Only two sleeps to go....

Excitement is building in the Hampson household - just two more sleeps.. Ella "wrote" a letter to Father Christmas asking for a dolls house and a woodlouse, so Karl will be scouting around the garden tomorrow evening looking under flower pots...

We've made a couple of trips to Eathorpe again this year, to see the lights. Ella and Tom both enjoyed the spectacular.
On Sunday we went to the All Age meeting at the Quaker Meeting House. The children did a Nativity puppet show using puppets we'd made the previous week. Woody and Wendy and their horse Nee Naw (who played the donkey) also took part. We sang carols and Ella declared that she had the most beautiful singing voice out of us all.

We have a few more christmas presents to make today and some presents to wrap - Ella and Tom had lots of fun in the bubble wrap and boxes our presents were delivered in.

Yesterday my friend Non and her children came over to visit. Ella and Ella Mae set out a picnic in the garden for the chickens, complete with chairs, plates and corn. They rounded the chickens up and sat and watched them enjoy their snack.

We picked Nan up from the railway station yesterday. They have been slowly working their way through Ella's latest library books since then.

Nanna and Bampa are making a flying visit on Christmas Eve, bearing gifts of pickled onions, gluten-free mince pies and Christmas cake. Brian and Sandra are visiting at the weekend, so we're looking forward to that too. Below is a picture of Ella and Tom watching out for Santa's sleigh...
Well, from all of us...

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year !

with love to you all xxx

Gigs and Goldfinches

We're all getting into the festive mood here. Woody has some new woolly hats for his lion and Nee Naw, his donkey. Karl and Ella went to choose a Christmas tree last night, so we'll be getting the decorations out of the loft tomorrow.

Nanna has knitted lots of Christmas tree decorations for us to put at Tom height so we don't have any bauble eating incidents or such like.

We went to the library in Rugby yesterday and Tom found a new little toddler friend called Amelie. There's a group meeting there every Friday so we'll make it when we can. Karl has a gig tonight, so he's off to Bristol with his drums and a couple of Red Bull to see him through the journey home.

I have a few more christmas presents to finish off over the next couple of weeks, but we're almost ready for christmas. We've started on the nativity seasonal table. Ella drew a nativity scene on the window - with woody and wendy bringing gifts of perfume and precious stones to baby jesus.

The hens are in good form. They have a new friend - a male pheasant who comes to visit each afternoon. We have lots of birds at the feeders at the moment - blue tits, goldfinches, robins and great tits. Apart from that, the garden is looking a bit desolate. Time to start planning autumn and winter planting for next year I think...

Tomorrow is 1st of December, so we're all getting in the mood for Christmas in the Hampson Household. I went into the loft today to recover Ella's advent calendar and our Christmas books - Percy the Park Keeper's One Snowy Night, Usborne's Nativity, Ella's Christmas story and lots more.

We spent the afternoon reading Christmas stories and wrapping presents. We have some lights on the tree in the front garden and I'll get Karl to take a photo so we can show you all. Actually we're sadly lacking photos on this post - I keep forgetting to take them. Here is a photo from a few weeks ago. Ella is the Queen of Hearts and Tom is the Tooth Fairy....

This week we had a visit from Imogen and Cameron, and also went to visit our friend Jane, from the Quaker Meeting House. Her grand daughter Emily is a few months younger than Tom and she was there visiting too. Tom and Emily struck up a beautiful friendship, although Emily looked pretty startled when Tom tried to sit on her lap.

Ella is currently enjoying drawing, tracing and learning interesting facts from the "Incyclopeeedio" Grandad and Nannie bought for her. She happily tells anyone who will listen that geckos lick their eyeballs to stop them drying out...

Melissa celebrated her 10th birthday this week, so belatedly...

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Nemissa,
Happy birthday to you....

Get well soon and big hugs to Auntie Sandra... xxxx

Our first egg !!!

