A fresh look and a heat wave

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Pamela Agar

Look at my lovely new blog design! Big thanks to Ellie Illustrates for the beautiful design – what a treat!

If only I had a super exciting post to share that was worth of such a professional look! The recent heatwave has result in so many water fights and hose sessions that I haven’t dared have my camera out. But we’ve certainly been enjoying the sunshine. I love how easy it is to get ready and out of the house now the children are in shorts, tshirts and sandals – no more faffing around with socks and jumpers.

They have spent almost every second of the day outside and are brown as berries! We had a wonderful day last weekend at Matt’s old secondary school where he celebrated 20 years since leaving (how are we that old?!). He went to a boarding school set in some seriously stunning grounds. It was boiling hot, but the children ran and ran having a brilliant time exploring with their friend, Rosita (whose dad randomly went to school with Matt). They jumped on the bouncy castle until they were scarlet and then ran riot around Matt’s old boarding house – jumping on the beds and hiding in the rooms.

They were so hyper that it perhaps wasn’t wise visiting Matt’s parents straight afterwards. They continued to run riot around their garden, splashing in the paddling pool and chasing each other. I’m not sure Koko, their new puppy, quite knew what to make of my crazy duo. Despite the chaos, it was lovely to catch up with Dick and Michele and to enjoy cuddles with the dogs. Not sure we’ll be invited back for a while though 😉

Here they are in a very rare stationery moment!

They slept well that night!

On Sunday, we were back in Brixton for our usual morning swim. Alex’s independent swimming is coming along in leaps and bounds. We were worried that he enjoys being underwater so much that he wasn’t listening to a thing in his lessons, but he can suddenly swim for a good 5 metres in a really good, flat position so clearly some of the instructions were going in. Now he just needs to learn to take a breath without having to stand up and he’ll be there! Amazing.

Other weekend highlights over the past couple of weeks include a fabulous trip to Burgess Park to the British Cycling BMX series competition. Some of the youngest competitors were only a couple of years older than Alex! The pro racing was incredible to watch, although I think the children enjoyed the nearby playground a little bit more – here they are showing some sibling love!

We also stumbled upon the concert series in Ruskin Park a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed listening to the London Saxaphone Choir on the traditional bandstand complete with deckchairs – a very British treat after a work trip to Washington DC the week before!

Apart from those highlights, it’s been a really quiet fortnight. Matt and I have both had particularly busy times at work – and the children have been having a blast with their childminder. It seems like they’ve spent the last week entirely in their swimwear at every waterplay in Southwark!

And occasionally with clothes on, they’ve kept cool with lollies and ice cream.

Thanks for the fab photos Jacqui! Life is good when you’re 2 and 4!

We’ve got a busy Summer ahead with our annual camping trip fast approaching, the legendary Lambeth Country Show and family holidays to Scotland and France. And of course, the build up to Alex starting school- he has just 2 weeks left of nursery and only 6 weeks left with his childminder (although brilliantly she’ll be looking after him a couple of nights a week after school and during some of the holidays – phew!).

Close to home

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Pamela Agar

One thing I love about living in Herne Hill are the number of friends we’ve made here. There are still a cluster of our NCT class friends in the area, and over the years we’ve met more people through the children. It’s such a family friendly part of town that we nearly always bump into people we know when we’re out and about – and the children seem to have so many friends at school and at their childminder that they know way more people than we do!

A couple of weeks ago we had a bit of an impromptu reunion – with our formerly local friend, Katie visiting from her new home in Australia with her family. My NCT friend Bryony and I arranged to meet her for brunch and a play in Brockwell Park. And at the very last minute, we realised our friend Jess was free too – so our tally became 8 adults and 8 children!

Here are Freddie, Jake and Alex reunited over breakfast!

After our huge fry-ups, we let the children loose in the park to burn off some energy. There was a lot of running involved:

And serious amounts of climbing and clambering:

Us mums enjoyed a lengthy gossip and catch-up, after being apart for ages (I’m not sure what I said that shocked Jess so much here!). Meanwhile, the children had a lot of catching up to do themselves – they all got along so well!

It was brilliant seeing Sophie and Emily together again – they spent a lot of time together in Katie and my early weeks of maternity leave!

The following weekend, we made the most of our garden being finally finished by hosting a BBQ in our garden. The weather was stunning and we had such a chilled out time catching up with other local friends. I love the picture of Rosita, Alex, Sophie, Arlo and Sam entirely focused on a film (which we put on to try and get them all to sit down still for a few minutes!)

