Vera One Year Old!

We've had a wonderful day! The sun has been shining nearly all day and we started off with breakfast outside and a few presents. Vera had porridge as per usual to set her up for the day. The postman arrived with some more presents from Ireland and Bristol: auntie Ruth + family send two lovely dresses, unle Joe & family sent toy instruments and shoes, Nana & Joe some money and Lynsey sent a lovely Farm book!

Mormor and morfar have spoilt Vera rotten with new Kavat shoes, a great autumn and winter jacket, a books, money for a paddling pool and new pyjamas!

We took a morning walk around the village and went to the swings and Vera had a bit of a nap.

Vera, mum and I went to Sawston Health Clinic at 11am for Vera's 1 year health check. She is 78,5 cms long, weighs 10.82 kgs and her head circumference is 48,5 cm. She is un the upper percentiles for her height as she is quite tall. The health visitor asked us a lot of questions and watched Vera explore the room and play.

After lunch, we had some birthday cupcakes. Saving the birthday cake for the proper celebration. Then the gang went for a longer walk, followed by a BBQ.

Long, intense day with lots of playing with new toys and mormor and morfar!

Mamma's meatballs and pasta =

Carnage!

Sunday - sun, friends and house work

An early start again, and after some breakfast we set off on our housework again. Vera got a bit fed up around ten, so her and I went for a walk and went to the swings. She fell asleep on the way back and had a nice sleep in the shade again. It's another one of those scorching days, 28 degrees.

After lunch Vera and I wen to Jesus Green to meet Tahlia, Brian, Charlie, Barry, Nic, John and the girls and more for some drinks and a catch up.
http://www.panoramicearth.com/1404/Cambridge/Jesus%20Green
We had a picnic and it was great cathcing up with Tahlia and everyone but also to people watch and experience the town in the height of summer. The punting touts were out in force.

We had another BBQ at home, harissa chicken and salad. Gorgeous and got to make the most of it!

Tahlia

 Nieve and Vera

 Nic and Vera (who's spotted something)

 Bar Lane is ready to welcome the Swedes!

 Vera eating sweetcorn while daddy is busy with the BBQ

Moving about

Productive

Today has been one of these days where you surprise yourself how much you can achieve! It helps to get up at 7 I guess! By 9:30 I had been to the tip twice and then Mark and I were cleaning and pottering about all day. I took Vera for a walk as she was tired and she fell asleep almost immediately and slept outside in the shade with for two hours.
She woke up smiling! Mark put together our new BBQ and we finished the day with spicy sausages and a French potato salad. Vera  had home made meatballs (made a batch of them too) and potatoes and finished every last morsel. She truly is a great eater, for which I am very grateful!

The Baby Grand...!

Jubilee Tea Party at Nursery

As part of the upcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Vera's nursery had a Jubilee Tea Party in the gardens today. I joined them at 3:30 when it kicked off. As we have such glorious weather it was enjoyed on the cricket lawn behind Hinxton Hall.

Vera and her fellow Piglets were all sitting under a marquee having sandwiches, water and playing! There was home made bunting and the gang were wearing their home made hats. Vera is sporting hers below.
Vera was true to form trying to sweep various electrical equipment and I had to stop her from taking an iPhone and a camera. She also tried her first ice lolly, which was a strange sensation but nice all the same!

Then of course, after a looong flight and coach journey, we welcomed Mark home!

Summer!

We are experiencing a heat wave at the moment! + 27 degrees today and there's nothing better than spending time outside, without the need for lots and lots of clothes! (And tasting earth)

[ps if her hair looks greasy, it's full of sun screen!]

Musical

As you know Vera loves music. This morning when we arrived at Terina's, Theo had their little portable CD player out, which as two micro phones attached. Theo passed one of the mics to Vera and said "here you go Vera". Vera picked it up and then they both started singing "ahhhhhh" into the microphones.
Too cute!
I wish I had a photo or a video to illustrate and hope to catch it the next time!

Good morning!

This is Vera ready to hit the road to Terina's this morning! She had fed herself porridge, whilst I patiently watched & tried to keep her clean! :)

Tuesday

Summer has finally arrived! It's been a glorious day and me and some colleagues sneaked out at lunch time to go to the annual Cambridge Beer Festival (http://www.cambridgebeerfestival.com/viewnode.php?id=230)
. It was very hot, so we had a refreshing drink and some chat. Very nice to get out of the office!
Vera had also had a good day, playing and laughing with Theo. Terina had filmed them playing together, so looking forward to seeing that and hopefully share it on the blog.
She was tired and a bit impatient when she got home. Still snotty. But very head strong (wonder where she gets that from?!)
Wanted to feed herself again, so here are some almost identical photos to those the other day.


Mmmmm. Messy. Like aunty Catrine said on the phone today. You might as well look away. It's going to get messy!

My colleagues Gordon, Charlie and Roger at the Beer Festival.

 Johanna and Keith

 Keith and Harith

 Roger and Rafik

 Gordon and Charlie

 And we're back home!

 Annoyed. But I have no idea why. I look forward when she can tell me what's wrong!

Meanwhile, this is where Mark is hanging out
http://www.asms.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx