Hodgsons at home- My family and me

Zoe Hodgson's photostream

2012-06-03T09:27:00.001+01:00

Some new photos from a walk we had around our local nature reserve.

Long overdue update

2012-04-21T22:04:00.000+01:00

Things have been very busy here in the Hodgson household and I haven't been keeping up to date with keeping you up to date on here so this is a quick update to show I haven't disapeared. Mainly I've been making jewellery and starting up in business selling it, Tem's work has been slow but it's meant he's been around to spend time with us and M has been her usual energetic happy self.

Here she is enjoying the sunshine and wearing one of my flower headbands whilst I was trying to get some photographs for the new website (www.madebyzoe.co.uk)

Here is a photo of a ladybird, M really loves ladybirds and can't understand why they don't want to be picked up by her.

A lovely photo of a bee collecting pollen from a Dandilion I spotted whilst Meira and I were playing in the garden a couple of days ago.

January catchup

2012-01-25T18:57:00.000+00:00

A quick catch up with January's events, after a busy Christmas time it doesn't seem to have slowed down at all in January. On the 6th I had a Mary Kay pamper party with the lovely Barbara Von Ow (http://www.facebook.com/bvonowMK) and we had a lovely evening of pampering, drinks and cooing over my friends newest family addition. Then on the 12th I went to the SWPP convention with Dad and had a fantastic weekend helping out, socialising with friends from last year, making new friends and getting thoroughly re-energised about photography. So much so that this Friday Tem and I are off the the local Photographic Society meeting for the first time, hopefully it will be something we can do together when we can get a babysitter, and also go individually but keep each other up to date on weeks where we cant get a sitter.

In-between and around all of this I have been making more jewellery, these are photos I have taken for my page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/MadebyZoe and this was before the convention, so maybe now I may think of ironing the background cloth first! This week I am on an intensive business course to get me started with my making my jewellery to sell. It is going really well and I have an overload of information to digest this weekend.

Tem has been busy too with his painting, this is one of his Eldar Warlocks, his painting is amazing, the depth and tone of colour he gets is brilliant.

A busy, busy time

2012-01-04T13:45:00.001+00:00

A happy New Year to everyone reading this, we seem to have ran straight into it without much notice this year. Tem and I did stay awake to welcome it in, though we were in bed and reading our books. This is not a sign of age though! No, most definitely not, just a result of the busy few weeks prior to the 31st. Well, if I'm not convincing you I am at least convincing myself of this.
So first was Christmas, I do not yet have photos of the day, though I'm sure I can get a copy of some soon so here are some of the toys being played with.

We went to Mum and Mike's on Christmas eve to dinner, swap presents and to see Mum's decorations, Mum always has great Christmas decorations. We did a bit of present delivering and receiving with friends also (thank you Lynn x) before putting up Tom's tree and putting a toy shops worth of presents around it ready for Meira to wake up to. She loved it in the morning, she was ever so good though and waited to open them until we said. she could. After we opened our stockings Tem went to pick up his Mum whilst Tom, Meira and I took Daisy for a walk. Then we opened more presents whilst waiting for Becky to come round for dinner. After dinner Dad and Cheryl came to visit and deliver their presents for us closely followed by Tems Dad who was wanting to see Meira for Christmas day too. Tom kindly drove us home in the evening where after a few remaining presents a very tired little girl went to bed ready for more visitors on Boxing Day.

On Boxing Day we had my Dad and Cheryl over for lunch, they bought Meiras birthday present with them too so we did let her open it a day early. That evening Tem and I de-christmas'd the house ready for Meiras birthday on the Wednesday to which she awoke to more presents. We had Becky and Nick over for lunch and Michael, Wendie and Ava (their grand-daughter) over for tea. On Thursday Tem took Meira to see His Mum and Auntie and on Friday we had a birthday party for Meira and her friends.

Meira was so excited to have all her friends over, I think we may have to organise a big playdate in the summer. We didn't attempt any party games but they all had great fun playing with the toys we had out and drawing on the sheet of paper I had stuck to the dining room floor.

