Village day and some rainy walks

Last week we had a couple of lovely lunches out. We went to an American diner for a very loud lunch of hot dogs and fries with lots of onion rings, and also had lunch out with Natalie in a village pub when she came to stay.

Here is Isla at the diner:

At our local village day we enjoyed watching the procession of tractors and floats before looking at the stalls, admiring the dressed-up horses and vegetable competition entries (rhubarb as tall as trees and very long runner beans!) as well as riding in spinning tea cups:

It's been a rainy few weekends but we just put on our coats and went to the park anyway!

At home, Evie has been walking around carrying various things particularly felt tip pens. Isla has been playing doctors quite a bit, with puppy under a special blanket while he gets better. We planted some cress seeds in decorated egg shells and the cress grew quite quickly. 

We went to the outdoor playgroup again and had a fun 'snail' themed session. First of all we had to look for snails around the plants and collected huge quantities. Then we watched them moving along, and were told about snails having their mouth in their foot. We had 'The Snail and the Whale' as a story and then went to deposit the snails away from all of the vegetables at the other side of the park. After that, the children were given some clay and made snails and also had a snail picture to colour in later on. We had a nice snaily morning before having a sandwich at the park where an older girl demonstrated how to use a skipping rope to Isla!

We've been getting out in the garden as much as possible, although it's been colder and Evie is now into vests to keep her snuggly.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend we had quite a bit of rain but luckily Natalie was staying to keep us entertained. We went for a couple of walks, one to the river and one to collect blackberries much to Isla's delight.

The rest of this week we have mainly been messing about at home and going to the park. Oh, and we baked a delicious Devil's Food Cake which was yumtastic. And we have been visiting the library and reading lots of brilliant books including 'Alice in Wonderland', a book about pirate cats and a book about a pirate family. We have been doing some more crafty things too: Isla had a go at sewing and we made a small bag for her to carry home her various leaves and twigs she finds out on walks. We used one of Evie (and Isla's) old baby gros as fabric and were inspired by Red Ted Art.

We have also made a paper shark, and a big crab collage from painted lasagne pasta this week!

Craftiness

Last week we visited two different 'beaches' that have been set up for the summer holidays. Evie and Isla have been enjoying playing in the sand and making sandcastles.

Evie has been practising walking with any toys she can find. She has taken her first steps last week without holding on, but whilst carrying a big crab-shaped bag! Most days, she does a few steps unaided, but so far they have only been when she is outside. She has mostly done her unaided steps in the garden but also on the drive way and at the park.

After the weekend, it has suddenly felt like Autumn although it is still August! We have had rain which means that Evie's crawling and exploring outside has been on wet grass and tarmac but she doesn't mind. Isla has been making use of her new size 9 wellies which are a bit big but should last the winter.

We visited our toddler group this week after Evie's morning nap, and enjoyed playing with the push-along walkers and  trampoline, before our weekly adventure to Morrisons. We have been collecting free card games with the weekly shop. So far we have My Little Pony, Doc McStuffins, Planes 2 and Mickey Mouse card games and Isla and I have been enjoying playing them a lot. So it is ok to be a sucker for free gifts sometimes.

Two lots of friends have visited this week, both with Isla- and Evie- aged youngsters so that has been fun. Isla's been scooting down to the park when we haven't had friends visiting and sometimes met friends there too.

Today we visited a new playgroup. It is an outdoors playgroup  which turned out to be a nice relaxed time although it felt a bit daunting to be going somewhere new and with two little ones. After a story ('Where the wild things are' this week), a bit of a rumpus around the community garden, we all sat down to make monster faces on plant pots. Isla wanted horns, feet, arms, three eyes and a nose on her monster pot. She went off to put compost in the pot and sprinkle some seeds in (what will they turn into?!). We had some snacks and then there was play dough or water play all outside. Lots of nice like-minded people there including many breastfeeding mums with two children so we'll be back. Here is Isla's monster pot:

It felt a bit more summery this afternoon so we played in our garden at home:

Isla made a pretty collage using petals and leaves from the garden stuck onto sticky-backed plastic to go alongside her tissue paper collage of the other week: