Tuesday 31 March 2015

No Break

Small's finger and thumb looked a little swollen and bruised this morning so we iced it again but he said he was fine. Today he represented his school at the Science Olympics. Huffle had to get him to school for 8:25am so that left Smallest getting on the bus by himself.

I went to work where I planted up many Ratibida, Poppies and Fennel. I also came home with two different lots of poppies and some strawberry seedlings. I was so tired that they were almost pouring coffee down me to keep me awake. We had a terrible nights sleeps last night as I felt really nauseous with tummy ache. I think I may have eaten too much. Buttery garlic bread, cheesey pizza, jelly, ice cream, cake. Yuk. My stomach was in turmoil. I felt so ill I couldn't manage my first coffee. I still felt a bit wobbly late evening.

Yay snowdrops (spring is here)

After lunch with Huffle, I got on with my sewing which I needed to finish before tomorrow's session. I managed part of it and then the boys came home. Small's fingers were very swollen and very bruised and we decided he would need to get them checked out. On the plus side, he had got a bronze medal at the Science Olympics, third place out of 32 schools taking part. Very proud of my clever little man. He had a great time and has to show his award at the assembly on Thursday. Also on Thursday he gets an award for something that I can't remember and Smallest gets one for Improved Organisation. This is a BIG one in our house as we call him the squirrel for his untidiness and general messiness. Wahoo - he has become more organised at school, good job Smallest (how very Canadian of me to say so).

Some clouds for Aunt Pear

As I was making soup for dinner (we needed something very simple, quick and healthy after yesterday), Mrs Royal came a-visiting. She brought back our key from when we were away and stayed and had a cuppa and a chat. It was nice to see her (I had to interrupt my FaceTime with Grandma - sorry Grandma) and we had a bit of a catch up and promised to go out for lunch soon when we can both find the time.

After dinner, I took Smallest to his swimming lessons and Huffle took Small to the little hospital in the next town. Smallest swam beautifully and I knitted some more sock. Small had an X-Ray and the doctor told him it was a sprain and how to look after it. Shame, he has basketball tomorrow which I know he really likes. Never mind, at least it's not a break!

Tonight's moon (and some trees for Aunt Pear).

I finished off my sewing, we put the kids to bed and then Huffle and I watched Banished (A BBC drama about the Convicts sent to Australia - very very good).

 

Monday 30 March 2015

Birthday No3 (official)

Smallest's face, when I got up this morning, was full of excitement and delight. He jumped up and down and flung his arms around me (normally I get a look and a grunt and if I'm lucky, a Good Morning Mummy). He had decided yesterday that he didn't want to open any presents or cards until he got home from school but he obviously changed his mind. Just one card? OKAY. ....and one more? Until all his cards were open (though not all have been delivered yet). He then asked if he could have his presents but we persuaded him to wait. I left the kids with Huffle (who was on a phonecall but promised to watch them get on the bus), and I went to my early Monday Morning yoga.

The normal yoga teacher wasn't in because she was ill so we had a different lady. She worked us completely differently though not in a bad way. We seemed to do less yoga poses but for much much longer and we had the lovely Shavasana at the end. I almost fell asleep. Fully calm and feeling restored, I then had to do a dash to the supermarket for more fondant icing for Smallest's cake. However, there were so many bargains in there that I got carried away and did a whole weeks shop, and more, and then forgot the damn icing. Back home I put the shopping away and made a start on the cake. That's when I realised I had to have that extra icing so out I went again and got some.

Finally I had lunch with Huffl and then started on the cake. Luckily I made the cake itself yesterday so I only had to ice it but it took me two and a half hours. Smallest had designed the cake so I knew what he wanted. I had also made some mini cup cakes with some left over mixture so I incorporated them into the design too.

Then came the huge task of clearing up the kitchen. Huffle helped in between working and between us we got the kitchen cleared. I had a shower, put some washing on, swept the floors and then the boys were home. Smallest didn't even notice the cake for ages but loved it. He said "it's even better than I imagined". Awwww bless him. Small had hurt his fingers at school playing dodgeball so we had to ice it as it was swelling.

