Mothers' Day weekend

J's rugby match was called off on Saturday so we went for a family day out.  A drive to Brimham Rocks near Ripon.  Packed some home-made soup, hats and gloves and we were off.  Clambering about on all the different rock formations...brilliant...

Sunday was spent at home, pottering.  I did manage to drag everyone out for a walk after lunch (much dragging of heels and moans and groans)...

 Hiding coins in the money tree...

 Giddy up horsey...

 A game of 'off ground tig' with daddy...

 a tiny visitor along for the ride...

 And today, this afternoon...a frog in the garden, how lovely...

Nx

Rainy afternoon watercolour art

Our children love to create.  A few weeks ago I bought some watercolour paints and some watercolour pencils for them to experiment with.  This afternoon Ro asked to paint, I thought this was a good time to crack open the new paints...we poured some water into a couple of baking trays and lay a sheet of watercolour paper in each.  As we got all our supplies ready, I tried to explain to Ro that we were going to try wet-on-wet painting...he chose blue, I said perhaps we could paint the sky...

 I think it may have been a little too watered down, however we persevered...

 a little heavy handed with the brush to start with...

I tried, I really tried to stick to just blue, he was desperate for some yellow to paint the sun in his sky...

I think our first attempt at wet on wet painting worked out well.

I asked Ro if he would like to draw a picture with the pencils? Nope.  So I had a play!..

This is all new to me too so it was fun, I tried to draw, then dipped the pencils in water, then dipped my finger in the water to try and blend the colours...I had a great time!!

Meanwhile, Ro built the world! I can see how much he's learning...Where shall we start?The pink bit, he replies. That's Asia.  Oh that's where Jasmine's from.  He points, and that's Africa. Well remembered, where do we live? points to the UK...yeah.  At one point he picked up a piece of jigsaw and casually says Easter Island! Amazing, love him...Nx

Nature's playground

We went for a walk with friends after school on Friday.  Not too far, a 5 minute drive up the hill to the pinnacle...

My boy sat down in the now dead and very crunchy bracken to watch a tractor, muck spreading in the distance. You can just see the 'princess tower' at the top of the photo. It's actually called Lunds Tower...

He sat there a while, his friends joined him to tractor watch, while the girls watched a guy on his trial bike, daring him to ride over this rock, then another...

This ladybird has been living on our windowsill for a couple of weeks now, I knew as soon as I took a picture of it that would be it! Here he is, sat on the Angela Sprockets Pockets book next to a pile of neatly placed jenga...

A close up of the now ex-ladybird...he is living in a houseplant now (well he may be still alive)...

Today we planted some seeds...M planted lots and lots of wildflower seeds, Ro planted a whole packet of sunflower seeds in one pot...

 We also planted early peas, broad beans and leeks into cut up toilet rolls...

 Grow little seeds, grow...

I've been a right grump today, don't know what's up with me. Here's hoping for a better mood tomorrow, Night night...Nx

Snippets of my day in photos...

Feet on the table tut tut...

 Mixing carrot cake...

 Look at my shadow...

 Now I'm making a dinosaur...

 A bike ride to buy eggs, milk and to deliver a small gift...

 Noticing steps in a wall leading to the beck that we hadn't seen before...

 A trip to the park - ahh blue skies...

 Afternoon tea: a slice of carrot cake and a nice cup of lady grey...

Night night...Nx

My weekend of Montessori inspired maths, among other things...

The weekend starts on Friday afternoon (well it does in our house) with my favourite cake: lemon drizzle, made with my little helper...

 

Saturday morning: I positioned the fruit bowl in front of Ro and put 3 wooden number shapes in a pile next to it...just a little teaser for the almost 4 year old.  This was the result...perfect...

He loves all numbers, counting, clocks.  I want him to keep on loving numbers so started looking for games to play.  I'm very keen on the Montessori style of learning, so searched maths in that area.  I found the spindle box activity and this website was my inspiration to do it myself.  He got the idea, but soon got fed up (the sticks were too long), I will keep on trying with this one... 

M is struggling with maths, so we tried the cards and counters activity from this site (which is brilliant btw).  I loved this one and she seemed to understand the outcome...

 Sunday: A game of dominoes with M...  

 A quick game of jenga...

I made some Montessori inspired fraction shapes; a friend sent me a link to these but they were made from felt.  Mine are old t-shirts, some red velvet and an old pair of maternity cords! If nothing else, they feel nice...

I haven't introduced these to M yet (too soon) however, I have made a set for my friend...

Sunday morning: I woke to find M had been very busy making labels for her play area...

and making a very lovely (and very long) winding path of coins...she fascinates me with her creativity...

Sunday: While J and I were clearing out and spring cleaning the garage (boiler leak!) our little darlings were quietly playing in the garden, making a surprise...

complete with glass beads, marbles, spring flowers, a large clump of heather and lots of mud!

Sunday late afternoon: A trip to the park...and a daffodil chain topped off with a winter pansy...

Busy being busy...Nx

Pancake Day - the day he cracked cracking eggs!

It's pancake day today.  Let's make pancake batter, so we can have pancakes for tea Ro. Right then, we need 125g plain flour, 1 egg, a pinch of salt and 300ml milk.  

He's happy to weigh out the flour...we do lots of baking, but he's always wary of cracking the eggs.  We need to make a well in the flour and crack in the egg...do you want to do it today? Hesitates...ok...tap tap tap...

 Opens it carefully...

Yay, I did it...just like you mummy! look no shell.  He was sooooo proud.  Let's put another one in hey, just because.  Next the salt, then the milk...and beat.  Pop it in the fridge til tea time.

 Shall we practice flipping?

 Ok so it's a cloth...flipping a cloth can be fun.

Tea time pancakes.  Lemon and sugar: classic. Syrup: nice.  Nutella: why not...Nx