set of pictures represented something. This one is our family - me, Alice, Ben, Esther and Eliza.

For the life of me I can't remember what the hearts represented...

Each of the flowers were one of us - the gold was me: a daffodil, blue for Ben: bluebell, red rose for Esther Rose, pink daisy for Eliza who loves to pick daisies, silver (artistic license) buttercup for Alice

First butterfly is Esther, then Eliza, then Alice

This is Joel and Jessica on their wedding day! Let's hope they look this good on July 23rd!