Cherry baby

Can you see my latest treasure from the cherry tree? Nestled right there between the chintz and the blue frosted fluted dessert dishes.......which are also from the charity shops?

Here we are, I have gently brought it out to show it off further. I cradle it like a baby, I love it so.

This 1950s Babycham glass was tucked away on a shelf in the local Scope charity shop and cost me a mere £2. It's hexagonal stem and style of deer tells me it's 1950s, rather than a slightly later version.

I did intend to quaff Prosecco from it, but actually I am worried I will break it. These glasses are rather in demand and I can't believe I fell upon one so easily.

And, truth be told, you can't get much Prosecco in it anyway...

Other cherry tree treasures this week include:

I was so excited as was missing this one from the series and the illustrations are sweet. Naughty Ginger!

I also bought:

Although The Magic Stone has a newer cover, I have been searching for it for YEARS and the inside is just like the one I loved as a child. Man, I loved that book.

I also snapped this up for £1. 

"Yeah John they are boats, I can see them. Jeez, pull yourself together and calm down, you freak." said Janet. Probably.

I also bought yet another glass jelly mould, isn't it funny how I searched for one for a long while and now find them all the time?! It is what you tune into I guess.

Love a bit of wobbly jelly, although it's a constant reminder of my post baby figure. Gulp.

I tell you who isnt worried at all about how much she can shovel in though, and that's Sweet Child. She was six months yesterday and I started the Baby Led Weaning last week, a week earlier than planned. None of the time consuming puréed food malarkey, just normal food and it's brill.

She had grabbed humous out of my hand and went nuts for it and since then she has devoured cheese on toast, weetabix, celery, chicken, broccoli and has enjoyed her first barbecue.

The mess is hideous but she is having an absolute ball!

In other news, we had our next door neighbours round on Saturday night for dinner. I ruined dessert through over whipping the cream and curdling it, I hadn't had time to Hoover and believe it or not, didn't even get time to change. And so when they arrived at 8.10pm, I looked a wreck in jeans and a sun cream stained top, while they looked swish and fragrant and ready for a lovely child free night.

All my kids then decided to stay up, even Sweet Child cried til 9.30pm which was unheard of, although it was a humid night.

So the neighbours walked Sweet Child around the garden while I left the other two to it in the living room and in the end we had a lovely evening, even if I did have to nip out to Tesco Express for bog standard dessert...

Today looks another glorious day, the beach beckons. 

There will more from me about cherry tree shops and the terrible trio soon. But now I must find myself clearing up from being knee high in weetabix. Which is a bugger to clear up, once it has dried and hardened.

Hot Right Now

(Psst......Can I just say the below post has taken all day to write, in between dealing with pesky kids, chores and a spot of sun bathing. I started it at 9am, it's now 3pm.........)


It's hot today. Like proper bo baking hot and it's only 9am. I've been up since 5am with Sweet Child who decides she likes that time of day to sing loudly (and badly) at the top of her voice.

So we came downstairs early, I watched bad Channel 5 films which I'd recorded for moments like this, and now at 9am I am ready for lunch.

Everyone else has just come down for breakfast. It's kinda awkward. Wish I had some brunch. I could murder eggs and bacon right now.

So onto Cherry Tree treasures. I took three bagfuls of clothes to a charity shop and found this gorgeous Rochas outfit for Sweet Child while I was in there, it's too cute and frilly and everything I love about girlie clothes.

Sue Ryder

It was only £1.50 and so was this gorgeous dress.

She has just discovered the toy TV and loves it!

I barely look for Cherry Tree clothes for me these days, its all about the baby. The clothes are nearly always brand new or barely worn, dead cheap and there are some lovely brands out there if you search.

In other news, the Prince turned five on Thursday and we threw him a little party yesterday. He only wanted six boys, he wanted a football and Star Wars theme and he wanted a square chocolate cake.

But I decided to try a football pitch, to fit in with his theme.

Cake baking isn't my forte and I shall leave it there. Rest assured I will buy one next year. Kids just don't appreciate the effort at that age. They don't care whether Marks & Spencer or Mum made it.

"So is it a good bake?" I kept demanding.

Everyone just mumbled through their cake holes, I think it tasted OK, and hopefully better than it looked.

There were lots of traditional party games, all the boys attacked the Husband with their light sabres and I think a good time was had by all (except possibly the Husband, due to said light sabre violence).

It's going to be a beach day today. I love a coastal breeze when its warm.

Oh and finally, I wean the baby in two weeks time, when she will be 6 months old. How can she be 6 months old?

Cherry tree dress

She is still the cutest dolly, more vocal and has a sense of humour already. I am more than smitten and I have made some great friends since having her which is a huge bonus.

There are plans in place to go to the mum and baby cinema session next week, baby yoga, walks to the sea and lunches out. It's definitely been the most pleasant maternity leave I've had. Having a baby by the sea totally rocks.

Oh back to the Prince and being five, here he is from the start. Where it all began.

A day old

A year old

Turning two

Now we are three

Hitting the big 4

Can't believe he's five. Opening his first football kit! THE JOY!!!

Absolutely love his face in this!

 Aw, maybe I will turn out another bake for his 6th birthday next year. Soggy bottom or not.

Sugar and Spice Girls

I have just devoured an entire punnet of frozen grapes, a la Posh Spice, and tried to pretend they were chocolate. All part of trying to end my affair with sugar. Not as in Alan Sugar, obviously...

