Winter is here! #SavouringtheSeason

This week has seen the change of the seasons occur. Autumn has lost her last leaves, the skyline has turned from a rich fire to stark black sticks on white cloud skies. The central heating is on and thick woollen socks and cosy scarves have been donned.

And we have cosied in at home, only venturing out for the school run. We've needed a couple of quiet days... the past few nights have been tough... we've been battling a string of bugs, colds, coughs and chest infections and I've heard little voices calling for "Mama" almost every night this week. If I've been stirred from slumber only once in the night, its been a good night. Our Heidi-girl is going through a bit of a clingy phase right now, and if she had her way she'd have those little chubby arms wrapped round my neck all night long...

But there is something about the winter time that takes the guilt away from being cooped up indoors. Somehow it feels OK to spend your days pottering around your cosy house while the weather wreaks havoc outside, and we've needed that this week.

Winter has definitely arrived, and that's been evident on the #SavouringtheSeason Instagram hashtag this week too... the whole feed just fills me with happy appreciation of beauty. It is SO very nice to look at. Thank you so much to all of you who have been hashtagging away and joining me in savouring each season as it rolls around. Why not pop over to Instagram and take a peek?

It was really hard to pick out my favourites this week... so many lovely shots, but these were the ones that stood out for me. Why not head on over and follow these lovely ladies for a glimpse of real wintry wonderland...

Clockwise from top - 1. @thelinencloud, 2. @nandawiaderna, 3. @albamum, 4. @capturebylucy

On the blog post front, my favourite this week was this post by Karen at Let Kids Be Kids. She has written about their fungi walk turned deer hunt, and shares some of the classic excitement for children that autumn brings. It was a real autumnal post and, as we wave goodbye to my favourite season, one which I felt really highlighted all that nature has to offer at this time of year! You can go and take a look here.

So this week, the times have changed, and we're moving into winter mode... so link up all your wintry posts and lets celebrate all that this season has to offer - I used to think winter the ugliest of all the seasons, but I'm beginning to realise it has  beauty all of its own - fresh and crisp and stark in its contrasts.

Link up your posts below, and don't forget to use the Instagram hashtag! And please, if you leave a post below, make sure you go and comment on some of the others! Appreciating each others posts is what this linky is all about after all!

See you next week!

Savouring the Season is all about celebrating the season we find ourselves in...whether it be recipes, crafts, outdoor adventures or reflections on life, link up and share some comment love! And don't forget to grab a badge! (from the sidebar on the right >>>)

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A Lot of Leaf Love! #SavouringtheSeason

Well, our first week of #SavouringtheSeason has been and gone, and boy! There has been a lot of leaf love this week. I loved reading all your posts... such varied visual stories and funny tales and beautiful autumnal fun. THANK YOU for sharing them, and for supporting me as I kick started this little linky again!

My favourite post this week was actually a flurry of fiery orange photographs from Everyone Else is Normal. The post quotes one of my favourite quotes of all times; "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!" (LM Montgomery) and Siobhan has gathered all her autumnal pictures into one place and punctuated them with beautiful words. You can check it out here.

On the Instagram front, the hashtag (#savouringtheseason) has been growing, and boy does it make for some nice viewing! It's just so pretty, pretty, pretty! Do pop over and take a look here!

Here were some of my favourites this week... go and check out these lovely ladies Instagram feeds if you like looking at pure autumnal prettiness!

 Clockwise from top: 1. @mumturnedmom, 2. @nina_nixon, 3. @capturebylucy, 4. @fableandfolk

It's so nice to be part of a community which is celebrating all the beauty around us... Autumn is breathtaking in its goodbye... as nature dies, it does so in stunning beauty, and leads the way for a new start come next spring. Death makes way for new life... a living picture of the greatest story ever told.

So welcome to another week of #savouringtheseason... link up your seasonal posts below, keep tagging away on the hashtag, and I'll be back next week with some more curated goodies to share with you all!

Savouring the Season is all about celebrating the season we find ourselves in...whether it be recipes, crafts, outdoor adventures or reflections on life, link up and share some comment love! And don't forget to grab a badge! (from the sidebar on the right >>>)

Don't forget - if you link up, please try and comment on at least two other posts!  

