Fun at the Museum

On Sunday afternoon we took the Podlings to Brampton Museum in Newcastle-under-Lyme. This is a sweet little museum which the children always enjoy. They love the toy gallery the best, with it's collection of old toys, dolls and teddies. Alex was in Heaven admiring the collection of toy cars and he also loved the toy farm display, pointing out all the animals by telling us the noises they make. Emma loved the dress-up box and was particularly fond of a magnificent red velvet affair, by far the prettiest dress in the box. There was another little girl just waiting for the dress as soon as Emma took it off! They had a lovely play in this area and then spent some time deciding how best to dispose of their pocket money in the gift shop.

Pocket money duly dispatched, we went over to the aviaries outside to see the birds before taking the Podlings to the play park. It was a cold day, so we had the park to ourselves. The Podlings enjoyed the fresh air and we enjoyed tea from the Thermos and the biscuits I had brought along. I loved today. Days like this are what it is all about!

"Car! Choo Choo!"

Love my boys!

Lily showing us her gift shop purchase, a pretty butterfly toy.

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Valentine's Day

I love to celebrate Valentine's Day with the Podlings each year. Love takes many forms and I don't see why Valentine's day should be solely about romantic love. As usual the Podlings each came down to a basket of Valentine's treats and as usual we ended the day with our now traditional Valentine's tea. Our day took a slightly less than traditional turn in the middle when Lily had to spend much of the afternoon in the local NHS walk-in centre because she pushed too hard with a cotton bud when cleaning her ears! We were worried she had perforated her ear drum, but luckily there was no harm done.

Funnily enough, the only reason I let her clean her own ears now is because of a separate incident a year or two ago. Lily had a stick pushed into her ear and had to spend another afternoon at the same walk-in centre because we thought she had perforated her ear drum then too. She is now so sensitive about her ears that she won't let anyone else near them. She is usually so cautious when cleaning her ears, we just don't know what happened! Poor girl!

Emma and I made heart-shaped fairy cakes whilst Lily and her Daddy waited to be seen, but the girls decorated them together just before we had tea. Not quite the way we had planned to spend the day, but that's life with children for you!

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