My Sunday Photo

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – 10th Birthday.

August 9, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

Today it’s the Little Man’s 10th birthday. I’m struggling after getting just 2 hours sleep last night, but I’ll do my best to make the day special. In fact we have a special week planned, I’m sure it’ll be a birthday week to remember.

10th Birthday Boy

This time ten years ago I was holding my baby for the first time. He was a bit of a surprise baby as I believed my family was complete and I was ‘getting on a bit!’ But to have another little boy at that time made me feel truly blessed. And he really is the sweetest Little Man.

He was a weird baby who was happiest just lying on his back, he didn’t want to crawl, and ended up being a bottom shuffler. He didn’t want to walk and he was nearly two before he was walking independently. He didn’t want to talk either, but now I can’t shut him up. We moved house when he was three years old and he’s the only child who doesn’t remember the old house. The place I lived for 24 years.

Cake for the Little Man

10th birthday cake — *10th birthday Cake*

You can’t have a birthday without cake. I had no idea what to do him this year, he’s had some pretty amazing cakes in the past. I spent many hours making his Minecraft sword cake, and even his Paw Patrol cake. But this year he gave me nothing…so I just iced his cake and put Happy Birthday and candles on it. At least we can hope it tastes good 🙂

The Little Man

He has always been my Little Man and probably always will be. But as he grows I know he’s going to become a real man. All my children are growing up and I’m left with no babies. I’m looking forward to what the future will bring, what they will achieve.

In the meantime we will enjoy the rest of the summer. He has friends coming around to spend time in the garden tomorrow, and on Tuesday we have a special day out planned. But today, we are going to play with his new presents and enjoy a BBQ (hopefully) later.

Happy 10th Birthday Little Man xx

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, a Day Out

August 2, 2020 by Anne Sweet 7 Comments

This week we had a day out at Cosford Airforce Museum. Planned as a special treat for Graham. The kids were not so keen, we had all the excuses, it’s boring, I’m scared about the virus, I don’t feel well, and one little madam even through a tantrum in the morning. But we went anyway. Were we bad parents?

a day out at Cosford airforce museum, a large plane outside. — Cosford 2020

No, we were not bad parents. Everyone had a wonderful day!

The Ordinary Moments of our Day out at Cosford.

For some reason the SatNav in the car didn’t want to take us on the motorway and being wary of getting it wrong we followed it, winding our way through the towns and it seemed to take forever. The kids didn’t complain until the last five minutes. One was desperate for the toilet, the other felt car sick. We didn’t stop though. It’s strange to be wary of where you stop during a pandemic.

We have barely been outside our front door in four months, so we needed this time out. Cosford was the perfect choice. You had to book in advance and they limited the number of people who entered into the hangers at any time. There was a one way system to follow to avoid having to pass people. We barely got close to anyone at all, although there were still a few that didn’t ‘social distance.’

We spent a lot of time outside. It was a beautiful day and we needed all that fresh air. We had a picnic, and sat outside on benches and on the grass. Boo, who had kicked up such a fuss about not wanting to go had a wonderful day. She asked her Dad a million questions about the aeroplanes which made him happy too. The Little Man ran around in circles he had so much energy to burn. He did burn himself out in the end. And Star, had to keep sitting down which is normal for her, but she took a real interest in the tanks for some reason.

The journey home we took the motorway and were back before the kids could even ask how long it was going to take.

Here is my favourite photo of the day.

Boo and her Daddy sitting on the grass having a cuddle in the shade. — Boo and Daddy having a cuddle in the shade.

If you want to know more about Cosford I wrote a post about our visit in 2017 with loads of photos and a video.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Sabrina

July 26, 2020 by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

Last week I featured Ash, my baby at only 2 years old. This week I am sharing a photo of Sabrina, taken this week when she cuddled up to our black cat draft excluder. She’s 11 years old and starting to go a little grey 🙂

Sabrina, the black cat snuggled up to a black cat draft excludor.

Yes, I know the draft excluder is upside down, but I didn’t want to disturb Sabrina just to make the photo better…she already has a half opened eye on me.

And from my older cat Sabrina I move to my youngest child for..

Ordinary Moment – Lemons

This week my Little Man had a surprise cookery box and he was most disappointed that it was lemon based. All the recipes contained lemons and my Little Man is not a lemon fan. But he turned around and said “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So we did, and he actually liked it, a little.

He preferred it with less lemon and more ice and fizzy water, but at least he tried something different, and he made it himself. He also made lemon cupcakes which he thought he would hate, but he didn’t. We made some vanilla ones as well, just in case.

