I had a conversation with Elliot as he lay in bed this evening:
Me: Are you all nice and cosy Elliot?
Elliot: Yes mummy. My hair is cosy.
(Silence)
Elliot: Your hair is brown. Don’t worry, Mummy
Having a 2 year old is fab!
Radio silence…
Apologies dear reader for the radio silence from this end. Things have been somewhat busy the last few weeks over here.
Normal order will be returned shortly. In the meantime I wanted to tell you about the BEST DAY EVER I had last Friday.
I don’t work on Fridays, and spend it instead looking after Elliot. Together we had great plans for last Friday and had invited an NCT friend (and his mummy) over for a day of gardening, baking and general merriment.
The boys absolutely loved the gardening – got really stuck in (literally) to planting seeds and watering. I had bought a watering can for Elliot the day before and I have to admit that it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever got for him. He loves it.
We planted sunflowers, pak choi, radishes, courgettes, butternut squash, onions, peas and salad leaves. (now it’s just up to mother nature to get them to grow, oh, and of course Elliot and his watering can!)
After a lovely lunch where both boys ate amazingly well, we made gingerbread men (recipe below) and they decorated with chocolate bits and raisins. Then they made cress heads. Elliot seemed very pleased with his!
After a well earned nap, we took the boys to Cogges Farm where they had one of their own gingerbread men, and then fed the goats, sheep, and chickens. They also FINALLY worked out how to go down the slide there on their own. Our little boy is growing up!
Anyway, if you’d like to taste some amazing gingerbread men (or men, rabbits and teddy bears as we made) then why not try this recipe:
350g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
125g butter (use the proper stuff rather than margarine!)
175g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
To make, firstly mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon in your trusty food processor. Add the butter and blend until mixed in, then add in the sugar.
Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes (or the time it takes to make a cress head!)
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Get out two baking trays (I guess you could line them but we didn’t!)
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them. Then invite your child to add raisins, chocolate buttons etc to decorate (honestly think more of these went into the child than onto the gingerbread men, but fun was had so that’s the main thing!)
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. Ta da!
P.S. There’s still time to vote for me in the Family category of the Brilliance in Blogging Awards. I’d be so pleased to make the finals. Thanks so much! Voting closes on the 12th May.
What your fb status says about you
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a plea on Twitter from the lovely Aimee (Horton, over at Pass the Gin) asking for people to test out her new book.
Never one to turn up an offer for a free read, I jumped at the chance and was promptly sent a copy of Survival of the Ginnest.
I read it in one sitting. Honestly. It had me hooked. Written in a really interesting style, totally through Facebook statuses, I found myself wanting to add a comment myself, and kept looking for the ‘Like’ button!
In short, the book tells the story of four years in the life of Dottie Harris – quite a life changing four years in all honesty, as she goes through two pregnancies taking her from a girl about town, coping admirably with working with a hangover, to yummy mummy of two and the joys(!) that her new role brings along with it. It’s a journey that lots of mums can relate to and I think the book will appeal to anyone who likes a quick read between their children’s bath time and their own bedtime!
I think what I enjoyed most is the kind of abstract voice you get if you literally just look at one person’s viewpoint on what is happening in their lives – exactly what you get if you look at someone else’s (or indeed your own) social media status updates. It can often tell a story all of its own and that is what Aimee has managed to do in this book. It’s like listening to one half of a conversation, and I had great fun making up the other half in my own head as I was reading.
I’d recommend you head over to Aimee’s blog and take a peek!
Survival of the Ginnest is available NOW in e-book format on all digital platforms and their website shops including Kindle, ibooks, Nook and Kobo, and is priced at just £1.99!
P.S. I have received no payment for this post, I just honestly loved the book – call it helping out a new virtual friend 🙂
My favourite place to just be…
This weekend we went for an early morning walk to Blenheim Palace – handily about 10 minutes away from our house. This is where Elliot and I spent the vast majority of my maternity leave 2 years ago (the victoria sponge is AMAZING, and don’t even get me started on the chocolate brownie…I do credit this as my sole reason for not losing baby weight quite as fast as I had wanted!)
Anyway, whilst walking this weekend I took this picture of my boys in the early morning sun, down by the lake:
It reminded me of one that I took on our very first visit to Blenheim with Elliot when he was a few weeks old in early 2011. Here he is, in the same spot, cosily wrapped up in a bear suit and the Baby Bjorn:
I love this place.
I made it through the highs and lows of the first year as a mummy here, with the help of some of my nicest friends (my NCT group) as we met each and every Thursday come rain or shine for pretty much an entire year.
Elliot made friends here too. From the time when all the babies would take it in turns to wake up for feeding and we began to wonder (through that tired-new-mummy fog – remember that?) if they’d ever actually be awake at the same time, to the times when two or three of them finally were awake enough to meet each other. From them rolling over in the grass and taking tentative first steps, to enjoying first tastes of summer picnics on lazy afternoons.
Now we don’t get to visit as much, but I still love coming here. We come here more as a family now. Elliot loves going on the little train and visiting the butterflies – this is honestly enough to keep him talking about it for days afterwards, even more so if we meet up with any of his little friends.
Blenheim will always be “our place” – I just love it.
If you missed my overly excited post from yesterday, you won’t know already that I’ve been amazingly lucky enough to be shortlisted in the Family category in the Brilliance in Blogging awards run by the amazing people over at Britmums. I’d really love to make it through to the final, so if you think I deserve a place there please do vote for me. Voting closes on 12th May. To vote, click on the below badge and fill in the details – be sure to select Letters to Elliot in the Family category! In return I promise to carry on blogging, for me, for my little boy, and for all of you who enjoy seeing what we’ve been up to. Thank you so much xx
A post from cloud nine!
Well hello there,
I’m currently writing from a cloud. Number nine to be precise. I’ve been hanging out here for the last hour since I found out I’ve made my FIRST EVER blog award short list!!!! I know, I can barely believe it either!
Had a lovely post all figured out for today but that will have to wait. I’m far too excited!!
If you like my little corner of the web and fancy making my smile even bigger than my current Cheshire Cat grin, please please vote for me. Votes close on 12th May.
Now please excuse me, I’m off to dance around on my cloud a la Charlie and Lola! Yippee!!!!
Letters to Elliot (& Alexander too!) 