Planting sunshine on a cloudy day!

I love Daffoddils, the sign of spring and happy little flowers that are as yellow as the sun, and dance in the breeze.  I can never resist the urge to buy them when they arrive in supermarkets, but have never grown them.  A while back I bought a bag of Daffodil bulbs and have been waiting for a non rainy day to get the children outside to plant them, and today was the day.  It was a bit chilly outside and the sun was covered with the mist from the valley.  So I wrapped them up pretty well, and the ground was wet so I sat Alyssa on a bin bag as we don't have an all in one suit for her yet.  Arthur loves playing with mud and digging so soon got stuck straight in, Alyssa has never played with mud before and I was a little cautious as I thought she would eat it, but she just tried imitating her brother until she got bored as she can't do very much!

I placed to plant pots by the fence so they can be seen from the front room window as Arthur was very interested in watching the Daffodils grow, It's hard to explain to a toddler that they wont grow straight away, but I am excited to see his face when shoots start to appear so he can watch them change and grow, I can't wait for Spring when the heads appear and brighten the garden up announcing the arrival of the warmer weather.  I now need to look into getting more plant pots and other flowers to make our very plain and boring garden a bit more interesting, I also need to weed the garden badly, but that's for another day when it is a little warmer. 

We needed to warm up a little bit when we got in, so we did it the best way possible, with hot chocolate and marshmallows and some yummy home made banana bread. All whilst resisting the urge to put on a Christmas movies, something about Hot Chocolate and Christmas films seems to go together, especially 'Polar express' which is one of my favourites, I'm starting to get excited for Alyssa's first Christmas, and Arthur is starting to recognise Father Christmas so this year will be more magical than previous ones!

What's this??

Digging

Ready for some sun!

Scrummy hot chocolate!

Banana Bread and Yoga!

We had some bananas that were a little on the soft side and I had recently read a blog about Healthy banana bread, so today was all about Arthur having fun in the kitchen.  The fact that I had literally only just finished cleaning it and all the dishes or course, meant that mess needed to be made, as no room EVER stays clean and tidy when you have children.

I decided to try and involve Alyssa a little bit more than just the usual watching as well, so I put a bit of flour in the saucepan that stays in the play pen, and gave her a spoon so she could play.  The recipe I used was weighed out in cups and spoons so was a lot easier to do with Arthur as he doesn't really understand the scales, but could easily count out the cups.  he had great fun peeling the banana too and squishing it with a fork, and occasionally his hands!

Whilst we were waiting for the bread to cook in the oven, I decided to keep Arthur amused with some exercise in the form of some Kids Yoga Poses.  He has seen me practice Yoga a couple of times and tries to join in with the 'loga' on his 'mat' (a folded blanket!)  he had great fun looking at the pictures and saying, 'Me do that one!' hold it for less than a second before rushing off to look up a new one.  It will take a long time for him to start being calm and pose properly, but he is enjoying himself and exercising and that is all that matters for the minute!

scooping

Exploring

Peeling

Mixing

Star pose

Tree pose

Alyssa joining in!

The bread

mmmm!

Yummmy!

Poppy making for Gran Nan!

It has been a tough few day here recently, with me being worn out with a cold virus and the little ones being a bit off too, we have had to endure snuggles on the sofa watching Christmas films, and a day of free play involving Arthur colouring from his multiple magazines from nana, and  'making' me cups of tea and food from the kitchen in his castle all day.

Today however I managed to get my act together and make up a little activity for Arthur revolving around Armistice day.  I cut a basic poppy shape out of a paper plate and gave him his crayons to colour it in, then I gave him a little pot of Poppy seeds to glue onto the centre.  That was great for his concentration and his pincer grip and made a lovely piece to give to Gran Nan (My grandma) 

After a morning of that and marching around the front room with his helmet (a saucepan!) on his head, it was then time to visit Gran Nan so she could show him pictures of World War Two planes and tanks and things and talk about her time in the War a little bit, it was so cute hearing him learning words like spitfire and marching to Gran Nans orders of 'about turn' and 'at ease.'

Colouring....

Sprinkling....

All finished!

Marching

Cuddles with Gran Nan

 

Fireworks painting and edible sparklers!

Whilst Arthur was at nursery this morning, Alyssa and I had some fun with sofa cushions giving her a mini work out.  Her crawling is going really well, and she has almost mastered walking holding on with just one hand, I also caught her climbing the stairs today whilst putting on Arthur's coat to go out.  So as a bit of practice to strengthen her muscles I laid out the sofa cushions in various ways to giver her a work out. 

Once we picked Arthur up we headed to the field to weed the tunnel house and separate some more of the strawberry plants, we have over thirty plants that have self rooted from the original plants. I cant wait till the summer when we get to eat them all.  The cauliflowers are also growing nicely, however we will have to replant the cabbages as snails have eaten them.

Once home Arthur painted some fireworks using pipe cleaners instead of paintbrushes to get in the spirit of the day.  I feel bad that we didn't buy any fireworks for Alyssa's first firework night due to the rain and daddy not being home till after they go to bed tonight.   Previous nights we have had barbeques in the garden whilst daddy and granddad set them off.  But I still tried to make it a little bit more of a day with the painting, and we had 'Bangers and Mash' for tea, followed by edible sparklers, basically bread sticks, melted chocolate spread and sprinkles for a make your own dessert which was great fun for everyone.

After dinner and bath, we were lucky enough to catch some fireworks outside the bedroom window, so after a cuddle on the bed watching them in the warm, they both went to bed with the curtains open to look out for more.  It was such a cute moment watching him waiting for more, he enjoyed making bang noises and telling me all the colours whilst we cuddled, he was so tired in the end he was falling asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, but still wanted the curtains open.

Stair practice

Tunnel fun

Up...

and down

rolling off!

pipe cleaner printing

OOOHHHH! More bonfire than fireworks but pretty!

Sparkler!!

MMMMMMM! YUMMY!!!

 

A Guy for Bonfire night!

I thought for bonfire night we would have a go at traditional Guy making.  I was a little unsure as to how Arthur would react, I thought he might be a little scared of it once it was made, but both of them seemed to like it. 

The two of them had great fun scrunching up and playing with the newspaper, waving in around, crawling all over it and squealing with delight.  I used one of Alyssa's sleepsuits as the base of the body and Arthur helped me stuff, whilst Alyssa waved the paper around. We then dressed the Guy in some old clothes and a little hat.  I decided to get some colouring involved in the activity, so I quickly drew a face for the guy on a paper plate and let Arthur colour it in.  He loved playing with the guy almost like another teddy, he kept calling him guide though bless, and he had pride of place in the arm chair watching the rest of the days fun.  Unfortunately we are not having a bonfire, so luckily this guy wont get burnt, we probably won't have fire works either as the rain is so bad, I guess we will just have to make them!

Scrunching..

Playing..

Waving..

Colouring..

Hello Guy!

My new friend..

Hello!

Milk bottle Elephants

With Diwali being tomorrow, I wanted today's activity to be an Indian themed one.  A long time ago I was told how to turn a milk bottle into an Elephant, and this seemed like a perfect time to finally give it a go.  It is really simple to do, and Arthur and Alyssa really enjoyed painting, however, the paint didn't stick to the plastic of the bottle very easily, I am wondering weather I should have coated it in glue or some thing first! But they enjoyed themselves and that is all that matters.  They still need the features drawn on and maybe some decorations, I will have to research the difference between Indian and African Elephants before drawing the features with permanent marker, I can never remember!  The other plus is the bottle cap makes a perfect 'seat' on the top for little toys to sit on, I can't wait for them to finished. 

Ordinary milk bottle

Can you see it yet?

painting away

Alyssa having a look!

'Am I doing it right?"

Almost done!

Look like an Elephant yet?

Day of the dead masks

I thought I would vary the Halloween theme ever so slightly today and do a day of the dead style mask with Arthur (and Alyssa!) I had recently seen lots of pictures on Pinterest and I thought they were interesting and bright and colourful.  And one of them showed how to make a mask using a paper plate, it looked quick and simple to achieve so I gave it a go.  Arthur and Alyssa both enjoyed using the crayons, except I soon had to move Alyssa away as she kept trying to eat them.

Cut ready to colour

Sharing the job of colouring

This is fun!

BOO!!

Ta dah!