World Book Day 2016

Here are my motley crew dressed for this year's World Book Day. There is always much deliberating before the day as to which character they should choose. I'm rather strict about choosing characters from books or stories, much to Tom's chagrin. I tell them it is World Book Day, not World Fancy Dress Day!

Lily quickly decided she wanted to be Robin Hood and I rather cheated and bought her costume. Emma eventually chose Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a story she loves. I read the original book to them a year or two ago and Emma also has a couple of picture book versions of it. Of course, we also enjoyed the film, but she wore the traditional silver shoes of the book instead of the more commonly recognised ruby shoes of the film for her costume. I made her pinafore from a pretty charity shop find and the rest of the costume we put together from what we had at home.

Tom finally settled on James Bond at about eight the night before World Book Day. He couldn't think of what he wanted to be, so I suggested he wore his suit with one of his Daddy's bow ties and went as James Bond. Thankfully he agreed to this, although obviously he has never read any of the books (or seen the films for that matter). We were just grateful to have settled on a costume! They all had great fun at school on the day (Lily's bow and arrow were a big hit!) and all the children were in high spirits when they came home.

My pretty little Dorothy

There's no place like home!

Feared by the bad, loved by the good...

007

Alex wanted in on the photographs!

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.

.

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!

.

January Snaps

Just a few random photos from January, because I don't want to forget these moments

A Birthday Tea for Nanny

My parents came to stay with us for a week and we were able to celebrate my mum's birthday with her whilst they were here. The girls made and decorated a pretty cake for their Nanny and we enjoyed a lovely birthday tea together.

Happy Birthday Mum!

We love you!

Lily and Emma enjoyed making and decorating Nanny's birthday cake

Somebody couldn't wait for the party to start!

Our Star of the Week

Little Emma was over the moon to be her class Star of the Week this week. She has been wanting it for so long, and this week she finally had her chance to bring Barney Bear home to spend the week with us. She was a very happy girl! Barney was a good sport and didn't object to being dressed in a tutu and enjoyed meeting the rest of the family. He got to spend the weekend at Nanna and Grandad's house with us, got taken to the cinema and even got to play in the snow. Emma had such a lovely week with him. On his last night with us, I put together a teddy bears' picnic to surprise Emma when she got home from school. It was a lovely way to end her special week with the much-loved class teddy bear. She was so sad to have to give him back!

Well done on being Star of the Week, Emma!

We are very proud of you!

A surprise teddy bears' picnic for our little Star of the Week

.

Alex in the Snow

We have been poorly served for snow in the past couple of years and this winter has proven particularly disappointing. We awoke to a light dusting of snow this morning which was barely enough to cover the ground. With the older three at school (much to their dismay!), I thought I would take Alex outside to see what he thought of it. I dressed him up in a snowsuit that was too small and some snow boots that were too big and we took a stroll behind the house.

He really wasn't sure what to make of it and seemed quite confused that everything looked so different. He was particularly funny when he noticed the snow accumulating on the top of his boots. He had been quite pleased with his new boots when I put them on and was most distressed that they were getting dirty. Alex likes things nice and neat and gets upset when his hands are dirty, so to find his lovely new boots getting covered in this peculiar white stuff was mildly distressing! Nothing a little reassurance from Mummy couldn't put right. We didn't stay out for long and by the time we picked the others up from school later in the day it had mostly melted. At least we managed our little walk in the snow first.

Probably looking at his boots

Pointing to the snow on his boots!