Blobsters

Today we made Blobsters.  An idea I read about in I Love My World book by Chris Holland.  It was great fun.  Rowan was a bit unenthusiatic about it to start with as he had no idea what I meant and had no visual image either.  So I showed him the book and he said he wanted to make one just like that.  Rowan always wants to copy the pictures and gets upset when they don't work out, so I really wanted this to be his own creation.  I explained to him that he could copy it if he wished but he could also create his own creature, with as many eyes, arms etc that he wanted.  He thought about it for a while, then got really excited, ' Hes going to have loads of eyes!'.

So off we all went to the bottom of the garden to collect bits of nature, then we came inside as the wind was freezing and got our clay blobs and made our creatures.

Rowan got really into making his from his own ideas, it was great, and the look on his face when he finished was unforgettable.

Rowans blobster was called  Spoony and he had 5 eyes, 1 arm, 1 walking stick for and arm and flower hair.

Reubens blobster was called Owda and he had a big nose.

Rowan making the final touches.

From left to right - Owda, Spoony and Wooky.  Soon we will make them a shelter.

Poxy but still smiling!

Well the boys have certainly had the Pox!  Reuben peaked over the weekend with it, and was really quite poorly, as well as having an 'ouchy head!'.  Then Rowan got really itchy and ouchy yesterday, but today they seem to be on the mend, the spots are scabbing and they are getting up to mischief again!

It is amazing how many spots can fill up such a small space.  It is horrible to see your beautiful little child covered with these big ugly spots!

Even though we have been housebound since Thursday and they have been poorly, they are still in really good moods and have made me smile.

It is so nice to see their love for each other come through in so many ways.  Every morning they have been having a bath with essential oils to soothe their spots and they have been delicatly pouring the water over each others spots.

Rowan insisted that I take a photo of them both shouting ' Cheesey Pox Omlettes'

Thank Goodness for the Sunshine!

Well Reubens little pimples did develop into Chicken Pox and the ickle chickpea is covered, especially his head, poor little lamb.  However it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all.  He has a stinky cold with it, but is in a great mood most of the time, although it hasn't reached the itchy stage yet.  I am massaging him with Calendula oil and he is having Chamomlie or Lavender baths to soothe the rash and drinking Chamomlie tea to soothe him from the inside.

And the inevitable has happened, Rowan has tonight also got 5 little pimples!  Oh well, I'd rather they had it together!

So we are house bound.  Fortunatly its lovely weather and we can spend all day in the garden, which is what we have done today.

Rowan having a peak into the neighbours garden!

Reuben weeding the veggie patch

Rowan making a mud pie for his chunky horsey!

Rowan and his chunky horsey!

Mmmm, Yum Yum, Says the big chunky horsey!

Rowan deep in thought on the wood pile

Climbing and Dreaming

Reuben determined to make it to the top of the pile.

Made it!

Rowan being a tree surgeon just like his Daddy!

We put this little fence up around the veggie patch last year to keep any monkeys out, I don't think its going to work this year!

At the end of the day everyone has rosey cheeks, muddy trousers and a smile on their face. 

I love Springtime Xx

Bargains Galore!

Thursdays is our weeekly trip into town, its market day, which doesn't mean much here, but at least we get a fresh fish stall.  We also get our fruit and veg, meat and whole food supplies.  We usually go in the library for an hour aswell, but this week we thought Reuben may have chicken pox, so we gave the library a miss.  Rowan was gutted as he really enjoys it, so we did a rummage of the charity shops instead and came home with oodles of pre loved goodies.

We had to make an extra trip back to the car to unload before getting our veg as my trolley was full! 
We went into a little charity shop that we have never been in before (one of those ones with very odd opening hours) and after browsing and buying the lady got talking to Rowan and when asked his name, she replied, "Oh, thats so lovely, people must love talking to you because your name just fills the room with spring!"  What a lovely comment.

Twister has already become a firm favourite, I wasn't sure Rowan would be able to strech across the whole mat, but I underestimated the strechiness and determination of a young boy! He is really good at it.

