February: the month of cake

In February, we've had lots of days playing outside at different parks, and had some days at home doing painting and sticking too. Evie and I have had a couple of mornings at toddler group, while Isla has been enjoying herself with her friends at pre-school. But mostly, we've been having lots of fun together.

This week there were ten chicken eggs in an incubator at the pre-school. A very exciting thing happened - they all hatched out into beautiful fluffy yellow chicks! Some of the children watched them hatch and they all got to hold or stroke a chick. Isla said that she was very brave holding a chick as it might have pecked her and that its feet were spiky. It was very exciting for her and the other children. She's also been learning about getting changed so she'll be ready for PE at school next year, and doing some letter games. This week the letter was 'w' for watermelon and witch! She brought her toy wand in to show her friends and did some amazing drawings. She brought home drawings of a chick, a robot with jet pack, and one of mummy too. Isla also told me how she had been a detective spy in the back garden there with a magnifying glass and spade for digging to find clues.

We celebrated pancake day with some friends over for dropped scones with syrup.

Isla and Evie were lucky to spend time with both sets of grandparents this month.

Evie has been saying some very cute words. She says Isla, Mumma and Dadda and Ba (Pob the cat), Baby and BaaBaa. It's all about the B's.

We took a trip on the bus into the city and sat at the very top of the double decker. Both girls loved this! 

Sorting out the shopping:

One of my birthday cakes (baked by Andrew and Isla):

Some after dinner dancing:

Another birthday cake! Cooked by granny Ilene. I had a brilliant birthday with my mum and dad to stay. We went to Dyrham Park for a trip on the bus and a run on the grass. There were lots of snowdrops out and we had a lovely cake and cup of tea in the cafe.

I made some new play dough. It was nice and squishy. I used a recipe from a website called Tinkerlab for this one.

We had a bit more snow one morning, but it didn't stay for long.

Doing some water painting:

I made some ice dinosaur eggs by putting dinosaurs in balloons, filling them with water and putting them in the freezer. The next morning, these eggs kept Isla and Evie occupied before the excitement of Isla's first swimming lesson.

 I made a mince pie. No not the Christmassy type but bolognese with puff pastry on top. This was really tasty and enjoyed by everyone!

The three ladies went into town together and stopped for a coffee. We bought Isla some more gloves, pyjamas and then she chose a book (Mungo Monkey goes to School by Lydia Monks) and a plastic wolf for her friend's birthday present. We went to have a look at the ducks and swans by the river and then went home.

Isla and Evie went to a birthday party yesterday and enjoyed little picnic dinner boxes and ice creams. They were lucky enough to receive brilliant party bags with glow sticks in them.

Today we went to Avon Valley Adventure Park. It was really good. There were lots of animals to see, stroke and feed. There was also a soft play area with a great little 'village' for pretend play and lots of outside play parks with trampolines too.

Pirates and gloop

The last couple of weeks we've been taking it in turns to feel a bit poorly. Isla is just starting to get over the bug now and Evie is almost back to her normal self. We've been doing a lot of things at home. Everyday we've been listening to 'Bend and Stretch' by the Sticky Kids which has Isla's favourite songs 'Funky Monkey' and 'Stir Up the Porridge'. She dances around the room to them and Evie joins in. Nursery rhymes are another favourite to put on - here they are both rowing their boats:

We've been out for a couple of walks nearby.

Andrew made a chocolate cake one weekend, then I made one the following week. Lots of cake beaters to lick. I also made a new chocolate mousse recipe from my Nigella Express book. It doesn't use raw egg and is very easy and delicious. 

Isla came back from pre-school one day to say that she hadn't been able to play with the gloop there because there 'weren't enough aprons'. So we decided to make some ourselves. It is just cornflour with some water added. It is really fun to play with because it behaves like a liquid and drips off your fingers but then if you squish it together it becomes like a solid. It was quite messy but fun too.

We did a few pirate things this week. Andrew made the chairs into a pirate ship and so this was a daily event, along with me being tic toc croc when Isla stepped off the ship! We also made a treasure chest and some chocolate treasure coins.

Isla made a cafe using the blocks and lots of little creatures:

We played a new game with the lego blocks. One of us had to make half a creature using the blocks, like a butterfly or ladybird. Then the other person had to complete the picture by finding the right coloured blocks and putting them in the right place.

I've been getting some ideas from nurturestore.co.uk, a website with lots of things to do at home with young children.  I've printed out snowflakes and other shapes to do a treasure hunt, which Isla loves. We made some yellow lemon rice by putting yellow food colouring and lemon essence in with some rice and then leaving it to dry. Evie played with this for ages in a big box with some spoons and tubs. Luckily our vacuum cleaner has finally been fixed so cleaning up was easy!

This morning we went to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. We had the double buggy so Isla could be pushed as she is still poorly. We saw some dinosaur skeletons, lots of fossils and different animals. I had a look around the 'BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year' exhibition there with Isla. Highlights were a colourful squid photo, turtles nesting, a hummingbird, and whale sharks.  There was a play area at the museum for the little ones to dress up which they both enjoyed. Isla completed a 3D jigsaw puzzle of a jug.