Tuesday 26 January 2010

Another 60th Birthday

Last weekend saw my DH reach the same milestone as me, his 60th birthday.

In true family tradition our children hired a cottage in the New Forest that was big enough to accommodate our dynasty of 20!



We were welcomed with an amazing banner made by DD1 and her family.



Fortunately the cottage had been an old Estate bothy and the huge Victorian greenhouse had been converted into an enormous dining room, just perfect for all of us to have wonderful family meals.





The children had great fun making a den in the large garden as well as playing football, as we now have enough grandchildren to make up our own team :-)



Being right in the heart of the Forest we had plenty of opportunity for lovely walks and for my DH to play on his improvised seesaw. I always said that inside every man there's a five year old boy trying to get out.



On Saturday evening our DD3 gave a lovely reading from a 'this is your life' book that she compiled for her Dad with many hilarious anecdotes, some of which had been long forgotten and lovingly remembered. And of course a lovely tribute to a wonderful Father and husband.



Later that evening we let off some Chinese lanterns that our SIL 1 had got specially for the occasion and we all made our wishes as we sent them into the sky.



On Sunday, my DH's birthday, we had a traditional Sunday lunch and afterwards had the Birthday cake, his favourite chocolate gateaux.



And our youngest grandchild seemed to think it was his favourite too when he stuffed the biggest piece of chocolate icing in his mouth that he could manage.



And finally to his present. Of course it couldn't possibly have been anything else, as he's such a keen carp fisherman, it had to be the best and the biggest bed chair on the market :-)





So all in all it was a wonderful weekend, my DH said it was the best birthday he's ever had, so not a bad way to start your third age.

It was a great privilege to once again be treated to an amazing weekend by our wonderful children and their partners, we're both very proud of them and feel extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Sunday 10 January 2010

Christmas and beyond

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted, but then again that Christmas thing does seem to take over.

I suddenly got very busy making things with my latest new toy, which seems to have taken up a lot of my time since I bought it, the embroidery unit that is.



I made little bags for all the grown up girls in the family with computerised designs on them while I discovered some of the machine's previously hidden secrets. It took me 7 designs and much help and encouragement from the Bernina Central forum but at last I achieved a near perfect stitched design. Unfortunately I was in such a rush to wrap the Christmas presents I forgot to take pics, so no creative stuff from me this post.

Christmas was a wonderful family affair this year with a lovely Christmas day meal hosted by DD3 in her new house. No detail was overlooked in the lunch preparation, we all had beautiful place settings and even personal favors.





Of course us girls set to with the veg prep and used the the time for a good catch up.


L-R DD3 our DIL and me.

Meanwhile the men were on baby watch.



Or maybe not, "........now if she just lets go I'll be off then"



We had a great day and it was lovely not to have the responsibility of lunch, thanks to all who made it possible.


Granddad, youngest GS and big brother and Nanny, all shattered after a hectic day.

Boxing Day was busy too with a lovely party hosted by DD2, and we had a great Christmas tea with DD3 on the day before Christmas Eve, so the only cooking I did was on Christmas Eve for our DS and our lovely DIL.

And so to the snow, hmmmm......... it's getting extremely tedious now and seems to have prolonged that horrible flat feeling you get when Christmas is over. I can't seem to shake myself out of creative lethargy, I feel 'winter tired'.

But it has to be said, when the sun's on it, it really does look like a magical wonderland. Here's some pics of the forest around our home, where we've been marooned for a week.

















Happy New year to everyone, hope it 's a successful and creative one.