#FlashbackFriday When they were younger..

Just had a look back at some of my oldest photos on Facebook. My kids were oh so cute in their pre-school days:

Flashback Friday Teddy

This is me with my first bear the night we moved into Dollar, Clackmannshire in 1976! I still have the bear though not Humpty Dumpty... The bed was actually the one I was born in and my daughter slept in for a few years too. That wallpaper was so dated and my nightie looks almost Victorian:

Short and sweet as too late and laptop keeps crashing on me...

#FlashbackFriday: My blue eyed boy

This is one of my favourite ever photographs I took of my son. He must have been about 6 months old and we were on the sea front in Hastings where we lived. Those big blue eyes are still lady killers now!

I also loved that hoody with BABY across it, the colours were just perfect. I still think he is drop dead gorgeous but there is just something about babies that makes Them extra scummy.

Posted with Blogsy

#SilentSunday 1st July 2012

Don't grow up

I work with teenagers so know that all too soon my children will be teens themselves. Wish I could put a pause button on and keep them like this:

This was my sleeping angel this morning. I kept kissing him and he smiled in his sleep but didn't wake up! Moments to treasure.

Letting Go

One of the hardest things as a parent has to be letting our children get braver and braver and try things that put our hearts in our mouths. One of these is seeing them on the swings. They start off needing a push on the safe toddler swing, then they move up to the big child swings but still need a push, then one day you just stand back and thank God that playgrounds these days have a softer landing than the concrete or tarmac we had as kids:

Warming up

Gaining speed

#FlashbackFriday: Brownies and Guides

There is a real treasure trove of photographs of me as a child that I've found on my mum's computer. Looking back its hard to imagine that I was ever that age but amazing how much I looked like my daughter.


Back in the 1970s things were more traditional than they are today so as a girl I joined  Brownies. I have to say that modern uniforms are a vast improvement on what we wore then:

My daughter very kindly said I looked like a coconut! I must have just taken my promise for the photo as I didn't have all the badges on my arm that I collected at the 3 Brownie packs I was in. I can remember cooking macaroni cheese for my cooking badge. Lots and lots of fun at indoor camps and I'm sure the skills I learned then have been useful throughout my life.

Then it was onwards and I joined the Girl Guides:

That looks like a Remembrance Day photo as I'm wearing a poppy. We were made of tougher stuff then as we weren't allowed to wear a coat over the uniform even in November! Another four years of fun with proper camping and plenty of badges earned.

I must have enjoyed it as I then carried on into Ranger Guides which was a combined unit with the Venture Scouts. Lots more freedom at this level and we did crazy things like the Tour de Trigs were we attempted to walk 50 miles in 24 hours (tried twice and failed both times!). There were plenty of community projects such as painting the milestones around Beaconsfield too. 

My Guiding career ended with a stint as a Young Leader to my old Brownie pack. Good fun being a Snowy Owl but I never carried on after I went to university. My daughter decided to be a Beaver and not a Rainbow and she is now about to take her promise as a Cub. I am glad that she has taken part in a uniformed organisation and hope she has as much fun as I did and learns some useful skills along the way.