Oh, and don't forget to use the #SavouringtheSeason hashtag on Instagram too for some autumnal inspiration!

Pumpkin Patch Fun // #SavouringtheSeason

I've made no secret of the fact that Autumn is my favourite season, and so it seemed only right that this new "season" of the #SavouringtheSeason linky should find it's beginnings in the pumpkin patch. It's a yearly trip for us, and one that has become the scene of an annual photo shoot for my little people.

Except of course, in usual Jonas style, he decided to sleep through the whole experience... so the boys sat in the cosy car, while us girls headed into the sea of orange.

It was rather a comical experience this year... we were a little late to the party. We normally hit the pumpkin patch in late September, but its been a busy little season, and with Ava at school, it wasn't as easy just to head off for the afternoon, so it didn't happen until the end of Half Term in the end... it was evident that we'd missed the patch at its peak the moment we stepped out of the car...

In the first patch, most of the pumpkins had been hacked to pieces... no doubt by hungry birds, or boisterous children, or a combination of both! I was ready to turn back, through sludgy mud, and begin the arduous task of returning the children to the car with no pumpkin to show for it, when we spotted another patch in the distance with a strip of brilliant orange running down the centre.

So over we went.

I suppose some of the slightly rotting pumpkins in the first patch did not appeal to Heidi's sense of smell, the poor child spent most of the trip holding her nose!

But as we went on, and hunted further and further for a pumpkin that was still in one piece, we began to enjoy the experience, and took a few photos along the way!

After a while, we had found two perfectly shaped, bright orange pumpkins, and while Kaya and Ava were still merrily exploring the patch, it had become clear that our littlest explorer had just about reached capacity...

It seemed Heidi was ready to hit the road!

And so we headed back, with two juicy round pumpkins to show for it, and our littlest girl who was soon cheered by a babycino in the cafe!

It doesn't take much to please a two-year-old!

For pictures of our slightly more idyllic pumpkin patch trip last year, click here!

What autumn fun have you been up to this week?

Savouring the Season is all about celebrating the season we find ourselves in...whether it be recipes, crafts, outdoor adventures or reflections on life, link up and share some comment love! And don't forget to grab a badge! (from the sidebar on the right >>>)

If you link up, please try and comment on at least one other post!  

Oh, and don't forget to use the #SavouringtheSeason hashtag on Instagram too for some autumnal inspiration!

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Movie nights, Blog love and Savouring the Season... #LittleLoves

This week's been all about getting back into the swing of things after a lovely half term break... we had a fantastic time in Derbyshire, exploring autumn's finest nature, visiting long forgotten country estates, and taking a trip to the best children's museum I've ever been to... but this week, it's back to life, back to normality!

Read
This week I've been catching up on all the blog posts I missed last week. I love keeping up with beautiful blogs with lovely words and stunning pictures... it's like having a never ending magazine!
Some current favourites from this week...
Fable and Folk
Life at the Little Wood
The Ordinary Lovely
Cloistered Away

Watched
Last week, my flower girl from Austria came to stay for the week (she's not little anymore - 12!) and we watched Maleficent together... I hadn't seen it before, but it was fabulous! Such an interesting take on "the other side of the story" and put the classic old fairytale of Sleeping Beauty in a new light. If you haven't seen it, do! It's a really good watch!

Heard
I've been listening to some Kari Jobe songs on YouTube this week, and I just love the "Forever" track. Such powerful lyrics and a reminder of the basis of my faith...

Wore
This week the gloves have come out... November brings that transition from Autumn into Winter, doesn't it? But I just don't quite feel I'm quite ready to wave goodbye to autumn yet! Oh dear... I am SO nowhere near ready for Christmas!!!

Have you all got your poppies ready for next week?

Made
This week I was in a reminiscent mood and thought I'd get back to my Northern Irish roots... so on Monday morning, Heidi and I whipped up a storm of Wheaten Bread and my Nanny's famous buns. She may not be here to make them any more, but I'm sure going to make sure our kids know the taste of those buns straight out of the oven. Nothing. Beats. Them.

