Old Friends and Pea Podders

Eve, Jake, Sarah and new baby Ben

Sam arrived home from Germany to a very happy daughter on Friday evening, and just made it for Eve's bed time. He brought her back a present, which she was very pleased with, and me even more so; her first Playmobil! It was the Rabbit hutch with pen - we helped her to put some of the little pieces together and told her the names of some of the items. She loves the tiny rabbits and took them all to bed with her inside the hutch.

I was a bit worried about her having the tiny bits in bed so I nipped up to remove the hutch and rabbits once she had fallen asleep. When she woke on Saturday morning, she asked me where it was. I told her that I had put it downstairs where it was safe. She looked at me in disdain and shock and told me to go and get it ;-)

She then happily played with it in bed whilst I went back to sleep for an hour - hurrah.

Daddy had a lie in whilst I prepped our stuff for Granny Lop's house that morning. Sam was booked to DJ for a friend's wedding on Saturday night, and Granny had said that we could stay at her house whilst she was away on a trip.

Eve was disappointed that Granny, Truby and the dogs weren't there, but she had a lovely time looking at the fish in the pond, and playing with Granny's Playmobil motorbike that she spied.

Eve's first Kinder Egg

After lunch at Granny's we set out to Drayton to visit our friends who had just moved house - they are total pro's at parenting - Sarah gave birth to their new baby in the car outside of the hospital last Friday, and three days later moved house, wowsers. I loved hearing of the quick birth - fills me with hope for the future...

We stopped at a supermarket to get some provisions for dinner. Eve was very good and held Daddy's hand as we walked around the shop. Of course she saw a pink Kinder Egg and was very keen to have one. We thought it was ok for a treat and gave it to her in the car - Eve and the car seat were covered in melted chocolate by the time we arrived at Sarah and Cherry's house, but oh, ce la vie, eh.

Daddy, Eve, baby Ben, Sarah and Jake

Jake and Eve are only two months apart and have been buddies since they were born. Even though they hadn't seen each other for almost a year they played beautifully together, along with Arthur (who starts school in September). It was the highlight of my weekend seeing their happy faces as they ran about the garden excitedly kicking footballs. They all adored playing with the Thomas the Tank Engine train set in the playroom too.

Vicky and Arthur

Arthur, Jake and Eve playing in the conservatory playroom

Another first - Eve's first ice pop

I really enjoyed catching up with our old friends. Chilling out in Sarah and Cherry's garden was amazing, I felt so relaxed. Having a good chin-wag with Sarah and Vicky was great - I don't see girlfriends much these days, and really appreciate it when I get the chance. I wish that we lived closer to them, so that we could hang out like that more often. Now that Eve is getting older I think this kind of thing is getting easier to manage.

After dinner at Granny's house, Sam and I took Eve upstairs and told her that we were going to make a camp bed together. She enjoyed making a bed on the floor but refused to have a bath, which I didn't mind as I had it instead. It took her a while to settle down to go to sleep, and I lay with her on the camp bed for a while thinking that may help. But she had a sore tummy - the product of the sugar overload from the afternoon no doubt. But once she had used the potty she felt much better and fell asleep. No more Kinder Eggs and ice pops for a while I think...

Whilst Sam was out DJing I indulged in one of my guilty pleasures and watched the Kardashians on Granny Lop's tv (we only have a basic tv package at home) with a glass of wine.

Sunday was spent at home. Sam was exhausted from his travels so he played with Eve whilst I pottered about. It was warm and sunny so we took Eve into the front garden to harvest the first of the peas. Last year we grew tomatoes, which was fun, but really labour intensive with watering. So I decided against them this year and grew peas instead. I had a vision of Eve podding them and couldn't resist. Podding and eating fresh peas is such a wonderful thing. It's also a great way for kids to learn about food, how it grows and where it comes from; a base that leads to many aspects of life.

The pea podders

We had great fun podding the peas at the kitchen table. As Eve tried to pod the peas they were popping off all over the place, which she found hilarious!

After the podding I picked some sweet peas from the pot in the garden, and also harvested the lavender. I grow everything in pots as we have a small front and back garden, both of which are concrete and pebbles. The flowers made the kitchen smell delightful. Small Mama pleasures.

Dressed up for the Alice in Wonderland party

Today, nursery is holding 'Alice in Wonderland' day. Other little girls had proper Alice outfits on, but this outfit was the best I could do. I didn't want to buy something that would only be worn once. This dress is super cute and was given to Eve by my sister. She hadn't worn it before, so I thought that this party was an ideal occasion. The blue Alice band was given to Eve from Granny Lops and was the perfect item to transform her into Alice.

Eve was completely thrilled at getting dressed up for the party at nursery and sat eagerly on my lap this morning as I dressed her. She even let me do her hair without any fuss. I can't wait to collect her this evening and see how she enjoyed the day.

Day to Day

The Little Mermaid

After a week of on and off accidents in bed, Eve completely nailed potty training. We are super proud of her. She loves being independent, and we feel confident in her potty abilities. She's so determined in her outlook of life, even at the young age of 2 and a half. As we get older our realisations about age change, It's not until I had a baby that I realised how clued up kids are. They understand much more than we give them credit for sometimes.

Eve enjoying a sandwich in her den.

As we've had some rainy spells lately, Eve has loved making dens in the lounge with her Dad. Along with sofa cushions, she's also realised that our washing racks make great camps too. I absolutely adored building camps inside and out when I was small. Imagining, building and projecting these ideas is a real rite of passage in a child's life.

Arnos Vale Cemetery

Mummy and Eve in Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Eve loves going for trolley rides in Lidl. She also loves eating half the produce as she goes round the shop, but is very good at naming the items of food too.

Sticker time

What kid doesn't like stickers?! Eve is a huge fan. The Craftisan craft cafe at the end of our road sells some lovely, inexpensive stickers. She loves choosing a new pack every so often. We constantly have different sticker displays on our kitchen table.

Daddy is away in Germany this week, DJing at Fusion Festival, north of Berlin. I took Sam's place on Wednesday morning looking after Eve at home. I had hoped to take her to the park, but it rained all morning so I found some indoor activities instead. She was a really good girl, though she became sad at missing Daddy just before lunch as she was getting tired. 

I dropped her off at nursery for the afternoon session. It was the first time I've done this and put a big smile on my face at the cuteness of it. When we arrived the Bouncies room was dark and all the children were on little mattresses having naps on the floor. I handed a very sleepy Eve over to one of her carers and headed back home to get some chores done.

Painting at home on a rainy day

Creating.

Eve wanted to get involved with my lampshade project, so I set her up next to me so that she could make some Play Doh creations at the same time. 

"Colour my love with sunshine yellow each day..."

This morning we were just about to head out the door  for nursery when Eve pointed out that we both had on the same colour clothes; yellow tops and grey leggings. Uh oh we're gonna end up like those matching mother n daughter combos... hmmm, that actually that sounds quite appealing! :-)

The Bishop's Palace - Wells

The Well House - http://www.bishopspalace.org.uk/palace

Eve's nursery held a charity bake sale on Friday. I knew about it in advance and decided to make fairy cakes. When I was pondering upon my recipe I had thoughts in my head of nice fluffy cakes, topped with a thick pink icing and tiny white chocolate stars...

The reality was late evening drunken baking on Thursday night after work (it's the new Friday, right?!), with fairly disastrous results. I can safely say they were the worst cakes I've ever made. They were supposed to take 20 minutes to bake but our oven is dodgy and took almost an hour. By which point I had a very hungry husband, who had not yet had his dinner, and very disappointing cakes. When they had cooled I thought some icing would be their saving grace. But the lovely pink icing that I had imagined turned out a dark red, as I was tired and tipsy and picked up the wrong bottle of food colouring by mistake, oops.

Need to up my fairy cake making skills - hoping to make something like this in the future ;-)

I asked Sam if we could stop at the shop on the way to nursery in the morning to buy some cakes, but after all the effort he told me to not be silly and that I had to take them. Doh. When we arrived at nursery I was even more embarrassed when I saw beautifully presented fairy cakes in a box, that another mum had made. But the main thing, which I knew would be lovely, was seeing Eve proudly walking in holding her box of cakes. She was completely delighted when she put the cakes on the table, along with her friend Eli, who was doing the same.

