Happy 6th Birthday Lia!

Yes No 1 Dort is 6 today - where did those years go?

We've had a lovely day - the four of us went to London and did some shopping - her grandparents gave her money so we let her spend it on her choices (with a bit of guidance of course LOL) and she bought herself some new Crocs (pink!) and a Rapunzel doll, a charm bracelet and a couple of toys (Zoobles and Littlest Petshop).

We all had lunch together and then DH brought Connor home while I took Lia to her surprise present from us - The Wizard of Oz!  Lia loved it and I thought it was pretty good - definitely not the best I've seen (you want an Oz story, go see Wicked!) but the staging was absolutely amazing.  My biggest issue was that Michael Crawford is seriously under-used but the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion were great and the Wicked Witch of the West was amazing.

After that I took her to Hamleys (7 floors of toys) where we spent two hours looking at toys, having our faces painted and our nails done.  Total girlie bliss.  Then it was a Macdonalds tea and a quick hop on the tube to see Big Ben (her wish) and then a walk along the Thames to Waterloo station and the train home.  We left home at 9am this morning and the two of us got back at 10pm tonight!!!!

We've just chivvied her off to bed and I won't be long as I'm at work tomorrow.  Given our late return we haven't done the draw for the giveaway but I will do it tomorrow I promise.  Here's a few pics from the day

Birthday girl this morning:

At the tube station (yes Connor is walking now):

My boys!

 

How big is Big Ben really?

Face painting

A Tale of One Kitty

Our tale begins almost five years ago on 28th May 2006 when Lia was Christened and she received 24 pink dresses as gifts from various Greek friends and relatives.  All of the dresses were aged 12 - 18 months and all were extremely flouncy and totally inappropriate so I then spent almost a week going around Athens and exchanging the dresses for more appropriate clothes - something that wasn't exactly fun as approriate clothing in my eyes is far from what anyone in Greece thinks LOL.

Anyway, after three days of this I was extremely bored so when I saw the shop we went into first had toys I decided to get one.  After much deliberation I picked a cuddly cat that was orange and pink - just because it had a lovely face and a rattle in it's tummy.  This day just happened to be Lia's first birthday.

Scroll on six months and we were back in Greece for Christmas with various toys including the cat which she had taken a shine to.  On one particular day she was running around the appartment in Greece saying 'nayno, nayno, nayno' and we had no idea what she was doing (other than maybe being a police car).  Eventually she found the cat and picked it up saying 'Nayno!' and then proceeded to talk at it for quite some time.

From that point on the cat was Nayno (we have no idea why) and it (it started as a he and became a she and is now one or the other depending on Lia's mood) became Lia's one true friend.  The Hobbes to her Calvin...

Fast forward another six months and we were back in Greece with Nayno who had started to fray around the neck.  We found an identical cat in the same shop and decided to swap them as she was too young to notice.

This became regeneration 1 and Nayno 2 settled down to a life of adoration and adventure.  And much, much washing.  And a close encounter with her paw and some green gloss paint.

One year later we went back to Greece and DH's Mum announced she had found and purchased a third cat!  Number 2 was decidedly ropey after a year of love and attention (and the occasional vomit and nosebleed) so we did another swap.  Again Lia coped, her only comment being 'I've got a pretty Nayno!' when we gave it to her after a 'magic wash' from her Yia-Yia.

So here she was, a three year old with a twice regenerated cat and we thought that maybe, just maybe, the love would wane slightly and this one would last.  However here we are, just short of her sixth birthday and Nayno is still the companion of choice, still the one that must go to bed with her and still the one who is loved beyond all adult comprehension.

And the one who unfortunately now looks like this:

Too floppy even to sit up unaided!  If you hold her up to the light you can see through her neck and there are a lot of bald patches on her back.

An internet search brought up the horrifying fact that Nayno's are now extinct!  They ceased to be manufactured around 18 months ago and nowhere on the web could we find one.  Around 8 months ago a minor miracle occured and I found a Nayno on eBay - I eagerly bought and paid for it and waited for it to be shipped from France only to discover on it's arrival that it was in fact a mini-Nayno!  No matter it was Christened Naynaki (little Nayno) and became Nayno's baby to be loved in a similar manner to it's mother.

Then, against all odds, DH found a Nayno.  In Mexico.  Several emails and an EXTORTIONATE, never to be admitted, amount of postage later and Nayno IV was on it's way to us from deepest darkest Mexico, via Memphis (I think he went to Graceland - he is the coolest cat after all) and he arrived here this morning.

