To say life has been crazy over the 18 months since I last updated would be an understatement. Part of that is, of course, related to COVID and all things related. I don't really have time to update in too much detail right now, plus it's probably not that exciting for you to read about, but the gist of it is:

We had a COVID baby. We were not planning a fourth child, we were happy with three we had but well, these things happen and at the end of December we welcomed a little girl into our family called Leila Robin. That brings me to
Emerson, aged 8
Aiden, aged 4
Keegan, aged 21 months
Leila, aged 5.5 months

We have also moved house, needing a bigger house for our growing family. We're in that annoying half unpacked & decorated stage where everything that needed to be done has been done. What needs doing is important enough to be on a list but isn't essential just yet. Although I do want it doing before we have our actual house-warming, which we're hoping to do in the summer.

And I stopped work last year. We found that during remote school process, Emerson was thriving from having me and her dad around all day and her schoolwork went on in leaps and bounds. So we made the decision to actually home-school this school year and honestly, the change in her has continued to be incredible and she's actually enjoying learning at her own pace. She's loving maths, science (we got her a little kids chemistry set for her birthday and it's "the best thing ever"), learning about food & cooking and she's completely obsessed with bugs! I'm going to continue home-schooling her and Aiden in September.

Lewis is working from home on a rota - he's doing 4 days in the office, 4 days out of the office, at least through the end of this year and we're hoping to continue it going for the forseeable future. His company are currently 'assessing the role of the office' going forwards since not renting an office space will save them substantial money.

Right now the little two are napping and Lewis is giving the older two their lunch. I'm writing my to-do list for the week which has included coming online, email checking etc etc etc and I think that's going to take me a while. But I'm definitely looking forward to starting to blog about our lives and all the fun things we're doing.

Christmas is such a happy time of the year, despite the cold and the wet and the dark. There's something about Winter that gives them time to pause, reflect and think about the things that I love and that make me happy.

1) My husband Lewis and our wonderful children Aiden, Emerson & Keegan
2) Everyone being healthy. Other than the usual time of year coughs and sniffles, and my bipolar, we're all healthy and hearty.
3) Having a relaxing, family, Sunday at home.
4) Music - dancing and singing without a care in the world
5) Shiny things.
6) Space travel.
7) Parties - birthday, Christmas, New Year, Halloween. Whatever the reason!
8) Spending time with my and my husband's extended families
9) New clothes, handbags, jewelry – anything new. It’s so exciting. See 'shiny things'
10) Eating fruit
11) Picnics in the park on a sunny day
12) Dyeing my hair. Currently it's bright green.
13) Knitting. I'm still learning and not exactly very good yet but I'm having fun
14) Family days out
15) God and my relationship with Him
16) Drawing and colouring. Also dot-to-dot and paint by numbers
17) Christmas – the entire season, not just the day
18) Buying gifts for people
19) Seeing my children learn new things
20) The sound of my children laughing
21) Playing board games
22) A cup of tea after cleaning the house (not the cleaning bit)
23) Travelling
24) Butterflies
25) A good book
26) Watching my kids playing together
27) Cherry Vodka
28) Getting dressed up for a night out (a very rare occurrence)
29) Learning new things
30) Meeting new people
31) Chocolate covered pretzels
32) Reading my kids a bedtime story
33) Cuddles
34) Eating a meal without interruption (also a very rare occurence)
35) A full nights sleep!
36) Crisp, sunny winter mornings
37) Going to the park with my kids
38) Football (or soccer, if you're wrongso inclined)
39) Going to the cinema
40) TV & chat time with my husband after the kids are asleep
41) The beach
42) Ariana Grande's music
43) Baking
44) Used bookstores
45) Playing card games
46) Classical music
47) Daydreaming
48) Foot massages
49) Fresh flowers
50) Seeing other people happy

Wow, it was much easier to hit 50 things than I thought. I was a little concerned it’d be hard to think of 50. But, I could keep going! Everyone should take a few minutes and make this list. It was a lot of fun.

I’d love to hear what makes you happy