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.

Scones, walks and some DIY

The sun has been shining this week, so we have been out and about a bit more. Isla and I have been getting back into our usual activities and have also had lots of our friends over to play.

Isla loves her big nursery rhyme book that her New Zealand Great Aunt and Uncle brought her before Christmas. She loves listening to nursery rhymes on the computer and finding them in the book. She especially likes 'Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle' and 'The Wheels on the Bus' and gets very excited when she hears a rhyme from the book on the computer. Isla has started singing rhymes a lot too, especially 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' and 'Wheels on the Bus' again and any new songs we've learnt at Tumble Tots. She does very cute hand movements to the songs too! Here she is looking at her nursery rhyme book:

Isla gives Pob the cat lots of attention, with cuddles (or 'cuggles' in Isla-speak) and for toy-balancing games:

This week we have been for lots of walks around the village.  We often walk to the shop using Isla's back-pack reins. 'A that' is her favourite saying at the moment and she likes asking what everything is that she sees when we are walking. 

We baked some scones this week, and then ate them with raspberry jam and cream!

Isla opened up Jura Lodge for the New Year! It was great to be in the garden again on a sunny day. She found her duck watering can once more too.

This weekend, Andrew and Isla did some D.I.Y. They built some shelves for our living room. The shelves also doubled as a climbing frame while being built.

Visiting the Reindeer

This week, Isla has had lots of fun visiting reindeer at the local garden centre:

No, not those ones!! REAL reindeer:

They were called Moonbeam and Starlight, so don't think they are the ones that actually pull the big man's sleigh. They were very nice though. The garden centre was very exciting because of all the Christmas lights to look at. There were also some tractors to play on:

After our trip to the garden centre, we travelled on to have lunch with Andrew at Pizza Express.....mmmm yum! With pudding.

Also this week we visited Isla's Granny and Grandad at their house but the camera was out of battery so no photos from us :( Isla loved their Christmas tree, especially the boat and the little wooden santas. We spent quite a bit of time taking the decorations on and off the tree and admiring the lights. We also played with cars and duplo trains. Isla fell in the car box at one stage, which was a bit traumatic. It is a big car box. We had a delicious steak pie for lunch........yum again! We are doing well with lunches this week.

The rest of the week, we have been to toddler group and also playing in the garden with the cats:

This morning Isla helped her daddy to make some pizza dough and also some gingerbread men, owls, christmas trees and stars. They are very impressive. Isla got distracted halfway through by the grapes in the fruitbowl next to her and gorged herself. She certainly has her father's grape gene.

Cakes, Carpets and Cats

Hello!
This weekend we have mainly been getting accustomed to wearing lots of clothes again and also getting our house ready for new carpets.

Isla has been helping with sweeping up again:

Look at the tiny peppers we get in the UK! Half the size of Spanish peppers but a lot shinier. Feeling slightly shocked at the cost of veg back here in the UK too.

Today it rained a lot. But we picked all of the red tomatoes, which taste delicious.

We also picked a courgette to have for lunch.

(Not sure why watering cans are necessary at all times when in the garden......! Duck shaped watering cans are especially useful of course.)



While Andrew was finishing pulling up the carpets and woodwork painting (tasks that toddlers and cats make soooo much more challenging), we made some cakes.

Eating the courgette and tomato tart with no stairs or hall carpet:

Cake eating and helpful (!) cats:

Giant Marrows!

We're back home again after a great holiday!  Isla is very pleased to be back with the cats and rediscovering all of her toys.  She was particularly happy to see her cuddly sheep as she was asking for 'Baa baa' a lot while we were away! 

A huge marrow had grown in the garden while we were away and there are lots of red tomatoes too.

Here are some photos from our last days in Spain: