Considering we hadn't much planned this week, we seem to have filled it nicely.

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon at a local nature reserve with friends. We looked around the information centre (which has been closed for ages due to flooding) and Isaac had a great time playing with the microscope, looking at the various specimens. We then walked around the lake in the sunshine/dark theatening clouds but managed to escape with just a trickle of rain.

Yesterday our parcel from Harrod Horticultural arrived which was a new watering can and container set for the children. We have a veggie garden but i thought success was more likely if they could view their crops from the kitchen, we'll see! So after lunch we went into the garden to fill the containers, but ended up planting up a some flowers to go on the patio. Meanwhile, Emily got chatting (bellowing) to the children 2 doors down (over nextdoors garden!) and got invited over there which was nice, she had a lovely time. She sort of knows the girl from when she was at Rainbows but never got to know her that well so i was pleased for her. It would be nice if they become friends - very handy.

This morning Isaac and I had the house to ourselves as Emily was doing a jewellery workshop with her friend, Polly. They each made a lovely necklace and bracelet. P is sleeping over here tonight so we are expecting a couple of tired girls in the morning, judging by the chattering that's going on still.





Oh, does anyone know if you can merge flickr accounts (a free with a pro) cos i just discovered we have a pro account we didn't know about - for nearly two years!!! (comes with bt apparently, probably should read emails).

What a Difference a Day (or two) Makes

Friday was so lovely, sunny and warm that we decided to have our family drawing time out in the garden and sketch a few of the spring flowers. Can't show you any pictures though as the scanner is playing up for some reason.


"Emily's Tulip and Grape Hyacinth"

Much fun was also had when not one, but two snails were discovered and both Emily and Isaac spent a long time observing them and fetching cans full of water to keep the snails happy!



We also checked on the tadpoles and they seem to be doing great...



The first part of Saturday was also spent in the garden but the weather soon changed from sunny to rainy, not to mention bitingly cold! Still we did manage to get some seeds sown (to raise indoors) and tidy up the remaining parts of the garden that were crying out for attention.

This morning Isaac dragged me out of bed hideously early to take him to the toilet. When we got in the bathroom he squealed "it's snowing!" and it was, not only that but it had settled.



This was the first time in over a year that we had had snow to play out in, so of course we had to make the most of it.

More Picture Heavy Lazy Blogging!

We went to London on Friday to catch the Dino Jaws exhibition at the NHM before it closed. Emily has been wanting to go ever since she saw it on Blue Peter. It was really good - just the right amount of information for her not to get overwhelmed or bored and she really liked the interactive bits. We were hoping to look around the dinosaur galleries once we'd finished but it was unbelievably busy. I think Night at the Museum had a lot to do with it. The queue snaked its way all around the main hall! So we did a quick scoot around the human biology gallery before going on to the Earth galleries as E wanted to see all about volcanoes.

Touching real Dino Poo!

Afterwards we went to somewhere else E has been desperate to visit the Diana, Princess of Wales' Memorial Playground. It was of course EXTREMELY busy due to the lovely weather but they still had fun and I have promised them (rather rashly) we will return during school hours. Not sure how I will cope with Isaac on my own. When Emily was little she always stayed close by but Isaac will just wander off anywhere. It makes trips out quite exhausting because you have to watch him constantly.

Saturday was spend in the garden doing more digging. Emily wanted her bike out to try riding without stabilisers. She has barely ridden this bike (our fault) and she hasn't been on it at all for the past year, as it has been shut up in the shed under piles of stuff while we were having the extension built, so we weren't too optimistic. However she amazed us and herself ,after a couple of wobbly starts and tumbles, riding by herself!

Sunday started off with an Egg hunt in the garden. We were very lazy this year and just hid them instead of doing clues. Emily didn't seem to mind and all Isaac cared about was the chocolate! I also made them these ...


From Hillary's free pattern. I had intended to make it last year but never got around to it.

I already know what I am doing next year - this loveliness from Mollychicken.

Right must go and get more gardening done while the sun shines :o)

We've been doing some Spring type activities the past week. We made some Spring Cookies using the cookie cutters I got from Lakeland.

I relaxed my normal rules (tyrant that i am) and let them go mad decorating the finished biscuits - colour and all! They had *so* much fun and I felt rather guilty when i realised that this is the first baking session like this that I have included Isaac in (Normally I wait until he's napping).

As you can see from his face (just- forgot the flash!) he had the best time.

The finished biscuits

I also made some Hot Cross Buns, never tried before, they were yummy but the Chiddlers didn't agree so Mick and I ate them all.

We've been spending a LOT of time in the garden sowing seeds and tiding things up. It's looking a lot better and lovely to be enjoying it again as last year the builders took it over so we didn't get much use out of it.

Emily made her own Lenten garden from the All Year Round book

It's surprisingly awkward to photograph and do it justice but she did a good job!

We had a lovely weekend with Mum and Dad, if rather busy. Dad fitted my new oven which has been cluttering up the floor for 6mths or so (long story of errors on my part) and he also fitted the plinth which means Isaac can no longer keep posting his toys underneath the units :o) So Mick just has the painting and floor to finish and then the kitchen/diner part of the extension is complete - YAY.

Isaac enjoyed some Daddy time (Mick had Friday and Monday off work) and helped him to construct another storage unit for the playroom...

While Emily took the opportunity to finish her wren purse without small fingers helping!

She's Rather proud of it, can you tell?

I'd rather like it for myself ;o)

I got spring fever early and spent a fortune at the garden centre, then Mum and I tidied up the garden a bit in between rain showers.

My parents insisted we went out on Saturday night, as we still hadn't managed to have our Anniversary night out ( that was in September). We went to a very nice Indian restaurant, which was yummy, but ate far too much.

This week we've been doing more on our Land and Water project. Emily constucted her own aquifer which was a lot of fun.

We left it overnight to watch how the silt settled and then we added food colouring to represent how chemicals can cause pollution to the underground water as well as lakes.

The sleepers for the garden arrived Friday so we moved them into the back garden at the weekend - very heavy, i still ache! Didn't really do much at the weekend. The chiddlers pootled around doing *stuff*, Emily played on Education City, which i had completely forgotten about until it was mentioned recently, we will definitely be signing up for it.
**UPDATE** We have now signed up - Thank you for the code Jenny!

Both had fun with the Playdoh,

a first for Isaac!

... and then fun with the shredded paperwork Mick had been busy creating.



Yesterday we did lots of stuff on 2D and 3D shapes, which E told me she really enjoyed because it was easy! She made these models using the Geomags.

We also did another Greek Myth which she wrote up in her picture storybook, did a bit of workbook english and practiced word lists 5 and 6. It was then time for lunch and a trip out to see friends. Isaac and I stayed for a while then came home leaving E behind for a sleepover.

Look what arrived in the post for me, lots of yummy fabrics :o)