Here...

Yup, I'm back!!
While I've been gone life has carried on in the same way it does. We have grieved for the loss of our dad/father in law/granddad, He suffered terribly for the last 6 months and his passing was so very, very hard but such a blessing for him, a final relief from pain and free to be with his love Eunice again. We love you and miss you dad.

The seasons continue to change and birthdays have been celebrated, Christmas was good, we have played in the snow, read lots and lots of books but now we await Spring. We need that glimmer of warmth and light.

I don't know where to start, how can I catch up 3 months of our lives. I am probably just going to upload lots of random photo's and try and fill in the blanks. I was going to type a long emptying of my mind and heart post but Charlie is going through a phase of *needing* me to listen to him right now...I am really trying to be ever so patient and present but truth be known..I'm struggling.

Anyway, I have been nipping online now and again and reading my favourite blogs, thank you for being an inspiration and also for being so honest!! I intend to be here regularly from now on, I have missed this place :)

Back Again.

 Charlie has been performing lots of puppet shows for me, although he is still a little shy sometimes and actually told me that he gets stage fright, aww bless him :)

 we have a new very small but very crazy addition to our family...meet Tabatha Mactatt aka Tabby.

 Walking in woods, watching out for squirrels.

 Ben came home for a while from Vancouver. It was lovely to have all my kids together but alas he has gone back to carry on his life in Canada.

Don't children spot the tinniest things?

Enjoying our HE life.

 We have found a lovely little pottery group in a nearby town. Charlie was so very shy at first but after gentle encouragement he was soon joining in, although he wasn't keen to touch the clay itself he enjoyed using the tools and became very engrossed in his art.

 Charlie taking a little time to contemplate on his plate designs :)

 Yaay, my left handed boy has mastered using scissors so well and now doesn't get frustrated with himself but enjoys cutting out and have we been doing 'lots' of cutting.

One of the reasons he enjoys baking is so that he can wash up afterwards, yes, he really does love washing up, even if he does mostly play in the water for an hour :)

Light and love

A candle has been lit here for all who need a little light. My wonderful father in law who has been diagnosed with oesophagus cancer, my auntie Hilary who has found out that her cancer has returned, for my family, our friends, for my MS symptoms. Light and love sent out to you.....
We are also praying for the safe return to her family for little April who has gone missing.

Autumn living

 It has been a very windy and rainy few days here and so we have played indoors mostly, playing with toys that have been forgotten about for a while. These beautiful tree blocks had been put away in a box underneath a pile of other box's but when we discovered them again, there was much joy and imagination play. I was so sorry we hadn't used them for so long but then realised maybe that is what made them even more wonderful, like a new toy :)

 Such a marvelous tree house was created for all the animals, from owls to lions.

 Our Autumn nature 'shelf' is slowly coming into place.

 Charlie is so very proud of his latest project. His favourite animal is the wolf, he has always loved these wonderful, magical creatures and so it was a real adventure for him to discover all about their lives and habitat. As you can see from the photo Charlie drew a lovely picture of a wolf for the front cover.

Lots of pages containing gorgeous cut out pictures of wolves. It was quite interesting to see that Charlie liked the 'fantasy' type pictures best and wanted to print off many of these not just for the project but to stick on his bedroom wall!

Circle Time

 This is our circle time basket, we have little squirrels and foxes in here and sing songs to wake them up, normally 'squirrel nutkin'. Then Mother Earth wakes and we sing to thank her for all she gives us. We are getting in a nice routine now and if we have an early appointment and have to be out of the house quickly Charlie misses the familiarity of circle time. I did wonder, at the beginning if circle time would actually work with just two of us but yes it does work , very well :).

Hmmm..All ready for circle time joined by the dog and cat!!

 We play lots of games at our house, so its a good job I actually enjoy games as it generally consists of two players, me and charlie lol. We love this game, its Animal Animal by Haba, such good fun.

 Good old Jenga, Charlie is really tactical with this and is really very good!

 Oh and of course, one of the best games of all is playing in an enormous cardboard box :)

Part of our weekly routine is cleaning out the guinea pigs, I always try and get Charlie involved as after all, they are his pets but he struggles with the actual shovelling of dirty bedding bit, he has a very strong gag reflex and cant cope with unpleasant smells. Charlie has many little quirks but this all adds up to make our beautiful boy just who he is...gorgeous.