On New Years Day we had another days of visits with my Mum, Tems Dad, Wendie and Ava over for a mouth wateringly tasty piece of gammon cooked by Tem. Meira also received her final birthday present for this year from my Mum, a play kitchen so she can cook along with Mummy and Daddy. She absolutely loves it and we have been made many cups of tea so far.

This one is of Meira using the paints we got here as a part of her Birthday present, as you can imagine she had great fun, as did we.

It's begining to feel like Christmas

2011-12-15T19:29:00.001+00:00

With the room decorated now we've been able to take a step back, Tem's had chance to catch his breath, and decorate for Christmas. Along with the hanging decorations & tinsel from previous years, I found a lovely star for the top of the tree at the local charity shop & we have a lovely Robin in a snowy window which my Grandma sent for Meira last year. I also got my sewing machine out today and made a draft excluder for the dining/kitchen door. A simple enough thing to make but a good achievement for me as I've not sewed more than a button for quite a while.

Dining room all decorated

2011-12-13T14:12:00.000+00:00

Light up, paint & paper all on the walls and even a Christmas tree, Yay!

Decorating & days out

2011-12-02T16:09:00.001+00:00

Well its been a little while since I posted so I'll try & remember all the little things we've been up to. Firstly the decorating has leapt forwards, the walls are plastered & sanders, the ceiling is papered & painted, the coving is just awaiting another coat or two of paint, the woodwork (bar the wall with the radiator) is sanded, sugarsoaped and rinsed. So this weekend we're hoping to finish the woodwork, cleaning & painting, finish the coving, and get the lining paper on the walls.

M & I had a lovely day out with Uncle Tom & Daisy Dog in the week, we went to a local canal where we spent 3 hours walking, eating lunch, getting muddy and spotting ducks & canal boats, it was such good fun.

TTBS November Moodboard

2011-11-26T09:19:00.001+00:00

TTBS November Moodboard, a photo by Zoe Hodgson on Flickr.

A bracelet I made after following this blog, though the page link is not for the November Moodboard you can find the link on the lower left of their page http://tacklethatbeadstash.blogspot.com/2011/11/stashbusting-beadalong-progress-week-6.html

Christmas Lights

2011-11-23T08:57:00.000+00:00

On Sunday Meira, myself and my Mum went met up with T & R to see the switching on of the Christmas lights. It was so busy we could get into Town Hall Square so we saw the lights come on whilst we were looking around the Christmas market. Meira had great fun listening to the SV Strings & Flute busking and also watching the fire jugglers.

We havn't had such a great week as Meira has not been very well, first it was teething but then she picked up a heavy cold and this lasted for about 10 days. Then on Friday night she developed an rash as a reaction to something, it appeared on and off till end of Sunday though it didn't bother her.

Over the weekend Tem was able to get the chimney breast in the dining room plastered, after a fiasco with the first bag setting before he even got a few trowls on the wall, and the coving chalked in though that he had to do by hand as the nozzle broke!

A two week catch up

2011-11-16T07:53:00.000+00:00

We brought the Dolls house down from Meiras bedroom as she has really started to play with it, carrying our little role plays like knocking on the doors and shopping for food and going to bed, it is lovely to watch.

Tem got a bit of time this last weekend to do some more to the dining room so the ceiling has been papered and I think this weekend the chimney breast and right-hand alcove will be plastered.

and still on the house theme this is our bargain mirror (£30!) which looks lovely hanging on the previously blank wall in our living room.

Meira and I have been getting into the Christmas spirit and making some felt and button hanging trees to give to family to hang on their Christmas trees. Meira picks out the buttons for the trees and I sew them on, after 3 or so buttons Meira is bored though and either happily plays with the buttons or pulls my arm to go and find something more interesting to play so they are taking a while. I'm determined not to 'take over' though and to continue letting her pick and help.

