chalky fun

 Today we had lots of fun with Ollie’s chalk board. He has had it since Christmas but not really used it so I brought it out from his bedroom and got the chalks out for some fun.

 Ollie was enjoying being a proper little artiste!

 Next I used the side of a huge chalk to cover the board and Ollie dipped his hands in water and got to work. I must say he enjoyed this task the most.

 Notice that the handles have been taken off of our cabinet, it is the only way to stop that toddler!

 Cute little hand prints

Afterwards the hungry boy had meat (veggie) balls and pasta. Not sure he is ready to give Levi any tips on clean eating just yet!

lovely

 This morning I saw this tree painted on someones house in Leuven, I would love to do this on our house but I think the hubby would say nay to that idea!  Levi and I were spending a day out paying medical bills and doing a little shopping while Ollie was at creche.

 When Ollie returned from creche he was clutching a pretty flower (I think it is a type of lilac, but I am happy to be corrected, I would quite like to find one for my garden, it smelled gorgeous). Apparently he had picked it off a bush at creche and said it was for mama.

 This is the best type of gift.

 Thanks Ollie. Daddy got a couple of Dandelions from the lawn, which spread seeds everywhere when he picked it, Daddy got more weeds as his gift.

shadow inspiration

I have been having some fun with my camera and photoshop. Seeing these flower shadows gave me some ideas for future projects. I hope to get a better camera soon, although I rather like the grainy appearance of these pictures. I also love the muted colours.

Easter

 For breakfast I made these cool eggs. What a fab idea!

 Also, some hand-painted egg cups, I didn’t want to leave Levi out, but Daddy ate the extra egg. The supposedly permanent paint ran on the Dad one, so not sure how long these will last.

 The easter egg hunt was the best part of the day, Ollie was very excited by all the chocolate eggs. I was loving the little basket he made at creche. Not sure why he felt the dead daffodils needed to be collected too!

 Ollie seemed worried that we were going to take away his little eggs as he clutched as many as possible in his hands and guarded them fiercely.

“Don’t you touch my eggs Daddy!”

 Other news is that Levi is learning to eat. Something he is not finding too difficult, bless him

lunch under the confetti tree

I used to call these confetti trees when I was little, I would shake the branches so the petals flew all over the place and all over me. If there weren’t so many people walking around the gardens I think I would have done with this tree.

Levi and I sat on the bench and he had lunch.

So pretty!

Growing things….

 

 How lovely that after that cold cold Winter it has suddenly seemingly warmed up over night. After two years of mainly being pregnant and too tired to tackle the huge garden I am finally getting to grips with the things that need doing. That is slightly unfair as Carl is doing lots too, so that should be “we” are getting to grips with it. 

 I have, since last Autumn been composting all our fresh fruit and veg waste. One reason is that it seems silly to throw it all away when it can be used in the garden, it reduces the cost of our household waste too which is a big plus what with nappies coming from two under two.

 I am no composting expert but have attained a basic understanding from looking on line. Things I can and do compost are;

• uncooked fruit and veg waste
• egg shells
• used tea bags
• plant waste from the garden (I do not compost weeds though)
• Autumn leaves
• grass cuttings
• shredded paper

 I tend to put these in in any order and then every now and then Carl goes and turns it all over, see below.

 It is interesting seeing the amount of waste we create and how the compost bin seems to have hardly filled at all. When we used our green wheelie bin we created a whole big bin of waste every week that we had to pay to get rid of. So making something for free that will improve the quality of our plants is great. 

 There are so many things going on in the garden at the moment. We have just received three raised beds from here, a very appreciated Christmas gift, and plan to grow vegetables in them. I put one together this morning and it was shockingly easy. I cannot wait to eat something I have actually grown myself. We have all these seed packets waiting and it seems bizarre that they will become fully grown veg for us to eat! I will be eagerly taking pictures to document how get on.

Thankyou!

 A very big thankyou to Monika over at red 2 white for this lovely gift. This thankyou should have come earlier but I have spent a week with family in England and then had lots of distractions! I have already pinned the brooch to my denim jacket, it looks perfect! And I don’t think I will ever be able to use the soap, it will remain something lovely to look at!

 Go check out Monika’s shop, she is very talented and makes many varied and gorgeous things!

easy peasy play doh

 I recently found a recipe for play doh that you do not need to cook and it appealed immediately. The recipe was found here. I made a blue version for Ollie and he and Daddy enjoyed playing with it, although I am not sure who enjoyed themselves more.

 I mean, just look at that snow (ahem I mean play doh) man!

 The play doh in the top picture was made for my nephew Matty’s second birthday along with some rainbow crayons I made previously and a few other things.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it;

No-Cook Playdoh

• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 cup of  plain flour
• 1 tablespoon of Cream of Tartar
• 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
• I cup of boiling water (from the kettle) mixed with;
• some food colouring

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl (or food processor) and then mix vigorously with the hot water.

Makes wonderful playdough which lasts for ages in little plastic sandwich bags. I put mine in the fridge and it has lasted a few weeks already.

love and tissues

 I haven’t updated in a while so here are some things we have been making on and since Valentines Day. The first is a card to Daddy, We also cut out hearts, which Ollie scribbled on, then stuck them to the window so Daddy would see them when he came home from work, he loved that. Wish I’d got a picture!

 Both my nans have their birthdays in the same week in February so two matching Greatnan cards from the boys, made with some fabric scraps, I am trying to avoid too much wasting of fabrics.  

 Also, a couple of tissue holders for a couple of lovely friends, who are always in need of tissues!

Four

snow in the garden

 I was tagged by Floortje . The theme was ”four” and the aim; to show the fourth picture in my fourth folder. This picture was taken about two weeks ago when we had snow in January, it’s of our back garden. I was hoping it would be a really exciting picture, but this one is pretty, so which four people to tag?

Sinta

Fiona

Miss Ifi

Monika