Smallest opened one present (which was his tablet) and Small got his and they played together on the sofa until Grandma and Grandad FaceTimed to sing Happy Birthday (we put some cheese in his ears!). Small's finger was still swollen and hurting and we considered taking him for an X-ray. The piano teacher came and Smallest had his lesson. She decided that small could miss his lesson because of his finger but he still talked to her about his recital piece.

Aunt Pear and HB Skyped and sang Happy Birthday and watched him open his presents. I made pizza and Garlic Breead for the birthday tea and we all ate that followed by Jelly and ice cream and cake.

Huffle took Small to Scouts where he one-handedly created this years Kub Kar. We have already had an idea for decorating it but want some advice from Grandad first just to make sure.

Smallest, Huffle and I played MarioKart until it was time to pick up Small. Small's hand is still a bit swollen but he can move the fingers so we will see how it looks after he has rested it.

Thank you for all your birthday wishes. He says THANK YOUUUUUUUUU x

 

Sunday 29 March 2015

Birthday No2

We have heard this saying a lot so far this weekend. "Well it is my birthday". Err no it's not actually. Yesterday we had his birthday meal out and today we had pancakes for breakfast (though I was told he actually wanted English (crepes) pancakes, not American).

The sun was out and the temperature in the sun room was a whopping 20* though in reality outside it was still a cooling -7*. It did get better though and ended up at 3*. We decided to walk off our pancakes and go to the nature walk by the lake. The boys filled a bag with bird seed so they could hand feed the birds again and Huffle took his rucksack so he could scavenge off the beach (too much watching Kevin McCloud recycle everything).

We started by watching the ducks, swans and geese and then left the milling noisy people and carried on up the trail.

Grandad - I'm adding the fence to our list

There were no birds following us today and we had to wait until we got to the beach. Then the boys sat on their favourite bench in the sunshine (out of the SW wind it was gorgeous) and fed a few chickadees.

While the boys threw stones and twigs into the lake, Huffle and I walked along the beach picking up things and leaving them in piles to pick up later should we wish. It was chilling as the wind was coming off the water and into our faces but it was nice to be in the fresh air. We found a piece of driftwood that looked like a dinosaur, a couple of flat pieces of driftwood, a squarish rock and a few sparkly heart shaped stones. Huffle also found an intriguing piece of silver birch (we think) that had a real gold sheen to it. All of those things ended up in the rucksack eventually. We sat on our favourite tree to have a mini egg each and a rest and then we went back to the bench, fed more birds and made our way towards the Cranberry Marsh which was completely under ice.

We passed a group of deer grazing, many many Canda Geese and lots of robins, red winged blackbirds nuthatches, woodpeckers and chickadees. We fed some more on the way back and then went on the proper feeding trail where we had more chickadees feeding around and on us. The kids love it here and it is very nicely laid out. We found a nice tree to sit on in the sunshine. We watched the swans, ducks and geese, had a walk on the boardwalk where we fed a swan and then came home.

Lunch was eaten in front of a bit more of Star Wars and then Huffle FaceTimed Grandma and Grandad, the boys played on the wii and I made a start on Smallest's cake. It all went wrong because I didn't read the instructions so that batter was made into blueberry muffins and blueberry pudding and I made some more.

Then I made some smartie cookies for his class tomorrow. We completely forgot about dinner so made do with fish finger sandwiches and then finished off our Star Wars film.

IS IT BEDTIME YET?

Two fabulous quotes of the day today were one from Grandad who said the only wrestler he knew the name of was John Senior - oh yes Grandad, that famous wrestler! Small said whilst feeding the birds, That's two of my big nuts gone then!

