Pumpkins

So it has been a little while! We have been busy in our house. With Pickle and Penguin both having a birthday with a joint party in the middle and then half term with all the madness that brings.

We have been having fun with pumpkins in our house! We visited a pumpkin farm over half term and picked up a few beauties. Yellow Bean and Pickle picked out classic carving pumpkins and Penguin and I chose edible ones. We also picked some cheap ones up from supermarkets.

So....what have we been doing?

First we did some scooping. But I failed to get a snap of that one...too much excitement and mess.

The kids had some great fun with the squidgy squishy innards of the pumpkin and did a pretty good job scooping it all out.

Then we washed the seeds. Pickle, Penguin and I loved the feel of the slippery seeds in the water. A great sensory activity!

We dried the seeds and picked a few to put aside for planting next year. The rest we mixed with a little oil, some brown sugar and mixed spice and roasted in a medium/hot oven for 15min. Yummy!

Pickle enjoyed carefully cutting the face he had drawn himself out of his pumpkin. We used a pumpkin carving kit we picked up in the supermarket. It was great, the blade is serrated but not sharp, totally suitable for my newly 4 year old boy.

Penguin is still a bit too little, she had a fabulous time drawing all over her pumpkin with sharpie pen.

For another pumpkin activity Penguin used a hammer to tap some golf tees into another pumpkin. He then wound black wool around the tees to make a pattern. He decided that this was like a spiders web so we have since added a black pompom and pipe cleaners to make a spider.

Not a bad little batch of activities that the small people certainly seemed to enjoy. I am looking forward to lighting them tomorrow evening!

Until next time....S xx

Heartwood Forest

During the holidays we took a trip to Heartwood Forest. It is an interesting site where they have a lot of new woodland planted with some teeny trees as well as some established woodland.

We had a wonderful long walk around, starting with the Magical Meander. It is a beautiful trail with lots of carved animals along the way.

There were a whole range of different creatures along the way.

Pickle and Penguin loved to run up to the different animals.

This archway was beautiful, the other side had pictures of leaves from different types of trees carved on. Pickle and Penguin loved to trace the lines with their fingers and point out all of the different things they could spot.

There were muddy puddles and horses too. Pickle and Penguin found an area of the more established woodland and wanted to explore more. I just love to look up....

I love trees in the sunshine, I like looking up at the sky between the leaves and I love the dappled shade of trees in the summer time.

We had a ball in the woods. The kids were rolling logs around, we found a rope swing and had a go, peered into a badger set and built a den. It was such great family time all together.
And to top it all off we got a bit lost after wandering off of our route and ended up getting caught in a lot of rain and finding lunch in a little village pub. A perfect day.

I would definitely recommend a visit. x

30 Days Wild - Day 25

Today the afternoon was spent in a friends garden with a few other families. The kids played, there was tennis and swingball, bubbles, it was wonderful.

I had a little tour of their beautiful landscaped garden. They grow a lot there, courgettes, raspberries, tomatoes, cabbage, all sorts. As well as their flowers, it really puts my garden to shame. I couldn't believe how much further on their plants are than mine, they have big tomatoes on their 5ft tall tomato plants.....my tomato plants are only around 5 inches tall and are barely flowering yet! It is really inspiring to see such a wonderful garden and so much growing, it gives me an itch to grow more. I feel like an allotment is worth looking into for next year....hmmmm another idea for the list.

No photos today either, there were people everywhere and too much fun and laughter to be looking through a camera!

30 Days Wild - Day 19

Today we lay down on the roundabout at our local park and looked at the clouds. We looked at the wispy shapes and had a lovely talk. We listened to the sound of the wind and the birds in the trees. It was peaceful and tranquil. It was lovely.

30 Days Wild - Day 18

We have been reading a book we have borrowed from the library, it is called 'Where's the Starfish' by Barroux. It looks at the problems caused by ocean pollution in a way that is easy to understand for toddlers and young children.

We try to read a broad range of books and like to include those which deal with issues such as this. 'The Lorax' from Dr Seuss is another favourite of ours and we have also read 'Where's the Elephant', also by Barroux.

