The Week That Was

Every morning of the week I am brought one of these in bed by my amazing husband.

He would have already been up for at least half an hour, feeding the boys their breakfast while I remain under the comfort of the covers giving the ever-hungry-baby his milk.

Look at that face. 

Does that look like the face of a baby who would be mean enough to wake his mamma every 2 hours for a feed during the night? Well it is. 

Unbelievable I know.

The wee munchkin.

Fortunately he is very cute and I love him more than life.

I can't believe it's been 7 days since I posted, it only feels like a couple of days - this week has gone by so fast! 

There have been a few evenings where I've been editing photos for my blog but then I find myself falling asleep at the computer.

And so it is Sunday again, ready for a re-cap of the week.

I don't usually bid for items on ebay - I've only ever bought a coffee grinder for Austin when he turned 30.

But this week I bid on a brico trainset for the boys - they've only ever had a few pieces - so I wanted them to have bridges and tunnels also. 

So I placed a bid. And I won. Easy-peasy. 

8 quid thanks very much.

Hours of fun right there. Except for when Beni's big nappy bum keeps knocking the bridges over as he manoeuvres the cars/trucks/trains/helicopters over the tracks.

Yesterday was my 'long run' day for my marathon training, even though it was only 7 mile cos I'm just at the start of the training schedule.

So I set out after breakfast and coffee {without any children!} for an easy run around Richmond Park.

Favourite song for tackling hills: Linkin Park & Jay-Z - 99 Problems
You gotta have a bit of agro if you want to run up hard hills. Fact.
And this song has it. Love it. (please excuse the f-bombs though...)

SUCH a beautiful run through the Autumn leaves. I certainly don't take it for granted that I've got this beautiful park within walking distance. Everyone is always happy when they are out walking/running/cycling through this park. You can't help but smile. Even when my lungs feel like they're on fire.

Just when I was finishing my run I was getting ready to walk it home and looked up to see Austin and the boys coming down the street towards me - awwwwwww, such a lovely sight to see! So we headed back into the park to climb some trees and watch dogs fetch sticks in the river.

That is one hot sweaty mamma, but my boys still loved their sweaty cuddles and kisses.

Now that Max is well and truly on solids at his massive 5 month of age... feeding time is always messy and the little bibs around his neck just weren't cutting it.

So I headed out in search of a full-body bib. I knew Poundland (where everything is a pound, funnily enough) would have the goods. And they did. But only in pink.
And knowing boys don't appreciate pink flowers and butterflies, I 'pimped' the bib to make it a Pirate bib.
Be it a pink one.

One thing I have found particularly delightful recently is finding Luca and Beni reading our Family Atlas.
This totally brings back memories of seeing my brother do exactly the same thing. He would spend hours on the floor reading maps and atlases. I love it.
Having a brother has definitely been beneficial in helping me understand my little guys that much more.
And it makes me miss him that much more.
(Love you Ephraim XX)

Hope you are having a Happy Weekend and finding joy even in the small, simple things.

:::

A Farmer's Market

I do believe we have found our new favourite thing to do on a clear, crisp winter Saturday and that's go to the Farmer's Market in Barnes. It is an easy 30 minute stroll to get there, but when there's so many photo opportunities and trees to climb on the way there, no-one's complaining about it!

As far as Farmer's Markets go there wasn't a great amount of things on offer, but there's just something cool about being in that environment, people all rugged-up from the cold, coffee in hand, eating a bacon sandwich. As one does when one is at a Farmer's Market.

Directly opposite where the market's situated is a duck pond, so we grabbed a coffee and took the boys over to check out what was happening in ducksville.

On the way home I was struck by the thought. "This has actually been a perfect Family day!".
Sun shining, well-behaved (most of the time) boys, everyone was happy and it was a bizarre yet wonderful feeling!

*Beni's process of saying "Cheeeeeeeeeeese" for the camera...*

May we have many more days like this leading up to and throughout the long Winter months ahead.

:::

Nature's Playground

They say the best things in life are free. And I tend to agree with them.
Part of our day on Saturday was spent strolling through nature, enjoying the warm Autumn sun on our faces and climbing trees.

And Papa used the opportunity to show his boys what else trees are good for...

:::

Linking up with Life Made Lovely Monday

The Cure For Grumpiness

I was starting to write this post last night but was falling asleep as I was typing so took myself off to bed at 9pm. Our Friday nights are so rock and roll in this household...!

Well I'm sad to say I woke up yesterday on the wrong side of the bed with grumpiness as my companion. And whatever valid excuse I have, grumpiness is never nice for anyone. Is it.

I could very easily have stayed indoors again all day, tidying and organising things I've been wanting to tidy and organise for a while, but then I remembered I had children and these children are boys who need to get outside and run off their energy.
It was also helpful that the day was another beautifully crisp and sunny Autumn day which was begging for me to get out and enjoy it's goodness, so I bundled up the two youngest in the stroller, dropped Luca off at school and headed to Richmond Park to try run off my grumpiness and hopefully a few excess fat cells.

It was only a short and slow run, testing out my achilles which has been rather tender of late but it seems to have healed enough to run on it again. A good enough excuse to take it easy though...

I am so pleased I got out and about. The dew was still thick on the grass where the sun hadn't yet reached it, the air so crisp there was no chance of overheating, and only a handful of other people and their dogs also out enjoying the new day.

My halfway point was where there is a lovely big old log - a climbing frame gifted from nature. So Beni enjoyed some freedom from the confines of the stroller and did some climbing, a bit of slipping and falling, but then a timely snack makes everything better!

(This photo's for you Vicky - thanks for reading my blog! You are in my thoughts xo)

Home by 11:30am and still time to organise and tidy my house, not that a whole lot of it actually got done but the intention was there.
And best of all - the grumpiness had gone!
People - I do believe I have found The Cure for Grumpiness = Go for a run. Easy as that.

Or if that's not your cup of tea, a good strong whiskey will work wonders also.

:::

Everybody loves the sunshine

We have had beautiful autumn weather over the past few days and so it is (apparently) to continue for the rest of the week.
Yussss.

I took great delight in being able to hang our clothes out to dry in the fresh air and sunshine and having them (mostly) dry within the hour.

We enjoyed a family lunch out on the balcony with our sunglasses on! I even had to go inside after a while because it was too hot - I'm obviously getting a bit soft now that I am a year older than I was this time last week..... but we were eating hot soup which probably didn't help.

I love Mondays.
Monday is the day of the week Austin gets to work from home.
Monday is the day that I get to sleep in (more than usual...) and I get to have a nap and read my book, do some knitting, go for a run pretty much whenever I want to. Sort of.

Today was the perfect Monday: I did lots of sleeping and reading, I did the dishes still on the bench from Saturday night's dinner (which wasn't so great at all but I thought I'd better look like I cared about my housewifely duties while Austin was at home...), I went for a run and had a loooong soak in the bath.
Oh I do love Mondays! 

In the weekend I made this birthday cake for our neighbour's daughter who turned 1 year old.

It's a giraffe...

I think I'm pleased with it?... It passed the 'Luca Test' which was a good sign - as in, I asked him what it was and he said "A Giraffe!". Clever boy.

Some of you have asked for the recipes for the bread and cookies from this post - of course this is fine but is it ok if I post them up for you tomorrow? Fanks yeah. Bed is now calling {for the 3rd time today....}

Upon exit, make sure you take the time to enjoy a little piece of Incognito Sunshine for your day.