Fundraising, family fun, and sunset.

1) Some friends of mine are taking part in Maggie’s Monster Bike & Hike in a few weeks time. They held a fundraising coffee morning today – such a wonderful atmosphere, and so much generosity from everyone who came – and raised over £700 towards their total, which will go towards supporting the work Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres do.

2) A quiet family afternoon… we played Frustration, and then had lots of fun introducing the kids to Twister!

3) Today’s sunset was glorious in all its phases. Blue sky faded out through mauves and lilacs, into pinks and greys, and finally into deepest indigo, and black with silvery stars.

Flying trip, parcels, almost there (AKA Finished Object Friday).

1) It doesn’t snow, so I’m able to make a necessary flying visit to Edinburgh this morning, and make it back again in plenty of time to bring the kids home for lunch 🙂 .

2) I bring down the parcels from New Zealand and put them under the Christmas tree.

3) I’m a third of the way through the Christmas scarf knitting… Three scarves – varying lengths and thicknesses. These are all knitted with Wendy Chic – a delicious eyelash yarn, complete with sparkle throughout!

Check out Tami’s blog for more of Friday’s Finished Objects

Rainbow, cake, and easier.

From Monday:

1) Up ahead, the sky is relatively blue with only a few clouds. So I was a little surprised to see a delicate wisp of a rainbow tracing its way across the sky.

2) The house is filled with the warm spicy aroma of Christmas cake baking in the oven.

3) M is invited to join A’s Enjoyaball class, as it’s a games session. This not only makes life easier today (I’d endured an afternoon of continual arguing), but makes life easier tomorrow too, as she needn’t go to her own class.

Growing quickly, hat, and transformation.

1) Spending time with my littlest god-daughter today, and seeing how much she has developed even in the few short weeks since I last saw her.

2) She grabbed my little phone cosy and, thinking it was a hat, immediately attempted to put it on her head.

3) I left Edinburgh, beautiful, crystal clear and sunny. I glanced up during the twenty-minute train ride home to see a completely different world – mystical, foggy and grey.

Explore, spontaneity, and how they’ve grown!

1) To take the kids on an “explore” of Cambridge, and notice which things have changed, and which things remain the same.

2) Megan, peering through a window, exclaims “Look! It’s an okapi! Please can we go and see it?”. So we add the Zoology Museum to our list of places visited today.

3) Dinner with old friends. We haven’t seem them in six years – the children were all much smaller back then. In fact, we hadn’t even met two of them yet. But pretty quickly, they were all playing as if they’ve known each other for ages.

Making monday 5, something yummy, and asleep

1) For the last ten days I have been carefully nurturing Herman, even taking him away with us for the weekend, so that I could look after him properly… Today, I ensured the future of the species and gifted his progeny on to various other people, and the part which remained, was added to and became:

What am I talking about? Herman the Friendly Cake of course! I love this concept 🙂 and I’m looking forward to trying the result!

2) She turned up with a box of soft and delicious flapjack, glazed with gingery icing – yum!

3) Despite resisting hard for a couple of hours, all finally went quiet as the kids fell asleep.

For other Monday makes, or to learn how to tat, check out Natalie’s blog!

Contrast, out playing, and relief.

1) The crunch of the carrot contrasts with the soft squishiness of the wrap and the tangy sweetness of the smoothie. Lunch was good.

2) Ignoring the swings, roundabouts, bikes, playhouses and other such toys; the kids were out collecting “aeroplanes” from the ground under the trees when I arrived to pick them up.

3) An email from a friend reminds me that it’s all fine, just as it it, and there’s nothing more I need to do.

Catching up, perfume, sharing burdens.

1) I met an old friend for coffee this morning. We haven’t done so for about fifteen years. It was so good to catch up, and to meet her beautiful little girl.

2) Beautiful yellow roses grace my hearth. Their lovely perfume fills the room.

3) Two days back at school, and the kids are tired. They bicker constantly all afternoon, and none of my usual tricks and stratagems work to stop them. I’m glad when K arrives home.