Monday, 23 March 2009

22/03/09 Mothering Sunday

Ben made me a lovely card at nursery. He says that is a picture of me on the front, and I can quite clearly see a body, a head, two arms and two legs. I think it's great! I also got a card from Ben and Zoe that Ian had organised, and Ben had written his own name inside. I should take it to nursery and show Mrs Crampton that he can write his name, and tell her that maybe they'd get somewhere if they stopped trying to get him to write 'Benjamin'! I also got some Body Shop Almond hand care stuff, which smells yummy and will come in very handy (ha ha! Sorry)

And after only one week, we already have some sunflower seeds sprouting which Ben is very impressed with.


21/03/09 At last!



Zoe's underwater photo arrived today. I'm very pleased with it - even Ben said 'wow' when I showed him it :-) This is a photo of the photo. If you click on it, you can see it even bigger. Now all I have to do is get myself organised and get it framed.

Thursday, 19 March 2009

15/03/09 Planting Sunflowers

I noticed that the Council are running a 'tallest sunflower' competition this year and I had been trying to think of something to grow with Ben, so I asked him if he wanted to have a go.

We started with a trip to Tong Garden Centre and after looking at the animals, fish and the fountains, bought the seeds, pots and compost.

As we might actually get round to entering the competition, I decided to let Ben do the work, with just a little supervision. Ben might not have a competitive streak yet, but I do ;-)

Here he is filling the pots with compost.

Planting the seeds in the pots. He did need some help with this because he was shoving the seeds so far down in the pots they would have taken months to come up!

Finally, watering the seeds. Because I'm a bit sad, we have planted two varieties - 'Giant Single' and 'Titan' - both of which sound like promising names for giant sunflowers! If anyone has any tips for growing really big sunflowers, I'd love to hear them. Ben really enjoyed himself and even helped to sweep all the compost off the patio. All we need now is for them to grow!

24/02/09 Shrove Tuesday

We had a go at making pancakes this year. I'm not sure why, but I've never got organised to do them before. Anyway, out came the trusty Bero Book, and Ben helped me to make the batter. He is a very good helper!

After tea, I cooked the pancakes. Ben and Ian had theirs with nutella and I have to say, they were yummy! Zoe tried a little bit, but I think they were just a bit too floppy for her to get hold of properly. I'm sure she'll do better next year!

21/02/09 Edinburgh Visit

We went up to see my mum and dad in the February half term which Ben was very excited
about, but I think he found the drive very long! I did try to make it more interesting for him, by having the AA out to the car when the engine management light came on.

We had a little shopping day with a trip to a cafe (which Ben loves!) as the weather on Friday wasn't very nice. On Saturday we went over to Linlithgow and had a bracing walk round the palace and lake. We even managed a picnic lunch, but I don't think Zoe was too impressed, as you can probably tell by her expression!

Ian and my Dad tried their best to wear Ben out, as you can see.














As it was my Dad's birthday on the Monday after we left, we had a little party to celebrate with pizza and cake. Ben loves a good birthday party! We had a lovely weekend, but hopefully next time we go up, it will be a little warmer!

Finished project and Zoe at 10 months

I promised myself that I would not go to the wool warehouse until I had finished knitting the three projects that I already have on the go! Here is Zoe modelling the first finished one - a little wrap over cardi, which I think looks very sweet.



And here she is practicing her 'commando crawling'. Look out mummy - I'm coming to get you!
Here's her 10 month photo
:-D Smiley baby!

Massive Catch Up!

I am now back at work, having spent the last few weeks of my maternity leave trying and failing to get to grips with ironing mountain, trying to get organised and struggling with a bad back (possibly due to carrying around 1 1/2 stone of baby!). So from the comfort of my desk, armed with my girly flowery memory stick, here come the highlights of the last month - enjoy!