Rain we can deal with. Rain isn't a problem. Rain and you'll usually find us still playing outside in our wellies or making a complete mess of the poor husband's lawn by making mud with our bare feet.However, rain which comes at us sideways is a different matter altogether. Not even Chloe will brave rain in a storm for the sake of a muddy puddle.Still at least a morning stuck indoors ended with a few things to brighten up her room until Summer when she'll spend a few days with my mum while we repaint and carpet the room for her.Bunting by mum....
And a kite by Chloe .....
At least the sun has come out since, we might even have to resort to buckets of water to get those muddy puddles on the go again:)
As far as a menu goes this week I've got nothing. What I do have is a freezer full of leftovers, stews, lasagna, shepherd's pie, all the boys are in there so I'm just going to work through as much of those as possible this week.In other news, Robert's off to a new job. He was offered it a couple of weeks ago and starts on Wednesday doing access control and biometrics. I means more money, less hours, he finishes at 4pm every day and most importantly an end to call out so we'll hopefully get some semblance of a life back again.To celebrate I put him to work in the garden, cause I love him that much:)He emptied the large trough planter in the corner and he and Chloe planted up the first layer in the potato sacks with three early varieties.
Sack planting potatoes is really easy, you just put about 6 inches of soil in the base of the bag, place four or five sprouting spuds on top and cover with about 4 inches of soil then every time the greenery makes its way above the surface of the soil, add another handful of potatoes and another four inches of soil until the bag is full. We should see 15 - 20lbs of potatoes out of each bag and they take up very little space.
To make more room for other veg in the garden, all of my trees and plants are being re-homed. This one is on its way to my mum's house so at least I'll still get to see it regularly:)
, And we managed to get some herbs back into the garden too, starting with oregano, garlic and thyme. I've even managed to sneak in a lavender plant, after the plant I had (which had become more tree than shrub) was removed by someone who, in his great wisdom, decided it was getting too big.
One whole side of the garden has now been turned over with course sand and compost dug in and should be ready for planting next weekend.Which only leaves this madness to sort out...
In every effort to prepare Toots for primary school, I have been letting her play around with my laptop for the last few weeks.
When we attended the open night at her primary school a few of the teachers explained that the school actively encourage the use of computers and that from day one each child will spend some amount of time using a PC every day. There are a bank of computers in each classroom and it works out roughly one computer for every three to four kids so there aren't any time constraints on the kids using them.
I've been allowing Toots to play around with the laptop, basically opening either a word doc or paint and letting her do her own thing. I want her to get used to the basics, using a mouse, drag and drop, navigating around the screen, that kind of thing.
Anyway, I'm very likely to be the last person to have heard about Big Fish Games, but I'll tell you about them anyway.
The weather was awful last week and I was starting to run out of things for Toots to do. We baked, did some crafts, colouring, painting, music, singing, dancing, you name we did everything, but it was getting a little repetitive so I went hunting online for something to keep her occupied. I didn't really have anything in mind, probably paper dolls or some new colouring pages or word games, but instead I stumbled upon Big Fish.
For anyone who hasn't heard of them, you should check them out. Ok, the games are mostly based n characters like Dora, Diego, Spongebob and Wonder Pets but there are a few lego games and such.
The games are designed with preschool age kids in mind and the way it works is that you can either buy the complete game (usually around 60 levels) for about $8 which is totally worth it for a preschool game. Toots received a V smile for her birthday and the games for that thing are £20 and upwards and no offence but they're crap.
The other thing you can do (and this is what I do) is download one free hour of gameplay. You can choose any game at all and once your child uses the free hour it gives you a handy uninstall button and you can download another free hour. I have six hours of gameplay downloaded and ready for her if the weather turns out to be bad again.
Toots loves the games because there is a lot of variety. Mostly they are number games, word association, colour matching and such. The games are actually very educational and best of all, considering that the games are essentially free, there aren't any advertisements at all.
Toots favourites so far have been Dora's Carnival Adventure 1 & 2, Diego's Dinosaur Rescue and the Wonder Pets Save the Puppy, particularly the last one because as she completes each stage she "wins" a colouring page which she can print out all by herself.
