Doris

4.6.10

3.6.10

Kitty was obviously impressed by Uncle O'Neil's full arm tattoos. Last weekend we awoke to discover she had got out of bed, selected herself a nice black marker from my pen pot and decorated both her arms up to the elbow!

Whilst we slept on, she also decided to decorate the edge of the sheet on our bed. Rather than being mad, we both agreed that the result was actually quite impressive and I have since decided to try and embroider Kitty's design onto the sheet as a permanent record of her work!

After 45 long years of service, my friend John at work retired last week. He is one of the nicest people I know and we will all miss him. To mark his last day, we went on a five mile walk across the West Pennine Moors before enjoying a curry and a couple of pints of Thwaites Wainwright (which is really nice) at one of his favourite pubs. I took this picture of a cow on the way. I quite like it.

Uncle Steven, Auntie Suzie and cousin Olive Pih have been visiting from London. We went up to Grandma Pih's house on Sunday to see them. It was really lovely to see the two little girls playing together. They are thinking about a move back to the North West, which would be great for everyone.

Grandma has a fantastic slide, which Kit is still talking about now.

Steven took these lovely pictures of Kit. Family only can see pictures of the pair of them playing here. (I don't post pictures of other peoples kids on this blog, unless they specifically say it's ok).

Kitty meets Uncle David

But in May, Kitty had the pleasure of meeting Uncle David Pih (centre). He was visiting all the way from Australia and we had a lovely day playing with him and in the garden at Grandma Pih's house. Uncle Robbie and Auntie Carla came too and later on, Auntie Sue Pih (right) and great cousins Lisa and Iain joined us for a lovely meal. A real family get together. Grandad Pih was disappointed with the way his food turned out, but we all enjoyed it.

I only just discovered this picture that Peahead took using his Hipstamastic app on his iphone. I wish we had taken a better one of everyone.

25.5.10

Enjoying Spring

A birthday get together at Auntie Alison's for cousin Kohan's 7th. Kitty chilled out in the hammock while the others had a water-gun fight.

Kitty continues to develop her interest in photography - this one is called 'experimental grass'.

A visit to Great Mama Kitty's in May. I love this action snap of Grandad, Kitty and Great Mama Kitty in the garden on a very hot and sunny Saturday. Not many men can pull off the open shirt denim look, but I think dad is very much one of them!

Grandam Pih made Kitty another lovely cardigan. She used my Jaeger pattern with a slightly different colour way.

May is great, there are so many parties! Kitty invited her two best friends - dolly Yvonne and Baa to a tea party to show off her lovely Hello Kitty tea set that Auntie Alison bought for her.

As the weather warms up, we made a start at getting this years vegetables in. Kitty is a real help with the watering.

Making biscuits is a good way to fill a rainy Sunday afternoon. We have just about mastered a yummy recipe for chocolate shortbread swirls from the Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes book.

Another charity fancy dress day at school, meant mummy had to make a TV character themed outfit for Kitty. The Fent Shop in Skipton provided the perfect pink and yellow fabric (for just £4) for Tombliboo Eee outfit. Kitty hated it (as you can see) until she got to school and realised that everyone else was dressed as silly TV characters, then she took great pleasure in showing off her best Tombliboo dance! She raised £6.00 for Barnardos.

We fixed the swing in the field with a new seat from Ikea. It get's used everyday!

Our Premium Bond win bought a pink apple sandpit from Argos. This too gets used almost every day whatever the weather! When it's warm, the lid can be used for a pool too.

Our neighbour Fiona's chickens were settling in well, but as they were fully free range the foxes were picking them off one by one. Fiona decided to give them to a friend to keep safe until she can create a big avery for them. We miss them.

Kitty received a good stash of chocolate eggs from the Easter Bunny that she is still enjoying. She also had fun making a fancy Easter bonnet from a craft kit that Mama Simpson bought for her.

As usual, making cakes was the most popular activity. Do we have the next Nigella?

4.4.10

Singing ringing and banana milkshake

I bought some cheap wool from Colne market. It's not the kind of thing I usually like, but for some reason it caught my eye.

I used the wool to knit Kitty a little short-sleeved cardigan. I loosely based the pattern on a free one on Ravelry for a neck down baby coat. It's perhaps a little small, but I'm reasonably pleased with it - particularly since the neck down method is so quick and seam free! It only took me two evenings watching tv. The cheap wool is perhaps a little more itchy than Kitty is used to so she wore it with a turtle neck.

It was quite windy, so we went to visit the singing ringing tree at Crown Point.

It makes a great noise as the wind blows through it's tubes. Kitty liked it, but daddy loved it - in fact he spent so much time trying to record the sound we got a little bored and even Bert was cold.

To cheer us up we went for some lunch in Ramsbottom. Kitty had a banana milkshake.

Kitty's latest photographic portrait of daddy.

2.4.10

Easter preparations

As most other babies are very well behaved and don't eat quite as much chocolate (kit-cot) as Kitty does, we decided to package up slightly healthier 'sunflower challenge' gifts for Easter rather than the traditional Easter eggs for her little friends and cousins. This consisted of a biodegradable plant pot, some compost pellets, a selection of sunflower seeds and instructions on how to take part in Kitty's BIG Sunflower Challenge. Hopefully, some of the recipients will have a go and we can review the results in the summer.

We couldn't resist sneaking in just a few little eggs and bunnies!

Kitty has been working hard on the spring chick production.

We had planned a short break to Blackpool this weekend, but it snowed (!!?!) and suddenly the coast didn't seem quite so appealing.

Instead, we went to Ikea to get Kitty a safety rail for her bed. Yes, bed! She has never been very keen on being in her cage (cot), so daddy took the sides off and made it into a bed. It just needed something to stop her from rolling over and falling out and we discovered Ikea do a really smart rail that clips to the side. It works a treat and tonight is her second night in her own bed.

Kitty enjoyed running wild in Ikea.

I treated myself to some really nice fabric from the USA a few weeks ago for a quilt project. It finally arrived and I can't wait to start.

There are two sets, Good Morning (pinks, yellows and oranges) and Good Night (blues, pinks and mustards) and I've got two fat quarters of each, so I'm hoping I'll have enough for a full size bedspread. It's a really soft 100% cotton flannel, so will be really snuggly to sleep

under.

Kitty has been watching us take photos since the day she was born, so now she has decided that she wants to take them too. Her speciality at the moment is portraits. Here are her recent snaps of daddy, grandad Simpson and mummy.

28.3.10

Ninety-one

Great Mama Kitty is Ninety-one today, so we went to visit and take some birthday presents. We have taken a picture like this of Great Mama Kitty and little Kitty sitting together on the sofa every time we have visited since Kitty was born, so have quite a collection now!