Lucy has chicken pox

poor little lucy has come down with chicken pox a week after her first birthday! I knew that it was likely as she was at the childminders 2 weeks ago when her daughter had it. Thankfully it is only a mild case although it is worse today that yesterday, it is not as bad as my friends little boys. Not too itchy yet either. poor litle thing. Emily has not got it yet but i am sure it will only be a matter of time.

My garden

I am so pleased with my garden this year. Last year it got forgotten and put t the bottom of the pile with a new baby but this year we have been out there together and are really enjoying it. I thought would share some photos.

potatoes in a hesian bag

Peas

carrots

cabbages to be moved once they are ready

Spring onions

So many tomatoes! went a bit mad with the seeds this year. Aslo home grown marigolds

hmm strawberries

Raspberries in s large pot!

either red currants or blueberries!!! its a suprise!

Runner beans in a large pot!

my lovely herb garden which was a present for my 30th.

This year i have tried to use every space available to me to have friut and veg. these flower pockets are fab and so easy to use and water.

And finally my beaufiful bush/tree. it has the most amazing blue blossom at this time of year. Wish i knew what it was called!

Also my alliums!

Lucy's birthday party.

Saturday we invited a few of our Friends and family over for a birthday tea in the garden and my word, the weather could not have been better. Lucy adn Emily had a great time playing with their friends in the water and with their toys. It is such a luxury to have a summer party ! (my bday is in Jan and Emily's in Dec)

Party cake number three. Saving the best til last as i am pretty pleased with this one! Emily tried to spin it round in the morning like a carousel! i was screaming no!!!

Sad thing is that Lucy cried when we sang happy birthday to her. she was ok until we said her name! belss her

Cup cake making. They looked beautuful displayed on this stand i borrowed from my friend!

Lucy modeling one of the lovely presents she was given! She loves them! Lucy was given some beautiful presents, i will post some of them later. And i want to thank my dear frineds for indulging me in my eco beliefs as the thought did not pass me by.

All in all Lucy had an amazing 1st birthday and was thoughly exhausted when we put her to bed that eve.

Lucy is one!

Today my gorgeous baby girl is one! Where did the time go? i cant believe how quickly this year has gone by. My little pickle is becoming more independant by they day and letting everyone know what she wants. She is on the brink of walking and her first tooth is poking through too. Soon she will have children of her own and i will still be saying 'where did the time go?' these are the things that make being a mother the best job in the world.

We celebrated the day at home with family in the afternoon and playing together in the morning. The weather has been amazing so we haven't left the garden really.
Here are a few photos.

Birthday crown girl!

Emily playing with the Myriad rainbow set. Great tunnel for the train!

Birthday tea in the garden.

She kept her Birthday crown on for ages, i think she just forgot it was there as she is not really a hat person!

Ian's Grandad (91!) and his friend Norah enjoying watching his Great grand Daughters!

Birthday cake number 2 as i did the one below for a lovel get togehter with my mother and baby friends yesterday. Edible glitter if amazing!

As for presents i tried to stick to wooden toys, second hand if possible, books or clothes. We didnt go mad as she alread has so much , the lucky devil. I also brought down from the loft Emily's old push along trolley with bricks in which the both had so much fun with this morning.

NCT SALE! Emily loves this too!

My favourite, Myriad rainbow made from a solid piece of Alder wood. Great for stacking, tunnels, boats and much much more. As well as beautiful to look at!

We love these books and this is the latest one. Lucy loves to touch all of the different pages.

A herd of elephants from NCT sale - 50p!!

A selection of in the night garden things also NCT

A mickey mouse top, i used to love mickey and minnie mouse when i was a child!

And finally the birthday crown you saw Lucy wearing earlier. Hand made by me.
We have all had a lovely day, exhausting but lovely. hopefully both girls will sleep well tonight. I still have to pinch my self to think that i have two girls! also weid coincidence, Lucy was awke from 3 til 4 last night and she did a poo, which she never does any more, so i had to change her and it was not til this morning that i realised that was the time she was born!! 3.15 am! how weird.

Another piece of amazing news is that my dear friend Marie had her baby this morning. A baby girl called Maisie weighing 7lb! well done you Maz! and now Lucy has a birthday buddy! Who would have thought when we sat on the playgfround in the freezing cold at the age of 11, that oneday in the year we turned 30, we would have had our girls born on the same day, one year apart with Chloe (my god daughter) born a week after Lucy! And we have all had girls!!! apart from Jody, but she sadly lives in Gloucester so we dont see them very often. Life is funny!

The sun is shining!

A beautiful picnic in the sun with my girls.

Lucy has a tooth!!!

Finally Lucy has a tooth!! bottom left! her first birthday this week and her first tooth!!! will post photos if i ever get some!

dandelion cookies and classic cars!

The sun was shining on us this morning and feeling enthusiastic and full of the joys of spring we decided to go out and pick dandelions. Flicking through my favourite blogs last night i was inspired to try a few forraging things and round a recipe of dandelion cookies. Emily loves picking daisies and dandelions so this was right up her street and in the sunshine we all enjoyed a little walk.

and here is the end result. they are quite tasty! i am also going to try and make elderflowerchampagne soon!
After our picking session we took a walk to a classic car show and enjoyed the sun as we went. I tried to get Emily to notice some of the spring blossom along the way.

A beautiful tall tree along the way.

A classic car!!

A bite to eat before the rain set in.

And on return we were swimming in our imaginary paddling pool with the balloon that the man gave her (it was a hat but this is a better use... very imaginative i thought!)