How Did This Happen . . . ?

Today, at 8am (or 4pm depending on whether we're celebrating UK or CA time), Beth officially turned five. It's been a long countdown and I'm certainly a little tired of "How many sleeps?" (and the countdown has already started for her sixth, along with Christmas!).

Once again we had a two-day celebration with gran, grandad, Uncle Andy and her cousins coming on Sunday, then grandma and grandpa and a party on Monday. Sunday was a mixture of eating - it was a beautiful day so took advantage and had a bbq, and a visit to the pigs.

I think all the kids enjoyed seeing the pigs. I don't think the cousins realised they were at someone's house rather than at a farm - guess a fairly easy mistake to make since not that many people have pigs, hens, geese, ducks, dogs and cat around their garden along with an ongoing stream of visitors! Apart from a rather violent finish to one of Adam's zip wire runs, they all had a lovely time chasing around.

Back at ours Beth opened all the presents she received and was very happy with her gains. A barbie doll and a barbie hairstyling 'head', a CD player along with some music (to send Steve and I round the bend!), some clothes and various other bits and pieces.

Today she supplemented all that with another barbie and a horse, a Princess Fiona dress, beads, art sets, and the list goes on! A very lucky girl. Her party was hard work but she loved having her friends come and celebrate. They are such a nice bunch of kids and as a first party with no parents, it went well - outfit was all important and the girls were definitely checking each other out and making judgments, the boys weren't quite so critical as for them accessories were key, one with a pirates sword and the other with a cowboy hat.

In all a great couple of days after a few very difficult days (that post will come later) and I think Beth thoroughly enjoyed herself. Thanks to everyone that sent birthday wishes/gifts as they were all appreciated. Happy 5th Birthday Beth, our beautiful, energetic, imaginative girl.

First 'School' Trip

Today Toby went on his first (pre) school trip. It was to Clumber Park, one of our local jaunts. As a parent and committee member, I got roped into going along as a responsible adult (!?!).

Toby was very excited at the prospect and much to Beth's annoyance kept on about it all the way to school. We met at the conservation centre and jumped straight into looking at leaves, flowers and bugs. After the first of many toilet trips, everyone was ready to explore.

Normally when we go, we follow the same route which generally covers the play area, the lakeside, sometimes the restaurant and occasionally the walled garden. It was rather nice to go a different way and see what else was about.

Apart from the lure of running free (as he normally would when there), all the kids did pretty well at listening to the National Trust staff as they talked about the trees, animals and flowers. They measured the circumference of a tree trunk in children (roughly 13 though I suspect we could have lost a few), explored a den, feed squirrels and smelled lots of herbs.

Of course the highlight of the day for Toby was eating his packed lunch! After a 5:15am wake-up (not by choice) we were both a little tired and headed home for a quick snooze on the sofa before collecting Beth.

Green Fingered Girl

Every Autumn at Beth's school, each child is given a pot, some compost and a daffodil bulb with rather detailed directions on how to plant and grow it. The children have to take it home, plant it, look after it and try and get it to be in bloom, looking perfect at the end of March.

On that one particular day in March, a member of the village gardener's association comes in and judges all the daffodils. From what I've heard there is intense competition between parents to produce a prize specimen!

Anyway, as you can see, Beth planted her bulb a few weeks after we got it (perhaps the secret is to plant with your eyes closed . . . ). We followed the instructions as best we could all through winter. Our daffodil came into flower at the beginning of March much to our dismay since judging wasn't until March 30th.

Luckily, it stayed looking pretty good so we walked to school on Wednesday with it waving in the wind and with a fair amount of admiration coming our way.

When I collected Beth on Wednesday afternoon, she came out very happily with her first place certificate and winners gift! Well done Beth, a prize-winning gardener at the age of four. :)

Happy 70th Grandma Jean

Today is Grandma Jean's 70th birthday. To celebrate, the family gathered for a birthday lunch at a favourite pub.

Beth and Toby were in their glad rags looking very dapper. Steve and I a little less smart - thinking about what I wore, I realise that a shopping trip is needed . . . I could quite easily have been going to a funeral rather than a fun celebration. My wardrobe definitely needs a makeover - I really think that perhaps the government should provide a 'stay-at-home mum's fun clothing allowance' (nevermind the economic recovery)!

Anyway, despite the drab outfit the day was lots of fun. We got caught up with family gossip and goings on and had some lovely fodder, finishing off with a slice of birthday cake. :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jean, we hope you had an enjoyable day. x

Happy 3rd Birthday Toby & Piggies

Wow, I can't believe that our younger child is three!!! Toby has been very excited at the prospect of his birthday and a birthday party all week - very sweet since this is the first one he's noticed.

The day started with Beth giving him the present she had chosen for him; the final Shrek dvd. Of course they wanted to watch it straight away so we stuck that on for them while we got ready. After a bit of breakfast Toby opened his other presents. There was quite a selection as he likes so many things. At the moment he is rather fascinated with space rockets but he also still likes his cars, planes and trains, dinosaurs, building stuff, books, you get the picture. Anyway, he got a bit of everything and seemed to love them all (and even if he didn't, he was very polite and said thank you).

Before festivities continued we had a job to do . . . Some of our friends have a couple of acres of garden and keep hens, geese and pigs. Our garden isn't so large and they have very kindly said we can use the patch where they kept the pigs last year as an allotment. We have started to dig it over and it's almost ready for our potatoes and onions to go in. Well, all this got us thinking how nice it would be to grow and produce our own food so when we were given the chance to have our own pig, kept with theirs, we decided to go for it.

Today we went to pick it up along with another five; three for them, one for their neighbour and one for their friend. It was nice to go to the farm where they were born - Toby was very taken by the Shetland ponies, it seems he gets along with any animal as none seem scared of him and he certainly isn't scared of them.

We went to drop the pigs off at their new home, a simple job until one of them escaped and everyone had to chase it round the garden. After a few acrobatic manoeuvers, Steve managed to catch it and into the pen it went. They all seemed happy enough to be in there with lots of new straw, loads of grass and greenery and a lovely sty to snuggle down in. Now we just have to wait it out until the end of the year for our tasty bacon butties. ;)

The rest of the day was spent at home with grandma and grandpa, gran and grandad celebrating. We managed to play outside for a bit and even had our first bbq of the season. At the end of the day Toby was knackered and could not keep his eyes open. Hopefully he'll have a great night sleep as eight of his friends are coming in the morning for his party!

Sherwood Pines Birthday Picnic

March 8 was Steve's birthday. He declined the offer of a home cooked meal for two and instead opted for a picnic in the cold for four!

As he had taken the day off work, we picked Beth up from school and headed straight over to Sherwood Pines. It was a gorgeous sunny day but by four o'clock was getting a little chilly. Never-the-less we had our picnic though a little quicker than planned. Really we should have taken a flask of soup but weren't that well planned.

After polishing the pancakes off, the kids ran off for a play. Sherwood Pines has a load of really cool play stuff from wooden walkways to dragonfly climbing frame things, faces carved into the trees and secret tree houses. They had great fun charging round and round, up and down. We eventually headed home before the kids (and us) froze.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Hodsock Priory

I've been meaning to get this post up a while but just haven't had two minutes to get it done. On Saturday 26th we went with grandma and grandad to Hodsock Priory to see the snowdrops. It's only 15 minutes or so away from the house so not too far to travel. I think it's pretty well known for it's variety of snowdrops though we hadn't heard of it before we stumbled across it in 2009.

It was rather chilly and the wind was blowing straight through but the gardens were beautiful. Despite the mud we had a good stomp around. There weren't as many snowdrops as I had remembered and the daffodils weren't out yet but it was good to be outside. I dread to think how many snowdrops the kids killed while we were there - the concept of sticking to the paths is unknown to them.

In the woodlands there were some stumps and Beth made the most of these natural stages, singing for all to hear. Toby was a little slower and had to be lured round with the use of grandad's midget gems. Turns out that he wasn't feeling great - his breathing got worse through the evening and ended with an ambulance ride at 3am and Sunday spent in Lincoln hospital. He's fine now, just need to keep an eye on him and give him his inhaler if he seems to be having issues.

Beth's also fine, she achieved her level 6 gymnastics badge and certificate on Thursday. Only five more to go!