A day of rest

I love Sundays. Today we joined good friends at the church they attend followed by picnic lunch to celebrate his 50 birthday. It was a real blessing and i love meeting up with friends less seen and catching up as well as new friends. It was an afternoon that refreshed my soul.
The boys played happily with our friends children and others. They played chase, and hide and seek, and Bean joined in some organised games. Pumpkin sat out of these watching from a shady spot. To be honest I feel like we've barely seen them today.
We had some great conversations in the car with Bean asking theological based questions and then swiftly moving on to the advertising picture for ice-cream. Made me smile.

Can we build it?

The day began with daddy and Bean going out to the men's breakfast at church. Pumpkin and I stayed at home and made our own special pancakes for breakfast. He really enjoyed the mixing and of course the eating.
We hosted a couple more smalls today, our God daughter and her brother, similar ages to Bean and Pumpkin. It intriged me how the introduction of two more adventurous brains turns the direction of a favourite toy. The cardboard boxes became a house and a boat with trailer but today they also had bear and a book for the journey and were selotaped together, all because there were extra smalls involved.
I was explaining to J that Bean loved to build things and as if he had heard me he set about building throughout the house, lego here, wooden blocks there, cardboard boxes in the garden, bricks in the doorway, bedding upstairs.
I had some 1:1 time with Pumpkin this morning. I went out to buy suncream recommended to be by fav auntie #1 and he opted to come with me. I let him sit in the front of the car and we had the window wide open and he choose the music. A very special time and we should try to do it more often.







Other highlights today included: painting the patio and toys, using a variety of brushes and mops, with water; Bean chalking a hop scotch on the floor complete with numbers 1, 2, 3 (he's never written numbers before); more paddling in the paddling pool; and a lot of sword fighting.

Time well spent

Sometimes so much happens in a day it's hard to know what to write about. 
Today was all activity, activity, activity. We went to Little Builder's with friends this morning, followed by a picnic and walk around Warnham Nature Reserve and returned home to make puppets. 
The Nature Reserve was the highlight of the day. Bean got to use his new binoculars and we took our bird book with us. He and Pumpkin spotted and identified 2 Herons, swans, Moor Hen, daddy and mummy duck, coot. We took a short stroll around but it was incredibly hot so we turned back and slowly made our way through the beautiful meadow.

Oh, I do Like to be Beside the Seaside

We started our day early and had bacon and eggs for breakfast. The boys mostly sat and listened to the new CD Bean ordered for his birthday whilst I packed a picnic and did the laundry before we headed off to the beach. They also spent some time playing around on Google maps as I had it on to get directions for today's adventures.


I love car journeys with my boys. Bean is full of chatter and questions. Today he wanted us to work out how we were going to share the jubilee cheesecake we are planning on making with the Queen and is most perplexed as to why people will be celebrating if we are not invited to Buckingham Palace, and who is invited? He also wanted to know the name of every village and town we drove through and who lives there. There were some real areas of beauty on our way to the beach as we have to drive over the south downs and on more than one occasion he exclaimed 'Wow' or 'that's pretty' or 'it's beautiful here.'


Today was definitely one of those days when you think there really is no need to holiday anywhere else, we have it all here. The beach was beautiful and sunny and cool. Our friends have the perfect spot, close to all the amenities, the sea, a shady play spot in the trees. It was perfect. The boys played in the sea for hours, although Pumpkin did express at the end of the day that he didn't like getting wet. They were far more courageous than they have ever been before: jumping over the coming waves; having races into the sea; sitting down with their backs to the sea and being pushed by the coming tide; Bean even went under at one point and it didn't phase him at all, he just laughed.


They also spent a long time playing in the enclosed small shady tree spot and I even spied some more climbing going on. There were a few attempts at sandcastles but the sand was too dry.