When I collected Eve from nursery on Friday evening I took her to the table to see which cake she might like to choose. I pointed out all the different cakes, cookies and flapjacks to her. She took a moment and then pointed at the cakes I had made and asked to have one of them. This cheered me up no end. We both ate one on the way home, and they didn't taste as bad as I thought they might. But this is a big mummy reminder that I need to start practicing fairy cakes - and get the oven fixed!

Wells Market

We've had on and off heavy downpours for the past couple of weeks, which turned Glastonbury Festival into a mud bath, with lots of traffic at the start of the festivities last Wednesday. I suddenly realised that the trip I had scheduled to the Bishop's Palace in Wells with Grandad Col and Jeggs was during Glastonbury weekend. Sam and I were worried about traffic, but we were lucky and had quiet roads to Wells bright and early on Saturday morning.

 Wells Market

Grandad Col had told us that if there was a lot of rain the palace closes due to the wells flooding. We took our chances, hoped for the best, and were glad to see that the palace was open when we were the first to arrive at 10am.

Walking towards the palace gateway

We were incredibly lucky with the weather. Strong sunshine broke through patchy clouds as we walked through the beautiful gardens. The palace is surrounded by a moat, with streams and wells inside the palace walls.

History of the palace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop%27s_Palace,_Wells

Cool stained glass sculpture

The ruined Great Hall and Chapel

We walked around the ramparts and then went down to the traditional flower garden. Building of this wonderful palace started in 1210. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1548, Bishop Barlow sold the lead from the roof of the Great Hall. This resulted in it falling into a ruined state.

Grandad Col and Jegg's dog, Saffy, looking down at the moat below.

Lovely succulents

Grandad Col gave us a good tour of the palace, and we felt very lucky as we walked around it. Eve was so happy. It felt good to be able to take her to experience something new and exciting.

Daddy and Eve looking at an Ent

Grandad Col

Eve

 Checking out some modern art

Saffy, Jeggs and Grandad Col

From the modern art seating we walked across a little bridge into a section of the garden which held the wells; a very atmospheric place.

 The wells

The last part of the palace grounds were the huge vegetable allotment gardens, which Eve and I thoroughly enjoyed. She particularly liked the scarecrows.

I fully recommend a trip to the Bishops Palace in Wells - it's a great place to take kids, lots of fresh air, history and medieval architecture - what more could you want.

Eve loved running around the allotment garden

Dragon sculpture construction the other side of this fence

As we approached midday the sky became dark with rain clouds. We had a drink in the cafe (which was very nice), and I smuggled Eve some ham sandwiches for lunch that I had made. Grandad Col, Jeggs and Saffy set off for home. Daddy, Eve and I slowly made our way from the palace, through the market square, had a quick look at a miniature painting exhibition and back to the car. Sam and I ate the rest of our redundant picnic in the car on the way home to Bristol, whilst it poured with rain outside, and Eve slept in her car seat. 

www.facebook.com/craftisanshop/

It poured with rain all afternoon in Briz, so Eve and I spent our time wisely; working on jigsaw puzzles together at home. We made a quick trip to Craftisan at the end of our road before dinner time. Dad and I had much-needed coffee's and we all enjoyed sticking and painting weird and wonderful art works.

I love Craftisan, you can get creative whilst you relax in a cosy place, plus you don't have to tidy up at the end :-)

Father's Day Weekend

 Daddy wearing his Father's Day Medal, with Eve giving him a Peppa Pig cup 

We didn't do much this weekend, just hung out at home and took a walk in the woods. Mikey arrived on Saturday afternoon just as we walked in the door with Eve asleep in her pram. So, we drank some cold beers and caught up on life. When Eve woke up later in the afternoon, as soon as she saw Mike her face lit up into a big smile. She had been really looking forward to seeing him.

Late afternoon the sun came out for a while, so Dad, Mike and Eve played with bubbles in the back garden.

Daddy, Mike and Eve bubble time

Eve was really well behaved, and we could tell that she was being ultra good as Mike was there. She was very good about going to bed, even though she knew she was leaving us downstairs to have fun. 

