Photies Tob took before the camera broke

Tob finally managed to get the photos that were taken before the camera gave up the ghost, we think it's probably sand in the zoom but no idea at the mo, the zoom wont close and it won't switch on and off.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Just got back from Holland, well a few days ago now but it seems like I've been flat out catching up with washing, I had a Pampered Chef Cooking Show last night so I've spent the day preceding printing stuff out and making sure I had everything I need. Thanks to a sunny day, the washing is back up to date but I need to weed the garden and sort out the house plants, half of which are dead or dying.
Tob's camera broke while we were away right at the start of the holiday, possibly due to sand on the first day trip to the beach. Mark took a few pics and I took a few on my iphone. Here's a bit of a summary, mostly either taken the wednesday at the Spoorweg Museum, or at Gary's then Queens day at Chantals. Mark got some nice ones of the boys at his place while we were staying there. The first half of the week the weather was really really hot and sunny, from Queens Day night, it rained pretty much continuously. Queens Day Night at ACU was good fun, I bumped into some familiar faces, had a good old dance and felt very at home there as usual. It's such a shame it's so far away now :(

boys together

They don't always get on but today two rare moments together :)

Leighton Buzzard Quarry Railway

Easter Weekend Tractors take over!

Just as we were leaving for Leighton Buzzard about 2 dozen vintage tractors drove past, it was ace!

Not bad for an evening's socialising

I have just submitted the cooking show I did for a neighbour last Wednesday. She really wanted to focus on having a lovely evening with her friends and do some cooking and eating, we did that just as intended and as a result everybody had a good time. On top of that I took just over £500 in sales and she earnt just over £250 worth of stuff. Not bad. I made about £120 in commission. That's not bad really! It was the best show I've done on so many levels, I enjoyed it, I managed to interest a variety of people in a variety of things bar 2 people who didn't order everyone found something they liked. There was no pressure to buy anything, it was a great evening. May there be many more like this to come.

Biking

We intended to go to Anglesea Abbey to have a walk and let the boys cycle around but it turned out to be their free entry day, so we got turned away because it was full. We went round the corner through the village of Lode and there's a disused old railway line to walk along which was doable with the bikes. Leon's stablisers loosened so we ended up taking them off altogether and he had his first bike lesson which involved Tob and I running alongside holding him up. Good exercise! Bikey, as Leon calls his bike, is too small now and we will be moving up to a lovely red 16" wheel kiddie bike given to us by Toby's cousin who's got two boys about 5 years older than our two. It's a lovely bike. I'm still debating whether or not we should get a wooden bike with no pedals so he can learn to balance.

Firemen Leon and Reuben

Ely fire station were doing a charity car clean on Saturday so we went along to get our car done and let the boys dress up as firemen, they loved it!

Hide and seek

Leon loves hide and seek, although he doesn't fully understand the concept... if I say 'Now, where's Leon?' he'll shout 'I'm here Dad!'. Bless.



It's also funny when he's 'seeking' - generally I have to say 'squeek, squeek' to alert him to which room to look in, and I only 'hide' by sitting behind Reuben's cot... but he's very happy when he finds me, so it's lovely :)

Rap music?

Leon is listening to my iphone and nodding his head to a newly downloaded Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip album, The Logic of Chance. Now, it would be ironic to be snobbish about this album as there is a track on there clearly putting music snobbery in it's place but I can't help being proud of playing this in my house around my kids when the rest of the world seem to be getting their toddlers to learn dances to Jedward (god I hate to even type the word).
Down the pub last night with the mums, they were sharing about the dance lessons just started with their girls and how they know the steps and 'words' to Ice Ice Baby - the Jedward version, this almost put me off my curry. I want to start Leon at dance lessons in September but faced with the prospect of him having to learn to dance to Ice Ice Baby, I hope to god I can find a class with even just a small semblance of musical appreciation.
My Mummy friends are lovely people and mostly better educated/qualified/brought up than me but not one of them seemed to even blink at the idea that it might be cringe worthy. Is that dross so normal? I hate the fact that most chart music is so unpleasant to listen to now. Give me Front 242, The Stooges, NoMeansNo, Art Brut, Pink Floyd, Blondie, even Madonna they are original, passionate, sometimes hard to listen to - not to be pushed into the back ground. Faced with the demise of 6music, I know I can't shield my kids from the likes of Xfactor, I'm sure they will have the ability to choose for themselves, but will there be dance lessons that dance to music worth dancing too? God I hope so. Ok, so I don't expect them to be providing lessons for 3 year olds dancing to Rammestein but what about Little Boots? Lily Allen? Black Eyed Peas? Maybe even a bit of Debussy :)

Leon all sporty for sport relief today

They had a Sport Relief day today at Nursery and they had to go in sports kit, which we don't really possess yet what with not being sports fans particularly. I think he makes a good 19th century footballer perhaps? Rosanna gave us some clothes last time I saw her and true to her Italian family who give her quality handmedowns, Leon loves his 'new' Prada trainers :)

First Daffs have opened in our garden

Finally, I saw them down the road the beginning of the week, then I noticed next door had some open today and finally, just in the front garden, one clump have opened. The potential riot in our back garden are still working up to it.

The garden and the promise of spring

I've done out the front and dug it over, taken the Crocosmia from the other side of the garden where it wasn't happy and only had a couple of flowers to a nice sunny spot where it can go mad. I've pruned the roses and made some cuttings now in the conservatory. I've taken a large ornamental grass from the back garden where I will be putting the veg patch, split it and put it out the front between the Crocosmia and the Rosemary. In the propagator there's cosmos and cornflower seedlings doing very well.
Pictures from the garden of Snowdrops, Aconites, Hellebores and Crocuses. The Daffs are starting to come up, you can just about see their heads starting to form buds...won't be long now :)