Party time!

The party was after lunch which meant that we had plenty of time to finish off the food and set the games up, it did mean, however, that we had a very excited little/big girl asking every few minutes when her friends were going to arrive.
Mom and Aunt O came to celebrate and help with the party. Here they are setting up the spider web game.

Spider web all set up. Lolly sticks were tied to one end and the clue at the other.

It was the first game the children played when they arrived. They were all very good at following their piece of wool and winding it up on the stick.


Me getting in the way :o)

The under 4s found the game a little tricky.


But finally everyone got their prize/fly! The clues led the children to frizbees hidden all around the garden. It was wonderful to see them all zooming round the garden. I got some permanent marker for the children to write their names on the frizbees.

Next was the caterpillar game. THe children had never played a game like this before so they all wanted to practice being caterpillars first. It was amazing to see all the different techniques used by the children as their hands weren't allowed to touch the floor.

I think the sacks worked really well :o)


Then they were all ready for the race. The only problem was that they were supposed to divide into two teams but all the girls wanted to be together, so the teams were very uneven. The boys didn't seem that bothered though as they got to have loads of extra turns.

The boys thought that they won (which they did) and the girls thought that they won ;o)

Food time. One of the mothers started a game to keep the children distracted so that I could bring out the food.

It all looked so pretty and disgusting at the same time :o)

I took this picture as the children were let loose to help themselves.

The younger three being served once there was some space.

We put out lots of rugs for everyone.



Sitting in a circle. I found it so funny the way the boys all faced outwards.

After all that sugar, we needed a high energy game so we played exterminator. Here someone has a spray bottle filled with water and they have to spray the bugs. Whoever is sprayed had to lie on their back with their arms and legs in the air like a dead bug. Then they need to be rescued by the other bugs who pick them up by their hands and feet and take them to one of the resuscitation mats.

By the time everyone had had a go at being the exterminator, they were all very hot and were enjoying being sprayed.

The water slide was great to cool everyone down.

We don't have a hose connection so we took turns carrying the watering can of water up to fill the baby bath.



Everyone had great fun and by the end the slide was a little worse for wear.

Time for birthday cake.

We managed to light the candles...

and they amazingly stayed lit through the entire rendition of Happy Birthday.



By this time it was way after home time and we hadn't even gotten through all of the games.
I got out the bean bag bugs for the children to play with as we were dividing up the cake and clearing up.



I really enjoyed this party. It made it so much easier that people helped out. Even the pheasant helped by the clearing up the dropped cake.

bits and bobs

I am lying here, outside, on my own, trying to upload photos to the blog. I say 'trying' because the connection doesn't seem to be strong enough for me to do this outside so I have given up for now and am just going to type.
Today is Hubby and my 10th wedding anniversary! 10 years seems such a long time! We are going out later to celebrate so will post about today another time :o) My Mom came to pick up the children before lunch which meant that I have had the day to myself. Perfect opportunity to get some blogging done as I feel that I have been a bit useless about it recently.
I am watching the clouds behind me reflected in the monitor, watching them cover my lovely sun :o( It brings to mind that song 'I'm hot then I'm cold...'
So my first post in June is just going to be about bits and pieces.

In this picture Champ was experimenting with vinegar and an egg. He had seen somewhere that vinegar eats the egg's hard shell and you are just left with the soft membrane.

As always Kiki not wanting to miss out on the learning.
I think that we needed different vinegar as even after three days the shell was still intact.
Boo also has an experiment going in the bathroom. She wanted to see how long it would take a piece of soap to dissolve in a pot of water.

I have been cracking on with various bits and pieces for the craft fair. I do need to get more of a move on though as we only have a few weeks left and nothing is completed, plus I still have to make Boo's first holy communion dress!!!
Here are some bugs to go in the bug gardens.

A completed bug garden pack for a birthday party. I should really take a picture when all the bits are out of the bag as the flection makes it hard to see.

Boo dressed herself for the party. I love the way she just mixed all the colours together.

I just had to take this photo this morning. I came downstairs to see the two of them sitting and watching TV together. Boo was upstairs playing with her puppy in my pockets and Googs was sulking :o)

and this is a gorgeous glass vase that used to belong to my Gran and now belongs to me. I LOVE it! it is a wonderful shade of blue and when the sun shines on it little shards of light bounce around the room.
It is now living in our bedroom as I feel that it is the room that needs the most colour injection.

and just look at my wonderfully colourful finds at the pound shop!!! I was so excited when I saw them, not such a dull shopping trip afterall :o)

I found some peelable window paint in a charirty shop. Result is some wonderful colourful designs for around the house. Colour makes me so happy :o)
Bathroom creatures...

I think these ones work well with the crochet bathroom bunting :o)

Boo's bedroom. I don't think that the colour will last long on the window pics though :o(

Our landing picture gallery.



okay now I am back inside it is time to carry on downloading those pics...

My new, very old knitting machine!!!!!!

Someone is our home ed group was giving away an old knitting machine, of course I snapped it up! It also came with some wool and some very old patterns. I am so excited about it :o)
Once the children had gone to bed I got the knitting machine out. It took me AGES to work out how to get the thing out of the box, luckily Hubby was around to give me a hand. I had never seen a knitting machine in my life.

Once it was out the box I had to thread it...another half an hour or so. I followed the instructions and then all of a sudden I was knitting! I completed 50 rows in no time at all, I know this because it even comes with a row counter. I can't tell you how excited it all makes me in my little world.

Look how neat it is!

I did have a problem with this corner though. The instructions said to hook the wool onto the hooky thing, but it seemed to pull it out at the corner.

After my little knitting experience I had to put the machine away before the children could play with it...yet another mission as I couldn't remember how it all went back in the box! and on top of that I couldn't seem to close the lid. I guess at least my sewing machine won't feel left out anymore as I am sure that I will be swearing at this machine just as much :o)
Here are some of the vintage patterns that came with it. I couldn't fit all the patterns into one picture but it gives you an idea.

Look only 9p. Some of the patterns have a 7p price tag on them!



I can't image that I would (when I eventually learn to use the machine properly) ever make some of these patterns, a little too retro for me.


Although this one is really cute :o)