Royal Wedding Picnic

I wasn't sure whether we were going to get involved in Royal Wedding celebrations, but my Sis invited us over for the day and when we arrived there was Union Jack bunting, flags and napkins everywhere. It was brilliant! She has the most wonderful house and garden and the children had a great time playing with their cousins. They had a very British tea of fish and chips.

On the way home I asked them what their best part of the day was and they said playing on the trampoline.

We all got very excited when pictures of the cake were published as my Sis is married to Fiona Cairns' brother. Actually, I can't believe we weren't all invited, maybe our invites got lost in the post, that must be it!

J and I visit Cornwall

Before I had children I was pretty certain I would be the kind of parent that regularly took weekends away without the children. I'd also still go out, still go to the cinema, still spent Friday nights out with friends. In other words, my life would be pretty much the same just with children. Fast forward 4 years and 3 babies later and visits to the cinema are an annual event, Fridays nights are spent at home and for the first time in I Can't Remember How Long, J and I have just spent 2 child-free nights in Cornwall. My life is pretty unrecognisable to how it was before children and I love that having a family has revealed a different me to the one I was before.

J and I went down to visit Gypsy's Splatt, of course, which needed a clean and clear out. My heart always skips a beat when we first see it through the trees. We spent two days cleaning all the woodwork and sorting through the furniture. Look what we found nesting in a set of drawers.

Here's an inside picture of the bedroom which is now clean and mouse-free, but still needing a bit more work. We are going to replace all the window frames and perhaps give it a lick of paint.
We managed to fit in a walk along the coastal path - I'm a bit scared of cliff edges, as you can see.

I hope everyone enjoyed the lovely weather and it stays lovely and sunny and fog free for the rest of the weekend.

Bluebell Woodland

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We woke to sunshine and blue skies, a perfect day for strolling amongst bluebells. We spent the afternoon in Prior's Wood, which was breathtakingly beautiful, with carpets of bluebell and wild garlic. We stopped for a picnic by a wooden bridge over a bubbling stream. Today was one of those rare, perfect days when all the children were happy, the sun shone and the soundtrack was birdsong and Z and E's laughter. It seems to me that after a long and bleak winter, Spring this year has been especially lovely. You can find your nearest bluebell wood here. Go visit!

Egg Carton Daffodils

Today we made a basket of cheerful daffodils to give to my parents when we visit over Easter. They were really simple to make, using an egg carton, paint, pipe cleaners, green garden sticks and floral tape. I cut the egg carton into two different shapes, one with long sides for the petals and a short one using pinking shears for the trumpet. Z set to work painting them yellow and orange. You can see the different shapes here - E sat the whole thing out and instead indulged her love of pink by mixing red and white paint and marvelling at the result. I wrapped about 2cm of the end of a pipe cleaner in floral tape which Z also painted orange. Once everything was dry we stacked 2 sets of petals and an orange trumpet and used a skewer to make a small hole in the bottom. The pipe cleaner was threaded through, leaving the orange end sticking out of the petals and I wrapped the other end around the green garden stick to secure the flower. We used floral oasis in the basket so the flowers stood up and covered it with bark. Z was sweetly excited at the end and I suspect he was a little unconvinced up until that point as to how they'd turn out.

Chocolate Brownies

Spring sunshine how we love you! We made brownies to celebrate the start of the holidays. This receipe makes them just the way we like them - crisp on the outside, gooey in the middle. No nuts to be seen.

Ingredients 300g dark chocolate (in small pieces) 300g unsalted butter (cut up into pieces) 150g plain flour 5 eggs 400g caster sugar 1tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp baking powder pinch of salt 30g cocoa powder Method Heat oven to 180c Grease and line a 20 x 30cm baking tin Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and remove from heat Place eggs, vanilla extract and sugar in a large bowl and mix until pale and fluffy. Add the chocolate mixture Sift all the other ingredients into the same bowl and fold in using a metal spoon until smooth Pour into the tin and smooth the surface Bake for 30 - 35mins (or until crust has formed on top and it is firm on top) Once it has cooled remove from tin and cut into small pieces.

Easter Bonnet {school project}

Me: There are lots of things you can make to decorate your Easter Bonnet - flowers, chicks, grass, eggs, feathers, birds' nests. What would you like?

Z: All of it.

Birthday Wish List

Photo from Beg Bicycles

Despite all it's hills, we're pretty big on bikes here in Bristol - it was the UK's first cycling city and is the home of Sustans, a charity that promotes sustainable forms of transport nationwide. My birthday isn't for another 6 weeks but I am in LOVE with this leather cycling satchel . It's £145 and available from Beg Bicycles, who have a beautiful website selling traditional bicycles, hand-built in Beligum. Having had 3 bicycles stolen over the years I would be petrified about leaving any of their bikes chained outside but the bag is beautiful and comes with detachable backpack straps for carrying when cycling.