While I was off sorting out one of the holidays cottages, Dave decided to tackle the hedges at the front of the house as they were getting a little bit overgrown (understatement!) The kids kept themselves amused playing trains and running around outside. The hedges look much tidier now and the garden looks a little less like Steptoe and Sons.

This afternoon Dave helped Ben make a big track running around the living room, I'm not sure who was having more fun (boys and their toys!!) While they were all engrossed with watching trains chug backwards and forwards, I managed to sneak off into the kitchen and get some ironing done. It was actually really relaxing standing looking out of our kitchen window with a newly mowed field (farmer was out last night cutting the grass) , the smell of fresh cut grass and a cool breeze coming in the window while listening to a CD in peace!!

Phoebe from two doors down came in to play and my peace was shattered!! Not by her, but by Eilidh and Ben getting all excited because she was here, I'm surprised she ever comes back as she always seems a bit bewildered by how much noise they can make!!! They had great fun playing upstairs, doing colouring in the living room, playing with trains and making mud soup in the garden. They seem to manage to cram in so much fun into two hours!!! Phoebe will be staring 'big' school next week so we probably won't see quite so much of her then so it's nice for them all to get on and play (and it gives her mum a break!!)

Schools here start next week, so everyone else is gearing up for that. It's soooo nice not to have to be running around sorting out uniforms, shoes, books and goodness knows what else. Instead we are planning days out, camping trips and other much more exciting things!!! Most scary but definately the best decision we ever made!!!

Dave was off working again today so as it was a lovely sunny day we spent it sorting out bits in the garden. Whle Ben happily played with his new train set (Steve gave him the set from yesterday!) me and Eilidh emptied all our potato buckets and got a good load of potatoes to eat. The kids then decided they wanted their paddling pool out while I tried to tidy and sort out the rest of the garden.

After getting them into their swimming costumes and trunks I busied myself, then realised that two little bare bodies were running around our garden getting covered in mud and then washing themselves in the paddling pool.(Ben was doing his streaker impersonation!!) Eilidh then decided to get some sun cream on and proceeded to make mud soup...not a good combination!!! She decided she looked like Bam Bam out of Fred Flintstone and ran around the garden like a mad thing covered from head to toe in sticky mud!!! What delightful children we have!!?? Needless to say they both got chucked in the bath before they were allowed to do anything else! Well they enjoyed themselves and I managed to get the garden a little bit tidier.

Today Dave went off again to Steve our friends house to sort out his garden. He is putting his house on the market and need it smartened up to sell. As he had loads of damsons on his trees we packed up lunch and went over as well to go damson picking. Well, the damsons weren't quite ready so while the kids played and Dave worked strimming I sat and drank coffee and chatted to Steve.

Eilidh spent most of the time following his son Joel (13) around and he showed infinite patience all day!! He showed her the delights of MSN messaging and chatted to all his friends with Eilidh joining in!!! Steve found an old train set of the boys which Ben set up outside and played all afternoon chugging trains backwards and forwards. He was in absolute heaven!!

Steve has an amazing house with a HUGE garden with woods, orchards etc which would be fantastic for kids to explore. At the moment it is all overgrown and needs lots of work but it will be amazing when its all done....oh to be a millionaire!!

As today is our anniversary, FIFTEEN YEARS (very scary!!) Dave surprised me by arranging some friends at church to babysit and we actually went out on our own for a meal.....unheard of!! We went to an Indian restaurant in Bowness which was lovely, but I ordered my favourite and couldn't eat it all as it was way too hot!!! I'm sure someone spilt the chilli powder in it!!! Very yummy though and managed to persuade them to give me a doggy bag.

Dave was off all day working for a friend of ours, sorting out his garden. The kids had their little friend Phoebe around from two doors down to play for a while this morning then we decided to splash out and go to Asda's for lunch! This afternoon we went to see our friends in Kendal and they all spent a happy afternoon playing and splashing in their paddling pool again. Of course we had a major strop from Eilidh when it was time to leave, after all Dennis is the man she is going to marry!

Got a phone call from our friend in Canada tonight (Hi Tina!!) and her little girl had me in stitches chasing her around the house while trying to hold a conversation with me. Sounds very familiar, last time I was trying to have a conversation with someone on the phone I ended up locking myself in the downstairs toilet to get some peace!! Bless'em!!??

Yesterday the kids had one of their friends parties to go to, so they got dressed up in their party clothes, looking very smart for a change! Mind you it didn't last long, by about two o'clock they were stripped bare in a paddling pool along with lots of other bare bodies having a great time! Ben fell asleep coming home and slept all night in his clothes!!

