Winter is done

Wow it has been some time since the last update; I planned on doing regular updates through the winter however of course as you can tell I never started and so now I'm sat here the night before the men are due and I've got to do an update to catch up. With a combined 574 pictures and videos to go through. So I'm just not going to bother. This'll be quite a quick update and tomorrow I should be back to normal service...

Rosie

Princess Rosie and a jigsaw

Another jigsaw

More completed jigsaw

She's proud of this one

Dinosaurs!

In progress (this one still isn't finished)

The one she finished today

Rosie has been really getting into doing jigsaws and is getting really good at them. Just today we did another together and I'm having to buy more and more, and bigger and more complex, to keep her entertained. It is really good for her though so I don't mind at all.

Fish being buried

Awesome shapes on the trampoline

Bicycling

Rosie playing her keyboard she got for her birthday

Out to the new restaurant for dinner

Helping me mow the lawn

Going for a ride at the park

Rosie made these

Doing a puppet show

Our bulbs coming up

First camping of the year

Enjoying the sun and the breeze

So more stuff with Rosie before we go on with a few more subjects and wrap this up. We had one dead fish which Rosie was determined to bury so out we went and put it into a little hole by the cherry tree at the front. She has also had lots of fun with the trampoline, her bike, her keyboard (she's getting good at it already, learning some songs!) and doing things with me like going out for dinner and riding along on the mower as I've already started having to mow the lawn! We also took her to the park a couple of days in a row with her bike which went really well. She's also made some martenichkas and we hung them on some trees. She did a puppet shows in the puppet theatre we made together, enjoyed the spring flowers and last night we camped. Today was lovely and she got to enjoy the warmth on the patio.

Building Progress

Window people fitting tilt and turn

Halil helps lift in the new sofa

Bekir and Halil fitting more posters

More plugs required

We've had a few things happen, all of which almost prompted me to do an update but never quite did. Firstly while Angela and Rosie were away visiting her parents I had the window people in to refit all the remaining windows that we needed to have swapped over. Halil popped over to help the delivery of our new three seater sofa which is now being used every day. They also replaced the broken and missing fly screens. Bekir and Halil were also in for one day only where they put up my picture frames for the stairs and fitted some more plugs in the music room.

Right I'm going to wrap this up here. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Busy day

Today has been crazy busy and I've not got many pictures. Let's get to it.

Halil gets cracking on cutting the rest of the wood

The new aerator being installed

Tasty leek from the garden

Toot Toot drove there on his own

All the wood chopped, now to split it

The men were slightly late today as Halil's car had a lot of problems on the journey in. I did offer him to borrow Thomas to get home but he decided to risk his car instead. Halil ended up spending all day finishing cutting up all the wood and then he got stuck into the splitting. Bekir was working away on making the metal frames and has completed that task now. In the morning Angela headed into town for some things and came back with an aerator for the fish tank which is working really well. At lunch time she made potato and leek soup using potatoes and leeks from or garden! After lunch I went with Bekir to do the paperwork for transferring Julian and it took far longer than I expected. At least it is done, though. The wind today was really gusty and strong and Toot Toot took a little solo-drive because of it.

Rosie wearing Angela's helmet

After school Rosie had lots of fun on the patio with her scooter and I got down Angela's roller blades and skateboard and she had a go as well - it was great.

Gates

After the epic yesterday, today's update will be much shorter.

Looking at the frame and gate

Bekir grinds the frame free

The gate gets fitted in the other gap

The men were back in and first of all had a look at the gate they fitted in yesterday. After some conversation we decided that as this gate was a bit flimsy we would put it over on the other side of the enclosure to where it wouldn't get that much use and so they detached it from the little spot welds they'd used to hold it in place and went and fixed it over the other side.

Fish tank all set up

Angela went shopping after dropping Rosie at school but first she collected the new fish tank from the courier; I put the stand together very quickly while she was out and then when she got back she transferred the existing fish, put the new ones she'd bought, and got it all set up. It looks lovely and is now situated next to our dining table. This gives Rosie a little more room in her playroom, and also means we can all enjoy the fish.

Bekir grinds an angle

Bekir welding the frame in place

The new gate and frame is fitted

Bekir and Halil headed back to the steel shop to buy some different profile and when they got back they made a new frame and new gate and it is hugely better. They then got it into the gap and fixed in place and now they are ready to put the little bit extra cement that they need to fill a gap at the bottom and then attach the chicken wire to fill the gate out. It's good to have progress again. Additionally Lyuben came past again to look at the car port and workshop area that we may do next and is going to do some drawings and plans for this.

So there it is. Thanks for reading; back tomorrow.

February, March and some of April

 I was planning on doing one of these a month while the men weren't here but of course that didn't happen and so now I'm sat here, the night before the men are hopefully returning, with 700 pictures and 2.5 months to write about. Necessarily this means that I'll miss loads out that has happened but at least we'll be back up to date and if the men ARE in regular service will resume.

So as per usual when it gets like this I'll group things up rather than trying to be in any chronological order.

Rosie with the empty fish tank

Fish making themselves at home

Visiting the neighbours with her pram

Fascinated by the fish

Enjoying the fish with her teddies

The most important part of life is of course Rosie, and the most important thing that happened in the past couple of months was her birthday. We had been discussing a pet, to get her to understand caring for things, and after some thought we settled on a fish tank because Angela has experience with caring for fish and there is a shop locally that stocks them. First off was the tank that was put into Rosie's playroom and warmed and filtered ready for the fish and actually on her birthday we had a lovely day out selecting those fish and also she was allowed to pick a couple of things from the big toy shop. Even today she talks about her birthday, reciting the things she bought "fish, and pram, and peppa!" which gives me a huge smile.

A lovely day all round, and Rosie still loves her fish (though we've had some turn over already).

A ghostly sunrise one morning

Deep snow the day after her birthday

Rosie checking out the snow

Lunch in the sun while the snow melts

Beautiful flowers

More snow falls....

... but is gone within days

.... only to return a few days later...

... and Rosie got to build a Sammy

Climbing the bank

Grass cut again

The weather has been very changeable but we did get a good final blast of winter - the deep snow here (which all fell on the night of Rosie's birthday) was too wet and soft to get a good Sammy out of unfortunately and after a few days it was all melted; it was warm enough to eat outside. The flowers started coming and then blam more snow but that also didn't last long and I was thinking that the winter was over and Rosie wouldn't get a second Sammy however we did get a fall late in March that was sticky enough that after school one day Rosie joined me outside and HELPED MAKE A SAMMY!! She was over the moon and I was even more happy. That was the last of the snow to settle, though we've had a few flurries since, and now the weather seems to be warming and spring has sprung with blossom everywhere, flowers everywhere, and the grass growing so fast it's really tough to keep up with. This has meant that we can get outside with Rosie a lot and we've been doing some awesome walks around the village with her.

Other than that there is not much more to add; we have been slowly doing stuff around the house but mostly enjoying a bit of rest but Angela has done a great deal with flower and plants in the glass room which is a lovely space while I've finally oiled the dining room table so tomorrow it can be lifted back through into place. I do hope the men do arrive tomorrow as I'm keen to get progress started to get our toilets back working (more on that in a future blog) so we can get rid of the buckets once more.

Thanks for reading.