TREEmendous fun!

These 2 grandchildren of mine are having so much fun....here they are climbing trees! Ethan - although very tall for his age, is only 8! It's difficult sometimes to remember that, as he is 'beyond' his years!

Tree hugger..... he looks like a koala bear! LOL.

I'm sure the birds were wondering what was going on...

Almost there....

Yayyy.....he made it....

What a hoot....






Now it's 10 year old Eden's turn... I don't think she has had as much practice as Ethan....

Maybe she could do with a helping hand.... Ethan helps her.

A little bird tells me that she will make it...





...yayyy

Tree hugger... Eden poses...

Hmmm.....I'm not sure that she gave any thought to how she will get down!

Yikes.... Ethan to the rescue again...

Sorted! A big thumbs up from the tree climbers.

as well as family.... good times.

Thank you for taking the time to look at what's going on in my life.

Have a nice day.

My babies are coming!

I'm so excited. I'm going to see my babies at the weekend - in fact, all of my family and grandchildren at a BBQ. Eden and Ethan will be coming to stay for 2 weeks! Now, they've never been away from home for more than one night each and I feel so priveleged that they are happy to come stay.

When their mum was 11 years old, she went to stay with her nanny and grandad and her dad had to go fetch her home as she was homesick!

Eden is renowned for feeling homesick - even when she has spent the night at a friend's but she has assured me that she will be ok on this occasion "as it's family"! LOL. Bless her.

We shall see. Eight year old Ethan can't wait. He is less likely to feel such but again, I don't think he has experienced it before. Eek.


What I do know is, I shall have the time of my life with them and we have a fun schedule. I dare say we shall have hot chocolate and biscuits every day! That is what I am known for. They LOVE hot chocolate and biscuits when we are together. There will be lots of treats.

These guys LOVE to pose for the camera and we shall have lots of shoots too. They also like to get behind the lens.

Check in for updates on photos and fun times.

Toots for now peeps.

Do NOT feed the seagulls!

I was going to write the title 'Hot and Bothered' but 'Do NOT feed the seagulls' is about right!

This is my issue. My neighbour has either a new partner or he is a lodger but he has been feeding the seagulls for a while now - months. I have lived in my house for 21+ years and my neighbour and I have spent almost all of that time trying to keep the seagulls from nesting on our adjoining chimneys. They have actually fallen down her chimney and laid dead after getting stuck in there.

I've seen a number of different kinds of foods being thrown onto their lawn and I've also had seagulls swoop down and dive bomb us whilst sitting in our garden!
Feeding seagulls this way has encouraged many a sly fox to visit my garden and I was sure that one day....a seagull would meet it's fate!

Sure enough....only yesterday evening, whilst eating dinner....there was a commotion outside - squawking seagulls swooping on slices of dry bread. I ran out and slammed a metal dustbin lid on the ground which dispersed the pesty birds.

On retiring to bed last night...the trump sounded...

...mummy fox called her little ones to feast on her catch!!! I will spare you the photos that I took of a dismembered seagull that I found on my lawn this morning. A slice of the same bread was in my water bath!

I saw my neighbour in her garden this morning, so I took the opportunity to ask her, to ask her 'friend' if he would stop feeding the seagulls. She had a plate in her hand and tilted it to slide a fried egg off onto the lawn!!!! I saw red! Her response was "Ohhh...the poor seagull. It must have been the friendly one that sits on the roof"! Grrrrr....she had more compassion for a dead seagull than she has for people. It was her kitten that ate the egg whilst we were standing there talking.

So....I repeat....Pleaaaase ...Do NOT feed the seagulls....it encourages them to come inland which is not their natural habitat and the food attracts rats!!!

Rant over! I've cooled down now.

**HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY LISA**

It seems that I am forever writing about birthdays that have been occuring in my family for the past few months. This one is about my eldest daughter Lisa's 40th birthday. I wanted to post about it recently but my pc was sick and so I never got to do it.

For her birthday, I made her an 'explosion' box. I had received one from a friend in USA and it was so beautiful, I decided to use the template and so here is my version. For the outside of the box and lid, I used a Fancy Pants paper. It's double sided and is the accent colour of Lisa's newly decorated lounge, so I made the box with this - and the other colours in mind.

The lid and reverse of the FP paper.


Once the lid is taken off, the sides of the box cascade and fall open, revealing the contents I had placed inside.

I also wanted to make Lisa's 40th birthday a day to remember, so I booked her, my son in law, my husband and I into a celebrity chef's restaurant - Michael Caines's ABode in Canterbury. WOW! It was fabbb.

We opted for the 3 course evening meal and we received 7 courses - 4 were free!

Here is Lisa opening her gifts.

This is her opening her birthday 'card' I made for her. It is a word album.



I wrapped her teething ring that she had as a baby - pink ring with a real silver rabbit attached. I am ready to part with it! *Sigh*. Also, her silver baby bangle. I think she was touched by them.

We had 'posh nosh' for dinner. This was one of the desserts ...Lisa had chosen Creme Brulee with chocolate ice cream and another flavoured cream. It was a very nice touch to write her birthday wishes on the plate.

The verdict of Lisa's 40th birthday.....I think she liked becoming 40 and it will surely be a day to remember.