Apologies for the lateness of this post. I literally walked into the kitchen this morning and wondered why someone had moved the page of the calendar over to August?! Turns out it is actually August and the end of the month completely passed me by (what a joke)!
July has been a hugely eventful, hot and busy month in our family, filled with many exciting things and moments of joy shared together. We had our first full family trip through the caves – all kitted out in wetsuits and with a blow up dinghy it was the ultimate adventure/extreme sport enjoyed by us all! Then, of course it was kicked off with the fun and anticipation of England’s brilliant performance in the world cup (remember that?!) and in celebration of it all we went out and all purchased ourselves an England shirt of some description as you will see from this months pictures. It was such an exciting time and we took these pics to remember when history was made! They were taken of us all in Grandma’s garden after the England V Sweden match and to this day I do not know why the kids chose to pose with watering cans!
I love that these family shots are so summery and that they show us so happy and loving life. I love that we are all matching and in high hopes for England and I am grateful for how much spirit they as a team brought to our country at the beginning of July! I look at these pictures and remember those nights we chilled as a family with Pizza and treats, in anticipation to cheer on our country – together.
From cheering on England to cheering on our own little athletes, July quickly brought us sports day and it was another lovely morning spent as a family. Both Kids did super well and it was a glorious day – we felt really proud of them! And then Megan also bagged a silver medal in her Gymnastics competition too.. she is such a little star!
July actually has been quite a winning month for our family, not only from Sports day, but also with the village Show last week too. This month we have attended quite a lot of events in the village (school Summer fair, Village show and a community event at the sports & recreation grounds a couple of Fridays ago). It has been so great to mix with friends and neighbours and we have had a lot of fun as a family at each one. I love that we belong to such a lovely and happening community it really brings me a lot of joy! The village show, as I say though was especially good as it was where the kids both took 2nd place in their egg decorating competitions and I won 1st place for portrait photography (as well as “Best in the show” for photography)! I actually couldn’t believe it and kinda went a little nuts at the revelation. It was such a shock, rather funny and felt mint all at once!
I also won us a National Trust day pass on the school raffel (I only paid £2 for the tickets as a gesture) and then last week, the best news ever – A trip to Tuscany with “To Tuscany”. We are so excited and cannot even believe it – I suppose it is true that things come in threes! July has certainly been generous to us with joys and celebratory moments, like mid July when Alice turned 2 and we had a little picnic on the village green with cupcakes and treats. Alice is such a special addition to our family and it was lovely to celebrate that. The day itself was spent at The Deep with friends and a picnic, then a few days later we headed to the coast as a family and enjoyed chips on the harbour, ice creams and a boat ride around the headland. As a mother it has been so lovely to share these moments with my children and see how much Ethan and Megan fuss over her for her special day… in these moments I am especially grateful.
Finally we rounded the month off with welcoming in the Summer holidays from school and it couldn’t have come soon enough!
July 2018 was quite possibly one of the most epic and celebratory months in a very long time, but with this continued sunshine and school holidays, summer trips and adventures, and more possible job opps for Mr Smith, we are incredibly excited to see where we find ourselves in August!
In July 2018 we are Grateful for:
*Glorious Weather
*Alice in our family
*Winning a Holiday to Tuscany
*Wins at the Village show
*Getting our room just about finished
*A new mattress from Simba
*The Summer Holidays
*Spending time with village peeps
*Beach days
