I feel like the phrase 'blink and you miss it' is apt this week. We have had poorly children, job interviews, household drama and a garden shed burglary. Poor Miss C - DD4 has had a really horrid case of conjunctivitis which we are just starting to win the battle with. It's needed a lot of vigilance to stop it getting worse or spreading to any other little Spurriers. Tom, DH, is on the look out for a new job and has been attending some interviews including one for TESLA that latest almost half a day. So far he's had no luck getting a job offer but I just know there is job waiting arou ..read more

  Starting tomorrow I will be taking part in our church's 40 days of fasting and prayer.  I'm planing to fast each day between 6am and 6pm, with Sundays off. The idea is to follow the podcasts and daily prayer guides to connect closer with God. To heat what He is trying to say to us about the upcoming year and about ourselves.  I'm looking forward to the journey. X x X ..read more

Having finished my 15 knitted hearts project I fancied something a little different. Pinterest suggested a cute heart patterned ear warmer that DD3 said she liked.  Firstly I'm not happy with my colour choices. The hearts are a lot easier to see on the photo than they are in real life which is annoying. It's also maybe possible just a smidge on the small side ??? A lovely warm wristlet but definitely NOT a ear warmer for a 5 year old ? Having looked at the pattern again I was supposed to use 8mm needles and not size 8 needles. Let's hope the next attempt goes a little bit more succe ..read more

 This afternoon was my first little bit of child free time since the Christmas holidays began. After taking DD4 to preschool I met with my parents for coffee and cake in one of our favourite local cafes. I remembered to keep some mementos to add to my junk journal. After our coffee and a catch up, we had a little wander around the towns charity shops before the schools finished for the day. I found some very pretty Cath Kidston fold and mail stationary. I thought they would be useful for sending messages and for adding to my junk journal occasionally. In Poundland I found some Chri ..read more

  Welcome 2024! This year was the first time all 5 children made it to midnight. We slipped on our coats and slippers at midnight and watched some of the fireworks that were all around us.  There didn't seem quite as many as previous years but what we saw were beautiful. We spent the afternoon in the company of my brother and his family. We drank some tea in the cafe at Itchen Valley while our children enjoyed the indoor play area.  Just as we decided to try a little walk through the woods, it started to rain. We hopped back into our cars and decided on a little visit to Ha ..read more

 As much as I still dislike it, I am getting used to having free time during the week while the children are all at school.  This morning after I visited the community pantry and had sorted the house I realised I still had a few hours to myself before I needed to collect anyone. I iced some hotdog rolls we were given yesterday for free. After I took this photo I iced the children's names on each of them so hopefully prevent some squabbles ? I then found myself drifting over to my fabric stash drawer. I haven't even looked inside it for several months so I have spent a happy half h ..read more

   We have completed our first week of back to school. Everyone seems to have had a nice time and though there's been a few hiccups here and there, it could have been much worse!    On Friday I survived my first solo day at home by scrubbing the family bathroom for a few hours. It made for a nice distraction and it felt good to just complete a big clean without being interrupted by little voices wanted snacks or help or entertainment. I was hoping to get the children out of the house today to visit our local Pride festival, but everyone has slept badly for a third ni ..read more

  The eldest two went back to school today which meant I spent most of the day thinking it was Monday when it obviously isn't!  It was just me and Miss C for the day. I'm not very happy with Miss C at the moment because yesterday evening she "helpfully" fed the divorce fish. Nothing wrong with that of course BUT she dumped the entire contents of three pots of fish food into the tank.  The water this morning resembled soup with so much debris in the water and sadly several of our fish had suffocated overnight because of it. I felt awful telling the children what had happened w ..read more

   The three smallest humans all headed back to school today. Mr G is in year 4, Miss W in Year 1 and Miss C has started preschool. Which means once the older two go back to school tomorrow I will be child free at home 2 1/2 days a week!!!  What I'm quite going to do with this weird and wonderous freedom I'm not yet sure. It's both a bit scary and bit exciting.  Today DH and I took the older two out of for a nice breakfast, then popped to Asda for some food bits and Miss D's school shoes.  In the afternoon we spotted an advert on Facebook for a house nearby with lot ..read more

 Today has been very warm and a little bit busy. We had fun though.  Miss W was very kindly invited to a birthday party by one of her school friends so while she was attending that I took the other 4 and our lovely friends Mr and Mrs S to visit the Eastleigh Unwrapped festival before popping into the Library and Iceland. Then it was time to pick up Miss W and her friend from the party and try to encourage 6 very hot and fed up children to walk home. We ended up tempting them with promises of ice poles and cold drinks when we finally got there ? what ever works right? Dinner was Ice ..read more