Merry Christmas...

Apologies for the recent dearth of blog posts...the build up to Xmas has overtaken me. Here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas :-)...

A picture is worth a 1,000 words...

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Never mind about 1,000, the one's below left Mummy and Daddy speechless...

 Mummy

Daddy

Well you can tell who's got the looks in the family (me obviously). And it looks like nursery is coming along just fine too. In fact we've gone craft-tastic in the house with the approach of Christmas. Well actually Daddy is satisfying 2 of his loves (being frugal and Christmas) by hand making decorations with his daughter. There's some quality designs coming out - the favourite of which has to be Emily's painted footprints, named 'Mistletoes', which will hang from the ceiling near the front door.

Pleased as punch with the Christmas wreaths

Fireworks were a bit hit and miss with Emily this year. All a bit loud apparently. She liked watching them but from the safety of the indoors. Not really the point but that's toddlers for you. So after a couple of failed attempts we decided to try something a bit different. Scotland has taken to lighting up its forests at this time of year, and, coupled with some atmospheric music and other special effects (not to mention fairies), it all adds up to quite a dramatic experience. And a very excited toddler.

Emily was really into this idea, so off we trekked to a farm not far from us for a woodland light experience. It was a brilliant hit and well worth the effort. Fairies were not spotted directly but their houses certainly were and Emily loved the whole thing. So much so that we couldn't get her to slow down and savour the moment! We were supposed to be meeting friends (Leanne and Chris and kids Ruaridh and Rhys) but they were running a bit late and all tactics to slow the supreme being down failed. "Come on Mummy Daddy" came the cry...and what could we do? Nothing but jog on. Normally we can't get her to go fast enough. Sod's law - our friends eventually caught up near the end as Emily started to run out of steam. Boy can she shift when the mood takes her though.

 One very excited Emily, complete with lanterns, about to set out

 Car park, itching to be off

 

 Fuelling up for a sprint round the lights

 Jogging to the woodland light fantastic

 Dumbfounded by it all as she starts to slow down

 Just one of many stunning light displays

 Family photo at the end...Emily knackered

Devil child

A new regime...

Emily's a big girl now...she's started nursery. It dawned on me that for the vast majority of time from now till she retires she's likely to have some sort of Monday to Friday routine. Oh how we tie ourselves down from a young age. And with her new routine comes an earlier bedtime, and even more shockingly (for Mummy particularly) is a 7.00am start every morning. No more lounging around for that pair :-).

 New uniform complete with dinner stains and pasta necklace

Day one ice cream reward

Her first week at nursery went really well. Day one was rewarded with ice cream which helped, but really the supreme being has taken to the change without any bother at all. So much so that Mummy has begun to question just how essential she is when after 3 years there is barely a wave goodbye at the nursery gates. I'm well used to my daughter's indifference to her silly old father but this behaviour may have come as somewhat of a shock to Mummy. Oh well, if nothing else it shows what a secure, resilient and happy daughter we have.

At the end of week one, we took a trip to Glencoe to experience the delights of the wilderness in the middle of a big storm. Actually, the weather wasn't too bad for at least a few hours so we did make it out for a walk for a few hours. We'd been invited up to stay with our Aussie friends, Jo and Glen, whose daughter Izzy and Emily get on really well. It was their first proper sleepover together so excitement was in the air. Not only that they went to the first club and partied till the early hours...well at least they did this toddler style. Still, i've now realised there is a secret cheesy quaver inside the supreme being just waiting to be unleashed. Time to dig out the glowsticks, whistles and white gloves and bring it on!

 One cheesy quaver

Two cheesy quavers

Videoclip: Glowstick cheezy quaver heaven

What's it all about?...

Emily is currently on a massive voyage of discovery with every other word generally being "Why?". Now, I'm sure every parent has been through the "why" stage with great hilarity, alongside a severe testing of their own knowledge and ability to explain the seemingly everyday things we take for granted to an eternally questionning toddler wanting to know what it's all about.

