28th December

Mini-M outside Granny F's classroom. We went to the swing park, but didn't realise there as rugby on and it was all a bit mental, so made a strategic parking detour to the school. The weather was grim (hence the wellies, rain coat, hat, scarf Michelin man look), the river was high, and it was the fastest flowing game of Pooh Sticks I've seen in a while - but the main thing was, it was some fresh air for us all - vital in avoiding Mini-M meltdowns we have discovered.

27th December

A rare selfie. Although actually not, since I didn't take it! My sister did, whilst trying to master the automatic smile detection setting on the camera.

26th December

Boxing Day saw us heading south (only a little bit!) to visit the complete grandparent, aunt and uncle complement for over a few hectic days. There were some very creatively wrapped presents still under the tree for us too! (Thanks Auntie L)

25th December

Christmas Day - at the zoo! Baby koala and big cats being given Christmas Presents (aka dead guinea pigs wrapped up in boxes) were the highlights. But didn't photograph terribly well - so instead it's our ugly mugs in front of a whole lot of picture penguins!

24th December

Christmas Eve - bread dough ready to rise over night for Christmas Dinner chelsea buns for our Christmas Day zoo trip.

23rd December

Fail! No photo. Bad weather, bad toddler attitude, general non-festive grumpiness. So let's gloss over that and have a moment of 'my hasn't she grown' by looking at Mini-M from my 2011 daily photos (age 17 months). I checked Mr E's from last year - it was of a bit of old map… wasn't sure of the significance, so delved further back for cuteness' sake.

22nd December

Dressed up and ready to go to dinner for Mr E's work Christmas do. The worrying thing about this photo is that despite wearing 3 inch heels, I still look teeny - I think I'm shrinking!

21st December

Running an imaginary cafe/campsite in the play area of the Polish shop. Good job, since the queues were epic! Mini-M provided a fair amount of entertainment to numerous small Polish kids, who seemed to be taking it turns to be dared to speak to her, but bottling out at the last minute, and instead just running up, standing a little distance away (or indeed behind her) and smiling! I think Scottish kids might be a bit of an unusual occurrence there...

20th December

Party dress on and all ready for the nursery Christmas party and Carol Concert. 

19th December

Mini-M with her clipboard, undertaking a survey of the neighbourhood Christmas decorations. Not entirely sure we should be encouraging bureaucratic tendencies in a 3 year old, however she certainly seemed to enjoy it!

18th December

End of term nursery parcels wrapped and ready to give. Wrapped in Mini-M artwork, since she seems to currently be going for quantity and speed over quality, and we're drowning in a pile of glittery, painty paper!

17th December

Mr E went to London for a meeting - this is his flight, on the way home!

16th December

A sock snowman and some Christmas cards to open waiting for Mini-M to arrive home from nursery.

15th December

Christmas party fun - playing catch the tinsel tail.

14th December

Mini-M dressed herself: jumpsuit, party dress, hi-top trainers, white appliqué cardigan (not visible), fleece and hat. She looks like a Gouranga lady (and just about as happy too!).

13th December

An evening of culture at the Usher Hall - I went with a friend and her Mum to see the RSNO play Brahms with Nicola Benedetti and Leondard Elschenbroich. The music was lovely, and the building is fab.

12th December

North Pole cupcakes - decorated by Mini-M to take along to the Christmas jumper and baking day at Mr E's work.

11th December

Preparation for the craft activities for the kids Christmas Party on Sunday afternoon… the recipe for Magic Reindeer Food.

10th December

We've been trying to join in with Advent Challenge 2013 via the Faye Brown Designs blog.
Each day in December up until Christmas, there is a different festive theme to do something creative with. On 10th December we were in fact playing catch up for the 8th December, whose theme was "Your favourite Christmas song" which in Mini-M's case is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. So we made these reindeer faces. I have to say that it does look suspiciously like there has been a lot of reindeer marrying their cousins (!) in the Rudolph family tree, and to be honest, several may be alien impostor reindeer. They were lots of fun to make though.

9th December

A tea picnic underneath the Christmas tree to cheer Mini-M up after a tough day at nursery. Very festive, but made slightly weirder by the fact that our Christmas tree is situated on the top landing, just outside the bathroom door. And we were joined in our picnic by a 3ft wooden otter.

8th December

Two little woodland sprites / squirrels / monkeys in a big old tree.

7th December

Fireworks over the town square as part of the Scott's Selkirk celebrations.

6th December

PJ-ed up at Granny F's, waiting for Team H to arrive. All very exciting...

5th December

Surprisingly organised for us for once… the first of the Christmas presents wrapped and ready to be delivered during a weekend visit down to the grandparents.

4th December

A work training event at the Falkirk Wheel today. A lovely venue - we even got to have our afternoon workshop group in a barge due to a shortage of meeting rooms!

3rd December

Posting pennies in the guide dog collection. Mini-M has given the puppies names and talks to them whenever we go. Last time she managed to win over some elderly gentleman to give her all of his spare pennies too to post in.

2nd December

Christmas presents in progress - shortbread crumble fudge wrapped and labelled

1st December

A bit of a surprise at the swing park! I'm not sure who was more surprised - the cat or us...

