This Is How We BBQ!

Seems like we have started a bit of a tradition here at the Hooge house.  For the last 3 years we have hosted a great BBQ for all our friends here in the UK. 

This year Jon made his famous pulled pork, 14 lbs of it!  10 lbs of traditional British sausages, grilled chicken legs, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread.  If you can believe it, it is ALL gone!  We had a bit of beans and coleslaw left over but everything else was devoured, which is a lovely testament to how good the food was.

Jon prepared a super scavenger hunt for the kids to keep them nice and busy and help the boredom stay at bay and then they later had a Xbox tournament. 

The best part, though, I think were the fireworks we set off after dusk.  Jon, Rik, and Phil had a blast (pun intended) lighting the fireworks, tripping over each other and, yes, perhaps one did land in a tree...just once.

It was a great time to be had by all.

One of 'my Ladies', Carol.  Always the joker and my fellow gardening guru.

One of 'my Ladies', Jo.  She has 4 kids and is always uber organized.

One of 'my Ladies', Helen.  She is the hostess with the mostess.  She helped and hosted my surprise birthday party with Jon.

My Ladies.  They make life here so much fun and without them I'd be lost!

Jo being a MAJOR goof.

Jo with her littlest cutie, Eva.

July 13, 2013

Jocelyn's Leaver's Prom

I admit it.  I have had a really hard time with Jocelyn moving up to junior school from infant school.  It seems like lately I have noticed more and more how much growing she has done.  She's no longer my baby, she's my little lady.  Joci is growing and maturing into a lovely young girl and my 'baby' is fading into the past.  When I see her with younger children she seems so grown up, yet, when I see her with the older kids, she's much more like them, than one of the 'littles'. 

As she's leaving her infant school, Joci's had lots of events to attend.  One of them was her 'Leaver's Prom'.  This year the PTA had decided to have nibbles and fizzy juice in plastic wine glasses, along with photos taken before the dancing.  We took her shopping for a special prom dress the week before and she and Daddy chose a pretty pink lace dress and asked me to put her hair up, special.

It's such a special time for her, she's growing up, and no matter how much I will miss that sweet baby girl, this new sprouting beauty is just as amazing and full of life and eagerness for the future.

Her hair turned out so pretty!

On our way to her prom...she was so excited!

Jocelyn with her awesome teacher.  She has been a Godsend for Jocelyn this year.  I will be so sad to move on from her.

I love this picture of Joci with her friends.

On cloud 9 after the prom, another milestone reached.

  July 4, 2013

A Spring Walk

A couple of weeks ago we went on a nice long walk down to the allotment.  It was one of the last days of our half term break and the only day that was sunny and not raining.  I love the pictures I was able to get of the kids, they were stoked to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.

My gorgeous girl loves to blow wishes all over our town.  We have probably added significantly to the weed population, but we don't care, you can't ever make too many wishes!

Love this picture of Joe.  So totally random and so him.

I love the way they are when they are chatting and getting along without my intervention.  

June 2013

Spiders!

Here the spider situation is a world apart than that in Arizona.  Let's face it, in Arizona the spiders are BADDIES!  They can even kill you or at least make you very ill.  Here, well, spiders can be a nuisance, but are not poison and aren't going to hurt you.  In fact, they are a welcome sight in the garden as that means they will be eating all the other little critters that are after our flowers.

 The other day Joseph and Jon found this little next of spiders, and then a couple more.  They were big furry cocoons full of tiny little spiders.  A bit creepy, true, but also very fascinating.  Take a look...Joe was tracking them all afternoon watching their every move.  We now find a few little babies here and there and each time Joe exclaims that it must be the same ones.

Our Allotment

Our allotment is really coming along.  We have put in a lot of work to get it to the state it's in now, which when compared to my allotment neighbor's plot is shameful, but, it is what it is and I am very proud of it!

We've got so many veggies and flowers growing there and it grows each time we visit.  A little more done, a bit more planted.  We still have a long way to go, but I love seeing everything growing and sprouting up towards the sky.

This is the bulk of our plot that butts up to the little drive that separates some of the plots.  The tree there is a huge apple tree and when it was flowering earlier it was gorgeous.  The big mound of dirt in the forefront is the next bit that will be tilled under and have courgettes (zucchini), summer squash, pumpkin, cucumber, and melons in.  Between that and the tree on the left center is our potatoes, and on the right is broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and kale.  We've done a lot of companion planting this year intermixing nasturtiums, marigolds, and even onion and lavender.

The plot on the left here is where a lot of the root veggies, beans and peas are.  Things are coming along there quite nicely, and then the two little raised beds are for salads, lambs lettuce, little gem, round lettuce, and spinach.  Bird scarers are everywhere as are the birds!  We want them around but what them to eat the pests, not our seedlings.

Sunflowers interplanted with geraniums and some sweetpeas at the back.  Hopefully by the time everything blooms, this little corner will be alive with color.

Corn, albeit the salad corn (long story) and morning glories planted next to some sugar snap peas and a few more sweet peas.

The potatoes from another angle.  They have done really well in the ground here and absolutely horrible in the grow bags at home in the back garden.

Kind of a bigger view of the allotment.  You can kind of see the Croc planters we put up on the little shed we have that hold pansies.  They make me smile everytime I see them.  Unfortunately, that is not my greenhouse.  We have one at the house that I love and is more temporary than the glass kind.

June 14, 2013

Spring is FINALLY Here!

Yay!  It's finally springtime in England!  We have had a long, cold winter here.  In fact a friend of ours estimated that it had been over seven months since we had a day in the 50s!  Brrrrrrr. 

The daffodils are coming out, one of my favorite things about Milton Keynes is the amount of daffodils planted EVERYWHERE here.  As soon as I saw them sprouting I knew I wanted to get some pictures of the kids with them.  So, I decided to take them down to the park this morning with serious ulterior motives of getting some photos, and then letting them play and blow off some energy a bit at the playground, too.

These are the results.  I'm totally in love with some of these photos. 

Some gorgeous flowers in our neighbor's front garden.

So happy together!

Joci made me save these flowers in my pocket for 'later'.

My favorite park to walk.  So love seeing spring coming on the landscape.

We were excited that we got to see the swans nesting.  The mama swan sitting on her nest was stretching out her neck picking up sticks to stack on her next.  Papa swan was NOT happy with people that would walk by him on the path.

Love this one of Joe.  He's such a cute little goofball sometimes.

Like this one of Joci.  She can be really 'honest' with the camera at times. 

Gorgeous girl.

Joseph checking to see if the creek had any tadpoles in it.

And, him showing Joci where they were.

Joci was a little scared to go over the top of this net.  She eventually did it, on her own.  I was so proud of her for wanting to do it even though she was terrified.

Walking back towards home.

Peek a Boo!

Joseph found a little 'den' that the gardeners made when they were staking up this hedge.  He and Joci thought it was 'soooooo cool' that it was a secret hideout.

Love this picture of my handsome boy!

Goofy girl peering out from their hideout.

April 21, 2013