Catching up ...

We have been quite busy and also a bit under the weather too, so getting my head into the right frame of mind to blog hasn't been easy. So an update post.

Imogen's 4th birthday was lovely (must add some pictures in another post), we spent a day at Marwell Zoo as her birthday treat, taking Nanny and Grandad with us so we could show them all the wonderful animals. It was a great day out and we were all exhausted by the end of it. A real highlight was seeing the Snow Leopard prowling about (he is very rarely seen at Marwell, unless he's asleep), he was pacing up and down and would occasionally stop and stare at a distant animal as if he was eye-ing up a meal.

Her birthday was lovely, we went to Tumblebugs and her friends all sang Happy Birthday to her. Daddy went into work late and came home early so lots of time for the three of us. Imogen and I baked birthday Chocolate muffins which were lovely. She loved her presents, wore her crown all day and did a puppet show from her play canopy through a hanging puppet theatre we had picked up for her and the hand puppets which were part of her present too. She had numerous books (people who know her, know she loves her books), clothes, and some toys/games.

Unfortunately, by the end of her birthday both Imogen and I started sneezing and colds were on their way, and that pretty much sums up what it has been like since then. We are just starting to look like they are clearing but still a bit croaky. I feel we got two colds back to back as we felt better and then got worse after a day or two. Recovering now though.

We have been spending some time clearing out things we no longer need - lots of boxes ready to go to charity shops of books, clothes and general household things accumulated. Next task is to clear out some old toys that have been boxed away but never gone any further, all things that are too young for Imogen now so they can go to a new home to be loved and played with by other children.

Most of my other time has been spent preparing the newsletter for the Spinning Guild for going to the printers, I'm pleased with how it all came together and so was the Guild. I haven't done much spinning, although the Alpaca fleece is calling me sometimes. I have however spent some time knitting - I have a few little projects on the go at the moment, more on that another day. One project is very experimental - using a pattern as the base but then making it up as I go along.

Anyway, it's Friday (well it was when I started this post!) and one of the local libraries has story time later so we are off there via two enormous conker (Horse Chestnut) trees for some autumnal collecting (no doubt some leaves will be gathered too, they always are), then returning home to bake bread.