Good Friday

What a glorious sunny day it was today. Crazy that it's April and we're sweltering in the sun.

This morning I popped to town to get food for Sunday's roast. I got a huge topside of beef. I really hope I don't stuff it up, it cost a fortune. Freddie and Betsy played at Jarvis's.

After lunch we had a family trip to the allotment. I was so happy to see the carrot seeds poking up through the soil. Betsy and I weeded the carrots, Freddie dug for treasure, Rob weeded the onions, and Meg ate grass. Now Rob is off for 11 whole days at least one of us will pop down each day to do a bit of planting, earthing up potatoes, weeding or watering.



It was so hot when we got home that I got this really cool hose toy out that Joelle had given me earlier in the week. You plug the hose in and it sprays out of the snake in lots of tiny jets of water. Freddie and Betsy LOVED it! They stripped off and spent ages running around getting wet. Even Meg liked it though she ended up shivering!


In the evening I made a dress for Betsy. I'm delighted - I have a big stash of fabric, pattern books and sewing magazines and it's about time I started to use them!

Hopefully Betsy will want to wear it and I'll get an action pic tomorrow.

Soft play on a sunny day

Yes, yes, another gap! Must try harder etc etc.

Freddie was chomping at the bit as always to go and see Jarvis. And as always I set 10am as the earliest time to go next door. Today he came racing back in tears as Jarvis had gone to Whizz Kids. Oh no! We had no plans this morning so we quickly get dressed, do a lightening strike tidy up and jump in the car.

At this point I was seriously questioning my sanity - a soft play centre in the school holidays? Crazy idea. But it was blissfully empty, everyone else outside enjoying the sunshine presumably.

So the big kids have a brilliant time racing around climbing, bouncing and sliding. Meg has fun in the tinys bit and we find a sit in toy for her amusement.



In the afternoon we went round to Amy and Daisy's for a play (F and B) and a cuppa (me and Bev). It was the first chance I'd had for Meg to wear the hat I made for her on Tuesday evening. It's a bit big, but I call that growing room :-)

Ahem - nearly a year on....

So lets gloss over the fact the last entry was 11 months ago.....

Since then we have a new addition to the family, the gorgeous Meg. She arrived in June and is adored by all.

Today we went to Whipsnade Zoo, one of our treasured places to go. It was a real autumnal day - blustery down in town, so blowing a gale on top of the hill where the zoo is.

We took the car in for the first time since last winter and were glad we did! It was so windy we had our picnic at in the car at Lookout Point (in true English fashion).

We saw a kazillion animals today. The ring tailed lemurs were very close to the perspex barrier, piled up on top of each other keeping warm. The zebras were grazing close to the fence. One of them looks heavily pregnant so we're looking forward to seeing a zebra foal sometime soon.

While I was changing and feeding Meg in the car the others saw one of the cheetahs lying on the grass by the rock.

Freddie loves the meercats and spent ages pretending he was an eagle. The meercat lookout wasn't fooled, despite Fred's best efforts.

The lions were magnificent. One lioness was gnawing a massive ball. The male lion was on top of the mound, and luckily for us another lioness was very close to the viewing room.

Next to the lion enclosure is a model of an African-type market stall, piled high with red peppers and chillies. Freddie and I played there for a while. He was the stall holder and I was various customers, namely friendly lady, in a hurry lady and a bit on a hurry lady. I bought 7 peppers and 3 chillies, and 4 peppers and 6 chillies etc. Fred counted them up and charged me the right money.

We drove further round the zoo through the Asian Plains bit, with loads of deer, camels and yaks. We went searching for the tigers, with Daddy and Betsy leading the way.

Freddie raided his money box and bought an enormous nile crocodile. He loves it. It got buried and 'discovered' in the woodchips at the zoo playground. It got taken to see every animal, and it rounded its day off with a bath before going to bed. I hope it doesn't nibble him in the night!