A recent example was when Emily wanted to know why things always fell down and not up. A very pertinant question and one that definitely required the full academic prowess of Daddy to answer. So up I step to the plate, and, after a brief explanation of gravity, I conclude with the question "So why do you think Daddy is on the ground and not on the ceiling?" A brief pause before the reply from the supreme being. "Because Daddy is short". Hmpf. Not quite what I had expected.

But, undeterred, I continued to explain how we lived on a huge, huge ball about 25,000 miles round which rotates at about 1,000 miles per hour. Because its so big it pulls us towards it. Emily's reply? "Silly Daddy" she said. I gave up.

New birthday swing from Grandma and Grandad :-)

This voyage of discovery is natural for any 3 year old. And Emily hit the big 3 years old on the 2nd November. We were trying to make sure that the supreme being wasn't overloaded with presents and our main present to her was a fruit tree. I obviously delighted in planting this with her, but to my surprise and further delight she declared it was her favourite present of the day. However she loved all the presents she did get from family and friends - so thank you all very much for your generosity. She is though most definitely her mother's daughter, and there was no holding back on two birthday cakes (one is surely never enough). So, candles blown out, presents opened, birthday party with friends and a visit from cousins, meant a successful and happy time was had by all.

Next stop? Nursery...Gulp.Let's hope that's as big a success.

Planting the birthday cherry tree

 Cake 1

 Cake 2

Some people never learn...

Happy Halloween

Some people never learn. Mummy is one of those people. If any of you were reading the blog two years ago you may remember a post called "Halloween is halted"  where Mummy ate all the sweets before the guisers had all been round. Well history does have a habit of repeating itself.

After the rugby World Cup final (circa 17.45), Mummy announced she was feeling sick. On cross examining Mummy it appeared that she had eaten somewhere in the order of 20-30 sweets. The sweets that were meant for the guisers coming round. The logic for this was based on our neighbour Yvonne telling Tanya that they hardly got any guisers in the neighbourhood. It seems she was wrong.

After about 10 guisers in, Mummy was looking decidedly worried. The depleted sweet stock was looking very low indeed. With every ringing of the doorbell Mummy looked decidedly more ghost like, as the dawning realisation of her sweet binge was coming home to roost. By 19.30 Emily was rushed off for an early bath and our lovely pumpkin was hastily brought it. It seemed Halloween had been halted once again.

Even more amusingly, Mummy also insisted that there were such things as "ghoulies". To which Daddy burst out laughing. Sticking hard to her case, Mummy pushed her T-ism, and so Daddy resorted to the dictionary to explain his mirth. No such word as "ghoulie" could be found but he did find...

"goolie or gooly - n, pl -lies 1. Taboo slang. a testicle"

Most amusing. A true T-ism. A shame Emily has started copying everything Mummy and Daddy say.

Our little Halloween cat

In less amusing sweet news, it appears Emily is developing Daddy's passion for cooking. She has taken great delight in helping out in the kitchen recently, and her piece de resistance has to be a cheesecake that she made last weekend. Clearly one for the Great British Bake Off in the years to come...

The righfully proud chef

A century of the supreme being...

Well this is the 100th post on the blog. I had no idea that I had written that many until I went to write this one. And its all primarily down to one person - the supreme being herself. Here she is almost 3 years ago...

Day 2 of life...

So Emily is now 35 months old, and well on track in terms of her development. She amazed me the other day with a picture of an elephant and completing a 40-piece jigsaw with only a little prompting. She's also developing physically and getting much braver by learning to climb and balance. How children learn so much and so quickly is absolutely incredible to see. As adults we don't have anywhere near the same capacity to learn. 3 years ago she could do very little for herself, but now, although she still has much to learn, its fascinating how many life skills she has started to master.

 Most definitely an elephant...

 Pleased as punch post-jigsaw completion

 Getting so much braver

Videoclip: Discovering hopping

Still loving the outdoors

 This has to be one of the best views from a swing

Grandma and Grandad paid us a visit last weekend and we had a delightful time. With trips to Fintry, Schoenstatt and Campsie Glen; lots of coffee, cake and other nice food; and some gentle walks and great fresh air; a wonderful time was had by all I think. We even discovered just how much Emily likes rugby!!

 Playparks bring out the child in us all

 The senior Rookes with Rooke junior

 Competitive poo-sticks

Embracing the Scottish air

Videoclip: Passionate for Scotland

The Dog and Dragon...

The Revenge of the Autumnal Dragon

The end of September saw the fine weather continue as we headed up to Banchory for what is becoming an annual trip to Nana and Baba's for some fine food, relaxation, baby sitting and a spot of munro bagging. And once again we had our annually wonderful time. Highlights were a trip round a magical, fairy wood; the horse welfare centre; tramping through autumnal forests; a trip to the allotment; and Mummy and Daddy getting a cheeky night away in the van and a spot of munro bagging. Thanks once again to Nana and Baba for looking after us amazingly well.

Searching for fairies

 

Horse love at the Welfare Centre

Mummy and Daddy's escape

Spooky shadows

 

 Nana and Emily enjoying the fruits of the allotment

 

 One, Two, Three...Wheeee!

And then October came with incredibly the sun still shining. Its not shined everyday but there's been some great days and lots of time spent in the garden. The supreme being has been getting her head round the seasons and has been really engrossed in watching the leaves change colours and start to fall. We've been blackberry picking and enjoyed the apples from the garden. We've discovered new play parks and paths round Kirkintilloch. We've swept up leaves and put up our Dutch nesting box. It's been great finding more out about our new community, and watching Emily discover and learn more about the world around her. Her speech grows all the time, she counts beyond ten and every other thing is "Why?". There's lots to be thankful for this autumn.

How d'ya like those apples?

Videoclip: Conquering The Wibbly Bridge

Videoclip: Man's best friend

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...

Summer this year has been a very Scottish affair. July and August were pretty much a let down with windy days, mediocre temperatures and too much rain. The start of September however was very different. Suddenly the sun appeared :-)...and we decided to make the most of it and head off to the seaside in Dumfries and Galloway. After a quick hours Google research we picked a tiny village called Rockcliffe with a campsite about 300yds from the sea. And so Mummy and Emi arrived at Daddy's work in the campervan on a Friday afternoon, and off we all zoomed (well chugged) down to Scotlands south coast, arriving in time for a quick evening sojourn to the beach following a tasty fish supper.

 Rockcliffe

 Early evening beach combing

 A very excited supreme being

 Seaweed spotting

And so a lovely evening turned into an even lovelier weekend. Rockcliffe is a bit of a hidden gem and we had a wonderful short break with the sun splitting the sky the whole time, and the supreme being just giggling and laughing all the way through. Saturday involved a walk along numerous beaches and paths to nearby Kippford, passing some beautiful Victorian villas and cottages along the way. Kippford was playing host to the annual Flounder Tramping contest which was quite a sight as a hundred or so people squelched around in the mud for hours trying to catch a fish. We had a delightful picnic on a shell covered beach, before ice creams (both Mummy and Emi having two each), and some lengthy games of poo sticks on the numerous burns heading to the sea. All this topped off with a glorious sunset.

One of many cottages with a view to die for

 Beach delight - part 1

 Glorious sun on Rockcliffe's sands

 Walking on water

Flounder tramping anyone?

 Flounder trampers in action

 Lunch on shell beach

 Local street art

 Sunglass heaven

Looking towards the Lake District

 Parked up amongst friends

Not a bad view from the bedroom window

The next day saw more of the same with beach games, rock pooling and ice cream eating a plenty. Our summer holiday had seemed a long time ago but this was just the tonic before we head into autumn. And as we say every year, we really must keep more weekends free for van trips away...not sure it ever happens in reality (well, its the thought that counts), but we'll definitely be back to explore more of Dumfries and Galloway...

 Catching fish

 Daddy...you should have seen the one that got away

 Beach delight - part 2

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside...

And on return, a masterpiece about our lovely weekend