We really have enjoyed spending time in our garden – I’m suddenly feeling garden proud and even a bit enthused about pottering around in the flowerbeds! We picked up a second hand see-saw the other day – which doesn’t work so well as Alex and Sophie are so different in weight! They love it nevertheless!

We also procured some water pistols which have given them no end of fun – it’s a bit one-sided as Sophie isn’t very good at shooting hers. But so far, the uneven battles don’t seem to have dampened their friendship!

When not in the garden, we’ve been getting creative in the kitchen with a spot of baking with daddy (I do love Sophie’s choice of attire here with her heavy boots and nappy combo!)

And lots of drawing – here’s Alex very proud of his interpretation of Thunderbird 2!

To close this rather miscellaneous catch-up post – here are a couple of silly snaps of Sophie and I “racing” in the park. She’s just beginning to get interested in her balance bike so we’re trying to encourage her with some races in Sunray Gardens!

To the New Forest for an old friend

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Pamela Agar

After such a promising April, I find myself very behind with my blog – and a massive backlog of photographs to get through! I blame the most crazy couple of weeks, involving a trip down to Brighton for a couple … Continue reading →

The Long Walk (or should I say toddle)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Pamela Agar

It’s time for a photo post! Having missed my nieces’ first birthday during our trip to Wales, we were long overdue a get together – and we finally managed one last weekend in Windsor’s beautiful Great Park. Turned out it … Continue reading →

Girly weekend

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Pamela Agar

Just time for a quick post to try and catch up a bit. A couple of weeks ago, I ended up hosting a bit of a girly weekend in Herne Hill. It wasn’t quite the same as the girly weekends I would have arranged of my youth, but there was still music, dancing, lots of yummy food and plenty of laughing!

My uni friend, Katharine, came to stay with her daughter Emilia. It was a flying visit, but it was great fun catching up with Katharine – and better fun watching a friendship between our daughters develop! Can’t wait to see them as they get older!

Sophie took her little friend to one of her favourite music classes – Bea’s Baby Bop – for a bit of a dance and sing. They loved the shakers and musical instruments, and Sophie impressed us with her knowledge of all the songs and actions.

We then headed up to the Horniman Museum – one of our favourite South London spots. Our little ladies loved the aquarium, although a bit of an Alex tantrum curtailed our visit somewhat!

But things went better in the wonderful music garden where we enjoyed the far reaching views of London and listening to the children being creative.

After an afternoon trip to our local playground and a pizza making session, Katharine and Emilia headed back to Hampshire leaving us to enjoy a quiet family Sunday. Or so we thought…

Very early on Sunday morning we had a call from a the mother of one of the children who share our childminder. Due her second child, and with us as childcare backup in case of the sudden arrival of the baby, she was calling to say she was in labour! So we collected Anna and adjusted our plans so we could look after her for the day while her mum went to hospital.

Alex and Sophie were delighted to have their friend over to play – and while the boys went to Brixton for Alex’s swimming lesson, us girls had a lovely time at the Brixton softplay and on the bus!

We stopped in at Brockwell Park on the way home for a ride on the miniature railway – here are the girls sharing a seat on the train! They were so proud of their tickets!

We had a quiet afternoon at the local park, in our garden, and chilling out in front of “Frozen” with cookies. Here’s my favourite picture – I love the drama on their faces (they’re watching the opening sequence of “Frozen” with the shipwreck!). So engaged!

So it turned into a very busy, but very fun girly weekend!

And we were thrilled to welcome baby Patrick into the world at the end of the weekend, and have the privilege of telling Anna she’d become a big sister. What a day!

Blink

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Pamela Agar

I’ve just been sitting in bed with a cup of tea listening to my friend Bergin’s new album, “Blink”. A theme throughout the album is change- and how it can creep up on you or happen in the blink of an eye – and it got me thinking about this past week and how it’s been one of those where you realise life is moving so quickly. [It’s a beautiful album by the way, go buy it!)

I’ve been much more aware of time since having children – you spend so much time checking off milestones and marvelling at how their growing and changing. But this week a couple of things have happened that suddenly made me realise that a phase of my life is done.

