Play doh to be exact!! Annie Joy has discovered play dough in a big way just recently. We have just got back from toddler group & she spent most of her time playing with the play dough. They use 'my' play dough recipe (thanks Mum!) at toddler group & so does the school nursery! And so I thought I would share it with you all too in case you fancy giving it a go.
1 cup of water
1 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon of oil
Food colouring
Glitter (if you fancy sparkling play dough!)
Put all the ingredients in a pan & stir over a medium heat until it forms a dough. Knead it really well & either play with it straight away or keep it in an air tight box in the fridge. It last for ages & is great fun to use!!
PS Timmy & Annie Joy are actually playing with some shop bought play doh that Auntie Helen & Uncle Ian gave them at Easter. The children can often be seen at the kitchen table playing with play dough while I cook the tea. The extruder Timmy is playing with is affectionately called Mr Brick (Luke named him!) :o)
Superman (AKA Luke) & the rest of the Davies Tribe went exploring Otterspool woods yesterday. Luke had fun flying down the hills. Shortly after I took this photo he fell over & hurt 'his little thumb' so he said. He meant his little finger! The sunshine & blue skies were amazing late in the afternoon. Luke & Timmy loved all the blossom petals lying on the grass. They call it snow & it makes them very excited when it blows about in the breeze! Luke was very concerned about this blossom & asked that I carry it until we got home because he didn't want it to die. We put it in a little vase of water & it's sitting in our kitchen now. (Can't help but think how old my hands are looking these days!!) Annie Joy loved exploring the woods. We had a hard job keeping her on the level paths. She kept wandering into patches of brambles & trying to negotiate steep hills! Jordan did a good job of looking after her & making sure she was safe. Timmy had fun throwing leaves up into the air & the like. He's a cheeky little monkey isn't he?
The boys wanted to see what was at the top of these steps. Annie wasn't going to be left behind so off she toddled too!
It took her a while but eventually she reached the top! :o) It was a good walk. We are very lucky to live in such a green city with lots of exciting places to explore. Well, time to go! The boys are playing out with some of the other boys from the street at the moment. They've just stopped to have an ice lolly. Suddenly it's very quiet out there......!!!! Oh yes! We have new neighbours now. they moved in on Friday. They seem very nice (& quiet!). Have a great Sunday afternoon everyone! ;o)
Lovely loo roll birds that the boys made a while back. Cute aren't they? My mum wanted to see what they looked like so she can make them with a local toddler group. I did e-mail her the photo but my e-mails to her seem to have gone missing or take 2 days to reach her (what is that about?!) so I shall post it on here! Ta da! ;O)
What lovely sunny weather we've been having lately! Perfect weather for a trip to the beach. So off we went to Formby on Saturday for a picnic & some summery fun in the sand & sea! This was Annie Joy's first real beach experience out of the pram & she loved it! (This photo shows you a 'typical' Annie face!) As usual, sand castles were made, holes were dug & bucketfuls of sea water collected in a vain attempt to fill castle moats. Sadly, the orange bucket is now no longer with us as someone stole it while we were trying to get rather a lot of sand out of Luke's eye which was a little bit traumatic! No long term damage sustain thankfully! Timmy loves running through the sea puddles at break neck speed! Trousers were abandoned shortly after this photo was taken!
And Annie enjoyed paddling once she got used to the idea of her bare feet touching the sand. When we first took her shoes & socks off she sat with her feet up in the air so they didn't touch the sand & every time she put them down onto the sand again she squealed & wriggled her toes & lifted her feet up again as quick as a flash! It was really funny!
Isn't Luke gorgeous?
Little Annie toddling towards her Daddy, her brothers & Formby's wonderful sand dunes. I love the sense of freedom & spaciousness that there is at the beach.
Lee dug a hole in the sand. Jordan asked him how far the hole would go. Lee said 'All the way to Australia'. Jordan thought that was very funny! And then Timmy wanted to be buried in the hole which he thought was even funnier!
Ice creams on the sand dunes. Every trip to the beach MUST have ice cream whatever the weather (except for last time we went apparently... Timmy told me that I said they couldn't have an ice cream because it was too near tea time. I don't remember though!)
The boys loved playing in the dunes. It did look like good fun!
Before we headed back to Liverpool we went for a walk around the Red Squirrel reserve. Timmy found a lovely 'deck chair' to sit in & rest his weary feet. This is my favourite picture of Timmy ever I think.
The bluebells were out in the woods & looking spectacular!
Sadly, due to the Squirrel Pox, this was the only red squirrel we saw in the trees during our walk. He was a cute one though! We loved him so much we brought him home with us! ;o)
Annie missed most of the walk as she was so tired from playing on the beach. Jordan enjoyed pushing her pram around the woodland. He's a great big brother!
.... that I must really love doing the washing because I do it ALL the time!! This is what our laundry room looks like tonight- two piles of folded clean washing line dried clothes ready to go upstairs, a pile of wet washing ready for the tumble drier & one pile of slightly damp washing that I just took off the line... (I couldn't keep up with my laundry routine over the holidays so I got a bit behind with it all!) I think Jordan might be right though; I do quite like doing the washing! Time for bed now though! Sweet dreams everyone!
This week the boys have been going to a Holiday Bible Club at a local church. It's had a Super hero theme looking at various bible heroes such as Gideon & Samson. The boys have had so much fun there! The kids were divided into four teams called Crash, Bang, Wallop & Kapow. The boys were all in the green 'Wallop' team. Today was the last day & everyone went dressed up as a super hero either a made up one, a famous one or a bible hero. Lee is there tonight with the boys for the final session- a family fun evening! Timmy wanted to go as Bananaman as we recently introduced them to the 80s cartoon series that Lee & I both loved so much as children. (Bananaman is a very close second to my favourite super hero Superman!). I had fun (ahem!) making the cape & sewing it by hand late last night. Timmy was disappointed that there were no banana peel boots but with a flash of last minute inspiration just before we left for the church I remembered the yellow rubber gloves hiding in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. Banana peel gloves more than made up for the lack of boots & I have to say I was quite impressed with the finished result! Jordan went as Super Ted (another of my favourite super heroes). I was glad to get some more use out of the ears I made for World Book Day (see here) & Jordan was excited to have his face painted again! I ran out of time to sew on Super Ted's belt & buckle & the white trim on the cape though. Another time perhaps? By the way, I had never made a cape before yesterday & now I have made two (Luke was one he made at his friend's super hero party in September. It has the letter L on the back)! Jordan came second in the best costume competition (not bad out of 100 or so kids eh?) & the Wallop team won best dressed up team which Timmy said was down to the fact that he was dressed as Bananaman! ;o) Luke is a boy after my own heart & LOVES anything Superman/Supergirl so of course he had to go as Superman. He loved the Superman logo I made out of felt. He calls it Superman's Double S. He told me at tea time that he wants to wear his costume forever! I was so proud of my three super heroes as I drove them over to the holiday club. It was really quite exciting to look in the rear view mirror of the car & see Bananaman, Super Ted & Superman looking back at me!! LOL!
Which brings me to my favourite song of the moment called Jesus You're My Super Hero. We have the album on CD in the car & we all love listening to it. (If you'd like to see the real people singing it you can find it here). Hope you enjoy watching it!
Happy Easter everyone! Did you have a good weekend? We did & now we are all well & truly exhausted! We went to our church on Easter Day & had a great time with worship lead by our church's very own gospel choir Sanctified. The boys really enjoyed their activities & the hot cross buns afterwards :o). It was good to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. After church we drove over to my parents house to spend the day with them & Helen & Ian AND..... .... their new puppy Putney!! None of us knew they even had a puppy! He was very popular with the children & they loved playing with him. He is 11 weeks old. Aaaah!
In the afternoon we had an egg hunt in the back garden. It was Annie-Joy's first egg hunt & she loved it! She was quite happy wandering around the garden with one plastic egg & her little yellow bucket! She wasn't too keen when Putney ran off with her Easter bunny in his mouth though!
There was a tiny toy bunny for each child hiding in the garden. Jordan LOVED climbing the tree to find his bunny. All the bunnies had to climb the tree after that! Timmy spent ages making his yellow bunny (now named Jay Bunny) jump from the tree! It was good fun. The boys loved opening the Resurrection Eggs & retelling the Easter story together too (to find out more see this blog entry). They remembered it all so well & sat beautifully together while we opened all twelve eggs. They really liked eating the chocolate too!
After tea Jordan, Ian, Lee, Annie-Joy & my Dad had a game of Piggy in the Middle. It was a good laugh! Jordan is very good at doing headers with the ball too! At 6:30pm we made our way back to Liverpool leaving Timmy behind to have a little holiday with Grandma & Grandad. We miss him but he is having a lot of fun swimming & being spoilt.
Today we spent the day at Delamere Forest. We explored new paths, much to Luke's annoyance at first- he wanted to walk the usual way but then we found the train track & he was happy again! We had a lovely picnic in a secluded spot & wandered 'for hours' through the trees past Blackwater Pond & back to the car park for a snack & a drink. We bumped into some friends while we were there too. We always see someone we know when we go to Delamere which is pretty amazing! Jordan asked if we know everyone there! We are all very tired but happy after all that fresh air & fun! Hope you had a good time this Easter. Look forward to hearing all about it soon! Now I am off for a cuppa & a good night's sleep! Sweet dreams! ;o)
PS You can click on the pictures too see them bigger if you like! :o)
We've been doing a spot of gardening this holiday! I dug a new flower bed in our back garden with the help of the children. they loved getting the weeds out & putting them in the green recycling bin. I planted a few plants in the bed today along with a small tree that had decided to grow under our house wall. It took a while to dig that up but I thought it really was time for it to be moved in case it damaged our home! We spent all morning in the back garden enjoying the sunshine, playing with snails & sand, pegging out washing & playing football. It is lovely & quiet in our row of houses at the moment as the noisy neighbours moved out last week & the neighbours the other side are away on holiday. It's like living in a detached house again! Thought you might like to see the chalk drawings the boys often do on our front driveway. This lot is from February half term I think. there are parking spaces, roundabouts, box junctions, traffic lights & train tracks! All good fun!
A few weeks ago Annie Joy & I were out doing the weekly food shop when we came across the real FA Cup in Asda by the top of the travelator! It was there to help raise money for Tommy's Charity. It was really quite exciting to touch such a famous trophy! Annie was quite taken with it. Did you know it is insured for £3 million?!
We've been baking again! :D The boys gave Easter biscuits to their teachers at the end of term last week. We used a recipe that I did in cookery class at school way back in 1988. (Why we were making Easter Biscuits in May I have no idea!!). I added half a teaspoon of mixed spice to the recipe to make it a bit more Easter-y & I left out the salt. It's a very easy recipe; cream the butter & sugar together & then add the egg yolk & mix well. Add all the dry ingredients along with 1-2 tablespoons of milk to make into a soft dough. Leave to firm up a little in the fridge. Knead lightly then roll out to 0.5cm thick & cut into rounds. Bake on a tray in the oven at 150oC for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven & brush biscuits with the egg white & sprinkle with caster sugar & put back in the oven for another 10 minutes till golden brown. Yummy!
This is the Easter card that Jordan made for his teacher. He does love raiding my art & craft supplies to make cards. It's good to watch him delighting in creating mini master pieces for those he loves.
This week the boys made Easter Treats. We walked to the Post Office to post some letters & parcels & then did a massive circular walk to find somewhere that sold Mini Eggs! We eventually found some in the Co-op & came home after walking for an hour & a half!! It was fun. The boys 'drove' their toy cars along garden walls & fences as we walked. The making of the crispie treats wasn't plain sailing though... after 2 failed attempts at trying to make chewy crispies with chocolate, butter & syrup (!!!!) we decided to just make them with melted chocolate. They worked just fine then & the boys had fun mixing the chocolate with the rice crispies & putting them into paper cake cases...
... and putting 3 mini eggs into the nests all by themselves. The boys were very pleased with their efforts.
They look good don't they?
After the Easter Treats were put in the fridge to set the boys licked their bowls. Luke became my very own Bowl Headed Boy (if you watch Harry Hill's TV Burp you'll know what I mean!). This photo made Luke laugh a lot when he saw it! Well, time to go. I shall be back soon to post piccies from our holidays. Hope everyone who reads is well. Have a very Happy Easter & God bless you all!
Over the past month or so we've been on quite a few trips to parks & friends houses etc but I have been spectacularly good at forgetting to take my camera with me to record the occasions! Last week the boys had an Inset Day at school so a group of us who have children at the same school all went to the park by the National Wildflower Centre with the idea of spending a happy morning playing before having a picnic altogether. Well, in true British style, it was raining & howling a gale so the morning was cut rather shorter than planned & the picnic was eaten in the cafe! It was fun though & the boys loved playing with their friends. And as we are members of the Wildflower Centre we had a good play in there too. They love the giant beehive very much as you can see! Last Sunday after the morning service our church held an indoor picnic. Again, in true British style, the weather outside was GORGEOUS & warm & sunny!! Still, we had fun inside at the picnic with many of our friends.... ... and the boys had a whale of a time on the bouncy castle! Can you spot them?? After the picnic we went for a walk in Sefton Park (which is being renovated & is looking fabulous! Sorry no pix- left my camera in the car!!) to make the most of the beautiful weather. We were all exhausted but happy afterwards!! (Timmy said it was the best weekend EVER actually!) Recently we took our first visit to Speke Hall. It was fabulous! The boys enjoyed running around the gardens... ...and posing for photos. Annie Joy was less enamoured with the idea of me taking her photo however!! She does have quite a cute grumpy face though! Everyone enjoyed playing in the play area. Timmy really wanted to slide down the fireman's pole but it was really very high up & he was nervous to try it as you can probably tell by his face!
This was as far as he got. Maybe next time he'll manage to do it.
Annie Joy loved climbing the ladder up to the big slide (with Jordan's help. That's him in the top right hand corner of the photo).
She loved sliding down on Jordan's lap even more though! Look! She even waved for the photo! So all in all, we've had some fun adventures of late & now that the boys are on their Easter holidays, I am sure we'll be having some more very soon (if we're not too worn out!!). Hope all who read are well. Have a great weekend! :o)
Play doh to be exact!! Annie Joy has discovered play dough in a big way just recently. We have just got back from toddler group & she spent most of her time playing with the play dough. They use 'my' play dough recipe (thanks Mum!) at toddler group & so does the school nursery! And so I thought I would share it with you all too in case you fancy giving it a go.
Before we headed back to Liverpool we went for a walk around the Red Squirrel reserve. Timmy found a lovely 'deck chair' to sit in & rest his weary feet. This is my favourite picture of Timmy ever I think.
