We're home!

After 3 long glorious weeks basking in the sun in the French countryside,  we are home. We are all so rejuvinated.It's the much slower pace of life, lack of work (outside the home!) and having loads of..... fun! We had ping pong tournaments, badminton games, loads of bike rides and could I get the kids out of the pool!
France is such a great hostess - nourishing sunshine, romantic walks, lakeside bike trails and superb simple local food plus no TV/ internet access or screens for 3 weeks.
Family mealtimes, our love of the outdoors and being together have always been so very important in our daily priority list but sitting together outside for every meal, no bedtime routines and kids playing in the lake at 11 o'clock - well that just puts a whole other slant on things, doesn't it?
 Life is good.

Thrifty Thursday - upcycling quickie!

...  here's one i did last night!
 A plain brown A line skirt, some old corduroys and embroidery floss and about 3/4 hr later i had a smart new "anthropology" style skirt for work. We're going off line for a couple of weeks... see you soon.

This moment.. Last child in the woods

Its been raiining cats and dogs all week - hey, do we care. My wonderful kiddos doing outside what they do best.. playing.

Thrifty Thursday - Falling off the wagon

Over the years I've suprised all those who knew me in my pre-mumo days by becoming less materialistic and quite frugal. Some of our friends are bemused by our thriftiness, economical baking and upcycle crafting.For in years gone by, much as I am loathe to admit it now - a new handbag, top or stuff for the house was bought without much thinking going on. But when the kids were born I wanted cloth nappies, homemade products and it went from there. Now 8 years later with the family emphasis on  financial stewardship, fairtrade & ethical/recycling shopping has become the norm. I don't really want the kids growing up thinking getting money is like turning on a tap or that they are underpriviliged if they don't have the latest DS/fashion/ tech gear.

But there are times when the "shopping mist" comes down over me .....I wanted new shoes this week. I've coveted some lovely Fly London ones but they cost a fortune.  I left the shoe shop feeling a bit, well, tetchy, pleased on one hand I'd resisted the urge for a pair of £90 shoes but not so pleased as I wasn't holding a bag. To soothe my ruffled feathers I popped into the Oxfam shop next door to look for some new Pyrex. What could be more soothing than that?(except fabric and maybe wool!!) What did I spot on the floor? Oh I felloff our "non spending" wagon hard. The Shoe Fairy was smiling down with these gorgeous, soft, perfect Ted Baker mules. So for £5 Oxfam was better off and ultimately so was I- yup -  win, win all round in my opinion.

Whats your thrifty moment this week?

Weekending....good day for ducks.

We make no apologies, and it is slightly left of centre but we are a house that like ducks. Cute furry baby ones up to bring strong daddy ones. They show their personalities the same as us. Between school tests, drama exams and festivals we were all itching to get out of the house. So on a weekend that howled with rain (the summer???) we headed for the duck sanctuary. Good weather for ducks as they say.

the goose is huffing with her!!

We have a cheeky little spiked haired redhead too! (see pic below)

What a "Whopper" of a baby - too cute for words.

First steps outside the duckery

This moment.. when Harry met the Twins!!

a punch and judy mutiny

Wow, take a look at our 8 year old starlet in full make up for her stage school yearly production.

She looks, well, too grown up -  thankfully the red lippy is being kept strictly for the theatre productions. It's not for the first time I have pondered the speed of time. I swear it goes faster when you have children. I know and you probably know all the naysayers who warned us " They grow so fast, enjoy them while you can"...... yes, well, they were so right.

And, so I don't encourage that much engagement with the normal trappings of 8 years olds today. I don't want them to grow up so fast. Hence, my support of the  spontaneous punch and judy puppet show on Sunday night.
Emma, as the drama queen was narrator (take that as THE BOSS!)and took pole poistion behind the sofa and the other two had leading roles.

All was boding well for an evening of imagination and story-telling. Until, a row broke out.  Tempers were lost and feet were stamped, puppets were removed from the scene by two angry little boys. look at her downcast face!

Normally, I would bounce over, rescue the victim and give the others a piece of my mind.That of course, normally, leads to a pair(or two) of red, crying eyes staring back at you filled with recrimination. Its not a feeling I enjoy. Sometimes the words "It's not fair" ring a little true.

But not this time. I've been watching Naomi Aldort on YouTube and her short videos are amazing and practical and sensible. So I gave it a go - I tried validating (and found that I still struggle with this - i just don't know what to say), so I just kept repeating "yes, I understand that you wanted to do the puppet show." I said this a couple of times and thought - this is never going to work! But lo and behold,in about 5 minutes they all clambered onto the sofa for me to read aloud to them.

Naomi teaches respect. Respect for yourself and for those around you.I don't like it when someone shouts at me, so why on earth would they? Empowerment is the one thing more than anything I want to instill into the kids - the ability to listen to their own voices. I hope to give them the tools to stand strong and be individuals, to revel in their own uniqueness.I need to learn how to facilitate this, to turn myself into a listener, a respecter and not a shouter. I think my copy of the book will be well thumbed somehow but I am grateful for those sites  who pointed me in theright direction. Thank you friends.