On Thursday, we joined thousands of parents across the country in the tense wait for news of a primary school place – and at 5pm we discovered that Alex got a place at our first choice local school, Bessemer Grange. It’s where he already goes to his little nursery and where lots of his friends will be going – so he’s delighted. And it’s a wonderful school with really engaged teachers and great results, so we are too.

Once the excitement had died down (and the champagne drunk!), it suddenly hit me that my baby is starting school in just a few months. Sometimes it feels like yesterday when he was handed to me in hospital and the conversations I had with Matt years ago about where we should move to so we could be close to good schools feel so recent. I can vividly remember the emotions of leaving him for the first time with his childminder – four years ago! And now we get ready for him to start his education journey, where our influence on him will diminish and he’ll start his own journey. As my team at work prepare materials for the Summer undergraduate open days, it makes me realise that I’m sure I’ll feel this way as he starts considering where to go to university!

Receiving his first class photograph this week highlighted the passing of time!

And it wasn’t just Alex hitting the milestones this week. Sophie made quite a change – moving out of her cotbed and into a proper “big girl bed”! So I’m packing up the baby things – there is no longer a cot in my house and I’m about to bid farewell to the rocking chair that saw me through many night feeds and the changing table as we prepare to potty train Sophie. We have no stairgates, no buggy and no highchair. The baby years are truly behind us.

Matt commented yesterday that he’d been sitting chatting with Sophie during the week and suddenly had to do a double take – as his baby was sitting in skinny jeans and a tshirt, with her hair up and her face animated in conversation. She’s not even a toddler now!

I took a few snaps yesterday of Sophie’s baby room (although her cot was already converted into a little bed so it isn’t quite as it was!) so I didn’t forget it. We’re planning to put the duo into the same room soon – they’re so keen to share! So this will become a grown up spare room!

I tried not to make it too girly, but I don’t think I succeeded!

Not the best pictures, but liking displaying her artwork and all her last birthday cards – plus a nod to her Welsh heritage!

She’s delighted with her new bed and elephant covers – she couldn’t wait to go to sleep in it on Friday night (wonder how long she’ll enthusiastically go to bed!)

Bicentennial blog

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Pamela Agar

I’m not sure I had much of a long-term vision for my blog when I started it up nearly 5 years ago as we prepared to welcome Alex into the world. I knew I wanted to share photos and stories, largely for my family who live around the world and therefore wouldn’t be able to witness every stage of Alex’s development in person. But I certainly didn’t imagine I’d still be blogging as he prepares to begin school and that I’d have managed to write 200 posts about our family life!

To mark this milestone, I’ve given the blog a bit of a facelift! I’ve contemplated changing its name for a while as I really regretted putting our surname into the overall title and URL – so I’ve finally taken the plunge and, thanks to feedback from friends on Facebook, this is now “Diary of a Herne Hill mum“. Of course, it’s not hard to figure out who we are, but I hope making it more anonymous will make it just a little harder to find if Sophie is one day running for Prime Minister or Alex is a celebrity!

I’ve also sorted out a proper URL – so it’s now the easier to remember www.hernehillmum.com. How professional looking!

I’ve got lots of more I want to do to improve it, but this’ll do for now. I hope you like it – do let me know what you think!

Looking back over the past 200 posts, I can lose hours to happy memories and am amazed at how much we’ve done and how much the children have changed.

It all started with us sharing the first scan pictures of Alex and then his arrival in the world in September 2010. The shock of the first three months saw almost nothing on the blog and I nearly didn’t carry it on, but I picked it up in January 2011 with a little post and a video of a giggling baby Alex that never fails to make me smile.

I’m so glad I carried on with the blog. I love remembering all the things we’ve done, from our ordinary weekends in London, to our holiday adventures, and some of the big milestones like the arrival of little Sophie, Alex and Sophie turning one year old and my returning to work.

Moving forward, I hope to try and participate in more online initiatives like the Siblings Project, Me and Mine and others – I love the impetus it gives me to try and capture particular things in pictures. And of course, I’ll carry on writing about our normal life (at least until the children are too embarrassed to let me!)…

Thanks for reading

A quiet Mother’s Day weekend

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Pamela Agar

Just catching up on last weekend before this one gets underway properly!

We had a very chilled out weekend for Mother’s Day. We started the weekend at a couple of local clubs. I took Alex to the BMX club in Burgess Park for their track session. I think he was the youngest there, and certainly the only one there with spokey dokeys on his wheels – but he held his own for the first half of the 90 minute session. He got a bit too cold and tired to carry on, so we snuck away for a warm drink in the cafe and a quick stop in the playground, before heading to pick up Matt and Sophie who were enjoying toddler gymnastics in Camberwell!

We then spent a brilliant couple of hours at a 3rd birthday party – with a Sri Lankan dad, we enjoyed a wonderful curry lunch while the children played with their friends. Win!

With the weather a bit brighter and warmer, we spent most of the rest of the weekend pottering around the house and garden. Alex and Sophie whiled away half an hour playing with a cardboard box – best toy over:

And we got the bubbles out and hit the garden. Sophie’s finally learning how to actually blow bubbles rather than just tip the mixture all over the floor.

And we made lots of mud pies and “hot chocolate” – in my baking bowl 😦

Mother’s Day was lovely. I got some very nice handmade and handpicked cards – with a handwritten note inside the robot one from Alex!

We had a pancake breakfast, family trip swimming and absolutely delicious tapas and cava lunch in Brixton before heading home for a vague attempt at a family picture in the garden. Not entirely sure what Alex was doing!

The kids had lots of fun playing with waterbeads making a marine world for their Octonaut toys. I’m still finding (and standing on) the rubbery beads all over my kitchen floor!

We ended Mother’s Day at The Little Disco Company in East Dulwich. We met one of Sophie’s friends, Anna, there and it was hysterical watching the pair of ladies dancing wildly to a Frozen dance mix (yes, odd I know).

I shall close with my fave pictures of the week. My little star posing on her way to Jacqui’s, and my lovely siblings sharing the morning walk.

Siblings #3 {March}

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Pamela Agar

Alex and Sophie’s relationship is certainly becoming more emotional this month! We’re seeing much more bickering over toys, a strong sense of competition between them, and occasionally downright rage (particularly from Sophie) if Alex won’t share something with her! It’s quite something to watch. But we’re also seeing much more affection between our siblings.

They are becoming such a team, racing around together – Sophie usually pursuing her big brother. Here they are racing around City Hall with each other having the best time.

My favourite new thing this month is how they comfort each other. If Sophie is sad (or cross with me), Alex has spontaneously cuddled her and taken her hand to make her feel better. They often walk to our childminder’s house hand-in-hand in the morning, chatting away. My heart melts every time they do it. He’s starting to really look out for her and it makes me so proud to be their mummy.

Siblings #2 {February}

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Pamela Agar

I can’t believe we’re already at the end of February. I haven’t managed to take a family portrait – but I have taken a few more snaps of my crazy siblings to share.

We’ve noticed Sophie getting more confident this month – particularly with deciding what toys she wants to play with. Now she’s getting older, she’s keen on Alex’s toys, so we are increasingly getting little squabbles when they both want to play with the same thing. And invariably when they seem to be playing nicely with their own toys, Sophie decides Alex’s looks much more exciting. Cue tears and screaming!

But on the whole, they are firm allies! Here they are today at the Discover Centre in Stratford enjoying some rough and tumble. One day I will remember to video them as the sound of their hysterical giggles is so uplifting!

Sophie in particular finds Alex completely hilarious (which is clearly perfect for my boy who loves being the centre of attention!). I think my favourite sibling moment this month was last weekend when Matt and Sophie collected Alex and I from a birthday party. Sophie was fast asleep in the car so didn’t notice Alex sit in his seat next to her, proudly sporting his Spiderman face paint. She woke with a start a few minutes later, which would normally result in tears. But she took one look at Alex and burst out laughing. Here’s a sibling selfie just afterwards:

Clinging on to Christmas

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Pamela Agar

As twelfth night approaches, we’ve been clinging on to Christmas for as long as we could – and we’ve saved some real festive treats until last!

We’ve crammed in as many friends and family as possible, including a quick visit from Katharine and Emilia, and a trip to Woking to see Marie, Pete and Harry for a delicious pub lunch. In between courses, Matt and Pete took the children out into the sunny pub garden for a spot of hide and seek to give us ladies time t catch up properly! Alex and Harry searched hard in the bushes…

And Sophie just ran around like a wild thing looking thoroughly vibrant and gorgeous!

On Saturday morning we hosted an Agar brothers reunion at our place for a couple of hours for a bit more Christmas gift exchange and a lot of playing! For the first time we managed to get all eight of the Agar cousins in one room together. It was quite a sight seeing then cousins, aged from 1-13 years old playing together. Our house suddenly felt very small (especially considering the two eldest are taller than me!)

