The kid who doesn't like walking...

...walked all the way to our local library and back this morning. A grand distance of 1.6 miles. I'm so proud of her!

We set out from home and had a nice leisurely walk there (she took her scooter and scooted some of the way). We got to the library, where I enjoyed a nice rest! Then we walked home, calling in a local bakery on the way, where Cara bought a sausage roll and a drink. We sat in the park and had a little rest while she ate her sausage roll and we shared the drink before walking the rest of the way home.

It was a lovely way to spend some time - we probably could have driven there in less than 5 minutes, but it meant spending some lovely time together, getting some fresh air and killing a good two hours.

Beautiful hair

I heart Cara's hair.

I dread the day when she asks for it all to be chopped off - as did my own parent's most probably, when I was about 8 years old. I remember feeling so grown up at the hairdressers as they asked me if I wanted a glass of lemonade while they chopped my locks off. I did - of course!

Family time

Yesterday, H had the car, so he picked Cara up from my mums and then came and picked me up from work. Cara fell asleep in the car before they even reached school, so when we got home, I carried her in and put her to bed. I wasn't too far behind, going to sleep at about 5.20pm. The end of year exhaustion is setting in.

Cara woke up at about 7pm, so I sent her downstairs to H. He then took her and Buzz to a little club we are members of. They got in at about 9.30pm - I found out today that Cara walked all the way there and back - for the child who is so lazy it is unreal, this was a real achievement for her. Anyway - in the club, they have a machine of 50p cards - put 50p in, get a card out. It has 5 strips on, which you peel back. If you match 3, you win anything from 50p to £200. So...Cara asked H if she was allowed one. He bought her it, she peeled back the first one and said, "Daddy, I've won." He looked. She had won. £200. He couldn't believe it! Lord knows that at the moment, with H out of work and nothing coming up anytime soon, it was well received!

So, today, I managed to stay up beyond 5.20pm and we had some family time playing games (all four of us - the dog included!). First of all, we played a Moving House game - Cara won. Then we played a game I had when I was little - Rings on Your Fingers. She won again. It's not even as though we LET her win.

"It smells of mummy"

Cara cuddled up to me in my bed last night. She asked if she could have my pillow, so we swapped. She lay down and then said in a little happy voice "It smells of mummy." I'm hoping she meant it in a good way!

It was her last day ever at pre-school yesterday. I can't belive where the past two years have gone. When she first started, she barely spoke (we had just had a speech and language therapy assessment saying she had delayed speech), she was in pull ups and my mum had to stay with her for the sessions to help he settle in. Now here she is, all grown up.

My garden

When we moved into our house almost 7 years ago, the garden was okay, but nothing special. Part of it was fenced off and overgrown and the shed was well and truly past it's best. We've spent a lot of time over the years trying to turn it into a family garden and plant and grow things.

Here are a few pictures from over the years:

March 2007 - my dad and the husband dismantling said shed. You can just see the overgrown weeds to the left of the shed.


April 2007 - we cleared the overgrown weeds and prepared to turf


April 2007 - turfing almost complete


April 2007 - we put up a fence so Cara could play up there and there wouldn't be any danger of her falling off the edge. It doesn't seem real that at that point she was only 15 months old!


July 2007 - After putting the fence up, we seemed to play more on the main part!


April 2008 - A year later


July 2010 - today! It's changed a lot and we've really lucky this year in what we've managed to grow. More on that later though.

We had a lovely impromptu swim

When we got home, Cara went and knocked for her friend, who it turned out, wasn't in. She started to get upset, so we played a game together and then I asked her if she wanted to go swimming. She did. So off we went. It was totally spur of the moment and was lovely. We played and swam - she swam all the way from the edge to the middle of the pool where the lane divider thing is, all by herself - no float, no noodle, nothing. Just her little arms! I would say it's about 3 metres or so - she kept coming up for air and then just kept going - I was so so proud of her.

When we got out, she handed her noodle in and the man said he'd watched her and she had done really well. She then said to me, "can I have a sticker when we get in?"

On the down side of things, the husband has one more day at work and then that's it. Looks like we'll be looking for a job for him.

Cara's drawing

Cara sat on the landing last night for a good ten minutes, drawing this. She bought it in to show me all proud of herself. It's a person (in the middle) about to get changed into the clothes on the left and then they are taking the dog (with 6 legs) for a walk. Not sure what the other stuff is. I love seeing how her drawings develop and how her imagination works.

Not a happening really

Life as usual at the moment...I haven't forgotten you little blog (or gone back to old habits!)

Will update soon - just as soon as something excting happens. In the meantime, I'm focusing on getting through the next 14 days feeling as awake as possible as I just feel utterly exhausted at the moment!