Pappa Lo turns 60

Tags

Birthday Celebration, celebration, family, milestone

This year is 100% a year for celebrations.

The arrival of Charlie, A wedding and my fab Pappa’s 60th Birthday! In late February, a few days before the main event we planned a secret lunch to celebrate 60 years of fun over a few beers and a greek feast!

With his lady by his side and all but one of his children & grandchildren around him a merry time was had by all!

We headed to Steki, a local greek restaurant and had ourselves a jolly old time!! With a handy little present helper, a ‘Yamas’ cheers and a big old chocolate cake… what’s not to like!!!!

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Meeting Charlie

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Charlie, family, love, Nephew

I can’t believe I’ve not done a post on this yet! What a rubbish Auntie I am, sorry baby boy, I promise you mean the world to me, it’s just that this year your Auntie has been busy planning her to your uncle Maxwell, so has been a little distracted!

This year began in the best way possible… with the safe arrival of my beautiful nephew Charles Frank Lowman, Charlie for short and middle-named after my amazing Grandad who missed his second great grandsons arrival by a few weeks. ❤

We went up to see the new addition to the Lowman clan early 2017 and I instantly fell in love with this sweet little boy who stole our hearts.

Welcome little man, you have the best mummy, daddy and big sister ever. I promise to always take lots of photos of you and In your Uncle Max you have a best friend for always… he’ll probably even let you play with his lego!! ❤

Lake of Lights

Tags

Christmas, family, grief, lake of lights, southsea

I haven’t publicly said this anywhere yet but last week I lost my wonderful grandad. I’m struggling with my grief at the moment and am stuck somewhere between being ok and wanting to break down. 

I woke up super early this morning from a horrible dream where my bellybutton was falling apart. After a bit of research into dream interpretations I discovered the following…

Seems about right… 

An annual Rowans Hospice event which is hosted very locally to us each year caught the attention of both Maxwell and I given the recent events and also as the date marks another sad anniversary in Maxwells family. 

So armed with a flask of hot chocolate and warm coats we walked to the end of the road and attended my first ever lake of lights service. 

It was lovely, we donated to the charity for a light each for my grandad and Abi and after some carols and a short service we added our lights to the floats and sent them out into the lake. 

In a moment of silence, with tears rolling down my face I tried to say goodbye to a man I dearly loved. 

I won’t go on (typing and tears don’t mix) but instead will share with you a few photos…

A G.Daughter Sleepover Part 1

Tags

Day at the Beach, girls, god daughter, god sisters, goddaughter, Godparent, Lifestyle blog, making pizza, playing mum, sleep over, sleepover fun, Summer fun

I have three pretty special God Daughters; Lottie aged 11, Juno aged 5 and Lilly aged 2. These girls mean the world to me and whilst I’ve had the girls separately on their own since they were wee babes, I’d never had them collectively meaning they’d never met their god sisters (a term they seemed pretty happy to adopt) Lilly is still a little young to join in the fun so during the summer break I organised to have the other two girls for a couple of G.Daughter sleepovers. I thought it would be fun for them to meet, especially as they’re all part of my mini maid crew.

The plan was simple… home made pizza’s and a movie on the wednesday eve followed by a day at the beach… simple right….?

We started the evening by making some pizza’s; a fantastically messy experience if you’ve never tried it before with two excited young ladies! haha…. All went well though and yummy individual pizza’s were made by all.

Once my bomb-site of a kitchen had been cleaned slightly and the pizza’s were in the oven it was time to choose a movie…. 

Whilst the pizza was a huge success trying to get these two little ladies (a Leo and a Scorpio I should point out) to agree on a film was slightly harder then I anticipated… With neither agreeing we had our first dissagreement and something which I hadnt anticipated.. We finally got there but I officially had a first glimpse into the eyes of a parent of two (kudos to you mumma’s) Lesson learnt (don’t offer a choice) and finally film chosen, we all settled down into the sofa/airbed and with staggered bedtimes we finally has a sleeping household. 

The next morning thankfully the sun was shining! yay!

After a lazy start and with both girls dressed, fed and clean (no small feat I assure you) we gathered supplies (blankets, games and snacks) and walked round the corner to grab ourselves a good spot on the beach.

The beach is a great place to take children regardless of age…. The nice thing is with the sea there to paddle in and stones to play amongst they could occupy themselves and the age difference which was quite a difficult thing the previous night didn’t matter so much. Juno (with shell necklace on) was happy to be master of the sea and spent a good and happy hour feeding it rocks. Where as I was able to teach Lot the fine art of friendship bracelet making.

It was lovely spending some quality time with them both, Exhausting but totally fun!
There was lots of giggling and dancing and fun… Some fine qualities I hope they will always associate with their God Mumma. So there you have it, a few snaps from our first successful god daughter sleep over…. Call me crazy but I also booked in a second double sleepover! haha… I’ll share some more pics soon! x

A Toddler at The Dockyard

Tags

blog, days out, Dockyard, Family Blog, Family Days Out, family time, Historic Dockyard, portsmouth, The Historic Dockyard, Uk Blog

A little while back D,C & L joined Mumma, Maxwell and I for a day out at the Dockyard.

I’ve written about Portsmouth Historic Dockyard before and what a great resource it is to have literally on our Doorstep! The Dockyard with a toddler however was a little different (as most things are I’m sure)

We started the day as all good days out should begin, with lunch, stickers and being terrified of your Dad’s Zoolander impression…

After lunch (with complimentary balloon of course) we headed into the Dockyard for some wonky head shut eyed posing… It’s all the rage don’t ya know!

We decided to begin with Action Stations, somewhere in the Dockyard I’d never been before.

Set in a historic boathouse (built somewhere between 1845 and 1848) Action Stations is a high-tech, interactive indoor attraction which features a unique series of physical challenges, simulators and technological experiments, which put visitors at the heart of the modern naval experience.

It was actually fab, more targeted for slightly older kids (Lilly is only just two) but she absolutely loved the Sky Tykes rope course (built especially with little ones in mind) It’s a series of rope bridges and balance beams with no set route or time limit so they can go round and round and round and round! (You get the picture) She was great though and got really confident with the different obstacles… The fact she’s strapped in with no where to go probably helps too!

After that there was just enough time to make a few important Naval phone calls then we headed on…

We decided to check out the recently opened M.33. HMS M.33 is not only the sole remaining British veteran of the bloody Dardanelles Campaign of 1915-1916, but also of the Russian Civil War which followed. The ship is one of just three British warships from World War I still in existence.

It was fab… I was lucky in that i was actually allowed to step foot on it before the restoration as we did a photoshoot on board for a project I organised but the renovation and tour we had was brilliant.

I admit it’s probably not the most interesting place to be if you’re 2, but I think when she’s about 4/5 she will love running round the ships and pretending to be a sailor!

So there you have it…. a few pics from our whistle stop Dockyard Tour…. We brought annual passes as they’re so cheap so we’ll definitely go back again sans toddler and continue to do so… In the mean time a touristy snap of family in front of big boat… check!

 

My Mate Matilda

Tags

Baby sitting, blogging, cute kids, Lifestyle blog, Uk Blog

Today I had the pleasure of looking after one of my fave little ladies and future mini maid Miss Matilda…. By Golly this little lady is a charmer… We had a lovely day of giggles, long naps, blowing raspberries, eating strawberries and playing in the sun… Here’s a few snaps I snapped…

oosssh what a cutie pie… those curls and eyes! x

Lilly Turns Two

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auntie, birthday party, blog, celebration, cute kids, family, kids, Lilly, turning 2, Uk Blog

A little while ago I shared with you the present I made for my darling niece (you can see it here) I thought it was only right that I shared some photos of the little lady too on her 2nd birthday party weekend.

Now I know I’m biased but she really is the most amazing little girl! She had a small party with family and a few of her little mates… an afternoon tea party, an easter egg hunt and a brand new slide… what more could any two year old want?!

one | opening special cards with ma & pa

two | such serious tasks take serious concentration

three | a close look at special book cover notes from uncle maxwell

four | with grini

five | time for cake

six | butterfly cookies

seven | sunshine, shades and slides

eight | a pretty special present from grini

nine |a favourite umbrella

A Book for Lilly

Tags

artist, Birthdays, blogging, books, Craft Blog, creative blog, Home made present, Homemade gifts, Illustrated book, Lilly Turns Two, Picture book, Story Book, Uk Blogger

My Niece just turned two. I wanted to give her something really special to mark the occasion but with saving for the wedding I couldn’t really afford anything expensive so I do what I so often do in a situation like this, I made her a gift.

Lilly loves books and is also really into saying hi to all the family… “Hi Ami”, “Hi Max”, “Hi Grini” etc etc so I thought I could combine the two and make her a book featuring all the people she likes saying hi to. I thought it would be fun to draw her something, like a comic, but then I had a brainwave of using the photobook service thing you get in Asda and Tesco.

Wanting to include all the family I used photos as a reference to come up with a scenario for all the Lowman’s and themed them on things Lilly likes to do… Ballet, reading, bubble beards etc

Once all the drawings were complete (water colours on nice paper) I scanned them into the computer then started creating the actual book. I used Tesco’s online service and choose a 20″ square hardback option.

It was really easy to do and cute as you could change the colours of the page and add text etc. I was really happy about how it turned out and would definitely do it again…

If you wanna see the whole thing in order I’ll share it below!

 

A grand celebration…

Tags

92 birthday, birthday, celebrate, family, Granddad

Recently my wonderful Granddad celebrated his 92nd birthday! A few of the family got together and had a little lunch and some cake and bubbles! Here’s to you Granddad, the biggest gentleman I know ❤

Lisa & Henry

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blog, celebration, friends, friends wedding, London Wedding, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding Day

Whilst we’re on the wedding train…. Here’s another beautiful day I had the pleasure of attending last…. well almost a year ago (don’t judge me)…

Very different from The DeBohan’s colourful country day, Lisa and Henry got married in January in a stylish laid back family oriented day in Richmond/Barnes.

I have known Lisa for years and this beauty wowed in her unexpected classic big dress, the ceremony took place in the stunning Orleans House Gallery, the reception in the couples favourite local eatery the laid-back Sonny’s Kitchen in Barnes.

Another amazing day with The Southsea Alternative Choir adding some musical flair, the most delicious food, way too much dancing and two superheroes keeping everything in check! What a blooming lovely day & what’s not to love!