Helping hands and horns

Isabel is at that age where she wants to help with everything. Her ability doesn't yet match up to her enthusiasm but she is a joyful worker. And mostly a wet worker.

We had a day out at Cotswold Farm Park (Adam from Countryfile's farm). And whilst the animals were lovely it was the play equipment that was the real hit.

There were lots of horned beasts - it's noticeable how the heritage breeds all have horns.

Lots of adults on children's play equipment (it's helping them honest).

Some great diggers that were very heavy for a 3 year old but once he got the hang of the levers he didn't let that put him off.

And pillows - like trampolines but full of air. They were fantastic for a bouncing boy.

His sister had a gallery view.

We were kept company by the biggest chicken ever.

Hard to take him seriously though when his back end looks like this.

And then Isabel had to have a go - she needed help of course. Lots of help. Even when she wasn't on it.

Obviously all that fresh air and fun has released the creative juices as she was being artistic with her dinner.

Spring in the park

Sensory play or child labour

You decide!

There's been a lot of work going on in the garden recently (thanks Adam). I've taken lots of photos so that I'll know what are plants and what are weeds if I don't manage to keep on top of it over the summer. One thing I've noticed with having two children though is that they do keep each other occupied to an extent so I can do bits of weeding and odd jobs around the garden without having to stop small hands pulling up the wrong plants. I'm hoping that doing little and often I'll get into the habit of tending the garden and so will be able to stop the dog from trampling everything and stop the ground elder from taking over.

When we got our big blue recycling bin Matthew liberated some of the blue boxes without knowing what we would do with them. They're perfect for planting salad leaves and herbs in though and finally we've got them planted up. The new plants have survived being watered by three small boys (it was a flood!) and are starting to fill out.

My favourite time is getting nearer - the peonies are in bud.

I have a few bulbs that have survived (I'm hoping this year to remember to plant some more in the autumn) and these pretty alliums are looking lovely.

The cow obsession continues

A trip to the Cotswold Ice Cream Company today meant we got to talk to the girls.

Isabel spots the cows.

Ice cream in the sun.

And a lot of climbing.

Lunch at the old prison

And then paddling at Lower Slaughter.

Sometimes you need to live something over and over before you learn

And children really are great teachers. My lesson for this week is that stamping needs to be a supervised activity.

No those aren't gloves.

Yes we did get it all off (eventually).

The weather has been amazing all week and we've spent a lot of time outdoors. Clothing optional.

And why waste hundreds of pounds on a buggy when you can get one for £2.50 in the charity shop.... I don't think it was designed for my hefty one year old though.

Why do they make white clothes for toddlers?

You know how it is, there's a multipack of tops in the sale and one of them's white but it's a good deal so you buy it anyway. It's gleaming white and looks oh so summery and then you put it on the child. She stays clean for the first 30 seconds and then heads for the door...

By mid afternoon the top is a map of the day. Strawberries (lots of them - and yes I know strawberries and white was always going to be a mess). Snot. Random green that may or not be related to a snail incident. Erm I do believe that might be chocolate, or is it mud. Or both?

Oh well whatever it is she wants more of it.

It was a long afternoon of fun following a long day of fun yesterday for the boy and he was 'too tired' to walk home (Isabel was asleep in the buggy - a very rare event) so the only thing to do was to sling him and walk up the hill to home.

Where upon he inked himself...

Now I know from experience that this ink is not easy to remove (and yet I still let him do stamping, go figure). But recently I came across some lovely and easy to make lotion that is both a lovely moisturiser and a great cleanser for this sort of thing. You can find the recipe here and it worked a treat.