February 21st 2015 - Bowling

February 21st 2015 - Bowling

Today is Blake's girlfriend Rosie's 6th birthday.  She wanted to go bowling, so her Mum agreed.  We had said about going bowling during half term and had invited her to come as well, so we all decided that we would go today for her birthday rather than twice.

The bowling alley is is the "big town" 13miles away, so we got go in the car to get there.  I'm sure the boys and Rosie will all have fun.  I will update with scores later after we have been.

OMG it went from bad to worse, to start with the car was dead, we got the neighbour to try and jump start it but it wasn't have any of it.  So hubby had to bring battery in to try and charge it and the neighbour ran me and the kids to the bowling alley.  We got there 2mins after our scheduled time, but the previous people were not quite finished anyway.  We payed for 1 game each.

The scores were really close between the kids and all around the 50mark.  They decided that they wanted a 2nd game, so we had to move to another lane.  And this lane was a heap of junk, after every 3rd or 4th throw of the ball the pins wouldn't re-set, or the machine dropped them and they stayed there in a heap.  So we had to keep getting the staff to re-set the lane, which they did by throwing another ball down it and then re-setting the computer to remove the score it had given that person.  Due to this the kids got very bored with waiting and started to mess about and fight, climb on things and over chairs etc.

The scores of the 2nd game were higher and lil man got 74 and 2spares he was so happy.  But the machine didn't record 1 of them as it was a time it re-set again.  The other 2 who are older got 57 and 58 but they didn't use the frame.  Rosie won the first game out of the children and Blake won the 2nd game out of the chilren.

February 20th 2015 - Growing potatoes

February 20th 2015 - Growing Potatoes

Last week my lil man (5) asked if we could grow our own potatoes.  He was only really little when I did this with the older 2.  I had planned to use an old dustbin that was in the garden, but sadly it got crushed when the temporary fence fell down on it.  So I ordered a potatoe grow bag off ebay for £2.99.

It arrived yesterday and me and lil man headed to town to get some compost so we could plant the potatoes today.  Well we were in £1 shop and there were loads of kids near the toys and it was like this "mum can I have this toy" and "mum I want this" etc.  As we walked past them all my lil man turned round and said to me "mummy I don't want any toys like those children, all I want is some compost to plant my potatoes in".  Bless him, so sweet.

We got the compost and a bit further on the shelf is the same potatoe grow bags as I had bought off ebay for £2.99.  GGggggggrrrrr!!!!  Oh well, never mind.  £1 shop didn't have anything like them last week.

Today we poured 1 bag of compost into the bottom of the bag, pushed the potatoes into it and then covered them with the other bag of compost.  The grow bag is only half full so we are going to get some more when we go to town at the weekend to top it up.  Lil man then proceeded to water them with rain water from his bucket.  I found this article on pinterest about growing potatoes in a bag.

He asked whilst we were doing the potatoes if we can plant some carrots and other things as well. Me and hubby agreed and have said we will make him a raised planter at the side of the garden over the next few weeks and get some seeds and stuff for him to plant.  We are also getting a blueberry plant and raspberry plant to go in pots on the decking (that isn'nt even built yet! lol).

The older 2 are not really interested in anything outdoors and moan if asked to help with the garden, but i'm sure they will be quite happy to eat the fruit and veg that we grow!

February 19th 2015 - Spong cakes

February 19th 2015 - Sponge cakes

My little man loves cooking and baking, to the extent for the past 2 and bit years he has said he wants to be a chef and has already made a business plan - he's the chef, hubby is serving drinks, his brothers are waiters and cleaners and I can sit around in apretty dress and drink wine. lol!

Anyway, he asked if we could make some cakes, which I agreed, he then said like J (his brother) made at school with no packet mix.  Errrrrrr I can't make cakes without a packet mix, they don't rise etc.  But I agreed.  Hubby bought the ingredients on tuesday when he did the shopping and today is the 1st day we have had a chance to make them.

The receipe my eldest used at school was 100g SR flour, 100g caster sugar, 100g margerine and 2 eggs, and it made 12, I also found teh same receipe on pinterest.   We doubled it all up so we could make 24 cakes and ended up with 30, however I forgot teh last 6 were in the oven and they are slightly burnt on top.

But i'm impressed they did work and they did rise (slightly).  (see pics below).  We still have to ice them, of which 12 are having thomas tank rice paper on (can't remember how we ended up with spare rice papers from a pack).

February 18th 2015 - Haig Pit

February 18th 2015 - Haig Pit

As it's a very dull and overcast day, complete with sea mist and rain showers I decided that we would take the kids out to an indoor place - Haig Pit mining museum that is only a few miles up the road from where we live.  The first time we went to it was the day after it closed down for renovation, so we could only see the outside.  It re-opened on Valentines day this year.

We went, we saw we, came home!  Although what was there was interesting, the website made it look as though there was alot more on display etc.  The kids enjoyed the fact that there was alot of hands on activities and buttons that they could push etc,  and enjoyed the coal blaster that made loads of noise and scared me to death the first time they set it off!

