Things I'm loving Friday ♥

This week's thing's I'm loving, linking up with Paisley Jade again.



James' swimming trophy.

This was the boy who didn't even think he would make the swimming team!

Little boys' imaginations.

Here is their cafe....

.....in the bath of all places!

(minus the water of course!)

And some shots of our fun Bank Holiday visit to the nature reserve.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xx

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Sunny Day Fun

The other day when I was hanging out the washing, Alasdair was having such fun running round the washing line that I grabbed my phone and took this wee video of him.




Happy Days :0)

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31 Days to Clean

It was yet another day of glorious sunshine here today. It's not hot outside, but pleasantly warm. There has been only one day of rain in the last 3 weeks, or possibly longer, and apparently has been the driest April here since 1910!

When you live in Scotland, not only do you talk about the weather all the time like a good Brit, but you really have to go out and enjoy the sun while it is there, and get your outside jobs done, because you never know when this sunny spell will come to an end!

Yesterday, was yet another Bank holiday, and to my delight my husband had taken the day off too. He doesn't automatically get Bank holiday's off, but gets them added onto his annual leave entitlement.

We met up with his parents and sister at a nature reserve where the boys enjoyed a bit of bird watching, before we climbed a hill to get great views over the nearby loch. We then had some very welcome tea and cakes at a farm shop and finished our day with a barbecue back here. I think I'll post a couple of photos of the views in Friday's post but here are a couple for today.

If anyone's children (or themselves) are interested in nature/birds/wildlife I would really recommend a wee visit.

Moving on.

This week sees the start of the 31 Days to Clean challenge over at Joyful Mothering.

I like to think that I have a pretty good cleaning schedule sorted out for our house. One of these day's I'll get round to posting it too, in case it could be of use to anyone. My schedule evolved out of reading what others had for their schedules and working out what suited our house best.

31 Days to Clean, isn't so much of an A to Z of how to clean your house, but more the mindset of why we should want a clean and orderly house. Each day there are two challenges, a Mary and a Martha one.

Like Sarah Mae, the author, I am not really a natural born cleaner (just ask my mother!) but I do know that a clean and orderly house is a happy house. 

When everything is in it's place then there is no stress about finding things.

When the kitchen is cleaned and tidied after each meal time, there is no extra work when it comes to the next meal time of cleaning up the previous meal's mess.

When the living room and hallway are clear of clutter there is no mad rushing around if someone drops by.

And with little boys in the house the bathroom really does need cleaned regularly to avoid it smelling like a public lavatory (my least favourite job!)

Our first challenge was to write a mission statement about why we wanted a clean house.

Well, as well as what I've written above, having a warm and inviting home is my responsibility. I want friends and visitors to feel welcome here, but also able to relax. I don't want my home to look like a show-home but a comfortable family home.

Now, who wants to pop round for some tea and cupcakes? I have another batch of Rule Britannia ones just out of the oven!

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Things I'm loving Friday ♥

Well, what's not to love about a Royal Wedding?

Today's celebrations have got us indulging in our patriotic side and celebrating being British.

And what better way to celebrate than with cake? :0)

I made red icing for these ones but the lighting wasn't so good last night and it looks a bit pinkish in the photo.

Our new toy box for the trains is equally British!

And we had our very British tea tins out too.

It turned out that all of the boys wanted to watch the wedding with me after all. James loves all history and so wanted to watch it as it will one day be part of our history. 

Calum loved watching all the Royals arriving at the church.

First William.

Then the Queen. 

Alasdair, as you can see, was far more interested in his trains!

And then the beautiful Kate.

Her dress was just perfect. Elegant and timeless and not at all over-the-top.

The boys loved all the horses and pageantry of the parade back to the palace.

David kept asking when they were going to kiss!

Congratulations to them both ♥

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Recipe of the Week - Rhubarb & Ginger Jam

I made up a batch of this jam last week with some of the new rhubarb that was just springing up in the garden. I love rhubarb jam. It reminds me of my granny, my dad's mum. She always used to have home-made rhubarb jam in the cupboard.

But before we get onto the jam, I need to explain to my US friends about the dreaded Marmite, that so baffled people in Tuesday's post.

Over here people feel very passionately about the stuff. You either love it or hate it. I, personally, cannot fathom how anyone can possibly fall into the first category.

Marmite is a yeast extract. Those who love it tend to spread it on their toast. Think of the smell of beef gravy. Or beef crisps (potato chips). On toast with butter?!

It spreads a little like slightly runny chocolate spread.

But wait....

I have been known to use the stuff.

I sometimes add it to gravy to give an extra richness. I don't use Bisto in our gravies as it contains wheat, but adding a little Marmite gives a similar browning/richening effect.

Moving swiftly on.

The jam.

Perfect for spreading on your scones as you sit down to watch the royal wedding.

Can you believe that I have got to the night before the big day without mentioning it yet?