So now Lia is primed that Mummy, who can do anything, is going to work on Nayno tonight and fill up her stuffing, 'dye' her fur, sew up her holes and generally make her beautiful again.  Will it work?  I don't know.  What I do know is that if it doesn't and we end up confessing the existence of the original three Lia will have more than enough room in her heart for all of them - whatever they look like...

So Nayno IV has met his predecessors and submitted his references (proof if it were needed that DH is as mad as I am as he set up this shot)

He's bonded with them:

Had a cuddle with Nayno III

And taken up the baton of Naynodom on his own

Hormonal five year olds

Today Lia has a non-uniform day at school (or a dress down day as they are now referred to).  Without fail this event leads to instant stress the moment she wakes up compounded by whinging and whining and, today, tears.  My issue today was that it was zero degrees outside and therefore a summer skirt was not acceptable.  And neither was a summer skirt teamed with leggings that clashed so badly they could bring on a migraine.

Generally I have no issue with Lia choosing her own clothing - sure she's lacking a certain sense of style given she's only five but it's not like her wardrobe is extensive enough she can get into too much trouble - but for dress down days they have to still be smart and therefore my input is required.

We are generally suffering from her attitude at the moment.  There is so much answering back and whining and shouting that some days I despair.  I have to admit it's surprised me that this is happening so early on - I was thinking I'd got a few more years before the door slamming stage (it's only happened once but the next time it happens toys will be in a bin bag). 

The biggest issue is her hair.  She wants it long.  I say she can only have it long if it's tied up because it's so fine and whispy that it looks like she's been dragged through a hedge about a second after it is brushed.  This of course is not her fault, neither is it her fault that her best friend has perfect hair but I cannot stand it looking so awful plus she's all over Connor at any opportunity and therefore her hair is all over him too or in her mouth when she's eating and so on and so on.

However she majorly objects to having it brushed (or brushing it herself) and while she now accepts it's a french plait and only a french plait for school, weekends are still a nightmare.  She has to have it in a bun for ballet and this always causes ructions.  She actually missed ballet one week because I refused to take her due to her atrocious behaviour about her hair.  We are now in a final warning state - the next time she even starts a scene about it I'm cutting it off - only Daddy's intervention saved her last time and he now knows I'm serious too.

And we're not even going to discuss the tidying her bedroom.  Last time I told her she had to I got the response 'I'm not poor, my name is not Cinderella'.  So now this is another issue that will result in all toys in a bin bag. I do wonder if I expect too much from her as she's only five but it's not like I'm asking her to clean the house or cook the dinner, I expect her to keep her room tidy so that I'm not stepping on all her toys when I go in there and that's about it.

Having said all of that, I suppose can hardly complain about her stubborness and attitude when I really don't have to look further than a mirror to see where she gets it from LOL

Pirates

Conversation with Lia this morning:

Lia: there's a pirate in my class
Me: really?
Lia: yes and she lives in Pirate Land
Me: who?
Lia: Sapphire
Me: oh, ok, did she tell you she was a pirate?
Lia: no
Me: so how do you know
Lia: well her parents are pirates and so they must live in Pirate Land and Sapphire lives with them
Me: hmmmmmmmmm, they're not really pirates you know
Lia: but they dress like pirates so they must be

So any advice please on how to explain Goths to a five year old? LOL

Happy Birthday Lia!

Unbelievably my little girl is five years old today!!!

Lia's Easter Present

So here's my 'little' girl all dressed up in her new Belle Princess dress that was a gift from her Nonna (Godmother) for Easter. Could she look any more pleased with herself LOL.

An update on Lia

It occurs to me that I've not mentioned Lia that much lately and if I don't boast about her achievements while she's still an only child she's likely to get even more overlooked in a few weeks LOL.

She's settled into school fantastically well and is still really enthusiastic about going which is great. She's got a 'best' friend plus a small group of good friends and has at least one play date a week at the moment (while I still have the energy to cope!) Last weekend we got her a scooter as it's the current craze and all the girls we walk home with have them. I'm not normally an indulgent parent but she was really good for the first three weeks of term and never once asked for one even though she was the only one that didn't have one.

Her school subscribes to a national maths website called Mathletics. It's not part of the curriculum, it's purely for her to do at home as additional tuition option, and it is based on the curriculum and features short exercises and tests that she gets points for completing. And we all know that Points mean Prizes!1000 points or more in a week gains her a bronze certificate that she gets given in assembly at school. Five bronze certificates get her a silver certificate and four silvers gains a gold medal. You can only gain one bronze a week so it's at least 20 weeks of consistent work to gain the medal.