The books by Barroux have beautiful illustrations and leave a very powerful message in their wake. Pickle and Penguin love the game of finding the animals in each picture and have made thoughtful comments throughout the book. They are great for their ages of 1 and 3 but I expect the impact will be greater as we look at them again as Pickle in particular gets older and more observant. It is an important message that lies very close to our hearts.

30 Days Wild - Day 13

Today we went to the Hatfield Farm and Hertfordshire Goat Sanctuary. Pickle and Penguin really love it there. Pickle in particular loves the big sand pits they have. We took buckets and spades with us and played for sometime in the sand.

Of course the idea behind the trip was to see the animals and learn a bit more about the different types. Farm animals are pretty easy so the smalls both know all their animal names and noises. I really wish they would put some better signage up at this particular farm. There are some very interesting goats with 4 horns but I have no idea what they are called.

Quite something, don't you think? I think they are fantastic.

These pigs were oh so snuffly, I don't think I have ever heard a pig do so much grunting! It was fantastic reinforcement for Penguin and her funny little pig noise.

Penguin loves the tractor trailer ride. She got so very excited! It is a nice ride to end the trip, but you really do have to be careful, the first time we went on the ride we sat on the wrong side and got a really lovely view of the hedges....

30 Days Wild - Day 11

We planted a new tomato plant in our garden today! Let's hope we get some yummy tomatoes growing on it soon!

30 Days Wild - Day 8

Today we picked lettuce leaves from the garden for our dinner!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, I may have had a 'helper'.

30 Days Wild - Day 1

We started the day by making some 'binoculars' from toilet roll middles. Pickle and Penguin were quite happy to sit and stick bits on them and were very keen to take them outside to look for things.

We went to the park and had a look at some trees, fed the ducks with bird seed and had a picnic. Certainly a wild filled day to kick things off. I am sure some of these activities will be repeated at somepoint during this month!

Making Fossils

Did I mention Pickles love for Dinosaurs? I did? It is a sickness I tell you!

He likes to 'hunt' for fossils and explore his 'objects' (his term not mine!) with his magnifying glass. We have been talking a little bit about how the fossils were made. He is 3 so we are talking basic stuff...

Anyway I thought it would be fun for the kids to make their own fossils. It is really simple to create a little cast, I think I will repeat the idea looking at footprints like the ones we found on the beach on the Isle of Wight.

Pickle and Penguin both chose a shell and made an imprint of it in some air dry clay. I then mixed some plaster of paris and they very carefully helped me to pour it into the imprint. We left it until the next day and then were able to uncover our fossils! Penguin loves to look at them, she points and says 'my fossil, mine.'

A nice little activity, pretty clean too. I was careful to mix the plaster of paris myself as there are hazards so just make sure you read the packaging before using and take necessary precautions.

Until next time...

Fossil Hunting

So.....one of the things we did recently was go on a very special trip! Pickle wanted to go fossil hunting, he is totally dinosaur crazy and kept asking to go Fossil hunting and it was hard to explain to a 3 year old why he is unlikely to find fossils in Hertfordshire.

So we went on a lovely little mini holiday to the Isle of Wight and it was AMAZING. We had the best time and we found real fossils on our two fossil hunting trips. Pickle and Penguin had a lovely time and Pickle is so proud of his dinosaur bone finds.

So these are pieces of hipsolophodon bone, Iguanodon bone and the big lump is a piece of theropod thigh bone.

Pickle found the thigh bone and I could tell it was a good find when the paleontologists jaw hit the floor. She asked if he had just picked it up and scrabbled for her camera to take a photo. Later when we visited the fossil museum another paleontologist took some more photos of the bone and showed us some marks on the surface which he explained were tooth marks. Eeek, exciting.

We saw the footprint casts on the beach and were told a lot of information about the rocks and the food prints. I remember bits and I have to say I found it quite fascinating. Our guides were fantastic and we all had a great time.

Before Pickle was into dinosaurs I knew just a few, I have learnt so much from him and from his interests. We have really thrown ourselves into the dinosaur things as a whole family and I love it. I really love the dinosaur thing, it is amazing, truly amazing.

We visited Dinosaur Isle museum and Dinosaur Farm, both are really interesting places with a lot of information about discoveries on the island. Pickle particularly liked the models set out to play with a Dinosaur Farm and Penguin loved the tooth sieving activity they had there. I must have a look at setting something up similar at home...

Dinosaur Isle has a lot of interesting displays of fossils as they were found in situ and Pickle was particularly enamored by the animatronic dinosaur demonstration. Both are well worth a visit for the dino enthusiast!

Until next time.....

Nests

Pickle has lately had a fascination with nests. He likes to build nests and look at nests. He talks about birds and their nests.

We recently set up an activity building a nest himself. We collected nest building materials from the garden and then made some salt dough as a base.

Pickle and Penguin love collecting sticks, grass and moss from around the place and Pickle really enjoyed putting them together with the salt dough to make a little nest.

We made the salt dough brown by adding some coco powder, and watched a video of a robin building a nest for some top tips. Pickle took it into preschool as a present for the preschool leader because he said she likes nests too. So sweet.

Until next time.....

Bekonscot model village

So last week my parents treated us to a day out at Bekonscot Model Village. I love it here and boy do Pickle and Penguin love it here! I grew up not to far from here and remember visiting several times as a child, with family, friends, Brownies, a school trip....I even organised a trip here with my Brownie group as a leader, a recreation of my very first Brownie meeting!

It was a beautiful day and we were so busy running around after Pickle and Penguin I didn't manage to get any close up shots without them in! This is just a perfect day out for their age (17 months and 3.5). They ran around spotting trains on the fantastic model train network. They liked looking at the fish and spotting frog spawn. They ran over bridges and spotted animals in the model zoo. They watched the fair ground rides go around and the boats race by. There is even a train ride and a playground which they loved too. A really great day out.

Bekonscot Model Village is a not for profit organisation. They support local charities through their admission fee. It is a really great day out and lovely to see such a quaint tradition being kept alive. It is a fabulous model village and I would recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Until next time.... S x

(This is an honest account of our experiences. My parents paid for our entry fee and I was not asked to post a review.)

SAHM Without the SHAME

So, I am a stay at home Mum, SAHM, Housewife, unemployed not seeking employment or Just a Mum. It is something that over the past 3 and half years I have never once regretted. I do however have hang ups ont he subject. I feel like I should do more, like I am not working as hard as those with jobs, like I am lay and not worth as much. I feel like I need to justify my choices.

Someone told me recently that it doesn't matter what you do in life as long as you do a fantastic job. The same person also made a passing comment or two along the lines of 'I love your life' and 'I want to live your life' You have no idea how amazing it is to hear that! It started me thinking - what is it my life looks like?

My life is singing loud at the park, growing seeds in cupboards, bubble painting, digging holes and finding worms. It is roaring like a dinosaur, snotty noses and dirty nappies, line dried washing and home-made pizzas. It is playdough and glitter, toddler tantrums, mud everywhere, a messy house and Pintrest boards. It is groups trips to the bathroom and never peeing alone.

My life is lonely days and Mum guilt. It is dirty washing, making nests, foam stickers, screaming, peeling apples and too much TV. It is making excuses and explaining choices. it is running down the street like a lunatic to fill the gap between dinner and bedtime. It is repeated stories and the right cereal combination. It is glue and paint and pens, bananas and raisins, cooking and cleaning. My life is good, great, hard, maddening and sometimes lonely. I have a fantastic life, I don't have to deal with mental health problems, I have great kids and a wonderful husband. We are all healthy. I am lucky.

So now I am looking at my life and choices from a different perspective. I am finding pride in how I spend my days. I am refusing to feel bad for not working and not 'doing it all'. It is a mismatch of great and not great. I am lucky.

I know all Mums have Mum guilt and I think we should all stop for a moment and give ourselves a pat on the back. Whether you are a working Mum, a Mum whose babies have flown the nest, a new Mum just starting out or one without a baby to hold.....feel strong. Revel in the good days and move past the bad ones. Tell yourself you are great and believe it. Know that the best you can be is what you are and it is more than enough.

Skittles Experiment

We did the Skittles experiment.We put skittles in a circle on a white plate and then poured on some warm water. Pickle was really excited to be able to do an experiment with us all. He was very happy taking photographs of the result with his own camera, received for Christmas.

We talked a little about the colours dissolving in the water and looked at what happened to the colours as they started to mix. Pickle had a grand old time and enjoyed seeing how the skittles themselves had dissolved later in the afternoon.

Until next time....S x

Leg Warmers

Penguin is a Kangeroo baby. Ooo mixture of animals. I wonder what at Kangeroo Penguin would look like.....Anyway. She spends a lot of time in the carrier. Our carrier of choice right now is the Lillebaby. I love it.

Through the winter she has been in a slightly padded puddle suit or a reindeer all in one to keep her toasty when on my back. She feels the cold so I like her to be wrapped up warm.

Now the weather is getting warmer (she says hopefully) or on days when we are in and out of buildings a lot (like a visit to the Natural History Museum) the all in ones can get a bit too warm. However, her little dangley legs can still get a bit chilly. So we have gone for the Hat, Fleece and leg warmer look....

I whipped these up pretty quickly. They are quite big around her legs so I can still pull them on and off over her shoes which is very handy. I think they could do with being longer but they certainly keep the bit between trousers and socks toasty. I would definitely make more. These are worked up in Stylecraft Special DK, I think a wool blend for extra warmth would be fab. Maybe for Autumn when we are on the nursery run...

Until next time... S x

Flapjacks

I am always looking for yummy healthy snacks for the kids. I quite like to keep sugar down, particularly for Penguin and we do enjoy a spot of cooking. 

Last week we made some tasty flapjacks. They were no added sugar, packed with fruit, seeds and oats. And Pickle and Penguin love them, they gobble them up quick as a flash. 

Perfect, tasty snacks, guilt free Mummy. 

As you can see it didn't take long before we were tucking in. They are a good balance of being clean, not too sticky and not too crumbly. The toddlers are not very good and using plates properly!

So my recipe, it has been developed over time. I usually judge by eye but I have measured and written it down for you all. 

Pickle and Penguin Flapjacks

2 apples, grated

1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup mixed seeds

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cut cranberries

8 dates, chopped

1 mashed banana

2 cups oats

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175 (fan) or equivalent.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. 

Press mixture into a greased and lined shallow tin. Whatever you would usually use for brownies or flapjacks should be fine. 

Place in the oven for 15-25 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Cut whilst warm and enjoy once cooled!

Do give them a go and let me know what you think!

Me xx

Water Resistance and Penguin Feet

This past week we have been playing with water resistance using our fantastic Usbourne 365 Science activities book. Pickle and Penguin have been engaged in the activities and Pickle has been asking questions too. 

The first activity we took part in was drawing with crayons and then painting over with watery paint. We used white crayon on white paper so you could really see where the paint didn't stick to the crayon marks. We had fun playing with the materials and Pickle is pretty eager to do some more things from his science book.

Today we did a second activity which was an extension of the first. The small ones did some finger painting with margarine and then painted over it with watery paint. This was far more exciting for P & P. Using familiar materials in different contexts really got them excited and the results were a lot more obvious! You could really see where they had put the margarine. We had fun and it was a nice short activity.

This past weekend we finally got around to one of our seasonal family traditions. Since becoming a family of four every season we have created a foot or hand print picture. So far we have had snowmen, butterflies, bees and leaves. This time around we made our feet into penguins. 

Looking at them in this photo they look a bit like surprised penguins but in the 'flesh' as it were they are a lot more friendly looking...

We also painted Pickle and Penguins' feet to look like penguins on their own to make our Christmas thank you cards. These ones have googly eyes on them which gives a little more character.

I hope that this is a tradition we can continue with as the small people grow, I am already scouring Pintrest for  inspiration for future print portraits....see you in a few hours....

S xx