Daughter Diaries

{Daughter Diaries} #51

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Daughter Diaries 51 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, what a difference a year makes! Looking back on your reception photo shoot I can’t quite believe how much you have grown over this past year. Our home ed lifestyle appears to suit you well and I’m so thankful that we took that leap into whole life learning. You’re transforming into quite the young lady – you even have a later bedtime to prove it! – Mummy is very proud. Dear Bubbles, you are just so cheeky and way too funny! Photobombing was just too good an opportunity to miss and it made us all laugh hard. Thank you for taking your role as the family joker seriously and for making joy and laughter part and parcel of our daily lives. We will live longer and have more wrinkles because of you. Dearest Daughters, may you always keep your sense of wonder and your sense of humour!

What’s been making you laugh lately?

 

{Daughter Diaries} #50

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Daughter Diaries #50 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, our lazy hazy summer days are coming to a close and the sweet anticipation of autumn stirs us both. Soon we will be slipping back into the rhythm of our homeschool days and I look forward to all that this school year holds for you and for me as we stretch our minds and feed our souls. Dear Bubbles, your flower power dress has been your trademark look this summer and an outfit I will always hold dear for both my girls have made sweet summer memories whilst wearing it. In this dress you’ve discovered the pleasure of ice-cream, the fascination of frogs and the exhilaration of hiking and I’ve remembered those petit joys of motherhood all over again. Dearest Daughters, may you always stop to smell the roses, watch those wiggling tadpoles, eat that melting ice-cream and feel that soft sand beneath your feet, for these are the little things that actually turn out to be the big things.

What summer memories have you made this year?

{Daughter Diaries} #49

Jessica2 Comments

Daughter Diaries 49 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, forgive me my sweet for my patience has been running low of late in this summer heat and I long for this month’s daughter date, to love you well, to make things right and to be that fun mummy I so desperately want to be. Thank you for your kindness and grace, your forgiveness and love even in the moments when I fall short. Dear Bubbles, beach days with you are turning out to be a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of mess! Your ability to cake yourself in sand is pretty impressive to say the least and your ability to bring joy to our days so very welcome. Dearest Daughters, may you continue to spread joy wherever you go and may you be quick to forgive, especially when the person you need to forgive is yourself.

Where’s your favourite beach? Portelet is a favourite of ours.

{Dear Daddy}

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Dear Daddy 2018 | The Open Home

Dear Daddy Man, what’s your bestest thing to do with me? My favourite thing to do with you is rock climbing and rock-pooling. Or maybe it’s swimming or playing trains? Daughter dates with you are also pretty special so I think perhaps that may be my bestest thing, but then I also love the impromptu dance sessions in the kitchen and playing hide and seek will never get old. There are just too many fun things to choose from! Quality time with you is just my bestest thing to do because you really are the most wonderful Daddy in the whole wide blooming world. True story. Lots of love and sweet smooches from Blossom xx

Dearest Daddy, you make me feel so big and brave! So brave in fact that I can whizz down ginormous slides, face giant octopuses and laugh in the face of fierce alligators. When I grow up I really will walk round the whole island with you because I’m going to be tough and strong and determined just like you. Here’s hoping you can put up with my cheeky antics and constant jibber jabber for 12+ hours, but then you put up with Uncle Chi Chi for that amount of time, so why not me!? Lots of love and fairy kisses from your travel buddy, Bubbles xx

Dear Husby, how blessed we both are to be raising these girls together and how blessed we girls are to have you in our lives. You love us and nurture us, protect and provide for us and we love you for it. Thank you for taking care of the big things and being there for the little things. All of my heart, Wifey xx

Happy Father’s Day!

{Daughter Diaries} #48

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Daughter Diaries 48 | The Open Home

Dear Blossom, quality time with you is just the sweetest thing because you really do know how to enjoy the simple things in life. Trips to the library, strolls through town, sipping milkshakes and sitting on random green stools – all are enough to fill up your love tank when done together, it sure fills up mine too. Dear Bubbles, your big smooches actually bruise my cheeks you love me that much! Beneath your loud, raucous toddler exterior there is a tender heart and affectionate soul. Thank you for stopping randomly in the day to tell me you love me and calling me back into your room at night just to make sure I know. Dearest Daughters, thank you for loving me so fiercely and so faithfully, your love for your mama gives me wings.

What little things make you feel loved?

Flower Fairy Tea Party

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Flower Fairy Tea Party | The Open HomeThe Open Home 990The Open Home 991The Open Home 995Flower Fairy Tea Party | The Open HomeFlower Fairy Tea Party | The Open HomeFlower Fairy Tea Party | The Open HomeFlower Fairy Tea Party | The Open Home

For Blossom’s 4th birthday she was given The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by her Granny and Grandpa. It’s a favourite of hers and she can often be found flipping through it and admiring the beautiful illustrations. It’s also a regular read at our weekly Poetry Tea Time.

She told she would like a Flower Fairy Tea Party for her 5th birthday party back when we were planning a Paddington Bear one for her baby sister last December and she has waited every so patiently for it to arrive.

As always it was a simple theme to pull off. I already had a Flower Fairy postcard set of the original Cicely Mary Barker illustrations which we used as invitations and for the decor I simply used the items we had in the cupboards and bought some flowers from M&S.

The cake was a special request by Blossom and my first attempt at not only a layer cake but an ombre cake. I went for the simplest version I could find to increase my chances of success and was pleased with the results even if it wasn’t quite as neat and tidy as the original recipe.

As always my faithful Mum provided the balloons and the sandwiches and one of Blossom’s sweet aunts made cupcakes (something I am not very good at!)

I also managed to squeeze in some extra baking earlier in the week and made coconut ice and fairy biscuit bites which went down a treat.

Now I know some people don’t care for themes, but I do enjoy the decorating and I’m pleased to say it definitely was not wasted on Blossom who kept spontaneously thanking me during set up and announcing how beautiful everything was, it was the sweetest thing!

What was the last party you went to?

Blossom Turns Five!

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Blossom Turns Five! | The Open Home

I love singing and dancing, dressing up with my sister, tea parties, hide and seek with Daddy, nature walks and nature journaling, bird watching, walks through Candie Gardens, babyccinos, library visits, books, poetry tea time, more books, drawing and colouring, collecting shells, running fast, the postbox game, daughter dates and giving big smooches.

My favourite toys are my bunny Boo, my dolls, toy animals, play kitchen, dolls house and wooden train set.

My favourite books are The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter, Brambly Hedge, James Herriot’s Treasury for Children, Paddington Bear, The Dolls House Fairy, The Little House and Bear & Mouse books.

My favourite foods are raspberries, strawberries, yogurt, twisty cheesy pasta, chips, macaroni cheese, Granny’s Yorkshire puddings, ice-cream, chocolate, cake and especially chocolate cake!

When I grow up I want to be a Mummy and an ambulance driver!

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

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! Mama loves you.