Monday 26 March 2012

Photo journal

No time to write today - I'm going out for a curry with friends (woop!).  



Saturday 24 March 2012

Sunshine

It's been very warm and sunny over the last few days.  We've had some friends over, boys Freddie's age, and they've played lots of elaborate dressing up/imaginative games together.
We've been to the playground a couple of times.
Today we did allotmenty things.  Rob spent a couple of hours there, planting the potatoes and doing some tidying.  At home, Betsy and I cleared out the mini greenhouse.  This is what it looked like before:
And here it is after, with trays of planted seeds:
We planted tomatoes, sweetcorn, dwarf French beans and geraniums.
The kids have been playing outside a lot, throwing water over each other.  Meg has missed her nap a couple of times as we've been out.  When I was making lunch today, this happened....
She slept for 2 hours, surrounded by noise and games and the TV!

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Old friends, new woods

Bleugh, another bad night with Meg.  I started the day looking up the price of a night in the local Holiday Inn.  An undisturbed night's sleep is my holy grail!  Maybe one day...
Things looked up at breakfast time.  It's Ice cream for Breakfast Day today.  
Here's Freddie's:
Betsy and Meg both had a Mini Milk.
And me?  Of course I did!


In other news, our home ed co-op met up in some lovely woodland today.  I haven't been there with the kids before, though my family used to visit with a picnic and ball games when I was little.
We saw a horse and trap? cart? carriage? Not sure of the difference between those those things.
The cafe and the toilet block had grass roofs.  Cool!
  

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Catching up with myself

It's been a busy few days.  We went to Granny and Grandad's for the weekend.
Betsy took her amazing families (aka Sylvanian Families!) and played with anyone who sat still long enough.  Granny, Grandad, Sara and Steve all got to play at various points over the weekend, and Betsy was very happy.
Freddie took the Wii so was mostly found on the sofa.  He did have the odd break for cricket in the garden, or a game of Subbuteo with Rob.  As usual, it was Freddie rules with the set up on the pitch...
Betsy and her auntie were cooking up secret Mothers Day plans on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  The result was a homemade arctic roll and Mothers Day flag!  So sweet, and delicious.
We got back on Sunday evening, and Meg has been under the weather since then.  
Monday the sun was out, and Meg was miserable.   I took the executive decision to wrap her on my back and go for a short walk.  It was absolutely the best thing to do.  We were only out for an hour, but we saw lots of things and all enjoyed the sun on our faces.
We walked the tow path to the supermarket.   Freddie pointed out the reflections on the wall of the bridge.
Meg was interested in the birds flying overhead.
We saw half a dozen ducks flying along the canal.
Two contractors were measuring the depth of the canal, to see if the water needed more dredging.  One of them told us that a few locks up, a 300 metre pound has lost all water and is completely dry.  I think we'll go and find it one day soon, it sounds too interesting to miss.
The kids threw sticks into the lock, and over to the bank on the other side.  There was a duck in the lock today, way down at the bottom.
The next bit of tow path was full of sticky muddy puddles.  
When we got home, the kids decided to wash their scooters.  They found a couple of sponges and a bucket of water, and did a great job!
Meg seemed to be feeling rough after we got home, and went to bed before lunch.  Betsy wanted to decorate a cake so we did that after we'd eaten.  She helped make the buttercream icing, spread it on the cake, and add the decorations.  It was fun, and she was so pleased with the result.
The day went quite badly after this.  Meg was very unhappy, and Freddie and Betsy were bored.  I was pinned to the sofa with a lethargic baby.  Rubbish afternoon.
Today has been nearly as challenging.  Meg is feeling better but I'm suffereing from the effects of very disturbed sleep for the last 4 nights.  I'm a bit loopy, actually, and out of patience. 
I did help Betsy to make some spring flowers, but that is the high point.  
 So, dinner and CSI.  Then  hopefully some sleep tonight zzzzzzzzzz........

Thursday 15 March 2012

Some firsts of the year

We had another day outside in the sunshine.  It was a beautiful, warm spring day, and we went for a lakeside walk with my mum and her dog.
We fed the swans, who were very hungry.  Betsy is very cautious around swans and geese, while Meg went right up to them.  She's fearless at the moment!
We walked further round the lake, where there is a fallen tree.  It's perfect for climbing,and for watching the geese swimming nearby.
We had our first picnic of the year.  It was lovely although a cup of tea would have made it even better.  I'll remember the flask next time!
We left mum to walk with the dog, and crossed the bridge over the river to the playground.
The playground is great - large, lots to do - but actually pretty hard to manage as one adult with 3 children of different ages.   More than once one of the kids was rescued (from a wasp) or helped (on a climbing frame or a slide) while I was busy with one of the others.  After about 45 minutes I phoned mum and asked her to come back so we could move on to the cafe!
We had tea and brownies at the cafe.  The kids found a jetty to sit on with long sticks for fishing.
They came over with a daisy each they'd picked for me.  A very happy moment!
First daisies, first picnic, first day of the year for T shirts.  Woop!