Alex got on particularly well with his 7 year old cousin, Max. Here they are in a rare moment of stillness together, Alex engrossed in Max’s game!

We made a vague attempt at a group picture, but the two littlest weren’t keen at all – but here’s the best we managed to get (Sophie wouldn’t go in the picture at all unless I was with her!). Here’s Sophie, Oliver, Max, Jessica, Alex, Thomas, William and Edward Agar:

As soon as the Agars departed, my friend Jo arrived from Newcastle for the evening. She was greeted by Dinosaur Sophie, who was modelling one of her favourite Christmas presents from her Auntie Margaret!

After a quiet afternoon of movies and naps, we headed out in the cold to our festive finale – Christmas at Kew Gardens. I’ve been wanting to go to this for ages, and was so excited to finally make it – and I wasn’t disappointed. The one-mile trail of lights and music through the gardens was wonderful. The paths were lit by a range of gorgeous light installations, and at key points, beautiful light and music shows brought the buildings and unusual trees to life.

The children were completely dazzled by it! They loved watching performers dance with fire!

And had a great time at the quaint Victorian funfair that marked the midway point:

Sophie particularly liked the lightshow on the massive greenhouse which was accompanied by ballet music, and I liked the chandeliers hanging from the great old trees!

It was such a wonderful way to end our Christmas holiday – we’ll definitely go again – and are inspired to visit Kew Gardens again in the daylight to see more.

2014 draws to a close

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Pamela Agar

After a quiet family Christmas, our final days of 2014 were packed full of celebrations, fun and and friends.

We headed up to Northamptonshire for a second Christmas celebration with my side of the family on Boxing Day. It was lovely getting out of London for a couple of days, especially when the weather was so clear, cold and sunny – it’s a gorgeous part of the country. We enjoyed a trip into Towcester’s excellent leisure centre for a fun swimming trip. The kids loved the big waves!

When we got back to my parents’ house, my brother and his family had arrived. We spent a relaxing afternoon catching up, exchanging gifts, eating vast quantities of food and playing with the children.

Grandma and Grandpa certainly enjoyed being surrounded by their brood!

Here’s Sophie having fun with baby Rose. Sophie and Alex were both fascinated by their twin cousins – and haven’t stopped talking about them since!

They are growing up so fast – and keeping my brother and sister-in-law on their toes!

After a lazy Sunday morning, we headed back into London, stopping off for our first family trip ten pin bowling in Elephant and Castle. Both children were enthusiastic to begin with, but I must admit it wasn’t hugely successful. Alex enjoyed the first few games, but got bored pretty quickly! Sophie got distressed about losing her bowling ball with every go, and ended up with her bottom lip out for much of the time. But she did look very glam in her new tutu!!
On Monday and Tuesday we had a couple of quiet days in London. Christmas is one of my favourite times in the city as its so quiet. We usually hit the museums and see some exhibitions while most people are out of town – and this year was no exception. We decided to visit the newly refurbished Imperial War Museum together. It was really impressive and I’ll definitely go back on my own to explore the exhibits properly, but the kid seemed to enjoy a whistle stop tour around the amazing space. They loved the planes hanging from the ceiling. Its a challenging museum for little ones though – pretty tough to explain some of the exhibits to a four year old.

After an all day breakfast in a great little cafe, we parted ways for a couple of hours. I hired a Boris Bike and cycled along the river to do a spot of sale shopping (and cake shopping) while Matt took the kids home for naptime / movie time. By amazing coincidence, they bumped into one of Alex’s best friends, Rosita, on the bus home. She’s lived in the USA for 6 months and literally just arrived home in the country for good! Their reunion was very very cute!

On Tuesday, we headed East to the Olympic Park. This time Matt had a break and went swimming in the Olympic Park while I took the children for a couple of hours. We went to the brilliant Discover Story Centre. We’ve been a few times, but this was the first time where Sophie could really experience it all – and she loved it. The children ran around the story trail together exploring and climbing everywhere, Sophie hot on Alex’s heels wherever he went. She’s like his shadow.

The centre always has an interactive experience in their basement, and this year, it features the beautiful books of author, Oliver Jeffers. We read a lot of his books at bedtime, and the children weren’t disappointed with the immersive experience. They tried to catch stars, sailed in a boat with a penguin, helped fix a spare rocket and dressed up as some of the characters. It was such fun!

