Storytelling Sunday - October

Sian is hosting Storytelling Sunday over at her blog From High In The Sky. There are always so many lovely stories over there to read.

Yesterday was so beautiful that Alex suggested a trip to Woolacombe Beach. It took me about 2 seconds to agree. No other member of the family could be persuaded of this and so we set off on our own.

We had a fab afternoon. Digging battlements each and having a war. For the record Snakey Seaweed Castle fell to Feather Kingdom ( I wasn't allowed to name either, and really, he had it covered there).
He was thrilled with finally being able to make proper sandcastles by himself, seems 8 is the perfect age for patience, listening to your mother, co-ordination and strength for the big buckets to be flipped into the perfect shape successfully.

So the story today was sparked by watching this video when we got home of one of his trips to get water for his moat.

'I will fill my moat' from Jennie Hart on Vimeo.

Since he was a toddler he has tried to fill his variety of moats. With his hands as a little toddler and as an older toddler it made me smile to watch him struggle with the bucket with water in and by the time he waddled to his moat, there was very little in that bucket. 

As a small boy, he used a variety of buckets and on one notable occasion he used some nappy sacks that we had in our pockets for the dogs, ahem. That was make-shift as I forgot the buckets and spades. What a superhero Mother I was not that day, especially as it was spring and the shop wasn't open to get any! I could not believe how long he wanted to carry water in a nappy sack up and down from the river into the moat. 

I guess it is one of those things, you know it won't work, everyone tells you it won't work, empirical evidence collated by yourself tells you it isn't working, you even describe it as "I know it will fade away", but you need to just do it.

There he is, just 8 and still trying to fill his moat. I love the optimism.

I made this for a scraplift challenge we are having in our social group The Bijoux Belles on UKS. You can see the challenge here on Sue's blog.

I've also used up some of the lovely buttons that my other teamie Susi makes and you can take a peek at her Etsy Shop here.

Have a lovely Sunday. Coffee is brewed, bread is toasted, i'm off to read the stories that are up so far.

September in Numbers.

I am recording my Month in Numbers which is a great idea of Julie Kirk over at Notes On Paper.

So September, I recorded a lot of it as I was also doing LSNED. I love this way to pick out some faves though.

30 pages of LSNED completed, it is a great project and the same happened this year as last, there were a few days at the beginning when I did it daily and then a chunk of week 3 just was one liners of what happened. I managed to complete it on the last day so I was chuffed to bits with that. I also used all scraps as well so that made me really happy.

3 cakes made. I am not too bad at making cakes and icing them with a ganache or runny frosting but any more than that and I am clueless. My youngest son was 8 on the 24th and he wanted a moshi monster cake as he is obsessed. Well I managed to decorate it enough to keep him happy.

I watched lovely youtube to see how to colour fondant easily, lay it on the cake and burnish it. I was quite happy with the result and I don't think he noticed that the only moshi monsters on the cake were paper ones. It has inspired me to practice now though, so I made a chocolate cake and a lemon cake for the business plan launches we had at work this week.

2 pairs of onesies bought for the boys. I did not know that they were cool! I want one now....

1 new skill that Shimelle encouraged us to try. Crotchet. It is a new year resolution of mine to learn how to crotchet small flowers for my scrapbooking. I have had a few tries to no avail, but a few things collided this month which gave rise to a small measure of success. I am still a ham-fisted beginner, but I feel so relieved that I get it a bit!

3 children back to school. I used an idea I saw on Rachel Elliot's blog for recording which birthday it is and adapted it for the year group they are going into.

2 days wandering about my town.

Here is my layout to record the numbers, with a couple of the photos. I have scraplifted Susi's layout from here.

Hello October.

Storytelling Sunday - September

Sian hosts Storytelling Sunday here. She is the perfect hostess, welcoming and attentive, so you can join in. There are lots of great stories being told every month so pop on over. With a cup of something.

Well this photo of me was taken just last year…oh, no, it wasn't, was it the year before? Well maybe not, but certainly it feels like recently.
That is Jo there, up at the top right playing with her ponytail……Jo, she has beautiful auburn hair, a lovely diffident smile and I see her around quite often and she doesn't look a day older.
Tracey is gurning, her with the froth of gorgeous blond curls…..which of course she detested as our hair had to be straight and we didn't have straighteners. Of course it is beautiful hair and she still has it like that now. I don't think this whole post is going to be about hair. I don't think. Oh man, she could play a mean Wing Attack to my Centre at netball.
Rob looks just like he always did, he couldn't wait to be out of school, his family farmed on the edge of Exmoor and he loved it and therefore begrudged school, especially in the summer.
Clare now chooses to spend her days teaching in Ilfracombe, though she teaches the littlies at the Infants. Now Ali has left I shall miss seeing her regularly. Her daughter is the image of her actually looking at this, especially now that she is only a little younger than Clare was here. We were 16. 16. 16! Clare is and was very, very sweet.
Now then, Chris, the copper topped one, he was a boyfriend. But not yet. Not for another 18 months or so. Fun and sweet. He is in Australia now, but due to the boyfriend situation I still see his family now and then, I adore them and find out his news.
Jonny with his back to us, one of my very best friends, he lived around the corner and we used to walk to school together and hang out and do lots together, always as friends though. He lives a couple of streets away now, married one of our other friends and is bringing up his family.
Not sure who that is bending down? Sorry, school-friend.
Cath, Cathy, Jenks. She had the misfortune (as she saw it) to be the daughter of our year head. Her Mum was F.A.B. and we had a great year group so it could have been worse for her. Another friend not pictured was the Head's daughter as well. She was our year head for all 5 years, which was great, our teachers all knew us so well. She was our Goal Shoot, she had an excellent laugh, she was tall, she had a lust for life. I saw her recently, she had been mainly surfing in South Africa but met a fellow surfer and came back to Woolacombe (our local surf village, where she grew up) and is having babies.
Me? I can remember my shirt, the feel of it, the way it had to be so big to make sure the correct amount of shirt could be 'bagged' out over the trousers (see Jo, she had it nailed :D). Prefect badge for being Head of House-Sport. Proud to get it, we were a bit conscious of it not being too cool but we did have a great year group with little negativity or bullying so it was a good thing to wear. Cath had one for being Head of Sport for one of the, ahem, lesser houses :D Tracey had one for being, I cannot remember what!  I felt just how I look, happy and content.
The photo was taken towards the end of the Summer Term before we left……I was very lucky, my school days were full of fun and enjoyment and I was sad to see them end. Although, of course, I was over-excited for the next bit. Sixth Form, cars, less structure, a step nearer adulthood. Oh and a step nearer that boyfriend.


I include QR codes quite often in my project life from a genius idea from a fellow project lifer, I talk about it here. I thought that rather than write this post out again, I would add a code to the layout to bring me here. The kids love this feature of my scrapping so I love to include it to keep them interested.
Finally, I used a sketch made by Sue, who is excellent at this, here it is. The original layout she lifted it from was by Laura and is beautiful, of course it helps that her beautiful baby son is in it.