Springy things

Hooray and hurrah - I think spring has sprung!
The children and I visited my mum in Dorset for a few days this week - giving Mr Nut some time to catch up on some much-needed sleep/work (and to crack on with the 'lovely half-term list' I sneakily left for him...) - and giving my mum some time to bond with her three oldest grandchildren.  Driving down south I really noticed a difference in how far advanced spring is - snowdrops covering banks like snowdrifts, daffodils showing their bright yellow faces and buds about to burst from their covers.

I really love coming to Dorset, whenever I'm here I really feel like I'm coming home.  Even when the weather's like this:

it's still beautiful.  Mr Nut and I got married at the top of this hill and it seems funny coming with the children, who weren't even at our wedding, but who are such a huge part of our lives now.  I almost wish we could get married again just so they could be there! 
I think it's good for me to have time away like this - when I get back home I always find I look at it with new eyes and really appreciate that I am so lucky and live in a lovely, homely home; whereas when I'm here all the time, all I can see are the little niggly things that I'd like to change.
I did, however, find it quite mad having the three children on my own - apart from anything else, it's hard feeding baby Nut when I'm not at home with all her non-allergenic food to hand - but we did have a lovely time; especially when the two big Nuts and I got to spend the day in lovely Lyme Regis on our own.  You really can't beat fish and chips on the beach (even if you are being mobbed by scary seagulls) followed by a proper ice-cream in a cone. 
The big Nuts also got to do a bit of this:

While I poked around in the hedges for things like this:

For me, no trip to Dorset is complete without a visit to the brilliant Hanson's in Sturminster Newton - it's a crafter's dream - it's a warehouse-type building, stuffed to the rafters with yarn, fabric, trimmings, books and sewing machines.  I couldn't have a really proper look around as the children were sitting patiently in the car, reading comics, but I did manage to get myself some new yarn for my latest crochet project:

Just look at all that lovely wool (there's actually more than that, but the rest of it wouldn't fit in the basket!)  I am very excited and also a little bit scared about this project because it's the first big thing I've made and I wonder if I will ever be able to finish it (am I alone in getting all enthusiastic about things and then quickly moving on to the next thing?)  I have plans for a proper crochet post - a quick round up of my life in crochet so far and what I'm up to at the moment, but I'll do that tomorrow - my glass of wine is calling me now - I really need it after four hours in a car with three small children! x