Once they were tired out, we met daddy for lunch before driving home to run errands around Dulwich to prepare for New Year’s Eve and get the kids into bed before our friends Caroline and Paul came over for a curry!

We had a very busy New Year’s Eve, starting early with a 40 minute queue in our local fishmonger for ingredients for our planned evening extravaganza! The children were not impressed!

I made up for it with a playdate for them and their friend Anna, and then another reunion with old friends for lunch. Our friends Catherine and Charlie have been living in Zurich for two years, and it’s been at least a year since we’ve all been together. So it was a real treat to have a long, leisurely lunch with them all in Herne Hill. It wasn’t long before Alex and Henry remembered they were firm friends and they were getting up to mischief in the restaurant:

And Sophie made a new friend in Phoebe, who is looking ridiculously grown up at nearly seven years old!

It was wonderful to have our brood together again – we must get to Zurich this year to visit.

When we finally got the children to say goodbye to each other, we had a busy couple of hours getting dinner prepped for New Year’s Eve. We saw the new year in with friends Caroline and Dave, and their children Sam and Una. Alex and Sam were very excited about sleeping in the same room, and after the craziness of bathtime with four little ones in the tub, I wasn’t sure we’d get them to sleep at all. But they were all exhausted, and they all passed out quickly. Phew!

That left us lots of time to enjoy a great evening of amazing food, wine and conversation – including Matt’s first homemade pasta. Yum.

We watched the fireworks and then made a hasty retreat to bed. Glad I did too, as Sophie chose the first day of the year to break her brilliant run of 8am wake-ups with a 6am rise 😦

I can’t quite believe it’s 2015 already – 2014 has flown by. It is amazing to me that my little baby boy will be starting school this year. How is that possible?!

Got lots of new year’s resolutions to break

Less time on my phone – especially when the children are about
More time with Matt – sort out a regular babysitter so we can go to the cinema again and get away from our laptops!
Less time working – I don’t want every single evening to be dominated by my work inbox
And of course the usual – taking better care of myself – less coca-cola and chocolate and much more exercise! We’ll see how that turns out (as I type this, I have both within arms reach!!)

Happy new year everyone!

Quiet Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Pamela Agar

After a somewhat stressful Christmas Eve, with two grumpy children being naughty all day, I was nervous about a Christmas Day with no visitors or plans. Just the four of us.

But turns out it was a thoroughly lovely experience. We’ve had a totally laid back, relaxed Christmas – no obligations or timetables, just us hanging out together. I’m still grinning (although that may be the cheese and fizz I’ve consumed this evening).

We even had a lie in – probably the last one I’ll have for a few years. We didn’t really get up till 8am when the children remembered they’d been expecting an overnight visitor. And they weren’t disappointed to find two bulging stockings waiting for them. They were mostly focused on whether Santa had brought them chocolate coins – cue a breakfast of chocolate!

Once we’d prised the chocolate out of their hands, they properly explored their stockings finding stickers, mini light sabers, books, stamps and another bits and bobs.

We finally crept downstairs to see if Santa had helped himself to the goodies we’d left him on Christmas Eve. Alex’s reaction was hilarious to the crumbs and empty cups – he was so shocked and excited!The children got some amazing gifts – thanks everyone – Alex loved his marble run and Sophie adored her toy cake. We enjoyed a brilliant couple of hours where the children explored their toys and books slowly and quietly together.

Sophie had a tea party in their new rocket tent and tried out her new balance bike, we all enjoyed a family game of Pop-Up-Pirate, and Alex even sat quietly and worked through a Stick Man puzzle book! It was heaven. I even got to sit down with a drink and watch some of carols from King’s.

But we didn’t say indoors all day. It was such a bright, sunny day, we headed down to Sunray Gardens to get some fresh air. Sophie insisted on taking the balance bike – and did pretty well with it, although made Matt and I run with her all the way!

The children partook of a spot of tree climbing, Alex going scarily high as usual:

Before we headed home for lunch, we tried some comedy camera timer shots. So here’s Family Agar on Christmas Day 2014.

Unfortunately Alex keeps shouting “Poo” when he sees a camera, so he looks a bit odd!

We had a lot of fun!