And these are some Christmas tree earrings I made for a friend, I had been playing around with the wire and made the tree shape, minus the beads, which she saw and asked if I would make something similar into earrings for her to wear at work, so I did and here they are. I am really pleased with how they came out.

2011-11-03T10:11:00.001+00:00

Last week was half term here which meant that a few of the groups we normally go to weren't on so we had a couple more play dates and walks around the town. Meira went to Tem's Mum's on Thursday to celebrate Diwali and had a fantastic time meeting new people and wearing beautiful clothes which in her own words made her look like 'Princess Meira'. I should have some photos soon so I'll add them when I get them.

On Saturday we had a visit from Lynn and her Dad, Pat. Lynn brought Meira a box full of books, the photo here of Meira reading was about a third of the books. There are some lovely titles here which I remember reading as a child.

On Sunday Meira and I made Pumpkin soup, yum. Earlier in the week I bought a pumpkin and used half to make a sausage and pumpkin casserole which Meira enjoyed, turns out she's not keen on soup. Last night I turned the remaining soup into a lamb curry and after some patience and cunning from Tem she emptied her bowl. It's becoming hard to tell now when she's playing up for a reason or just because she can!

I had time to do some jewellery making at the end of last week, though Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday she didn't nap so as she drops her naps I'll have less time to play. But I do have a new medium to play with, Resin. I have seen some lovely clear bangles with items and pictures imbedded into them and after some research I found it is something I could have a go with at home. Do I orders a small amount of resin and a mold and I made a bangle with clear resin and red glitter. It worked really well for a 1st try, and even better as a lesson. I learnt that your drying surface needs to not only look flat but to actually be flat, I learnt that the type of mold I used doesn't give you shiny sides (which I wanted) and that if you file a rough edge with glitter in it you get an even rougher edge where the glitter comes away. I have ordered a second mold made from silicone which should ensure I get a shine to my finished surface, it is also a different shaped bangle so I'll have two to play with.

Aside from the resin I had time to make a few jewelled presents for Christmas and a couple of birthdays happening before then, and a few other pieces, which I've put photos of here, which are as yet not for anyone in particular. It will be 2-3 weeks before my new resin mold is delivered so I'm working on different wire wrapping techniques, as shown in the white earrings here, and I have some non tarnish copper wire now which I can practice with more cheaply than with the silver plated and it really sets of some of the beads I have which were loosing some of their beauty by being next to the silver colour.

More weekend fun

2011-10-26T08:41:00.000+01:00

Tem thinks Meira has got my organising trait, I was sorting out some of the odds and ends which come out of his work pockets, screws, drill bits, wall plugs etc., into some organiser boxes and Meira was helping. Infact the boxes you can see her playing with in the photo she emptied and then rearranged putting them all back in, mostly keeping different colours together. The second photo is Meiras footprint, we made some more play-dough at the end of last week, it was just self-raising flour and water mixed together and Meira loved helping to mix it, we mainly cut out geometric shapes, followed by moulding apples, pears and sausages, all at Meiras request. She makes a good pear and sausage shape.

I also did a bit more knitting so my scarf is getting longer, its now 16" or 41cm depending on how you measure. And I set up a Facebook group called Made by Zoe (http://www.facebook.com/groups/239906382734600/) so I can show my Facebook friends what projects I'm working on and what I've made, like some of the jewellery I have put onto here, though I probably should show some more on here I'm being cautious not to put on any made for Christmas presents. I have put a photograph of a mini beaded Christmas wreath I made using a 'How to' leaflet I got from Beads Direct in my last bead order. I'm really pleased with it, it does need some ribbon to hang it from but it was a great project to use up some plastic beads I had laying around.

Baking with Meira

2011-10-26T08:19:00.003+01:00

On Sunday Becky came over and we made some cupcakes with Meira, it was very messy and great fun! In the first photo you can see Becky pouring flour into a bowl so Meira could spoon it into the bowl on top of the scales, it took a while to get to the right amount but it was good to see Meira doing it herself, with a little help. She loved the mixing part, and when it came to pouring the mixture into the moulds (putting it into a jug and pouring worked best with Meira helping) she pointed to where it need to go. Her favourite part though seemed to be the tasting, both of the mixture from the bowl and of the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder on the table.

