The final stretch...

We are on countdown, N goes back to nursery on Tuesday next week and she is *desperate* she asks me, at least once, every day if she can go back.

I am trying to dig deep and make this week as fun as possible.  The blog has been a little stagnant as I felt like I was repeating lots of our activities and didn't have much new insight to share but today's comes with a recipe to inspire!

This morning I desperately needed to get a few things from town and so off wee trotted, N did really well and walked around town all morning (I hadn't even taken the double buggy for emergencies, I am trying to wean her off it in time for bump being a baby!) and then we did a quick pitstop at the supermarket on the way home.

Slightly frustratingly, in an attempt to leave the shop as quickly as possible because M had started eating the food in our basket and peeling labels off of things, I forgot to buy butter which I needed to do the baking I had planned with N this afternoon but twitter came to the rescue with lots of suggestions, the winner was....[insert dramatic drumroll here]... peanut butter cookies!

As it happened I had dropped a jar of peanut butter a few days ago, breaking the lid in the process, so this was great for using something up too!!

The recipe we used was this one, only tweaked a little because I had crunchy, not smooth, peanut butter and because I've never found an affordable chocolate chip that is fair trade we just cut up a chocolate bar!

Here is N having a go at spooning the mix onto the baking sheets

And this is what the finished article looked like, the rest are in the oven being baked! (They come out the oven very squashy but rest assured they crisp up while they are cooling)

And to prove we have done some other things the last few days, here are some pictures of our holiday happenings!

A trip to a new park

"picnic"

These photos were taken thanks to a top tip I once heard (and will now share with you, obviously) when you go on a day trip or similar, take a photo of your child BEFORE anyone is allowed to run off anywhere, so that if the worst comes to the worst and they get lost you have an up to date photo of them in the clothes they are wearing that day.  I do feel a little better for doing this, although clearly you should keep an eye on them too!

We made a medal by wrapping a cardboard circle in paper and taping some wool (or ribbon would work) to the back.  We have, in fact, made a LOT of medals this summer, I think it must have been the commonwealth games that made us do it!

Here we are enjoying a snack with a friend (this is at the friends' house, I love their improvised sand table in the background.  They just sit boxes of sand on top of storage boxes that contain their garden toys)

Finally, I let N and M start a Mister Maker activity a few days ago (I was assuming it would be on the cbeebies website and I could link to it but I can't find it anywhere!)

Here are the girls painting sheets of lasagne ready to break into pieces so they can make a mosaic picture with them.  We haven't done the picture part yet, I'll let you know how it goes.  I used half glue, half paint (having only been half watching the telly when it came on) but it seems to be cracking poorly and can confirm that M managed to paint both sides and get lots of newspaper stuck to her pieces!

Here's what it looks like broken up!

The idea is just that you draw a picture, I assume the simpler the better, although Mister Maker drew a crab! and then "colour" it in with the bits of pasta.

And my final tip, if the summer holidays are really proving too much is that Tesco has Cardbury's Marvellous Creations  chocolate on offer!  Clearly too good for the kids, but Mums and Dads should eat to help the day pass!

Summer survival is not so bad

Summer survival is going better today, one might even describe it as thriving rather than surviving! (That said, I realised I have started mentally counting down the days rather than weeks, I am really starting to feel it now.  There are twelve more week days before nursery/toddler groups recommence!)

Here is a round up of today's altogether more wholesome than TV activities (these were interspersed with periods of watching TV)

Today looked like it was going to be raining all day.  I had planned on washing the car with the children (clean car plus they think they are playing with water) so I had to come up with something else in a hurry.  My children LOVE messy play, I do not.  I do, however, recognise the benefits to them so I try to do something once in a while.  My brother-in-law is here which meant I could do something a little messier as he would be able to entertain the children while I tidied up.  Therefore I let them do this...

I put out a big sheet of paper (we use the ikea mala rolls, it's really convenient to just roll them out if you want/need something bigger) and a few different things to print with.  There was an orange cut in half, an apple, some wool, a toilet roll tube, a toy car to make tracks with, a few wee tubs, some of those scrunchy things you get for using in the bath/shower (I always end up with loads at Christmas), some foam I had lying around and of course some paint brushes.  I put them all out with some tubs of paint and just let them do whatever they wanted.  I wanted to put out a potato masher but I don't have a dishwasher and wasn't convinced I'd be able to get all the paint off so it could be used again!

As someone who HATES (did I mention I don't like messy play) messy play here is my top tip.

Have a a basin of water ready, at a height the children can reach, so cleaning up can happen in an INSTANT!

Here are a few pictures of them enjoying the fun

mala

And here is the finished creation (hanging up to dry on my washing line, the rain didn't seem to materialise)

Then came snack (on a blanket, outside, because everything is better when done on a blanket outside!)

Trying to be a Dad has an amazing job that is really flexible and is also situated in some beautiful grounds so we all went down to have a picnic with Daddy at work

Unfortunately N is terrified of ducks so we had to cut things a little shorter than we might have (not helped by the fact she threw some bread to try and make them go "over there" not understanding this would make them come back looking for more!).  This did have a pleasant side effect though, it meant when the rain started to come down very suddenly we were already quite close to the car!

This afternoon N was in a bit of a foul mood so I let her do some baking (despite the fact that I normally I have a 1 messy activity OR baking per day rule)

We made Cheese and Tomato Melts from N's "I Can Cook" recipe book. We got given this book as a gift but N loves it and actually, so do I, the pictures mean she can follow a lot of the recipe herself and there are loads of handy tips for being able to include your children in cooking and even a little bit about gardening.

I won't bore you with another picture of my child standing at my worktop (if you are desperate you can see one here) but here is a picture of our savoury biscuits.  They were yummy!

Summer activities continuing

Still summer, and we are still doing things to have fun (and learn) along the way.

We have been blessed with some beautiful weather so there has been a lot of being outdoors.  One day we even took a trip to the beach.

The sun was warm but the North Sea is ALWAYS cold!

Mummy and bump joined in too

"sea!"

 Playing with sand has been a regular activity

Grandma and Grandad have lots of fun toys to play with, here we broke out the cars and bikes

Everything stopped for ice cream, though!

 One day we built a tent by pegging some sheets onto the washing line and using some chairs to hold them back.  The girls had a great time running in and out and hiding

We even ate lunch in our tent

 N had fun making a necklace with some new beads I bought her for filling her button jar

And at various points the girls have formed a band!

We are now back from all our holidays and staying at home till the end of the holidays so hopefully I will get back to posting every day with more detail of what is going on.  Are you still managing to survive summer?

I have linked this post up with Coombe Mill, why not have a look at some of the other posts linked too

Still summer, still surving

And here's how...

I don't have many photos from this morning, we walked into town because I had a few jobs to do.  The reality is that I often need to take the children with me for mornings like this and summer is no different so we went to the bank, bought some cards that were needed, went to the chemist and went to the bed shop to complain about the bunk beds that have broken after less than a month of use!

Let's be serious, times like this need to happen but they're really aren't fun for the girls so we took them to a shop to get a milkshake and Grandma (who is a big softie) bought them a cake to share!

I try and let both girls stamp around in the shopping centre if it's not too busy as that helps tire them out a bit and stops them getting bored quite so quickly.  I also take a packed lunch so that if things take longer I can provide some food which normally buys me about half an hour before I really need to give up and come home.

There was a quick pit stop in Tesco because this pregnant Mummy can only go so long without a loo break so the girls were left with Grandma and when I got back they had been furnished with a Peppa and My Little Ponies magazine each.  The girls have been looking at them almost all afternoon, in fact so nicely that I got to sneak off for a wee nap (while Grandma supervised the girls)!

Anyway, enough talking, the rest of our day has included banana loaf (follow the link for a recipe)

Playing in the garden (although as I went to take a photo the rain came on so this photo is from another day, such a cheating blogger!)

I've also just discovered that while I was sleeping N made this with her Grandma

Finally, the girls got to taste some of our home grown vegetables today! We have spent a reasonable amount of time with the girls planting and watering, here are some pictures from along the way and one of N being proud of her spoils!

carrots

potatoes

peas

courgettes

onions

feeling proud!

Two for the price of one!

 Yesterday was a little bit manic and I didn't get a chance to post but we had a lovely day which included a visit to our friend's birthday party! Here is N having her chance to open the pass the parcel.  It occurred to me though that the kind of kids' games that get played at birthday parties would make great activities for a summer play date.

This photo was also taken at the birthday party but is something we have done at home before.  An almost mess free creative activity and all you need is some chalk and a wee area of paved outdoor space. Later the rain will do all your tidying up, amazing!

Today is a very exciting day because Mr trying to be a mum is coming home after very nearly two weeks away but here is what we have been doing to pass the time! (very excitingly Grandma is still here and supervised this activity while I did a bit of tidying and even went to the shops. On my own!)

If you don't have a paddling pool why not consider using a basin and doing some splashing, setting up the sprinkler if you have one for your garden or even just putting out a bucket of water and splashing! It's a great way to keep cool on a hot day! (and as far as I know the UK hasn't got any hose pipe bans just yet!)