Back in the saddle!

Work has been all right you know! I love my specialist group, Noah has slotted straight into nursery without a care in the world, and my timetable is so brilliant that I am still getting to spend an enormous amount of time with him so I don't feel like either of us are missing out on each other, in fact the skills he is picking up through the regular interaction with children his own age has pushed his overall social development on in leaps and bounds! He always says please (peas) and thank you (da) and has added a whole new host of words to his existing vocabulary - he is as cheeky as and continues to just as affectionate as ever!

What hasn't been great however has been the obvious slide in my immunity to college bugs, and since my return I have had a constant code and this Sunday saw me vomit for England, poor old Noah didn't come off Scott free unfortunately and  he too succumbed to a generous amount of vomiting too -  in fact he got it first - as you probably know these things are short lived fortunately, but having to remain at home with a well again toddler when you are feeling well below par is rubbish!!

Last week, AT LAST, we submitted Noah's papers for court - with any luck, and a wing and a prayer, the judge will be kind enough to let his re-adoption go through smoothly - keep your fingers crossed for us won't you?

So what have we been up to?

At the end of the Christmas holidays, two of my favourite ever students came to visit - literally braving hell and high water (!)- Ish and G - they arrived with lovely gifts for Noah and even some fab things for me, and not only this, but they arrived with homemade scones and posh cream!!! I am very lucky to remain in touch with so many lovely boys and girls, and I hope they know how much I appreciate their wonderful contribution to my life.

Sorry about the bad image quality girls....

I am discovering that when a toddler is used to full-on week day entertainment, he expects it at the weekend too - I tell you I am already of soft play at the sports centre and cannot wait for the weather to sort itself out! So in desperation we headed over to a local garden centre to look at the fishes and the bunnies! Noah, being the uber sociable guy that he is, also made a new friend called Posey - whose Mummy it transpired, used to get the same bus as me to college - we haven't set eyes on each other for way over 20 years!!!

Lampshades continue to come out of my ears - I shouldn't complain that people actually want to buy my work, but blimey do I have to be a demon with my time management these days!!

Below is an image I was recently sent by this one's lovely owner - it looks fab on the clear base I think and so cool to see something I made look so good in someone else's space! Thank you Carol and thanks for the second purchase!!

Ivan (Mr Bicknell) went on a school trip - he must be the only teacher ever who goes to look at architecture and returns with a parrot - err, because Noah didn't have one!

I have been making a mess....

The latest owl production line - these ones will be lavender scented too - if I can work out how to keep the lavender inside the blanket stitches!

Let me introduce you to the gang of 2014 - just 11 textile and fashioners and 6 photographers this time - but we all know it's quality over quantity!! Sorry - baaad quality pics - but I had to been quick as it isn't easy encouraging a bunch of girls to look daft in front of a camera!!

Hamburger?

Not true!

Like you wouldn't believe...

believe it!

I think Chloe meant quiet, but she is quite careful too.......!

'nough said!

Scarily so

Kate moss eat yer heart out

mad as a box of snakes

tiny

completely agree

as slippery as they come

yep!

inseparable

fashionista

serves them right for using my camera for a selfe - as if I wouldn't blog it!

Talking of blogs check out the sparkly new Textiles and photography blog and get to know the newbies - http://textilesphotography.blogspot.co.uk/ needless to say that I didn't pick the name - you'll see!

Ivan (Mr Bicknel) has been busy teaching life and unbelievably he has even managed to get some decent work out of my girlies - here are some of his own efforts - such a talented guy huh?

The first years (who I don't think know how to take me yet) have been making paper cities - not a parrot in sight!

Tabby, Milly and Siobhan were naughty and wasted a phenomenal amount of paper - so were given a punishment task - I don't mind this waste of paper though, although I can't of course be sure of any sincerity behind it!! 

Hmmm, queen huh? Shame my head is far too small for a crown!!

When I was sick (as a parrot), my lovely husband did his best to make me feel better!

Two family sized bottles and I'm all better - took me right back to my childhood - the only thing missing from a day off school was the Cedar tree!!

I remember when anyone had a sick day from school it was the law to watch this and then share the details of the current story line upon their return - see! I was always hooked on crap telly!

I at last made use of our new chalk board wall to show my appreciation!

