July - Lately I've been...

It's the start of a new month, and time for another catch up! Here's what I've been up to lately.

Thinking about

My thoughts have been occupied for the last couple of months by Harry's Grade 1 piano exam, which took place earlier this week. I was worried that we'd rushed him into it a bit, because the exams only take place three times a year and it seemed a long time to wait until the next opportunity. It was quite an intensive few weeks of practice and he really did come on quickly. Getting the exam out of the way was a big relief and he seems confident, so fingers crossed! He's looking forward to playing some different music now, he was getting very bored of the same three pieces over and over!

Crafting

At the weekend we took part in a village wide Garage Sale Trail and I helped the children make some Hama bead keyrings and magnets to sell. We all love Hama beads!

I've also been working on my latest granny square blanket which is coming along nicely. In fact, width wise it's nearly there, so I need to decide soon whether I'm going to make it a large square blanket or whether to add rows to either end of the square to make it rectangular.

Watching

We finished the latest season of Better Call Saul the other week. It was another good season although I think that it lacks the bingeability of Breaking Bad - it's still an enjoyable watch though. We also got around to watching Kong: Skull Island. I didn't think much of the premise or plot (although I enjoyed it because Tom Hiddleston). We did let Harry watch it with us which was a bit of a mistake, he can handle the action and the scary parts but the language was a bit stronger than I was expecting!

Eating

With some lovely sunny weather during June this year we've enjoyed a lot of barbecues. Ram loves a barbecue and fortunately he does all the cooking. We don't eat meat so it's a veggie meal, with veggie burgers and sausages, sweetcorn and lots of halloumi. The children will only eat the sweetcorn so they have their own dinner, but we eat together outside and it's nice to spend time together in the garden and then the children play afterwards.

Travelling to

We spent a lovely weekend camping in the New Forest. Our calendar has seemed very full this month and it was the only opportunity that we had, I'm hoping that we can manage another trip over the summer or in September as it really is lovely. It was one of the longest days of the year and we stayed up outside the tent with Harry reading until well past his bedtime, but he really loved it.

I also travelled along Worthing seafront by foot taking part in the Night to Remember Midnight Walk 2017 to raise money for a local hospice. Our team total was over £1000 which was fantastic! We only walked the shortest walk of 7 miles but it was still quite tough and we didn't get in until 3am as we ended up near the back. Next year we've talked about trying the 13.1 mile walk, but we'll need to speed up a bit!

Reading

We've had a few after schools recently when one child has had a club and I've been left to entertain the other. As we live a distance from the school it makes sense to stay in the town, and fortunately there's a big library just over the road. I have to be very careful with library books because I have a tendency to end up with fines. I think it's because subconsciously I feel guilty at taking books for free and so I forget to renew them. But I've picked up a couple of fab books recently, and because I have a limited time to read them it means that I make the effort to get through them.

I recently enjoyed Little Bird by Camilla Way and I'm currently just finishing The Things We Learn When We're Dead by Charlie Laidlaw, both great reads.

Planning

This is our final week of school before the summer holidays, so it's been a rush of Sports Day, end of term discos and second hand uniform sales. Alongside that I've been planning things to do in the holidays, both things to add to our summer to do list and getting dates in the calendar for meet ups with friends and play dates.

Looking forward to

The summer holidays! I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with the children (although I'm sure I'll be well ready for them to go back to school in September!) and generally things just being a bit more relaxed for a while with less of a routine. I'm definitely looking forward to not having to make packed lunches and do the school run!

What have you been up to lately?