A surprise new table for the girls

We had a surprise knock on the door today, it was our neighbour with a set of children's table and chairs. His grandchildren had outgrown them, so he offered them to my girls, who jumped at them. They now have a new favourite thing! They are very cute, with pencils for legs (and to be honest, I had the exact same ones on my Amazon wish list).

I found a little spot for them under the stairs and the girls got straight to work painting (the mess in the background is our overflowing craft box!) Princess has asked if they can eat their dinner at the new table tomorrow!

I'm going to set Princess up with a box of writing practice sheets so she can sit at her new table and practice her letters (hopefully this will encourage her to practice!) I was planning on doing this anyway, and it's funny how a spontaneous knock on the door has provided the perfect place to do it.

I think a thank you card is called for!

A walk in the woods

The sun was shining and Grapie and I went for a little walk in the woods the other day. Well, not the woods exactly but a little copse close to our house. We were on our way back from dropping princess off at preschool, and Grapie was in a good mood (she's usually ready for her nap when we get back, thanks to getting up sooooooo early!)

We are very lucky to have a lovely green area so close to our house but it's been so boggy recently that it's been impossible to go in with the buggy. It's dried out a bit now so I took the opportunity to show Grapie some nature.

She loved being free to explore and touch things. We talked about how things felt and Grapie learnt lots of new words, like rough and hard, and it was lovely to have some quality one on one time with her, as often, even though she is with me all the time, we spend our time rushing from one thing to the next before it's time to pick Princess up again! 

It was short and sweet and simple but we had a really lovely time!

Fun in the sun

The rain has finally stopped and the sun made an appearance this weekend. It was the perfect time to get out in the garden and reclaim our outsise space after the winter. To be honest, we have hardly ventured out in the garden for months, our grass was so muddy and boggy and slippery that it was easier to go to the park for our outside time.

But this weekend the sun was shining, the birds were singing and we started getting the garden ready for play. We cleared the trampoline of leaves and puddles, so the girls could have a good jump. Princess had forgotten how much she loved the trampoline, she jumps on her bed every day but after going on the trampoline, she said to me later, "mummy, my bed isn't very bouncy, is it?"

We cut the grass so it can start to dry up quicker, and cleaned out the sandpit, ready for some fresh sand. This year, I would love to get a water table for the girls to play with out there. Also this summer I want to build some raised beds to plant vegetables in, so we can grass over our abandoned vegetable patch that has become one big raspberry bush! 

Its amazing what a difference a bit of bright weather makes, let's hope the rain holds off for a little bit longer so we can have some more fun! 

Word of the week, outdoors

My word of the week is:

Outdoors

We have been making the most of the better weather this week and have been spending time in the garden, getting it cleared up and ready to use properly again, cutting the grass, cleaning the trampoline and enjoying playing outside. We also discovered the unloved, unused trike in the garden and after cleaning it up, Grapie has claimed it for her own. Her new favourite word is "bike" and she loves her new form of transport!

Monster spray

Princess has stopped sleeping well at night. She says she is scared of monsters. At the moment she is waking up scared around twice a night, on top of the several times a night that Grapie is up, so basically I will give anything a go to get a better night's sleep.

I came across the idea of monster spray on Pintrest, the idea is that Princess will spray her room before bed to prevent any monsters getting in. I'm slightly torn on this idea as part of me feels that this might be agreeing with her that monsters actually do exist. But on the other hand telling her that monsters aren't real isn't working, so if this gives her the confidence to feel comfortable at night then, in the words of Postman Pat, mission accomplished!

It was really simple to make. I used an empty spray bottle, filled it with water, and added a tiny drop of pink food colouring to make it slightly pink tinted. I also added about 10 drops of lavender essential oil, in the hope that it might also be relaxing. A good shake and it was ready.

I found a fantastic printable label over at Easypeasygrandma, she has also made some really cute bedtime monsters. Once that was stuck on, I put it in a box and told Princess that the postman had delivered it!

She carefully sprayed her room before bed tonight, we did the door, window and the ceiling (apparently this is were the monsters are!) So hopefully this will keep the monsters away tonight.

Mummy Time - Avacado hair mask

This weekend I made something a little different, something just for myself. Everyone else was having a nap, so I had a little mummy time and made myself this Avocado hair mask.

You need:
A very ripe avocado
A tablespoon of honey


Mash the avocado really well. I mashed mine with a fork then pressed any extra lumps out with a spoon but if the children weren't asleep I would probably have used the blender. Mix in a tablespoon of honey and spread it all over your hair. If you have any left over it can also be used as a face mask but I didn't try this.

Relax for about 15 minutes (or do what I did and put it on then spend 15 minutes folding washing, tidying toys and if your a blogger, trying to take a good photo!)

Then rinse off, and then shampoo and condition your hair as usual. I found my hair looked really shiny and felt lovely and soft afterwards.

Enjoy.

Pompom Blowing Race

It was after dinner. Princess wanted the telly on. I didn't. So we came up with a game which soon took her mind right off it. It was so simple, involving a straw and a craft pompom, but both girls loved it. Pompom racing. We started with a pompom each and a straw each.  The finish line was the kitchen door. We had to move our pompom by blowing it with the straw and the first to cross the finish line was the winner.

Princess is very competitive, so really enjoyed this, and wanted to do it over and over again she kept coming up with different obstacles for the pompom to go through, such as toilet rolls, her rollerskate, tunnels made out of books and lots of others. Grapie didn't quite get the hang of it, although she can blow through a straw when it involves making bubbles in her drink! But she enjoyed watching too.

When we had finished, I gave Princess a winners medal which she loved.

And the telly stayed off. Which I loved. Simple, fun, perfect.