A bead week

2011-10-17T07:38:00.000+01:00

My wonderful husband gave me some of his hard earnt overtime money to buy myself some more jewellery making components. I had so much fun choosing what I wanted, and both websites I used (www.beadsdirect.co.uk & www.sanctuarybeads.co.uk) were so quick in delivering them I didn't have to wait more than two days for it all too arrive. Some of it was ordered with Christmas presents in mind, some because I needed it (clasps & headpins) and the rest because they are beautiful beads. I had great fun creating the necklace you see here on the first evening and I'm really pleased with it, so pleased infact I put a photo onto my Facebook page and I was chuffed with the number of people who liked it. The past two evenings I have spent going through all the bracelets and necklaces which were almost finished, but due to either not having enough clasps or my attention being on a new idea, and completing them. So now I feel all up to date with my jewellery and free to start a new piece. I was too tired last night though so I picked up my knitting, if I apply the same determination to complete I may have a new scarf by Xmas :-) It will be the first thing I have knitted since making Sindy scarfs as a child, and as its now about 25cm long (16cm wide) I think it has a chance of being ready in time.

Oh yes, and this is what happens when you give a toddler a box of plastic beads to play with ('Oooo, pretty Mummy'), they don't stay in the box for very long. You'd think I'd have this sussed by now wouldn't you?!

Messy play

2011-10-13T13:46:00.000+01:00

These are from a week or so ago, we had a very creative day with the lovely sunshine we had that week. water play in the garden in the morning followed by cornflour and water in the afternoon, which was followed by more water fun when I brought the washing up bowl to her to wash off her hands and feet in. All great fun.

Fun with stickers

2011-10-01T10:35:00.001+01:00

Meira loves stickers, although she's not too pleased that they loose their stick and mostly don't come off from paper again. We haven't got any at home so today Meira and I made some using some plain white labels and colouring pencils. She stuck them to a picture we drew, to herself, to me and onto her cup. We then used then to attach wool as hair to a picture of a princess and it gave me an idea. So I made a spider and a bird and attached them both to a length of wool so the could fly. I had fun with this, Meira was more interested in taking the wool off from them then using a sticker to re-attach it. We've had a very fun morning.

Fun in the Garden

2011-09-29T12:45:00.000+01:00

What lovely weather we've been having this week, and Meira and I have been taking advantage playing out in the garden and taking (pushchair free!) walks down to the park.

Echinacea flower for Grandma to see.

Flour and salt dough fun

2011-09-27T15:52:00.000+01:00

Last week I made up some flour and salt dough using a book Mum had given to me, which she herself used to do the same for the three of us. Suffice to say last weeks playing was all about the dough. How it felt to squidge it, what patterns we could put on its surface, what shapes we could find to cut out of it, and that was just me having fun! As you can see from the photo Meira had as much fun as me. I'll try a cooked dough next and maybe add some colour to it, this one is a bit sticky so maybe the cooked one wont be so sticky, apparently good for drying in the oven, although I did try that with this dough and it worked ok.

2011-09-19T16:31:00.001+01:00

Again another week has flown by and this week has been filled with music, conkers, coughs, friends and a mouse.

Tem has had a hard week of it workwise and has been there most evenings until Meira had been asleep so she has missed him a lot this week. Last Sunday Meira and I had a lovely visit from Becky & an interesting but not so nice visit from a mouse, in the kitchen! So last week at Meira's nap times I was bleaching & scrubbing the kitchen, Felix caught the mouse for us on Sunday but we had traps down as we didn't know if he was alone. The traps remained empty and on Wednesday I found some pipes leading from the outhouse into the back of a cupboard which had gaps around them, the front door for the mouse. So I filled them with expanding foam and after more cleaning I felt really mouse free by Friday. Yay!

