Is there such a thing as "post party stress disorder"???......

Is it possible to poison small children with too much suspiciously highly coloured food? Yes, you've guessed it, today was party time in the VH household. Eight 3 & 4 year olds ran riot through my tidy (not for long) home and, I hope, had a great time. The adults?............well we shared a jug of Pimms and pretended it was sunny!



Now I'm no baker (i blame the oven) and this cake proved to something of a challenge. Can anybody tell me why Barbie has such ridiculously long legs? It was either chop them off or sacrifice the sponge cake I'd made for us long suffering Mummies. In the end I decided I just could not amputate limbs just for a cake so we made do with strawberries and cream instead. May I say Barbie looks slightly relieved!

Small hint :: it really is impossible to keep Barbie's dignity intact when cutting the cake. She ended up with her (impossibly small) bottom hanging out of the back of the cake and looking slightly like she belonged in a very dodgy food related porn film!

As usual it's been a busy week and I'm feeling slightly frustrated because I've so many post ideas in my head but not the time to write them, probably how a lot of you feel out there.

Last Sunday Andrea and I went to London to visit a trade fair. We met the man behind the now famous "Sarah Smith" dishcloths with the flowers that have been mentioned here in Blogland so many times. After leaving we decided to have a little trek around the capital and managed (thanks to me) to get onto totally the wrong tube. We ended up in Portobello Road and from there walked about 6 miles (no joke) back to Kensington where we'd parked, via a very convoluted route worked out using only a tube map! Along the way we stopped for Sushi and walked through Notting Hill and Kensington Gardens. We laughed so much whilst we walked that I was beginning to rue my decision not to have followed my pelvic floor exercises! It was a truly great day out with a fab friend, one I'll remember when I'm old and grey and pushing her round in a bath chair (she's older than me, as I keep telling her!).

I haven't forgotten the giveaway, next post I'll choose the winner. Have a lovely weekend all, I'm off for a large glass of wine, a lie down, and a chat with my other half...................(or, truth be told, to slob in front of the tv!)

Gifts galore!............

What a lucky girl I've been this week, little gifts have been popping up everywhere!

What a nice way to get back into the swing of everyday life......................

First of all my lovely giveaway from Lisa, a gorgeous embroidered apron, a flowered napkin, some lovely lace trim, a copy of the magazine that I hear so much about in the US but we can't get here (boo!) "Romantic Homes", and yes, it is fab!. We also got a big packet of Smarties (curiously missing from the picture, who could the culprits be?) And Lisa, Ian passes on his gratitude for the now famous "Tim Tams" - yum!! Lovely, lovely, lovely, all of it!

Speaking of Ian, he returned from Manchester with some more Harvey Nichols goodies. Oh how I love having a man who loves a good food hall! Our normally barren biscuit supply is now bursting at the seams with "grown up" treats and he also brought me a lovely cup and saucer for my French style cafe-au-lait, just to remind me of our fab hols. The flowers came from a neighbour as a thank-you.

Next the postie came a-knocking with this little bundle from the ever gorgeous Catherine at Mollycupcakes. Two little parcels for the little people. What excitement they caused, Kit was in yellow heaven and Jack devoured the book. Catherine is one of the nicest, most generous blogger out there, you must visit her blog!

Lastly, my scrumptious boy made me my very own paper fastener flower bouquet. What more could a mum ask for? I'm hanging onto these moments, he's growing up so fast!

All in all I'm feeling very blessed this week, no doubt something will come and smack me in the gob to bring me back down to earth next week but for now I'm just going to enjoy the moment!

And now....................the latest giveaway. Whilst in France I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to purchase the lastest "Marie Claire Idees" and what do know, another one just happened to slip into the trolley with it! Anyone who would like to get their sticky mitts on this and a couple of other little treats I'll pop in, leave a comment. I'm not showing a picture of it because I forgot to take one, but it'll make it even more exciting dontcha think!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend........................

A day of simple and slightly surreal pleasures........