News of the week has to be our first egg from our very own chickens ! We don't know which one laid it, but we suspect Bluebelle (or Tom). We had one Saturday and one Sunday and one most days since. Two of the chickens escaped through the hedge yesterday earlier in the week, so Jan professionally ushered them back again while Ella and I clucked encouragingly.... They are all settling in well and are becoming more friendly and sociable every day.

Nanna and Bampa came to visit last Saturday. Nanna has been busy knitting fabulous christmas tree decorations and christmas stockings for Tom and Ella. We have also been busy making our christmas cards and getting ideas together to make the rest of our christmas presents. We're attempting to cut our carbon footprint and beat the recession by making all that we can this year.

The weather has been variable this week - a few bright, crisp days and a few drizzly grey ones. Rainy day activities are becoming more frequent, although the chickens give us great motivation to stay outdoors longer during the day.

Non's little boy is still ill, so we haven't seen them this week. Joy is also busy caring for sick relatives so we didn't see Eddie this week either.

We may venture to Ryton Gardens this afternoon or possibly take a walk to Birdingbury park.

We're going to try out a recipe for chocolate, pecan and cranberry fudge today.

Snow and Samhain

Today is Samhain Eve - the day before the Celtic New Year. Of course it's also Halloween, so today we've been celebrating the Celtic and Christian festivals in our own way. Karl and Ella carved a pumpkin together last night - it's an owl's face.

This evening, Ella and Nan got dressed up and went reverse trick or treating. We gave treats out to our neighbours - chocolate brownies and toffee apples. All the people we visited very generously and considerately respected Ella's food limitations and she came home with a bag full of fruit, marshmallows and dairy free chococolate. Harry, Connie and Ed came over to show us their halloween outfits too.

We have been feeling the change in the weather this week - snow on Tuesday and bitter winds yesterday and today. Ella was delighted with the snow and went around the garden collecting it in a bucket to put in the freezer.

Uncle Steve, Auntie Caroline and Melissa came to visit on Wednesday, along with Caroline's sister and her little boy, Christopher. They all enjoyed meeting the chickens, collecting apples and zooming about on Ella's trunki.

Nanna is recovering from her knee operation and Ella is looking forward to her visiting so we can put her to bed and read stories to her.

This week I've been making christmas presents and cards. Ella has been desperate to help, but the thought of her with a tube of glitter has prevented me from involving her so far !

Tom is still struggling with an upset tummy and a cold, but he's still in good form. He's developed a new dance to "dingle dangle scarecrow" in which he looks like a startled chicken about to take off. I think he may achieve independent flight one of these days.

The hens are settling in well.. Their favourite food appears to be toast and marmite.

Each morning we play "chicken bingo" which basically involves guessing which chicken will be first down the ladder when the door is opened. They took a few days to master the ladder, but Clarabel still waits until last then launches herself down on top of the other chickens with lots of flapping and fussing. She has earned herself the name Clarabel Clatterbucket as a result.
They are placid, gentle little creatures and we are enjoying watching their funny little characters developing. We look forward to posting the first egg picture soon too.

Autumn weather..

Autumn arrived with a vengence today, after a week of beautiful, mild, sunshine-filled days.

Here are Ella and Tom in the garden trying out their new car seats.

Today has been drizzly, grey and miserable. Still, we've been getting into the swing of Autumn by continuing to collect bits and pieces for our nature table.

Ella's friend Eddie celebrated his 4th birthday on Monday, so Ella and Tom went for birthday tea with Connie and Ed.

We have all been suffering with colds and sickness bugs lately, so we haven't been too far. However, at the weekend, we went to Banbury to pick up some chicken feed, so we're all ready for the arrival of the hen house tomorrow. If we have good weather on Friday, we'll go and collect the hens. Ella is very excited...

We found a great playground on the way to Banbury, with a huge wooden fort which has a zip wire attached. We went there while Karl was cuddling chickens on his chicken-keeping course. We met up with my friend Non and her children. Here's Tom with Non's Ella and their neighbour - they seem to be eyeing up Tom's apple, with a view to taking a cheeky bite.

