Christmas Card making in July!!??

                  Yes, you read it correctly. And this is my 4 year old Diva requesting to do this! I did not want to give her proper cards though, as she likes to make cards randomly throughout the year/day and give them to her toys or her friends as nursery. So I simply folder a sheet of A4 paper twice to make a simple card and gave her some Christmas stickers I found lying around....

                               


              Well she is making an early start I suppose! Lets hope her enthusiasm carries on right up till Christmas!

Mummy's Mad Monday!

               One thing from the Summer Bucket List that I did the other week....Mummy's Mad Monday!We were due to have 8 friends over plus my 3, however as it turned out, 2 of the friends could not come....one had a leaky house after all these heavy downpours we have been having and the other was late back from visiting a grandfather....so 6 friends and my 3.

              The older boys were happy playing on the Xbox, then having a game of football in the garden ( they even let my younger son and a girl his age play!!) Then in for icing biscuits and back on the Xbox till their parents came to get them....oh yes and lunch was provided in the middle!

The little ones also enjoyed icing their biscuits after lunch and a quick play in the garden while the sun came out (finally)

The state of the playroom with cars eveywhere, all the dressing up clothes all over the floor and 2 happy kids playing with the marble run! Always have a marble run up when you have visitors is my advise...they love it!

The younger ones enjoyed playing with the cars, the trainset, sticking, gluing and making a general mess. It was nice to be able to sit down with the mums of the younger two who stayed and have a chat. I tidied the kitchen as we went along so at the end of the day it was only the playroom that needed a  tidy. Happy Days.

Last day of School!

It's Wednesday and it is the last day of school before they break up for the summer!! YIPPEE!!!! I, for one can't wait...I think I may be even more excited than the kids. I think they are having a games day at school today...bring in your own games and play day. While the boys are at school, I will be going to the gym then taking the Diva horse riding. Then home for lunch and hoover the car out and get the boys and pop to Sainsburys (or ice cream van if its there) and get some Ice Creams or Ice Lollies of their choosing.

I have already been mad enough to arrange a Mummys' Mad Monday for the 28th July....9 children around to play plus my 3. Lets hope the sun shines on me then they can all play in the garden. Roll on this  afternoon!!!!!!SO EXCITED!!!!! love the holidays with my kids....yes they annoy the hell out of me sometimes but most of the time they are brilliant.

You will have to forgive me if I do not get to post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the hols, what with days out etc I will be busier than usual!...however I will endeavor to post 3 times a week still!!!

MineCraft Hama Beads

So, we finally gave in and brought an X-Box 360, (we held out till eldest son nearly 8!) and Minecraft is THE game in this house and at school. Everyone is playing it that the kids know. I must say that when I have had a go on a couple of occasions, it makes me feel exceeding ill! Maybe I need to play more as my eldest says! I think I have better and more important things to do, like putting supper on the table and washing was my retort.
As most parents do, we have had to impose strict rules on the amount of time allowed (1 hour on school days,2 at weekends) and when it goes off (6pm) regardless. This seems to be working and now the weather is getting better they do seem to do inclined to venture into the garden. However they do like Hama Beads, even my boys. They have found that it is a very good way of replicating their Minecraft worlds!!!!

This love of Hama Beads extends not only to the whole 'Steve' family,(aren't the baby ones cute with their milkbottles and everything?) but they are making all the enemies too:

I am not sure what all the correct names for these players are but am sure that if you are a Minecraft player you will recognise them!

Loom Band Madness

It has finally hit our household....the madness that is tiny coloured elastic bands! They have already been banned from school, then suddenly my 8 year old son declared that he would quite like to try and make some....off I went to look on Ebay and brought a load very cheaply at £2.99 for 1800 bands+600 novelty ones free and the s clips and free post!!!!!

As soon as they arrived he promptly made a band for everyone in the house then a load more!

I think they are really quite nice actually! We have now looked on google and found so many more types of designs that we should look up on You Tube to see how to do them. 

And did you hear about the dress someone actually made out of them! Apparently the bid on Ebay was £170,000!!!!!Why do I not think of doing these things???!!!!Mortgage paid off by elastic bands!!!HAHAHA

He made one for a mum at my daughters nursery too though and she gave him 50p for it!

At the moment the bands are all well contained! How long till they are everywhere???

In the garden

It's only July but already I have so much going on in the garden (for me its a lot anyway) The runner beans are producing masses of flowers and the beans are developing...the sweet peas are glorious...

I keep picking and they keep coming! Wonderful and the smell.....to die for!

I even found that the nectarine tree has produced this year..all be it only 3 fruit, but they are looking good. Will have to make sure the squirrel does not get them.

Also, I picked a handful of plums today. They are ripe already.   And this is from the one plum tree we have that has never fruited before!

This is going to be a lovely summer I can tell.

Lovely upgrade to local park!

 We went to a party held at the park at the weekend! What a brilliant idea, nothing to clean, kids entertainment is there, parents stay for  a natter, fantastic!
I have not been up to the park at Beechurst for about 2 years as I always felt that it did not cater very well for older kids and there was not much there....Well, they have changed a lot. All the little kids stuff is still there, but they have added a huge wooden frame for the older kids to climb and a giant web swing for them too!These are located just outside the little kids park so you can keep an eye on both at the same time. They have also done a few other bits and pieces!

Along with adult sized picnic benches there are little toadstool tables and chairs too! Various wooden animals were attached to walls and fences and there were several wooded crocodiles for the kid to climb on.

 

There was this lovely walkway they have made too, leading to.....

A wonderful willow 'house'. With a crocodile in the middle. I might well visit this park a little more now.