playground in the woods

Our monthly home ed meet at the nature reserve was a cold one. Just as we were starting to enjoy rising temperatures they fell again :(
The first activity was to go birdwatching so we took a walk down to the river. I don't think that the younger kids were looking in the right places :P
Champ and Boo had the right idea though.
I overheard them discussing ways to cross the river :) It was soooo cold that we didn't stay for long.
We headed back up to the hut to have lunch and warm up.
Here the girls are discovering which birds have the best feet for swimming.

We felt much warmer after lunch. Kiki and her friend even went fishing but they didn't catch anything :)
So they tried somewhere else! lol they did find a dried up fish on the bank that Kiki said she saved by throwing it back.
We all then went to to the woods where the kids were set a task of building a playground just using sticks, logs, tarpaulin and rope. I have to say that my pictures didn't capture the day and the wonderful creations at their best, but it is a flavour of our experience :)

Googs helped some friends build a tepee
Kiki had a go on a brilliantly sturdy rope swing.
Boo and her friend tied two ropes around three trees...

To make this.

Champ wanted to build the biggest shelter. I could see the trouble he was heading for - running out of very long branches, but he was determined to try!

Finished tepee :)))
Look at all the busy-ness
Rope and stick ladder. Discovering that the quality of sticks used is important for this :)
more swinging fun.
and yet more! There was another swing made, which I didn't take a picture of, that was a made out of a larger log, a two-seater.
The ranger helping to fashion a sturdier ladder.
Happy playing children.
Another rope course.
Still finding long branches :)
Eventually the boys decided to go with a smaller shelter and built this one in no time at all.



It was SUCH good fun. The kids all loved the freedom of being allowed to design and create their own structures that could be enjoyed by all. I just wish that I had taken pictures of all the creations but we were all so busy!!! :D
And when leaving, the kids spotted, and were delighted by, seeing the snow drops!

Sad chick news, dog and pie day

And this is our sad news. Out of our 6 eggs 4 were infertile, one of those cracked and contaminated one of the fertile eggs and it died but....

This is Pip at only 5 days old! That little black dot by the letters is his/her eye which we watched jumping around! It was amazing. Pip is now too big to get any good pictures in the egg but hatching day is only 9 days away!!!!
As a standby toy, for those moments when they want to get crafty but they don't want to get messy, this is a great one. Trying to fit the little nails in the holes in the shapes keeps them concentrating and happy for ages :)

We had some wine sent to us as a present for Christmas and while the wine is long gone, I saved the packing chips.

At first the kids said that they were popcorn, marshmallows and meringues, they put them in pans and cooked them.

Then it progressed to snow and Kiki even made some snow angels :)

Googs sat and made playdough mushrooms for an hour!

Until the big ball of playdough had been used up.
It prompted the others to make playdough mushroom pies
This was chicken pie

Goog's ghosts.
One of the neighbours friends brought round their dalmatian. The kids spent the afternoon running up and down the field with Marco.



Inspired by making playdough pies, the kids asked to make pies for supper.

Boo made an apple and blackberry pie.
And Champ made chicken, bacon and mushroom pies.
There were 6 more little pies too but we didn't wait to take pictures of them :P
Yummy!!!!!

cupcakes, cupboard and new coop

I know that I have been really bad at posting recently. There has just been so much to do! blogging is my little luxury so sometimes gets pushed down the to-do list :(

Because of all the eggs that we have been getting, the kids get to cook egg sandwiches more often. I have never eaten eggs as fresh as these before and see a definite difference - with our fresh eggs, the yolk sits much higher when broken in the pan and the white is a lot thicker, another difference, one that I have a slight problem with, is that while I am eating the egg the kids will tell me who layed it :P Look at what our clever hens produced :)))
It feels wonderful to know that there will always be enough eggs for baking. It's like getting the milk delivered and learning how to make bread, it just feels good to know that the basics are always there.



Champ and Boo have been out so much with the chickens, that they younger two have started to play really well with each other. They have invented all sorts of fun games.
Kiki just LOVES her cupcakes :)

She even does the washing up!
I got the boys to work together to put up Champ's new cupboard for all his fossils and "stuff".
I supervised them a little but really wanted them to look at the instructions and work out how the pieces fitted together and then work as a team to complete it.
I was really impressed how they both got stuck in.


Completed!
And I found a second hand coop for a very reasonable price. This one is for the chicks when they are old enough.
The ladies. They are allowed to roam free now and we often find them at the top of the field. It's so funny as they only go off in pairs, like little rotund ladies off for an afternoon walk :)
The ladies seem to approve of the new coop but only to play in, they still prefer their original coop to lay in and sleep.

Watching them eat an apple. Hermione was laying an egg in the coop at the time.
Matching boy and chicken :)





I hope the old ladies won't be ignored once the youngsters arrive...