Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
A few months ago I was sent a pair of Winter walking boots from Hotter Shoes. They knew how much we are an all weather family, and that my trainers were hugely inadequate for the task of chasing after a five year old boy in the squelching mud and golden sands of south Wales.
I'd love to be able to show you a decent photograph of the Summit walking boots before I started using them, but I was ever so slightly impatient to test them out.
The weekends lately have been hectic, not enough time for us as a family to actually do something and be together enjoying each other's company. Saturdays are dominated by running from here to there via everywhere, and Sundays have seen me panicking about school work and ending up with no family time. It's not great, we need to re-address the balance.
Last weekend we nipped down to see my sister and her family in the next town, and knowing she wouldn't be home for another hour we wandered down to the beach. She lives one street away from the coast and their beach is dominated by rockpools galore, perfect for Winter exploration.
We love going to the beach at any time of the year, but it's incredibly difficult to find the enthusiasm when it is pouring down, and there's been a terrific amount of precipitation recently! However, last Sunday when the sun made an appearance and reminded us all of how wonderful the Winter sunshine truly is, we set off further down the coast with my brother and his family to explore Ogmore beach.
The main beach was packed but we actually headed around the coastline a few hundred yards to a beach which is a bit tricky to get down to and therefore has less visitors. The point about how tricky (in wet conditions) it is was made when I slipped on the muddy path walking down and ended up with a derriere covered in mud within three minutes of leaving the car!
However once we were down on the beach, the sunshine was warming and the conditions idyllic. We set out our picnic blanket and sat down on the rocks chatting and munching away on pasties and grapes while The Boy and his cousin roamed amongst the rockpools, collecting pebbles and creating some beach art.
As witnessed in many episodes of Doctor Who, this stretch of coastline has a wonderful strata in the cliffs and the beaches are crammed with rockpools galore. The perfect place to find crabs or starfish!
Ogmore beach is well known for the wonderful array of fossils in the rocks and cliff-face, and under the guidance of my sister-in-law who has been beach schools trained, we all set to the task of finding a variety of fossils. Finding what was once a fish, or a barnacle-like creature, is absolutely amazing and so rewarding; it reminds you of your place in the history of our planet.
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19. Silhouette #1 (The most glorious day in weeks and we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and their daughter further along the coastline to spend the afternoon at Ogmore Beach fossil hunting. We even had a picnic on the rocks with a blazing sun overheard and minimal breeze to drop the temperature.)
20. Silhouette #2 (An after school trip down to the nature reserve to feed the swans, and the sunset cast an impressive backdrop.)
21. Scarecrow (The Boy was very keen to do some painting, specifically mixing brown. Once he'd not quite managed to do that, he decided to paint a scarecrow. I'm not entirely sure that this is a particularly effective scarecrow, but hey-ho!)
22. Froggy Legs (The Boy has brought home spellings for each week, his school uses the 'Look, Cover, Write, Check' method which he seems very happy with and he was keen to make a start on them.)
23. Numicon (I've borrowed a maths resource from school which The Boy absolutely loves. Numicon helps to develop number bonds, counting and adding skills. If anyone is looking for something like this for their child then, while pricey, I'd really recommend it.)
24. Maestro (I had to go to the dental hospital today for a root extraction from a botched molar extraction 16 months ago; they snapped off the fourth root but as most molars only have three they didn't think to check for a fourth. By the time I'd arrived home I wasn't fit for much but managed to sneak a picture of The Boy playing on the piano before bedtime.)
25. Mad Science (We finally managed to have a go this afternoon at a science activity that I've wanted to try for ages, more on the blog next week!)
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It feels like weeks since the weather has been anywhere near pleasant enough to enjoy when out and about, indeed it was last year for us! The last day of 2013 saw The Boy and I pop down to the beach for a scoot and cycle. As we curved around the hillside road leading down to the beach, I saw that the tide was at its lowest for quite some time, and so we drove home again to pick up my wellies as I didn't feel that my trainers would survive the beach.
I was right.
After a quick cycle on the pier, where The Boy discovered why cycling down a ramp at speed into a pole isn't a good idea, we picked our way across the smooth, round, grey pebbles and over the swathe of sand. I thought that we'd be stopping to examine the rock pools which are visible at low tide, but the lure of the squelchy mud at the water's edge was too much for a four year old boy to bear.
And that's when it happened.
In the one second when I didn't have my camera trained on him, he went and did the winning Candid Camera moment.
Thank God I'd put his waterproof trousers on him!
And it didn't just happen once, he seemed to have balance issues that day and he fell over another three times.
