FREE Printable Scavenger Hunt

It's half term. In my quest for fun, cheap things to do I came across this lovely blog. I've done scavenger hunts with the girls before (I really rate this one too) and they're a great way to get more out of a walk. They do enjoy it so I thought they would enjoy a listening walk but I decided to create them something visual they could tick off as we went. You can enjoy it with your children too as it's available to download at the end of this post. 

I shrunk the charts to A5 and stuck them on some thick card (pieces of cardboard boxes) together with little pencils on string. I should really buy some little clipboards, lol! We went on our usual walk down past school, via the playground and along the river to feed the ducks. Before we had even left the garden the girls were ticking things off. During the day there was some debate about whether we had really heard a bee or not but we managed to tick everything else off, even the sirens. We talked about the sounds, about how we heard them: we heard water because, "Mummy duck splashed it," said Big Girl! We talked about other things we could hear, you could maybe extend this activity for older children by getting them to write down the other sounds they hear, or even draw pictures to illustrate them?

Do let me know how you getting on on your Listening Scavenger Hunts.

 

You can download the Listening Scavenger Hunt here:

Summer 2013 in Our Garden

Last year we didn't spend a lot of time in our garden, almost none as a family. The weather wasn't great and it really wasn't easy with two six month olds. So Big Girl (aka Bambina) spent a of time out there with PJ alone while I stayed inside with the twins.

This year proved even more of a challenge as the Little Ones are now mobile and eat EVERYTHING and I mean everything! But I really wanted to spend time outdoors with them. Big Girl really loves it. So this is what we have done...

It cost us £35, although our neighbour did provide the four extra metal stakes that I didn't realise we would need. Each side of trellis netting is about 5m wide, too long for there not to be another support in the middle.

I was thrilled to buy about eight garden toys, some of which you can see here, on Ebay for £15 and to get a playhouse from the local paper for £30.

Add a sun canopy, purchased with Clubcard vouchers last year and a water table, Big Girl's birthday present from her grandparents and we are all set.

We have spent hours out there, with lots of playdates too! The fact that the Little Ones can't go digging in the flower beds, falling off the deck or tripping up on the patio means that I can manage on my own during the week. I even get to sit down sometimes!

My project for me was to plant out this wall. It's only occurred to me, after five years of living here to look under the stones. And I found, beneath a membrane, that there was pretty good soil. So once I removed the soil I just added a bit of compost to top it up. I bought heather and ivy plants and got two thyme plants delivered with our weekly groceries. I already had the lavender in a pot and I grew chives, aubretia and bellis perennis from seed. As well as colours that I like I am aiming to cover up the wall, which I hate, a bit! I am so pleased with the results. I am definitely going to do the other half next year.

Cake Competition!

Only mad women hoover and bake when it's 30 degrees plus outside. I am one of those women!

When I discovered that a cake competition was to be held at the summer fair where I use to work I knew I should resist the temptation to enter, not least because I have a lot of Dolly work on at the moment. But as the temperatures started to rise and I couldn't actually model the fondant without washing my hands every two minutes I really began to seem like lunacy.

Anyway, I did it. It wasn't as good as I had hoped. I was planning to make the tea set as cake pops sticking out the top of the cake. If you'd like to see the picture that inspired this idea and my other influences for decorating the cake have a look at my Summer Cakes board on Pintrest. The top tier is an Earl Grey Cake, the top, a Berry Bakewell.

I came joint third (out of six!) and won a £10 Lakeland Voucher for my troubles. Not too shabby. Have decided never to go pro though, far too stressful!

Why I love Sunflowers

By now I guess the fact that I love sunflowers is apparent. However I don't think even I realised it until I was planning our wedding. It then occurred to me that I have sunflower things all around me; mugs, a tray on my dressing table, artificial flowers in a large vase etc.