We headed home for a full English brunch and some Christmas cake, before a quiet afternoon of movies and napping. We ended our family day with a roast dinner and the contents of a selection box! Perfect.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas xx

Life according to my camera

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Pamela Agar

The next post in my blog catch up is a glimpse into our lives over the past few weeks – according to the camera on my iPhone! It’s been pretty quiet, with the days short, chilly and dark. But looking back at the photos, we’ve done lots of little things that make me smile to remember them.

We took a trip up to Cambridge to visit friends Helen and Rob, and their four year old son, Angus. Stopping in at the London Olympic Park to break the journey, we enjoyed a fantastic swim in the Olympic Pool together, before heading to Cambridge for the rest of the day. I was surprised at how close Cambridge was, and it was so lovely catching up with our friends, I hope we get back again soon.

We mostly stayed tucked up in the fab new house, but ventured out to their local playground so the children could burn off some energy running around and playing together:

We had a cultured Saturday a couple of weeks ago, dropping into Saville Row to get Matt measured for some new shirts (most expensive part of being 6’5″ and lanky!). Sophie loved all the Christmas decorations in the Burlington Arcade. They both loved the massive mirror in the tailors – I was terrified they were going to do damage to the beautiful building and showroom, so we quickly made our escape!

We wandered down to the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly where the children could explore more freely. They loved the submarine art installation!

On the train home, Sophie and Matt had fun together, Sophie mirroring everything her daddy did. These photos really do make me grin!

What else have we been up to? We’ve baked Christmas ginger biscuits with our friends Sam and Una – and made an enormous mess decorating them:

We’ve put the skills Matt learned on a recent Italian cookery course into practice, making foccacia bread (yum):

We’ve made good use of Sophie’s birthday easel, doing some painting together:

We’ve ventured away from the house to go to “Baby booters”, a local football class on weekend morning’s. Sophie loved it. Alex loved his American Football shirt (thanks Elaine – I think he has a few more years growth in that one!)

We’ve ignored the cold weather and tucked into ice cream in the best East Dulwich parlour:

We’ve gone to toddler gymnastics – Sophie heaven:

We’ve even tried our hands at playing the violin with Auntie Jo!

No wonder I’m exhausted

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Pamela Agar

Hello folks! I wonder if I’ll have any readers after failing to blog for over 6 weeks – sorry it’s been so quiet from me online. I’m just coming out of some of the busiest weeks of my life with two massive work projects going live in the past fortnight and two crazy children occupying what free time I have! But I think I’m through the worst, so the blog will get a bit of love again 🙂

But before I can move forward, I need to catch you up on the last few weeks so I don’t forget what we’ve been up to. I think it’s going to take me a few posts to get right up to date, so I’d better get started.

With work being so crazy, we’re very behind with our Christmas preparations. But we’re finally getting into the festive spirit – and the thing that really got me in the mood was our first ever school Christmas carol concert! I know I’ll probably get tired of attending loads of school performances over the next two decades, but I was ridiculously excited at the prospect of seeing Alex singing with his nursery friends. He’d been practicing for ages and was so proud to have me watch the little show.

All the parents snuggled up in the corner of the playground and watched the three and four year olds sing a collection of Christmas songs, complete with well rehearsed actions. It was so cute – and so very funny.

The highlight for me was Alex’s Elvis-esque hip swinging dance which was a dominant feature of Jingle Bells – several mums commented on it!

You’ll be delighted to hear I videoed a little bit of it – so we can embarrass Alex when he’s older. Enjoy!

After the show, we gathered in the nursery classroom where the children received a special visitor:

Of course Alex wasn’t fooled, and announced to his hushed and excited class mates, “That’s not Santa! That’s Mr Donnelly”!! No surprising him!

Thankfully, he was more impressed with our Christmas tree. Neither Sophie or Alex were particularly enthralled with heading out on a cold afternoon to our local garden shop to select a tree (although Alex was excited at having the tree on the car roof!), but they did enjoy getting the decorations out!

Here they are busy with the decorating:

Even a week after it’s been in the living room, they still walk in and are surprised by the tree. We regularly do a big countdown to switch the lights on! They are so excited about Christmas, and it’s fun this year with Sophie more aware of what’s going on. Alex would like a light sabre for Christmas and Sophie would like a chocolate coin (!) – at least she’s easy to please!

It’s late, so I’ll carry on with the big catch up tomorrow, but for now, I’ll leave you with my pair at Alex’s school Christmas Fair: