mamaUK

Ordinary day

 
~  Little L playing this morning. "It's raining Mama, baby needs a raincover" ~

It's bitterly cold here, yesterday we could feel ice crystals in the air. We're staying indoors today where it's warm, doing everyday chores like laundry and cleaning. We're having a quiet, ordinary sort of day. Little L and I will venture outside again mid-afternoon to pick K up from school and we'll all hurry back to the warmth of home.

Winter fairy woods

 

 ~ Such pretty, paper- thin petals ~

Even though it was cold and cloudy on Saturday, we put on extra layers and got outside for the afternoon for some fresh air to help blow away the cobwebs. K and L are always begging us to take them to the 'fairy woods', so that's where we headed. The girls seemed to have a sense of exhilaration and freedom running around the woodland gardens looking for tiny fairy doors that can be found scattered around at the roots of the trees. The winter landscape looked bare and scraped back, with the flower beds being dug over and prepared for planting for the year ahead. The children found it harder to find some of the fairy houses without being able to use the vibrant flowers as markers. They never seemed to tire of running along the secret pathways and in and out of the trees.

Hello Sunshine

 
~ The sun came out for a few moments ~

 
 ~ L danced in the rays of the sunlight to music on the radio ~

 

~ I Love Fridays...the weekend is almost here. Tonight, when the children are sleeping, I'm looking forward to relaxing, cosy under quilts and watching Remember Me ~

Stepping outdoors

 
 ~She danced through the light and the shadows,enchanted to be outdoors once more ~

 
 ~ She was delighted to find the old enamel watering can ~

 
 ~ She wondered where the strawberries and flowers had gone and when they will appear again ~

Planning

  

(L reading In the Land of Fairies)

This morning I wanted to do some baking but time disappeared with cleaning jobs, returning bits and pieces to their rightful homes and vacuuming. Little L helped me stir Organic Strawberry Jelly ready for setting in the fridge to serve with icecream for pudding tonight, danced around in her fairy costume and read her new book In the Land of Fairies.
 
While doing the housework, I have been thinking of a couple of things I want to do during the coming months: 

• Find and read a good book on dairy. We make our own yogurt and I want to start adding natural fruit purees/sweeteners before the final setting process to make it more appealing to the children.
• Start experimenting with baking with increased nutritional content (using wholemeal flour/spelt flour/alternatives to sugar) It would be nice to have a few cake/biscuit/bar recipes for K to have in her lunchbox which are just that little bit healthier.
• Trial a three or four week rota for dinners to make meal planning/shopping simpler. Most of our meals I cook from scratch so this would be a real help.

 
January seems like the perfect month for list-making and organising. To my readers, if you would like to share any tips to help me with my to-do list, do stop by my comments section, I would love to hear from you!

Renewal

 

(K threading beads)

When I opened the door to the garden on the morning of  January 1st, I felt a sense of renewal in the air. The green of the grass looked that little bit greener and fresher and I could clearly hear the wildlife in the garden which maybe I hadn't noticed for a while in the fullness of the holiday season. I felt optimistic for the coming months, an excitement for new adventures, journeys and sweet and simple joys.

K has been gently getting ready for her return to school. We've been buying her new school uniforn which she has outgrown, she has been practising her reading and using her threading beads to help her add up and take away.