I always like to count my blessings and I feel lucky there is always something to make me smile. Here are just a few things that have made me happy this week…

• We are getting a new kitchen! We moved into our house a year ago and always knew we were going to have to do something with it, it’s fine but tired looking and just not our style. We have toyed with the idea of an extension to give us a living kitchen, but ultimately decided that this house is not quite right for that (it would make our garden very small, and would probably cost more than it would add to the value). So after a lot of deliberation, we have gone back to our original plan and decided to knock down the wall between our kitchen and dining room and replace the kitchen. At the moment the plan is to do this before Christmas, it’s all booked in and appears to be achievable so fingers crossed! You can look forward to a few posts about dust, chaos and mayhem but it is definitely going to be worth it in the end! 
• Family dinners. Mr Totsy and I are both lucky to have our parents close by and every 2 or 3 weeks we have everyone over for Sunday lunch (both sets of parents, all the kids, brothers, sisters etc) This means cooking for at least 10 people, often quite a lot more depending who is around but I love it. Over the summer we lapsed a bit, heading out for picnics and days out instead, but now the weather is cooler the family Sunday dinners are back. I am by no means an amazing cook, I like simple cooking and my presentation is more ‘rustic’ than fine dining, but everyone being together makes me happy. Plus, I’m a bit of a feeder so I always make a mountain of food, anyone going home hungry is not an option. On Sunday everyone was over, we cooked 4kg gammon, a heap of rosemary roasted potatoes, a pile of mashed potato, leeks in cheese sauce, broccoli, peas, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, gravy. Our mums bring puddings, everyone leaves full and usually there is enough left over for tea on Monday too. It has become a highlight of the week for Tinker, every Sunday she asks who is coming today and is very disappointed when she only has us to entertain her!  
• Mr Totsy – he does loads for us and gets very little thanks! He spent hours last week helping me to give my blog a face lift, built a cupboard and some shelves in the utility room, put some new trim on the girls’ playhouse, all in addition to the usual stuff he does like make endless cups of tea for me, keeps us all happy whilst also being a brilliant hands-on dad and doing his fair share of childcare/housework/laundryetc He is definitely a keeper, I’m lucky to have him and he deserves a shout out every now and then, just to let him know he is appreciated.
• Matty – my boy texted to say my blog had nearly made him cry, then went on to say he loved it and was always reading it and that he is very lucky to have a mum like me! Aw, bless *cries happy tears* 
• Tinker and Totsy – they have such a cute relationship! Now that Totsy is walking and talking they are closer than ever and watching Totsy following Tinker around and copying everything she does is very comical. Tinker’s pride when Totsy says a new word or masters a jigsaw is lovely. They are always giggling together and I am very happy that they have each other. 

Keep smiling! X