Brilliantly timed was the arrival of this awesome parcel from Switzerland - thanks lovely Bex it was the BEST surprise and full of lovely, lovely stuff - which was VERY NAUGHTY - especially as the parcel it was allegedly missing from was already jam packed full of incredible stuff.... Spoilt.

Talking of spoilt - do you remember my Renchi starling day post? Well, this arrived hand delivered from the man himself as a gift - this I think should be my next 5 birthday and Christmases as it was soo very generous. Thank you lovely father in law - I LOVE IT. X 

New venture - inspired by Bookhou at home - fabric storage pots - it remains to be seen if anyone will buy one - but the challenge of using maths to work out the circular base circumference was a killer - FYI C = πd!

And HOORAY it's rubbish (yet brilliant) telly time of year again - what is not to love about Kylie, Tom, Will.i.am and Ricky on the voice?

Liz Jones - whose column I follow avidly was sublime on CBB - the best series ever and hooray for Jim, who thoroughly deserved to win!

And oh, Ray Quinn on Dancing on Ice - you have my vote!!

And tonight I saw this on FB - tok me back and warmed my heart and made me remember all over again how lucky we are and how, if you are thinking about it, you should go to this wonderful country and do what you can and for who you can.....

Hello 2014 - and why not continue to try to pretend that I am younger than I am?!

So browsing FB like you do, I found these two little gems this week - the first has gone some way to get me up to speed with what is currently out there musically and the second, well, it just makes me smile!

Noah's first Christmas - not quite as planned!

I had big plans this Christmas, huge plans! You may know that I don't do things by halves at the most normal of times, but this year, this Christmas, it was going to be special....Having finally enticed my immediate family to deep dark worldham for the big day (previously unheard of), I was determined to prove that the best ever Christmas could be had in our little cottage - to be honest not much persuasion was actually needed, given that there is a very special new resident at home now! I devised the menu and ordered the pheasants weeks in advance - yay, my house, my choice of bird ( - I hate turkey!), I wrapped table presents, bought table props and goodies, posh fizz, Marks and Sparks party food to really load on the calories, decorated the house within an inch of its life, got myself a sparkly new roasting tin and generally got over-excited...... Well, best laid plans and all that! The weather was clearly against me, but we got off lightly in the grand scheme of things, and despite my disappointment at having to leave an even deeper, darker, Worldham Christmas morning when it became clearly apparent that the power really wasn't going to be restored, even though it had already been off for 2 days, and re-group at my parents house, we at least had a proper warm, loving and illuminated day which many, many people didn't.  You realise on these occasions just how vulnerable to the elements we are - I had thought about the impact that snow would have had on us, but I hadn't even considered the fact that a socking great storm would blow in and wreck the joint! Thousands of homes this Christmas were dark and soggy, some people, friends of ours included, were powerless for 5 days or more, but something like this does put life into perspective - what was a rotten inconvenience for some of us who are fortunate enough to enjoy a comfortable life ordinarily, is a stark reality for many the whole year round. It made me think about how lucky I am a lot, and how over-indulged we as a family are, spending a substantial part of our year this year in Ethiopia was certainly an eye-opener, but even then we were protected by the knowledge that we had a lovely home to return to and were there surrounded by people who did their absolute best to support us and cheer us on. I therefore urge you to think about those who would benefit from a simple text response to a charity plea, consider what it must be like for those in Syria, the homeless in our own country or those left devastated in the Philippines - this year our brother in law forwent any type of formal Christmas gift and instead asked that we gave the financial equivalent in aid. A genuinely selfless act and perhaps not one that many of us would willingly perform. Camila Batmanghelidjh founded the Kids Company charity in 1996 and has worked tirelessly to address the issue of malnutrition in inner city London - this year I fully intended to answer the charity's appeal for donations towards ensuring that some of these children enjoyed some semblance of a Christmas - I am ashamed that this became shifted to the back of my mind and therefore did not become a reality - I can promise you that it will be a priority next year. And I will continue to text words such as Blanket to 70007 - why don't you?


Kids Company's Christmas Appeal from Kids Company on Vimeo.

