In Anticipation....

We've been waiting for summer for quite a while now. It seems to come for a day and then go again. The children really want to start camping! We really ought to get some better sleeping bags and a porch for the tent so that the slight chill at nights and muddy footprints in the tent aren't an issue in June, and we can make the camping season longer.

This weekend, we have promised them we will go to a new site which has opened nearby and comes highly recommended. We've heard good things and seen lovely photos!

It's been a busy week! Moo had her induction day at Big School on Monday, The Boy has his school report tonight and tomorrow is their sports day! Then next week is Moo's 4th Birthday, with her party next Sunday, so we are busy party planning and present buying!

Lots of photos to come!

A welcome day off!

The children both had a day off school mid-week and mid-term due to the local County Show. We headed out of county and spent a day at a Farm Shop with 'bits on the side' and also strawberry picking!

We figured as all the schools in the county had the day off, everywhere would be busy, so headed south for a day out. We've passed a Farm shop a number of times on the way to my brother-in-law's house. It's one of those farm shops with a café and a big banner outside promising tractor rides, farm walks, animals and an adventure play area.

It was a bit of a let down really. The café was pricey, and there was no where to have a packed lunch. The adventure play area was a tiny soft play with just a ladder up to a slide which wasn't at all whizzy, and a bit dirty. There was a digger and a tractor which worked when fed with a pound coin!The farm walk turned out to be a wander down to the lake and back to feed the ducks and fish. The animals consisted of a field of sheep, which you could only look at, along with some goats in another area with two pigs thrown in. The Boy took a fancy to the goats adventure playground which consisted of two ladder either end of a series of planks crossing through some trees.

Still, we spent an hour or so wandering around, but wouldn't go back in a rush.

Fish in the pond! There was a scary moment when The Boy decided getting closer was necessary and walked down the steep bank!

A damsel fly caught the children's attention and they both stayed amazingly still to watch it!

 

After lunch, we went strawberry picking. Last year we couldn't find anywhere local which did pick your own! I asked around, searched the internet. But nothing. This year I looked further afield and found a 'pick your own' around 45 mins away, so we thought we'd give it a try. It was fab and we will definitely be going back!

It was close to an airfield so The Boy enjoyed watching the planes flying overhead. Four took off while we were there, much to his joy.

Teeny tiny kittens.

It took them a while to get the hang of 'slowing down'! Don't just grab any strawberries, check them all over and make sure they are red!

Someone ate more than ended up in her punnet!

The highlight of the visit was the line of trees at the edge of the picking field, perfect for small boys to climb!

Our bounty!

 

On the way home we passed a home with flowers for sale outside. These were my £1 bargain and have stayed fresh for 4 days now! I love them!

 

Must figure out how to rotate photos!

Down on the Farm

We visited a local working farm for Open Farm Sunday. Here's our highlights!

The sheepdog demonstration really had the kids hooked. They both had a go at calling the dog, and were chuffed to bits when it followed their commands.

Feeding the lambs! The Boy is never sure what do when he's close to animals, and is definitely out of his comfort zone. I was pleased he was happy to let the lambs eat from his hand.

Pond dipping aka thank heavens we brought the waterproofs as The Boy ended up in the stream to his knees!

Catching mud in a net!

A long walk back as the trailer had gotten a puncture!

 

 

They both slept all the way home!

The Proud Little Appleblossom

 

by Hans Christian Andersen (adapted)

It was the month of May, but the wind still blew cool, for the sun was not yet ready to shed his warmest rays on the waiting earth.

Yet some of the birds had come, and more were on their way, and many beautiful blossoms were already showing their pink and white blooms, so that from bush and tree, field and flower, came the glad cry, "Spring is here! Spring is here." Now, it happened that a young princess rode by a beautiful orchard in full bloom, and she stopped to pick a branch of apple blossoms to take to her palace. All who saw the apple blossom praised its beauty and fragrance until the blossom became proud, and thought that beauty was the only valuable thing in the world. But as the apple blossom looked out upon the field she thought, "Not all of the plants are rich and beautiful, as I am, some seem poor and plain." And she noticed a little, common, yellow flower, which seemed to lift up its sunny head and grow everywhere.

The apple blossom said to the plain little flower, "What is your name?"

"I am called the dandelion," replied the little flower.

"Poor little plant," said the apple blossom. "It is not your fault; but how sad you must feel to be so plain and to bear such an ugly name."

Before the little plant could reply a lovely little sunbeam came dancing along and said, "I see no ugly flowers. They are all beautiful alike to me." And he kissed the apple blossom; but he stooped low and lingered long to kiss the little yellow dandelion in the field.

And then some little children came tripping across the field. The youngest laughed when they saw the dandelions and kissed them with delight. The older children made wreaths and dainty chains of them. They picked carefully those that had gone to seed, and tried to blow the feathery down off with one breath, making joyous wishes.

"Do you see," said the sunbeam, "the beauty of the dandelion?"

"Only to children are they beautiful," said the proud apple blossom.

By and by an old woman came into the field. She gathered the roots of the dandelions, out of which she made tea for the sick, and she sold others for money to buy milk for the children.

"But beauty is better than all this," still said the proud little apple blossom. Just then the princess came along. In her hand she carried something that seemed like a beautiful flower. She covered it carefully from the wind. What do you think it was? It was the feathery crown of the dandelion. "See!" she said, "how beautiful it is! I will paint it in a picture with the apple blossoms."

Then the sunbeam kissed the apple blossom, and as he stooped low to kiss the dandelion the apple blossom blushed with shame.

Tea Towels!

I recently took part in a tea towel exchange on http://www.naturalmamas.co.uk/ This is the tea towel I sent to a lovely mama...

 ...and this is the gorgeous one which I received!

Handmade and homemade gifts mean so much to me, so I was chuffed to bits with my tea towel. It's really cheered me up! And the mama who created it has also inspired me to get my sewing machine out and jazz up my own tea towels. I've been so busy lately, taken on too much, said yes to too many things, that I haven't had time for the things or people I enjoy. I feel really guilty that the tea towel I sent wasn't handmade. It's my mission to re-prioritise and find more time to be.

Thank you so much, whoever you are. Your gift means an awful lot to me, and has really touched me. xxx

Turning Two

We have recently celebrated Moo's second birthday! Where have those two years gone? Just a few snaps of her day...

She had a lovely day!

Home Grown Strawberries

I wouldn't say we were anything even approaching self-sufficient, nor do we, at present ,aspire to be. We do however like to grow a few favourites at home. Especially strawberries. It started off a few years ago, as one large hessian planter with holes in the sides, with 8 different varieties growing. This was lovely and we got  to try different varieties, but sometimes there was barely enough for a bowlful as they ripened at different times. So over the past few years we have grown other planters, pots, baskets and so on with our favourite varieties.

This is our third punnet full of the year.

This little hand appeared as I was trying to take a picture- strawberries are Moo's favourite.

Yummy!

What to do with a glut of strawbs? A yummy strawberry and cream cake.

Bliss!