Hair do's and other goings on

My card reader broke last month, just as I was getting back into the swing of blogging :(  But alas, I have a new one now, so many photos and things to catch up on.

Reuben had his first ever haircut. Gone are his lovely curls, they have been replaced with a twice as cheeky Reuben!

He really does look so much older now he has short hair

During March we had lovely hot sunshine, so we got on with garden stuff, weeding and planting.  Fortunatley we didn't plant anything out as it has gone horrible and cold since.

Rowan sowing the broad beans and peas

I also finally managed to sperad the pile of mulch around the bottom part of the garden, its great down there now

The boys have even built a secret den, Shhh

I have finally had enough of chicken poo, so the chooks are now kept in their run (except Eggbert, who keeps escaping!), they have a huge area to run around and scratch about in

The bottom of the garden is the boys favourite place at the moment.  During the nice weather they were out there as soon as they got up, they would only come in to eat, then go straight back outside again.

Rowan was well chuffed with his tower man

As I have mentioned before Reuben loves baking, so we now have a Tuesday morning mummy and Reuben bake off

Reuben had a 'crazy hair day' at nursery for charity, so we put his hair into a mowhawk.  I didn't realise how vain he was/is!  He loved it and kept saying, take a photo of me like this!

Sadly his mowhawk flopped throughout the day and he got very upset, to the point where I had to go and pick him up.  He did love it whilst it lasted though!

So that about sums up the end of March, I will get around to posting up our Easter goings on over the weekend, but for now, me thinks its time to put me feet up and watch a film ;)

Simple joy

Being woken up at 6.30 by two bright boys bursting with joy and arms full of cards they made with Daddy and had kept a secret (this was particulary exciting for Reuben as he has never managed to keep a secret before!)

A bunch of daffodils and to be told I look like a flower!

Even a massage voucher 

Being allowed a lie in until breakfast was ready, fruit salad and yoghurt, mmmmmmm!

Then a lovely long shower

A drive to pick up the other two amazing women in our life and head to the beach. 

A fantastic roast in the pub looking out over the awsome surf

A sit on the beach whilst my biggest boy 'trains' my smallest boy how to climb the rocks properly

What a joyous day it was x

Getting organised

Some weeks I get to Friday and think 'oh my goodness, its the end of the week and I didn't get to do this, this and that'  and my days seem to get sucked into making food and cleaning up whilst the boys play.
I am lucky in the fact that *most* of the time Rowan and Reuben get on really well and are quite happy to play away a whole day together with very little intervention from a grown up.
But then it is easy for me to slip into, I'll just do that whilst the boys are happy, then the next thing on my list and then its time for tea!
So I have been trying to get more organised and by golly I think its working!  I am making a weekly list of things I want to do with the boys, as well as my usual housey to do list.

As well as more lists I have cut out wheat and sugar and feel so much more energetic and I have lost loads of weight too, which has helped with my motivation

Here are a random few photos from over the last week

The chooks have started laying lots of eggs again, and these ones had faces on when I came to cook with them on Sunday!

Rowans making pictures with his cuisenaire rods - this is a man and his house, I love the fact that the house is so much smaller than the man!

Rowan baking muffins

Our wheat free delights!  Spelt bread and banana and cinamon muffins (using spelt and date syrup) mmmmmmmmm!

Rowan loves the computer.  We now have rules around computer usage, but both boys seem happier knowing when they can and can't use it

Rowan deep in thought whilst modelling with clay

Rowans man on a rock - I know I'm biased, but I love it!

Dried up clay hands

Crazy baker Reuben!  Reu loves to bake, if he is upset you can usually console him by going to the kitchen and letting him stir something.

Lentil letters

After the success of Rowans first lapbook, he now wants to do a second one, this time on the olypmics

I feel that I have to justify the lack of Reuben photos, its only because he is at nursery when Rowan does his home school work, which most of these photos are and when they are together they are lost in a world of lego and superheroes and I can't keep up!

Bye Bye Dreads

For about a month now I have been thinking about having a big hair change.  When you have dreads you are kind of limited to what change you can have, colour or cut them off..... I decided on the cutting them off option.  A lot of people have asked me if I had got fed up with them or were they getting itchy?  But to be honest; No, I loved them.  I just fancied a change.

So heres a couple of before photos....

 

The process of getting me happy with my hair took over a week, 3 actual days of cutting, combing, cutting, colouring, cutting with a very patient friend.  We cut them at about 2 inches then combed them out, after having dreadlocks for 2 years I forgot how thin my hair was, and the huge amount that got pulled out when combing out the very tight dreads, I ended up looking very sparse in the hair depratment, but it was longish.  But I decided to go shorter. 
The day following the cut, I was really unhappy and had thought I had made a big mistake, I loved my dreads, why did I want such a dramatic change!
But then the next day I sat down with my friend and trawled through websites looking at hair, and finally got my hair cut how I like it, much shorter than I thought I had the confidence for, but I do now really like it.

Here are the final after shots.....

It is very strange to go from huge big hair to very little hair and it is quite liberating.  I do feel though that I have to make more of an effort in how I dress, I never thought it would make that much difference, but I suppose when you have dreads your hair takes away so much focus from you and you can kinda wear anything and pull it off.  I put on the same clothes now and feel really frumpy!  So I only have a few outfits that I feel look nice now, but I am happy with my hair, in fact I think I love it.  Almost, still not sure on the colour, but I will wait for that pesky gray to start to peek through and think again about colour.

So there you go, a new me!  No, not a new me, just a lighter and shorter haired one!

Coming out of hibernation

Winter doesn't usually bother me like that, I can put on layers and waterproofs and head out and get on with life.  But this winter was different, for some reason I just felt like hibernating, doing lots of homey stuff and not embracing the cold, wet weather outside.  It didn't even really get that cold here until much later, but it has really rained A LOT.  So when I half heartedly suggested to the boys we go for a bike ride or a walk and they replied No, its yukky outside, I really wasn't bothered.

Rowan has been asking everyday for a while now, is it spring yet?  and this week we were greeted with warmth and sunshine, the primroses are flowering, the daffodils and tulips are budding and life is appearing everywhere.

So this week we have been out in the garden (not straying to far from the safety of our little den!) enjoying the sunshine, weeding, cleaning, clearing, planning and playing and oh boy that sun felt so good on our skin.

Here are some photos of February....

Half Term at Eden Project.  It was great fun, they did a chocolate trail (this was great for rowan as he is a full on chocoholic!), as you entered you were given some cocoa beans and you had to trade them along the way with various traders, until you reached the fairtrade chocolate farm and traded for some chocolate.  Also amazing face painting, but the camera battery ran out!

The Friday home ed group had a planned trip to the local fire station, but it was cancelled due to the firemen having to do their job!  So we had a day in the park.  It was so nice for it to be warm enough to just hang out in the park all day.

Rowan has finished his first lapbook.  It is on dinosaurs.  He has really enjoyed doing this, he has chosen a topic each week and loved using the internet and books to find the information and drawing, writing, cutting and sticking.  He has already decided that he wants to do his next one on plants as its springtime.

First load of washing on the line this year (sad, but it makes me happy!)  Also notice the bird house, Tristan got so fed up with looking at dark colours in our dark, damp garden that he painted the bird house

Over the last couple of years Tristan has been planning a tree house for the boys, but working so much never got the time to do it, but over Christmas he had enough of thinking about it and set to.  It is now finished and the boys LOVE IT.  It has a slide, zip wire, table and chairs and balcony, all made from wood that Tris has processed himself from work.  They are always out there. 

Rowan just wants an attic then he will be totally in love with the tree house!

Chitting time. 

January Joy

As I have mentioned before, last year was a rotter for us.  But not wanting all the rubbishy things that happened in that year to stay in our thoughts and therefore making everything go that way, we made a list each on New Years Eve of all the things that had made the year so hard and then put them on the fire, watched them go up in flames and then lit a candle.
Then it turned to 2012 and I have been brimming with Joy and Happiness ever since (well, sometimes I slump a little, but so far everything is going our way!)
We have BIG news too.......

We have made the decision to move to Australia!  It has been a long decision making process, but our life looks a lot better over there than here.  Many reasons, to name a few, Tristans job prospects are greater out there, I can study to be a midwife, and the weather, of course!  Obviously we will miss our families like mad, and it was very hard telling them, but hopefully they will visit lots (I would love it if my mum and dad retired out there, but thats another adventure, I need to concentrate on this one first!)

Tristan is Aussie and so are the boys, so it is just me that has to go through the huge amounts of paperwork, but the end of my list is near and we should be submitting the application very soon, then its just fingers crossed for 6 months!

Other news...
Reuben has moved from Zelda School to a mainstream preschool, much closer to home and he LOVES it!  At Zeldas he would just plod along and play on his own a lot, which is not Reuben.  At his new school he is the centre of attention and loves playing with everyone there.  It is so lovely to see him beaming and fully enjoying himself when I come to pick him up.

Rowan asked to go to school, so we went and had a look at a small local school, which he loved because they had a lego table, but when he heard he would have to go every day he decided he will wait till Australia to go to school!  Rowans best freind has just started flexi schooling after being home edded for a year, so Rowan though no one went to school on a Friday!

Rowans home ed journey has progressed a lot, as we now have two days with Reu at preschool, Rowan can do academic things that he likes.  He enjoys science projects and workbooks and stuff, as well as much lego building, computer games and superhero battles!

I am also on a mission to loose that baby weight, Rowan is 5 and Reu is almost 4, its time it went now! So I have been on a diet rehaul, getting rid of those less healthy choices and making sure our food is as free from crap as possible.  I am not brave enough to put up my actual weight, but I am happy with the amount that is coming off!

So overall January was a month of big decisions being announced and feeling the joy and positivity in everything and its still there!  Looking forward to another month of this!

I will leave you with some photos of our New Years Day Walk....

Both boys got metal detctors for Christmas, no luck on this beach though other than a beer can!

Rowan showing off his rock climbing skills, and scaring Mummy!

He would not stop till he got to the top!

And very proud of himself he was too!

Another cliff to be conquered!

Anything my big brother can do, I can too!

A very proud Reuben!

Sunset from our garden

Christmas puzzles, of course Australia had to go in first!