We left after the heavens opened. Freddie rushed straight round to Jarvis's to show him his croc, while Betsy did some gluing. Freddie fancied doing some cutting so we got the scissors out. he helped me sharpen the scissors by cutting through some pads of kitchen foil.

They both played with the playdough and some board games and cards. A lovely day.

After reading through some blogs and online articles yesterday I decided I need to take control of the dining table. I realise that sounds a bit batty, but I'm sick and tired of the table being a dumping ground for all our junk. With this in mind I put a table cloth on, picked some rosemary and a couple of flowers from the garden and put them in a jug and added a tealight.

I also dug out a wooden dish with the plan to fill it with seasonal finds on our walks. I don't have room for a nature table so this is a miniature version.

We collected some acorns, conkers and twigs for the dish today, and I'm so happy with the result. I just have to keep it tidy now...

A crafty week - 5th october

After last week's fun with Betsy, this week started rather wobbly too. My turn this time - I had a bit of a cold and was miserable with it. I cancelled my rearranged date with the home edder I should have met last Monday. Unsurprisingly she isn't returning my emails - I think I've been written off as unreliable. I will contact her again though, and see if I can persuade her to give me another go!

We went off to the library again - my knee jerk reaction when I have no plans and no energy to make one. It's a 10 minute walk and has got me out of a hole so many times.

The day improved. I printed off some mazes for Freddie to do, and made them more challenging this time as he really is good at them.
Inspired by Cbeebies, Freddie asked if he could make a raincatcher (in fact, he asked last week, and said that he wanted to do it after 4 sleeps. So that's what we did!). He put glitter glue on the bottle, and marked (sort-of) centimetres on the wooden spoon. He gave the spoon and lovely smiley face, and finished it off with googly eyes and feathers for hair.Once the glitter glue has dried we'll find a place for it in the garden.

He had so enjoyed sticking that we carried on, making Naughty Grandad (my dad) a birthday card.
Cue lots of glue and bobbles.

On Tuesday we went to the High Wycombe HE group for the first time. They meet in a hall in the best place for kids - next to a large playing field, a playground and some woods. I would have liked to have chatted more with some parents but as soon as the kids realised there was a playground that was it. We'll definately go again. We were the youngest by miles but I think we might get quite a lot from it.

Wednesday was a relief - Rob was off having worked the weekend before. We went to Waddesdon, a favourite Fielding family destination.

The kids found a big puddle to play in.

We saw some beautiful autumn colours. The last couple of years have been spectacular, and this year is pretty good too.


We walked through the 'jungle' - a short path planted up with lots of enormous tree ferns - and spotted snakes and a tiger hiding in the bushes.
The kids ran/cycled wildly down the hill, over and over again.


We stopped for a *delicious* piece of cake - chocolate and almond, it's so good - and a cuppa, before going to the woodland playground. We virtually had the place to ourselves, which is delightful after the last few visits over the summer.

Then we waited for the land train to take us back up the hill, to the car and home for lunch.

In the afternoon Freddie helped Rob to paint the bench in the front garden. It's something of a family heirloom, having belonged to Rob's mum's parents for a number of years.


Freddie had his swimming lesson later. Rob took him for the first time in a while and was impressed with how well he's doing.

On Friday we saw Sarah, Ben and Sam again. We had a very enjoyable afternoon at their house, and freddie had his first try on a Wii. He didn't seem that bothered luckily, so I don't think he'll be pestering us for one just yet...sighs of relief all round!

And hurrah - we are finally up to date :-)

Sunny days - week of 28th September

The week started quite badly. Betsy was in a *serious*grump. Very little would placate her. Mum and I took the kids to Wendover Woods on Sunday, thinking that getting her out might help her shake it off but she just screamed and screamed. She never did that even as a baby.

She didn't sleep well on Sunday night (and so neither did Rob and I). I cancelled a playdate with a home edder I hadn't met yet, and we just toodled up to the library and did some errands in town.