Monday saw the start of our Music Makers group again and I think the break did Meira good as she really joined in this time. It is Monday again today do I'm hoping she enjoys it just as much today. On Tuesday we took a walk up into the new estate in the morning, we were heading to a friends house to drop in a Christmas card order (already?! Trying to be organised as I don't see me making any this year). Meira walked half of the way there, which didn't surprise me, but the she walked half way back, which did. Her growth spurt has definitely strengthened her legs. That afternoon we went to the last half hour of playgroup followed by a trip to the park with Meira's friend Zak and his Mum, Kat. After a lovely play on the slide together Meira found something fantastic all over the grass on the walk out, conkers! We collected enough to fill a vase which is now on our window sill looking lovely and autumnal. I had wondered if I could use them as large beads but as they dry they shrivel up and I was attracted to the smooth shine.

Wednesday we were planning to go to Messy Play but Meiras nap coincided directly with it, regardless of my attempts to tire her earlier for an early nap. Thursday was a very busy day, in the morning we went into Corby with Kate and her daughter, Jessica, with the idea of buying Meira some new shoes. She grew out of hers about 3 weeks ago and has been making good wear of her sandals. But as she has just grown her feet may still be so on advice we are holding off a week, I did pick her up a pair of (supermarket) trainers to see her through though. After lunch and a quick shop in Asda we raced back to Kates and Meira and I went to find Jeanette and Faye who were on a nature walk with the Sure Start group. We found them as they were heading back to stick leaves and twigs to paper, my favourite thing, so we joined them. After jeanette and I had created a couple of masterpieces, and Meira and Faye had pulled faces in the mirror and played with the lichen, we headed back to ours for a cuppa. The we had a visit from Michelle who had been to Market Harborough for work. It was so lovely to see her as its been a while since we had a catch up, besides briefly at Tems party.

Friday was a quiet home day and we spent most of the afternoon in the garden. Saturday was similar as when tem did get home from work in the afternoon he was so tired he went for a sleep. Sunday though was a lovely family day for us. We went for Sunday lunch with Jeanette, Martin and Faye to a pub in Kettering then just played in the afternoon, which Meira really enjoyed.

Quite a busy week all in all, and no slow down for the one ahead I don't think. I'll try and post a bit more frequently do there's not so much to read, but I'm sure life will race ahead again :)

Growing pains!

2011-09-07T18:46:00.001+01:00

Well Meira has definately had a growth spurt recently as I have been seeing the effects this week. She has been able to open the backdoor by herself for a couple of weeks now which hasn't (so far) proved a problem; she can not get out of the gate and she is tall enough to get down the steps. Yesterday though she found she could open the front door, yikes! Luckly I was there so she didn't get anywhere but I am having to make sure I lock the door now. The today she realised she could post things through the letter box, and if she stands on a dining chair she can lift the lid on the small fish tank. This she did whilst I was cooking dinner, when I looked through to see why she was so quite she had taken some computer disks and dropped them in, thankfully I had transferred the photos from some of them onto the external harddrive at the weekend (our wedding photos from guests no less!) But I think when they dry the others should be fine too.

Grrr. Deep breath. And the week continues.

What I've been up to

2011-09-02T14:12:00.004+01:00

Well I am very lucky that most Friday's Meira spends the day with Tem's mum and I get a day to myself. Aside from the jobs which are easier to do with out Meira under my feet most recently I have been spending this time making more jewellery. My new product to use today had been Memory Wire which holds its shape and size in the coils you buy it in. So here are 3 memory wire necklaces I have made today :)

Surprise!

2011-08-31T15:29:00.000+01:00

As most reading this will know it was Tem's 30th birthday last week and he was quite happy to have it understated and quiet, you'd have thought he'd have known that the Field in me wouldn't let it pass without a family party! On Sunday we went to my mums house for what he thought was a quiet Sunday dinner but turned out to be a small surprise party for him. After the initial shock, it took him a good half hour to talk to me, he did enjoy it thankfully, though not so much the being sang 'Happy Birthday' to part. Meira also had a brilliant time and I am convinced she thought it was her party.