Yum!

And lastly...
We are adjusting to not having our Ava around during the day again. We all enjoyed some time together last week. She's a little poppet and I miss her smiley face. Especially when she comes home tired from school and the smiles are not so ready as normal! Week days are tiring when you're only just four, but she's a trooper and is bearing it up brilliantly... most of the time!

Also, next week, I've decided to resurrect my linky #SavouringtheSeason after taking a year off. With the Christmas season approaching, it seemed the perfect time to do it... so link up next Thursday if you'd like to - any posts which celebrate the season that we're in... I'll have a badge ready by next week!

#SavouringtheSeason is all about celebrating the season we find ourselves in... whether it be recipes, crafts, outdoor adventures or reflections on life, come join us on Thursday mornings!

See you there!

And that's us.... over and out!

See you next week!

Autumn in Derbyshire // Sudbury Hall Gardens //

I've always been one to take photos, from the earliest days of wind-on cameras, to film cameras, to hand-held digital and now my DSLR, there is something lovely and addictive about capturing a moment in a picture... Sometimes moments happen so quickly that I think I would have missed them if my camera hadn't caught it still for that split second.

This past week, we were up in beautiful Derbyshire. We took my flower-girl Kaya, who was over from Austria, and incidentally is now far too grown up to be a flower-girl (Sob - where do the years go?!), and headed north to the Midlands. A week break away from the hustle and bustle of Suburban London life.

Autumn has always called us north... perhaps its the reminiscing of starting university that fateful September when my first impression of the Midlands was formed amidst fiery autumnal leaves. As my Aunt commented last week, "Derbyshire is at its best in the autumn"... and I think she's right...

And so, of course, my camera came along with us, wherever we went, and there was once particular afternoon, while exploring the gardens at beautiful Sudbury House, that it seemed to capture moments that otherwise would have escaped us.

I think these are some of my favourite photos ever.

And thanks to Kaya, who is developing her own love of photography, I actually got to be in some of them for once!

So here you have it... Autumn in Derbyshire... fun in the leaves...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers"

- Anne of Green Gables -

- L.M.Montgomery -

  

Rainy Days and Bundled Up Babies...

"When life gives you a rainy day,

play in the puddles!"

-anon-

Autumn has well and truly set in round these parts. The school run has become an opportunity to gather leaves and hunt for acorns, sun-hats have been packed away for another year, and this week, the welly boots were donned.

On Wednesday it rained for the entire day. From the start of the school run, until after I had picked Ava up... it rained. At times it was a light drizzle, at other times a downpour, but it literally didn't stop.

But it didn't hinder one little man from having all his naps outside. Somehow the patter of the rain on the rain cover over him seems to send him into a deeper slumber. Three hours in that rain on Wednesday morning, and I had to wake him for his feed!

This little eskimo of mine is being kept super cosy and protected from the wind by this gorgeous sun/wind shade that my lovely friend Catrin made for him. When its down, he loves to watch the world go by, but as soon as I pull it up, I can pretty much guarantee he'll be asleep in five minutes. It seems to make him feel extra cosy... and it looks so pretty too! Somehow those little foxes fit perfectly in with outdoor autumn napping!

There's another little lady who loves the rain... she was so chuffed to be allowed to play outdoors in this week. She wandered up and down the garden with her brolly, dressed up in her rain trousers, cosy jacket and beloved Peppa Pig wellies, singing at the top of her lungs.

She's a giggle, and I love her to bits.

And yup... ask a two-and-a-half year old to put their thumbs up, and you'll get this ^^^. Makes me laugh every time!

So what suggestions do you have for outdoor rainy fun? I think we're in for the long haul now... !

Special Books, Welly Boots and Banana Bakes: Little Loves

This week it feels like Autumn has arrived in all its multi-coloured, crispy leafed, rainy-dayed glory. And we have revelled in it. There is something about that damp earth smell after rain, eating breakfast by candlelight while its still dark outside and jumping in muddy puddles that just make me fall in love with this season more every year.

It truly is my favourite.

And we've had a lovely final week of half term... its been eventful - school photograph fiascos (you can read that story here! Ha! Anyone else had school portrait disasters?!) and coughs, colds and sniffles - but we're all over the worst now and just ready for a break.

So here's our little week...

Read...
I have been over-the-moon excited this week, because I finally managed to get hold of a book I have been trying to hunt down for eight years... yes! Eight years! I stumbled across this book when I borrowed it eight years ago and it was a total game-changer for me. In a sense, it feels like its what gave me license to pursue creativity and not feel ashamed about it. It's since been out of print, the copy I'd borrowed disappeared from the library, and sporadic Amazon checks have left me without hope. Until two weeks ago, when a random check on Amazon led me to a thrift store in the US selling it second hand (there are now a few more copies available!) Well, that was it - I had to have it! And this gem landed on my doorstep earlier this week.

I am literally loving it. Again!

The book is written by Edith Schaeffer and is called The Hidden Art of Homemaking... its a christian perspective on creativity in and around the home and I'm going to do a whole post on it next week. Watch this space!

Watched...
Oh I don't want to give any spoilers on Downton in case your seriously behind and still need to catch up, but oh! Lord Grantham!!!

Heard
General giggles, chatter and craziness from these three. Our home is rarely quiet, but our noisy chaotic little place is pretty fun most of the time. And these three have been demonstrating their loopy sides this week!

Wore...
Rainy season has begun, and the wellies are out (and the wooly hats, rain trousers and gloves too!)... we are decked out in our autumnal finery. As they say in Norway, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!

Made
Banana and Chocolate Loaf... I wanted to make the Hummingbird recipe, but was missing half the ingredients, so ended up putting my own spin on it! It still went down a treat! I'm trying to be super good and not eat anything sugary during the week... then allowing myself one treat on the weekend days. Bring on Saturday! Still, at least I had this little helper to lick the spoon for me!

And Lastly...
We are SO ready for half term. Ready for lie-ins (!!), lazy mornings, a trip up north and a very special visitor from Austria! I can't wait!

Photo courtesy of Mumsnet

What have your little loves been this week?

Our Autumn Bucket List // 2015

 

Despite the sunshine of the past week, it feels like it's arrived! There is a cool crispness to the air, the school run tramples through crunchy leaves and conkers are starting to drop.

Autumn, my favourite season, is here!

It is the season of the senses... Vibrant colours are seen, crumpled leaves and smooth acorns are felt, the scents of baked apples and pumpkin pies fill our noses, and the sounds of rustling and crunching ring loud in our ears.

And so, last night, once the children were in bed, I grabbed a notebook and pen and started to jot down our Autumn bucket list... Things we would like to do in this new season!

And here's what I came up with...

For me, the autumn is the season of thankfulness. An opportunity to thank God for all his good gifts to us. As nature explodes in colour, I am reminded to thank the creative mastermind behind it all...

And this verse becomes particularly poignant...

So, am I missing anything?? What would you put on your autumn bucket list?

October's Coming...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!" 

Anne of Green Gables

I've always been an Anne Shirley fan... And maybe this quote is why... I am always, always ready for autumn, no matter how wonderful, or how terrible, the summer has been. Autumn calls with its golden hues, vibrant leaves, cosy scarves and darkening evenings.

It always has been my favourite season.

I am so ready to pull out winter boots and warm woollen jumpers... I am ready to plan trips to pumpkin patches and firework displays, I am ready to cook up a storm with roasted squash and spiced apple. 

Ready to thank God for his provision... autumn points to the giver of life... As we harvest crops, the season of thankfulness begins. An opportunity to reflect on all we've been given.

This week I will sit down with the girls and we will write our autumn bucket list. I have no doubt it will include leaf crafts, hot chocolates and a certain pick your own patch...

But I'm after inspiration... Any favourite autumnal activities, leave them in the comments section below!

In the meantime, we're gearing up to welcome October...

Are you?

"Listen, the wind is rising and the air is ripe with leaves, 

we have had our Summer evenings, now for October eves" 

Humbert Wolfe