HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!

I've been pretty quiet over here on the blog, and its not with out good reason. I'm busy launching a very new venture and all will become clear in good time, but its keeping me on my toes. That, plus ELIN LATHEY'S VERY FIRST INDEPENDENT STEPS IN LIFE, and things are pretty manic. I'v now missed two installations of 'the little things', my 365 (although thats 364!) photo project, but don't worry, those photos were taken- just not shared. I'l catch up soon, I promise!

But I'm really here to wish that husband of mine a very happy 26th birthday!

I love you so very much, James. We are so lucky to have you in our lives and you make things amazing for our family. Honestly, I am blessed to call you my husband, and Elin is the luckiest little girl, as she gets to call you Daddy. I hope you have had a lovely day celebrating! Here's to many more years with this family of ours.

Heres a few photos from our day!

Thats an eggy bread, cinnamon and banana sandwich with mapel syrup strawberries. The only thing that makes  a 5 o clock wake up bearable! Your welcome James, don't get too used to it!

Don't mind me, I'm just drivin' my Daddy's truck!

Ever just look at a photo of your baby and it just takes your breath away? I mean, I see her every day, but a camera has the power to freeze time and in these precious photos I fall in love with her all over again. Plus these eyes? Yup, they spell out trouble when she's older!

We had lunch at the trading post, which is a converted train carriage serving ah-maz-zing organic, homegrown food. Sometimes all that floral food leaves you hungry twenty minutes later, but here we get the best most healthy, hearty food, feel full to the brim and don't need to feel guilty either! Plus its so quaint. You cram in on tables sharing with so and so from so and so and its just friendly. We love it. Its got so much charm about it too.

See what I mean about the food? SO good. Plus it feels a little bit cleansing too as it really is that organic, homegrown, gluten free sort of meal. Elin is eating so good these days and loved her humus, bread, beetroot and potato salad! I love that she loves food- a girl after my own heart!

She loves her animals and here she's meeting Mr dog! I can't get enough of her- but she really is looking SO grown up!

We spent the afternoon at the local wildlife park. We're so super lucky to have got membership passes for christmas, and seeing as Elin LOVES her animals we like to spend some time here exploring. Its such a friendly, lovely place. As I mentioned, Elin took those all important first steps. It was so exciting, bringing tears to this mumma's eyes! She's still a little way off running wild, but today was also the first day that she really just wanted to walk, so we went round the entire park like this^. Safe to say, it took a while! and was  a window into future days!

She also learnt 'duck' today which was pretty cool too!

I loved today. It was so wonderful to spend quality family time together, celebrating the birth of the man who changed my world! (God- I am so cringy right now!) Haha! but in all seriousness, we need to try and appreciate the people in our lives as often as possible, and today reminded me of this! 

A final HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my partner in crime. 

The luckiest, oops, I mean LOWLIEST husband ever.

You're now near 30 than 20! Congrats!

The little things. 6

Unintentionally, today's round up of 'happy days' has a very spring like feel to them! Daffodils, ducks, flowers and pancakes make for a lovely February week in our world. With lots of flowers popping up, little buds in the forest poking out their heads, February celebrations underway, (albeit wintery) sunshine and 'april showers' it really does feel as though spring is creeping into the world once more. I couldn't be more grateful or excited. 

I do love winter, but I feel we've had our share now. We've embraced the season, the holidays, we've bundled up warm, enjoyed all that great hearty food, all the warming drinks, and its been great. But I am now more than ready for spring and summer. With it comes easter egg hunts, welly walks and strawberry picking. And also, a certain someones FIRST birthday! I'm feeling all the feelings about this, But I'l save all those real and overwhelming feelings for a post of there own. 

Anyway, here's my happy moments from this week! 

I hope you have had a brilliant start to February too.

Love, Us

Will you be my pancake, this pancake day?

I must confess, we in the Lathey house hold are guilty of enjoying pancakes for random reasons such as 'I have the morning off work' or 'I had an odd number of eggs left over' or more accurately- 'I want a bloody pancake!' But we still felt obligated to whip a batch up for Shrove Tuesday, none the less. And seriously, these were SO DAMN GOOD. I'm usually a strictly traditional gal, lemon and sugar ALL THE WAY, but as this was actually Pancake day, I thought we'd get a little fancy instead! And oh my, I really am a bit proud of my cooking ability after these.

So that's raspberry, nutella and chantilly cream pancakes, and banana, blueberry and butterscotch pancakes! James and I literally demolished these in under three minutes. We made Elin little mini pancakes too and went heavy on all that fruit, and I have to say, she amazed me how much she ate! It was all gone so quickly we were chopping up fruit to add to it and couldn't keep up. Shes definately her Daddy's daughter with that appetite! Safe to say, Elin's first pancake day was very successful. And after tucking madam in, it only made sense to whip up the remaining mix for some classic sugar and lemon pancakes. Any day that ends with two helpings of pancakes is a good one in my book!

I hope you all had an excellent pancake day too! Because pancakes are mightily important!

Geo-caching!

We recently discovered a new hobby for the Lathey-clan... We are three brand new, fresh faced Geo-cachers! This is a really really quick post about our first ever cache that we discovered practically on our doorstep. I'm absolutely sure there will be lots more posts dedicated to this new amazing hobby of ours (how have I only just discovered it?!) but I can't contain my excitement for our first outing as amateur geo-cachers, so here are the pictures!

As part of the walk we took Elin to feed the ducks. Her only understanding of the thing was watching me sign 'duck' but I still believe its a little milestone in any childhood.

If you have never heard of Geo-caching (like me only a few days ago) defiantly have a google. Honestly, it was the perfect hobby for us- we are always looking for excuses to get outside, forever walking in the country side, who doesn't love a challenge and what a good fun way of exploring a brand new place, you might otherwise never discover. Honestly, I am so excited by this. I feel as though our life has a tiny bit more meaning now. I'm barely even exaggerating, this has really resonated with me, and even James too! Its fun to be a small part of something much bigger.

I have to be honest- James found the cache! He felt highly accomplished, not to mention cocky and has reminded me several times since, that it was HE who found it. So much for being a team eh?! I sense some competition building!

No post is complete without the most beautiful girl in the world, looking all beautiful and such. I really think this hobby is gonna shape a small portion of her childhood and I'm so excited she gets to be part of, like, the biggest world wide treasure hunt. What kid wouldn't love that?!

Like I say, this is just a flying post to share the joy of our first ever geo-cache! I'l definitely be dedicating a lot more posts and time on it in the very near future. But I was too genuinely not to share these, so they will do for now! We can't wait to get out again very soon and discover a whole world of geo caches!

Have a lovely week everyone!

Love, Us.

The little things. 5

This post comes a day late this week; yesterday got away from me and by the evening I'm pretty sure I slept from about 7pm onwards! But here they are none-the-less- The little things. part 5.

When I put these captures together I can physically see how entwined I am with my daughter. Our lives are one in the same for the most part, and while lots of people encourage you to not loose yourself when you become a parent, I truly believe I have finally found myself instead. This week especially, I feel so in tune with Elin and realize that our lives are like a dance together. Its hard to explain. I wouldn't change a single thing about my favorite little side kick, and the endless days we spend as mother and daughter.

I hope you have had a lovely week! Any one else taking part in a photo-a-day esque challenge? Not gonna lie, I am finding inspiration pretty dry some days, but I guess thats the whole point. Even if its just having time to wolf down hot scrambled egg on toast, there is happiness in every day.

Have a brilliant weekend, wherever it takes you!

Love, Us

A day in the life of...

No words, Wednesday.