 

 

Saturday 28 March 2015

Birthday No1

Quite a cold day with temperatures of -9*. I left all of the boys and went to my $10 quilt course. Today we were shown how to make a Celtic Knot style pattern. It looks quite complicated but then they all have so far. I came home via Target which is about to close. What a mess! Stuff everywhere, all over the floor, hanging off the shelves. It looks like they have completely given up. I didn't buy anything and drove home. The driving here drives me crazy. I know I have ranted about this before but..................... Two lanes and two cars and they both drive at the same speed just slightly apart. This stops anyone overtaking, moving into a different lane or anything. Then on a one lane road, a car drives at 2 km under the speed limit or just 1 km over the limit. They are driving a Black Lexus and I can't tell if it's an unmarked police car or not. So there is no way I can overtake it. Aarrrgggghhhh. I wish it didn't annoy me so much and I wish I could find a way to not care but I DO!!!!! Self important drivers who get in their cars and drive with no consideration of anyone or anything. Pig Ignorant!

I got home to find everyone playing on the wii. I left them to it and went and finished off Smallest's birthday card and wrapped his presents.

Smallest and I played with his wrestling figures and then we got ready to go out to lunch. We went to one of our favourite places and told them it was his birthday. Small and I both ordered the Three Cheese Crepe Manicotti which unfortunately came with veal on it (what a waste!). I sent mine back, I had misread the menu but they were fine and brought me one wih a tomato sauce and no veal. Small liked his. We weren't going to order dessert but Smallest decided because it is nearly his birthday (Monday) he should have one. They bought his out with a candle but didn't want to scare us by singing so he blew the candle out and we shared his and Small's Double Chocolate Torte. Very nice.

We popped into the DeadMans shop and Huffle bought himself a couple of pairs of trousers. We went into a few more shops on the way home. Back home, the kids played basketball and tennis-ball-against-the-chimney which I am informed is called Red Book.

Wearing Daddy's big gloves to keep warm

All of us except Smallest, who was reading, played Monopoly U-Build. Small won. Smallest and I then did the funny stories book where you insert verbs, adjectives and nouns in and read it back. Very silly.

We had our tea in front of Star Wars III.

 

Friday 27 March 2015

Pouffing Expensive

Silly me, thought it was Spring and we were starting to see slightly warmer weather but it snowed again today and was really cold and now we have a weather warning for this evening as it will be -12* (without windchill).

I had to wake Small up again this morning and he said "mwhahrhah is it school today?" After they went to school, I went out to pick up some essentials and take some stuff back. I then picked up TheEnglishRose and off we went to knitting. Today El was trying to coax us into making a huge pouffe. The only drawback was that it was $25 a ball for 6-7 balls of wool and we would need to buy a pouffe to put inside of it. NO DONT THINK SO! I bought some wool for some socks I am making for HB and carried on with my second Yoga Sock (I need these finished as my feet get cold when I start Yoga).

Suffolk, TheEnglishRose and I went for lunch after knitting to a pub across the road. We had a nice chat and eat in there and then I took her home. I nipped to the flooring shop and took back the samples we had and had a quick peep in the Charity Furniture shop just in case they had any vanity units in there. They didn't so I came home and finished off my sewing that I need for tomorrow. Huffle had painted my funny cupboard/vanity unit in my bathroom and Inhave to say it looks a lot better. Will it look even better with a nice shiny white sink on top?

The boys came home, did a quick job for me and went on gadgets until dinner time. I FaceTimed Moo and we looked at houses together on the Internet as Moo is planning on moving house.

After dinner we all played Mario Kart, watched TV and went to bed (well the kids did). I don't know what Huffle and I did because it hasn't happened yet (not that that normally stops me!).

 

Thursday 26 March 2015

Five big and five small

We had another power cut last night, just as we were watching a bit of TV in bed. We were both so tired anyway that we didn't care and it came back on before we were properly asleep. Cause:unknown is what the website said!

Small had to be woken this morning and didn't want to get up. Everyone seems really tired, I don't know if it's the weather? After the boys went to school, I prepared for my Quilting Class. Originally this one was going to be the final one and we were supposed to be there an extra hour. However things didn't really go well today. The sewing shop has moved to a new bigger location which is great, easy to get to and plenty of room dedicated for sewing and classes. Suffolk and I were the only ones in as usual on a Thursday morning, so we just plodded along making an extra border for the front part. MrSew was in a weird mood today and knocked all my stuff off the table and walked away without even acknowledging it which annoyed me from the beginning. Then an hour and a half into our session, two old women stomped in, dropped all their stuff down (which included a huge suitcase), demanded that they sit next to each because they wanted to and stared at us and whispered. MrsSew told them to go and look round the new shop as they were early. (They were actually half an hour early). Then the rest of their class arrived, equally early. Sewing machines, suitcases, trolleys, Zimmer frames (I might be exaggerating a little here) arrived along with rude rude older women who not only didn't speak to us but expected us to move all of our stuff (purely with a look, a grimace or a shrug). MrsSew was clearly not pleased but she is not the sort of woman who will tell people to bugger off, so I asked her if she wanted us to leave. I don't think she did but it did seem the best option as the Zimmer gang were clearly not happy until we were safely out of the way. Bloody rude self important biddies! I do know exactly what it is I have to do at home though so hopefully I can just get on with it. We only paid for three sessions but to be honest it was such a small amount we paid that we are really not losing anything, plus MrsSew feels so bad she has fit us in another session next week (and however many more we need to get it finished). It started to snow and was really heavy and cold but fortunately it only lasted an hour or so.

Suffolk and I decided to go for lunch and celebrate her birthday which is this Sunday. We aimed for a little French Bistro we know but it was closed. Across the road was another place we hadn't tried. I'm so glad we did. It was amazing. We both chose the vegetarian options and shared Ravioli and a Vegetable Strudel. We even had dessert. I had an Italian pudding, which I can't really describe, with salted Caramel Sauce in it and a huge spun sugar decoration. Just lovely, but I thought I was going to pop. We had a good long chat and then popped to another material shop where Suffolk bought some fabric to make Smallest an apron for his birthday.

Back home, Huffle had set up work in the kitchen in case I wasn't back in time and then repositioned himself in the Bunker after the kids came home. Huffle has a new role at work. He is now CBSL (Commercial Business Sector Leader). When you read sector you have to say it like this Sec-Tour, in a very American kind of way, like Keith Lemon would say on Celebrity Juice. (Just because it makes us laugh).

Both boys were tired, had a snack, emptied their bags and did a quick job for me (Smallest got our dinner ingredients, peeled a potato and opened some beans and Small emptied my car of rubbish) before going on gadgets. They ended up on the wii after dinner but once again it ended in an argument and Small sulked in his room and Smallest helped me to make Suffolk's birthday muffins.

 

 

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Candle Power

What a busy day.

Smallest went off to school. I did Aerobics. Today was a new start to the 14 week sessions so we had a whole new routine, plus we had a week off last week. I found out before the class even started that one of the ladies', that I exercise with, husband died over the weekend. Very sad, such a nice lady. Aerobics was very tough trying to learn the new routine, I'm not sure how ExerciseNic puts up with us (well me really). I think we nearly had it before we stopped for weights and floor work. Still we have another 13 to go to perfect it.

I had a quick snack back home and then rushed out to Pottery which was in a different place today. I swear the email said we had to be there at 12 but apparantly it didn't start until 12:30 so I had to go and have a cup of tea with Suffolk (who also turned up early because I told her what time to get there whoops) before we could go in.

Today's session was all about finishing our pots we had made over the last five weeks. We learnt how to prepare the pots, how to wax the bottoms so the glaze wouldn't stick in the kiln and finally how to glaze. There was a lot to do and a few mistakes here and there, but we did it. It's such a nice class and most of us are going back to do the next one in April so that will be fun.

I got home five minutes before the boys came home. WELCOME HOME MY BIG BEAR - WE MISSED YOU. Small had a lot of fun though lots of late nights and a not too comfortable bed. He told us lots of stories about what happened there and now wants to go to Summer Camp there and stay over for a week. He had to do lots of clearing up, washing up, taking out recycling etc. He also gave me a great idea about putting chores on paper in a jar and the kids then get to pick something useful to do. Oh yes, I like that!

We allowed the boys to go on the wii but of course it ended in an argument so that was ended quickly. Small had his first basketball session today but it didn't start until 7:45pm (not ideal considering he is so tired but all sports things seem to be late here). Huffle took him and watched.

Smallest and I stayed at home and snuggled and watched TV. Then while Smallest was cleaning his teeth at 7:30pm, the power went out. It wasn't completely dark outside but dark enough that we had trouble finding and lighting candles. Smallest was a little star and helped me loads. I hate the dark and get quite scared but obviously I have to be brave in front of the kids. We got lots of candles lit all around the house and then went and sat on his bed and played Mancala a couple of times. I left him with a fake candle and his solar lamp and came back downstairs, boiled a saucepan of water, put the gas fire on and lit candles that had burnt down. Huffle kept me updated on tweets from the electric company and Ed Sheeran kept me company while I made a cup of tea and kept warm.

It came back on just before 9pm. I left the candles on then just in case it went off again. Huffle and Small came back after a feat time at basketball. Small loved it and Huffle was very impressed.

 

 

 

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Mr Bean goes Swimming

Smallest went off to school by himself. He says he doesn't miss Small but when I watched him wait for the bus this morning, he seemed lonely and sad without him.

Before I went off to work today, I started a Chilli Con Carne in the Slow Cooker for dinner. In the greenhouse, I learnt that Jeff is closing the Nursey and taking up a job with a Landscape company. The nursery will still run as a mail order company and there will be special open days. I get to stay as there is plenty to do in the gardens and greenhouses. I also made it clear that if a job came up there, I would be happy to work more. We will still be gardening at the Royal York too. Today I carried on potting on some veggies and pelargoniums and coreopsis. J was back today too so we got some nice treats for coffee break.

Huffle and I had lunch together and watched a bit of Kevin McClouds Man Made Home (brilliant series, we are on Series 2 already, it is so good. Though if he says Off Grid anymore times, he might as well change the name of the program to Kevin is Off Grid).

This afternoon I made a veggie chilli for me, did lots of washing and drying and folding (didn't I only do that yesterday? Are there really only four people in this house?).

When Smallest came home, he played basketball for a while and then on the IPad. He has been learning about fractions at school and has been given Grade 3's spelling instead of Grade 2.

After an early dinner we took Smallest for his swimming lessons. We have never been on a Tuesday before as we have always chosen Friday's. Smallest's instructor was MrBean and he only had three in his class. We like to ask him what the names are of the people he swims with because it is always funny as he normally gets their name wrong. For example he once swam with 'bucket' who was really called Duncan. He said one of them this week was called Trent. I wonder if it is really. He worked very hard.

 

Monday 23 March 2015

Little Drummer Boy

One of the things on the list for Small to take on his 'away' trip was Kleenex or a Handkerchief (do people still use hankies?) and Small packed a whole box of tissues. I got him to swap it for a small pack of tissues before he went. I left him and Smallest with Huffle this morning in order to get to my early morning Yoga class. Bless him, I hope he hs a good time.

Yoga was great and very relaxing. I did a lot of stretching and apart from hurting my neck, I think I may have some aches in the next few days. We did the Shavasana (relaxy bit) at the end and I nearly fell asleep.

I did a bit of grocery shopping on my way home, put the shopping away and had lunch with Huffle. This afternoon, in between washing, drying and folding, I finished sewing my quilt. I'm am very pleased with it.

To give you an idea of size, this is laid out on a King(UK) /Queen (CAN) bed.

Smallest came home by himself and put his clothes away and played on the IPad until his piano lesson. He is working on his recital piano piece Largo (for those not familiar this is the Hovis Advert), though he might change it for another pierce as he ip doesn't like Largo. After dinner we took Smallest to Beavers where he made a drum and then joined the Cubs and Scouts for a drumming session. Huffle and I walked through the village and up a long lane, uphill and down for an hour before picking him up again.

It didn't snow during the night but the temperature was -13* (without windchill) this morning and got to about -9* in the afternoon. We have a week of sun, rain and snow forecast with highest temperatures of 8* and lowest of -11*. I'm a bit fed up with it all now and wish we could just have a nice warming Spring.

 

Sunday 22 March 2015

Don't say swears!*

.....and it snowed again. All of the drive and the road was covered. Luckily the sun was warm so most of it was melting by midday. You can tell its Spring though because MrBasement arrived this morning with his sandals on! He still had his big coat on and socks but it's a start! He brought with him some samples of flooring and I think we have decided already which one we want for the bathrooms. He has also given us a contact for granite so we can go and look. However, we have no estimates for anything as of yet and Huffle was insistent we had them before agreeing on any work.

Our front garden - nearly there!

Small finished his 'away' packing and the boys actually started a game of Monopoly by themselves (this is progress) but we stopped it in order to go out for dinner which caused an argument somehow.

Tree Shadows on the chimney

After a nice dinner out, we went to the indoor market and had a look around. Smallest bought himself a wrestler that wasn't the one he thought it was but he likes it anyway. We looked at lots of different granites and picked up some cards for contacts. Not sure why, but all the granite companies seem to be Chinese run.

When we came home, we walked in the village for a while and Smallest scooted. The boys finished off their Monopoly game but the putting away of the game caused an argument!!

Tired little legs (he's there somewhere).

 

 

*comment from Smallest whilst talking about the wrestling. It is supposed to be for 12+ ages but Smallest says it doesn't matter because they don't say swears. Well that's okay then!


Saturday 21 March 2015

Airing our dirty laundry.

After writing yesterday that our snow was almost gone, we woke up to another 1" snow. C'mon, where did that come from? Then I checked the weather forecast for the day. Rain until 10am, high winds until 5pm, Sun 6pm, Sunset at 7:30pm. Ridiculous. What a crazy country for weather!!

I asked Small to finish packing for his school trip, Smallest helped him. All his clothes had been stuffed into his bag. Not folded as I asked but stuffed. What a ragamuffin! He didn't understand why he needed to fold his clothes if he was living in a forest for two days possibly getting muddy. After they finished with his packing, they played on gadgets and watched the football with Huffle. Unfortunately both Leicester and Stoke lost today BOOOO! I did some sewing.

We had lunch and played hide and seek. Our favourite hiding place was Smallest in our laundry basket.

I can't believe I am showing you a photo of our dirty washing! But it was funny and Small only found him because he made a noise.

We played Ticket to Ride, S'quarrels and Stack 'me up. While Huffle and I prepared dinner (a roast chicken dinner with a cheese and onion pie for non-chicken eaters) the boys did a chor each and then played on the wii. We Facetimed Moo while we were cooking and thought we were doing really well until we were about to put dinner on the table and Huffle realised we hadn't done any potatoes. We quickly peeled and chopped some very small ones and chucked them on the oven. Disaster averted, dinner later than normal, all was well.

After dinner we watched the end of Star Wars. (It was the one where they kiss eeeeeek, the boys hid their faces - Smallest informs us that every single film has someone kissing in it. That's disgusting ha!)

The sun did come out (before 6pm) and melted most of our new snow and some of our old and then it snowed again in the evening!!!!

 

 

 

Friday 20 March 2015

Frozen Forehead*

Huffle went in to the office today for various meetings and the boys and I went to Suffolks for the day.

The three boys played on the wii, the girls played various games and Suffolk and I did a bit of sewing for our $10 quilting squares which is due a week tomorrow.

After lunch the kids played football outside and played various board games. It's nice how well they all play together. They even went out for a walk around the block together without us.

We had a lovely day and finally left around 5pm, hoping that our bread machine had our pizza dough ready for us to use for dinner. Huffle was home before us and the dough had failed to mix. What is wrong with that silly machine? Due to it being late and none of us wanting to cook, Huffle picked up pizza for us which we ate whilst watching a bit more of Star Wars. We didn't manage to finish it before Smallest went to bed.

It was 7* all day with bright sunshine again and it was quite warm. I do believe it is Spring today. Hurrah.

Apart from the odd bit of ice and the piles of snow from clearing the drive, we are almost snow-less.

 

*Small put some gel in his hair. It was called Freeze Gel. A bit that went on his forehead made his head freeze, he said. Small also gelled Smallest's hair and we thought it looked very funky but he didn't like it.

Thursday 19 March 2015

Are you my family?

A beautiful sunshiny day even though it was only 2*. The snow is melting more and more and our garden is starting to emerge bit by bit.

Our morning was spent sorting out Small's going away stuff for school on Monday. He is going to stay in the local forest with his class for two nights. Smallest and I printed off some photos for smallest to take to school, as part of his homework was to share something from the March Break. He chose the chickadees feeding and our nature walk. The kids and I played a game of Mouse Trap which had to be abondoned due to arguing. After a considerable amount of time by themselves in their rooms, we packed up a lunch (which we ate in the car) and drove to the cinema 40 minutes away. They were doing a bargain $2 showing of Annie (2014) and Penguins of Madagascar. I am still working on them to go and see Annie as I haven't seen it and I want to. I also want to see Cinderella but I can't see that happening.

We watched Penguins of Madagascar in a huge room with not many people which was nice considering there were boys running up and down the stairs and toddlers sqealing. Still you can't complain for $2. The boys loved the film but I nearly fell asleep.

After the film finished, we went to the supermarket to pick some warm pyjamas for Small for his trip and then came home where we finished the Mouse Trap game and I made dinner. We dug the basketball net out of the snow and ice and the boys played for a while on the drive. They cleaned a bathroom each to earn IPad playing and sat in Smallest's room until dinner.

Today we had Butter Chicken, Lentil Dahl (which was my best so far), rice and naan. The kids finished off with ice-cream to cool them down. After dinner we all played Mario Kart.

 

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Grandad's under the thumb*

Thank you Grandma for spotting I hadn't posted this as usual. I stupidly posted it as a page instead of a post. Silly Billy.

WEDNESDAY 18th MARCH

Our sun room (we can call it that again now the sun shines more than the snow falls) was a fabulous 15* today, though outside it was simply -1*. The sun shone all day.

We managed to FaceTime Grandma and Grandad (somehow wherever Grandma sits, she always has her thumb over the camera)*

We also FaceTimed Moo and had a chat. The boys and I cleared up and tidied the Sun Room and then they played on their gadgets until lunchtime.

During lunch, Small's friend Log came to play. Smallest and I went shopping for food and when we got back the three boys played on the wii until Log went home.

This afternoon the boys played together (under duress), built a den with blankets and cushions, played on the swing outside and watched TV. They do find it very difficult to do anything with us playing with them. I love it when we play games together, but I can't do it all day every day.

I managed to get a very small amount of sewing in and then made dinner. After dinner we all played Al Hambra and Small won. We finished the evening off by watching a bit of Star Wars The Clone Wars.

 

 

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Planky things eh?

After a terrible nights sleep (possibly only half a night) and rainfall all through the night, I left Huffle and the kids and went off to work with strict instructions to be quiet and good (more to the boys not Huffle). On the way (which isn't far) there was a huge snow and wind storm (some would say a blizzard). Luckily it didn't last long and after an hour in the greenhouse, it was baking hot and we had to have the door open. It wasn't warm outside though at all though we didn't need coats.

Today I repotted over 500 Heliopsis Heleanthoides (a yellow daisy) for the Portlands which is a piece of land in Torornto where it has nuclear waste in so nothing can be built there. They are replanting wild flowers over it. MrsM had brought Hobnobs from the British shop for me to have with coffee and she sent some honey straws home for the boys, plus the end of the hobnobs that we hadn't eaten. I rang home to check everything was in order and actually went home just after 12 midday.

We all had lunch together and then I took the kids off to the gadget shop to buy Small a tablet. The one we bought at the weekend for Smallest's birthday was so good that Small counted his money and found he had enough to buy himself one. (The IPad which we gave him broke and refuses to charge). The tablet was 25% off plus an extra 10% because the box was open. Small was very pleased. He has decided he will wait until Smallest's birthday so that they get them at the same time.

We went in one other shop and got some petrol and stopped off at the Nature Walk again to release some energy. However, we didn't have any coats and it was very cold next to the lake so we didn't stay long. Just long enough to watch the ducks and take photos.

These (Above) are Smallest's photos.

At home the boys did a couple of small chores, played with their Lego and went on their gadgets (not their new ones yet).

This evening MrBasement came round to quote for a few small jobs we are thinking of doing in the house.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA FOR TODAY.