Father's day at the forest

On Friday, we made some secret cheese straws and dorchester biscuits for Andrew, however this was impossible for Isla to keep secret!

On Father's day, we went to Westonbirt Arboretum, where there was lots to do in the forest. We followed the play trail through the old arboretum after playing at the 'Exploratree' playground:

A pyjama morning

Today we had a bit of a lazy morning where Isla didn't get dressed until after lunch! We had fun at home as it was a rainy and windy day. We played at hairdressers, with Isla having her hair 'washed' and  'cut' and then 'blowdried' and also having some of her hair put up. She said that she doesn't like clips, but she does like hair bands. And she wanted an orange one today. After playing hairdressers, we made animals out of our new green play dough. We made a pig, a horse and a cow. Isla then made them some play dough pizza to eat. We also did some puzzles, drawings and shopping games. 

After lunch, we did some gardening during a brief spell of sunshine. We rescued some of our windswept plants by tying them to canes, and also hunted for any rogue snails and slugs as there were some bite marks on some of the plants. Isla reminded me to water the seedlings in our mini-greenhouse: four sunflower plants (three grown from cousin Harry's party bag seeds!) a spare tomato plant that unexpectedly germinated and a couple of nasturtium plants that Isla planted ages ago. Then we went off for a walk to the post box and to see the horse and sheep on the way. Isla climbed up the gate to get a good view of the animals, which she had seen her friend Charlie do last week. On our way back home, Isla found a wiggly worm on the pavement, picked it up and carried it with her all the way home. She said that she would have liked the blackbird in our garden to come and eat it from her hand. Instead, she put it in the soil in the garden and watched it wriggle about. She had to pick it up again though to show it to Monty and Charlie. We went inside before a really heavy rain shower soaked us.

Here are some photos of our lazy pyjama morning, with Isla showing off her new hairstyle:

Here is a video of Isla singing baa baa black sheep (a current favourite) to baa baa, whilst wearing a tutu and welly boots (baa baa is dressed as a fairy!):

Green

Here is a picture of Isla when she came back from pre-school today. She had green paint on her face and in her hair from painting octopuses:

We made some green play dough today as well, so today was a very green day! This afternoon, one of Isla's friends came round with a little gift of some sweets, so Isla ate her very first cola bottle sweet today and they played with the play dough together.

Yesterday we went to tumble tots where Isla enjoyed pretending to be an elephant and a giraffe and also climbing on the equipment. She did a backward roll for the first time, but wasn't too sure about it. She much preferred swinging on the rings (although she is very tall for them so has to lift her legs up!), jumping on the little trampoline and singing 'here we go round the mulberry bush'.

Puxton Park and chocolate biscuit cake

Last weekend we went to Puxton Park near Weston-Super-Mare. There was lots to do there for Isla. We met our friends there and spent ages in the sandpit, looking at animals, on the play equipment and on the soft play. Andrew got a friction burn on his arm on the soft play which is only just healing, but the two toddlers were unscathed by their adventures! We also had a lovely picnic in the sun as the weather was very nice.

On Wednesday, we went out for lunch with Isla's granny and grandad. Isla had a feast for her children's meal! After her food, she enjoyed sorting out the stones near our table, and doing some colouring in.

The rest of the week, we've been to Tumble tots which was really fun as Isla is in the next class up and has more activities to do. We also had some freinds round to play and went to pre-school which Isla enjoyed, as well as a trip to the local park one afternoon. We all went to the midwives as well, and she checked Isla's baby sister's position and heart beat. She has been hiccuping occasionally now, and one day jumped when there was a loud noise outside which was quite a strange feeling! Isla asked if her teddies will be her sister's teddies now and I explained that only if she wants to give her any of them. She said that she would like to choose a new teddy for her sister.

On Friday, Isla was ill in the night, and Andrew stayed with her all night long. She was talking a bit in the night, and was concerned about the medicine that we had put on the cats' backs a few days before. We had frontlined the cats to keep fleas at bay, and Isla must have been thinking about this that night!  She was poorly most of Saturday (Peppa pig on tv and her Cbeebies magazine helped her feel better), but was almost back to her normal self on Sunday again. We visited a local community farm on Sunday morning, where there were lots of animals to see, a few tractors, and (to Isla's excitement) a red cross transport vehicle that children could sit inside. We had a picnic in our garden for lunch.

Isla playing in the garden: She likes pretending that she is taking her various cuddly toys to toddler group or preschool in her little pink buggy!

We made chocolate biscuit cake this week: Isla was good at crushing up the biscuits!

She also enjoyed playing with (and eating!) the syrup:

The recipe was: Melt 150 g chocolate with 150 g butter and 2 large tablespoons golden syrup then add
200 g (ish) crushed up digestive or rich tea biscuits and put it in a lined baking tray and put in the fridge until set.


Visiting the pigs at the farm:

Playing at home:

Swimming in the garden

Last weekend we had a nice visit to Isla's cousins and enjoyed playing with them a lot. We went and had lunch in a farm shop where there was an unusual tractor and some animals to look at:

We have been out in the garden a lot this week, when it has been nice weather. Isla kept rushing off to Jura lodge and shutting the door - she was enjoying a sneaky drink from her toy cup and a munch on some bread we had put out for the birds!

We were lucky enough to have Natalie to stay this week for a few days. It was lovely to have her visit. Isla enjoyed having someone else to make playdough shapes with and to read books with! She has also learnt lots of new letter sounds with Natalie's help. We had some rainy spells, but still managed to go into town to show Natalie the sights. We had fun at the park, saw some swans being fed (I forgot our bread whoops) and also visited the library where we found so many books that we wanted to borrow, we exceeded our limit (whoops again). We fed a very friendly goat and some lambs on the way home. We visited the local country market during Natalie's stay, and tried some unusual beetroot bread there whilst admiring the locally made chocolate and cake stalls. We went home and made a chocolate cake ourselves.

We also made some 'Oaty Shortbread' from a Rachel Allen cook book. These biscuits were very easy to make, and tasty. Isla enjoyed eating the dough as well as cutting out some biscuit shapes:

On days when it was sunny and we could go into the garden, Isla had fun keeping up the maintenance of Jura Lodge by doing a spot of painting:

.......and playing hide-and-seek with my sunhat:

..... see-sawing, marjorie-dawing:

.......wearing daisy chain crowns:

....and trying daisy chain necklaces for size, before Natalie had to go home again:

Today we had a very busy and fun-packed day. Isla and her dad zoomed off into town and came back with, amongst other things, a lazy-spa! Isla told me that they had bought me a swimming pool, and sure enough it is an Isla-sized swimming pool. After lunch, and a nice sit in the sunny garden, Isla and I went off to her friend's birthday party where she enjoyed playing in a sandpit and riding on a toy tractor as well as eating some tractor-shaped birthday cake. By the time we got home, the lazy-spa was up and running so we all had a swim in the lovely warm water. The pool's main role will be to help with our possible home-birth of Isla's little sister next month, but at the moment it is very, very exciting for Isla to have a swimming pool in the garden!