Swinging ducks

OK so the duck wasn't on the swings but both were at the park.

If you haven't been on a swing in recent years find a child to take to the park and then sneak onto the swings and feel the absolute joy of swinging up high. It would be even better if I didn't have to cram my thighs onto the seat but even so it's such great fun.

My two love the swings. But even more they love each other swinging. There's raucous laughter and a fair amount of squealing.

We were joined by a very tame lady mallard who happily pottered around the park whilst we played. Isabel is signing with passion (if not accuracy) and was doing very exuberant hand motions with a pretty good quacking noise.

She fell asleep on the way back from the park. It's been a while since she slept on my back as she's usually too nosey but she just couldn't fight it any longer. She is very protective of whatever food she has in her hands and had to have a soggy bit of gingerbread prised out of her hand (not before she'd wiped it all over the wrap though).

An unusual view of the dog. He's done this before of squeezing himself under the chair so that he's safe from small people but on hand for any scraps that may fall to the floor.

Sunny Sandringham

What to do on a sunny Saturday at the seaside when the world is going to descend on the beach? Head inland. So off we went to the woods at Sandringham. There's something so lovely about a mature woodland. The lovely local woods that we go to is relatively new and very 'managed' most of the trees are still small, so whilst it's lovely it's not the same as the old trees in big parkland woods like at Sandringham. The boy wanted to know the queen's name and then proceeded to call her plain old 'Elizabeth' from then on. I like his style.

The was climbing up.

Climbing out (it's only a matter of time before he does this out of the upstairs bathroom window at home).

A sleepy girl did lots of 'up' on the log steps you can just see behind her here.

More climbing - he was very pleased with himself having watched a group of bigger kids climb up and thinking he couldn't do it to find that he could manage on his second attempt.

There were some classic cars - I got a little anxious when the boy picked up a large stick and started swinging it around close to the shiny paintwork and we then retreated to a safer distance.

A pair of antlers.

And a very large squirrel.

After taking these pictures of Isaac I started to walk back to the car only to have a small voice say, 'I'm stuck'. Thankfully we managed to get him out again without having to resort to chainsaws.

Isabel is loving exploring a new house and quietly goes about her business. When it gets too quiet I go and see what she's up to...

Daisy picking

The bear is now 7. We think. He's a rescue dog and we don't know his history but we think that's how old he is. And in family tradition if a rescue dog is roughly the right age to have an April birthday then they get given April Fool's Day as their birthday. Which makes this bear 7. He's getting grey round the chops. He's slowing down (sometimes). He likes his bed, Matthew's bed, the chair, the sofa (so much for no dogs on the furniture) and has a comfy spot for every time of the day. When Matthew's away he pines. I don't know if it's for Matthew or for his bed, which Finn would usually spend most of the morning on.

This week he broke a tooth (one of the front top ones). And so yesterday he spent the day at the vets having an anaesthetic and having the tooth removed. So now he's feeling a bit sore and bit sorry for himself. And he's missing his daddy. And to add insult to injury he can't eat anything crunchy so his food is having to be presoaked and he has to suffer cheese as treats instead of boring biscuits. It's a hard life! Using cheese as a reward has it's drawbacks though - it's no good for recall as he doesn't want to go away from the cheese in the first place. We played a lot of 'find it' instead.

As soon as she saw the field of daisies Isabel wanted down. She had a lovely time feeling them, picking them and then holding my finger and walking the width of the field and then back again. She's not at all keen on walking unaided but she leaves you in no doubt when she wants to walk or where she wants to go.

Where's a girl supposed to sleep?

Ah the joys of co-sleeping. Where am I supposed to go?

A quick trip to the library ended in a detour up a lovely old staircase. She's following in her brother's footsteps and climbing on anything and everything at the moment.

Garden fun

The weather has improved again and so the cry once more is 'outside' only this time mama and bear are both happy to go too.

The stones are still very popular.

I thought I had a good ploy for the stone posting... but as soon as I had the basket under the hole the game changed. Apparently it's no fun if it's easy to collect the stones again.

Wet and cold

After a lovely couple of weeks of warm sunny weather it's got wet and cold again. It doesn't stop the cries of 'outside' though. Both children were very happy to play in the rain this afternoon (the dog was less impressed but wasn't allowed back in the house until I was). After a very long time of meaning to do it I've finally got some stones for the gap between the decking and the wall. I wanted big cobbles but we couldn't find any so I've got smaller stones. The plan was for them to be functional, decorative but also to be played with. They have been a great success on the last point. Unfortunately this now means they're scattered all over the decking! They have been scooped up and put in piles, put in the lantern, transported in the back of the trike. They are a big success. And unlike the plastic toys they won't break. It may get a little frustrating rounding them up though...

As well as being super cute Isabel is showing off her injury. A brother assisted fall off a chair yesterday ended with lots of blood and a fat lip. She did a lot of howling but then was happy and chilled and only complained when any attempt was made to clean it up or stick anything over it. There was added mud today.

What a week

On Tuesday night our burglar alarm went off - it does this when the power goes as we hadn't replaced the battery in it. Power was on in the house so it meant that the socket circuit that it was on had gone and that had tripped the fuse box. Last time it happened it was because of the toaster but at it was after 10.30 at night it wasn't that this time. We didn't know what it was. By 11pm we'd given up trying to isolate the socket and as every time we reset the fuse box it reset the alarm's 20 minute cut off we figured the neighbours would rather we didn't fart around and so we left it till morning. In the morning the culprit was pretty obvious as there was water pouring down the kitchen wall where the boiler was leaking. It had leaked into the electrics that had been placed handily below it that had tripped the electrics. Whilst we got the power back on by mid morning the parts for the boiler were going to take a few days so with no hot water that meant no showers or baths - a disaster in this house!

So I've been doing a lot of boiling water... for the first day or so it wasn't too bad but I was so relieved when the boiler got fixed on Friday and the alarm is sorted too so won't go off and annoy the neighbours the next time the power goes.

You know those blogs that show children helping prepare meals and it all looks so cosy and lovely? Well the reality is that when time is short, tempers are frayed and you just want to get some food on the table toddler assisted cooking is the last thing on my mind. Especially when it results in most of the food ending up on or in the dog.

A cheerful moment in the week was the arrival of our book from the lovely Amy Schimler. It's a big hit!

There's been a bit of time for some mama reading too in amongst the chaos. And yes both children were on the table when the photo was taken but it meant I could see them both whilst reading....