We currently have four bronze certificates and she's determined to get a medal (even if she's not exactly sure what a medal is LOL). I've got a display book that I'm keeping her certificates in - as well as her maths ones she's got ones for attendance, good work and a 'star of the week' for her class. At this rate I'm going to need a much bigger book! She loves getting the certificates though so I can't complain - they really motivate her to concentrate and learn.

As for reading, again she's doing really well. She's in the higher group for reading which is encouraging and she can pretty much read the books she is bringing home to practice on. Most days she reads at least one book to us, more likely two, at bedtime and it's amazing to see her progress just since Christmas.

Thankfully, getting Lia to do all of this isn't a struggle - she absolutely loves doing it so I don't feel like a pushy parent. In fact sometimes I feel like a bad Mum as I just don't have the energy to help her as much as I should LOL.

She's growing up fast and I'm really enjoying watching her. I'm so pleased that she's settled into school and has her own things to focus on, hopefully it will make her more comfortable in her world when the baby arrives.

Oh and her current best achievement as far as she's concerned? She can finally whistle! Okay it's a bit of a windy whistle still but she is constantly practising in order to get better...

Is it a record?

On Saturday there was an attempt at the world record for 'the most trees planted by hand by any number of people in an hour' and DH and Lia took part.

We're still waiting to hear if it was actually a record as they are still collecting results but whatever happens the pair of them had fun and got EXTREMELY muddy LOL.

School disco and Halloween

Lia had her first school disco just before half term - it only lasted 45 mins for the little kids but they loved it. Here she is posing with one of her new school friends:

And here's her enjoying some Halloween fun with Daddy - the local John Lewis branch had a whole day of free activities so there was cookie making, pin the wart on the witch, a treasure hunt and more sweeties than you can imagine!

Avast me Car Keys...

Lia has a pirate party at nursery tomorrow and we've been trying to teach her some pirate-y like phrases. However, due to much merriment at her mistake it seems that it will forever be 'Avast me Car Keys' in our family...

Time Flies...

Seems like only yesterday this:

Was this:

Musicals

I love Musicals. I fell in love with them aged 10 when my parents took us to see Michael Crawford in Barnum and have been hooked ever since on both stage and screen. I should probably thank my Mum as she loves them too and ever since I can remember I was encouraged to watch old films and musicals.

My earliest crushes were Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracey and more, I dreamed of dancing with Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly in Singin in the Rain more than I ever dreamed of dancing with Kevin Bacon in Footloose or Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing (which were both released when I was a teenager).

I have friends who have never seen a black and white film (and refuse to do so). Imagine living your life never having seen Some Like it Hot or The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca or Yankee Doodle Dandy. Or Harvey, one of the best films ever made. What a waste! And yes, if you're reading this and you haven't seen any of the above GO AND WATCH THEM NOW.

The point of this rhapsodising? Lia's essential musical education is underway. She loves singing and dancing and is captivated the minute she sees any on TV so I have today (which is payday!) scoured Amazon and Play for cheap DVDs and have bought:

High Society
My Fair Lady
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Calamity Jane
Annie
Bugsy Malone
South Pacific
Oklahoma
The King and I
Oliver
The Sound of Music

All of which are so completely unfashionable they retail around £2-£3 pounds.

I've also downloaded some soundtracks that I'm going to put on a CD for in the car - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oliver, Sound of Music, Joseph. We've never listened to kids songs in the car (one of the reasons she's already word perfect on 'Take Me Back to the Black Hills' by Doris Day and a huge Abba fan LOL) but now she's up to singing along I intend to give her plenty of opportunity to do so!

My little grown up!

So here she is, getting all grown up. She'll be four in less than two months now - how time flies!

As well as school in September (which I am ridiculously excited about - I loved school and I hope she does too) she'll be starting ballet classes at the end of this month and Greek school will start properly in September too.

At the moment I'm thinking about whether or not to put her name down for Brownies. I never did Brownies or Guides so I have no experience of it other than I really wanted to be one and I'm worried that I'm only wanting Lia to do it because I never got the chance.

What I don't want to do is become a pushy parent and overload her with activities plus it's not exactly cheap to do all these things. The only thing I do know is that she loves to dance so starting her on that now will be something she loves. The school has a ballet class for under fives but after that there is tap, ballroom, street, modern/disco and jazz so there'll be plenty for her to choose from if she wants to keep on with it.

We went to see friends this weekend who have a daughter of Lia's age and the two girls were playing in a playhouse in the garden with a tea set. We stayed late so it was past Lia's bedtime when we got home but she wouldn't settle. DH went up to see her and she told him she wanted me so I went up and she was trying not to cry so I asked her what was wrong and this was the conversation:

Lia: I broke a cup
Me: What cup sweetie?
Lia: The cup from the tea set
Me: At Sofia's house?
Lia: Yes
Me: Did you tell anyone
Lia: Yes, Sofia
Me: Okay
Lia: But I hid it behind the playhouse
Me: Well that's okay, you're not in trouble

Within about a minute she'd gone to sleep. I only hope that she never has anything bigger she needs to confess or that if she does I can make her feel better so easily!