Ella, Tom and I visited our friends Vicki and Chris recently too. Ella and I take part in an on-going study into hormones and stress, and recently we visited the research team at Cambridge University.

We had a lovely day with Vicki and Chris and their children Matilda and Jemima, followed by a morning in Cambridge watching the punters on the river. Woody and Wendy came with us, and here they are with Ella outside Kings College.

Nanna came out of hospital yesterday, after a knee op, so we hope she recovers quickly.

Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday to Us...

Tom and Ella celebrated their birthdays at the weekend and the weather was so kind to us.. Beautiful sunshine all day.. Ella's friends Connie and Ed came over to play, Nanna and Bampa came up, and Bob and Jan our neighbours came over to wish them both well. Sadly, Cameron was ill, so Imogen and Cameron weren't able to come.

Ella has lots of lovely presents, starting with a fairy trail in the morning, new books, things for the garden, a sleeping bag and a rather clever ride-on suitcase...

Tom had books, wooden toys, a tunnel for their train set, a waterproof suit (see later) and a lovely pull-along wooden truck. Of course, Ella ended up playing with the truck and Tom pushed the suitcase around all afternoon.. Nanna raised the bar this year and made a porcupine and baby hedgehog cake for Ella, and a train with miniature Thomas for Tom.

On Sunday, the children had another small party at the Quaker Meeting House, with their friends Libby, Tilly and Louis.

The last few weeks has also seen other birthdays past by (some you just want to forget, frankly - Karl, myself (I'm now 82, according to Ella) and Ella and Tom's cousin Aimee celebrated her 1st birthday !

Ella has been enjoying looking through the encyclopedia Granddad and Nannie gave to her and is quite interested in "human beings". Various questions have evolved - "Is daddy a human being ?", "Have you got a brain Mummy ?", "Is this what Tom looks like with no skin ?"

The combine harvester finally got to our field this week. The weather has been too wet and the wheat is almost ruined, but he's been ! As you can see, the grain lorry parked just at the end of the garden.

Ella spent yesterday sat in a bucket in the garden.. Here she is washing Tom's hair.

Tom had a rest from gardening and found a comfy place to sit. My flowers didn't look so good afterwards though.. Lots of our little friends are now starting on new journeys - starting nursery, school, Stagecoach, new school years and officially home educating.. We wish them all well.

Go Tom, Go Tom, Go Tom, Go Tom..

Tom is now officially walking - he's been shuffling about for a week, but today he took 12 shaky steps on his own across the kitchen. He was very pleased with himself and joined in the round of applause at the end. As you can see from the picture, the effort wore him out, poor chap. Ella thinks it's hilarious that he's walking and continues to find him lots of fun to have around, although she'd still like his name to be Phoebe... Today she asked Karl if he used to have the same shaped head as Tom. Not sure why she's fixated about the shape of Tom's head still....

Today we went to the park in Birdingbury and Ella scared herself witless coming down the slide. She saw the funny side of it afterwards luckily. She ate her body weight in blackberries on the walk back home. The combine harvester has been busy this past week, and we're eagerly awaiting it's arrival at the bottom of the garden - we have wheat ready to be harvested at the moment.

We are delighted to hear the sound of birds in the garden again, after a few quiet weeks. Mr Robin is back, along with great tits, blackbirds and swallows (or house martins, we're not sure). Our apples and pears are getting near to ripe and the squirrel is already gathering the walnuts. Hopefully he'll leave my tulip bulbs alone this year - I dug up my pots and borders in spring to find out why the tulips didn't come up and found walnuts in their place...

Nan is coming to stay after 4 more sleeps (Ella's counting). She arrives on the day Tour Brittania comes through the village, so we're going to park up on the village green and watch the vintage cars go past.

Bampa sent us some pictures he took at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta (before we left !). Thinking about it, the Army helicopter swooping in from the trees was probably the beginning of the end for Ella....

Pigeons and Painting

Ella, Tom and I have just returned from a fortnight with Nanna and Bampa, leaving Karl to manage the kitchen fitting...