Us oldies stayed up a bit late, and felt a bit worse for wear on Sunday morning. I got up with Eve at 6am and enjoyed breakfast with her and played some games. At 10am we both agreed that Daddy had slept for long enough. I reminded Eve that it was Father's Day and that we should go and take him the medal that she had made him at nursery. I gave her a Peppa Pig Father's Day cup, which she proudly carried upstairs to give to Daddy.

Daddy was also feeling a bit dodgy, but waking up to see Eve with her Father's Day gifts filled him with happiness so that he felt much better. I had helped Eve practise saying 'Happy Father's Day' for a day or two beforehand and she kept saying 'Happy Birthday,' and that we had to make Daddy a cake. ;-)

But when we walked into the bedroom, she said 'Happy Father's Day,' perfectly and I could see tears of joy in Sam's eyes. We are so grateful for our girl, she is such a beautiful person, so kind, caring and happy.

Eve playing Connect4 with Mikey on Sunday morning

A Weekend of Nature

Mardon, Moretonhampstead, Devon - small stone circle

Bristol Festival of Nature began this weekend, and runs until the 25th June. 

http://www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/

I took the train down to Newton Abbot on Friday morning to meet my mum. We headed straight to Bovey Tracy craft fair on the edge of Dartmoor http://www.craftsatboveytracey.co.uk/ 

My mum has visited the craft fair for the past few years and always calls me afterwards to tell me how amazing it is. So, it was cool that this year I was able to go too. We really enjoyed looking around the different artist's work. There was a lot to see, and every stand exhibited individual styles of work at an incredibly high level. You could go completely mad there and spend a lot of money, that's for sure.

Etched glass by Vinegar and Brown Paper

We stayed at the White Hart Hotel in Moretonhampstead (http://www.whitehartdartmoor.co.uk/), a few miles away on the moor. The hotel was lovely and value for money, couldn't fault it. We ate dinner two doors down at The Horse (http://thehorsedartmoor.co.uk/) The meal was fantastic, and we gave them 10/10 for service, atmosphere and the food. I fully recommend it if you're ever on North Dartmoor.

The following morning before we checked out of the hotel we had a look in the Green Hill Art Gallery in Moretonhampstead (http://www.greenhillarts.co.uk/#home). A textile exhibition was ending that day and we were so lucky to have noticed that it was on. It was a beautifully curated show and we absolutely loved it - inspiring stuff.

Walking on Marden Hill near Moretonhampstead.

After the art gallery we drove up to Marden hill on the outskirts of Moretonhampstead and walked up to the largest stone circle on Dartmoor. It's mainly a large earthwork without many standing stones. We carried further along and found a small stone circle with amazing views across the moor. We were really lucky with the weather; it didn't rain and became quite warm in the afternoon.

Whilst I was away, Sam was looking after Eve. They were supposed to be going to a BBQ party on Saturday afternoon, but it was called off due to dodgy weather. Eve was disappointed but enjoyed a walk in the woods holding a tupperware box with Daddy. Eve collected flowers and put them in the box whilst they walked, and discussed them with Dad. This was good to put towards our 30 Days Wild Challenge. http://www.mywildlife.org.uk/30dayswild/

Eve with her box of woodland delights.

It was lovely to have a break away and be able to spend time with my mum, and it was equally as good to return home to Eve and Daddy on Saturday evening. The night that I was away, Eve called for Daddy two times so that he could help her with the potty. I was thrilled that there hadn't been any 'accidents' in bed whilst I was away.

Bristol Festival of Nature - Millenium Square

After lunch at home on Sunday we jumped on the bus and wandered over to the harbour in Bristol for the Festival of Nature. Just as we arrived, the sun started blazing which made the afternoon perfect.

We had a good time wandering about and drank some local cider. Eve was very excited as we were going to meet Claire, Jody and Jago there. She desperately tried to stay awake in her pram, but fell asleep just before we met them. She woke up in the bus on the way home and asked us if we were going to Jago's house. We said that we weren't and she looked very sad. Her little disappointed face made us feel terrible, but if she hadn't had a sleep she would have been cranky. To make up for it Daddy discussed it with her and asked her if she would like to get some stickers from the craft shop on our way home. This cheered her up no end. We now have dinosaur stickers stuck all over the kitchen table that are not allowed to be removed ;-)

Jody, Jago and Sam - Millenium Square, Bristol