May 2013 in photos

 Lots of photos of the boy eating, no idea why!

 Our local historic monument in All Souls Church. They've started opening it to the public on Saturday afternoons, and it has some beautiful features. Its crumbling in places, but I loved the fantastic tiles on the floor, and the stonework on the pulpit.

 He's such a happy boy.

 Juggling a baby and a roast chicken....

 Another dress finished

 The two dresses together at last!

 Investigating fleecy sleepsuits for camping. Completely too hot for him (he was cozy in my sleeping bag) but maybe for snowy camping...

 Woodchips are just what he likes to chew best. Or is it there are always a load around him?

 Sourdough bread rises much quicker in this warm weather. I guess our house is cold compared to some (but very hot compared to others!).

 Camping. He seemed to have a great time with everything happening at his level.

 He seemed drawn to the lump hammer. He kept finding it somehow (thankfully no injuries!)

He didn't mind if it was clean or dirty washing up that he rearranged...

 Driving his first car at Pigeon Farm near Peterborough, a fantastic campsite/place to visit.

 Jar lids are the BEST baby toy in the world. Seriously.

 Pigeons Farm had things for bigger kids too.

 The tent is still going strong

 I like the idea (meant to be bird boxes) but think you need to be picky about the teapot (size of lid hole)

 I've been asked how we keep smalls off the stove. This is a radiator guard with two carribiners holding the two halves together. It actually has been great when we didn't have  tinies as its a perfect drying rack for soggy clothes and towels, and can help hold wet coats with a few poles added.

 Picking salad. 

 Rainbow has done a first for all our kids- can crawl under the van from one side to the other. I admit I did panic slightly, but he was fine. Just bumped his head a little!

 Washing up is VERY interesting.

 Extremely interesting

 Peterborough services on the A1 has quite a nice play area. We managed to stop there twice on our holiday!

 We got a fridge. You know, the kind with shelves and everything. For the last two years our fridge has been great (coolbox size and shape) but I rearranged the furniture so we were ready for a change. Wow. Shelves. you can SEE things. You can have more than one portion of meat in the fridge at a time. House living is sooo luxurious at times! Anyway, it came with a box which has almost been as heavily used as the fridge.

 We visited friends while we were away, who introduced us to the wonders of Lush bath products. Only, in Kent its hard water and its much softer water up here. So, even more bubbles! This was part of the aftermath ( I didn't get to see the bathroom full of bubbles, but I wish I had!).

 Sad FLower needed a ride, so I slung them both to the park. I don't think that'll happen again, but it was lovely snuggles, and peek a boo going on around me.

 He looks so big when awake, but when asleep he's still just a baby after all.


DH is all set to teach people to carve spoons. He ran a practice course for a select few yesterday, and it seems to have gone well. No injuries and positive feedback so far. Flyers in production for the paying version next month!

Expensive Fortnight

The van broke down. Quite an interesting day out really. We were heading to York when it happened, on the A1(M). Thankfully we weren't overtaking anything, and could just limp to the hard shoulder without getting hit (it just lost power). The motorway makes you a priority recovery for the AA, without having a baby and two smalls with you. The girls had spells of being anxious and scared, but it was fine in the end.

Mo picking up the van.

Picnic by the motorway, on the safe side of the crash barrier while we waited to be rescued.

Rescued. The AA van could sit 4 of us across the back comfortably. Wow!

The mechanic looked at the van when we got somewhere safe, but it wasn't fixable so Mo also got the job to take us to the garage of our choice. He needed a mandatory rest break, which was just perfect- Rainbow was just getting restless when he had to stop at Hartshead Moor. The girls needed a run around as well, so it just made more of an 'experience'.

Instead of our planned trip out, we had a consolation trip to Eureka instead. A nice walk home and (as we'd planned our day out properly) tea cooked by the oven on timer by the time we got home. Quite an adventure really!.

What was really lovely (no idea what is normal for these things) but the garage had our gearbox reconditioned, and we picked up the van before tea the next day- I expected it to take another day to have the gearbox done at least, let alone fitted and the van running again. The vans distinctive rattle has gone, and the gear changes are smooooooth with a new clutch too. Ah well, these things happen.

We've had the house roof looked at as well- we now know why the room is damp, and it'll be fixed when there's a long enough dry spell for Lee to mend it. It'll be good to get it fixed, but it'll cost.

We got the gas bill too, but least said about that the better.

These things come in threes, don't they? DH reckons living in a caravan was even cheaper than he thought at the time!

I'm learning to use stretchy fabrics. This is a first attempt. The sleeves are how Princess wanted at least!

All the children had fun in their den!

Princess cooked a fried egg and took a picture.

What are these big girls up to?!

Last weeks Victoria Sponge (Flower helped)

A weeks sourdough bread. FLower helped with a bit of stirring, but bread is a bit boring these days. It takes a few days to rise in the colder weather, so I started it Monday afternoon and it wasn't baked until Wednesday morning.

Big sister still likes to sling her brother. He's a bit wriggly and bouncy these days, so not for long.

Flower greasing the cake tins for todays sponge cake. She is modelling her new hat- her design, a bit like a Victorian mob cap I believe (only in crochet, bamboo yarn)

Licking the spatula is an important job.

We don't always use our own carved spoons- today I used one we bought from Sharif at Spoonfest last year. Its a lovely spoon, great for scraping lots of mix out of the bowl (after this pic of course!).

Todays cake?- I suppose I'd better get a picture!

A Poorly Week

Big Girl has had a bug this week,so we've been a lot more sofa based this week.

I was realising that learning doesn't stop with sickness though, no excuse with not being well enough to go to school! We have been reading a few social history books from the library, when she's been awake. DVDs of   different aspects of farming, how its changed since the second world war,  filled more sofa time for her.

Before she was poorly she decided housework was fun, and vacuuming was what she wanted to do.

Flower has wanted to do 'something' without Princess, but we've been at a loss of what- neither of them have wanted to go to the different activities we've been regulars at, and its a bit hard to find something for someone who doesn't want to do things.Anyway, we found an activity group for her to try that Princess is too old for, and went this week. She had a great time, so looks to be on the calendar for a few more weeks at least.

Pancake Day had Flower taking the lead, helping make the batter, pouring it in the pan and then letting Daddy do the hot bit.

We went to our usual home ed group, but planned to leave early. Though, with the snow coming down quick, so did everyone else. Too many germs for much playing out in it this time. A bit of guacamole making went down well, even with a birds eye chilli in it!

I managed to finish writing an article I've had in mind for a while, that may even get published if I'm lucky- fingers crossed.

 We've been putting together a few different historical eras, so we finally have the homemade timeline that's been in my head for a few weeks. Princess has been rather interested in World War Two and Victorian times, but doing 1 cm per decade means the Ancient Egyptians are half way across the kitchen, despite starting at the front wall of the house!


DH had a night out wild camping with friends ( they use hammocks rather than tents, that sort of thing), which was the first time he's gone since Rainbow has been with us. Sounds good fun, and Princess can't wait for warmer weather when she and Daddy can wild camp together. I'm happy we coped just fine without DH (that wasn't a given!).
Since he got back I got a little time with a rough idea and one of DHs old t-shirts, and a few hours later Rainbow has some new trousers. It almost worked as I hoped- I cut out the back pieces back to front so the old logo on the front just adds a little colour to the bum, instead of being legible across his backside. Ah well, its a good start, and there's another T-shirt in the ragbag to try another time.

So, this week has been pretty quiet really.
Half term approaches, so we'll be avoiding the crowds and just joining in a couple of the extra activities on.