The weather was pretty unpredictable while we were there, but we did manage to get to the beach, go to the park and go on a few trips out.

We saw Melissa before she went on her holiday to Rome and Pompeii and we're looking forward to hearing about her trip..

(pictures above : Ella at the beach : Tom and Ella at the dragonfly bench near Nanna's house)

We went to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, but unfortunately didn't get to see the mass balloon ascent - the day was too busy and noisy for Ella, so we made an early exit.

We went to the Wetlands Centre for a teddy bear's picnic, a treasure trail and crafts. I took Tom into London to meet up with my friend Treez and two of her girls. We went to the Children's Park at Kensington Gardens. Here is a picture of Olivia and Tom on the fairy tale chair.

We also went to visit Great Nanny and Auntie Margaret.

We got home to a beautiful new kitchen and a couple of other nice surprises.. The sunflower had flowered while we were away and a lost homing pigeon had moved in.

Ella has enjoyed feeding the pigeon daily and a week on, it's still with us.

Karl spent the entire time painting and did a super job getting everything ready for the kitchen to be fitted.. (Here's a before and after pic... )
Yesterday was Karl's birthday, so Ella and I made some cup cakes and we had a lovely birthday brunch.

Tom is getting close to walking - he's taking 2 or 3 steps on his own, but then he gets over excited and falls over or throws himself at the nearest person. Ella thinks he's hilarious, although she would still like his name to be Phoebe...

Caption Competition !

Ella, Tom and I spend a couple of weeks with Nanna and Bampa. We had a few beautiful days, so went to the beach. Tom had perfected his seagull impression by the end of the visit. On our first visit to the beach, they were having a Thomas the Tank Engine day, so we had a ride on Thomas and Ella had her photograph taken with the Fat Controller.
We also visited Great Nanny (and Sparky Bird) and Great Auntie Margaret.

Melissa's Stagecoach (theatre group) did an Open Day, so we went to see Melissa doing her stuff. Ella and Tom particularly enjoyed it - Ella was dancing and Tom was singing. We had a play day with Melissa too. Here's a great photo of Tom and Melissa. Please post your captions to the comments page...

We went to visit an owl sanctuary and saw some pretty incredible birds - huge eagle owls and a vulture to name a few.

We visited the canal a few times and saw moorhen chicks, signets and mallard chicks..

Karl worked like a trooper while we were away - painting his office, the spare room and demolishing the kitchen. There is light at the end of the tunnel, finally - the kitchen is due to be fitted in a fortnight.

Carrots and Clock Towers

It's been a while since we last wrote and I've probably forgotten most of what we've been doing ! Nan has gone back home now for a well earned rest. We had a lovely time with her - we had a day out with the other Quaker children at a pottery painting workshop followed by a picnic in the park. We visited Hill Top Farm a few times to fly Ella's new kite and go on the swings. We went to the park at Birdingbury and a school festival to see some vintage cars. Nan told us all about Lauren's fabulous performance in Chicago too.

Bob and Jan were away for a week, so we fed the pheasants every day while they were away. All nine of the eggs hatched, but unfortunately we didn't get to see the baby pheasants. They were hustled quickly into the fields behind the house.

Ella and Karl also went to wind up the church clock while Bob was away. There is a fantastic view from the top of the church tower, but Ella didn't want to go out onto the roof. She climbed all the stairs to the top though. Here is a picture of the clock mechanism in it's glass case.

Imogen had a birthday last week, so we were invited over for birthday tea and a play.

Yesterday we went to the school in the next village for their fete. We also visited our friend Nora for a cup of tea and a chat. It's her 82nd birthday in a couple of weeks, so we're planning a birthday lunch for her.

Tom is in fine form. He is enjoying our temporarily open plan kitchen. Here is a picture of him emptying the dried pasta onto the floor, encouraged by his sister...

The vegetables are doing well - we've harvested our first lot of carrots, which are delicious. The courgettes have flowered today and the potatoes look ready to flower soon. Ella and Tom have been enjoying the strawberries and last week we made a pear and blackcurrant crumble from our blackcurrant crop.

