New teeth and Nest Boxes (again !)

Tom takes centre stage this week - his first tooth came through last Thursday and he mastered rolling from his tummy back onto his back again. Both pretty major events in the life of a 5 month old !

We've spent the early part of this week around the house and garden. We've had lovely weather for the last couple of days, so have been out Springwatching.. Bumblebees, blossom and daffodils have been recorded. We're on a quest to find frogspawn this week and next..

Joy and Eddie (next door neighbours) came over today for a run around the garden (Eddie) and a cup of coffee (Joy). Ella and Eddie then came in to do some Happy Mais creations. It's ideal for children of 3+ because it's minimal mess - the mais pieces look like coloured cheesy wotsits and they attach to each other with water. So you just need a handful of mais pieces and a wet sponge - no glue, glitter, scissors etc so constant supervision not necessary.

Karl put the robin nest box up this evening, so we will be keeping a watchful eye on any visiting robins. One of our neighbours is a keen natural historian, so he came over and gave his expert opinion on a suitable site for the box. Actually when I first met him, he mentioned he was a "natural historian" which saved me great embarrassment - I always get mixed up between a naturalist and a naturist, so it saved me from making inappropriate jokes about naked badmington.

Ella has been saying some very funny things today. Joy and I were talking together while Ella and Eddie were creating their mais models, and Ella said (to no-one in particular) "oh yes, but we don't mention that though, do we ?" Joy's face was a picture. She's also been starting sentences with "Well, quite honestly.." eg "Well, quite honestly, I don't want to brush my teeth". OK !

Bird Boxes and Bonny Babies

On Wednesday we went with Joy, Harry, Connie and Ed to Draycote Water to make a bird box. Ella chose to make a robin nest box and thoroughly enjoyed banging the nails in with a hammer and sanding the wood down. We're going to ask our neighbour down the road to come over and help us choose the best place to site it.

I thought we were going to have to call a vet on Wednesday evening after Ella announced she had "swan chickenpox". After further questioning, it turns out she meant goose bumps !

The end of the week was pretty quiet for us. We are all recovering from colds, so haven't ventured too far. On Sunday we were all going to Draycote water for a walk with Duncan, Gillian, Imogen and Cam, but at the last minute Ella decided to stay at home with daddy. Tom and I went and had a lovely walk, then spent some time at Draycote Water's bird hide.
We missed the Home Ed group yesterday and had another quiet day at home today.

Monkey Business

Thanks for the fabulous photo Bamp !
I showed Ella and Monkey and they are delighted to see a picture of the monkey from Grenada. Monkey got straight onto his naptop to send him a nemail...
We look forward to hearing all about your holiday and Nanna's birthday onboard ship...

Poop, Poop Come On Ivor !

Spring has certainly arrived here... We have spent most days taking a walk to the churchyard to see new signs of Spring. There are hundreds of snowdrops in bloom at the moment, along with crocuses and the odd daff... The hedgehog hasn't come back yet, but we're still putting food out in the hope that he'll make an appearance again.
We made some fat balls for the blue tits this week using vegetable suet and bird seed, but they turned their beaks up at it. Clearly not vegetarians...

Ella's bike has also made an apppearance again this week. It's one of those without pedals (one of my madcap philosophies) so she's been walking around the garden with it... The idea is that she'll be able to scoot around on it and develop a better sense of balance than if she had a small bike with stabilisers. Probably she'll just keep walking around the garden with it between her legs for years....

Last week we had a relatively quiet one - we went to the library on Tuesday then into Rugby for groceries on Thursday. Eddie came over on Friday afternoon for a play.
This week is half term so no Home Ed group. We're going to Draycote Water on Wednesday to make a bird box (it's National Nest Box week).
As you can see from the photo, Tom is in good form. He really is a cheerful little chap, even when his sore gums are driving him crazy. Ella still says to everyone who will listen "This is my baby brother, Tom. His face looks like an egg".
Another good week for Welsh Rugby - but as Ella and Tom are both "Wenglish" I'm not going to make any further comment ! Actually, in addition to Ella's cockney and Bolton accents, she now has a fine Welsh accent developing. We borrowed Ivor The Engine from the library, so we've shown her a few old episodes on You Tube. Classic...

Hedgehogs and Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday dear Granddad Ray and Nanna,
Happy Birthday to You !!


Granddad Ray and Nanna both have a birthday today and we hope they had a lovely one. Nanna is still cruising around the Caribbean so we hope she got our message.


As you can see from the picture, we got a visit from Mrs Tiggly-Winkle this week. The carpenter spotted her heading along the driveway, so Ella and Karl went out to put some food out and take this fabulous photograph...

We also managed to get a quick snap of the woodpecker at the peanut feeder this morning. He visit each morning and afternoon now and spends quite a while feeding.

This week we went to the Quaker Meeting House for the monthly shared lunch. It was lovely to see our friends and chat, and Ella enjoyed sharing her new book with her friend Ann.

Yesterday we visiting Ryton Gardens with Gillian and her children Imogen and Cameron. We walked in the gardens then spent time in the play kitchen. Today we saw Joy and Eddie for a short while.