Little mouse.

 Before we went to Oz Emma bought me some bulbs in a pretty pot. I put them in the shed and knew they would be ready to flower when we came back. When I went to get them it was obvious they had been eaten by a mouse. While it was in the shed it also helped itself to my gardening jumper and a big cushion from a lounger. Mice don't usually bother me but we've got a lot of stuff in the shed, so mousey had to go. I bought some mouse bait and after a few days it wasn't being taken so I knew the mouse had probably gone to that big field in the sky. Ahhh. 

Of course ,the problem with mice is that they always have a nest and rarely are they solitary. So, as the weather was good yesterday I decided to go on a mouse hunt in the shed.

This is what I found

One jumper well and truly nibbled

One chair nibbled and full of bait.

Another chair nibbled and full of bait.

The nest

and just visible,the little culprit.

Here he is, quite dead.

He must have been storing all that bait for leaner times as he certainly wasn't eating it all. 

Anyway, I've now got a super clean shed even if I am missing a cushion or two and hopefully no more mice. 

Frog Gate.

Frog Gate.  February 2016

We have got a tiny pond in the garden but every year frogs arrive from goodness knows where and set about turning my little pond into a hot bed of action. this year they were all queued up on the path waiting for their turn for a bit of froggy action. It took me a while to work out what they were at first. The garden path looked like the M25, only with frogs, not cars. I tried to takes photos but they got spooked and dived under the water so these are not very good as I had to take them from the bedroom window.

 Lots of frogs.

 I'm not sure if he is waiting to get in or exhausted from his efforts!

Waiting for a threesome??

Needless to say, there is loads of frog spawn in the pond. Whether it ever develops into little froggies is another matter

Half Term

 Half term get together February 2016

It's almost impossible these days to get my lovely little family all together,well totally impossible really with Vic on the other side of the world. However, thanks to some advance planning we did manage to get Emma and Jo together for the day. Madelyn was just so excited to see them and spent the entire morning bouncing around waiting for them to arrive.

 Emma had given her some dressing up clothes that Phoebe and Abigail had grown out of. She got a bit hot and bothered in the velvet cloakso insisted that mummy dressed up in it as well

 Bit of a tight fit but lovely photos

Add some fairy wings

 With the original owner of the dress! It's a bit small now !

We had thought we would be able to go out, William was desperate to try his new boomerang but unfortunately it rained so for some reason we started looking at old photos. Kept the grown ups amused .....

 Meanwhile the kids scoffed whatever they could find.

Abigail was a super star and played with Madelyn for ages

 A quiet moment reading a magazine

                                        Tea time

This next little series of photos are of the kids and grandad watching "fail" clips on you tube. 

                                          This one must have been really funny. I love that they all have the same sense of humour.

 Gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous.

A lovely day, thank you my lovelies  for making it happen.

Last few days

The last few days.

I should have done this before we left but it's a bit hard to write when your eyes are all teary. We had a fabulous time, not only getting to know the adorable Tom but also being part of the life Jon and Vic have made for themselves. This blog is going to be a random selection of photos,some from the last day and also some of my favorites from the trip, so apologies if you've seen them before.

 One of many cafe visits for brunch

Just worn out

 On the beach at Lorne

 Just perfect. Soaking up the rays.

 We were invited to lunch by Vicky's friend Amanda. They live in a beautiful house in Macadon about an hour or so inland from Melbourne. It turned out that Amanda's husband Richard works for the same company as Nick. Tom was quite taken with this chook.

 More brunch. It was an enormous bowl of porridge with fruit,nuts and flakes of coconut. Couldn't finish it

 On Sunday afternoon we tried our hand at "barefoot bowls". It's good fun, very casual and friendly.

 Vic and Jon were just too good at it, we were rubbish.
                                         Jep, I'm listening dad but I don't think I can do it.

 Bath Time.

 These balloons passed over Vic's house. They were very low as they were coming in to land. We could hear the gas jets as they passed.

 This next set of photos were all taken in Fitzroy Gardens. It's fairly near Vic's work and we spent our last afternoon there.

It was so hot that Tom got to have lots of nappy free time when we were out. Well clothes free time really. He loved it.

 

 Miniature village donated by the people of Lambeth as thanks for help during the war.

     So thats  it.
 It will be a long time before I can hold this little hand again but he will always be in my thoughts and in my heart along with the family he has yet to meet.