Plum refused to sleep all day, although she did dose off a couple of times as I was feeding her. One sleep was rudely interrupted after about 3 minutes as the wind blew the picnic bag on top of her. She finally gave in about 4pm and slept for about half an hour. She was perfectly happy most of the time but her demeanour changed for the better when I took her with me to the toilet block with Pumpkin. Maybe the combination of wind, sun and sand was a little over whelming for her.


The car journey home consisted of a massive game of I-spy. In which I  realised that Bean's understanding of initial sounds is progressing dramatically and Pumpkin still insists that every time it's his turn he spies 'something beginning with D' and it's always a dingo!


The only real downside was, even after three applications of factor 50 sun cream, I burnt my feet and legs. The boys were fine. 

Water Water Everywhere

0400: Feeding Plum who after 8 hours of sleep only had half a feed.

0600: Feeding Plum (other half of feed) Daddy got up and so did the boys. No wet beds today :)

0730: Had a nice lie in with Plum but as daddy left for work (half an hour later than usual) I had to get up to be with the boys.Helped Pumpkin with a puzzle and facilitated a few disagreements.

0800: shower and dressed myself; washed and dressed the boys; fed, washed and dressed Plum; Pumpkin helped me make porridge; made toast, brewed tea, milk in cups, phoned the doctor; got colouring pens and books out for Bean.

0900: shopping delivery arrived; ate breakfast; put freezer food in freezer; phoned friend K who was supposed to be having Bean and Plum for an hour this morning to cancel - no reply; text K; filled paddling pool with water using buckets (hose pipe ban); spoke to elderly neighbour over the fence; received tomato, cucumber and runner bean plants from neighbour over the fence; helped Pumpkin in the bathroom; put up tent to provide shade in the garden; put balls in the paddling pool; change boys into swim wear. Boys played at throwing the balls out of the pool and then taking in turns to go and fetch them.

1000: Settle Plum for a sleep; get boys two drinks to have on demand; no reply from K; text OA (K's husband); speak to OA on phone; K comes over for a cuppa; hang out yesterday's laundry; take down dry laundry; put cold food in the fridge (from earlier food delivery); get boys a snack; get towels from upstairs; dry off Bean and Pumpkin a few times; get cushions to go in the tent; Bean finds a pip in his apple and wants to plant it.

1100: Dry off Bean and Pumpkin a few more times; smell the peonies with Pumpkin (who has a rotten cold and can't smell anything); look at a spider's web with Bean; K plays ludo with Bean; Pumpkin disappears to play alone upstairs; feed Plum after an unusually long morning sleep (must have been the peace and quiet as the boys were outside); changed nappy.; cleared table from breakfast.

1200: Prepared lunch, sandwiches made by daddy plus a boiled egg each for the boys and some salad bits; ate lunch outside; put remainder of shopping into cupboards.

1300: Bean and Pumpkin came in from the heat and watched iplayer; played with Plum; tidied conservatory; put on laundry; replenished boys water bottles; settled Plum for a sleep upstairs; had a small feed.

1400: sat with Plum whilst she slept and had some quiet time; fed Plum.

1500: Put the kettle on; cleaned up wee from the sofa; changed Pumpkin; got snacks for the boys; put kettle on again; have glass of water; clean dinning table from breakfast; put remnants of food into bin/ compost; take laundry out of machine; play games on phone with boys; try to figure out how Pumpkin has enlarged on of the screens - give up; facilitate a few more incidents over the phone; take a video of Pumpkin playing 'boo' with Plum; take a video of Pumpkin playing the xylophone to Plum and singing her a 'paddling pool' song; Boys playing in and out of the house' lots of running around; Ludo box is wet ????? no-one owns up; put ludo box in airing cupboard to dry.

1600: start dinner (lasagne); Bean helps to make the cheese sauce; Bean gets naked and puts on flippers and snorkel to go in the paddling pool; Pumpkin follows suit asking for the 'slippers' and then when corrected says the 'flipons,' we all laugh; Pumpkin blows bubbles in the pool with the snorkel; Pumpkin pours his water bottle all over the coffee table and it runs onto the carpet; Pumpkin helps to clear up the deliberate spillage; Plum cries.

