Dinosaurs on a cake.

A broken arm is not good enough reason to postpone a party (especially when cakes have been baked and the house is tidy!) so with Isaac at the fracture clinic I welcomed the first guests and then the party got into full swing once the boy returned. In the last few weeks we've had requests for many different themes including Angry Birds and Thunderbirds but some dinosaur paper plates were enough to convince him that a dinosaur party was perfect. 

The cake was a Mary Berry slab cake with lots of grated chocolate on top of the icing - bad idea it went EVERYWHERE - and then it had a couple of new Schleich dinosaurs on the top to add to the dino collection. 

We have got into the habit of asking people to bring a contribution to the food instead of gifts - I'm not sure the kids approve but it takes some of the hassle out of the planning and reduces the general party chaos of lots of stuff everywhere.

I still have a few basics and some treats on the table and today's included a big dish of fruit (that ended up with dinosaurs in it by the end of the party), chocolate brownies (Nigella's recipe), salad, olives, cheese, bread and crisps, and big jugs with water with lots of fruit chopped up in it. I had planned to do lots of dipped marshmallows but frankly they were such a faff I didn't do more than a couple of dozen. They looked pretty though and went down well - the tip if you're going to try it is apparently to freeze your marshmallows.

I bought a couple of tubs of small dinosaurs from ELC and some glow in the dark ones for the kids to take a handful home instead of party bags. A tired boy got quite possessive of them by the end though and was rationing them to one per person... He now has quite a collection of dinosaurs!

Saturday continued...

So after all of this.... 

There was this...

On the way home they stopped off at the services and had dinner and a little play at the playground there where Isaac played on the monkey bars. He's getting the hang of them and getting more confident and went across fine the first time but after a long day he was tired and it didn't go so well the second time. He landed on his arm/wrist and has broken both bones in his forearm. We had a good if long A&E experience last night and then he went to the fracture clinic this morning to get his pink cast put on. 

Saturdays

If I'm lucky on a Saturday I get some time on my own to do things that don't get interrupted by small children. So far today that includes making brownies and cake for tomorrow. Buying dinosaurs and other bits and bobs and doing a little sewing for my friend's daughter's 6th birthday. A little travel drawing pack (from this tute). Do read the tute through a few times. With my fabric it mattered which way up the pieces were so I had to move the velcro when I first put it on. Also the spacing on the channels - work from left to right and the right hand one will be a little bigger but that's where your outside seam will be so if you over sew it then they'll all be pretty even. The channels will fit chunkier pens so I popped 2 pencils in each one. The fabric is Aneela Hoey. 

Meanwhile the kids were doing this and other adventures on a day out in London.

Sky rocket

The request was to build a rocket. So the containers from the bottles that have been sat on top of the kitchen cabinets for nearly a year were finally used for something creative (it's not got colour and words and things on it too). I made Isabel a mini version from the old bread sticks tube but the dog got hold of that one and the tube is no more....)

We did a little climbing and a little apple picking yesterday. And then Isaac climbed the tree for a bit and we chatted to the neighbours across the fences

Lady who lunches

She has aspirations. 

Obligatory beach photos

We're in Norfolk for a few days to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday. The weather has been lovely and it's been nice to have time as a family. 

We could hear a combine from the playground yesterday so went for a little walk along the lane to see if we could see it. There were loads of poppies in the margin and a big yellow combine a safe distance away. 

We timed the tides well so that we didn't have far to walk to the sea.

She had a lovely time until she fell in.

All quiet

So the little blog has been a bit neglected of late, not helped by me being ill this week. We've not been doing much but did wander around town and err drive the elephant bus... 

And there's been some cookie baking and eating.