Back into full blogging mode, although I do have to catch up with you all. Two posts in two days must be a record in the VH household.

After a lovely weekend of nosing round houses and seeing some lovely artwork at the open studios in Stroud and a relaxing Father's day, Monday started off in its usual fashion. Coffee with Andrea and Maureen straight after school drop off. We decided to go al fresco and enjoy the morning sun. Deep in conversation and munching on pastries we were suddenly joined by an elderly gentleman who just wanted a chat. After regaling us with his military history he then proceeded to serenade us with songs by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, in very hushed tones. Slightly surreal to be sung to at 10am on a Monday morning but there are worse ways to spend your time!

Kitty had her first session at school and after a slightly hesitant start seemed to enjoy it. She didn't want me to leave her but after realising that I was the only neurotic parent left (as usual)I reluctantly bade her farewell. It was very difficult, she looked like a little lost sheep amongst all the other faces. I'm pretending that September is a very long time away and making the most of the couple of months we have left together at home. It's very hard to know that my baby will be in the whole school system so soon and again I wish we had the continental scheme of keeping them at home a bit longer. Ahh well, such is life.

I do love having a bookworm for a child but it costs us a fortune. I try to use the library as much as possible, but being chronically disorganised means I run up fines larger that the national debt and therefore ashamed to show my face. Charity shops are a great help and on Monday Kit and I trawled them and came home with a few goodies. Hence this is where number one son was to be found after school that very evening................................

..................not the most comfortable armchair but perfect in his eyes, also great for watching my neighbours dogs at a safe distance, dog phobic as he is!

Thought I'd end with some holiday pics. It was a wonderful holiday, the weather was very mixed but we did get to the beach, and many of the towns we wanted to. We ate oysters galore washed down with cider, too many baguettes and crepes to think about (why are the French so healthy??) and wandered down lovely quiet cobbled streets dreaming about living there. Bliss.........

................a spot of Saturday Night Beach Fever!

........................the house in the middle is mine!

................Kits first horse riding attempt, she loved it!

Thanks for all the lovely comments about Ian's mum, they really are much appreciated. Life goes on here, as it has to with two young children, they are a great distraction.

Watch this space, a little giveaway coming shortly.....................

The best and worst of times.............

Another long absence, my sincere apologies. I'm sure some of you must have thought we'd sailed to France and decided never to come back, we were sorely tempted, let me tell you!

I've ummed and ahhhed about how to phrase what happened to us over the half term break. In some ways I was reluctant to blog about it because it's very personal, hence the long absence. Unfortunately when we were on the way to the ferry we received the news we'd been been dreading, that Ian's mum had taken a very serious turn for the worse. We turned back and Ian drove straight to Scotland whilst I went to my folks up north. Sadly Helen died that night at 10.30pm, but Ian made it in time to be with her. Although not completely unexpected it was a very sad time for all of us, Helen's children in particular.

Helen was a truly remarkable, brave, selfless and lovely, lovely woman. It was a privilege to have known her for the past 12 years, and she was the best mother, grandmother and friend you could wish for. She will be very sadly missed by us all.

We decided to still have our holiday, a week later, the day after the funeral. We thought it was probably the best remedy for our little family. It was a good decision, we had a truly lovely time, chilled out, played together, read lots and drank lots of French cider, it was the tonic we all needed.

I'll be back later this week, there's so much to catch up on.

Julia x

We're off................

Euros have been bought - what happened to the exchange rate, I think we'll be taking our own wine over at this rate! Activity books have been purchased, we've raided the library, clothing for all eventualities has been packed, sun cream and thermal undies stowed away, wellies and flip flops, bikinis and fleeces all stuffed in. We're ready!

Won't be around for the next couple of weeks, but I hope you all have a good half term if it applies and if not just enjoy whatever you're all up to!

Thanks for all the tv comments, I was a bit worried I'd have become a social outcast!

Au-revoir!

Lazy days.................

