Visit from the Grandchildren

We have just had three of our grandchildren visit for a few days, without their parents! This was the first time Gilby had been to our house without them but he did great, he wanted to sleep in with the girls so all three had their beds in our smallest bedroom because the room the girls love to use :)

It's been over a year since they have been to visit, since the girls started full time schools they don't really have the time to come up for weekends now and  as we visit Devon regularly we get to visit them at their house 

 So it was so lovely to have them visit and we managed to cram lots into the days. They had just spent the weekend with their parents at our son and daughter in laws in London so we didn't need to take them into the city, we had lots of fun in the country and also took them to the Roald Dahl museum which was a great hit and to the Tring Natural History museum which they loved, spending their time drawing pictures of all the stuffed animals.

They always love to visit the windmill where they ran and ran and played 'it' with Grandpa. And of course Molly joined in with all the fun!

We have many photos of all our grandchildren standing on this gate starting when they were quite little

                                 

                                  

                                  

                                   

They are like a little gang, three children and a dog :)

Playing 'it' with Grandpa

The weather was perfect and our visit to the windmill ended with a beautiful sunset

Friday

Fridays is our day off and we always try to get out of the house if only for a short walk, yesterday we went to our favourite close by place, Ashridge. Where we walked then had lunch in the lovely outdoor cafe. Although it was chilly the sun shine and the walk was refreshing. I then got started on a baby quilt made from Moda Pezzy Print fabrics. I had a pack of pre cut squares making the task nice and quick, I will hopefully get the layers put together on Monday. 

Have a great Sunday!

                             

weekend visitors

We had these three little guys and their parents to visit for three nights last weekend. Gilby and Mummy and Daddy went into London on Saturday to catch up with our two sons and our daughter in law, Grandpa had a prior arrangement so I got to take the twins out to Ashridge for a scoot/walk and lunch in the lovely out door cafe. 

Maggie (second photo below) is quite the thinker and at the beginning of the walk explained to me that if she had a piece of cake first it would help boost her energy, I explained that the cafe was actually at the end of the walk so a little later she thought that probably if she had three legs the walk would be that much easier :)

        

       

        

taking a short trip

We live in a small market town 35 minutes north of London by train. We have a pretty high street, a canal and a ruined castle all just minutes walk from our house. We also have lovely walks nearby. Ahridge Estate is one of our favourite places to walk and yesterday we we were excited to find all these  wonderful looking fungi. We are blessed!

On Saturday we are off to Tuscany for 7 nights, staying in an apartment in a villa, we are really looking forward to it and will post some photo's on our return.

Have a great week!

birthday

Last week just as I was feeling quite sad I received an email from my dear blogging friend Hadley  to say that I had won her give away! That brought a smile to my face and even more so when my wonderful gift arrived on my birthday!

 as usual my photo doesn't really do this justice, the patchwork and stitching on the beautiful purse and key fob is brilliant, the little piece of Liberty fabric will be included in my Liberty quilt when I get to making it and the chocolate...well I'm about to go downstairs and eat it right now!

 This was my delicious birthday desert at Raymond Blanc's Brasserie in our little town

 The bluebells are out in Ashridge Park so I went to take photo's with my new Canon camera that hubby bought me, sadly the weather wasn't good and so they don't look their best but the smell after the rain had fallen was amazing.

so all in all even though we have been having a sad time just recently, my birthday was special. I share it with my sweet daughter in law and so the night before we spent the evening with  our son and daughter in law and her family. I had lovely gifts as always and even an ipad mini but I'm not to say who that was from :)

snowy walk

So here in the UK we have had lots of snow...maybe not as much as bloggers from Canada and the USA, but lots for us none the less. 

Yesterday morning, after visiting the farm shop, hubby and I went for a stroll to the windmill. It was cold but beautiful. We stopped off at Ashridge for a hot chocolate and the cakes we had bought previously. We spotted some black deer on our drive home and couldn't get a photo so I took this one from the internet

more Christmas photos

 Christmas lights in London

 Boxing Day walk

 some were a little too tired to walk

stocking time

Where Have I Been?

Life has been so busy recently, work at school, work at church, making Christmas gifts and a little sickness has kept me from here. We live in a beautiful area and sometimes I just like to go for a short drive and see what's happening 'round and about. These photo's were taken about 2 weeks ago and the leaves have now changed and I need to go out with my camera again. This Sunday is the twins 4th birthday so we will be travelling to Devon for the party. I have made my requested mini cup cakes. All the family there have been unwell too so I think when I arrive Thursday evening there will be a fair amount of catching up to be done before Saturdays party