and more xmas.pictures from the new camera...........

Nelly and Lilly ...sharing chocolate!

out on a walk .....boxing day ...
Nelly and her cousins eating lunch boxing day..in her kitchen!

playing in the garden..

Ironing...!!! bring it on!
R relaxing with a book - Christmas Day ...

so what do you think of my new hat??

looking good in my office! more present opening...
Nelly Grace Xiao'en Christmas Day 2007

Top Nelly Christmas moments

1. Gobbling smoked salmon and a really good stilton on Xmas Day

2. Cooking in her new kitchen

3 Giddy excitement every time people came to visit - especially when her cousins arrived on Boxing Day at 7 30 am!

4. Sleeping through the Carol Service in the local village church...

5. Discovering that the coloured shiny things on the tree were chocolate decorations! oops..

'twas the week before Christmas .....and the day after xmas

Taken a while to get this post together...what with preparing for the annual festivities & no playgroups, we headed off to London for yet another Xmas party and Nelly did some big time partying - party in the morning, lunch with Nina and Molly and Molly's big brothers (much to Nelly's great joy! ) then playing and bathing with her favourite boys Kambo and Fraser - before a late night running around!



We have been builder-free this week, although there have been some local guys here finishing off the study....I also took the opportunity to get a bit festive with the decorations...with more ivy than I know what to do with on the side of the house, I decided to make a garland for the banister and intertwined it with some lights, it is staring to look a tad dessicated now but it is Boxing Day and I can always top it up for New Year!


With enough space for a tall tree I set off one lunchtime (while Nelly was sleeping) to buy a tree, amazingly enough I found a local farm that sells trees, I got there and the place was deserted except for a few long tall skinny trees! Just what I wanted and ones that nobody else did! ...with nobody around except myself and another prospective tree customer we ended up calling the mobile no. we found and negotiated a bargain price of £10 for each tree! It is a laughable tree but we love it and it has survived the festivities much better than the Norwegian non drop spruce that cost £15 more!

Although we were only four adults and Nelly for Xmas day , so far it has been hectic ...Sunday was lunch for 8 and Nelly, followed by a walk in the fog and the village Carol Service that Nelly slept through , Monday ( my birthday ! - cooked lunch for 6 adults and nelly...Boxing Day my sister and thegirlies arrived at 7 30 in the morning for full on playing again...they all played in the kitchen that Santa brought nelly ...they left today so now we are three again and no more people until new year!


Nelly at Xmas lunch....enjoying goose and cranberry sauce!!

Delilah getting in on the wrapping action on xmas eve


Opening the stocking in Pyjamas on Xmas morning...

Nelly at one of the many Xmas parties with two of her little London friends Met and Fraser
settling down with the SUnday papers ..
With Emma on Mama's birthday lunch

at Daylesford for last minute shopping..
No playgroups the week before Xmas so - one morning of crafts! making photo frames
stockings at the ready - an absolute bargain purchase from Daylesford..

a funky log basket...
The ivy...

the skinny tree that nobody else wanted! except us!!

the builders have gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

most things are done ( well with the exception of two bathrooms and the fitting the utility room work surface ...! ) -we waved goodbye on Saturday evening and we are here on our own! Feels very bizarre not to be sharing the house with them - even though they spent all of their time , when not working in the annexe bedroom or in the conservatory..!

So the last week before Xmas....on Saturday Nelly and I hit the local farmers market in Brackley - not a patch on Borough ! but managed to stock up on local meat and veg and watch some Morris Men! apparently Brackley is fairly renowned for their Morris Men! N slept through the whole experience!

http://www.thebrackleymorrismen.org.uk/

we then headed off to Banbury to the Majestic to stock up on Xmas wine!

Sunday was one of those lovely crisp winter days - bright sunshine but really cold so we headed off to a place called Daylesford - see the link ! it is called a Farm Shop! but think H Nichols food hall meets the second floor designer rooms for clothes shopping in Selfridges! all set in beautiful COtswold stone buildings....they were selling Xmas trees, they seemed to start at about 7 foot high and the tallest must have been about 15 feet! or more...The wreaths for doors ( well ours is about 18 inches in circumference...) the Daylesford ones to fit those Glos. doors , the wreaths were ate least three feet across!

we pootled around and managed to fill a number of bags including three beautiful oatmeal linen stockings priced st £5.95 each = there had to be a digit missing! as well as some fab Xmas decorations - now we just need to buy the tree for the hall..take a look at the link and if you ever get to Stowe on the Wold then pass by there it is a wonderful experience and a nice eatery!


http://www.daylesfordorganic.com/

will post more pics soon - the study is being painted this week - off to London on Wednesday for two days ...cannot wait to catch up with the South East London crew!

Christmas is coming...

the tree is here..........


with its lights on ...! we need a better camera!

we have a cupboard to put all our coats in !

