Mary walks around with some of her favourite things ...

...and asks me what i am doing up so high - do you know?

Look - No broken arm today!

at least, not in the chicken coup!

Mary is an Intellectual!

Thoughtful Mary ....

Good at playing Pairs, Singing Choir songs and hugging people who look sad ...

Mr Spunkity is a big hit !

hello Mr Spunkity...



i traded some raggy rats with abby of abbydid, and she made this fun monkey... mary plays with him a lot!

funny girls ...

i hate using the flash, and grabbed these shots of the girls making silly faces at daddy. i still think they are great pics, and the blurs make me laugh and seem to work, esp. when one girl is sitting still!

go on, ask me, how do i get anything done?

extreme machining ....

trying to get things done, with an 18 month old that wants a piece of everything ...

her very clear speach includes the following words -

sewing
made
needle
sharp
careful
stab
pins
mummy's
sissors
and yes, machine ...!

of interest to UK HErs, a petition, if you please ...
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Home-ed-families/

i can has sammidge ....

how to get some packed lunches made for a HE meet-up, and keep the baby happy at the same time ...

mary loves food and loves being on the counter, and the idea of 'helping' me !

one of her most common words is, 'lunch' ...

visiting, and meeting up ....

on thursday we met lots of animals and birds, and also chris http://mygrandfathersgooseberry.wordpress.com/

arriving at jax's house with the help of my trusty sat nav ! chris helped me park and too pics of our first meeting. why do i always look half asleep?




daisy and matty stare at chris camera - they didn't cry tho !



i cuddled a baby african grey, who was quietly waiting to be fed (every two hours, how does jax do it!) the girls were very taken with the baby bird and want to see it again...



time to feed mary too, and laught at daisy's jokes!



thanks for a lovely morning jax, the very fresh eggs, and for the great photos chris
next time i'll bring my BIG camera along with everything else !

cat xxx

better blog some more crafty sewing, cat ...

i had this toy, it played a nice lullaby but it didnt look so apealing, also the stuffing was very soggy and lumpy ...



so i gutted it
lets call it recycling
the stuffing and the musical box i put aside for re-use



and i made this rabbit ... upholstery and a nice fairy cotton-print ...



the stuffing is so firm, i believe i can hear base notes i couldn,t before ...

20 posts for january, a personal record?
i dont know, i'll have to have a poke around ...

mary is a fantastic mimic ...

she can make singing sounds, and a 'blah blah blah', which sounds like me talking ...

copying trumps is good for a laugh, but the best thing of all is waving back at us!

and only 8 months old ... she will be sewing next ...

WIP - the last animal of 2008

i did finish an animal yesterday, the last one of the year ...
i will show it to you tomorrow, promise. my photography is often lagging behind real life!

did you have a good new year? we were all in bed by 9.30pm, and no getting up to sick children. a monster bug has yucked its way through our 'holidays' and we are still not fully recovered. here's to a healthier new year ...

baby mary who was born this year, and whose birth was blogged by me the day she was born, is now eight months. cute and cheeky, but growing FAR TOO FAST!

revamping old clothes - a t shirt i can breastfeed mary in !

just one baggy t-shirt was left in my cupboard, and such a lovely colour, but i dont wear things like this any more. i had worn it for bed a couple of times.

my stripey orange top which is easy for feeding mary in was getting saggy and worn so i cut it up and used it to transform the baggy t-shirt, after first unpicking the band logos from both the front and back!

it fits a treat, and has just enough gather for nursing access. i love it. i think i can say i can make clothes now, its not something i am very good or exoerienced at ...

at one end of the sofa ....

i sew, read, drink tea, eat pretend food, eat real cake, put my feet up, sketch designs, fail at soduku, make phone calls, stuff sewing projects, take photographs and smile at the children!

and at the other .....

sometimes ....

sometimes mary naps well, and i can get things done or play with the toddlers. sometimes she doesn't.

i got a cd free with a magazine while trying to conceieve the first time with steve, and getting daisy and matty. i was getting broody and bought the magazine with both a blanket and this cd. it has woffly rubbish on it, plus sound effects and 2 songs which you can slap on repeat and use as soothing sounds or white noise to block out noise of sewing machine/washing machine/toddlers.

my favourite one at the moment is the "hoover sounds", having got bored of brahms lullabye!

as you cant buy it, i wonder if anyone would like a copy? i dont reccomend listening to "womb sounds" while eating some lunch!

burn, baby, burn .....

Thank You Julie ....

another surprise package for me and dear mary, contained among other things, this really cute gnome hat.

its from julie, here is her shop ... http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=4442

doesn't mary look great in it?

spot the baby ....

spot the baby ....
Originally uploaded by RaggyRat

mary sometimes likes to kick about, and curls right up almost rolling to the side, so i doubt she will stay still for long, just like my wriggly twins!

i might change this carpet one day, i dont know how old it is, but it will do at least untill everyone is potty trained ... then perhaps we might wait untill the girls leave home, as it may become even more worn and spilled-upon in years spent home educating ....

just watching a huge erection taking place outside my house, as i type - photos tomorrow, at least, i will take them then, not sure if i will upload them yet .....

message on polypropalene ....

an image produced by playing with a celephane bag with a message on it, from a friend up north ...
can you work out what it says?
this is what my garden looks like typically, lots of laundry ...
as i type, my bedding is out there now, hope its not a toilet for our resident robin and black bird ...

took the girls to the beach this morning, must do some again sewing soon! *
they were very happy until it was time to leave, i managed to persuade them by getting them to carry their own drinks cups back to the car! i did not take the camera, as i was already wearing mary in the carrier and helping toddlers up steps and so on, daisy had to be helped a couple of times when she fell over running ...

i do love them. they are all asleep right now !

*erk, german scentence construction?

my how you've grown ...

yesterday my little may-kitten weighed 7lb14 ...

lots of feeding, cuddling, sleeping and nappies ...

hard work this baby growing ... some of it involves croissants and creme caramel ... !

Here She Is !!!

couldn't resisit a quick camera phone photo, her first pic ...

and i am going to write about her amazing birth as soon as i can sit down properly

haha !

thanks to my sister for uploading this image from her phone to the pc ...

baby girl, 7lb9 2nd may at 8.40 am ... vbac, transfered from home to hopital with debs,

then driven home by steve within a few hours ....

thanks everyone

love you

cat xxxx