Stella’s Birthday

Yesterday was Stella’s 7th birthday. I know it’s such a cliché but it feels like yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time. Yesterday we had a chocolate cake after school with 6 of her new school friends who got her some lovely little gifts. She woke up to streamers and balloons hanging from her bed and pancakes with jam and banana, our two birthday traditions. She wore her birthday dress (inspired by Kristen) to School and she got lots of lovely compliments on it I adjusted a pattern from this book to make a Raglan sleeve dress in a check fabric. I loved it so much I made top from the same pattern today for Phoebe. I also made a new dress for me and have one to go on a pair of bloomers each for Margo and Ru. I think later this week I’ll do a shirt for William and a skirt for Lowe. I think I’ll have to take some time to photograph them properly, as my phone just isn’t cutting it at the moment.

London Calling

A picture taken by Stella on my film camera of the Cat in her new bed. 

Two weeks ago we packed up our house and took a one way flight to London. I was offered a Job here in London and with the feeling of wanting to be closer to my sisters now that my mother has died becoming ever stronger it felt like the perfect thing for our family.

We have found a beautiful house here in London and the Kids are settled in school. Today was World Book Day so the school asked the children to dress up as their favourite book character. William was Cat in the Hat, Stella was Pippi Longstocking and Phoebe wanted to be a butterfly so badly that we cheated a little and said she was the butterfly from ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’

From up on Poppy Hill

Our whole family cannot wait to see this film!

Sick

The picture above (sorry for the terrible quality) is of some tie dye Stella did at school, which inspired me to get the other kids to do some as well. I’m not sure what I’l do with them yet, I thought maybe bunting or a pillow cover? Anyway, it was the perfect winter day activity.

This winter has been a complete mess in this household. It seems like as soon as one person’s sore throat is gone, or sniffles have finally subsided there is always another victim. Right now I have a terrible sore throat which is my least favourite type of sick because it swallowing food hurts so much. I’ve been drinking lots of lemon water and eating lots of this Sweet potato and lentil soup (without the apple, as I’m not a fan of fruit in savoury food) – which even with a sore throat tastes amazing!

The plus side to staying in bed all day with a fever is I am getting a lot of good reading and knitting done (second baby blanket is nearly finished even though they are already 8 months old!)

Lowe is Two!

Lowe’s Favourite Thing: The Snow! My Sister sent me this picture yesterday and it’s making me wish I was back in Finland so badly!

Yesterday was Lowe’s 2nd Birthday! I can’t believe how big she is already. We had some family and a few local friends over for party games and cake yesterday afternoon and she seemed to really enjoy herself. This year she got lots of books and a new dress for her birthday. She was very reluctant to take her dress of yesterday, and wore it again today, plus we’ve already read three of her new books so I think it’s safe to say the presents were a success.  I’m getting back into the swing of things, and will hopefully be posting some more soon!

Sarjaton

I have recently come back from a trip to Finland, and I took Rupert and Margo with me. Whilst we were there, my aunt and I went on a trip to the Iitala Outlet store in the town of Iitala. I picked up plates, glasses and mugs for the whole family. Needless to say my suitcase was a little heavier on the way back. Most of the items are from the new ‘Sarjaton’ range. Sarjaton means ‘Without a series’.  As well as the simple design the name really drew me in. My aunt and I talked lots about why we thought the series was called that and mused over wether we thought the design looked more like trees or arrows {They are trees, but I still think of them as arrows}. Once we got home I watched this video, whilst eating off my new plate.

this photo was taken on instagram. © Bessie Arlen

Absence

It feels weird to be typing into the same white box as if nothing has changed, but it has. The reason for my absence is that my mother passed away very suddenly from a relapse of the breast cancer that has haunted our family since I was 9 years old. I can’t say for sure how long I will be gone or if I even will for that matter, but I have felt some comfort in writing here again.

Bessie

To Market, To Market

“To market, to market to buy a fat pig cat”

{image from Björkbacka}

Today my dear husband set off to go to the farmer’s market and collect a multitude of produce that I laid out for him in a clear concise note. He came back with all of those things and a cat. He bought us a cat for $20 from a local farmer who found him/her living in his barn. My first reaction was a little bit of anger. How was I going to tell the kids that we couldn’t keep him/her, and anyway we already have two cats!  I didn’t want to keep him/her because introducing a fully grown cat to a dog can be hard, when they are a kitten it’s a lot easier. But then I thought about how happy it would make the kids and how we would be giving him/her a good home, and I made a deal. As long as I didn’t have to feed him/her in the middle of the night, or install the cat flap, or deal with any accidents, then he/she could stay. Turns out we didn’t really need a cat anyway.  Josh went back to the farmer and told him he had changed his mind. The farmer was actually glad, because he had grown kind of fond of his little friend. The kids weren’t sad at all when I told them it meant that we might be able to get another dog someday. I think next time I will go to the market myself.

Phoebe.

“Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday dear FEEE-BEEEE, Happy Birthday to MEEE!”

Phoebe has been singing happy birthday to herself since William told her it was a month till her birthday. Every morning when I go and wake her up she says “Is it my birthday?”, to which I would reply “No, it’s not today it’s in {blank} days”, but she still sings it. Unfortunately the only flight we could get back was on Phoebe’s birthday {yesterday} so we celebrated a few days earlier with a little party for the family in Finland. We had the little party on my cousin’s farm, his wife and I made potato gratin for lunch and later that night we took a dip in the lake and then grilled some veggie sausages before bed.

Yesterday, Phoebe woke up really early {so we could catch our flight} to streamers hanging from ceiling decorating the mosquito net over her bed {those buggers are terrible in Finland} and birthday cake for breakfast.

I hope this has been a fun birthday for Phoebe, she is such a funny little girl and she can literally light up a room {from what I have read her second middle name, Nell, can be interpreted a few different ways, but I chose Nell for its meaning ‘Shining Light or the Bright One” and Phoebe has more than lived up to it}. We Love you so much Phoebe, Happy Birthday!

We’re Back

{image source}

We got back from our travels today and are now just unwinding at home. The kids are playing on their new tire swing and I’m making these for the local charity bake sale. We had so much fun but it’s always nice to get back home. We are trying to get into a routine for the rest of the summer until school starts again, which mostly includes inviting as many of the kids friends over as possible! We celebrated William’s birthday in Greece but we are having a little party on wednesday for his friends from school.  I love this time of the summer, when it’s still warm but not too hot and the kids are starting to get ready for school. I think mostly this is because I love fall {I say this about every season} and I can’t wait for it to come around again.