52 weeks of happy

{19/52}

love has most certainly been in the air around here this week!

1.some extremely yummy biscuits, made for a valentines themed school cake sale - the recipe was from my Rachel Allen 'bake' book, she had made them as christmas biscuits, but i thought they'd go down well as a valentines treat too

2. a sweet card from my littlest bunny

3. some beautiful flowers bringing a smile to my face whenever i catch a glimpse of them {i love how flowers can do that}

4. & no photos but i can't let the week pass without expressing my pancake related happiness - i love love love them! i make them quite a lot for weekend breakfasts round here but we all welcomed them as a weekday treat too

52 weeks of happy

{17/52}

1. hello february its nice to see you & just as nice to see the snowdrops peeping through

2. easy peasy muffins - cooking with the littlest can be fun {& easy!} with this great recipe from attic24, we went with apple & cranberries for ours, but sure we'll be making more 

3. an extremely wet dog walk today, was cheered up by the wearing of my knitted socks, they did a great job of keeping my feet happy

4. BBC 6 musics greatest hits top 100 countdown has had me dancing round the kitchen whilst throwing dinner into the slow cooker this morning - which is always good fun

52 weeks of happy

{16/52}

1. although i'd be quite happy to wake up tomorrow to find it all had melted, it still makes me happy to find the beauty in all that white stuff we've been getting

2. a bright & cheery new table cloth, a fab bargain in the cath kidston sale, i was lucky to find some of this in the chichester store as they'd sold out online, my last one had lasted years & years but had a few cuts in {mostly my fault!} but there were enough of them to mean that wherever i sat the smallest ones they always managed to spill their drink right on one of the parts with a hole in!

3. one a penny, two a penny, i love hot cross buns, even better are the discovery of the M&S apple & cinnamon ones {i'm also really keen to try out their belgium chocolate ones too, thanks to the tip from mrs biddle!} 

4. i've totally loved watching the great british bake off for comic relief this week & have been rather obsessed about making a bakewell tart since, it was an itch i just had to scratch, so i made some bakewell slices this afternoon, timed perfectly to be ready when we got in from school - they are every bit as yummy as i had hoped {i used the recipe from my very well used rachael allen 'bake' book}

52 weeks of happy

{9/52}

1. homemade mince pies - you can't beat them {although i do cheat a little & buy a jar of mincemeat} i could make a batch of these every couple of days as they never last long,

2. being poorly is the perfect excuse to stay at home keeping warm & snug, the littlest one was off school a couple of days {seeing her in her new xmas nightie makes me very happy}

3. i had a go at making some sweet sugar & cinnamon almonds, they worked a treat first time & didn't last long either! i plan to make another batch to gift as presents, this was the recipe i followed, i halved it this time but won't be next!

4. more knitting on the go {knitting always makes me happy} another quick knit - will share when it's finished

52 weeks of happy

{7/52}

friday sure did come round fast again, the weeks are slipping by too fast, still i've got a lovely three day weekend thanks to a school inset day on monday - hurrah

1. i'll get the boring bit out the way first, a new washing machine, rather strange, but this is making me soooo happy, our old inherited one had been on the way out for quite a while, as always things go wrong when you could do with the money to spend on other things, but ho hum, i really can't live without one of these & its rather lovely to have properly clean clothes again

2. i couldn't resist these at the supermarket - the young girl on the checkout politely remarked that i had started my christmas shopping, i couldn't keep in a little chuckle as i replied i didn't expect them to last that long!

3. a little baking with the kids {we of course had to split the dough three ways, i got a little carried away with mine}

4. getting together the bits for my next project - i love new yarn & this lot was another bargain from kemps 

tea time treats

i'd had a madeleine tray on my 'wish list' since my birthday last summer, unfortunately no one took the hint, so feeling totally inspired by watching Rachel Khoo i ordered myself one. it arrived today & by tea time we were tucking into a delicious plateful! they really were amazing, still warm from the oven, we all declared them to be a success - as you might guess, they didn't last long

hibernating

we seem to have had all the cough & cold bugs thrown our way in the last few weeks, we've all be fighting them off with varying degrees of success! little O & i seem to have been hit hardest & have been spending the last couple of days hibernating at home {i'm very lucky to have some great neighbours happy to help me out with the school run}

but don't think i've been snuggled up on the sofa watching dora for the umpteenth time! i've been trying to get on with sewing the mountain of nativity costumes that need to be ready for next week, along with ploughing my way through some of the christmas knitting on my needles, indulging in a little on-line christmas shopping, as i can't actually make it out to the shops {far far better this way but it does mean i miss out on an excuse to have a gingerbread latte}oh & having a practice run on the 'christmas morning muffins'

hoilday

this easter has really felt like a holiday, mostly down to all the lovely weather we've been having, i've been rather busy & having too much fun getting out & doing things too spend much time on the computer, but heh thats okay with me & i'm sure everyone has been doing the same, 

the seeds the children & i planted at the start of the easter holidays {just two weeks ago} have also been enjoying the warm weather & have been growing like crazy on the window sill, they will need to be planted out very soon at this rate but i'm a little worried that this weather won't hold!

i did treat myself to some new fabric, i'd been loving these for a while, so once Kate over at misformake had popped them into her sale i couldn't resist, 

& thank you to Laura i had the perfect recipe to use up some rhubarb, these went down a treat at an afternoon play at the park with my group of friends, i will be asking my mum to bring over more rhubarb with her asap as these just didn't last long enough

i've found it far too hot to be knitting but i have been planning a few sewing projects, when i get round to putting them into action who knows, but the thought is there, {i have done a little sewing but that's a secret right now so keep it shhh}

can't get enough

we're still loved up round here

gingerbread baking session with little O today

finished off a birthday present for a 'girl'friend of G's

 we also exchanged on the new house today, so we now have the fun of packing up & moving again, but at least we'll be stopping there for while, so it will all be worth it

all in a mornings work

we had one of little O's friends over yesterday morning, i planned to do some cooking with them both but maybe this time didn't choose the most toddler proof recipe! we made a raisin sour dough loaf, which got very very messy!

still they had almost as much fun washing their hands after the mixing was done 

& it turned out rather yummy, so we had something for our elevenses

think we might stick to biscuits next time though

& it doesn't show signs of stopping

 i have to be a bit bah humbug here & let you all know i'm kinda getting sick of the snow, for many reasons including being unable to get my car out, which in turn means i can't finish the christmas shopping i had planned, not seeing a postman for days (& still missing a few vital presents) worrying that we might not get over to my folks on boxing day & many other problems i won't bore you all with (frozen pipes aren't helping matters - one thing putting me off living in an old house)

view from my bedroom window, i know the snow makes it all look so pretty but i could have really done with it holding off for a week,

i'm trying very hard to do some things with the children to make their holiday fun, today we have made biscuits, which went very well (but then when they'd had enough of that they moved on to trashing the front room)

this recipe is super easy for the little ones & also very tasty, i kept some back for myself to make & turned them into a sweet little gift!

the snow is still falling, so we are going to stay tucked up inside today but will have to venture out tomorrow, even if we are only able to get around like this

tis the season to eat (a lot!)

we've been getting in some practice for all the christmas eating we will be doing soon, first up 'millionaires shortbread' these were amazing, although having never made them before i couldn't quite believe how much butter & sugar went into making them! so maybe not something i'll be making too often

i had forgotten how many christmas gifts you get working at a pre-school / nursery, mostly these are tins or boxes of well known chocolates, but one mum had gone to the effort of making each & everyone of the staff (that's nine in total!) a box of 6 cupcakes, each cake a different flavour & was beautifully decorated, 

(almost) too pretty to eat

& keeping up with my in-laws family traditions, my husband made some Piragi

which didn't last long either

two steps forward

it was lovely to wake up this morning to find there had been a light dusting of snow overnight, making our attic view even more breathtaking 

thank you so much for all your comments on my last post, G is well on the mend now, i have spent today making up for my lost weekend, finishing off the children's advent calendar (which i will save for another post), some christmas knitting (rather frustrating, as i knitted one glove only to find i won't have enough to finish the second but never fear, i have a plan)

 indulging little O in some free reign with the glue & glitter & indulging myself with some home-made jam tarts

- now i'm back to starting that first glove again!

mmmmmmmm

hot buttered toasted tea bread (am happy to share the recipe if anyone's interested?)

with a cup of tea (my back from the school run / no work today treat)

& with the anticipation of some sewing at little O's nap time later

having finally cut into my lovely 30's reproduction fabric at the weekend

oh happy tuesday

up in the air

i got very little of anything (other than having fun & relaxing) done this weekend, but what a lovely way to spend it, the weather has been so delightful, my needles, hook & sewing machine were pretty much abandoned, 

i did make time to bake some cinnamon buns, using  this recipe, (thanks Nancy), we packed them up, & with a thermos of tea, we headed off to the village green after dinner, to watch the weekend balloon flights take off, 

this is something we used to do a lot with big G  before little O was born, we have since just got used to seeing them rise over the trees behind our garden, 

we picked a great evening to introduce her to the awe inspiring sight, as there were three going up, she really was amazed by them, 

i love watching them too, they head off most weekends throughout the summer,

& i'll definitely be making more of the cinnamon buns to take again, they disappeared almost as quickly as the balloons did!