Silent Sunday

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I is for ....

Ice Cream!

We have had lots of fun looking at the letter I for ice & ice cream. So we ate lots of ice cream & ice lollies. However not as much as we would have liked, as our freezer decided to break & melt all our ice cream & some of our food! I was also planning on doing a ice sensory box however the lack of ice maker/freezer & poor weather means we didn't get around to it, but will try to later in the summer.

We also made these fab rice pictures at a craft session we went to.

And Daniel (3) did some colouring to put up on the wall with our other letters.

We are really looking forward to moving on to J for Joseph & jelly!

x Jo x

Paper Plate Turtle Craft

We recently held a group messy play session at a local hall for some friends & this was the craft I set up, I will be writing another post soon with all the other details. 

Above is my turtle, he is made using 1/2 a yellow paper plate, green card, a wiggly eye. He is decorated using green lentils & green egg shell. 

Once I had washed dried & crushed the egg shell I put it in to a zip lock bag with a little surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol) and green food colouring.
Our green food colouring isn't very strong (from lidls) so even with quite a bit the shell was only yellow so I added a bit of blue & it was a much better colour. Once it had dried out it gave a lovely 2 tone natural effect.

Here are the boys making their turtles, Joseph (4.5) even made a second one with 2 heads!

Everyone enjoyed making turtles & we had lots of variations, we have lots of green egg shell & lentils left over so expect to see them used in another craft in the future!

x Jo x

P.S. Don't forget to enter our competition to win a pair of bandana dribble bibs handmade by me. 

Silent Sunday

#KidsGrowWild Challenge

We are taking part in the MoneySupermarket #KidsGrowWild challange & we were sent this fab little gardening kit to help us on our way. As soon as the kit arrived both boys were super excited, Joseph (4.5) was desperate to plant the seeds & Daniel (3) was happy that we now had a second pair of kids gloves (even though they are too big).

Unfortunately the arrival of the kit coincided with the arrival of rain & wind! It was a good week before we had chance to get out in to the garden. So in the meantime we tested out our tools with a coloured rice sensory box. 

Its hard work this digging!

When we did get out in the garden, it was still cold &windy so we had to wear jumpers. We decided to sow some of our seeds in one of our beds that only had a peony in it. The boys used their tools to dig the ground & add some compost. We decided to sow the mixed flowers & pansies, it was interesting to see how different all the seeds were. Joseph remarked that some were 'curly' some were 'small & black' and some were 'like a brush'.

After we put the seeds in we used our watering cans to water them in. As the paddling pool needed emptying we re-cycled the water. Once the seeds had been thoroughly drenched they moved across to the other bed which contains our prolific mint plant.

We then went in to the front garden to check on our pots & the sunflower seeds we planted about 3 weeks ago. The boys had planted 2 seeds each, however only 3 grew

We are just deciding whether to move them in to a larger pot in the front garden or to put them in the garden like we did last year. Last years sunflowers were destroyed when the wind blew our BBQ on top of them.

Last years efforts, aww look at baby Daniel!

This post is an entry for BritMums' #KidsGrowWild Challenge & we were given the kids gardening kit however all opinions are my own.

x Jo x

P.s. I will update you on our gardens progress later in the year...

Silent Sunday

x Jo x

W.S.M Water Adventure Park & Sand Sculptures

Weston Water Adventure Park is on the Knightstone end of Weston sea front. It used to be free, then last summer it was £1 per child in the school holidays. It has now increased to £1.50 per child all summer long. To be honest I don't mind its a nice park & worth paying to get in. It has 2 areas of parks one aimed at smaller children and a castle area designed for older kids. Joseph (4.5) & Daniel (3) enjoy both areas. But they really love the splash park, we usually take the boys wet suits as it is cold & this means they can stay in a little longer! We also find that they engage more & have fun if we take a small bucket or scoop for them to collect & pour water with.

I was really disappointed that we were refused entry with our cool bag, we have always taken a picnic in previous years, it makes a nice family day out & means that we can then afford to buy the boys an ice cream after lunch. So we turned around & had our picnic on the beach, which would have been nice if it was a little less windy that day!. To be honest we were so disappointed that had we not have promised the boys that we were going we would have not bothered going in. 

After lunch we returned the outlawed picnic bag to the car & paid our money & entered the park, only to discover that about 90% of the family's in the park had managed to smuggle there picnic past the picnic police! 

While there I took a look at the councils food provider 'the kiosk' the name just about says it all,other than the usual ice creams & snacks all I could see were sausage rolls, hot dogs & one type of jacket potato & by the look of the place I'm not sure if i could have trusted that they were going to be good quality enough to be worth paying for. I feel if the council are banning picnics then they need to provide a decent cafe serving a large range of healthy foods.

I have made our complaint to Weston Town Council & I will add there response to the bottom of my post. 

After lots of fun at the park we walked along the sea front to the Weston Sand Sculpture Festival. None of us had been before so we didn't know what to expect, but we all had a nice time. At the beginning there are a series of displays showing how they make a sand sculpture, then you move on to the big sculptures made by a lots of talented artists. The sculptures are open daily until the end of September.

The theme for 2013 is Hollywood so there were lots of familiar faces from the movies. The boys favourite was Toy Story! At the end they have a small cafe so Daddy & I enjoyed a hot drink while the boys played in the sand pit. It's worth a visit but will only take an hour so combined with a trip somewhere else in Weston, like the beach, pier or water park makes a nice day out.

As you can see the reason I'm not in many pics is that Daddy isn't very good at taking them!

x Jo x

P.s. Don't forget to enter the competition to win 2 of  my bandana bibs HERE


Weston Town Councils reply:

Dear Jo,

 

Thanks for the information re the Park which I will pass on to our Head Groundsman. I also appreciate your very fair comment about the £1.50 charge, we do think it is good value for money compared to most alternative attractions and helps fund the attendants who look after the Park, pick litter etc. The Water Park was paid for and is subsidised by Weston council tax payers so we do feel users should make some contribution towards the cost of running the Water Park at peak times.

 

Car parks are run by North Somerset Council and charges are set by them.  The Town Council has lobbied North Somerset about the cost of car parking in the town which (unlike the Water park which is subsidised overall) does net North Somerset a significant profit. If you don’t mind a short walk might I suggest the Madiera Road Car Park at the North end of the sea front by Prince Consort Gardens, which is £1.50 for up to 4 hours or £3 all day.

 

As regards the picnic ban, this was brought in by a previous set of Councillors in 2010, before the 2011 elections at which the current Town Council were elected. There were two reasons for this which I will pass on. Firstly because of litter being brought in, including glass bottles which could be a danger to little bare feet. Secondly because the Council was providing a Kiosk, though a concessionaire, which does help towards funding of the Park and the Council needed this to be viable.

 

We have decided not to aggressively enforce the picnic ban but do have a word with anyone obviously bringing in a picnic. I would add as a practical solution that the Park is open all day and having paid for admission, people are free to leave and return throughout the same day without paying again. So you do have the option of leaving, sitting on the beach or sea front for your picnic, and then returning. Having said that I admit the picnic ban has been controversial. I understand that having to purchase lunch does add to the costs of a visit and remember when my Children were young we almost always packed sandwiches for a family trip. I cannot promise what they would decide but it is possible that the current Council could be persuaded to take a different view. There is a meeting of the Community Services Committee on 1^st July which might, if it had been asked to by a member of the public, review the ban. Would you like me to let councillors know about your complaint?

 

Regards,

 

Malcolm

 

Malcolm L Nicholson LLB DMS AILCM

Bandana Dribble Bibs - Competition

I first discovered bandana bibs when Daniel was about 5 months old. Joseph had never been a very dribbly baby (except when drinking!) however Daniel was another story having a soaking t-shirt within a couple of hours, if he wasn't wearing & bib. This would then start to give him a rash around his neck. I found that regular bibs leaked through & the plastic backed bibs were great for meal times but not very practical for general wear. Just before his 1st Christmas I heard about bandana bibs & ordered a couple. I found that we were using them all the time and wanted more in funky cute fabrics to match his outfits.

My Baby Daniel!

I decided to have a go at making some myself & after a couple of attempts found a pattern I was Happy with. That pattern fitted him well then & thanks to adjustable poppers still fitted him when he was 2 (& probably still would now at 3).  I backed these bibs with soft fleece which is water resistant so keeps the wetness on the top layer of the bib keeping baby dry, whilst still being breathable. When making these bibs for Daniel I re-discovered my love of sewing & decided to start making them to sell along side my nappy cake business. This was perfect as it meant that I got to buy girly fabrics as well as funky boy fabrics. I have since started making dresses, shorts & t-shirts to add to my range.

Happy Customers, David & Jemma

As my handmade clothes can be posted (unlike the nappy cakes, which are collection only) and can be bought online through my facebook page. I have a selection of ready made bibs which I can post  out straight away or if you are able to wait a week or 2 then I can custom make using any of my fabrics.

Bella testing one of our pink leopard print bibs

Suzanne at Ghost Writer Mum & her little girl Bella have been testing out some of my bibs and you can see what they think here. Suzanne and I are running a joint competition to win a pair of bibs of your choice (can be posted worldwide) & 5 runners up to receive free UK postage on any order they place.

x Jo x

Terms and Conditions
Bibs to be sent out to winner by Le Baby Bakery
Free postage applies to UK residents only but winning bib sets can be posted worldwide
2 winners will be chosen at random to receive a set of 2 bib
5 runners up to receive free postage on UK orders from Le Baby Bakery
My decision is final regarding winners
One entry per household/ IP address
NO automated entries please

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fathers Day Hug...

As this is one we have pinched from Pintrest I'm not going to do a lengthy how to post but thought I would share our take on the idea. My favourite & probably the original idea was from A Day In My Life.

We made ours very simply using coloured card, with one hand for each of the boys. I just used a sharpie to write in the middle & attached it all with tape. It folded up nicely inside Daddy's (shop bought) card. I love how you can see the difference in the size of the boys hands & will make a nice keepsake.

x Jo x

H is for...

 We haven't done as much work on the letter H as we have other letters as we have just been so busy out & about enjoying this lovely weather. I quickly made these sheets for the boys to put their Haribo sweets on in the shape of a h. I also pointed out the H on the sweet packet. They really enjoyed this especially that they got to eat them once done! I will use this idea again for other letters.

I collected & cut out several house pictures (house insurance leaflets from supermarkets were a good place to look). The boys then used a glue stick to make a collage, i then wrote on one so we could add it to our letter wall, as we didn't do any printed sheets this week. It was really nice that we could work outside for these activity's.

During the week Joseph (4.5) pointed out that H is also for helicopter, I was really impressed with this as out of all the H words I hadn't mentioned this one, he had picked it up from the helicopter pads on our car mats & garage.

I also made this House lunch for the boys as part of the Hoops & Crosses competition.

x Jo x

Silent Sunday

x Jo x

Blackpool Tower

When we herd about Tots 100's competition to win a family holiday to Blackpool, I was really excited as I've never been but always wanted to. So I explained to the boys that we needed to make a tower so we had a look at some pictures of Blackpool tower on goggle & this was our favourite. The boys really liked the colours. So we decided to make our tower using box's & then paint it to make it colourful.

As it was a nice day we took the painting outside, as it was a bit breezy we had to separate the tower in 2 so that it wouldn't blow over. This worked well as the boys had 1/2 a tower each.

Painting the tower proved a useful lesson in colour mixing, I don't know why but the ice cream tubs seamed to encourage this. It started out that Joseph mixed the blue with the yellow to make green, then after a little while I asked if they wanted to use some red, this then got mixed with the blue & made purple. After some time we ended up with all dark gray! Daniel was a little upset that all his nice colours had gone!

Once Joseph had finished Daniel started multi-tasking to get the job done!

 Once dry I dug out some fairy lights as a surprise for the boys! As it couldn't be Blackpool tower without lights! Yes we took it in the bathroom as its an internal room so is dark with the door closed.

I also took a little video of the lights, & the boys made up a song about the tower. Please excuse my baby brain (yes i still have it) for filming the wrong way around. And yes the tower does fall over at the end, if you ever need anything tall building like towers or road signs don't ask me!

This post is an entry into the Tots100/VisitBlackpool competition

x Jo x

Legoland

 

We took the boys to Legoland a couple of weeks ago, as they have been asking all winter & we promised we would take them when the weather was nicer (plus they close for winter). So we saved up our Tesco vouchers & swapped them for some Legoland tickets, this made it affordable for us otherwise it wouldn't have been. Its about a 2 hour drive away for us,if it was closer an annual pass would be great!  

They were so excited to see so many Lego creations  & it was great to be able to touch & even sit on some! As a family our favourite ride was Atlantis where you get to go in a submarine & see real fish, the boys really enjoyed the discovery centre on the way out especially getting to hold a sea urchin

We were also really lucky that the Duplo Valley splash park had just been opened, the boys really loved it however were ready to come out after 5 minutes as it was so cold that day! They did however love the Duplo playground which had super squashy astro-turf (would love it in our garden) my only complaint was that a couple of the play structures didn't have a very easy way for smaller kids to get down & could have done with a slide or steps.

The Boys had the best day ever, we were very glad we took the pushchair though as there is a lot of walking & quite a bit up hill! As we went on a cloudy term time Wednesday it was quite quite which meant little or no queue's , so got to go on all of the rides we wanted except for one which was closed as it wasn't busy enough to open it! We stuck to the rides with a 90cm (or less) height restriction. We will definitely be going back but maybe next year now as there will be lots of other rides Daniel can go on when he reaches 100cm tall.

x Jo x