Oooh la la - c'est le weekend

I do quite like this photo of me taking a photo of myself, though I do think it makes me look like a cross between the Michelin Man and a pair of tweezers.  In reality I look a lot more like a 37-year-old woman than you'd believe from this picture.

This was taken at Lyme Park, which is a really beautiful National Trust property not too far from where we live.  We quite often go there for a bit of a run around and a play in the brilliant play area (kids) and a cup of tea and a wodge of cake (me).  This weekend I had a rare Saturday off work and the weather was so unbelievably perfect that we had to really make the most of the fact that we had two whole days at home together and get out and about in the sun.  Got to stave off the rickets and all that...

It really is heaven for small boys - mud, sticks, big open spaces, climbing frames and hot chocolate - what's not to love?  It's places like this that make me really appreciate having boys, actually.  I have a teeny confession to make here - sometimes I don't really understand my little beasties.  By this I mean that I know they need to let off steam and 'express themselves' by running around, shouting, fighting and making bizarre noises, and generally I don't mind it too much, but I never really understand what it is that makes them want to do it.  Probably something to do with me never having had a willy, I suspect - Mr N certainly gets where they're coming from.  But I digress; what I mean is that this unfathomableness (good word!) gives me opportunities to experience things that I may not otherwise get to experience.  There are many times in a day when I can be found acting as some sort of UN-level peace-keeper, splitting up fights and sorting out arguments - and that brings a fair amount of stress, if I'm honest.  But the flip side of that is that I get to spend my weekends in all sorts of brilliant outdoor places, running around and pretending I'm ambushing people and I have a sneaking suspicion that I just wouldn't experience that side of life if I didn't have to my two crazy boys.  We went to beautiful Lyme Regis in the Christmas hols (clearly I love all places with 'Lyme' in their name) - and I had a real moment of 'boy joy' while we were on the beach - me and my girl sitting on the stones all wrapped up in a mound of coats just watching the three males running around, jumping away from the waves, skimming stones, throwing rocks into the water and generally having a high old time just amusing themselves.  I was so happy sitting there in the freezing cold on that beautiful beach and I said a silent thank you to my boys because I'm fairly certain that if I had only girls, I wouldn't have been doing that, and I was glad that I was. 

Not that I'm suggesting for one moment that girls are all calmness and Zen, oh no no! (Pause for slightly hysterical laughter).  Take this photo, for example:

Four and a half seconds after this photo was taken, Mr N had a bit of a slip into the stream (bet he regretted not wearing his wellies then...), decided it was all just a bit too risky with baby n there, picked her up, carried her up the bank and put her on the grass at which point the world ended and she had a ten-minute meltdown because she wanted to get back into the (freezing cold, fast-flowing) water.

Now, I've no real idea how to link these next two photos in to this post at all - they're completely random, but I do want to include them, so here they are in all their random-ness.  Firstly a rather brilliant birthday present:

I love this little bluebird cruet set and thought I'd been cunning in hiding it on the window sill by the sink where the kids would 'never discover them' and want to break play with them but sadly, despite my best efforts, they've been discovered and baby n is now obsessed with the 'gucks' (ducks?)

And random photo number two: my latest wip:

When I saw Lucy's beautiful bunting at Attic 24, I just knew I had to make myself some.  Originally destined for the bathroom (possibly the only room in the house not already bedecked with flags, now I think about it) I have decided that I love it too much and can't possibly hide it away where I'll only get to see it when I'm in the shower.  Watch this space for my latest bunting ta-dah, coming soon to a sitting room near you. x
PS - if anyone's seen our remote control, could they please let me know where it is - it's driving Mr N crazy having to actually get up and change the channel