Radiohead – Reckoner

My husband was watching a documentary the other night and I heard the background music and just had to find out what it was, after much searching (we couldn’t remember the name of the programme for a start!) I found it, just had to share as I love this so much at the moment :

Snail Trail by Ruth Brown

After planting out the winter veg we have been visited by many slugs and snails, thankfully I think that the frogs are keeping the population down at the bottom of the garden where the broccoli and cauliflowers are growing, though the cabbages and brussel sprouts are being munched!

I cam accross this book in the library which seemed so appropriate at the moment and ‘T’ really loves it. I read it to her and then we ventured outside to hunt for snails, she looked everywhere for ages and was so excited when she found one.

One of the things I really love about parenting is being able to take the time to do these things. Before being a Mum I would have found snails a real pest munching on my vegetables, but knowing that ‘T’ is learning and enjoying all of these little wonders makes them an afternoon of fun and a free activity in our garden.

Yarn Along – my first attempt at a snood & Emily Barr – ‘The Life You Want’

I have been following a blog called ‘Small Things’ over the past few months and I cannot begin to explain how inspirational it is. Click here to take a peek – it’s so beautifully written and captured and she’s living my dream of having 6 children living in the countryside !

I’ve also seen lots of photos of snoods on pinterest lately and not having much cash has encouraged me to pick up the knitting pins again and give it another go. Ok, so it must be the most basic knitting ever but I;m hoping that it will look okay once it’s complete!

Also I’ve been thoroughly enjoying another book by Emily Barr, it;s a bit of a trasshy travel/parenting novel but it reminds me of my back-packing days and she manages to really portray her time in India as if I were there too, it’s been really enjoyable to get back into a book again and take the time to knit.

Outside play-kitchen

The runner beans have gone, our rabbit, Mavis ate most of them as ‘T’ was so delighted to pick them all by herself and run to feed them to our rabbit. In place of the beans I have made a little area for ‘T’ to play in where she can make mess and play with no restrictions of having to be careful not to spill anything!

I’ve used an old bedside cabinet which we used to have by our bed, I found in in a charity shop years ago though it’s been in the shed for quite some time. I also found a little coffee table – just the right size, it was really cheap at another charity shop and after a varnish and drying out in the sunshine they are both ready for play.

Some old enamel ware donated by my Mum, some conkers, pine cones, acorns, petals, lavender, sticks and leaves that ‘T’ and I have collected over the summer, sand from the sand-pit and wood shavings (kindly donated by Mavis!) It’s so good to watch ‘T’ play for so long, sorting, moving, pouring, mixing, arranging and re-arranging all of her utensils. I’d love to know what she’s thinking as she potters around looking very busy.

I think we’ll spend many an afternoon out here, no matter what the weather is, we have waterproofs and snowsuits ready for that!

Green tomato and mixed veg soup (on a budget)

What to do with all of these tomatoes that won’ t turn red? I’ve looked on the internet for some inspiration though I’m not the biggest fan of chutney and wanted to do something with the ingredients that I already had so I made a really tasty soup, I find soup a great way to use up leftovers and it’s great for freezing for mid-week lunches for ‘T’ and I with some home made bread. The courgetter used was grown by my husband’s colleague, the tomatoes from our garden and the chicken stock was in the freezer from a roast that I made a couple of weeks ago.

Ingredients:

4 x large carrots

1 x chopped capsicum pepper (I used a red one)

4 x cup fulls of tomatoes (red, green and inbetween!)

1 x large courgette

1 x large baking potato

2 x sticks celery

1 x red onion

enough water/stock to cover all ingredients

seasoning & mixed herbs.

knob of butter

Method:

Add the chopped onion to a pan containint melted butter, cook until softened then add the rest of the vegetables and cook for a few minutes. Cover with stock and bubble away until all veg is tender and blitz with a blender.

Seasonal book basket: Autumn

The Autumn book basket is coming together though I have found this season the hardest so far to find books for. There are a few that I have my eye on to add to the basket collection but there’s plenty of time for that!  My favourite (ahem……….T’s favourtite!) is by Shirley Hughes – When We Went to the Park, I love how Shirley Hughes manages to illustrate so well, she somehow seems to be able to capture the light perfectly.

The other books are:

• Flower Fairies of the Autumn – Cecily Barker
• Autumn – Gerda Muller
• Come on, wind! – John Mole
• Autumn – Gerda Muller
• Brambly Hedge, Autumn Story – Hill Barklem
• The Untidy Little Hedgehog – Molly Brett
• The Wind Blew – Pat Hutchins

I’m yet to decide on a book about a pumpkin to add to the basket though there are a few I have shortlisted!

My favourite place…………..

We went to the woods for a family walk this weekend, it was lovely (as always) and ‘T’ loved holding the differnt leaves I collected as we went along, examing each one and babbling away in her own little language. The walk we went on is just on the edge of a huge woodland area with a Roman road that goes through it – it looks pretty spooky when you look along the road which disappears as far as the eye can see, there are lots of stories about haunted things which happen here but I’d never be brave enough to venture here in the dark.

I used to walk my dog in these woods when I was little, I used to climb the trees with my best friend, climb the straw bales (how dangerous?!) and go horse-riding for hours along the many trails. I’ll miss this place so much when we leave for Australia, it is my favourite place in the World.

Don’t forget to head over to ‘Handmade Monday’ to catch up with people that have been more creative than I have recently!

Autumn leaves

I meant to share this post last week after spending a lovely afternoon in the grounds of the Cathedral nearby to us. It feels like Autumn is really here now that there are so many leaves on the ground. My lovely friend and I grabbed a takeaway coffee and let our girls run in the leaves, they had so much fun together whilst we watched and ran around with them and marvelled at how much they had grown, I was surprised at just how long they happily played with them.

An afternoon that I will savour for a very long time x

Time for a catch up…………….(and a grumble)

I’ve been away for this space for a while, we went awy to Devon for a long weekend, it started off well though ended up not so good.

We drove to Dawlish on Friday and had a lovely dinner by the sea, the following day we had a great time catching up with a lovely school friend and her family, we were cooked a yummy lunch and fed lots of cake then went for a leisurely walk along the quay in Exeter followed by a stroll to a beautiful country pub/restaurant with a lovely outdoor play area for the little girls to have a swing and a play. My friend also made a gorgeous cushion for ‘T’, picture to follow soon……

We went swimming on the Sunday in the morning but the pool was freezing and was pretty grotty, then we went to Torquay in the afternoon for a wander around as ‘T’ wasn’t up to too much with her cold,which my husband also got on the Saturday night. though (hoping not to offend anyone from there now) it seemed like a bit of a dreary place, it’s so annoying when you try your hardest to have a nice ‘fun’ time but things just don’t go your way (the bungalow we stayed in ended up being a bit shabby and damp too so by now we were feeling a bit disappointed!)………..and then the sickness germs hit in on Sunday night………all night; YUK!

My camera decided to wipe the majority of the photos I took (again?!) so I don’t have a lot to show for our time away, it was nice to see the sea, catch up with lovely people and have a change of scenery but oh my, I’ve never been so pleased to be home and to get into my own bed!

Poor ‘T’ caught the germs too but was only sick for one evening though she has had a cold and is teething so she’s not her usual happy self.

Ahhhhhhh………..’Home sweet home’!

TV, routines and daily life

Little ‘T’ has recently dropped her morning nap and gets so tired in the morning now so less running around and active play and more calm play is needed. I try to stay clear of TV as much as possible, if she’s ill then it’s a wonderful thing and she has two Maisy Mouse DVDs which she really enjoys, I love the simplicity of the ‘Maisy Mouse’ range and all of the different concepts that are introduced through the DVDs and books.

We have started reading more books, playing with play-doh, painting, chalking, puzzles, and doing flash cards together to keep T’s energy levels going until her lunch time nap – we’ve also recently invested in a set of duplo lego bricks and she LOVES putting them together – this activity really keeps her concentration for a long time (I can no longer say that we’re ‘plastic free’ when it comes to toys!)

I know that the whole TV thing is a bit of a touchy subject with so many parents – some think I’m mad for limiting her TV allowance so much (total of 30-40 mins a day maximum) while others probably think I’m mad for letting her watch any at all – but it works for us, and I record the one TV programme that she watches because it’s what I think is good for her to watch, it explains basic daily life, it’s educational and she enjoys it and calms down whilst she watches it. Since reading that too much ‘trash TV’ actually reduces a childs IQ I just can’t shift that fact out of my head and I’d feel guilty if I put the TV on when I could be reading ‘T’ a book or doing something creative with her.

A typical daily current rhythm/routine/daily structure goes like this:

7am –  Wake up ‘T’ and give her 2 x books to look at in her cot whilst I prepare brekfast/coffee etc.

7.20am – Fetch ‘T’ and have breakfast together

7.40am – Prepare dinner and wash up breakfast dishes whilst ‘T’ reads or watches a Maisy Mouse DVD

8.15am – Teeth brushed, showered, dressed, nappy changed etc.

9am – Read a story together/play together

9.30am – Go to local shops/post office

10am – Visit from Grandma (more play time)/local baby group/local park/go for a walk/swimming lesson

11.45am -Lunch

12.15 – Quiet play

12.30 – 2.30  = NAP TIME

2.45pm – Nappy change and out for the afternoon (meet with friends/go for a run/trip to the library/trip to town/gardening + garden play/walk to see the horses and go to the woods)

5pm – Dinner time

5.45pm – Play with Daddy + 15 mins of ‘Come Outside’ TV programme

6.15pm – Bath time

6.45 – Story time with Daddy

7pm – Bedtime

The sleep times are pretty strict – I’ve followed the ‘Gina Ford’ rules, I always said I would never need a book to halp raise a child but after 3 months of very little sleep a dear friend showed me a book and I gave it a go and since getting those long, hard nights sorted it really fits well into our lives, so much so that every day for the past few months, ‘T’ has asked to go to bed for her nap and as soon as she is ready at bedtime she says ‘bye bye’ and runs to the door at the bottom of the stairs ready to be carried upstairs for her bedtime story and goes straight off to sleep, so I of course thank Gina Ford SO much for these guidelines and seeping patterns!