Heidi-Elizabeth - family blog from the UK

Saturday, 10 January 2015

Nearly 5

Every year we take Louie to Lollipops a few weeks before his birthday to make a little something to comemmorate the big day. We always try to make something that can be used for his birthday party and it is awesome adding to the collection each year. This year Louie picked out a cereal bowl to paint with stars, rockets and aliens. The three coats of colour is still a little tedious for his nearly 5 year old self, so whilst Louie did all of the big colouring, Nana and I did all of the details. Maybe next year he will have some more patience...

(probably not!)

Monday, 5 January 2015

1

It has been a quiet first week of the year. There has been lots of walking, lots of veggies, lie ins, frost and lots of playing with new Christmas goodies.

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Jack Frost

We have been in our little house for nearly 4 months now and it is safe to say that I love living in the countryside. This morning we decided to get ourselves all wrapped up and head out for a walk around the local foot paths near our house. It was a frosty and misty morning which made for a truly beautiful walk.

We walked, we got lost, we had a run in with a naughty horse but the general sense of accomplishment from negotiating ourselves around the unknown countryside was absolutely fantastic. I certainly think we need to invest in a local OS map!

Saturday, 3 January 2015

Details

With only a few days before we are back to work and school, I wanted to spoil Mr Bee with a little trip out for some fun and fresh air. I didn't think to check the weather forcast but the outcome of heavy rain didn't prevent us from having a truly tip top day out. We bundled Nana and Grandad into our little car and battled through the torrents of rain along the few motorways and winding country roads. Once we arrived, we made a bee line for the house for some shelter. We were welcomed warmly (literally, all of the heaters were on!) and we made our way around the downstairs of the house. It was so beautifully decorated for Christmas, but with the rain being so terribly heavy, I decided to leave my camera in the car unfortunately. After a swift lunch we introduced our guests to the welly walk which Louie took great pleasure in leading us around. We laughed, played games and got magnificently muddy. It was a superb outing and eventually the rain eased off, allowing us to have a personal guided tour of the yew gardens (we are definitely clued up on yews now!).
Each of us now are planning what to do for our next visits, as there will be many. That is one thing I can be sure of!

Start as you mean to go on

The word on everyones lips at this time of year is the dreaded new diet, detox or exercise regime and of course New Years Resolutions. As you will probably know, we already have a fairly good diet, we eat lots of fruit and veggies by making everything from scratch but over the Christmas period, we have indulged. Not necessarily on 'bad' foods but on particuarly rich foods and not as many fruit and vegatables as we would usually have so upon our return from our few days spent up north, we stocked up the fridge, fruit bowl and veg box with lots and lots of goodies and I have planned nearly three weeks worth of meals already.

This Weeks Menu:

Mushroom, Spinach and Potato filo pie
Warm Winter Salad
Chickpea Curry
Sweet Potato Shepherds pie with red lentils
Carrot, Orange and Mint soup
Parmesan Chicken salad
Vegetable Soup

Mushroom, spinach and potato pie

So this is how we start as we mean to go on, with 52 weeks packed full of delicous, home made, healthy grub!

Wednesday, 31 December 2014

Annual Lunch and Ramble

It is nearly time to welcome in another new year which means only one thing, our annual trip to our favourite restaurant, The Three Fishes. This year, Dan and I had some precious time to ourselves as Louie wanted to stay home and play hot wheels with Auntie Elle. It is rare that we get to spend an afternoon as just husband and wife so we cherish that time when it comes up.

After our terrific, and I mean terrific lunch, we had a lovely walk around the surrounding countryside. There were terrific views of Pendle Hill and other hills that we couldn't identify. With out printed out map, we navigated our way through fields and kissing gates and over bridges and styles. It was an adventure into the unknown and utterly thrilling. A passtime we need to explore once we are back home.