My Little Man is one special little guy. The other morning I was in pain and stuck in my bed. I’d tried to get help from other family members with no avail but then I heard him get up to go to the toilet. The bathroom is next to my bedroom and you can hear everything in there. This turned out to be a blessing as I was able to talk to The Little Man, and he was able to come and help me.

I then had a fit of guilt feeling bad that my baby (yes, he’s 9 but he’ll always be the baby) had no memory of a Mum that wasn’t disabled. He doesn’t remember the times we’d run across the playground together, always late for school because his sisters had to go in first. I stopped taking him half way through reception, when I got sick. I have memories of picnic, playing in the park, on the beach, running and having fun with him. He doesn’t, not really. It’s hard to remember the times before you are five unless they are particularly drastic. He just about remembers moving house when he was three. He doesn’t remember our old house.

He’s a lovely boy though. When I apologised for having to ask him for help, he said to me “It’s just life with an extra step.”

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Ash in a Box

July 19, 2020 by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

It’s been a while since we had a photo of Ash. Here he is curled up in my old wool box. It’s Ash in a box!

I bought the box to store my wool down my the side of my chair. It’s made of a leatherette type material and comes with a lid so can double as a pouffe, or extra seat. Ash loved it right from the start and used it as a scratching post. I kept turning it around to hide the scratches but in the end he’d made such a mess of it that I decided to replace it.

No sooner had I emptied out my wool stash Ash was in the box like a shot. Perhaps that’s what he’d wanted all along. To him, this was his box and he was ready to claim it. So much for me getting rid of it, it’s now Ash’s new bed.

He’s a cutie though, you have to admit.

In Other News

School is out for Summer! I guess that means I don’t have to worry about struggling to get the kids to complete their work each day. They are already looking forward to going back to school in September. Fingers crossed this virus stays low so it can happen.

Boo celebrated by going to spend an hour with her friend. We were going to invite her around for Boo’s birthday but when she begged to see her sooner we couldn’t say no.

Star left the house after 116 days. She went with her Dad to Mc Donald’s drive through, so she didn’t even have to get out of the car. It was a change of scenery though.

We have decided that we will start to leave home regularly each week now. We need the fresh air and exercise. You won’t be finding us anywhere crowded though.

Happy Holidays!

More Ash

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Crystals

July 12, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

I’ve never really considered myself a lucky person, but I’ve had some lucky moments. Recently I won a competition to win £500 to spend at Etsy. Trust me, I had to work for my entry, but it was worth it. I love Etsy. The first thing I did was go and luck for crystals. I had plenty of things I’d wanted to buy on my favourites lists.

Recently I’d bought myself a crystal bracelet which I loved so I decided to buy another. I love lapis Lazuli, and was so thrilled to find one with rose quartz. Both of these crystals bring me so much comfort and healing.

lapis lazuli and rose quartz bracelet with angel wing.

I was also really excited to find this beautiful tea light holder made from a blue agate geode.

My next purchase, that hasn’t arrived yet, is a lovely dish to keep all the crystals I already have in on display.

The Ordinary Moments

After my last post which was really positive we have had a couple of rough weeks. When you are a Mum of three daughter’s all over a particular age, then you get weeks when the world can just ‘go and do one!’ Yes, that’s been the attitude. The fun loving family time from just a week before had disappeared as fast as the sun.

School work at home has been a pain, the girls have been really unresponsive, and the Little Man has had to be pushed to get started. I can’t wait for the school holidays!

In these strange times the thought of the school holidays feels really weird. At this time we would be preparing for the end of year parties, and I’d thinking about what to buy their teachers as end of year gifts. Well, not really the girl’s now that they are both in secondary; but the Little Man’s teacher is actually leaving the school altogether, it’s sad we were not able to buy something for her. We are not even allowed to go to the school to drop something off.

School Holidays

Will it even feel like school holidays when the only difference will not be trying to get them to work every day? We have cancelled our holiday this year and probably won’t be going out much.

I don’t even know if we will be needing new uniforms for September, they have so much stuff that’s hardly been worn. I have ordered the Little Man’s p.e. kit from the school, they have their own special kits which are personalised. But we will need to go through all the stuff that’s been packed away for months to see what still fits. I’m pretty sure Star is the same size, but Boo seems to have sprouted up and The Little Man seems to have filled out.

Now, I have to get my thinking cap on. We need to make these school holidays count somehow. Do you have plans?