Then after all our shopping, the postman had delivered the lovely mallard green merino wool for Tris' hat, its sooo soft.

Pixies and New shoots, Is spring on its way?

I am loving this weather at the moment.  My desire to sort out the house is on hold as we enjoy the 5th day of dry sunshine in a row! 

The garden is starting to come back to life, bulbs are sending their green shoots up through the soil promising a riot of colour soon.  The camelia has loads of buds that are opening into beautiful pink flowers that we see whenever we look out of the window, and even some crocuses have opened into lovely purple flowers to greet us as we leave the house.

The kids and I have been outside at every opportunity, sorting and playing.  Tris has left a massive load of wood at the bottom of the garden which Rowan has declared is his big chunky horsey that we have to go and give breakfast to every morning!  Or sometimes its a climbing frame, a pig, or even a chicken.  I love the boys having big lumps of wood to climb over and let their imaginations run wild.

We have been digging the weeds out of the veggy patch and planning what we want to grow this year, we have also contemplated getting a greenhouse, but we think that may have to wait!

I am very excited at the prospect of getting some little seeds on the go, we are just waiting for Jack Frost to stop appearing then we can get going.  I must remember to get some early spuds in this year though, as I always say I will and I always forget, then my late ones always get blight!

Our rhubarb is coming back!

Tulpis in old boots!

Daffs, Camelias (part of the view out of the kitchen window)

Mmmm, Spring is most definatly on its way

Another busy day!

Saturday was a beautifully sunshiny day and we had lots of plans!  Tris was working again, so it was me and the boys.  Off to see Old Nan with our homebaked biscuits.  The boys tried to trash her bedroom after eating too many choclate biscuits!

Then off to Rowans preschool for a work day.  Rowan goes to a steiner based preschool for one day a week, which he loves. It is community run, so every so often all the parents get together and go and tidy up and sort out, whilst the kids play.  We put up a small polytunnel and tidyed sheds in the lovely sunshine.

Then we headed off to Rowans most favourite place in the world (well in Cornwall anyway!), Helston Skate Park.  He loves to take his balance bike and go up and down the small ramps.  It is quite amazing to watch as Rowan has always been very cautious about things (to the point of being over cautious sometimes), but when he gets in skate park he flies around!  We usually go in the week, when it is quite but it was Saturday and the sun was shining, it was BUSY!  But that didn't stop him or Reuben.

The look of joy on his face when in the skate park is something I want to treasure forever.

Both boys didn't care one bit if they were in a skaters way (many miffed young skater lads that day!), but Reuben started to take the mickey when he decided that lying face down, spread out on the ramps was great fun!!  HeeHee, I thought it was funny too!

Unfortunalty Rowan did come a cropper and had a boy on his scooter do a twisty thing straight into his face!  Ouch!  But he got straight back on through the middle of the park, but had also agreed that we only go there on school days when it is empty!

Worth it in the End!

A friend came around on Friday afternoon, we were both feeling really tired and not so great, but we had prevoiusly mentioned to the kids we may go for a walk.  Kind of hoping they had forgotten we sat down with a cuppa to be bombarded with children begging to go out on their bikes.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so we donned our wellies and got the kids bikes out and went walking and riding down the lane.  There is an old tramway that runs behind our house and across the top of the village, which is where we walk a lot.

Rowan is so confident on his balance bike now, I love to see him zoom off, legs in the air!

Reuben loves horses.  He spent ages on this gate saying in his little voice " Hello, horsey!"

Then he found the biggest, muddiest puddle he could find and splashed away!  Unfortunalty his wellies were drying out at home from when he went in the sea earlier in the week with them on! Wet feet again!!

After a lot of bargaining Rowan finally managed to convince his freind to swap bikes, he was well chuffed, hers had a bell!

They stopped here to look at the beautiful Gorse flowers and then started to pick them without getting prickled!

So in the end it was a lovely walk, the sun was shining, the flowers were starting to come out, the kids burnt of some of their amazing energy and we felt better too!