Nelly met Santa for the first time!

the goose is getting fat ... and has been ordered from the local butchers in Brackley for collection on December 23rd!

I bought Xmas cards but still end up needing another 20! I swore last year that I would not send cards in the interest of the environment, but I fear I run the risk of being branded a Bah Humbug ....so they are written and waiting to be posted. Heard a fantastic piece on Woman's Hour this morning about the whole saga of Xmas cards....http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2007_50_wed.shtml check it out ! but this year they will be in the post again!

Nelly has had her first encounter with the big guy with the long white beard and the overstuffed belly! By the end of this week she will be used to the idea and the bribery can commence ( if you do that again Father Christmas will not come !!) as we are off to numerous Xmas parties this week and next...

So the preparations for the Xmas break begin...but the Builders are still here...! they apparently finish on Sunday so I have promised a big meal on Saturday evening for them all ...let's hope they are gone by Xmas ..!!! but Rob says they may be back in January for a week or so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the sun shone, the crib arrived and then came the rain,...

The crib arrived last night at about 5 30....the house was full of builders so it was plonked on the kitchen window sill...the stable was a tad crowded so the three wise men had to hang around outside!

Nelly thought it was fun to throw all the sheep out onto the floor!

About an hour after the crib arrived a neighbour arrived with two more forgotten sheep!

Rob decided that the three wise men would get a better view from the roof

Monday - a lovely sunny but blustery day so we headed out for a walk a parade of the children from the nursery that Nelly will be going to was out in the village

One of our garden gates...

Our favourite quick walk - down Church Lane to see the horses in the fields..

the fabulous house opposite has a beautiful gateway and a fountain in the drive!

V old tree next to the church..
All Saints Croughton - still not been in but will make it in one day!

Oops here are the children again!

Out on the walk we met a lovely lady with four labradors - three chocolate ones and one black one Nelly was beside herself horses and dogs in one morning!

Taking her buggy for a walk!

One of the fileds with the horses...

Lots of rain this morning but now the sun is shining...!

Some pictures .....because I have been really too lazy to take any recently and decided I need to download some to keep up the interest. Also not taking pics has somehting to do with a 21 month old person in the house who screams MINE as soon as she sees the camera and grabs it from me to take pictures, she holds the camera at arms length and pulls a very scrunched up funny face! I have deleted loads but they were funny!

Today we were at a christening for our good friends little girl Lilly, they live about half an hour away and were the ones responsible for us looking at houses in South Northants...! and a great decision it has been so far too!

I now know why I am mainly only wearing flat shoes these days....today I wore a pair of high heeled pointy black stretchy boots...coming down the stairs in Sara's house carrying Nelly and ooops got the pointy heel caught in the carpet and came tumbling down the stairs, twisted my ankle and the heel came away from the boot! They were about three years old but they were the best ones...! Oh well back to the flat ones - check out the picture of the latest bargain acquired in Tesco in terms of boots!

It was a year ago today that we got this message from BLAS at 8 03 am....

Dear Family

We are glad to inform you that CCAA has finished the new matching and you are lucky to be matched a child. CCAA has already sent the orgininal referrals to DfES the day before yesterday.

We have already got all the referrals for UK families from CCAA and sent them to be translated but unfortunately CCAA has not informed us the child's name to each family because they think it is fair to all the families. We are sorry we are not albe to send the translation to you at the moment. Please let us know your child's name when you receive the original referrals or when you got the name from DfES. We will try to send the translation to you immediately. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a nice weekend!

With Best Wishes

Consulting Department
BLAS

Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the letter that came through telling us her name and where she came from, date of birth etc...We were dancing on air for days! I remember the day so well ....what a wonderful years we have had!




Sara and Lilly before the vicar came towards her with the water!

after the baptism...
Nelly in residence on her snack step in the kitchen....
ONe of Nelly's pics....think the Tesco boots are looking good though - think I should go and buy a second pair !
Nelly munching raisins in church!

OK this is what the blue kitchen really looks like - we got sick of people coming in thinking that we had blue units so last weekend decided to pull off some of the protective plastic/...
Our new kitchen chairs - since putting them out in the kitchen at the stainless steel topped table we , well me in particualr , could start her own power station from the shoocks I have been gettting from things in the kitchen. We think it may be the polypropolene chairs and the friction on the floor...any ideas greatly appreciated - I get shocks odd Nelly, the Aga, juice cartons...!Rob!

Rob looking a tad perplexed! will this ever be finished!

getting into the swing of village life...

so we have made it...last night at about 6 30 one of the ladies of the village came round to ask if we would like to have the crib for a night ! yes the idea is that the little crib that they have in the church over Xmas is passed around the houses in the village that have children before going 'home' to the church for a service of carol singing and blessing! we then have to take it onto a neighbour's house! Guess it all has something to do with Jesus in the community - maybe having a sleepover!! So the crib will be in residence with us and the Bulgarian Muslim builders next week for one night only!- tune in for pics and updates!



