Over and done with!

So after just (!) 2 years and just short of 8 months we have finally done it and absolutely and completely  adopted our little boy - Noah is now a fully paid up member of the Bicknell family - it really is only just sinking in that we are now solely in charge and he is all ours and as far as we can tell, very happy to be so - well until he is a teenager and starts shouting his mouth off about how he wished he'd never been adopted in the first place because we are such awful parents!! We will of course do our absolute best to be the best parents ever and hope that we do not find ourselves in such a situation - but teenagers, despite on the whole in my experience, and goodness knows I have had enough, being exciting and rewarding, can be a law unto themselves - some of you may know this already! But for now we are enjoying being a normal family and not one under the jurisdiction of the ever present social service body!

It has been a busy month with attending court, getting stuck in to exam time at work, doing the odd market and all the stuff that now comes with a long Easter break where a little one needs to be suitably entertained! But I so enjoy being a Mum ad even though I don't get nearly enough craft stuff made anymore, I am surprisingly relaxed about it, and instead enjoying the time we have with Noah.

This is a bit out of date now - lots more has been happening - some of the girls even came into college to some extra work over the Easter break, they are so keen - but this gives you a sneaky peek at what they are up to...

Alex - fashion - theme is unfinished - VERY fitting for her!!!!

Some of her lovely fashion illustrations from the previous project...

Caroline - Fashion - work based on the re-use of old and unwanted camping gear and all the "stuff" that goes with camping - including of course the necessity for marshmallows....

Chloe - Textiles - more of her beautiful animal drawings - theme of wild animals on wallpaper

How many students does it take to wrap a dummy????

Emma - symmetry in nature - lots of lovely original drawing which is currently lending itself very well to silk screen printing on wallpaper...

Jade - lovely prints based on the accidental breakage of glass....

Jess - getting the skinny on the reptile!

Leah - steam punking it up

Millie - drawing inspiration from Brighton Pavilion - textiles

Rosie - bagging herself some florals

Siobhan - Fashion - the changing state of fabric through manipulation

Some images from her lovely White skirt project - only work in white? Siobhan? Not in a million......

More to come....... I just realised that I have completely forgotten Charlotte who is doing the most AMAZING stuff - watch this space....

After my lovely overnight in the health spa with my Mum, where we were massaged, pedicured, Thalasso therapied and pampered to death whilst drinking champagne and eating amazing food, Ivan (Mr Bicknell) Noah (Master Bicknell!) and I headed over to Glastonbury to visit Rench and Ness - Noah's Grandpa and Grandma. I love visiting them, it is always very relaxing and enjoyable and great to have such concentrated family time away from home - this piece of wall art caught my eye this time....

Noah is obsessed with the car- or dee daa, dee daa, as he calls it - he is becoming quite the expert at driving and many end of journey minutes are taken up with him helping to park, or just go solo, where we are forced, often in the rain, to stand outside and watch!! As you can see, it really makes him smile!!

Talking about smiling, this is it - the 9th April 2104, the day we finally went to court! As you can see, he felt quite at home in the judge's chair! A very nice lady she was too!

Smiles from the rest of us - Noah by this stage much more interested in defacing her paperwork!!

Afterwards we headed over to Lincoln Fields gardens for tea and cake and a climb in the trees - err, like you do - well if you are Ivan (Mr Bicknell) anyway! I love this sequence of events, especially the worried look on my Mum's face!!

Noah trying to look cool but not really pulling it off!

Lovely blue skies and lots of blossom to add cheer to the celebrations!

There was even a ride on the carousel later on the Southbank! 

Noah and I visited my lovely friend Caroline who has only ever met Noah once, sadly she is a bit poorly so it isn't always easy to meet up, so I always grab a chance when I can - Christmas and Birthday presents were exchanged - I was spoiled and Noah got an amazing book called I want my hat back by Jon Klassen, you HAVE to read it, now don't ask me any more questions......! Afterwards we headed into Guildford (she lives there) to check out the Anthropologie windows - they always deliver! My friend Hannah works there so we caught up with her and now I have just remembered that I promised her a supper of macaroni cheese last Thursday and I completely forgot, looks like a bit of FB grovelling is in order....!

I did do a bit of stuff for my stall and up and coming shop - still watching this space? Not long now I promise!

Tea towels, cushions, lavender bags and the owls got finished!

The Easter celebrations began early at Thedden with another cousins day - this is no mean feat as each family lives in a completely different location, but we managed and the sun shone for us again! Noah was very taken with his bright yellow watering can! Thanks Aunty Em!!

And then it was Easter - Noah certainly enjoyed it!

Biking is the thing of the moment - this one is about a million years old and lives at Thedden, but he loves it...

In fact, transport is a bit of a thing all round! Even when someone else is in the driving seat!

This year almost everybody made it back to Thedden for an Easter weekend of work, play and good food - Thedden is a huge place and needs a great deal of regular upkeep so it was all hands on deck - Ivan (Mr Bicknell) chopped and sawed and stacked fallen trees and I helped to entertain the kids - not necessarily the best deal...! My workshop consisted of making tissue and wire Easter eggs - this is my very anal example - the children were a little more creative in their design!

Annie showed them how to make sun silhouettes - which looked gorgeous

 Judith helped them to bake awesome cakes - which of course the adults helped to eat!

Anna and Michele made Easter baskets ready for the big Easter egg hunt

and Tony and Nina organised the making of clay dinosaurs in which Noah just covered us both in wet sloppy clay and I proved that I have no aptitude for it whatsoever!!

So here we all are - some only just making this very hard to organise group shot - had we all been seated there would have been a total of 36 adults (1st and 2nd generation) and 16 little ones. Had we ALL been there, there would have been another 8 adults and 2 children - PHEW!!!

The day of the Easter egg hunt came and Noah was fittingly chauffeur driven to the first clue by Clive!

And off he went, very quickly establishing that the name of the game was to collect and stash as many eggs as he could in his basket!

Hmm, how many eggs have you got Max? Right, well you won't be needing those......

Filling up nicely!

Mum! The rain is making my eggs soggy - hmm, better eat them quickly me thinks!!

CHEAT!! Daddies are NOT supposed to help!

Not bad for a mornings work!

These bunnies were so artfully lined up that many of the children completely missed them - not my son though who grabbed 3!

Easter at home saw a field full of newly born lambs.

And some little Easter celebrations of our own - I even, for the first time ever cooked roast chicken! It is a well known fact that I HATE chicken, but I may just have been converted! These rather fab astro turf bunnies graced our table this year! Two chickens were actually cooked - one hot with all the trimmings with my folks and the other to be served cold with pickles and salads with family Cunliffe - if I am going to do something I don't do it by halves! Noah ate his with such gusto that I have now been guilted into cooking it a bit more!!

Noah's final stash safely stored away to be VERY GRADUALLY drip fed to him! This doesn't include the ENORMOUS box of eggs from Aunty Rebecca for Switzerland, the Smarties egg from Jess and Belle, or  the white Bunny for Granny and Granddad! None of which is helping the shrinking of MY waistline!! 

Jelly eggs for Ivan (Mr Bicknell).

Swishy Carluccio's booty from Rench and Ness

and

Surprise eggs from my Mum and Dad - because the white rabbit wasn't enough......

Lovely belated birthday present form Lynda - ahh she knows me well!

Tweseldown was not great for me on Saturday, but it was productive in other ways so I can't complain, but on my way home I did score this enormous bunch of lissies for a fiver and at the market itself this lovely little dog/rabbit was found in the bargain bin and has come home with me for only a £ - worth doing the market just for him!