At the moment we're living in a two-bedroom flat, which means that our lovely kiddies have to share a bedroom. Keeping an eight-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy happy was difficult, so for their birthdays (which are both in April) we decided to jump on their mutual love of superheroes and decorated their bedroom as a surprise. We handpainted that city silhouette (made it up as we went along!), the yellow windows are all covered with glow-in-the-dark paint and there are loads of other cool little in-jokes and personal touches. If there's any interest in their room I'd be happy to do a blog post on it in the future.
Another birthday present this year was tickets for Jay and I to take Jelly to see Wicked. We had seen it for our anniversary in March (which was my third time seeing it as it is!) and she was so envious listening to the music, reading our Grimmerie, fantasizing about what the characters must look like... We just knew we had to take her. The tickets weren't for a few months after her birthday, but one Friday in July we picked her up from school and took her straight to Birmingham for some pub grub and a trip to the theatre. She was hooked from the beginning and can't wait to go again. The cast wasn't as good as when we'd seen it a few months before, but we told her it was exactly the same and, honestly, seeing her so excited was better than having an Elpheba who could hit the high note. Just. ;)
Christmas day isn't necessarily as special to me as the month or so leading up to the big day. Lights aglow, chilly smiles, friendly waves and those amazing pork rolls that every Christmas fair seems to sell. I loved seeing the wonder in Moo's eyes this December, as he got excited about Santa and Snowmen and lights blazing around him. He loved watching the tree light up, he loved reading Christmas books and singing Christmas songs... He is well and truly mine and his Dad's son when it comes to Christmas because he is already just head-over-heels in love with this time of year. We're actually dreading taking the decorations down because we think it's going to depress him!
And of course, not only the most special moment of 2014 but the most precious day of my life... On Christmas Eve, after almost five years together, Jay proposed to me. My ring is three natural emeralds on a gold band and I adore it; green is my favourite colour, emeralds mean everlasting love and faithfulness and if you look closely you can see the all the little cracks and inclusions inside the gem which just perfectly sums up the five years we've had together: everything is shiny and perfect now but if you look closely you can see a tough history. It's like we earned those shining emeralds.
2014 has been a wonderful year and I am beyond excited for all that 2015 has to bring.
Happy New Year!