Sunday 10 June 2012

The Last Day of Half Term

I am always a little sad when the school holidays come to an end. I love having Mia at home, and always try to plan lots of fun things to make and do. The bad weather has been such a shame this week, but at least we were very lucky in that the sun shone on Monday afternoon for the village Jubillee celebrations! (see my previous post).

The rest of the week flew by as half-term usually does! But here are a few highlights, we had a lovely time, despite the weather.

A walk up to the lake in town, Mia enjoyed taking her scooter (£3.00 from the Scout Jumble Sale a couple of months ago!)



Chilly...but never too cold for icecream!



The lovely dragon fountain, they were making this when Mia was a baby, I used to come up here most days and sit and read whilst she dosed in her pram. One day they were giving you the chance to write your name in copper-plate on one of the scales of the dragon for £1.00. I wrote Mia's name and date of birth - nice to think it's still there now;



The swans had 7 cygnets and Mia enjoyed feeding them;







A bus trip to our closest large town, Hereford on Wednesday. This was a REAL treat for Mia & I! We used to do this often before I had Baby Boy, but this is the first time in a year. He was with the childminder on Wednesday and i'd taken the day off work, so Mia could have some "mummy time" all to herself. She really deserved it, she has been wonderful and so understanding, accepting that since having Baby Boy, I haven't been able to do all of the things we used to so easily.



(Photo from Google images)

We enjoyed the bus journey there and back, which takes you a long way around all of the stunning Herefordshire villages - they looked so pretty, especially with the Jubillee bunting still up! The hedgerows were abundant with cowparsley, so pretty! How I would love to have stopped off at one of the "chocolate-box villages" and stayed a while - long enough to take some photographs and have a good wander...one day, perhaps!

We had a lovely day together, Mia's "treat" was to be able to take the contents of the huge egg money box we have on the dining room windowsill; (this is where we empty our purses and pockets throughout the year)



and spend whatever amount there may be in Claire's Accessories! She couldn't wait!! She came home with;

Lots of "One Direction" goodies and a Harry poster. She LOVES One Direction and Harry is her favourite. She is only 8!! It makes me feel quite sad that my baby girl is growing up and in to a boy band!..but then again I was madly in to Jason Donavon and Kylie Minogue at her age! She also loves Jedward!!



She also bought a skull scarf and top from Primark, two books from "The Works"; One Direction and Jedward! And a football and 3 books (20p each) from one of the charity shops!

It is safe to say that Mia did well...she REALLY enjoyed her day and couldn't wait to get home to show my husband! I on the other hand (no doubt to his relief!) did not buy a single thing! It was one of those shopping trips where I found nothing to my liking - we went to 7 charity shops and the only thing I bought was a book for my mum. Slim pickings in the charity shops lately.

Thursday was horrendous weather wise, luckily we had invited one of Mia's school friends to play for the afternoon. He had not been before, but was a model child! He was very polite, and even complimented me on my Jubillee display on the dresser!! He can certainly come round again!! When I asked him what he would like to drink with his pizza, he replied "a cup of tea would be nice, milky with one sugar, please"! He is only 8 years old! He and Mia settled down to an afternoon of arts and craft - I covered the table with a large roll of white paper and they were happy with a tub of glitter glue pens;





They also made some badges and some lovely felt key rings;



I think they had a great day, despite the weather being too wet and windy for them to venture outside in to the garden to view Mia's collection of animal & bird bones and skulls - she even has a sheep skull! She finds these at Nanny & Grandpas and Nanny puts them in a bucket of bleach before she takes them home! We never know quite what she is going to come back with next!

Mia & I have also enjoyed this week;

Watching Springwatch, on BBC2
Cuddling up in crochet blankets on the sofa and eating marshmallows!
Finding a fabulous map duvet cover in Oxfam as a "spare" for Mia's bed (perfect for when her Cath Kidston boats duvet is in the wash!)
Reading "The Indian in the Cupboard" a birthday present to Mia from her God-Mummy





I hope you have all had a good week xx

8 comments:

  1. Hi Marina: Sounds like you and Mia really enjoyed your time together. Love those Baby Boy feet!..Happy Sunday..Judy

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  2. Oh, baby feet, too cute!! Sounds like you had such a fun time with Mia. She seems like a very intelligent and thoughtful child. I'm sure she'll grow out of the One Direction thing!;) The pictures are all so lovely.

    I hope you don't mind me asking this but how have you found coping with the age gap between Mia and baby boy? My daughter is 5 now and keeps asking for a brother or sister but I worry that I may have missed the window of opportunity. I've deliberately been putting off having another baby for various reasons but am starting to think it's crunch time now! I'm always interested to hear other mum's experiences!

    Lucy x

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  3. Lovely photos! Mia and baby are just so cute. I too love your Jubilee display - fabulous! Have a good week hon. Becks xxx

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  4. Oh this post got me so excited and giddy! I wish I was Mia's age again, days shopping in Claire's were the best days ever. Even though the shop is ridiculously small, I could spend hours in there debating what to buy. Have to say, Mia picked good stuff! And at least she has a 'thing' for a young lad. When I was her age I was absolutely IN LOVE with Brendan Fraser (think George of the Jungle and The Mummy), I cringe now, has to be said though, he was very good looking in The Mummy. But he was slightly too old for me. Then I fancied Bradley out of S Club 7. Ooooh I so want to be young again!:(
    & oh my God, I looove Jedward, they're the best! Loving how Mia and her friend recreated their hair with the glitter glue ha!
    & wow, can't believe the little lad drinks tea at 8, I'm still on juice and water at 17. Maybe I need to grow up at some point...
    You would have so loved to have seen my face when I was reading your comment. I let out the biggest "NO WAY" when I read you'd been to the Maldives. Got a funny look off my mum. I am so so so jealous! You're sooo lucky. And wow you tried on a lot of dresses! I can imagine it'd be fun though.
    & thanks for the lovely words, I do feel a lot better now, it's just when I'm stressed and feel a bit lonely I get down about it, but blogging about how I feel really helps!
    xxx

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  5. I loved this post Marina. This is what half term is all about, spending time together. Lovely photos of you children.
    Lisa x

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  6. I love baby feet too. The photos are lovely and you certainly had an enjoyable week all of you. P x

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  7. Of course it's never too cold for ice cream - how dare you even suggest it! Now following as love finding another UK mummy blogger.Rx

    http://sandersonsmithstory.blogspot.co.uk/

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  8. Sorry Marina just catching up again,your half term looks like great fun,a lovely day out shopping in Hereford-perfect place.Love all the goodies Mia got with her money,My daughter loves one direction too,it is scary how quickly they grow up though.Mias little friend so lovely so polite and a tea drinker already!neither of mine like tea,very unlike me :)The roll of paper idea looks great and lol at Mia collection bones and skulls,maybe she will become a scientist! Love nature watch too,is that where the fascination with bones started do you think?Those baby feet look so cute and has made me broody again :) xxx

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Thank you for your lovely messages! They really do brighten up my day xx