A this and that post

The Christmas Eve Wishes blanket CAL started last Thursday.  I completed my first section over the weekend.  I was worried about working the bobble stitch on this section, I needn't have, the video tutorial was excellent and loved working them, the second photos shows the back of the work.  The second part will be released tomorrow morning, that week's gone so quick, it's the section with the snowflakes this week.

It's half term here this week, Jenny has this week off with the boys and Joanne has got the next three days off with Bonnie so I've only had nanny duties two days this week.  We went to the zoo on Monday, me Jenny and the four children.  The rain held off until we stopped for lunch and stopped again as we were finishing eating, so that was lucky.  Here are a few photos from our day.

(Bonnie has a blue tongue because she had just eaten a blue bubblegum lolly pop)

Yesterday Bonnie was here with me, (Jacob was at nursery).  She helped me in the garden getting all the leaves up, she filled a basket with acorns and a bucket with sticks and twigs, that saved my back from all the bending, lol.  The leaves have started falling very fast now, the garden was all tidy when we finished, well as tidy as it can be in Autumn, but when I looked out this morning you would never know I'd done anything!  It's a continual battle this time of year, I filled our green bin plus one bin liner yesterday, luckily we have six extra green bin collections, so disposal will be much easier this time. 

We've had roadworks in our street all week, they are replacing the gas pipes, what a mess! there is mud everywhere.  Apparently a leak was discovered in the road, guess who's house it was near?  Yeah, had to be mine didn't it!  Myself and a neighbour were without gas for four days because it was over the weekend, and they don't work weekends, apparently.  So they discovered it on Friday and told us, made it safe and it was then left until Monday.  I wasn't too fussed about the heating because it's still quite mild here, we have electric cooker and hob, so cooking wasn't a problem, it's not the weather to have freezing cold showers though , luckily the girls live quite close so we were able to go and have showers there.  They finally re-connected us yesterday morning.  We're not totally convinced there was a leak that wasn't of their making, if there is a gas leak you can smell it, and there was no smell before they started working.  Don't suppose we will ever find out for sure though.

They have filled the holes now, just waiting for the tarmacers to come and make it all good.

After two busy days I'm going to have an easy one today, all my daily jobs are done so I'm going to sit and have a coffee and catch up on some Vlogtober videos.  It's stitching group tonight, book club on Thursday and I have another class on Friday morning, which I haven't told you about but will soon, so a busy week all-round for a change. 

-X-

Easter Birthday

 Yesterday was Arty's 4th birthday.  Because of the Easter holiday he had his party last Saturday with his friends from nursery.  Jenny organised a forest school party at a local primary school for him.

All the kids seem to love forest school, they get to play in the dirty, build dens, hunt for bugs and generally have a great time getting dirty.

All Arty could talk about all week was his party and was really looking forward to it, unfortunately on the day he wasn't very well, he was sick just before and only played for a short while, his, daddy had to hold him while he slept for the rest of it.  

Bonnie and Jacob playing in the mud kitchen.

There was face painting, Bonnie couldn't have hers done because she had just got over chicken pox.

They got to toast marshmallows and eat them around the camp fire

Me and Jacob made giant bubbles, he was very impressed

And he got the hang of it and made some himself :-)

Getting small kids to all look at the camera at the same time is a nightmare, lol

Poor Arty missed out on all the fun waking, up just as it was all finishing

He did perk up enough to open the presents his friends had bought him once they got home

He was much better the next day, just one of those 24 hour bugs. 

Yesterday, on his actually birthday we went to the zoo.  Joanne was at work so I took Bonnie and Jacob, although yet again one of them was sick, this time it was Jacob's turn.  Poor thing only managed to get halfway round before he fell asleep and I had to call his daddy to come and get him because he woke up crying for his momma and seemed like he'd got a temperature, fortunately  the zoo is only a short drive from home so he didn't have to wait for long.  

Joanne ended up taking him to get checked out at A&E because he was really hot and very lethargic.  They got home around midnight, his temperature had come down and it was put it down to something viral.  She said he seems much better today.

Honestly, these kids are a constant worry to me!

The remaining three had a great time at the zoo, nanny was absolutely shattered though last night and has spent today recovering, lol

Wishing you all a Happy Easter

-X-

A wonderful day out

We gave the Mums and Dad's a day off yesterday and took all three grandchildren to the zoo for the day.   There is only nine months between Bonnie and Arthur so the practicalities of pushchairs and car seats and all the paraphernalia that small humans have means that I have never had both of them together.  My car isn't big enough to hold three car seats and two pushchairs so for our trip yesterday we did a car swap with Joanne as she has a seven-seater.

The weather was kind to us, it was warm but not too hot to walk round and the kids were really well behaved, we encountered no tantrums.  But it did take both me and Mark to look after the two little ones, they had reins on when they wanted to walk about,  but goodness they might be small but they are fast!!

The zoo is very close to us so they have all three been many times, Joanne has a yearly pass so they are pretty frequent visitors but they still enjoy seeing all the animals and we had a great time.

Bonnie letting Arty have a go at blowing her bubbles

Big brother giving telling him how it should be done :-)

Dudley zoo no longer has elephants just this statue which stands just opposite to where they used to live.

We saw the parakeets up close

And the Ring Tailed Lemurs - This one was quite happy to pose for several families to take photos before he thought he's done his bit :-) 

We saw the new cute baby camel

With his not so cute raggy mum!

We saw the chimps, which I still find very weird

 But Arty was particularly fascinated with

He was also in awe of the lovely gently giraffes 

But Bonnie wasn't so sure of the Sea lion - he was big, not sure you can see in this photo just how big he is.  He does look very much like a lion don't you think?  he even has the mane.

Isn't nature strange.

We had a picnic, which involved more running round after Arty than sitting down, lol

We took silly photos

And enjoyed ice creams

But I only managed to get one photo with all three of them together, just as we were leaving.

They each chose a stuffed animal from the shop on the way out, because you can't go out for the day without coming home with a treat, can you :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed our day with these three little people, they really are a joy, I love them so much, my whole world is in that photo above 💕💕💕 

I think the mums and dads had a good day too,  it's not often they get to have a whole day child free so they really appreciated it, although both of them said they didn't know what to do with themselves at first, lol

See you soon

-X-