1700: Try to settle Plum for a sleep, not happening; put Plum in sling, she carries on crying; I wash up a days worth of plates etc; Chop some salad for dinner; Plum is still crying; put Plum down to get lasagne out of oven and on plates; Plum still crying; Put Plum back in sling; eat dinner outside, boys still naked; Pumpkin eats all the salad; Bean eats all the lasagne; ice-cream for pudding with hazelnuts; Boys help bring all the dishes in; Plum still crying.

1800: Boys watch iplayer; Go upstairs to find wee on the bathroom floor; clean floor; Plum and I bath; Plum stops crying; get out of the bath; Plum starts crying; dress Plum; Daddy arrives home (God be praised!) Plum smiles for daddy; feed Plum and put her to bed (why did I not think to try feeding her before... probably because she has got herself a nice little rhythm going on and it would have been unusual for her to want to feed now..but it is hot...silly me, must engage brain more) Daddy baths/ washes the boys and does teeth etc. Pumpkin screaming he wants to get out of the bath but won't let daddy do it; has to wait until I have settled Plum.

1900: Get Pumpkin out of bath and read him stories; daddy does stories and prayers with Bean; both want to say thank you for K and our neighbour. Daddy gets Bean some water; Pumpkin wants me to stay with him and cuddle; nip downstairs to let daddy know where his dinner is; pick up Pumpkin's bedtime toy; go and cuddle Pumpkin; come and sit with daddy and converse a while whilst daddy eats; receive phonecall from lovely friend.

2000: Begin tidy up operation. Daddy takes the garden I take the house; check emails; write blog; have tea and chocolate; daddy brings in laundry and hangs up today's lot.


1000: Hopefully bed.

 

Climb every mountain

This morning was just one of those mornings when everything had to come out of every cupboard and toy box but nothing was played with. I have yet to understand the need for this as a child behaviour but apparently it must be necessary. The photos do not do justice to the devastation that was every corner of our house.

We headed off mid morning to Arundel to join home ed friends and took a walk around Swanbourne lake. It was beautiful and perfect for Bean. Being with others really spurs him on to do things he often muses he wishes he could do but will look at and not do them. This is the case with climbing and I think having others do it in front of him enables him to see that it is possible and gives him the confidence to have a go. Every time I turned around he was climbing a new tree or roots or hill. Pumpkin even joined in for a while.

We also saw lots of wildlife. Pumpkin made me take a photo of one of the ducks so that we could 'find it in a book when we get home.' We found a dead rabbit which fascinated the boys, guts out and flies. Pumpkin and I spotted a coots nest with baby coots in it. I've never seen baby coots before, they have red heads, who would have thought? There was also a baby slow worm and a honey bee nest. 

Pumpkin sharing his ice lolly

The walk around the lake was followed by an ice-cream, a play in the play park and a non paddle in the river. Although others did go in for a paddle, we decided that it was too deep and stood and watched praying that they didn't slip and fall (they didn't.) Bean was really interested in the fact that the River Arun flows here as this is the same river that runs past our house. Must must must look it up on a map for him.

Pumpkin was getting tired and we left the group in the river. Bean decided that he was very tired and couldn't walk anymore. I couldn't really blame him as he had walked, climbed, run for most of the day. He was also saying his arm hurt. A very unpleasant 55 minutes followed as we walked the 1/4 mile to the car along a road with no path. We had to stop three times just to wait for Bean to stop crying and shouting and walk with us again. He out rightly refused to move even when our friends caught up with us and offered to walk with him. It was helped a little however when I remembered that I had a snickers bar in the bottom of my bag (peanuts for energy) and a bottle of water and finally Pumpkin let Bean jump in the buggy whilst he walked a little. It was a real test of my patience but I honestly had no other options and as much as I felt like screaming and shouting at him I knew it would only make things worse. Lots of deep breathing, counting to ten and admiring the beautiful setting that we were in. (This was the mountain that I had to climb today!) Fortunately Plum was asleep at this point. I later discovered an enormous bruise on his arm as he made me inspect it when he was in the bath and it was still hurting. It's got a bit of a bump to it too.