.

Betsy was still feeling very sorry for herself, but luckily her big brother was on hand with a hug.



Freddie got the short straw with Betsy demanding so much attention, but he did draw an excellent picture of an Allosaurus on the chalk board. And very pleased he was too!











On Tuesday and Wednesday Betsy was still very out of sorts. We risked another trip to the woods on Wednesday, as much for my sanity as for the kids. This time it was Ashridge, and we spent a truly wonderful hour climbing felled trees, kicking through leaves, sitting in houses made of sticks and enjoying the beautiful last-day-of-September sunshine.
One of Freddie's ex-preschool friends came round to play on Thursday afternoon. It was lovely to catch up with her mum, who I miss chatting to when waiting for the kids. On Friday we met another friend who is now in reception, at Ashridge (again!). Another romp through the woods in the sunshine, and chocolate amongst the trees....

Catching up #2 - week of 21st September

Rob was off on Monday so I left him with the kids and went shopping in Hemel. Finally got a saute pan (20% voucher + 20% sale + gift card = £5 to pay. Woo hoo!).

Later Freddie and I went to town to pick a few bits up from the charity shop for the (newly organised) dressing up box. This was fab:

• we went to the cafe
• we got a straw hat
• we got a chiffon scarf that doubles as a cape
• it was just me and the boy

Freddie loved the chiffon scarf and it led to lots of dressing up fun..




We had an open house coffee morning the next day. Freddie and I had made some chocolate and banana muffins, which turned out really well. I helped him with the weighing, and he did the stirring. Two families came, Lucy and her 9 year old, and Claire with her daughters (4 and 2 ) and her nearly due bump. It was lovely to chat to some local(ish) people.

We pottered around at the garden centre the following day. I wanted to make Duncan a pot of bulbs for his birthday, and get some bulbs for forcing for Christmas. While we were there I saw a competition for children to grow some tulip bulbs - you get 3 free ones to plant and bring along next May. Freddie will be planting them in apot in the next couple of weeks. You have to keep a diary, sdo I'll see if he wants to take some photos of the planting, and then over the winter as he checks and waters the pot. What a cool idea! We'll have to keep a look out for other bits and bobs like that, as they seem to offer quite a few activities for kids.

We went to Joelle's for a science experiment day at the end of the week. She's so amazingly organised -she'd set up so many activities to try out. Freddie got involved in lots of them - Melody's Montessori sensory stuff, floating and sinking games, making shakers, paper areoplanes, torches and reflections, cornflour gloop (my favourite - I loved this!), and - Freddie's all time best thing ever - the baking soda volcano. Brilliant!

Whoops - some catching up - week of 14th September

I've let this slip a little, trying to do crafting in the evening for the craft fair on the 31st October. hopefully my diary will help me remember what we've been up to!

I've been taking a few photos to make this a more interesting read. With a bit of luck I'll be able to presuade Rob to show me how to upload them....

This week was our meeting new people week. It started well, making the aquaintance of Sarah and her two boys aged 4.5. We arranged to meet at Wendover Woods. The boys arrived with pirate telescopes, which impressed Freddie no end. Sarah and I chatted while the boys (and Betsy) got to know each other. Wonderful - Freddie clicked with them and we had a lovely time.

Later that week was the Chesham Not Back To School Picnic. Luckily it didn't rain and we met lots of new people - as well as seeing Sarah, Ben and Sam again (to Freddie's delight). Melody alos turned up with her boys, and we saw Surinder. I chatted with Claire, who'll be coming to my coffee/tea morning next week. We had a good time and blew some bubbles - we took along the bubble machine too for good measure.

Our other activities that week included the playground, playing board games, making pizzas (not eaten by Freddie of course, that would go against his cheese toastie diet), Joelle's for fun with Archie, Experience Education group and swimming.

We packed the kids off to mum's at the weekend so we could sort out the toy storage and the loft. Rock and roll.