Topsy Turvey

A broken fridge, walks in the evening instead of the morning, Pappy on the continent for work. This week has been pretty unusual. We spent our days cleaning, waiting in for the new fridge and doing lots of drawing (it's a dinosaur on the easel!).

I'm looking forward to next week hopefully being a little more calm!

This week we have been a little quiet. An awkward Physio messed up any plans for Tuesday so we stayed home. Mr Bee decided to have an OCD moment and sort out all of his trousers. That was fun. Luckily, he OCD'd them back again with out too much bother (after he decided he didn't like most of them and stashed them under his bed...).
Today has been bliss. A lazy morning in bed, a delicious smoothie in the sunny garden and drawing pictures.
We made our way to New Walk Museum to see the dinosaurs, however they were eclipsed by the Picasso exhibition that was on upstairs. Louie was absolutely enthralled by the funny faces on the ceramic plates, copying them and admiring the bright colours. He was in his element and his Grandpa would be so proud.

Learning at Home

 Now that Louie is 4 and will be starting school in September (eek!), I have decided to create a little learning log for him. We are always talking about different things; kings, plants, where things come from and how they are made. So why not keep a little book, so that we can keep track.
I decided the main topic (History) and Louie decided that he wanted to learn about the Queen. We looked through our books about Kings and Queens, and I asked Louie what he knew about the Queen.

• You can see her face on a penny
• She lives in Buckingham Palace
• She wears a crown

Then we thought about the things that Louie didn't know about the Queen. We learned about the Queens birthday and Trouping the Colour and that she loves Corgis by looking at pictures on the internet.

After I wrote all the things that Louie wanted to remember, Louie did his own drawings (after pretending to be a soldier, marching around and using his pencil as a trombone!)

Here are Louie's drawings. A penny with the Queens face on and a Corgi (yes, that one takes a bit of imagination but you can pick out the ears and tongue at least!) He also wrote the title.

Hopefully this will encourage his thirst for learning and hone the skills he will need when he starts school. I aim to make this a regular occurrence so stick around for more next week ;)

Three!

 Today my darling boy turned three. Three whole years since we welcomed our little bundle into the big wide world. He celebrated with his friends at playschool this morning before Mama took the afternoon off work to come and do some serious celebrating. Presents waited until after lunch and each one was opened with such anticipation.

 Big favourites were his Mr Bean DVDs (what can I say, the kid has a great sense of humour!) and also his big boy watch. Pappy waited until we were all finished and unveiled the big surprise, a Thomas Hornby train set which he has been itching to buy since Louie was a little bee!

 We had an afternoon at the bowling alley and Mr Bee got his fair share of strikes and half strikes, before getting a little sleepy and hungry. So we headed off to our favourite restaurant (chosen by the birthday boy) for the traditional birthday pizza.

 

  

And if that didn't tire him out enough, we came home to play with just about every new toy in turn.

What a busy day that was so much fun. Louie is so grateful for all of his gifts but he can not wait for his birthday party on Sunday! Thank you for all of the lovely well wishes from everyone :)

Roll on the weekend, spent with family and friends with LOTS of fun things on the agenda!

Photo An Hour: Autumn

--7am

 --8am

 --9am

--10am

 --11am

 --12pm

 --1pm

 

--2pm

 --3pm

 --4pm

 --5pm

 --6pm

 --7pm

-Today has mainly been set to music. At the weekend, we bought a new desk for our Mac and I have been making a conscious effort to favour it over my laptop. Instead of working/surfing infront of the TV, I have had Itunes on all day instead. We have enjoyed dancing and singing at the top of our lungs!
-I spent a lot of the day cleaning out a space in our bedroom to inhabit some new office equipment and files.
-When I haven't been cleaning, I have been editing from Anna's family shoot from the weekend, when Mr Bee has allowed. Such a content little bee, he has played with his kitchen, lego and tool box whilst I work away.
- After lunch, we ran some errands, collecting pretty leaves on our way home.
-The slow cooker produced my signature Chilli, made with stewing beef and chorizo. It was a winner, for sure, and minimal fuss on our busy day.
- A delivery of new clothes for Mr Bee came later in the afternoon. Big boy 'boxers' with a wintery feel, smart slacks with braces ready for the celebration period and not to forget finally trying on the lovely tweed blazer that we have anticipated for so long!
- And now a pot of tea whilst I type to you.

Weekender

It has been a lovely weekend. 

Friday started with a morning in the office, followed by a whole afternoon in the kitchen. We made vegetable soup, baked yummy chocolate and raspberry muffins and fresh loaves of bread.

 Saturday we found ourselves in the woods with a picnic of Fridays makings. We sat amongst the trees and enjoyed our fayre. I wore my gifted boots for the first time. I hope they break in quickly, I got a nasty blister :(

 We came home to play lego quietly, sit and enjoy the mild afternoon in the garden and bake yet more cakes.  Chocolate and vanilla fairy cakes this time.

Sunday morning, we walked to the foggy, dew covered park. It was chilly but we were wrapped up in our cardis, coats and mittens. We walked through the golden coloured private roads to the starbucks for a nice little warm up. Hot chocolates all round please!

Our afternoon was spent in the garden again in the lovely sun. We played with the musical instruments, animals and drew with felt tip pens. Mr Bee wrote his name all by his self for the first time. He followed the dots to form the letters only making one little mistake. Very proud Mama here!