For a hot day Plum had very little feeds and very infrequently until we got home and then she had two huge feeds within an hour of each other. Plum and I shared a bath tonight, which was lovely and our bed time rhythm was slightly disrupted by Plum's late afternoon marathon sleep and Bean's sleep on the journey home.

Three in One

 Saturday, Sunday and Monday

• A trip to the Capitol Theatre to watch Charlie and Lola (a birthday present for Bean) Bean sat on daddy's lap and laughed and laughed. Pumpkin sat in between daddy and mummy and put his head on his knees when the ogre came and covered his ears, he out right refused to have a cuddle or sit on anyone's lap.
  
• Daddy was busy in the afternoon clearing the old fence panels from our garden so we took a trip to the local park. They were probably a little too tired for this, as was I but Bean enjoyed sunbathing and Pumpkin took to the swings as always. Plum slept.

 

• A trip to church on Sunday morning where some new friends joined us. I went up to Sunday school with the boys taking Plum with me. For some reason Pumpkin was being very clingy this morning so I thought it best, also SGG was taking the group and had an obviously sore throat plus the addition of our friends,the arrangement worked out well all round.  Followed by the BBQ and then thanksgiving service for Gerald. The boys largely enjoyed the freedom to play with their church friends.
  
• A nap for me when we got home and then back to church for the evening service with Plum.
  
• Bean requested the photo above so he could rebuild the next day as it had to be put away over night.

• And lastly the request of hot chocolate on returning from our Monday outings to Little Verse and Gymnastics. The first sunny and warm day we've had in two months , Bean took his t-shirt off at the park. We also had time to play in the park and met with new mum H and baby F.
  
• Secretly wishing Plum would sleep just a few hours more at night but also knowing that it won't last forever. 

It's adventurous

Early rise for us this morning. Consequently felt slightly lost when I found it was only 8.15 and we had been busy for well over an hour. The boys played in the garden before breakfast and after we played lotto together. Bean and Pumpkin made a cosy spot to read some books and lego land came out to play for the third day running. Elements of this ran smoothly but I was not feeling very perky even after two cups of tea, porridge and a shower, I rather suspected today was going to be fraut mostly due to my tiredness. Oh, how wrong could I be?

We took a trip to Nyman Gardens. Beautiful, stunning, fabulous, wow, amazing, fantastic, were just some of the words the boys used to describe the place. Awe and wonder were abound at the gardens, trees, and flowers, as well as the building and views. The ruins of the house are perfectly fairytale like currently ridden with wysteria. The grounds that we got to explore had everything from rhododendron to rose garden, magnolia and camelia, cedar tree, rock garden and we missed most of the grounds! The building was mostly ruin and one member of staff took time to tell the story of how it happened which Pumpkin went on to recount to me perfectly. She wasn't the only friendly member of staff there, in fact we didn't find one who wasn't pleased to see us all. The house had a quiz designed for the children which took us three trips around but we did it with a little help and a few pointers. It was perfect for the boys and they loved there clipboards and pencils. Pumpkin enjoyed the game of 'where's foxy?' most of all. They regularly move foxy around the house for the children to try and spot...brilliant!  

The rain was quite persistant by now so we went to the tent on the lawn where they had activities for their 'Gothic week.' The boys coloured some pictures whilst I fed Plum and then we made Grotesques out of clay. Both Bean and Pumpkin were particularly taken by the fountains and I remembered their interest in the fountain at Fisher's Farm last week, constantly going back for another look. As we left, Pumpkin and Plum both asleep. Bean said, 'that was a brilliant trip out' and it reminded me of the end of episodes Abney and Teal when they say, 'that was an adventure.' We will be adventuring here some more no doubt.