Two weeks have passed

2011-08-24T09:49:00.001+01:00

I have just realised that nearly 2 weeks have passed since I last updated what we have been up to and a few things have happened. The weekend before last Tem and Penny put up the coving in the dining room and boxed in a couple of pipes, its looking much better with that up, it feels more finished.
Meira and I have been in the garden as much as weather has allowed. Meira is a fantastic digger and soil mover, and is becoming an excellent bug spotter. She has been helping me to put some log roll around the border to the grass and helping me to water all the plants on sunny days. I have put a photo of the boarder here and also a photo of my Echinacea flower for Grandma to see, hopefully next year yours will look like this.
Last week on Tuesday we had a play afternoon here with 3 of Meira's friends; Faye, Zac and Tyler, and their Mummies. It was a lovely afternoon even though the weather meant we were all inside a little cramped with the amount if toys removed from the toy box. I set up the small play tent and play table (filled with toy animals, not water) in the dining room so the children could use both rooms and it worked quite well.
This Monday was Tem's 30th birthday but as he was working we celebrated on Sunday. We just had a lovely family day, decorating free, a nice walk over to the nature reserve strip, and a lovely Sunday dinner. Meira and I baked some fairy cakes topped with butter cream and mini marshmallows on Monday for Tem, it was a struggle not to eat them all before he got home from work though, he he.
Yesterday Meira and I had Lynn and her nephew Joshua come to visit. They came on the bus, well 3 buses here and 3 back and with the change time I think it took just over 2 hours each way! It was a much appreciated visit and lovely to see Joshua. Meira had great fun playing with the ball with him and trying to copy him heading the ball, made myself and Lynn laugh.

Summer Children's Fun Day

2011-08-14T07:58:00.001+01:00

On Thursday Jeanette and I braved the drizzle to take Meira and Faye to a children's fun day at a national park in Northamptonshire and had a great day. Dispite the on and off rain there were quite a few people there enjoying themselves and quite a bit for the children to do, Meira and Faye played in a sensory tent, coloured in a picture of circus performers, saw inside a police car, played in a sandpit, and decorated an elephant made from a milk bottle. We had taken a picnic too and after all that play and some yummy food both girls slept soundly on the way home.

Busy times

2011-08-10T11:14:00.000+01:00

It feels like a little while since I updated what we've been up to, though looking at the last post it wasn't that long ago. With the general day to day things Meira and I have been to playgroups, the park and round to play at a few peoples houses and Tem has been working, decorating his fish tank with a large piece of lovely shaped wood (followed by a lot of water changes due to the discolouration as the wood settles) and sanding down the plastered ceiling in the dining room.

Due to the sanding it looked like a snow storm was hitting our dining room on Sunday so Meira and I went to visit Becky and ended up having a lovely day at Ikea. Becky bought Meira a cubed tent for playing in the garden with and it has been a hit! I'll get some photos of her playing with it, I promised Bex, and possibly Daddy too as both of them have been throwing balls into and out of the round holes and openings.

Yesterday Meira and I had an visit to my Grandma and Grandad's house with my Mum, it was a lovely family day and we had such great weather too we spent the day in the garden. Meira had great fun looking at all the flowers, fruit and vegetables, playing with a bowl of water, and chasing butterflys, and when we went for a walk around to the library I though we would have to leave her there as she was so happy reading with her Grandma.

This week we are going to a summer fate on Thursday with Jeanette and Faye, looking forward to having a picnic so hopefully the weather cheers up again by then. It's Zumba again for me tonight, yes I have kept it up and I am really enjoying it, then Meira is going to stay at her Dada's (Tems Mum) house over night on Friday and Tem and I are going to see the new Harry Potter film, really looking forward to that.

So it's bye bye from me until the next update, here's hoping the weather stays sunny for picnics and playing in Meiras new tent so I'll have some lovely photos for next week.