After a joyous two hours on the beach, it was time to squelch our way back to the car for the big clean-up operation. But look how much fun we had!
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Linking up to Flashback Friday, Country Kids and The Outdoor Play Party
When we became way too excited at the PYO Pumpkin Farm in October, I was left with a fair few pumpkins to do something with. Fourteen to be precise.
Like I said, I was excited.
I pureed and froze quite a few of them, we've eaten one or two in lasagnes or risottos, but I decided to bake a cake with one to see exactly what pumpkin cake tastes like. As the puree is quite bland, I decided to add apple in for texture combining a number of spices to add extra zing!
Apples and mixed spices are one of my favourite combinations when it comes to cakes, there are plenty of spicy cake recipes around for inspiration at this time of year.
Recipe written in collaboration with Schwartz
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Linking to Recipe Of The Week and Tasty Tuesdays
Dusk happens almost with noticing as a backdrop to the twinkling lights in the shop windows. Leaves crunch underfoot, cloudy puffs of breath escape from exhilarated shoppers, and rosy cheeks provide a hint of excitement and the crisp Winter air. Battling through the front door amongst the excessive packages in cheap plastic bags splitting from overstuffing, the very thing needed is a warming drink.
Or a stiff one.
You could have both?
You'll need:
Using my Tassimo T20, I added the ingredients in the order listed above before sinking down onto the sofa and enjoying my Winter Warmer.
As I am a Tassimo Blogger, I was sent the above Tassimo products to invent my own recipe.
Play dough is a basic toy and craft item for all pre-schoolers. How many of us spend hard-earned pounds buying the badly spelt version in cute little plastic tubs? You know the bright yellow tubs with an impossible lid to remove? The stuff that gets stuck into carpets, clothes, hair, eyes, etc. and dries out within half an hour if not replaced to the safety of the tub? And that you then curse because you'll need to find another fiver to replace?
Two years ago I discovered that play dough can be made easily and cheaply, and the version that I use from The Imagination Tree lasts for ages in the fridge (my last batch lasted for eight months!). The Imagination Tree has a variety of recipes available but I prefer this no-cook play dough recipe, and so does my husband who does the washing up!
Basic Recipe:
Other equipment:
I gave The Boy a tray full of goodies and the mound of play dough and waited to see what would happen; it wasn't long before he was exploring the texture and shapes with the bubble wrap and the magnifying glass.
It wasn't long before he was doing his James Martin impression though and baking me cookies and a cake, glad to see I've trained him well. And of course, no Winter Play Dough activities would be complete without the obligatory snowman!
I'd seen some play dough mats on the Internet, but most of those designed for Winter also encompass Christmas or Thanksgiving, so I decided to make my own with invitations to play and design on them.
You can download a copy of these winter playdough mats here.
I recently saw mention of the perfect hot chocolate recipe and a quick Google returned a whole load of recipes to use. I've combined the basic ingredients to perfect my own mixture which has gone down a treat in this house.
You'll need:
13: 'Boardwalk' (We went to the local country parks to feed the ducks the copious amount of bread we ashamedly had not eaten over the past few days. It was a beautifully sunny day, we saw the squirrels and had fun jumping in muddy puddles.)
14: 'Akimbo' (Every night before I go to bed I check on The Boy and he's normally sleeping soundly. Occasionally he's untucked. This is the first time he's been in this position.)
15: 'On the farm' (Tuesdays are a busy day for us as I invariably try and fit loads in before having to return to work the next day. This Tuesday we made cakes, did craft, played jigsaws and board games, played with the Playmobil farm, and spent time playing with his cousins.)
16: 'Picnic' (I was exhausted today after a tiring day in work teaching year six, and The Boy was
n't much happier either. Time for a picnic tea on the sofa watching the television. I popped in to check on him – he was with daddy – and found him in this state. Never mind, he was happy!)
17: 'Blanket Tunnel' (He made a tunnel by placing a blanket over my legs which were resting on a chair. Then he crawled through the tunnel, stopped there for ten minutes and played on the iPad. Can't see how he was that comfortable – neither were my legs – but whatever makes him happy!)
18: 'Catch!' (Finally our longed-for snow arrived and we spent over three hours playing in the snow throughout the day. Mr. TBaM had to work unfortunately but my boss closed the school for health and safety reasons, which meant we could have great fun outside. Here he's throwing a snowball at me which landed square in the lens of my dSLR!) This is my photographic favourite of the week.
19: 'Family Fight!' (My 67 year old mother and 37 year old husband had a snowball fight in her back garden while The Boy looked on. This really made me laugh to see three generations having such fun. I put the camera away and joined in pretty quickly.) This is my personal favourite photo of the week
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