30th November

Happy St Andrew's Day! Mini-M and I baked for the occasion. Saltire cupcakes were iced before 8am - this early morning cake decorating is becoming a worrying habit…

29th November

No photos today - oops! Blaming the stinking cold that is hanging about and filling my head with cotton wool. Time travelling forwards to steal one from the 30th… we went skating again - this time Mini-M was very happy to be zoomed about the ice by Uncle P who is a much more proficient skater than either Mr E or myself.

28th November

A video today - if technology plays ball. Better than the photo I took of my 'desk' aka laptop and tissue strewn bed, as I worked from home and sneezed and coughed my way through another day! 

Instead, Mini-M went to see Captain Flynn and the Pirate Dinosaurs this morning, and the rest of the day has had a rather pirate-y feel to it. Eye patch. Hook. Arrrgh Me Hearties!

27th November

A day of annual leave whilst feeling under the weather with an evil cold meant no ambitious projects tackled, but the tupperware drawer at least slightly tamed.

26th November

Met a friend after they finished work in town, which meant I was able to have a quick trip to Real Foods which used to me my lunch break distraction several times a week when I worked just around the corner. It's such an brilliant shop - I could spend hours there, just looking in curiosity and awe at all of the things they stock (and most likely purchasing a selection of random dairy-free chocolate and tofu based products!)

25th November

Mini-M squeaky clean with hair dried and brushed after shower time. We reckon she has got Auntie L's hair - it's exactly the same colour with the same awesome natural highlights.

24th November

It's a sad state of affairs when you have to write IoUs to your 3 year old to pay the bus fare…
Don't worry we're not actually living that skint - just that the buses around here don't give change and being thrifty Scots, there was no way £2 was going in the hopper for a £1.50 fare!

23rd November

Ice skating! No broken bones - phew. There was shameless bribery with sweets to get Mini-M to go back on the ice after a wobbly start (for us all). However, by the end she was getting her balance and making plans for next time - specifically that I would have to save some sweets for next time. And theorising that the problem was really that Mummy and Daddy were too wobbly to help her very much - which is probably true…

22nd November

There was a bake sale at work to raise money for Movember. I contributed a chocolate orange loaf cake - with a glitzy gold moustache on top, to get into the spirit of things.

21st November

Christmas parties are on the horizon. Still fairly distant (although Mini-M is informing us on a daily basis that it is going to be Christmas soon) but now we are fully prepared and party-ready with sliver glittery mouse shoes! On a less pretty note, we were in the bathroom and Mini-M wanted to sing Christmas songs. I said no, since it was too early. She then tried to convince me that we had to, because (I quote) "It will help me do my poo, Mummy". I remain unconvinced!

20th November

Experimental Smartprice ketchup caramelised onions. All will become apparent in a future blog post!

19th November

Frosty car park at work - it didn't defrost all day.

18th November

Mini-M has been telling us - normally as an alternative to going to sleep at the end of the day - that she has a sore tummy. When we ask her how long it has been sore for she says all the time. But it is never mentioned at any point during the day, she's happy and full of beans and doesn't seem in any obvious pain. So I'm leaning towards it being a bedtime delaying tactic. However…. we're having a happy/say tummy chart for a while just in case. Towards the end of the day Mini-M has to draw a happy or a sad face depending on how her tummy has been feeling. Today it was apparently sad - with tear because there is generally a fair amount of melodrama about life at the moment. Said whilst smiling… I'm fairly sure that toddlers are designed to cause maximum parent confuzzlement!

17th November

Rocking the shower cap / bath flute combo. The sort of activity you can only really pull off when you're 3! (The recorder player in me has to point out that I think she's playing a b flat (sort of))

16th November

At the Queen's Hall again - twice in less than 12 hours! This time we took Mini-M to watch some of the Edinburgh Light Orchestra rehearsal that Auntie L was playing in.

15th November

They Might Be Giants - at the Queen's Hall, performing Birdhouse In Your Soul - thank you to Uncle P for babysitting and letting Mr E and myself be there - it was ace.

14th November

Sunset - from inside the office. Admittedly the sun sets at about 3:30pm. On the other hand, I was still there at 6 :o(

13th November

Nursery notice board at the end of the day - Mini-M napped for 45 mins - win!!!!!

12th November

Day of annual leave for Mr E and myself - day at nursery for Mini-M! A rare occurrence celebrated with a trip to David Bann's for lunch - this was the vegan (and hence dairy free) dessert that we shared. The coconut sorbet was amazing - mainly since it was heavily laced with rum :o)

11th November

At the Lakes Aquarium. Colouring in. Dressed as a lobster. As you do. (Apparently lobster hands make colouring in hard)

10th November

Afternoon walk in the sunshine at Kendal castle - short days and long shadows.

9th November

A weekend away with friends in the Lakes - some bedroom floor tower building (in a veritable riot of patterns!) whilst waiting for the rest of the grown ups to get up!

8th November

Taking a trip back in time 2 years to my first foray into daily photos - and a much smaller Mini-M (with giant hands)!