Happy Halloween!

The kids are super excited about trick or treating tonight - they've always been too little to go - and for the first time we've organised a few houses in the close for them to visit {some of our neighbours are very anti Halloween :-( } - here's the flyer we put through the mailboxes...



We carved our pumpkins on Tuesday already, and have been lighting the candles every night...can you tell how excited we are? LOL!
I'll put some trick or treating snaps on tomorrow... Happy Halloween Everyone!

Where there's a will, there's a way.

The squirrels have been desperate to get to my new (birthday) bird feeder, especially seeing as I haven't put any food out on the tray. So this little one finally figured out how to get to it.

But then: look, who's creeping up? Toby, who's been as desperate to get to the squirrels as the squirrels were to get to the peanuts...

He's pretty brave for a little kitten, but pretty dumb too. I mean, who does he think is going to win?

Oh yes, the squirrel!

Bonfire Night in L'ampton

We went down to the in-laws for my birthday weekend, which just happened to coincide with the Bonfire Parade! We had such an awesome weekend, I was spoiled rotten with gifts and a divine triple layer chocolate cake, a parade that went right past the house, a huge bonfire on the beach and a fire cricket display too! Okay, the last three weren't exactly in my honour, but I can pretend, can't I?

We went for a walk to the beach front in the early evening, the kids got to ride on a couple of the funfair rides. I just love the little guy's expression in this one.

Look how happy my big girl looks here, I can't believe she's turning six in a couple of weeks.

A friend dared to ride the Hellraiser. Yikes, it was fast. I tried shooting her as she came past, but I couldn't even see her. I took a bunch in rapid succession, and manged to get her in one!

The old steam engines are definitely the highlight of the parade. The sound of their engines chugging alone, the shrill toot of their horns, and the smell of oil and steam and metal...of course, getting stuck behind one on our way down to the coast was less fun ;-)

My husband pointed out the little guy to me...he watched the whole parade in this position, in absolute awe of it all.

The different bonfire societies from neighbouring towns and villages all took part, dressed up in a wide variety of outfits, from native American, to African, to traditional English...

...check out King Henry and his wives coming up behind Chaka Zulu!

The Morris Dancers are fascinating to watch, I love the way they dance and criss-cross.

Armed with cupfulls of pennies, the kids were carefully rationing them out between the bucket collectors. We have managed to go down every year since we arrived in the UK, it's a tradition I hope we can continue for many years still. Thanks Grandpa and Clauds and Uncle T, we had a lovely weekend!

Snow...in OCTOBER!

This was my backyard this morning! I was trying to get a shot of a little goldcrest that looked like it was going in and out of the birdhouse, but it flew away. I couldn't believe the snow though, we've had snow two winters in a row, but usually in January and February. Even then the locals have told us it is highly unusual for this area. Hmmm...what is the winter going to be like then? Brrrrrr.....

Welcome to the Autumn Harvest...

...Creature! My daughter's school has a competition every year for kids to enter "Harvest Creatures". We didn't enter last year, as it was our first year at the school we weren't sure what it was all about, and the school didn't give much notice. Those in the know were prepared long in advance, and had great creatures with growing hair and well thought out themes.

But this year, we helped our daughter to enter, and Polly Punkin was born...




And this is just a sneak peak at a little project I'm working on... ;-)

The Little Guy

I love how the little guy can go from looking like this, on his way to preschool, to this...

Playing dress-up with his big sister! And he honestly doesn't mind if he's being Cinderella or Spider-Man, a fairy or Indiana Jones. He just loves dressing up so much. I thought he looked beautiful, but he still looks like a boy, don't you think?

And just to make you hungry...here's a pic of my mac cheese. My mom adapted her mac cheese recipe because my dad thought it was always a bit boring. Add some jumbo frankfurters, fried onion and tomato and hey voila! Mac Cheese a la Nana! The kids love it like this, and that makes me happy ;-)

Daddy the Hero!

What do you get when you take one cute three month old kitten like our Toby...

And one 35 foot conifer tree over a 20 hour period?

A stuck up the tree kitty, that's what!!

Look closer...do you see him?

We have learned a couple of things about cat rescue in England.
1. Don't phone the fire brigade, call the RSPCA first.
2. If you're lucky enough to have an on-duty officer with their own ladder, they may come out to help. They won't climb your ladder.
3. If after 24 hours the kitten, or 48 hours for cats, has not made it's own way down, the RSPCA will give the case to the Fire Department.
4. Your best bet is to send your dear husband, who has a nine o' clock meeting at work, dressed in his smart shoes and trousers, up your neighbour's 20 foot ladder, with your Bodun bag over his shoulder, to rescue the kitten yourselves.
Of course, remember I said the tree is 35 foot tall. The ladder is 20 foot. Which means dear husband has to climb the rest of the way himself, clinging to flimsy branches that are swaying in the wind, grab the kitten, try one handed to put him into the Bodun bag, and make his way back down the tree with a wriggling, indignant passenger.

Not to be recommended and I can assure you that if that darn cat tries to pull a stunt like that again he will have to spend the rest of his days up that tree, or learn to be a squirrel. And we'll get a goldfish.

Mr T, you were a hero this morning, thank you!

Happy Christening Day, Arthur!

It was our little nephew's Christening today. The service was lovely, the church beautiful and the kids behaved themselves so well! Arthur stole the show in his sweet little outfit, that used to be his daddy's when he was a young boy. I didn't take my camera with me, having to deal with two kids, a husband and the cake in the pouring rain for an hour's drive this morning, taking my camera was not a priority. Lots of pics were taken, I wish I could show you the gorgeous table that extends to seat 16 comfortably and the delicious food, but you'll just have to take my word for it! I can however show you the cake I made for Arthur...


(Thanks to the talented cake makers on Flickr for the inspiration.)