Frog Pond - We love Weekends Blog Hop

After our finding tadpoles on our picnic last weekend we decided to make a small world frog pond. Firstly the table needed a good clean after being stood up for the winter. After tipping out the water & wiping away the worst of the algae with kitchen roll & anti-bac spray, I re-filled it & let the boys help me finish cleaning it with some old cloths. Another empty & refill & we were good to go.

Ewww yucky water table!

We then gathered our collection of plastic frogs (yes its growing) & I cut some lilly pads out of craft foam. The frogs had lots of fun in our 'pond' they even had a float on the lilly pads. They were then joined by some rocks to play on & some boats (came with water table from Argos). The boys had lots of fun & got very wet even with their aprons on. Joseph (4.5) is getting so tall that he now has to kneel to play. The water table was one of Daniels (now 3) Birthday presents last year.

We Love Weekends Blog Hop

A fellow UK blog What To Do With The Children is launching a weekly blog hop & to celebrate has asked several other blog's including Le Baby Bakery to join in. This will be the first blog hop or linky (as they are also known) we have co-hosted so let me know what you think & if you would like to see more. Why not check out the other blogs who are co-hosting:
Peakle Pie
Diapers-n-Heels
Lalymom

<div align="center"><a href="http://whattodowiththechildren.com/category/we-love-weekends/" title="What to do with the children"><img src="http://whattodowiththechildren.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/we-love-weekends-button-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="What to do with the children" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Its a place for other bloggers to link up with ideas of all kinds and information they think you might find useful or just for a good read. Anything goes on We love weekends, so if you are a blogger please feel free to link up a post & grab the above button if you'd like. And if your a follower, crafter, or reader please take a look at all the wonderful ideas being linked up. Bloggers love comments so if you like a post a comment is always appreciated. If your not a blogger but would like to share your fun ideas or what you are up to this weekend, please leave a comment on this post.

Our Family Holiday - At Butlins

 

The day after Daniels birthday party, we all packed up & headed off to Butlins - Minehead. Crazy going the day after the party, but it meant that Nanny was already up from Devon to look after the cats, rats & fish. She also manages to make my home look all sparkly & new, thanks Mum!

The first 2 days we had glorious sunshine, however the English weather returned to the status quo of could & (some) rain! It didn't spoil the holiday though as there is so much to do inside, however the early evening we spent in the pub garden whilst the boys played in the park was nice.

Whilst we were away it was Daniels actual Birthday, he had a great day swimming & enjoying the rides & shows. In the evening we ordered the party package so or dinner table was decorated, he had a card from Billy Bear & a cake. This really made the day special & was worth the £14.99.

There was so many great things on resort, that we didn't get around to going on the beach until after the weather had turned. We did however find a dry (if a little windy) morning to visit the beach. Joseph (4.5) really loves everything to do with the beach so was in his element.

The same day the 2 (much older) girls who were in the apartment opposite us had also been on the beach & had collected rocks, shells, old coins, a toy solider & they had even caught 3 crabs (2 were tiny). They invited the boys to take a look before they took them back to the sea. They were in a washing up bowl & it was like a sea sensory box. Both boys loved this & enjoyed holding & watching the crabs, it was hard to tear them away.

They also enjoyed watching the Skyline Gang shows & were really thrilled to be able to meet some of them after the show. Daniel was to shy to go up to Candy (pink one), possibly because she was a girl!

Being on the go everyday really tired he boys out & even though they were in bed by 7/8 each night & slept well, its going to take them some time to recover. It was a really great family holiday & we are already thinking about booking again.

x Jo x

P.s. If you would like a more detailed review of Minehead Butlins why not check out Mummy Mishaps recent post.

Swans, Tadpoles & A Picnic

 On Fridays the boys go to pre-school just for the morning. Normally I pick them up & we go home for lunch. As the weather was looking good I thought we would take advantage & go for a picnic. 

I quickly packed a lunch before going to pick them up, I only had 15 mins so no time for anything fancy!

Ham sandwiches, seafood sticks, grapes, cucumber & a packet of wotsits for the boys to share. I'm having to be very good at the moment & stick to my Slimming World plan 100% after gaining 3.5lbs at Butlins (post to follow about our holiday).

Daniel was obviously tired after pre-school...

We went to a local nature reserve, the boys probably would have chosen one of our parks however I find the play equipment soon distracts them from their food! Even though the sun was shining on us, the wind was chilly, hence the coats.

After we had finished our lunch, we went over to feed the 'ducks'. There weren't any ducks today but a slightly over friendly swan came over to eat our bread. I think I saw the other one sat on a nest in the reads. Then along came a family of coots, daddy, mummy & 4 fluffy babies. Both Joseph (4.5) & Daniel (3) loved the babies & thought the were 'very coot'.

Next we went along the 'bridge', which is more of a raised walkway over some boggy grass/pond area. This area is perfect for frogs, so we went looking for some tadpoles.

 We saw a few here & there & it wasn't until the very end that we found a whole cloud (thanks goggle) of them. They were right at the edge which gave the boys a good view. I did get asked the question 'can we take one home?' so we might think about getting some frog spawn next year...

x Jo x

Daniels 3rd Birthday - Racing Car Party

Daniel requested months ago that he would like a racing car party, he loves Rory The Racing Car & Disney Cars. He also loves just playing with cars in general.

I found lots of great ideas on Pintrest for Daniels birthday party & wish that I could have used them all, however as well as wanting to spend a fortune, time was also limited. So in the end we made:

• a large road / track from masking tape
• road signs from wrapping paper tubes
• traffic light jelly
• car shaped biscuits
• colouring station

(click on links for more details)

We were very lucky that we were able to set up in the hall the night before. So after getting the boys to bed & making sandwiches with help from my husband & mum, I set to work on creating the masking tape road. I made sure that all the tables & chairs were in place then went as big as I could. The zebra crossing  went down well, with kids using it to cross. I think the dashed line in the middle really adds to the effect, however when it came to packing up time my husband really wished I hadn't gone to the effort!

We were able to use the toys belonging to the toddler group at the hall, so used all of their ride-ons & cars, with a couple of ours as well. We also borrowed their car play mats & garage, to set up a quieter corner.

Colouring station (later turned in to the eating table)

The boys stayed at our house with Nanny while I was setting up & were so excited & surprised when they came in! I think they would have been happy with the party had it just been them!

When Daniels friends arrived they all joined in. For the most part they all played on the road, with a few breaking off to colour or play with the garage. We had to tear them away to play pass the parcel.

We had a morning party 11-1 so the boys wouldn't be too tired, but it also meant that by 12 everyone was ready for the food. After eating the kids all went back to the cars & I got our bubble maker out for the last 5 minutes (only because i had packed it, not because they were bored).

Daniel & his best friend enjoying the food

I cheated & bought the cake from Asda

I think home time came around too soon for everyone, especially Joseph & Daniel. Tho the party bags did help to soften the blow.

I enjoyed Daniels party, only having 12 kids helped keep it quite calm & having a theme made planing easier. I also really liked that it was early in the day meaning we had the whole afternoon to enjoy & leftover party food for tea!

Now to start planning Joseph's 5th birthday, he has requested a Halloween party...

x Jo x

P.s. I'm happy to answer any questions, please leave a comment & I will get back to you ASAP

Road Signs - For Daniels Party

For Daniels racing car birthday party I spent ages scouring pintrest for ideas, I loved these road signs so saved up my wrapping paper tubes from Christmas. I attached them to some boxes by cutting approx 1" up the tube all the way around then used duct tape to secure. It this point I painted them using the boys ready mix paint. My husband then took one look at my slightly wonky sign posts and said that they would fall over (I secretly agreed) & that I should have cut a whole in the box to push the tube through before taping! Along with some cursing, this is what I did along with some hot glue for good measure. 

For the crossing sign I tried using white paint on the stripes however it didn't cover very well even after 2 coats, so I ended up using double sided tape to attach white paper. I really wish that I had made my stripes thinner so I could have fitted a couple more on. 

To make the signs I used goggle images to look for the signs I wanted then used word to stretch them as big as I could fit on a4 paper. I then printed them out twice so that they would end up double sided. I then used prit-stick to glue them on to some cereal box card & once cut out some double sided tape to attach to the post. For the traffic light I used a large orange juice carton, again painted black & stuck on circles of coloured paper. To attach it I used my original method of cutting the tube & duct tape, this time with some added hot glue for good measure!

For Daniels Easter bonnet we had used craft foam to look like grass & tissue flowers. As I was looking to re-home the bonnet from the shelf in the kitchen, I took this opportunity to re-use it as grass at the bottom of a couple of the signs. On the party day I added a yellow balloon to the top of the crossing sign, to look like a light on top. I used double sided & normal tape, it only lasted about 20 mins before it kept falling off, so I wouldn't bother again!

I'm really glad I made the effort to make the signs as they really added to the overall effect. We left the signs at the hall for the toddler group to enjoy & they are still going strong a couple of weeks later!

x Jo x

Car Shaped Biscuits

So to go with the traffic light jelly, I made these yummy car shaped biscuits. As I cheated & bought a Lightning McQueen cake from asda, I felt something home made was required! I bought the cookie cutter from e-bay a while ago, it came from china so was really cheap but did take a while to arrive. I was originally hoping to use the cutter for sandwiches at the party, like the ones I made for the boys letter C lunch, however it would have been to waste full as I could only get 1 car from each slice of bread.

Having never made biscuits from scratch before, I made a couple of test batches to make sure they would turn out ok. Firstly I used this sugar cookie recipe, even though I let it chill in the fridge the mix didn't firm up. I either made a mistake when measuring or my American measuring cups that I found on e-bay ain't very accurate. The mix was so soft it as impossible to transfer a cut shape, so in the end I just used my fingers to make round biscuits. These actually tasted amazing, the boys couldn't get enough of them, so I will defiantly make them again.

Then I tried this no egg sugar cookie recipe. As its a UK blog I was more confidant about getting the measurements right. I was a bit worried at first as the mix was very firm & crumbly however after some kneading it formed a ball It was so firm after the recommended 30mins chilling time, I had to let it get back to room temp before I could roll it out. With plenty of flour (from my new flour shaker, its the little things!) the car shapes were easy to cut & transfer to a baking sheet. These biscuits also tasted amazing & the boys loved them even more due to the shape. They were very pleased to find them in their pre-school lunch box.

So this was the recipe I baked a couple of days before the party. I decorated them the next day half dipping them in melted chocolate & using chocolate buttons & smarties to make the wheels. I saved the greaseproof paper from baking them to put them on whilst the chocolate was setting (a few minutes in the fridge). I needed quite a bit of chocolate so that it was deep enough to dip the biscuits in. I had enough left over to make 8 chocolate cheerio cakes!

x Jo x

Traffic Light Jelly

After seeing traffic light jelly on pintrest, I knew it would be perfect for Daniel's party. I found these clear plastic ups at Stax, as lots of places I tried only had white in a small size, so i snapped these up when I saw them! My Mum wasn't convinced that I would have any success in layering my jelly & I was a little worried after several trifle fails in the past. So here are my top tips for layering jelly:

• Make Jelly slightly stronger than normal (approx 7/8ths of a pint)
• Let it set for at least 3 hours before adding another flavour
• Let the Jelly get to room temp before pouring it on to a set layer
  
  
  
  

  

  Joseph enjoying his jelly

I made this jelly the day before the party & was really pleased with the effect. If I was to make these again I would add a little green food colouring  to the lime jelly as the green was a bit pale. Also while looking for the original idea on pintrestto give credit (which i cant find!) I saw that someone used custard for the middle layer!

It went down well at the party, but the boys were pleased that there was a couple left over for them to enjoy at home. I will be posting more details from Daniels 3rd Birthday party soon.

x Jo x

P.s. Don't forget to enter our giveaway.