December Goals Update

First a couple of pictures:

And here's a close up of the blocks - the dragonfly fabric is also the backing fabric:

This quilt wasn't actually included in my December Goals but it was 'commissioned' by a workmate for a baby girl (her partner's granddaughter) who arrived in the world at the beginning of this month. Because I used fabric from my stash she paid me with six metres of wadding which helps me with the rest of my quilting goals as I now have more than enough to finish my other quilts.

If you're mad enough to read my 'goals' posts (if you ignore them and who can blame you, they're long!) you may remember I had ambitious quilting plans for December.

These were:

1. Finish Christmas Quilt
2. Finish baby quilt
3. Finish Heart to Heart quilts
4. Finish Christmas Panel
5. Quilt bargello
6. Make up Jungle quilt top
7. Sew some more of the flannel quilt blocks

So, at the 1st December the 6 quilt tops I wanted finished this month were in the following state:

3 finished
1 needing three layers of border attached
1 cut but not sewn
1 not even planned

Today, roughly the middle of the month, I have:

1 completed quilt (the one not even planned)
1 completed quilt bar two sides of binding (the one that was just cut)
2 with wadding and backing cut ready to layer
2 with wadding cut and backing needing sewing before layering

I've done about 3/4 of the quilting and binding for the A-Z Christmas panel I want to finish (goal 4). Also, I've sewn together 10 more flannel quilt blocks (goal 7).

The only thing I haven't made any progress with is the sewing together of the last jungle quilt top but you never know, I'm doing well.

I've also managed a bit of stitching and have completed the Jingle tin topper and done a bit more of Sleigh Ride. I haven't stitched much though as evenings have been spent hand quilting or sewing binding. No doubt there'll be more quilts to show off before the weekend though.

Finally, if you've made it this far here's a treat for you, Lia has a fancy dress party next week and I have a friend who just started working at the Disney Store (and gets a great discount) so here's a Christmas Fairy just for you all:

Another fun weekend

To get the subject of the interview out of the way, it went okay but I'm not that inspired by the job or the commute. I haven't heard back from them yet which I would say means they aren't going to offer it to me but given I told them I didn't know when I'd be released from my current job and I wasn't prepared to go before redundancy I'm not surprised.

As for what's happening with my current job, this weeks meeting that was supposed to decide my fate has been cancelled and is unlikely to re-scheduled so the next one is the end of September (it's a monthy management meeting). TBH, now I've got this interview out of the way and don't want the job I'm much happier waiting - it's another months salary for a start!

I will, of course, share any news as and when I hear anything but there'll be no more job hunting for me until I know what's going on. DH and I are also going to have a chat about my options - I'm not ruling out a career change with less working hours so I can be home more with Lia when she starts school.

As for the weekend, Liz, a fellow stitcher (who is, in Lia's eyes, the official fourth member of the family now, it's always 'one for Mummy, one for Daddy, one for Lia and one for Liz') stayed over Friday to Sunday and we attended the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, my first quilting show.

It was quite a drive (an hour and a half each way) but definitely worth it. The quilts in the show were amazing and I spent lots of money on lovely stash, mainly patterns and books but a couple of small kits too.

We also met up with Lorchen, Allie, Karoline, Betty and Rosie (Karolines MIL and DD) and had a lovely gossipy lunch together (I also got lots of cuddles with Rosie which was great).

Yesterday we all went to see Kung Fu Panda which was lots of fun. Lia was pretty well behaved (she was a bit more restless than when we saw Wall-E but not even close to being badly behaved) and she seemed to enjoy it. We then had lunch out and then chilled out watching some Olympics in the afternoon.

This coming weekend is a Bank Holiday in the UK and my Best Mate and her family will be staying at ours. All fingers are crossed for a nice weekend as we'll be heading to the Portsmouth Kite Festival to meet up with other friends too.

I also keep forgetting to say but Lia's now completely nappy free - we kept them going for nighttime only for a while but I figured she only needed them because she had them (if you see what I mean) and I was right, nappy on and she uses it, no nappy on and she uses the toilet. In fact we're now woken not by Lia coming into our room but by her using the bathroom.

Family

I don't spend a lot of time around my family, or rather, I don't spend long blocks of time around my family, as I live about 100 miles away from them all. I go home about once a month but only for a day or two so it was nice to have the opportunity to spend a whole week with them all last week.