Although I'm looking forward to watching it tomorrow morning, I'm more than a little sick of the media hype that has been going on for weeks and so have kept my blog a hype-free place!

I think Kate will look lovely and I can't wait to see her dress. I'm picturing some sort of chic, vintage inspired dress. Not a big puffy dress, but we'll see. 

David (5) has been learning all about Prince William and the royal family at school. (His teacher met Charles & Diana when she was very young.) He is keen to watch the wedding with me. The older two boys aren't too bothered but tonight when I was tucking David into bed he said, 'I'm so excited, tomorrow's the wedding!' 

ANYWAY, the jam.

Whenever I make jam, Calum (8) always likes to write the labels.

You will need:

1kg rhubarb, chopped into inch sized pieces

1kg jam sugar

1 lemon, juice and zest

2oz stem ginger, finely chopped

1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated

~Put all the ingredients into a non-metallic bowl and mix well. 

~Cover and leave for at least two hours or overnight.

~Tip everything into a large pan, set on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has all dissolved.

~Bring to the boil and cook at a boil until the rhubarb is all tender and the setting point has been reached (this should only take about 15 minutes.)

~Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Like I said, lovely on a fresh, warm scone.

Now, how excited do you think Kate must be tonight?!

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Work in Progress Wednesday - Coffee Pot Cosy

After my first proper crochet project, the tea cosy I made way back last summer, my husband has always been asking when I was going to get round to making a coffee cosy for him.

Well, I finally did.

I like the wool as it looks kind of like a tweed fabric once it's crocheted. 

Purple is my favourite colour too.

I am tempted to add a couple of wee flower embellishments to the front, but as it's for my beloved's coffee pot I don't want it to look too girly!

It's still a Work In Progress, as I haven't found any suitable buttons to hold it closed, so at the moment it's held together by safety pins!

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Some random facts.....

Thanks to Sarah Jayne at The Lord's Lass for passing on this award to me and making me rack my brains for the last couple of weeks, trying to think of some suitably interesting random facts! 

The ones I have thought of are all food related. I'm not a fussy eater, I will eat most things, but I think everyone has one or two things they just can't stomach.

1. I don't like mushrooms. In fact I detest mushrooms. The taste, the texture, the smell - eugh! 

My husband loves them.

2. I love olives, both green and black. Plain, stuffed, on pizza, garlic.....

My husband hates them.

3. My automatic food choice would always be sweet.

My husband's would be savoury.

4. I think I have a serious addiction to chocolate. No, really, a serious one!

My husband would gladly not touch the stuff.

5. I really don't like Marmite. Again, the smell is enough...

My husband loves it on toast.

6. When I was expecting our first baby I went off coffee. I haven't liked it since then, and only drink tea. (I do like a nice coffee cake though!)

My husband needs his coffee to get going in the morning.

7. I can't face seafood ie. oysters, squid etc.

Neither can my husband.

There you go.

Chalk and cheese but we compliment each other very well. 

I like to think we are a bit like salt & vinegar or sweet & sour, you can't have one without the other :0)

OK, now I get to pass this on and I'm choosing Anne from Homeschool on the Croft. I'm sure Anne's will be suitably random and amusing, in a good way.

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Miscellaneous Monday

We've had such beautiful weather for the Easter holidays. Last week there was sunshine every day, and the boys were so chuffed to be able to have lunch outside every day. I have finally been able to let myself believe that spring is here and summer is on it's way.

The sunshine continued today for the last day of their holidays.

It's a funny few weeks at school. They have had the last two weeks off for the Easter holidays. They go back to school tomorrow but are then off again on Friday for the Royal Wedding. Next Monday they are off for the May day holiday and then on the Thursday they are off for the Scottish elections! They then have two full weeks at school before another three day holiday for the late May, Edinburgh bank holidays!! After that it's only 5 weeks until the summer holidays - hooray!

I'm not one of those parents who complains about having their children off school, in case you hadn't noticed!

The great spring weather has meant we could crack on with our gardening chores. 

One of the first jobs we do each spring is clean out the sand-pit. Despite having a lid on it, the winter rains seem to find a way in and this was it before we started.

Here are my two assistants scooping out the water and old sand. 

Once we had washed it out we filled it with water and used it as a water pit for a couple of days until we got down to the shops to buy some more sand.

Now it's all full of nice fresh sand.

I spent a couple of days just digging, digging, digging all the weeds in the garden. The winter came on us so quickly this year that I didn't get to tidy up the autumn weeds so there was a lot to do. It's looking good now. Ready for planting.

As well as digging, I had the hair clippers out one day to give the three youngest boys some well needed haircuts!

Before..

After... 

This is David with his home made bow and some spears, off to catch some deer (pretend ones, of course!)

And to finish off, here are some snaps of our Easter Sunday.

Egg decorating

Easter lunch in the garden

Hoping everyone had a great Easter weekend ♥

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