A common scene around our neck of the woods at the moment, in fact following a family gathering at my parents house this evening, the 3 of us returned home to discover that our own road was impassable and had in fact been closed! Intrepid that we are, we pushed the barriers aside and risked a flood which pretty much reached up to our cars wheel arches - thankfully it is made of tough stuff and we made it through - hmmmm, not sure we'll make it out again though!

So, back to our Christmas in pics......

I couldn't decide on a card this year, I was tempted to fashion Noah into a wise man or such, but settled with a Paperchase inspired neon affair - I had also found some cool number stamps and needed a good excuse to use them!!

A half bought half made door wreath - always nice to have a cheery welcome! A good precursor to what's inside......

The advent calender slowly revealed its contents.....

Now this is a proper Christmas card - the best I saw this year and the brainchild of Deborah at work!

Thanks to a moment of madness and an evening spent watching Kirstie's homemade Christmas (sorry Ivy Black chat - I know!) - I had this overwhelming urge to get a Christmas balloon made for Noah - of course he wrecked it after 5 minutes but it looked great while it lasted! I am trying not to think about the time I spent in the balloon shop stuffing its contents through the blow hole because the owner didn't believe that it could be done - ha! It could!!! Errr, more fool me....?

The wrapping took me blinking ages - why do I do this to myself????? Next year with a full time job and a Noah it might not be so easy.......

My wonderful, wonderful, best friend came to stay and just before we were plunged into darkness on the 23rd we swapped our gifts in a lovely, relaxed and wine fuelled manner, while my wonderful, wonderful, husband cooked us supper!

Mine came in a homemade sack!!!

5 hours on Christmas eve was spent trying to deliver her to a train station that actually had trains so that she could get to london, to get to Manchester, to be with her family - it began in the dark and it felt like Armageddon - I have never seen so much devastation around here - although right now I am seriously worried about the water seeping in under the door! I cannot believe that my amazing neighbour spent his afternoon clearing all our drains today..... So, eventually we ended up in Surbiton and hooray - she got a train to London and did make it home for Christmas in Manchester - I love you Bex. XXXXX

Talking about Surbiton I am a bit worried that I have a Margot Leadbetter mentality when it comes to Christmas - but at least I would get the joke about the oooh aaah bird......

Despite being freezing cold and in the dark on Christmas morning the 3 of us persevered with the opening of our Christmas stockings - Noah seemed to have a good time......

Not that much of a good time though!

And oh yeah Noah FYI Daddy doesn't share his presents!!!

We still managed to make good food at Mum and Dad's and everyone got their gifts and props to play with....

....Noah soon got the hang of it!!!

Boxing day saw us headup to London for a couple of days to hang out with Ivan's (Mr Bicknell's) best friend Ned and his lovely partner Michelle and their children - lots of great food and wine was consumed and the next day the 3 of us accompanied them to the Stratford Circus to see Mr and Mrs Moon by the Oily Cart  company - the children (to my initial dismay) were asked to remove their shoes and socks and grab a bucket and spade - OMG it was going to be carnage, but actually, with a little bit of encouragement and guidance, Noah joined in and coped really well - we were worn ragged by the end of it though!!!

Lovely Islington lights! 

Guess who got big bang CLUEDO?? AND a new bazinga mug!!!

We had a fun evening game playing with my little brother Guy and his lovely girl Talita

Ivan (Mr Bicknell) attempted to flex his creative muscles in Cranium - above you can see "big foot" and below his sketch of "poker face"........!!

New year for us was a very civilised affair - most of us are parents now so are party space was shared with hyper 3 - 8 year olds! There was the odd embarassing Wii dance-off competition - well for Clive anyway with whom I wiped the floor! Great food - he cooks far better than he dances, good conversations, a marriage proposal announcement, speculation about a potential pregnancy, complicated quizzes and lots of love, who could ask for anything more?! I hope your New Year was what you wanted it to be.

Me and my lovely sister in law Annie - both of us now Mummies!

Some of the joint effort food that went down so well!

Well, if the kids will leave their toys lying about!!

Oh, and look - 2013 was one hell of a year for us, but we have got a lot to smile about! Cheers! X

Today we have just hung out - Noah discovering how to use Oma's draught excluder as a canoe and successfully encouraging cousin Max to join in!!!

Below are the contents of the best Christmas Crackers ever - cleverly found by Ivan's (Mr Bicknell's) Mum (Oma) - racing penguins!!

NightX