365/365 – Happy New Year

First, let me explain the apparent gap in my numbering.  It would seem that I posted 112/365 twice this year, on the 22nd and 23rd of April.  To put it right, I would have to amend over 200 posts and I’m not sure that I have the stamina for that.

I planned to take a family portrait today.  I was hoping to get us all sitting on the sofa looking relaxed and natural, all eyes open and smiling.  I managed that (surprisingly) but unfortunately I also horribly over-exposed the shot (lesson, that I’ve been taught so often, learnt – don’t rely on the camera screen, check the histogram as well).

As I had the camera on the tripod and set up for remote control, I decided to take a few shots while we were teaching the girl to play scrabble.  The boy wanted to know why the camera kept going off – he hadn’t realised that I still had the remote in my hand.

I let him have a go.  I think he’s captured us much better than I did.

363/365 – Mince Pies

I make my own mincemeat, mince pies and christmas cake because of the difficulty of finding nut free versions of any of the above.  We haven’t had a christmas pudding since finding out about the boy’s allergy as I haven’t been brave enough to try a steamed pudding yet.

I realised this year just why home made mince pies are better for you (less bad for you?) than shop bought ones.

It’s got nothing to do with all the extra nonsense that goes into the shop bought ones and everything to do with the fact that, even though they’re much nicer than shop bought, you eat far fewer because they’re such a faff to make (well, more of a faff than just picking up a couple of boxes from the supermarket).

362/365 – Anyone for Chess?

I love these huge chess sets.  It’s a shame that I’ve never found time to have a game with (on?) one.

361/365 – One Night of Luxury

It is the 40th birthday of a good friend of ours today, so we’ve travelled to his home town for the celebrations, without our children who are being looked after by Grandma and Grandpa.

We decided to treat outselves to one night of luxury.

I wasn’t expecting this much luxury.  I feel quite decadent.

360/365 – Quick

This is extremely blurry, but I had to move fast to unlock my phone, find the camera app and take the pic when I realised that he really meant it when he said it was Daddy’s turn on the zip slide.

359/365 – Mega

I asked the boy to give me a smile that showed how excited he was with the trucks that his Grandma and Grandpa gave him.

I think this just about covers it.

358/365 – Happy Christmas

357/365 – Christmas Cake

In my search for ideas for my Christmas cake this year, I happened upon a fabulous baking site called The Pink Whisk.

She had this beautiful and elegant cake on her site:

which I thought looked lovely.

So, I mangled it as best I could and came up with this version.

I didn’t have any silver balls.  I didn’t have any blue icing either, and I’d already iced my cake onto the coloured board so I thought the green might look better.  I made my icing plaque and the tree too big, my plaque (and indeed my cake) wasn’t round and it’s all just a bit messier (home-made looking?) than the one on the website.

The girl very loyally said that mine looked better than the one on the website, but I won’t hold her to that once she’s developed some critical faculties.

On the upside, that’s the last cake of the year done and dusted.  I can hang my baking boots up for a while again.

356/365 – Once A Year

I went for my annual haircut today.

It presented me with an unwelcome outcome.

The girl has decided that she’d like her hair cut.  To above shoulder length.

It hangs down to below her waist currently and is shiny, blonde and curly.

I’ve told her I’ll make an appointment next week, giving her time to reconsider.

If she’s determined to have it cut then I’ll go with it, but I do hope she changes her mind.

355/365 – Personalities

This pretty much tells you everything you need to know about my children.

Each potato head was put together by one child.

Guess which child did which head?