I am talking sucre. The stuff I must give up so that I no longer still look pregnant. And let's face it, I've been wearing the same three outfits for the past five months. Posh Spice swears by the grape guzzling thing. Yeah they are nice enough but it didn't work though, I am absolutely gagging for a Double Decker now, truth be known.

The clean fresh taste of the grapes was a tad too healthy but I am hanging on in there, I shall not give in to temptation...or a Twix. I need to make an effort to cut down on my cake life. Get some exercise.

Talking of exercise, my darling Sweet Child and I have been taking regular walks to the beach, I shall look back on these days with such fondness:

Sweet Child is modelling her first cherry tree dress. £1 from Scope

She does wear other clothes, I promise!

I spy a dear little soul...

Seats you sir...

Sometimes the husband joins in the fun

Now then, I've got me cherry tree mojo back. Any new followers? "Cherry tree" is what I call charity shops, if you didn't know. I ADORE them, that's the whole point of this blog really.

And I've bought some nice bits recently. 

This vintage bonbon dish was just £3.50:

I shall have to fill it with frozen grapes and not Mini Eggs....gah!

I also squealed with joy when I came across this Joules dress (no, really, the women in the Cats Protection Trust cherry tree shop will vouch for this)  which I bought for £1.50 and it will fit Sweet Child when she is two. Bit premature but it's gorgeous.

Such a cute design

You'd have bought it too, right?!

I also got this for £1 from Link Romania:

Again it will fit Sweet Child when she's two.

I then found this gorgeous Monsoon smock top for £1. Oh the baby looks gorgeous in it, I shall take a pic of her wearing it for my next blog post (aiming to blog more than once a month, but man it's hard finding the time).

Loving the detail on the front

 And finally, this little sugar pink (arghhhhhh sugar!!!!!!) cardigan from Monsoon, which I got for £1 from Scope.

She should fit into it next month!

After a weekend having barbecues with the neighbours, I can't quite believe we're facing a week of heavy showers. That will give me a face like Posh Spice, if not her figure...

Eggcellant Easter Shenanigans

Typical conversations in my life go a little like this:

The four-year-old Star Wars mad Prince: "Mum, have you seen my light saber?"

Me: "No I haven't. When did you last see it?"

Prince: "See what?"

Me: "Errr....your light saber."

Prince: "I don't know, I've lost it, you idiot."

And he storms out while I stand looking rather confused.

Then last week the Princess asked me the mother of all questions while we ate together:

Princess: "Mum, what do blind people dream of, if they haven't ever seen anything?"

Me: (ponders for about half an hour): "Ohhhhh, ummmmmm, hmmmmmm....weeeeeell they.....sort of........you know.......they.....ummmmmmm......... Let's call Dad at work and see if he has the answer."

Which of course he didn't.

But I can't stop thinking about it now. How DO blind people dream? If they dream of the sea, how do they know what it looks like? Is it the sea as we know it? Hmmmmm. I really want to know the answer. The Husband didn't know either but we were both pretty impressed with the Princess's question.

I'll leave that one with you.

So moving on, who has had a good Easter? Who literally shovelled their own body weight in chocolate down their gullet? Who had a cream tea, Easter biscuits, Easter eggs AND a gigantic roast dinner with biscuits and cheese? Did anyone actually bother to calorie count? I actually feel like toxins are taking over my body. If I wore a onesie now, I'd look like Matt Lucas when he was George Dawes on Shooting Stars.

Oh but it was good. I saw the inlaws the first half of the week and my parents for the second half. I think the kids were in their element and loved being spoiled by both sets of grandparents.

Here is my mother in law with our youngest:

We went shopping as standard, drank too much coffee and generally vegged out. It was a lovely few days.

Drinking coffee in a cafe with my inlaws by the sea. Bliss.

And here is me, below, with my mum. We went lambing over Easter. It was fab.  I love animals and always wanted to be a vet when I was younger - until I realised I would have to stick my hand up a cow's bottom...never top of my agenda, that.

Mint sauce anyone?!

 

Tree climbing with my dad in the countryside

Now that Easter is over and the kids go back to school tomorrow (really love my kids but looking forward to a quieter house, it really is nuts sometimes), I really want to do more seaside walks, just me and my girl in her cute pram.

I have some wonderful friends here, but sometimes I  just want to be alone with my baby. Just Sweet Child, me and the sea. Because my time with her is precious. And it's fab to be smiled at while I push her along the promenade.

Now, would you allow me to showcase my gorgeous bundle who is four months old? HOW is she four months already?!?!  She will be weaning in two months. I cannot believe how broody I am. I think if my age allowed it, I would have more*. I am loving life with this beautiful baby in it. She is so much fun already, I can see years of laughter ahead. Three really is the magic number.

*but when there are serious nappy explosions and its EVERYWHERE and the other two kids won't help me by grabbing a nappy bag when my hands are covered in "mustard coloured baby matter", three is definitely enough. Someone out of the three is always ill, someone will always disturb the viewing of a good film and someone is always on the verge of causing serious mischief. When those things happen I want to hide up a tree. But apart from those moments, I often want a tribe of tots!

I shall be back soon with two cherry tree treasures I bought last week. I forgot to take pics of them so will return when I next get a second.

In the meantime, have a think about two things for me.

1. The blind people dreaming thing. I really want answers.

2. Why on earth do boys like light sabers? I really REALLY don't get the whole Star Wars thing...