jun, 16th - father's day....

day 1214 / 313:

i was trying to think of something that the girls could make for A. for Father's Day  (well mainly Limi as Claya is more of a destroyer than a creator at the moment). 

we already give each other the best gift of all on these days which is of course, a lie-in.....generally followed by breakfast in bed....but i was trying to think of something that he could keep. 

i came up with a portrait that Limi (and Claya) could do of A. every year....that we could assemble in a book. this is the the first one , signed by Limi (that squiggle next to the L is a 3)......i'm interested to see how these drawings will change over the years.

happy Father's Day all....a few days late.....but hey, i still got there in the same week/ month...result!

jun, 15th - with the sparrows....

day 1213 / 312:

this is what happens when you wake up too early.....you are the first ones at the park......

jun, 11th - kempton park antiques.....

day 1209 / 308:

at the crack of dawn, spurred on by the idea that everyone else was already snapping up the good stuff, we woke the girls (it doesn't happen this way around very often), quickly got dressed and headed out the door to the Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park Racecourse. it happens every second and fourth Tuesday of the month and shuts up shop at around noon so you have to get there before breakfast or wait for the bargains at closing time.

i have wanted to visit this market for years. it was reinforced by Louise back on day 561 and yet still, we haven't managed to get ourselves down there. but with two chairs to collect from a dealer, we had a great excuse to get our act together and of course........we were Completely Blown Away. all the vintage stores that we visit in London now pale into insignificance against this market.....especially when I also get a chance to do a little bit of light haggling too.

there was so much to see and so much that we could have bought......as Louise advised, the one food option isn't the best so I would highly recommend taking along your own and also leaving the kids at home, so that you can linger at stalls, digging around for treasure.

on top of the two chairs we went down to collect, we were looking for storage for The House.....of course instead of storage, we came home with an old marmalade jar (£3), a beautiful, leather, trunk suitcase (to use as Limi and Claya's dress-up box), a striped blazer for A and an old Imperial Typewriter (£30).....but we now have a great excuse to visit again in two weeks time.

jun, 9th - 23/52....

the 52 project: a portrait of the girls once a week, every week, in 2013

1207 / 306:

Limi: for this split second, i can almost see the teenager that she will grow into....this is her favourite place to be in The House.....perched on the windowsill in the kitchen.

Claya: these hands and feet are forever moving.....the jersey is a hand-me-down from Claya's godmother {see day 634} (i'm pretty thrilled that she's having a boy next and we're inheriting all these beautiful pieces)

p.s. you can click here to read more about the 52 project

jun, 4th - best kids toys in the world, part II.....

day 1202 / 301:

when Limi was younger, i wrote about the world's best baby toys {see day 250}, this past weekend proved again, that sometimes, it's the simple things that are still the best. we bought Limi her own watering can and with the added outside tap, she was in toddler heaven. Claya, on the other hand, loved playing in the empty bbq box.......neither 'toy' lit up, made a noise or were brightly coloured but they were the best toys by far this weekend....and into the week (we may be living with a bbq box for a long time to come).

p.s these are close-ups as the garden is still very much work in progress.....and the grass rug is from Limi's old room and there to soften the concrete for a crawling Claya....we didn't have a garden in the Shoebox but Limi still had her own patch of grass to play on.

jun, 2nd - 22/52......

the 52 project: a portrait of the girls once a week, every week, in 2013

1200 / 299:

Claya: she adores her big sister but also has a feisty side that will be interesting when she gains the same level of mobility and strength. hopefully they will still find each other as hilarious as they do now. i had put some music on and she was doing her own dance moves

Limi: twirling to make her baby sister laugh. the plaster is for aesthetic reasons.....she Loves plasters and generally has one or two on at any given time

i also included the outtakes below. they make me smile whenever i look at them. now that Claya is slightly older, it's almost tangible how their relationship is changing and they are becoming this little clique of their own......i love it.

p.s. you can click here to read more about the 52 project.

jun, 1st - serpentine....

day 1199 / 298:

we revisited this cafe in Hyde Park, over the weekend and even though we've visited it many times {see day 160, day 336 and  day 588}, this is the first time that we've sat outside. they serve hotdogs and hamburgers outside (although we opted to share one of their woodfired pizzas instead). we were catching up with an old friend who is only in town for the week and the park put on a fantastic display of ducks, rowboats, glorious sunshine and happy, shiny people. our friend used to live in London so he's used to all its finer points....but still, when London decides to pull out all the stops, she's one very beautiful city.

p.s. this cafe used to serve crumbly dry scones and be empty most days so it's great to see it still thriving under the Benugo group.

may, 28th - style with substance.....

day 1195 / 294:

the joy of moving is that we have more space......in the Shoebox many of our treasures had been boxed and put away.....but now, we have the joy of digging them out and finding the right spot for them.....we are slowing getting there.....

i have also been trawling auction sites (ebay, you old friend) to find gems (storage mainly). things that just need a good sanding, lick of paint or repurposing......not only do we have a tiny budget for furnishing the new house but i also want to find things that we will happily take into a future.....i keep coming back to this book above and the idea of finding things that are stylish, yet have substance. i think that this means different things for different people but for me it's things that are: tactile; full of history; timeless and generally, i'm a sucker for handcrafted.

this week, i've painted a sweet old wardrobe to put in the girls room, convinced the local auction house to give away two old lampshades (perfect for stripping) and asked our genius (and very reasonable) electrician to change some of the plastic hanging lights to silk flex and metal ceiling roses (it makes such a difference). i also found this collection of vintage bobbins that were paid for with my coin purse and yet make me so very happy...the wood feels wonderful and they make great drumming sticks for Claya. 

now, just to find a battered, wooden table that can seat ten but still fit down the narrow Victorian stairs.....

may, 26th - 21/52....

'a portrait of the girls, once a week, every week in 2013'

day 1193 / 292:

Claya: she is turn-your-back-and-she's-across-the-room fast and also pulling herself up on all the furniture, trying to climb the stairs, climbing onto the coffee table and getting very frustrated that she can't get herself up onto the couch.....we are doing intensive 'this-is-how-you-climb-down-again' training (below, is a bonus pic of tiny feet that are now more and more, flat on the ground)

Limi: she has a cold so i invoked the tv-on-the-ipad treat. the girls still don't watch any tv (Limi only occasionally watches a film or some episodes on my ipad). sometimes, we wonder whether we are doing the right thing (who knows...maybe it will come back to bite us).....but we agree that it actually forces us to get creative when we play with the girls and Limi will play for hours by herself.

you can read more about the 52 project here. or check out other beautiful portraits across at Jodi's blog.

may, 24th - wisdom of a three year old....

day 1191 / 290:

A. said that instead of 'conversations with a two year old' these days, these post should be called 'wisdom of a three year old' as Limi comes out with her own logic on the world every day......

some recent ones are:

'you can't put your shoes on the wrong feet as then they make your shoes walk funny'

'mama, i can't cross the road by myself now because i'm too small but when i'm twenty then i can maybe cross the road by myself' (twenty is the age that Limi is also going to go on holiday with just Claya and also when she'll do the big, twisty slide at the park)

'you can eat pea skin, strawberry skin, blueberry skin and cheese skin but you can't eat banana skin or egg skin'

'maybe when i'm twenty i'll like tomatoes'

'Spring is lovely because it gets warmer,

Summer is good because you don't have to wear warm clothes,

Autumn is when the air is fresh,

and Winter is good because you can build snowmans.'