Nelly surpassed herself this week when we headed over to a friend's for lunch- C was one of my former clients before leaving a well known DIY retailer and heading North 'ish - so we met for lunch at her place. Her little boy is 2.5 years old (one of Nelly's favourite ages ) and they played really well running around the house while C and I caught up with HB gossip etc and the best places to go in North Oxon and South Northants ....On two occasions things went quiet! the first one - Nelly was found in the kitchen at the table standing on a chair eating butter from a fork and feeding Seb with the same, but most of it was in his hair! Second occasion - they had been upstairs, N on her way down tripped over the last two steps, cried and on closer inspection what we initially thought was some awful bleeding turned out to be my newest unused, untouched by Nelly hands MAC lipstick!!!!!!!!

Found another playgroup today with some lovely.people ...distinct lack of green.....and lots of 'moved out ofs.'..in evidence!

you know you have REALLY arrived when....

you leave the front door open for just a minute or two ...as you run around the garden with a 20 month old like a mad thing, dash back in to grab keys and bag and chase off to a new music group you heard of in a village three miles away ....AND your husband calls to let you know he found Robin Red Breast in the house perched on the side of a champagne flute on the kitchen window sill after he got back from a DIY shopping trip!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Xmas everyone!!!!

that would have made a great pic but no....

Aga Saga ........

OK agas are the essence of country living , about six miles away is the head office of Fired Earth and Aga where you can buy an Aga, and any other thing that you could possibly want for the Aga - well I now have an Aga toaster , Aga thing to keep the hot plate cover clean! , Aga enamel cleaner, and some Bake O Glide that allows you to fry an egg without any fat on the hot plate!! THanks Mum!

It's a whole new world and I was fairly sceptical when we bought the place with an Aga and was heard to say ...Well if it is no good then we can always sell it...But after a week and a half I can say I am a bit of a convert! Yikes does that make me a country person - I will be sporting green before you know it!

No seriously I have roasted a chicken, mastered the art of simmering a number of pans at a time and worked out which oven does what ( after the first disastrous ready meal melt down in the Roasting Oven! ) so today our good friends Lisa and Karen came over for lunch and I managed fabulous roasted squash and carrots with thyme that N could not get enough of...and a roasted veg tart with blue cheese...- it was all Yum Yum Yum....and was fairly easy to do and then leave to keep warm while we did the guided tour!

tune in soon for the ' buying green wellies 'episode!

you know you have arrived in the country when.....

....



you are the only one wearing sunglasses in November in the winter sun ....



everyone else in the place is wearing some sort of shade of green!!!!! just not in my colour palette!

not seen anyone wearing a Barbour yet...but will report as soon as I have -

you do not drive any sort of 4 x 4 and by God you never will - please feel free to shoot me if we ever get one! I know I said that about a Volvo, but we have a Saab not a Volvo!



you expect the takeaways not to deliver and when they say they do you simply do not believe them and chase off in the dead of night after defrosting the car to collect the ( very acceptable as it happens ) take away curry ....



you have never really noticed people looking at you and your daughter in London and then in one fell swoop in one country pub , one lunchtime a table next to you suddenly starts talking about the one child policy in China in such loud voices ...and then you are in the loo and someone walks in telling her child that ' that little girl is a lovely China Doll' and when you come out of the cubicle she then tells you that your daughter is a lovely China Doll too....!

Oh well we have arrived! bienvenue a la campagne!!!

one whole week ...

since our stuff arrived and we officially moved in. Took Nelly to a new playgroup yesterday in a nearby village, they had loads of fab toys and N did painting and sticking - she made a Xmas card! it was in the funniest little old village hall - a really dilapidated pre-fab type arrangement and there was even a framed photo of the Queen! ( seemed to have switched on underlining by mistake! ) we discovered details of local music and yogabugs groups as well as details of other playgroups i the area...

this morning I got up and had a shower in our bathroom ( the pump was set up yesterday ) - had a lovely shower and came down to the kitchen to find you could have a shower in the kitchen at the same time !!! OOOOPs bang went happy contented faces in the morning - we finally isolated the problem and will not bore you wiht the detail but think we should not need to take down the ceiling in the kitchen!

Nelly has now come down with a streaming cold - those Northants bugs - or they could be Oxon ones as the group we went to yesterday was in Oxfordshire; we are so close to borders here within ten minutes you can pass through three counties ! SO today she was clingy beyond belief and watched DVDs most of the day with a brief interlude for a play at the swings to try and blow away the cobwebs. All in all it made bedtime a heck of a lot easier!

Some pics from the last few days..........


The dining room
Delilah settling in nicely - still not allowed out of the house though!

N's room

Rob about to go out in the evening snow to scare the locals!!!!

Relaxing !! and for those of you that know R this will amaze you that he can sit relaxed surrounded by chaos!
Nelly with the electronic babysitter! by the way the cupboards are white beneath the blue plastic protective cover!