Friday ramblings...

Yesterday, the older two were invited to a in-line skating party. I didn't have time to go to the shops to buy the present, so I had to make one.

Even though the children have skates, they don't have anywhere to really use them, preferring their bikes, so they were rather wobbly. Champ got the hang of it quite quickly, but we had to exchange Boo's in-line skates for regular skates. She said that it was like driving in a car as apposed to a motor bike - much safer :o)

The photos aren't very good because you are not allowed to take pictures in places like this, these are just some sneaky pics that I managed to take of my kids when other children weren't around.

Boo took a while to get it but by the end of the three hours she was zooming around the rink.

After the boys kept on arguing over the football, I spotted these balls at a bargain store and snatched them up. The boys both wanted red - thank goodness for permanent marker! I did warn them that any arguments or nonsense involving the balls would cause me to confiscate them, the kids obviously didn't believe me and had them confiscated in the first day. After two days of good behaviour they got them back :o)

After a really busy week of having activities every day, we...ok I decided that we needed to have day at home. Time to regroup, tidy the house and get some jobs done.

I was woken up by the younger two giving me a present. They had wrapped a car that Googs had made in a picture that Kiki had drawn. They apparently had planned it all themselves :o) It was so wonderful, they were both so eager to see my expression of delight.
Googs painted the car pink for me.
With the seedlings growing at such a rate, the kids took the opportunity of the day at home to do some gardening. Champ was a little more reluctant than Boo, he prefers the idea of something rather than doing the work required to get it.

Boo worked for hours separating the tiny flower seedlings and planting them, she wanted them just right.

We ran out of bread for lunch and the only thing that I could think of to fill the hungry tummies was a little naughty, so I made sure they first had something healthy.

Followed by cupcakes!!!!!

We found the jar of salt water that had been left over after making rocks had grown some lovely crystals.

After lunch we spent some time reading books.

Googs and Kiki made a book about growing seeds. Kiki's book was VERY colourful with most of the pages being coloured pink. She wants to give her book to Gran.

Googs wanted to be more conservative with his book.

We also all played games. Champ and Boo came up with a game that mixes chess with checkers :o) I am not that sure about the rules but they played it for ages.

It's Friday! Pizzas tonight yummy :o)
I bought pizza pans last week and what a difference! It has cut the cooking time in half and the pizzas are lovely and crispy.

Our pizza dough recipe:

750g strong white bread flour

1 sachet of yeast - 7g

1 Tbsp honey

tiny pinch of salt

450g warm water

Mix everything together in a bowl and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth. Put in oiled bowl and leave to rise for half and hour.

Roll out and spoon on some pasta sauce, grated cheese whatever topping you like.

Preheat over to about 225 oC and cook until ready.

Photo of precooked pizza.

While the pizzas were cooking, hubby's friendly pheasant came for some food, at least he isn't eating the seeds from the children's gardens.

This evening I am working on this top. The pattern is written a little differently to what I am used to, so it took me some time to get my head round it, but I am getting there.

I am using a different yarn to the one suggested in the book. The yarn is stringier than suggested so I followed the direction for a larger size...I made it WAY too big and had to unravel it ooops. So this is where I am now...

Gran's birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Gran's birthday with a trip out to our river.
As with all celebrations, it's all about the food! So we started our day out with lemon cake and fruit juice.
We gave Gran her presents - crochet book and set of multicoloured hooks :o) and an array of homemade cards.
Awaiting the cake.
The weather was overcast and a little gusty but warm enough to stay out for the day.

This lamb was born just before we arrived at the river. It was a little unsteady and oh so cute!

The mother was very calm and Champ was able to get up close to take these pics without the zoom.

Running. At what age does running stop being a pleasure and become a chore? Maybe it's just me. Found out last week that Hubby is planning on entering me into a half marathon in September!!!! Was not too impressed! Coming from a family of marathon runners I do feel a little unfit though :o)

Champ found this bug and informed me that it is a tiger beetle. He told up that it nips so taking the picture was as close as I got.

Since we arrived at 10.30, there was some time to kill before lunch time. Luckily Gran brought some peanuts to shell and eat. For some reason every time the children see my Mom they are hungry even if they have just eaten at home, luckily my Mom loves to feed them :o)I just had to take this picture of Kiki :o) The first thing she did (after the cake) was to walk straight into the water, which meant that her jeans got all heavy and kept falling down but she was just too busy to do anything about them.

Yay, lunch time. The children all gathered to watch the fire.

I caught Kiki trying to pluck her eyebrows with these!

Gran made little bread patties that the children cooked in the pan.

Once the fire had calmed down a bit we put the sausages on. I think that we should have waited a little longer as the sausages did get a bit burnt.

hmmmm crispy!

Birthday lunch.

After lunch, we took the grids off the fires and collected some sticks to build up the fires for toasting marshmallows.

They were VERY well cooked!

After lunch the children wanted to paddle. I think it was because they were round the fire and got rather hot.

Just before this picture was taken, Googs had waded out to the other side of the river and had fallen in. Here he is warming up.

The younger two kept on walking out to the middle of the river then losing confidence and screaming for help. Luckily big brother was there to help out.

We stayed at the river for almost 5 hours, it was the adults who eventually called an end to the day, the children wanted to stay and play.

Even though the fire helped dry out the trousers, they were all so grubby that we threw everything in the wash when we got home and there were baths and showers all round.