We've had a lovely lazy weekend. The weather has been a bit hit and miss so we haven't strayed very far, only to the park and a Beavers session. Ian's been away visiting his mum who has recently become very ill so it's been down to Mummy to entertain the troops - gulp! Fortunately we were rescued by friends both yesterday and today who came round for a play.

This afternoon, hoping to keep my bottom on a chair in the garden for longer that two seconds I set my children the "pirates" challenge we used to play as children. Get from one end of the garden to the other without touching the grass, using anything you can find. They loved it, kept them entertained for ages until Jack fell off the extremely precarious bridge he built using plywood and an old seaside bucket. I did try to explain the structural failings of the design but he wasn't having any of it! One lesson learned - mum knows best!

One thing very seldom heard in this house is the dreaded "I'm bored" phrase. I don't know if it's just that my children at nearly 8 and 4 are too young for that yet, but at the moment it isn't an issue. I made a decision when Jack was a baby that our children would not watch television. Most people thought me totally weird for making this choice but I stuck by my guns, and at times I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I knew that because I'm all for an easy life, if I started to let television creep in I would all too easily allow it to become a babysitter so I decided to not have it at all.

Many people told me that Jack would suffer among his peers at school because he wouldn't know about "Pokemon" or "Power Rangers" but that hasn't been the case. Ok, so he doesn't know the latest tv craze or any of the characters but he seems to manage without them. His love of books, lego and the great outdoors keep him more than entertained and although he doesn't have tonnes of friends he has enough to keep him happy.

Now they are both older we have brought a Friday night is tv night rule into play where they can choose a dvd or to watch something on tv. More often than not the tv is only on for half an hour and then they drift into the kitchen to see what I'm up to. I do wonder sometimes if they will grow up to be telly addicts because it was denied to them as children but at the moment it seems to be working for us so we're sticking to it. As parents we seek to do what we think is best for our children and this is one thing we thought was important, to bring our children up to have a thirst for knowledge, a love of books and the ability to entertain themselves.

Thought I'd end with some garden pictures. I'm no Percy Thrower, in fact I've killed off more plants than I've nurtured but my little (and only) bed is surprising me this year. I planted a few perennials without much confidence last year and most of them seem to be returning apart from two geraniums (I thought no-one could kill a geranium!) and the lupins. I'm looking forward to the next couple of months.

I keep my herbs in an old tin tub, I love picking my own from the garden, makes me feel all virtuous! We haven't got a patio at the moment (we did have a scary quote recently, so it's gone on the list of things to do) so I'm struggling where to put my pots. The railings are halfway through at the front of the house, I'll post some pics when they're finished.

Hope I haven't put you off with the whole television thing, I debated about posting it but it is an important thing in our house and part of our life so I decided to take a risk.

See you all soon..........................

And the winner is....................

First of all apologies (again!) for my absence. Time seems to be running away at the moment and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat. Also the sun has been shining and the last place I want to be is in our basement on the 'puter. Need a laptop, only problem is that finances are needed elsewhere so it will have to wait.

There's been plenty of paddling pool and water slide action, all meals have been outside and it's been bliss, shame the rain's arrived today, still, at least I won't have to water the pots!

We always dress for dinner in this house!

So..............the giveaway. We held the draw this morning and the winner is................

Congratulations Sairer, can you email me your address and I'll post your goodies asap! I hope you like them all.

I read Lucy's latest post about mugs and it got me thinking, as well as making me laugh. There are certain "rules" in this house that I expect everybody, ie. Ian, to abide by and in his way he tries to break them.

Firstly tea and coffee canisters. I insist that the tea canister should ALWAYS be on top because I drink more tea and need quick access. However when Ian makes the drinks I always find the canisters like this...............


.................not only is my tea at the bottom but it's also facing the wrong way!

Next, dinner plates. Ian refuses to eat off my priceless treasures, or "other peoples' tat" as he describes them. So rather than reach up to the easily accessible plate rack he rootles around in the cupboard to find a plain white one.


