Category: Daughter Diaries

{Dear Daddy}

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Dear Daddy 2020 | The Open Home

Dear Daddy Man, I crowned you with this title half a decade ago now and it sure looks set to stay. You know, there are many men out there who are fathers and many more who are also dads, but there will only ever be one Daddy Man like you. You are my first love, my role model, the man I look up to, the man that sets the bar high for all men. Thank you for always having time for me, for inviting me into your quiet space to ponder life and for knowing just how to make me laugh when I’m really trying hard not to!  Lots of love and zoidbergs from your daddy’s girl, Blossom xx

Dearest Daddy, you are my best Daddy! Did you know that? I know I tell you often but today on Father’s Day I just wanted to make sure you really, really knew it. The reason you’re my best Daddy is that although we don’t always see eye to eye, you love me deeply and always know how to make me smile again. Plus you like to go on expeditions, just like me! Sea swimming, bat hunting, sunrise watching and you’re even up for Siberia! Not everyone would be keen on traveling to the coldest city in the world with me just to search for long lost mammoths, but you are and that means a lot. Lots of love and fist pumps from your feisty girl, Bubbles xx

Dear Not Mum, after the initial disappointment that you don’t have fully functioning mammary glands like the Mummy Lady I’ve decided we can in fact still make this father son relationship work. After all, I do appreciate how you jump every time I call and how hard you try to make me smile no matter how much you have to degrade yourself. You are proving to be a loyal and hardworking subject. If only you could learn to speak baby and then I wouldn’t have to tell you three times over that I need my nappy changed, but then I guess it’s not your fault that your brain has shrunk to the size of a puny adult. Oh and thanks for helping me with my wind, we wouldn’t want to offend the ladies of the house with such manly things, it’s good to know you’ve got my back. Your son, Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All (also known as Buzz). 

Dearest Husby, what a difference a year makes!? Last Father’s Day you were truly outnumbered by your ladies and this year you have another wee man fighting in your corner. I wonder what future Father’s Days will bring? Love, love, love, love, love, love! All of my heart, Wifey xx

Happy Fathers Day!

Sweet Shop Party

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Blossom turned seven a month ago today and one of the things that she currently wants to be when she grows up is a sweet shop owner. So we decided to make her dream come true a little early with a sweet shop themed birthday tea party, but then had to put everything on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic and our island being in lockdown.

We didn’t think we’d be able to do the tea party until the end of summer at the earliest but thankfully the situation in Guernsey has improved much more quickly than expected and we were delighted to be able to hold Blossom’s belated tea party in her actual birthday month and before her new baby sibling arrives in June.

We didn’t have long to prepare but thankfully Blossom is easily pleased with fresh flowers and homemade cake and she loved playing sweet shop, dishing out sweets to her guests as they left.

It was a fun afternoon and a lovely reason to gather together after two long months of lockdown.

What was the last party you went to?

{Daughter Diaries} #67

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Daughter Diaries 67 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, the truth is this, I don’t home educate you because I want to do school with you, I home educate you because I want to do life with you! I’ve had seven splendid years with you now and you know what? I still don’t wanna miss a thing! The days can be long (especially during lockdown!) but the years are so very, very short and I feel that now, seven years in to this motherhood gig, I’m now beginning to really understand that. Dear Bubbles, your enthusiasm for phonics is to be applauded and your sponge like brain is truly impressive. You do realise though that despite being homeschoolers we don’t actually have to do school work every day of the week!? Mama does likes to have a break some times, you know, especially when she is 36 weeks pregnant and supposedly on maternity leave! Dearest Daughters, I will be forever grateful for the extra time I have gained with you by being the Mummy Teacher, how blessed I am to live the life I lead.

What blessings are you discovering during lockdown?

 

Blossom Turns Seven!

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Blossom Turns Seven! | The Open Home

I love writing and drawing, telling stories, reading books, baking cakes and eating cakes, poetry, singing and classical music, history, nature, baby goats, walking through Candie Gardens, eating chips on the beach, swimming and rock pooling, going to Rainbows, cuddles, cuddles and more cuddles, Granny’s stories and daughter dates.

My favourite toys are my bunny Boo, my matchbox mouse Fred and toy animals.

My favourite books are Milly-Molly-Mandy, The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, The Enormous Crocodile and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

My favourite movies are Ice Age, Frozen, Arthur Christmas and the TinkerBell movies.

My favourite foods are raspberries, strawberries, macaroni cheese, ice-cream, chocolate, cake, chocolate cake, chips and Granny’s yorkshire puddings!

When I grow up I want to own a sweet shop!

——

For more birthday posts about our sweet Blossom, click {HERE}.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! Mama loves you.

{Daughter Diaries} #66

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Daughter Diaries 66 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, I love your sweet anticipation as you await the arrival of your new baby brother or sister. There is no jealousy or rivalry within you, just sheer joy that there will soon be a baby in our home to love and cuddle and squidge and kiss. You’d fill our home with many more babies if you had your way and your open heart and generous spirit truly bless me. You give me courage and confidence for the days that are to come and I’m so grateful for that. Dear Bubbles, your name suggestions for baby have been interesting to say the least, but unfortunately Daddy is not up for calling the baby Buttercup, Pirate Pants or Barnacle, but I do think that last one really did have a good ring to it. Thanks for being willing to pass on that baby of the family position to another and thanks for “patiently” waiting outside the bathroom door whilst I have my relaxing bath time, just so you’re ready to help with rubbing cream into my baby bump. What would I do without you? Dearest Daughters, always remember that no matter how old you get, no matter how many children I have, you are and will always be my precious baby girls.

What funny name suggestions have you heard children come up with?

{Daughter Diaries} #65

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Daughter Diaries 65 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, it happened! It finally happened! After a year of patiently waiting you have finally lost a tooth! What a momentous milestone for you, my dear. I’m so sorry that we can’t go out and get ice-cream to celebrate as planned, but we shall just have to take a rain check on that and go when the world is a little less strange. Dear Bubbles, yesterday’s nature walk was one of the best, the perfect walk to supersede the island’s lock down. For you know amongst all the craziness of life right now, in that little garden, at that moment in time, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and it felt good to be alive. Nature has a way of making everything feel right, doesn’t it? Dearest Daughters, in the words of Rachel Carson, “there is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrain of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after the night, and spring comes after winter.” Dawn will come my loves, dawn will come.

How do you plan to make the most of your time in isolation?

{Daughter Diaries} #64

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Daughter Diaries 63 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, When starting out on our flexible learning lifestyle, teaching you to read was one of the things that daunted me the most. Many parents get to outsource this learning milestone but I was going to be solely responsible for you achieving it and I felt that weight. I’m pleased to say that you’re really doing beautifully with your reading. Are you at the same reading level as other children your age? I have no idea. But do you find beauty in books and have an eagerness to open and devour them? Yes, yes you do and that’s way more important, in my opinion. Dear Bubbles, I love that your favourite books are also, unknown to you, the same three books that your big sister selected from the bookshelf. Probably because you shared such joy together when discovering these literary beauties. Connecting through books is such a wonderful part of our homeschool life and definitely my favourite part of being the Mummy Teacher. I’ll never forget your sweet anticipation as the little wooden horse raced to find his owner, or the childish giggles that can be heard as you read about oompa loompas and enormous crocodiles with Daddy. Dearest Daughters, in the words of Ernest Hemingway, “there is no friend as loyal as a book.”

Whats your favourite children’s book?