New Year's Resolution (2012)

Just for the record (you can test us from time to time), Tim's New Year Resolution is to cook something new every week.  Nothing fancy, mind you.  Just something new.  Cooked a lovely, simple bean stew on Sunday. A lovely, warming, fragrant winter supper with a base of mustard and cumin seeds.

Christmas 2011

Christmas was so busy we don't really know where to begin.  Once Tim had finished work, and enjoyed a night of a thousand beers at the Euston Tap, we set about decorating the house and preparing it for our Christmas visitors. 

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas Eve with Tim's mum and dad, visiting the Crib Service at St Mary's before tucking a slightly excited Euan into bed, sipping a few cheeky champagnes, and sitting down for a delicious pre-Christmas dinner (for those who are interested: Celia Brooks-Brown's Torta di Risotto followed by baked apples stuffed with mincemeat).

Christmas morning was perfect, with Euan unwrapping the first of a host of presents from our very generous family, together with Granny and Grandpa.  The first was a toy police car, however, and it was quite difficult to persuade him to put it down and unwrap any other presents (including his new table and chairs and brio zoo train set)!

I honestly can't remember what we did for the rest of the day (and Boxing Day) once Granny and Grandpa had left for Paula and Dave's house, but I seem to remember it involved more presents, lots of relaxation (relatively speaking) and then a special Christmas dinner (again for those keeping a record: Celia's spinach, mushroom and chestnut filo pie with tomato and ginger coulis followed by Christmas pud). Yum.

On the 27th we played host to the Concannons and Howards, and on the 29th we had a visit from the Callingtons and Scudders.  We experienced the kind of whirlwind that only happens when you combine a host of small children with wrapping paper and sausage rolls, and it really did feel very Christmasy.  It was lovely to be able to spend a part of Christmas with the entire family.

In between those two parties, we managed to sneak in a trip to Whipsnade Zoo with Euan.  It was pretty chilly, so we couldn't stay for long, but we managed to visit the farm, meet the reindeer (resting after a busy Christmas Eve), see the tigers and sealions, and visit the 3-month old elephant calf ("Scott") and rhino before jumping into the car to visit the rest of the zoo with the windows up and the heating on!

Shropshire with Sarah, Rob and Lucy

Back in August again, and week 3 of our national tour took us to to Shropshire to see Sarah, Rob and Lucy.  I'm not saying it's taken a long time to get these photos online, but Lucy now has a baby sister, Lottie.  Congratulations to you all!

If you want to know what we got up to at Attingham Park and Battlefield 1403 Farm, then look back at the August blog here.  Otherwise, please click above or below to see all our photos.  Tim's quite pleased with these ones!

Harpenden Christmas Festival

This is us at the Harpenden Christmas light switch-on and Christmas parade, "papped" by the team from Heart FM.  We missed most of the parade, and didn't see Toyah Wilcox switch on the lights, but caught up with lots of local friends at the fair and the Christmas market, drank hot chocolate and mulled wine (topping up after a delicious brunch), and gave the moustache one last airing before the end of "mo'vember".

At The Barn, Norfolk

Click on the photo of the two rugby players for the full set

Going back to the much warmer days of August, we've just uploaded our pictures from the weekend we spent with Rach, Toby and Archie at The Barn.  The boys had a lot of fun together, and we had a picnic on the beach down at Holkham.  They really enjoyed their ice-creams too!

Granny and Grandpa, Grandma and Grandad

Uncommonly good...

Tim always gets these 4 names mixed up, so Euan never really knows who is coming to visit, or who it is that's about to appear on Skype.  Last weekend, Granny and Grandpa came to stay.  Euan had been on antibiotics since Thursday for a chest infection and was feeling a little low, but he soldiered through and had a great time.  He was more than happy to show them his nee-naw car and point out the moo in the sky, and to read (half) the words from What the Ladybird Heard and Cows in the Kitchen.

Dinner, once Euan had gone to bed and we'd raced out to get some emergency greaseproof paper, was quite a success (if we do say so ourselves), with a delicious Jamie Oliver spinach and feta pie (taking somewhat more than the prescribed 30 minutes' preparation), home-made ginger puddings from mum, and a fair bit of wine (mainly Tim). 

So what we needed the next day was a bracing walk through Verulamium Park to St Albans Cathedral, feeding the ducks, watching Grandpa make a fool of himself on the outdoor gym, and finishing off with a double helping of waffles (savoury and sweet) at The Waffle House. So that's what we did.

This Friday, Grandma and Grandad are coming to play , and we're sneaking out for dinner with George, Harriet, Arada and Matt (celebrating the end of George's exams) before celebrating Grandad's birthday (Saturday) and the Harpo Christmas Carnival and Christmas Light Switch-On on Sunday.  Lovely stuff.

August: First up, Tallulah Elder

So now we're onto August at last

We embarked on our national tour with a long trip up the M1 to meet Tallulah Elder and catch up with Jez and Debbie.  We blogged about the trip here and took some photos whilst out and about in Knaresborough.

Just a handful of pics of Jez, Debs, Tallulah and Mr Buggs

Schoolfields, July 2011

Time once again to catch up on some fun from earlier in the year.

Just half the gang. Click on either photo to see the full set

Back in July, we managed to get the old Durham crew together for our second annual get-together.  Our numbers had grown so much that we couldn't find a holiday cottage big enough for us all, but Tim, Eug and Adella kindly invited us over and we all squeezed very comfortably into their beautiful house.

The barbeque got out of hand. Click on either photo to see the full set

All the kids had a great time together, and we were able to enjoy a delicious lunch at the local pub and a couple of quiet, and warm evenings catching up over a beer and a burger once the toddlers had gone to bed.  Looking forward to the 2012 get-together already.

Out on the Wee-Ride

Here's the second of the two new videos.  Don't forget the password!

On Sunday we found a lovely route from our front door to the park at the other end of town, passing along the Nickey Line and along rural bridleways. It's the perfect way for Jo and Euan to get into town on bike and using the new Wee-Ride.

Euan loved his first trip on the bike, and couldn't wait to put on his hat!  We might need some gloves for him as Winter sets in!

Football

Just trying out the new toy.  I'm posting a couple of videos here, via Vimeo.  They're password protected, and I'll send round the password with the usual family email.

If you need the password, just ask.

 

Euan and Granddad playing football in the garden... 'til Euan spots the camera!