Parts of the pit still looked as though they were being worked on, so hopefully this is the case and there will be more to see and do if we go again.  Sadly you couldn't get down to any of the pit parts or tracks, you could only go round the old engine house building.  Maybe this is because of health & safety I don't know.

February 17th 2015 - PANCAKE DAY & family walk

February 17th 2015 - PANCAKE DAY & family walk

Today is pancake day or shrove tueday!!! (Today's pin is a link to the stack of pancakes I made in 2013 for the family).  I love this day as I love pancakes, I always have.  Golden syrup and sugar and lemon toppings are the best!  I tried Nutella last year after being reccommended it, it was nice but i'm not a great fan.  I have also had ice cream toffee and raspberry sauce on them - the raspberry is actually really nice, but I never remember to buy any.

So one question is how do you eat your pancakes - do you roll your pancakes into a coil,  fold them into triangles or have them as a stack one on top of the other with fillings inbetween???  I usually roll every one into a coil but saw on pinterest that people put them as a stack with fillings in between, i'm trying that for mine tonight!!!

Then there is also the big debate of tossing it in the air or flipping it with a fish slice - well me I flip mine as the one time I tried to toss it in the air I didn't catch it and it ended up on the floor and the dog licked it before running off!

Happy pancake day to everyone no matter how you make or decorate or eat them.

Hubby has been asked to get extra eggs, milk and flour so we can have pancakes and so the kids can make cakes like they have asked to do.


EDIT

After lunch today we decided as it was nice we weould go on a walk.  We all put on jumpers and coats and gloves and hats and set off.  We had been told about a lake and woodland walk about 8miles from where we live, according to the website its takes about 2hrs to walk around Longlands Lake.   So we thought may take longer with my knee.

We found it very easily as its signposted from the main road, when we got there, there was 1 car in the car park.  We crossed the bridge and then came back to get sticks as the kids wanted to play pooh sticks - where you all drop a stick at the same time from one side of the bridge and then go to the other side to see whose stick comes through the bridge first.  We ended up doing this 2 or 3 times!

Once we got across the bridge we tossed a coin as to which way we were going to go as had a fork in the path and according to the map would both take us round the lake.  We went with the heads route.  The older 2 ran of being very noisy, and lil man stayed with me.  Me and him saw mushrooms growing on a tree stump (see below) and 1/2 coconuts being used as bird feeders.

It was very wet and muddy under foot, so we probably should have all worn our wellies, never mind.  We continued on round the paths round the lake and saw daffodils, snow drops and croscus's.  Blossom was starting to form on some of the trees as well.  There were quite alot of birds at the lake including swans and ducks, but they didn't come to us, maybe we should have taken some bread for them.  There was a fissherman and lots of people with dogs who all spoke to us.

We headed back to the car park, which was now very packed.  It had taken us just over 45minutes to walk all the way round, so not quite sure where they say its 2hrs.  There are lots of benches to stop and rest at as well as picnic spots.  This was our first visit here but I certainly think we will visit again as its so close and not uphill or a long way which is good with my knee as it is.  I think it will look a very different place in the summer months when its dry and flowers are out etc.

Although I forgot to pick up the camera I did get some nice pics on my phone.

 

February 16th 2015 - Tree stump removal

February 16th 2015 - Tree stump removal

I am in the process of trying to sort out the last part of my garden where I want the decking to go.  But this is going to be a big task as I need to dig out soil.  And in part of where I want it there are some old pine tree stumps that need removing.

I found this artical on Pinterest about how to remove tree stumps with the use of Epsom Salts.  I'm not sure if it actually works or if its a hoax.  But we bought a bag of Epsom Salts last week to try it, if it doesn't work we have only wasted £2.99.

Hubby drilled holes in the tree stumps as deep as his drill bit would allow, I filled them with Epsom Salt and then a tiny bit of water and left them.  It says that you may need to re-apply salt after a few days and again each week as it can take upto 2months for the stumps to rot as the salt absorbs the water from the tree.

Fingers crossed it does work as I really need the stumps gone.  They were cut as low to ground as we could do without damaging the saw.

February 15th 2015 - Parton Rock pools

February 15th 2015 - Parton Rock pools

Today's pin is from the places I want to go to board, and was Parton.  This is a place that we visit regularly as its only a couple of miles up the road from where we live.  It is a sort of cove area on the coast and the beach is all rocks from tiny pebbles upto huge boulders.  Some of these huge boulders have been worn away by the sea and  therefore the sea gathers in them making rock pools.

My boys love going there to see if we can find anything in the rock pools, and usually 1 of them ends up wet for whatever reason - falling into a rock pool, walking in the sea, standing in a rock pool, being splashed by his brother etc.  Today we were lucky no-one got wet but we wern't there very long as my eldest decided to be stupid and climb the wall that has a train track above it!!!

We did collect some shells whilst we were there but I don't think there is enough for the lady at the community centre's summer craft session.  So will have to get some more on another visit.

Here are a few pics taken at parton last year: