Monday 27 June 2011

Happy 1st Birthday Lj.


 Lj has turned one.



Lj feet at 4 days old.



These days a photo of those same feet is almost impossible to get. They are continually on the move.

Monday 20 June 2011

Making all sorts of things

 It is a good day

:: The sun is shining
:: Wimbledon has begun
:: My Aunts from N.Ireland and Australia are arriving shortly
:: We have just picked strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries from the allotment

I haven't been blogging much lately but we have been keeping busy...'making'...

Most mornings MJ says to me 'Mummy, I have a great idea, let's make a ...'...it could be a boat, train combine harvester or some other machine and it normally means using cardboard, sellotape, paint and anything else he can find.

On the other hand Lj is busy making a 'mess'. She is into everything and can unravel quicker than I can tidy.

Here's a sample of what we have made in the last few weeks.


This is a dress I made for Lj, taken from a pattern in 'Homemade- Gorgeous things to make with love'. The pattern is very basic and requires blowing up on a copier. As I didn't have a copier I tried to manually enlarge the pattern. It didn't quite work as the neck is a little too wide but the instructions on how to sew the dress are a delight to follow. I think it is a great basic dress which I know I will make versions of, over and over again. In fact I have already tried another one!


MJ asked if we could make 'butterfly' biscuits for Nana. He could tell me all the ingredients that were required, the only slight mistake was thinking we needed self raising flour rather than plain flour. Not bad for a 3 year old I thought!


While the elderflower bush by our allotment was in bloom we collected the flowers and made Elderflower cordial.The smell was amazing but I was shocked at how much sugar the recipe required. Again the recipe was taken from 'Homemade'.

Thursday 2 June 2011

To Greenwich and back

 As the dinner dishes sit unwashed, I am taking a rest and reflecting on a fun day out in London. Lj got her first taste of sand, literally and MJ's interest in boats was fuelled further.


 We caught the Thames Clipper from Canary Wharf to Greenwich.


Walked past the restoration of the Cutty Sark.


and discovered a very large sand pit to play in.

Now I am going to make a list of things I want to look at with MJ

:: How to Catamarans work?

:: What is the history of the Cutty Sark?

:: Why could we see the river bed when we left Canary Wharf this morning but were unable to see it due to the height of the water when we returned to Canary Wharf  i.e. What are tides?!

Now to the dirty dishes...