I think it started when I went to France at the age of 17 to stay with a fabulous french family (who I am still in touch with). They were feeding the fish belonging to some neighbours who were on holiday. These neighbours also had swimming pool and this pool looked out on to a stunning view of field beyond field, full of blooming sunflowers, as far as the mountains. We would swim in the pool and then go down to the bottom of the garden and pick fresh figs from tree. It was heaven, an experience which I am sure will stay with me forever.

So it seemed obvious that I would have sunflowers in my wedding bouquet, they're such a happy flower and I like colourful weddings, especially in summer. I think that's the reason I like sunflowers; their fantastic, vibrant, sunny colour and the fact that they make me feel cheerful. Above is sunflower from our garden a couple of days ago. This morning I've come downstairs and it's raining. It's little dark and gloomy. But this flower is now opened fully and it almost seems to be smiling, providing little splash of happy colour in our garden that makes me smile back.

Summer Shoes

Normally a big part of my start of Summer ritual is to get out my Summer shoes and put the Winter ones away. This year however, certain things, like the arrival of Bambino, mean that they didn't come out until quite recently.


But I am always struck when I undertake this task how many more Summer shoes I have than Winter ones, probably because I like them so much more. There tend to be more in bright colours, I think they're often more comfortable and since I favour sandal type shoes it feels great to be free of tights and socks.


The only thing is that despite being more comfortable not many of them are comfortable enough to be suitable for walking miles with a pram which is what I am trying to do at the moment. Quite frequently as well I grab for the nearest pair as we hurry out the door.


I shall have to make a real effort to make sure that all my favourites get at least one outing even if it's only in the back garden for the evening BBQ!!

Still Summer Lovin'!

Another great thing about Summer? Fresh herbs in the garden anytime I need them to cook with. PJ has really got into gardening this year. Earlier in the year before Bambino arrived he and my dad put up a new fence in our front garden. There was seat type thing in the front garden that we were going to throw out and then someone, I think it was my mum, suggested that maybe it could be a shelf for plants. PJ took it apart, sanded off the rust, sprayed it black and hey presto, a shelf for herbs which also looks really nice.

Last year he was really only growing chili plants but this year besides the herbs we have carrots, radishes, corn, courgettes, horseradish and lettuces. It's really nice to walk out into the garden after Bambino's bath and pick a lettuce for our dinner.


We haven't cooked in the house for weeks now, just too hot. Had another BBQ tonight!

Love Summer

It was very nice having Hubby at home yesterday. I did get a lot done, plants watered, picnic food purchased, toe nails painted but I did not manage to finish my skirt. Oh well, another day, another blog.


Speaking of blogs, I seem to be caught in a blog maze at the moment. I really love Little Birdie Secrets and they paste a lot of links to other blogs, and those blogs paste links to other blogs and so on... I've got a whole load of lovely crafty blogs bookmarked to get back when I get a spare five minutes.


Yesterday evening after baby had gone to bed we lit up the BBQ, we love to BBQ. In fact, like my parents, we don't use our oven a great deal in the summer if the weather is nice enough. I have been buying prawns on wooden skewers, ready to go on the BBQ from frozen but Hubby hates cooking them because the wooden skewers seem to catch light so easily. So when I was at the supermarket yesterday I bought some metal skewers and some raw king prawns that were on offer. There was a great recipe in my magazine but it called for sage and that's the only herb not in Hubby's collection (oh, that's another blog) so I used some coriander, olive oil, crushed garlic, the juice and zest of a lemon and marinated them for a few hours before skewering them. They were yummy! Dollop of mayo on the side of my plate (low cal sadly) and I was away...



Unfortunately my potato salad did not go down so well with Hubby. I like my potato salad a little bit creamy, not like the really crunchy stuff in supermarkets, but not so it's without a bit of bite either. So yesterday I cooked half the potatoes for 10-15 minutes longer than the other half so that they were just starting to disintegrate. Then added (more!) mayo, some chopped onion and some chives. I really liked it but I forgot that Hubby doesn't like mashed potato and it was too much like that.


So today we're all off for a picnic and it promises to be hot!