Hello September

I can’t resist making an apple and blackberry pie at this time of year. It’s still warm outside and the berries glisten in the sunshine. How lucky are we to have brambles in our garden! They go perfectly with fresh apples from James mum’s neighbour’s garden (what a mouthful). A whole glut of cooking apples to use and fresh picked blackberries. You really can't beat the smell of crispy pastry and bubbling blueberries straight from the oven. Why does the wait for it to cool down seem so long?

The blackberries were early this year due to the hot weather and whereas the season would normally be just starting, we are using up the last few. We had a long period of no rain, but the garden is looking less parched now after a week of rain. The leaves are still a gorgeous green and aren’t yet showing the signs of autumn. Still a few roses budding and flowers growing. I can’t resist buying sunflowers from the supermarket though. Their beautiful bright colour and big bold faces cheer me up on the rainiest of days.

We managed to get the retro Cabanon tent set up in the garden last night. It took all of two hours to set up. Modern tents are far easier to erect. Once I got the fairy lights in and put up the cute curtains that came with it, it was very sweet indeed. Luke, Alexander and his friend all slept in there last night after enjoying some roasted marshmallows on the fire. James and I preferred the comfort of our own bed. There is something lovely about sitting around a camp fire. I think I might build a permanent firepit for the garden so that we can sit out there more often.

After a fun evening of laughter, a big yummy breakfast is always in order. I made my favourite Jamie Oliver pancakes in the griddle. You can find the recipe here. Separating and whipping the eggs is an added fuss, but its so worth it. 

After a filling breakie, we’ve had a pretty relaxing Saturday afternoon. The boys are playing quietly upstairs and Luke is hunting bugs in the garden. James has been working hard turning our shippon into a habitable fun zone. Still trying to decide how we can round off this fun Saturday with an equally fun evening activity. What are your favourite family weekend activities? Let me know. Have a good one.

Warm Bread.

My first bread that has turned out actually like bread. It was very yummy. The hardest part about making it was telling if it was done. I saw a tip online that said to take it out the tin and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow it's done. Super simple! We don't have a bread machine so just a bit of kneading (which I let my kitchen aid do.) and and hour in the airing cupboard and then cook. Fabulously easy. I've also been super busy trying to get my first college assignments written. It's also half term so I've got two little ones to look after now. Looking forward to Halloween now. :) 

Beautiful Fuchsias

Starting of with some Yummy homemade goodness. I take comforting in knowing that when I make the boys treats at home I know exactly what is in them. I don't have to worry about all these bad preservatives and sugar substitutes. Simple Butter, flour, sugar. :) I made these cute biscuits. I couldn't be bothered with all the frosting so I made half with holes and half without, filled them with my homemade plum jam and voila! I can't tell you if they were nice because they were all gone before I had a chance to grab one! I think that answered the question.

I am absolutely loving having a garden. Since moving in we have had lots of work to do. They whole back half of the garden was weeds from where the previous owner had her vegetable garden. Far to big for what we need and much to much hard work. So we (I say we, I mean Richard) dug it all up and turned the soil and planted some lovely grass for the boys to play. It's coming along nicely. Can't wait for summer picnics out there. The best bit is we still have plenty of room for raised beds and hens! Not to mention we have a green house. My last few tomatoes from this year are ripening in the window. Nothing better than eating homemade, homegrown food. There is still plenty more work to do in the garden, and I am looking forward to it all. These Beautiful Fuchsias are still blooming now, well into October. I hope to see it for years to come.

Brothers

These are brothers. Brothers with their silly faces. So similar, yet so unique. I love them to bits. We had a lovely sunny Tuesday. I got the boys playing outside. Well it wasn't difficult they would live outside if they could. Alexander love's being outdoors and even when he doesn't want to I try and get him out if the weather is nice. They are funny ages to play together really. But when I get a bucket of water out they could play together for hours. As soon as the water ran out Luke soon had his way of telling me. Screaming. Loving this warm spring weather. We are back to rain now, but it's still warm. Looking forward to more outdoor time. 

Been doing a lot more baking. I've also been thinking of getting my store back up and running. Obviously, not much more than thinking yet. Got some new ideas and concepts swimming round in my head. However, there is lots going on in our lives at the moment so who knows when I will get round to it! 

Luke Love's Muffins.

Nothing cheers little monkey up like baking some banana muffins with mummy. Many would see those brown soft bananas as food for the compost. In our house I love it when there are enough brown bananas for bread. Even Richard was begging to eat some and he hates bananas. I tried I new recipe today. That you can find HERE. They are scrummy. 

The weather has been marvelous. The boys and I rode our bikes to the lake today after school for an ice cream. We are so fortunate to live in the country, right next to a lovely lake. However the fun in the sun maybe cut short for Luke as it looks like he might be coming down with Chicken Nuggets (that's what we call Chicken Pox in our house.) At least it will be out the way though. I haven't yet had it either so here's to hoping if i do it's mild. 

Bad Times.

Not the best times, these past few weeks. Turns out I am allergic to cats. So Kiki has to go live at the farm. We have had her back for a week after the operation, but she goes back to the farm tomorrow. Spring has been miserable so far. A total of two sunny days and temperatures just over freezing. We had the coldest Easter on record for the UK. My 25th birthday came and went. Was lovely but I was ill. To top off this lovely season Bunnie (our rabbit) froze to death the day before Easter. I keep trying to tell myself its all up from here but I can't see the light at the end of spring yet. 

Yummie food, crafts, and a new kitty

Spring is here! Though it doesn't feel like it as it snowed the past two days. I have seen my first daffodils and that's very exciting. Really hoping the warm weather is just around the corner. This winter has been tough. Got some lovely lavender to go in the window sill and brighten up the place. As soon as Christmas is done the house always feels empty, so I make a point to have a decoration box for all seasons. Easter is fast approaching, but i can't find my easter box. Doh! 

For mothers day I got a little baby kitten. She is six months old, so not that little. She is very lovely. It has been a struggle to name her as we can't all decide. We've Gone with Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. One of my favorite films even though in the film the cat is called Jiji. 

Weekend Baking

I finally have  a minute to sit and do my blog. It's been a bank holiday this Monday, so It's thrown me off a bit. I did do my bit of weekend baking. It was a bit of a cheat this week. We went to Costco and they had a Ghiradelli brownie mix. I made it my own a bit by adding some white chocolate buttons. YUM! The boys really liked them. Alexander keeps asking for more.

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Weekend Baking

Did a bit of baking over the weekend. Made some yummy cookies and had my first go at royal icing piping.

 It wasn't as hard as imagined. It did take some preparation. You have to put all the icing in glasses with a wet cloth in. A bit of a faf but I think they turned out cute. I made them for all the Yummy Mummys and Toddler group this week! I have a lot of help from a few websites and thought I'd share in case you want to try it out yourself. I got the cookie recipe from Martha Stewart. But did have to convert it all to Metric, and still have it all so if you would like the converted copy let me know! :)  For decorating, The lovely Marian over at Sweetopia She's got lots of other cute tutorials too, so be sure to check them out. Hope you enjoy! 

A bit of weekend baking.

I made some yummy muffins for Alexander today. Love Lemon and Poppy seed muffins. I have never made them before. Got a recipie over at The English Kitchen. They sure did turn out yummy.
Also wanted to share this cute freebie with you from over at Instructables.

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