Today we are travelling to nanna and bampa's for a fortnight's visit. The kitchen is being knocked apart next week, so we're leaving Karl to it !

Gardening and Goldfinches

The birds have been busy in our garden during the last fortnight - we have been visited by baby goldfinches feeding on our thistle (nyger) seeds. Bob and Jan have a pheasant nesting in one of their flower borders. She's sitting on 9 eggs and seems very unfazed by Bob mowing the lawn around her.


We went to visit my friend Jane last week. She has a webcam in her blue tit box and we saw 4 babies in the nest. Unfortunately our blue tits have abandoned our nest box, but we're hopeful for next time.


Our vegetables are coming along well. We've been eating our salad leaves and rocket for a couple of weeks now. The potatoes are doing very well and should be ready in the next few weeks. We're hoping for a bumper crop of strawberries too - lots of little green strawberries have appeared in the strawberry planters.


Last week we visited Imogen and Cameron for lunch and a play. We also went to the library, hairdressers and the dentist. Non brought Ella and Dylan for lunch and a bounce on the trampoline too.
Next week my friend Sue is due to visit, with her dog Elvis. Nan is also coming on Friday for a couple of weeks. Ella is counting down the sleeps until she arrives.. We are also looking forward to hearing how Lauren enjoyed her stint as Roxy Hart in her Uni production of Chicago.
Tomorrow, Aunty Sandra celebrates her birthday, so...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Aunty Sandra,
Happy Birthday to you !

Moonwalking and Flycatching...

Well done to our friend Treez who took part in the London Playtex Moonwalk last week - raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer. Walking the walk in less than 6 hours ! Well done Treez, a fantastic achievement. I hope your feet have recovered.

Inspired by Treez, I have made a pledge to take part next year too, so if anyone would like to join us, please register your interest at http://www.walkthewalk.org/ and get in touch..

We saw Auntie Jules last weekend - fresh from her holiday in Trinidad. She brought some fabulous pictures of giant sea turtles to show us and today her postcard arrived ! Thanks Auntie Jules..

We've had lovely weather this week, so Woody Woodkin and Wendy Woodking (also known as Peggy Pegster) have been out in the garden playing on Ella's new swing. Both Tom and Ella have enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline and Tom has been helping us plant some more strawberries (he's our compost quality assurance guy).

Here is a charming picture of him catching flies. I have some very funny video footage of him giggling, so I'll try and get that uploaded next time...

Finally, I'd like to apologies to Nan - we didn't sing happy birthday to you last week, so, here goes.. Ahem...

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday dear NAAAaaaan,

Happy Birthday to You..

He's on the move !!

Life will never been the same again ! Tom's crawling... He's been rocking back and forth and shuffling backwards for a while, but now he's mastered it and he's off.

Actually, he's a lazy crawler - he needs a serious motivation before he'll go anywhere, but that's pretty much in keeping with his general character.

We went to Coombe Abbey today for Cameron's 4th birthday picnic and Imogen was desperate to see him crawl, but he wouldn't budge. We had a lovely day - the children played in the park, we had a picnic, walked through the grounds and spent some time in the bird hide. Ella found it difficult to understand what a bird hide actually was. She thought there were birds hiding in there and we were trying to find them...

Last week we were at Nanna and Bampas - we saw Melissa (plus Uncle Steve and Auntie Caroline, of course), went pond dipping and helped Nanna with the gardening. We also spent a day at the beach - looking in rock pools, building a sand speedboat and bouncing on the trampolines. Tom ate his bodyweight in sand (which is a LOT of sand).

We also went to the park - Tom enjoyed the swings...

This week Ella's going to play gym and we're meeting a friend for lunch on Wednesday. We've also got more vegetables to plant - so far we've got lettuces, rocket, courgettes, carrots, tomatoes, strawberries and a few planters of herbs. Last years raspberry plant has self rooted (is that the phrase ?!) so now we've got four.. We should be self sufficient by about 2020 I reckon !