A rose...

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Valentine's weekend?



We always celebrate as Valentine's night was our first ever date 8 years ago, and despite the sentiment of Valentine's being a lovely one it does remind me every year that it can be an incredibly lonely time for many, i certainly was not a fan before Mr G.T & I found each other, and therefore we never go mad, we enjoy a meal at our favourite restaurant together every year and get a little something thats special and personal to each other. Homemade and thoughtful gifts are so much better than overpriced shop bought stuff in my humble opinion.

We spent an icy morning on Thursday having a walk around the fields at the back of our home. GS is getting very good now at walking all the way around on his own and enjoying crunching in the icy puddles!

I love this particular field as 20 years ago this used to be the site of the main pit shaft of the local colliery, a site of such misery, dirt, hardship and tragedy at times. Now all that remains is a little painted sign on the gate that this was the pit yard entrance not so long ago. Now it is a calm, serene and beautiful place that hides it scars so well.

We came across this frozen puddle with such fantastic frozen ripples, i refused to let GS crunch this one up, it was too pretty!

Dear Daisy joined us on our little walk...

...and then got very upset when she sniffed some dogs being walked in the distance, she tried her best to persuade her crazy human pride to turn back as she sensed danger but we just didn't listen and kept on going past the hounds whilst she eventually got sick of trying to warn us and ran off for cover before they arrived hehe, she must think we are very silly.

I thought of several things this morning to blog about but now my time to write has come (as GS has a nap) i can't for the life of me remember a single one, oh dear, well I have the urge to make pastry maybe they'll come back to me then. Ta-ra for now.

Friendships

Seeing my beautiful niece and GS playing together and cuddling the other day made me reflect so much on my own friendships, particularly as there have been some emotional moments lately with some of them.

There is 9 months between A and GS and they both adore one another, GS is definitely the loud and crazy one and A is far more reserved and quiet but between them they have so much fun and share pretty well, a rare find in toddlers! I hope as they grow older together they will always be close, they will go to different schools because of where we live but I hope they'll have each other plus any other further siblings that come along to always rely on and be there for each other, those sorts of friendships are so important when you are growing up.

I have some very dear friends who I have known many years, some who I don't see as much as I would like to or don't have so much in common any more but we still have a great time when we get to catch up. Then there are friends who are like-minded & wonderful but live miles away or even in another country, some who I have never met in person but am so close to, thanks to the marvellous media of the internet we have found each other and share so much, but it sucks we can never really meet up and share a coffee or help one another out with babysitting, or give a proper hug when we need one! I also have friends that I would like to be closer with but I just struggle to meet them on the same page, either we have very different lives and perspectives so struggle to find middle ground any longer, or no matter what efforts are made we just seem to stay distant.

The latter has particularly been upsetting this week as it involves a family member, well someone who will be joining our family but still seems very reticent to become a part of it. I suppose I feel sad really that a potential close friendship is being pushed away, for whatever reason I am not entirely sure, the main ingredients seem there, we like similar things, we live close to one another, we have been through a lot of similar situations, but still despite many efforts we aren't close and can not really be termed friends. It's quite a shame really, but these things cannot be forced, who knows what the future may bring, but certainly for now I am making the decision to remain open in case that person needs me, but will stand back and give space from now on to let the dust settle and the distance remain.

Sunday has been about Monkeys...

Firstly this little monkey...

...enjoying his craft session...

...and then this one...

I baked this after being inspired by Farmgirl Fare's recipe "Mexican Monkey Cake" mmmm utterly delicious and seeing as it contains bananas (amongst some other more naughty ingredients) I decreed it one of our 5 a day and therefore had 2 slices, i'm sure that's how it works!!

Totally un-Monkey related has been playing about with my camera as I slowly learn all the settings and get used to what it can do, I am getting quite pleased with my shots, especially the more abstract ones!

I have succumbed to a cold over the weekend so I haven't been up to much worth blogging about other than the above really, but hopefully I am on the mend and will be up to better things next weekend seeing as it's Valentine's weekend and therefore Mr G.T' & I's celebration of 8 years together (our first date was Valentine's day)!

Painting Plans

Well the plans for sorting out the front garden are underway, Mr G.T has measured up how much decking he thinks he'll need and we hope to buy it in stages so we can get bits done at a time, realistically without taking a week off of work to do it is going to take some weekends to get it done. Mr G.T is never happier than when he has some sort of powertool in his hand so I'm sure he will enjoy every second of it! Meanwhile we (me, GN and GS) will be getting the garden sorted out and getting the fence painted on the back, it's going to be busy but worth it once it's all done. I've found it so easy in the past 2 years we have lived here to just sit back and take up the dutiful babysitting role, but this year I want to get things done, it isn't easy with a toddler but im sure he will help where he can and enjoy it, I am being more confident at getting stuck in and getting on with it now, I can't spend my whole life sitting back worrying about GS getting in the midst of things when we can have fun getting stuck in together.

There is also the inside to continue decorating, realistically we aren't going to get it all done this year but as GS is now out of the cot and in to his big boy toddler bed (fanfare please!!) we really want to get his room done for him! We were going with a seaside theme, but as he loves Buzz Lightyear so much we thought a space theme was much more him, I already have a star stamp and hope to get some more planets and stuff painted on to his walls once the blue paint is on, very exciting!

I am very hopeful that we may have another little family moving in sometime soon :) I spotted a Great Tit checking out our new bird box with great interest and being noticeably territorial around it (chasing off a poor sparrow trying to get to the seed feeder) so fingers crossed he and the Mrs liked what they saw!!

I've borrowed "Creative Play for 2-5's" by Dr Dorothy Einon from the library and love her style, lots of great ideas for creative play and also links to what it can help foster and develop in your toddler too, plus recipes for making your own play dough, paints and glue :) i love it! I have to admit to being a little bit too overcautious on the mess of "messy play" and feel bad now that this could hinder GS's enjoyment of crafts and creativity which after all i enjoy with them would be awful, so i'm going to relax a bit more, LET THE MESS COMMENCE!!