Same with mugs, he doesn't like the flowery ones hanging above the sink so he's off again into the cupboard to find the "manly" ones.

Don't get me started on towels!...................

I can't really complain about him though, he has to be the most accepting man when it comes to my car boot trips. He merely raises his eyes, sighs almost imperceptibly and feigns interest. Only occasionally does he look truly horrified, so I can forgive him for his plate, mug and canister foibles. That's not to say I'm not working on him, control freak that I am!

Talking of car boots here are a few of the latest finds.............................

......................gorgeous green stuff

....................another fab eiderdown for a couple of pounds

...........................and another teapot.

Have a lovely weekend all................................

A woman's work is never done!.......

Not only do you have to make the tea....................................


....................you have to do the dishes as well!...........................


Hope you've all had a lovely, sunny weekend. Keep those comments coming, I'll close the giveaway on Thursday.

Do snails actually have any purpose?..............and a GIVEAWAY!

Look what they've done to my prized and only allium. I've been watching this little beauty with baited breath after planting it last year. All was well until the snails launched a major assault on it and ate through the stem. Aaarrrggh!

The children are tucked up in bed in a state of frenzy wearing two gruesome (gorgeous) very bright blue and orange t-shirts which came free with our holiday details today. Yes people, a holiday, a trip to France no less. I don't know who's more excited, me or the children! It will be our first trip abroad as a foursome and we can't wait, only 3 weeks to go, no childrens' passports as yet, a minor detail which I'm sure will be sorted, fingers, toes, legs and eyes crossed!

The weather tonight has been fantastic so we've managed tea in the garden, yum! This is the after photo, note the fabulous garden furniture, ie. camping table and kitchen chairs dragged outside. We have been through so much garden furniture, we're just not capable of looking after them and after a year they rot and people end up falling through the chairs!

Kitty and Jack entertained themselves for ages carting jugs and buckets of water through from the kitchen to pans, seaside buckets etc. and then pouring them down the slide so they could whizz down fully clothed. I can honestly say my children are the dirtiest I've ever come across, show them mud and they'll throw themselves headfirst into it.

Well done for staying with me through all that waffle, now my first year giveaway. I've decided that it's going to be a surprise gift, I don't know if that's the done thing, but I'm sticking with it. I love getting surprises, so leave a comment and the first name out of the hat will receive some extra special goodies. So join in, lurkers very welcome, it'd be great to hear from you. (Andrea, I know you're reading and you're not allowed to join in!)

I'll finish with some more gratuitous house shots, my bedside table, complete with handcream, a sure sign of ageing!

Finally a rather blurry shot of our understairs coats, hats, shoes etc. etc. storage area having had a major overhaul.................Enjoy the weekend everyone!

It's been a while...................

Having just survived the whole bath and bedtime routine I'm back! Is it just my two or do all children go mad just after bath and before bed, at the particular time when I'm at my most grouchiest/hungriest/exhausted?? We've had the snorkelling bath routine tonight which was the cause of much merriment and general farty/squirty noises, hmmm probably explains the overexcitement! So, where to start? I suppose with the snow that you've all posted about and are probably sick to death of by now but bear with me, I'm a little behind. We did manage our one and only sledging trip of the year which was fantastic fun if only to watch my friend Marion whizzing down the biggest hill in our (now broken - sorry kids) sledge wearing a bright green duffle coat and screaming with delight! I have to add that I did it too but only after she'd done the first run, cowardy custard being my middle names.

That started our holiday off with a bang and as our friends departed from their weekend visit my sister and her brood arrived for a few days of shopping, lazing about and cooing over our new baby cousin.

We than had a few days up north at my parents house, Jack came down with chicken pox so took to his bed and Kit and I visited aforementioned baby on numerous occasions for more cooing and smooching.

During the holiday Kit took advantage of long days at home and a clear space in the kitchen to learn to ride her bike (with stabilisers, before you think she's a 3 year old olympic hopeful). This involves her whizzing around the table and island unit at an ever increasing rate of knots, much to her father's great disapproval. I'm of the lazy parenting school of thought, if it keeps them quiet and it doesn't hurt anybody, let them get on with it. That's not to say I don't wince every time she scrapes along my lovingly painted units! She now likes to cycle to school when she can which involved us getting caught in a thunderstorm wearing nothing but a cotton cardigan between us on Monday. Something tells me the safest place to be in said thunderstorm would probably not be on a bike!

Can't put Kit in without mentioning big bro' so here's a picture of a theatre he made with his dad tonight...........................

Whilst I've been gone my first anniversary passed me by on the 20th April. As is the tradition in blogland I'm preparing a little giveaway so keep watching!

Last weekend was the Sudeley Castle grand spring fair at which Andrea launched her new company "Lottie's Barn". I was planning on sharing a stall with her, but I know my limitations and decided that the year before Kit started school was not the best time to set a business up. It was a great success, her stall stood out as one of (if not the) best at the show and she did a roaring trade. She still has a few choice Greengate bits and bobs left so let me know if there's anything you're after.

I'll end with a picture of my new doormat, too exciting I know, be still your beating hearts! Don't you just love it, one of my first purchases from Andrea. Try not to look at the scruffy door, that's what comes from having a son who kicks the bottom of it to open it, every time!

Off now for my weekly fix of "the Apprentice", I love it, love it, love it! Keep posted for the giveaway!.....................

Taking after Mummy......

Don't you love forget-me-nots? They take me back to my childhood when the garden was full of them. They are, however taking over my small bed and every year I have to haul loads of them out!

It's been a creative few days here in the VH household. Last week the weather was dire so the children and I decided to be crafty. Now I have to tell you, quite often the words "can we paint?" fall on deaf ears in this house, I try to avoid it at all costs, the mess and most of all the clearing up afterwards put me off, cruel mother that I am. So in order to avoid poster paint armageddon we had to come up with an alternative. Inspired by all the fabulous blogs I read we borrowed a few ideas and here's what we did..........



I asked both of them to draw anything they liked. Jack chose a seaside theme and Kit chose a party scene complete with flags (bunting) and her new baby cousin, my sister and her big cousin.


They then had the choice of any fabric from my massive scrap collection (can't bear to throw even the tiniest bit away!). They decided where each piece would go and I then bonda-webbed them on and machine stitched around each piece. We stapled them to cheap canvases from the craft shop, et voila, Jack and Kitty now have their very own masterpieces in their bedrooms...............................


They're both really pleased with the results and I love the fact we've got a permanent reminder of the stage they're at at this moment in time. We've got loads more ideas in the pipeline!

Last weeks car boot purchase (found by good old Andrea) has become Kitty's new throne in the kitchen. Deciding we didn't like the orange pine effect we thought we'd throw even more colour into our already rainbow like kitchen and painted the new addition bright yellow, Kitty's favourite colour in the world.

Of course, we couldn't leave Jack out of the equation so his old chair got a coat of "letterbox red" and it looks great. As always his beloved weekly copy of "Beano" waits for his return from school.

I often wonder what my children will remember about their childhood home and whether it will influence them as they grow up. Will they become staunch "minimalists" or will they embrace colour, clutter and general chaos as I do?? Sometimes even I think there's too much in this house, it does make for much more cleaning, but I can't help it, it seems to be an inbuilt desire to surround myself with stuff and my entire family have the same affliction. May as well give into it eh!......................

Before I go, a lot of you asked which books we have been reading in our book groups. Here goes.......

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards - nice, easy read.

The Collector by John Fowles - bit disturbing, not one I'd have chosen but really enjoyed it.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - a great book I thought, bit depressing but thought provoking.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - my choice after reading "life changing" type reviews about it. Didn't change my life one iota, but a nice, gentle book.

Nana by Emile Zola - A hard book to get into but once I did I really surprised myself by loving it.

Hope this helps those who asked, have a lovely weekend everyone, school holidays start tomorrow, yippeee!.............