She's only played a little bit of each but so far I can see a vast improvement in her computer skills. She has absolutely no problems using either the mouse or the navigation pad on the laptop. She can click, double click, drag and drop ad type her name in at the beginning of each new game without any help at all.
I have linked to the preschool games but they also have free downloadable games for older kids and adults (CSI NY anyone). All you have to do is go to the homepage and click on "Download Games".
Any now for the winner of the Q Bee Chicks Giveaway.
Drum roll please...
Random.org chose number 11. The winner is Heather who said;
"These are adorable! Are they your original design? My favorite thing about spring is the flowers, esp irises. My nose hates the fine yellow coating of pollen everywhere though."
Heather, I've sent an email to you today and I'll get the Q Bees in the post to you as soon as.
I hope everyone is having a great Easter.
Easter is very nearly here, which means a whole week (and a bit) with the husband at home.
Will I survive? Only time will tell. I have to admit I've got myself into a little routine of packing him off out the door in the morning:)
Does it seem to anyone else that Christmas was a whopping five minutes ago, or is that just me? This year just seems to be flying by.
My little spring chick will turn four on Saturday, I just can't believe she's nearly four already.
Although ask her and she'll quickly remind you (quite sternly) that she is in fact three and a half. She'll be four and a half before she gets used to the four bit.
The weather here has been a bit up and down and I know for some of you, spring hasn't quite reared her head yet, so to get everyone in the mood with a tiny little bit of spring fever I'm have a(nother) giveaway.
They can be used as toys for kids, pincushions or just little decorations. Whatever takes your fancy.
The giveaway will be open until midnight on 11 April and then I will choose a winner using random number generator.
There are three chances to win.
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what you like about Spring.
2. Subscribe and then come back and leave another comment.
3. Write about the giveaway on your own blog and link back to this post, then leave another comment.
Personally I love Easter because of all the chocolate. Kidding. Maybe.
I wanted to make a few things to brighten the house up for spring. We actually have some sunshine here today, although its still very cold.
I love making little fridge magnets. I started to make them when Toots was little. Letters and numbers made from felt and craft foam. The fabric and foam is a lot more tactile and gentle on her little hands than the hard plastic variety.
This is a very simple project and once you have an idea of what you would like to make you can turn out one of these magnets every few minutes.
I used:
Scrap pieces of felt from another project,
Matching thread,
Small amount of polyfill or fiber fill.
Small amount of black embroidery floss.
You also need very basic notions, just a pair of scissors and a needle.
Begin by doodling a few pictures of things you would like to make and use these as templates to cut your felt. I made the birds slightly less than 1 inch across.
The little orange pieces at the bottom of the photo are wings, beak and feet.
Next position the wings, beak and feet on the reverse of the piece of fabric to be the front of the magnet and tack in place. Then embroider some eyes. I think this one would have looked a little better if the beak was slightly lower on the face. Still I'll know for the next one...
The place the second circle of felt behind the face piece and slip stitch using small stitches around the outside edge of both circles, leaving a small gap to stuff.
Stuff the birdy using a small pinch of polyfill.
Then carry on slip stitching over the opening to completely close.
Once the birdy is closed, glue a small magnet on the back of the birdy and leave to dry. I happen to have a bag of rare earth magnets which I prefer to use. I know then that I can make a slightly heavier magnet and it will still stay on the fridge. However, don't feel like you have to run out and buy something specific. Before I started using rare earth magnets I just went to my local pound shop (dollar store) and bought a huge bag of those plastic alphabet magnets and popped the magnets out of the back of them.
And there you have it, a bitty birdy fridge magnet.
And it isn't just birds either. You could have birds, butterflies, little fluffy white lambs and Easter eggs in spring, a swathe of flowers in summertime, beautiful rust coloured leaves, with pumpkins in autumn and then snowflakes made from craft foam and painted with clear glittery nail polish along with a little santa or two and snowmen.
You'll seem so organised and together with your seasonally coordinated fridge and I won't tell anyone it only took you a matter of minutes if you don't.
If you liked this tutorial and are craving more, please head over to Make and Tell Monday at the 6 o'clock stitch.
Because she really has it together.