Not only that I stayed with my Sister for the first time (we used to stay with my parents but since they downsized there's not really room for all three of us) and it was great to have the chance to catch up with her and just chat and relax together.

There were two reasons why I was home, first my elder niece was getting married and second, some Australian cousins were over for a visit. I picked the Aussies up from the Airport at stupid-o'clock last monday morning and after showing off my house and providing lunch I drove them both down to Kent where they were to spend the rest of their week.

I haven't seen the pair of them since my wedding in Athens so it was lovely to be with them and also lovely to see them with Lia as they adored her and, as they were both teachers, were really good at entertaining her and reading with her, etc. She's now going round saying 'no worries mate' all the time.

As for my nieces wedding, it was a fantastic event. I'm sure I've explained before but my sister is 24 years older than me (same dad, different mums) so my niece is only three years younger than me and we've grown up more like sisters. She's mother to my Great-Niece and I was entrusted with babysitting duties for the young lady on the day of the wedding. It was fantastic to see Lia and Luisa getting on so well, now Luisa is a year old she's much more of a playmate to Lia and they seem to love being with each other.

Here's a pic of Lia in her bridesmaid dress, we haven't had a chance to go through our pics yet, this one was forwarded to me by my step-dad...

I'm back at work now and it's a real bummer LOL. I told DH that he needs to make enough money for me to retire and fill my days with fun things rather than boring ones.

I didn't get a lot of crafting done when I was away - some stitching on Happy Haunting and that was about it, but I'm now cracking on with Lavender Hearts to get it finished and framed by 14th September when it needs to be gifted.

I'm aware that a couple of people have nominated me for blog awards, I need to catch up with my blog reading and post responses so will do that asap.

Grab your sunglasses...

And no, it's not just for the fabulous weather we've been having, it's because I reverted to my favourite colour scheme for my latest quilt top...

I love this style of quilting - it's so much simpler than it looks and I did most of this one the day of the class, I just had to finish putting the strips together at home. I'm going to double the width of the quilt so the dimensions balance better, typically me I had to do it 20 colours deep when the rest of the class did 10 - 12 colours but I'm not really into quilts as wall hangings so I want this as a snuggle quilt for the house (to add to the ever growing pile!)

I've only got one more quilting class booked - the Mariner's compass block at the beginning of September. I've tentatively said I'd like to do another in Feb but that will have to wait until we see what the money situation is. I'm going to miss the classes, mostly because it's a whole day quilting with no distractions, but I am confident in my skills now and have so many projects to be getting on with that I'm sure having a break from learning anything new will be good for me.

I'm planning on taking some pics of my stitching at the weekend along with my monthly review so I'll do a proper catch up then. What I do have are some progress pics of the garden.

We've been working to clear things and it's going to take a long, long time to get it done, especially when you are working in the prime growing time - it seems as quickly as we cut things back they grow again at the moment. Still, we're starting to see a difference which keeps us positive.

This is the fence that runs down the left hand side of the garden. It's kinda knackered and not that pleasant to look at but at the moment it's holding back a lot of the overgrowth from next door (we have an elderly lady next door whose garden is just completely wild) so what we decided to do is take off the top half and use the better boards from that to replace the worst boards from the lower half. We figure if we give it a coat of paint it'll look better and we can think about what we'll replace it with later.

You can see from the pic that we've got about half way down removing the boards but you can also see the overgrowth we have to cut back. Yes, I know it's next door but she can't do it so if we don't it will just engulf our garden. At least she doesn't mind what we do so I'm getting on with serious pruning...

Here's the most horrible bit of the fence which is just next to the house (so just before the bit of the fence in the above pic.)

It's totally overgrown with ivy that is stuck to the fence so well that it's difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. We're battling with it slowly but I think we might give in and remove the whole lot.

We have, however, managed to clear all the junk from the patio and surrounding areas so we at least have a pleasant place to sit and yes, those are tomato plants on the left, we even have four mini tomatoes (although they will be lucky to survive Lia's obsession with them).

We've also done a lot of clearing out of the beds at the end of the patio and started painting the garage which has made it look a lot nicer (it's blue because that's the colour of paint we had LOL)

That last bit of garage (the hideous wooden bit) is a badly built extension and we're going to pull it down as the first part of our garage conversion programme. Probably not till next spring though so we'll have to live with looking at it for a while longer.

So you have an idea of exactly how much things have changed here's the pics of what we inherited last august...

Looking at those I'm a lot less depressed by how long it's taking LOL.

And finally, as usual, Lia was happy to pose for a picture given the camera was out