How January Ended

I'm so grateful that it is February already and we are quickly moving to warmer months, the sun is here but I could definitely use a little more heat to the day! 

Two weeks ago saw the big three all taking part in a brilliant Macbeth workshop with the hilarious Handlebards theatre company, followed by a three-women performance of the play. I genuinely cry with laughter every time I see them and couldn't recommend them more to make Shakespeare memorable. 

I'm not sure if this video will work but if it does it's of the three in their 60 second Macbeth. 

And what better way to finish a workshop than with a leaf fight!

Ayla and I finally finished redecorating her new dolls house with new wall paper, flooring and knitted rugs.

She's very pleased with herself at the moment because she's loving doing her 'school work' at the same time as Gabe does his and beginning her phonics journey. 

Baking cupcakes always leads to another birthday party for some toy or other. 

This picture may look mean but it's a glimpse of teen Ayla... too cold but loving her outfit too much to change. I do love ballet day though. 

The thing I'll miss about this house the most is easily our fireplace. 

A glimpse into my teens lives at the art group I run at a local art gallery and museum. We always start with silly creativity exercises to get them out of their angsty heads a bit. 

This year's Chinese New Year has been so much fun, we've done all our usual crafts and stories etc at home but I also took the small two to a small festival in Southampton where they saw a Dragon and Lion dance, lots of traditional music, dancing and martial arts, and got to do even more crafts thanks to some lovely and very kind helpers. 

And then there is our forest. We haven't been to this 'pond' in a while and we were surprised to find the ice cream truck there even in the freezing cold. I love where we live, it really is just stunning. 

The first weeks of January

It feels like forever ago that the calendar pages turned and a new year began but in reality, it's only been a little over two weeks. Our goals for the year are to keep up with ourselves and to make time for slow days as much as possible. While I think we all know and accept there won't be many of those, we'll appreciate them all the more when we get them. 

 

Ayla began her year at a birthday party for one of her best friends from Rainbows.

And then the car selfies restarted as the smalls and I went back to our waiting in the car antics.

The dawns and dusks have been spectacular driving across the forest. 

And rainy days called for a large cardboard train to decorate and play in.

As usual, the kiwi crates are eagerly awaited, and in this one, Ayla made a moon complete with craters and learnt about meteors, and Gabe made a robot and learnt how to program it. 

Then the illness struck. We all came down with a horrible d & v bug and were confined to bed feeling truly awful. Didn't stop the Sleeping Queens though. 

Part one of our 'drawing the sky' art project for the week using watercolours. 

A glimpse of teen Ayla. 

And Tom's birthday.

A science experiment to use sodium polyacrylate to make fake snow which they loved and natural now want in large quantities. 

As Gabe returned to all of his project work, he was tasked with creating a map of the garden and testing the soil for moist, ph and sunlight levels to prepare for spring planting.

Part two of the 'drawing the sky', this time with acrylic and sponges to think about using different textures to create different types of clouds. 

Cold night mean marshmallows, fires and big siblings. 

And then the best part of living where we do... the cold crisp sunny day which call you to the beach. 

The Week Inbetween

The week in-between is the one I look forward to the most. This year the dates are working against us but we still made the most of it. 

There is always time to do a Kiwi crate and make something new.

Skate park days.

And we just managed to fit in the Bryon Rd Christmas lights. I'm so glad we made the time. 

She's too cute and cool not to take a picture.

The last show of the season... Peter Pan by the youth theatre at Southampton Mayflower who theatre worked with in the summer. 

For New Year's we started another new tradition. I made them each a personalised photo book of their year. Each book is slightly different and they're not filled with the best photos but all the best memories. The people that they shared time with, their biggest achievements, and special moments. It's important for us all to remember all the good times we have even in the hardest of years. 

And then while the big two had a new year's eve sleepover with a friend, the small two and I said goodbye to 2021 with a fire and a little release of the things we don't want more of, while dreaming up all the new things we are bringing in to our lives.