First week of back to- new- school!

It's been a week now, since the girls went back to school....Or in one case: when my eldest started at her grammar school....Oaaaaah that was the day I took a picture of her looking ooh sooo grown up in her new school uniform with fancy new shoes from ''Office'' no less!

And that's when you stop for a moment to remember and savour the time: the day she was born and how utterly ecstatic I was for at least 72 hours!( the midwife got really worried about my euphoria), the day she went to nursery, the day she started at her primary school ( new uniform and photo taken in the same place as for the latest photo!) oooh HOW time FLIES by.

Now I take her to a bus and she gets on and - gulp- off she goes with her friends all by herself and NO! I'm not allowed to wave or hug ( we did that at home before we left) and then of course I have a good ol' cry..... Stomach is all in knots and yes truly I AM happy, ooooh as long as she's allright and the first day goes well and she makes new friends, and and and...

Come home and sniff the freesias- ''why are you sniffing mum? ''Miss youngest is so sweet: ''Oh I'm getting a cold....''Let's walk to school! And this we did! And after that we cycled every day- so much better than the hurried dash we did in the car when I had to dash off to work in an office.
The lovely sunshine has been amazing hasn't it? It even reached 30 degrees C here the other day: from 2pm onwards and at 9pm it was still 20 degrees c, most strange but LOVELY.
I'm so proud: my washing is out before 8 am- could be because we are all getting up by 6.30 am!

There's a flipside to being a mum at home: JJ has been feeling the pressure and I do get sooo cross and the unreasonable hours that are just taken for granted! The other day there was a ''crisis'' and he came home at 2 am- no it's NOT that- and continued to work on his laptop till 4 am! Then there's the ''conference calls'' most evenings at 11 pm because he works for a huge American company and that's when THEY are awake and working. But what about the fact he's already worked from 7 am to 7 pm?!!! Working directive, PHUUUH, is not enforced is it?

Back to my lovely sunflowers to calm down! Miss Y had a day out to celebrate a Guides Centenary at the weekend: she came home a tigerrrrrr!!! For filling sandwiches with healthy but interesting things I have been sprouting seeds: here's my cress only 1 day later: Will follow up with the one the day after....And her's the broccoli seeds: they take longer but are really delicious.
Have been springcleaning and sorting stuff that has been ''low priority'' for the 4 years I have been working in an office and the house is beginning to feel sooo much nicer: even Miss E has noticed and is loving it. My piano playing is finally progressing well ( I started in January) and the dogs are relishing their 2 -longer and more countrified -walks a day, Lucy is by my side all day wherever I go she goes too. She's been known to wait outside the WC and scratch at the door if I take too long.... Then when I was crocheting in the garden:
TOTAL RELAX-A-DOG. There's a head at the far left just above one of her front paws. I can't yet share my latest makes in the crochet department because- gulp in amazement- I have sold a few of my patterns and now they have to be secret until published. Sorry ! But I'll do more really soon! I have to remake the samples in ''editor's chosen yarn and colours'' and am currently about halfway the first one.
See? There really was a dog, woken up she's wondering when I'll sit up straight again so she can go back to sleep...

Now for some baking to welcome home the hungry scholar/pupil : I tried 2 recipes for flapjack type bars intended for snacks and lunchboxes! I have been utterly astonished that our scholar is not frequenting the freedom of the school cafeteria daily but has chosen to eat lunch outside with her new friends.

I confess I have NEVER made any of these before, but I wish I had because it couldn't be EASIER!

I made ''sunshine bars'' from the WI cookbook: Best Kept secrets of the WI- Healthy Heart by Elspeth Smith but I made them with cranberries and sultanas: it makes 18.
And also the fruit and nut bars from WEIGHT WATCHERS- Fast and Fabulous book by Louise Tyler; I omitted the nuts and used increased amounts of chopped apricots instead- this made only 6 bars and my tin was too big for the mixture.
Guess what? They didn't last even a day, the apricot ones that is. We all had one each to try and then Miss E had a second one ''because she's growing and it helps with homework'' and then the remaining 2 went into the lunchboxes for the next day. Poor JJ didn't get a look in. Mind you he LOVES the cranberry ones which also include sunflower seeds and sesame seeds... oooh yummy!
GOING GOING GONE!