Not little for long

Over christmas Eva and Jack have both reached new milestones.

Eva has gone up into the next stage carseat, a high back booster with the normal 3 point car seatbelt.
She absolutely loves sitting in her "big girl's carseat", but to me, it was scary, as my baby is growing up, day by day she gets more and more grown up, turning into such a clever, independant, if somewhat stubborn little girl.

Jack now refuses to go in the pushchair on the school runs, which is fine by me, as I want to encourage walking, as i think exercise is paramount to children, and by walking to and from school everyday both Eva and Jack will be getting that bit more exercise that they wouldn't if we did the school run in the car(we're lucky enough to live close enough to the school to be able to walk). I also think by walking everyday that walking will become such a normal part of our lives, that hopefully we won't get moaning and whinging when we go on longer walks at the weekends/holidays.
The only problem is, after watching his big sister doing it, he now has to walk on EVERY wall on the way there and back, but kids will be kids, and they enjoy it, so I let them, even if it is a little bit naughty(I always have visions of the homeowners coming out and shouting at me).
So although it's lovely that Jack wants to walk everywhere, it is also another step towards being a big boy.

We all know they aren't babies for long, but to watch them grow and blossom is just so overwhelming and fills me with such a sense of pride. Even though Jack has discovered tantrums, but i'll save that story for another day.

I cherish every moment with my children, as it is time that I will never get back, and I want all of us to be able to look back on memories full of fun and laughter.

Loren xx

Growing our own.

Last year I decided that I would love to start growing something with Eva, fruit or veg as both her and Jack are huge fans of both, but living in a flat we only had a balcony. I spoke to a friend that works at a garden centre, and decided on cherry tomatoes, potatoes in a grow bag, and strawberries. Because we were new to it and lacking in space we bought plants instead of growing from seed.
This is where it all started.

Then on the 28th may 2011 we got the keys to our new house(that is still currently being renovated) with this...

...for our back garden.
Well having caught the growing bug i was just soooooooooo excited...I had a greenhouse that was left for us(aswel as gardening tools and a lawnmower) and what will be my amazing vegetable(and fruit) patch.
Just as we got the keys, Focus DIY went into liquidation and were selling everything off cheap, so we got some cabbages and some broad bean plants, that I could put in straight away.

The bottom shed will be the chicken shed and they will also have the space across to the right from the shed. The greenhouse will be moved to the right, just infront of where the chicken run will be, and the rest will be yummy food.

So this is where it all will be. It was much much worse then this, and now has had a bit more work done, but we still have a long way to go. This is where i had cleared space, just enough to get the cabages in(on the left behind the composter that we were lucky enough to also have left for us, although it was empty) and the broad beans at the front. We also got some broccoli in behind the broad beans, that my auntie kindly gave us that she had grown from seed.

In the greenhouse there was already a grape vine, although when the grapes were ready they were bitter and not very nice, and i soon got planting some things of my own.

We had peppers, chilli peppers, tomatoes that we grew from seed, and in the box was lettuce seeds.

We also did some herbs from seed, some sunflowers, more tomatoes from seed, and some courgettes.

Some of what we planted wasn't successful, although that was more down to planting some things too later in the season(me and Eva were just so eager to grow we thought we would try and hope for the best). There is a whole row of rhubarb along the left hand side that we had some lovely crumbles from(I had never tried rhubarb before, and was planning on digging most of the plants out, oh how i'm glad i didn't), and also a pear tree.

Our tomatoes did fantastically, much to Evas delight, aswel as the strawberries, the broad beans did enough to go with one sunday dinner, the broccoli is still sprouting now, which the kids have been having regularly with their tea, we also planted some carrots, which were nice, even if they were small and only a few, the lettuce was delicious, along with the herbs which i used in cooking,

What didn't do so well was the cabbage, that got attacked by cabbage flies, the courgettes got eaten by slugs, snails and caterpillars, we had one chilli pepper and one pepper although we would have had more, but i was a bit slapdash with the watering.

This year being able to start growing things from the right times, and doing sucessional sewings, and having already done lots of planning, I'm really hoping we get some good crops, and I am just so looking forward to getting my hands dirty. I'm still toying with what to grow, but will definately be trying courgettes again (hoping to keep the creepy crawlies at bay), tomatoes and plenty of strawberry plants. Sprouts are a firm favourite in our house so we will also be growing those.

I will carry on blogging about our growing our own journey, and post pictures as we progress, along with what we are planting and when.

Loren xx

I'm back

Hello, a bit late i know, but i hope everyone's had a lovely christmas and new year.
I've been a bit awol lately, but I'm back, and will be trying to update as much as possible.

I'm currently trying to lose weight and get fit, so will be keeping you updated on how i'm getting on with that,
Also this year, I am working on getting my vegetable patch established, and also turning a shed into a chicken house with the bottom of the garden, behind the vegetable patch, fenced off for them.
Aswel as that, there will be more fun things to do with the little ones, what we've been up to, and lastly, we have a few reviews lined up, and hopefully will have more coming throughout the year.

Hopefully we will be a fun, informative, but also something you can relate to, as the blog grows.
If there is anything you would like to see, please feel free to email us at lorenslittlelovelys@hotmail.co.uk and we will what we can do.

Take care,
Loren and co xx