Wibbly wobbly jelly

We were still under snow this week, but today it has all melted away! It is a relief because it was quite tricky getting around on our untreated roads and pavements for most of the week. The village has bought a gritting machine but for some reason they don't do any of the streets around where we live, even though they are very slippy and lots of people use them. One neighbour cleared some of the pavement that goes past our house though. It was much easier to get about once we were out of the village. 

We went swimming this week, the first time in ages, and it was great fun. The pool was a bit chilly at 29 degrees but it was fine once we got splashing about. We had the pool to ourselves for a bit and Isla liked using all the watering cans, boats and floats that were there. She had her arm bands on and liked floating on her own most of the time when she was out of her depth. We went to toddler group this week, where we enjoyed seeing our friends and playing with the cars and baby dolls. At home, Isla has been playing with her trains a lot, and also plays with her big green tractor, gadget the robot and aqua doodle too. The reindeer we saw at Christmas time have made a big impression on her as she has been telling me about how reindeer like eating carrots and also bacon (!). 

Yesterday we went to a 2 year old's birthday party in a village hall. We wrapped up her birthday present before we went, and Isla said that Father Christmas was coming. The birthday party was great and we knew everyone there because they were all from Tumble Tots. There was a lot of soft play equipment out, including an inflatable ball pit, and there was lots of yummy food including jelly for the children to eat! There were even party bags at the end. All the children enjoyed the party very much!

Isla enjoying some snacks with the other children. They had strawberries, cheese, sausage rolls, crisps and grapes: 

Isla was the first to sit down for the food, and was still going when all the other children had lost interest and wandered off!

 

Isla enjoyed playing on a big soft see-saw and singing 'see-saw margery daw'. She also liked the slide and riding around on a squishy pig!!

Then it was time for dessert of orange and strawberry jelly. It was very funny watching the toddlers eating the jelly!

Andy Murray is leading in the 1st set tie break but who knows what will happen..... enough of my ramblings for now.

Pants and snowman building

Today Isla and I went on a shopping trip to buy lots of pants and socks. After the excitement of choosing pants, we both needed a nice sit down and some snacks. Isla helped eat the icing from my carrot cake, and tucked into the middle bits of some sausage rolls:

This afternoon, we made a banana loaf using a recipe from my Jo Wheatley cookery book. It smelt yummy and we're looking forward to eating some later on. Isla did some whisking and sieving with Raa raa observing:

While the cake was in the oven, we went into the garden and made an Isla-sized snowman:

As you can see from the photographs, it was starting to get dark when we were playing with the snow and a little while later it began snowing very heavily again so it looks like we'll have a lot more snow on the ground tomorrow. Monty was getting very excited again, a sure sign that there is more snow to come!

A faster sledging video

Here is another video of Andrew and Isla sledging, they were going soooo fast that it was tricky to keep them in the shot:

Lots of sledging

On Sunday there was still a lot of snow on the ground so Isla went sledging around the village!

Andrew and Isla went zooming down the snowy hills, both enjoyed it a lot!

Sledging video

Here is a video of Isla sledging:

Riding in the boat and building an igloo

This morning we went out with the buggy to feed our friend's cats, involving an exciting journey through the snow.

After lunch, we found the sledge and got Isla back into her snowsuit. While she was putting on her wellies, she could see the sledge in the garden and said she wanted to go in the 'boat' and so Andrew pulled her around on the sledge. She loved it! Perhaps this will be one of her first memories....my first memory is of being pulled along in a sledge on the way to take my brother to school when it snowed one year.

Andrew decided to build an igloo. Isla helped with some scooping:

An interlude to play 'peepo' in Jura Lodge:

The igloo is finished:

A bit small for Andrew:

Checking out the structural soundness of the new build:

Andrew demonstrating the structural soundness to Isla:

Still not sure about this igloo thing:

Finally in the igloo for a few moments:

More fun in the snow

Yesterday evening Andrew got home a little early from work because of the snow so had some fun in the garden with Isla.