While we were at the party, Dave had popped around to one of our friends house to take him a food parcel otherwise he won't eat properly! He has just come out of hospital in London again, after having some pretty severe treatment for Cancer and other things. He seems ok considering but still in lots of pain and eating pain killers like sweeties! He still manages to have a laugh though and the kids adore him.

Today was a bit of a wash out, I was really exhausted today and wasn't up to much. We went through to our usual Monday group at Endmoor and found it wasn't on...oh well! So came back home, had lunch and the kids played and watched telly until I fell fast asleep on the sofa, so they got ushered out to go to the shops with daddy!! Both of them are still really tired as well so hopefully they should sleep well tonight, I know I will given half a chance!

Well, we got back yesterday, tired, happy and mucky!! This camp was brilliant, we had about ten families join us and we had gorgeous hot weather. I'll give a quick run down otherwise I'll go on forever!!

Monday

Dave went early with the kids and when I arrived the caravan was all set up (Great!) Everyone arrived gradually and the kids found the rope swing on the tree and spent most of the afternoon playing on that. Eilidh and one of her little friends also found the farms pony and disappeared for about an hour 'feeding' it. Kids went to bed really late and we spent the evening sitting around the camp fire chatting and drinking coffee.

Tuesday

We packed up our rucksacks and set off for a walk up the hill we could see from the campsite. Everyone joined in, kids, mums, dads and dogs. Everyone made it to the top although Ben was doing the last steep bit on his hands and knees! Had lunch on the top until we got too chilly and headed back down. Kids carried on playing until bedtime (bit earlier today!) and we spent another night in front of a blazing fire!

Wednesday

Today we decided to walk to Sedbergh thinking it would take about an hour and not be too strenuous! I think we ended up walking for about an hour and half alongside the river across fields and through woods! We were all glad to see Sedbergh and split up to have a look around this little town for a couple of hours before we headed back to camp. We managed to find some birthday cakes for Eilidh and then realised we would have to walk back with them! The walk back seemed much quicker and the kids bounded off with their endless energy to play while we all collapsed with a mug of coffee!! Got the camp fire going again for our evening chats!

Thursday

Eilidhs Birthday!!! While Dave took the kids off to get washed I quickly blew up balloons, rescued her presents from several hiding places and put them in the awning for her to find. Then being really mean parents made her eat her breakfast before being allowed to open any!! She was so excited and managed to rip through her presents in no time, Ben had a little one to open and didn't really understand why he didn't have as many as Eilidh!! She had lots of pony things, dolls, pink spacehopper, wordsearch books(she loves these and educational!!), and a bracelet and necklace and painting kit off Ben (chosen by him as well!!) Of course this attracted all the girlies to come over and play ponies so we ended up with an awning full of bodies playing happily together. Just before lunch we all took a little walk down the river to a beach bit where the kids spent a happy hour playing in the river, building dams, making mud pies and mixing soup in Bens bucket! The weather was absolutely lovely, really hot and sunny.

Later on in the afternoon Eilidh had a surprise visit from 'Little Grandma' and Aunty Barbara and Uncle Alan with even more presents and a gorgeous homemade Barbie birthday cake. And Kate, Dennis and Florence (our friends from Kendal) turned up as well with more cakes and presents! (So the cakes we had lugged back from Sedbergh didn't get a look in and ended up going mouldy in the awning as it was so hot!) We got the paddling pool out for the kids to cool down in and all of Eilidhs new ponies and dolls got a good scrub! We then had Birthday tea for everyone, sausages in baguettes, baked bananas with chocolate inside, and toasted marshmallows (all Eilidh's choice). Ben was desperatley tired and started getting a bit bolshy so went to bed and crashed out straight away and Eilidh had a bit of time to play with her friends before bed.

Friday

I had to leave earlier to go and do one of our cottage cleans, so left Dave and the kids to pack up at their leisure. It was another scorching day so they spent the whole day there and appeared back at tea-time. The rest of the group had left except one that was staying on for the weekend so their dad took the kids off for ice-cream while Dave packed up. They arrived back absolutely filthy and tired, Ben had fallen asleep in the car so I managed to get him into his pyjamas and he slept all night! Eilidh managed to eat tea and then collapsed into bed as well.

It has been a really great week, perfect weather, great company, no real squabbles and fights with all the kids happily joining in everything. Great walks, great scenery, great weather, great company, great fires....what more could we have asked for!!

We never did get to go round the farm but everyone was so busy enjoying themselves! Maybe next time??

Just a very quick blog as I am rushing out of the door. Dave and the kids went off this morning with the caravan to get to the camp site but I had to wade through another pile of ironing before being let out!! Hurray I've now finished so it's all ready for next weekend.

We shall be away until Friday enjoying lovely sunny british weather?? and I shall write all about it then!! We are off to a campsite at Sedbergh (http://www.holmeopenfarm.co.uk/) so write soon!!

Pretty boring day today. We had three cottages to clean, two of our normal ones and a new one as well so all of the morning was spent doing these. We were given a bottle of wine from one of the owners of our regular ones to say thanks for looking after it!! We don't normally see any of the owners so it was nice to meet them and get some thanks instead of being moaned at by the office for missing something!!

The kids took some toys with them and quite happily spent the morning playing and watching videos at the house Dave was sorting out. We came back for lunch and Dave and the kids lazed about this afternoon while I went on the hunt for birthday presents and food for our camping trip. We have just got to get through the pile of washing, drying and ironing from the cottages before we go ....what fun!!!???

Ben happily went to bed with his favourite teddies tonight so I guess the bad dream had been forgotton already, thank goodness!!

Dave went off this morning to do one of the holiday cottages while we got packed up and went off to the art group. We had to take a bag load of pebbles which weighed a ton! All the kids had a great time painting pebbles, making paper mosaics and doing 'secret painting' (doing pictures with wax candles then painting over it to reveal the picture) and generally getting very messy! The painting ended up outside on the field at the back of the village hall as some of the older lads decided to do splatter painting on a huge roll of paper. It actually looked really good, the art galleries would have sold it for a fortune!! I'm not sure if the paper got the most paint or the kids but they all enjoyed themselves. (Needless to say Eilidh and Ben went straight in the bath tonight. )

Halfway through we ran out of pebbles so Dave took a bunch of them down to the river to pick up some more. They all wandered back along about an hour later as they had got carried away skimming stones on the river instead!!

We have this art group once a month and it's great for the kids to have access to arts and crafty things that they may not get a chance to do at home (and we all get to have a go as well!!) It's all really relaxed and everyone mucks in and helps each other and we can chat and have fun and drink coffee at the same time! Fantastic!!!

Ben had a bad night the other night and woke up crying and wouldn't settle down so he ended up in our bed until he fell asleep. Last night when I tucked him up in bed he told me to take out all his teddies as he didn't want them in his bedroom. Eventually I got out of him that he had dreamt that a teddy had fallen on the floor and when he leant over to pick it up it spoke to him (spooky!) and he didn't want to sleep in his bedroom on his own as he was scared. That was the first time he's ever really had a 'bad dream' but fortunately he was so tired he fell asleep while I rubbed his back and slept fine most of last night. Hopefully it's just a one off but it makes you wonder where his brain got the idea of talking teddies from!! I guess me saying that teddy bears wake up and dance around the bedroom at night doesn't help!!! (Please note before someone rings Social Services this was said to Eilidh when she was throwing her teddy around the room as a way for her to be nice to them in case she broke them... not meant to scare them!!!!)

Sorry, lapsing on my blogging duty again! Been really tired the last few days so my brain is not quite in gear!!

Yesterday was another quiet day, mostly at home with a trip to do the recycling and then to a park for a play.

Today we went out with our friends from Kendal down to the river at Sedgewick (another village near us) to collect pebbles for the art group tomorrow. We are attempting to paint pebbles, do paper mosaics and some batik so sounds quite good. All the kids (our two and our friends two) were quite happy paddling about in the water, collecting bits of pottery and making iguana poison from mud (??!!) Then the sun decided to disappear and we headed off to a playground for our picnic lunch. Being very British we enjoyed our lunch in the cold breeze until it looked very like it was about to pour with rain when we decided enough was enough and headed home!! Dave was off getting bits for the truck, picking up paints for art group and other exciting things and then home to fix the truck again. Just as we arrived back it absolutely tipped it down.

Hopefully I will get some photos done tomorrow. My camera needs new batteries and I keep forgetting to get any. Ho Hum....

We all went off to the library this morning to get some new books. The library are running this summer thing for kids called the 'Big Wild Read' where they get prizes for reading books. The theory is that the kids have to finish six books over the summer and they get stickers , bookmarks etc each time they complete one. Well Eilidh had read more than six books in the first week herself and Ben had sat with me and read more than that as well. So they ended up today with all their stickers, and bits and bobs all in one go!! Do other kids just not read, or get read to??? Both Ben and Eilidh love books and Eilidh can get through a proper reading book (junior level) in one night!! It just seems amazing to me that they have to try and bribe kids into reading when our two love it!!

Anyway, I went off shopping this afternoon while Ben proceeded to lay a train track right across the landing from his room to Eilidhs and they both played quite happily (with sound effects much to Dave's annoyance!) until I got back.

It's Eilidh's birthday next week while we are camping and I am desperately trying to think what we can get her as she keeps changing her mind!! She has been on for months that she wants a tree (don't really know why but she has been quite consistent with her request!) so we shall have to go and find one I guess!! She also want a pony ride, a strawberry AND chocolate birthday cake and some Barbie dolls (YUCK!) I somehow think she may be a bit disappointed!!

Getting a bit behind with our blog so here is a quick update! Yesterday not much happened, church then home and pottered about making banana bread and drop scones with the kids which we then proceeded to eat at tea-time. I'm getting a bit worried that all I seem to write about in our blog is what we eat and the weather!!! By the way, quite a nice sunny day again!! The kids did manage to fit in some finger painting and mug painting (presents from little Grandma) which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Today the kids spent this morning cleaning their toys in the garden and then covering them in chalk again, managed to get their feet covered in mud which then had to be washed. Of course they had to splash about in a little bit of water in the bath for half an hour to get them clean. Then we went off to their Home Ed group at Endmoor for an afternoon of playing and drinking coffee and chatting....hard life!!

Yesterday, not much happened, had a holiday cottage to sort out in the morning and spent the rest of the day with our friends in Kendal playing, splashing and drinking coffee!! Dave got back late last night.

Today we had some more cottages to clean and tidy and then went off for a picnic. Unfortunately it started raining a little bit so we ended up sitting in the car eating at a pull-in where there is an ice-cream van overlooking Lake Windermere. Guess what the kids had for pudding??

As the kids had been cooped up while we worked we took them to run off some of their energy at a park, we managed to find a really good one in Bowness which we have never been to before and it was off the tourist route so not too busy. They had a good run around playing on everything for about an hour or so and then we all headed home.

The kids are off to bed and I plan to enjoy a glass of wine (left behind in one of the cottages!) and a roaring fire and relax before the onslaught of all the ironing again!

We decided that the day was just too nice to be at home, so went to Fellfoot Park again. Packed up a picnic, wet-suits, boat and children and went to get our moneys worth from the National Trust!!

Eilidh is having a bit of a problem in that she keeps needing to run to the loo every five minutes so I spent most of the first hour standing in a toilet cubicle with her. Of course she decided she needed the loo again after her wet-suit had been put on...oh what joy!!! Dave took Ben for a paddle in the little dinghy, well Dave swam and pulled Ben along behind him.

We had a lovely day again but had to pack up early to get Eilidh to the doctors this afternoon. Of course they found nothing wrong with her but sent of a wee sample anyway (just to keep me quiet I think!) So we shall see...

Dave has gone over to his mums tonight for a family funeral tomorrow, unfortunately we have holiday cottages booked to clean so we have stayed behind.

Another gorgeous day. Dave planned to get on with building some walls in the garden so I got the kids painting easel set up outside so that they could paint in the sunshine and watch! They both got some big green 'painting t-shirts' on and off they went. Ben's t-shirt almost drowns him but at least it keeps the rest of him relatively clean. They both painted a masterpiece and then went on to dig holes instead and help me with hanging the washing. We also managed to fit in making chcolate brownies while cooking dinner!

This evening we were planning to go over to Brockhole and have a picnic tea by the lake but decided that Ben was shattered and it got a bit chilly. So instead we had a lovely picnic in the garden at the side of our house with a small bonfire going. Apart from the road running past it is very peaceful here.

We woke this morning to lovely sunshine pouring in our window and decided we had better get on and do something with our garden. Me and the kids decided we wanted to see if any of our potatoes were actually growing underneath as we were getting impatient! We tipped one of our potato buckets upside down and they rummaged around finding little pink treasure. We managed to get a handful of potaotes from one bucket, OK that may not sound a lot but we were really, really chuffed with ourselves!!! So we took them straight in and steamed them and then gobbled them up for lunch....YUM!



Dave got on and sorted out the load of logs which were abandoned the other day, stacking them and splitting a load ready for the fire. I disappeared off and did some shopping child-free (hurrah!!) while the kids played in the garden, digging, and drowning action man again!!


Later we decided to have a bonfire to burn off some of the garden rubbish, the kids helped gather up wood and bark and we sat out enjoying a very smokey bonfire. The kids decided to clean all the other treasure they have found around the garden (bits of pottery, slate and goodness knows what else).They happily scrubbed them with old toothbrushes for ages and then left them to dry!! We came in for tea and then went back out to try out baked bananas with chocolate on the bonfire! Very scrummy!




It has been a really nice, easy going afternoon and the kids have just enjoyed being able to get muddy and dig in the garden all day. Two tired children again!

Usual Monday today, we spent this morning doing bits and pieces around the house, Dave worked on my car as it was playing up yesterday and the kids played with their bricks and read some books. This afternoon we packed up a picnic and went of to our local Home Ed group which meets each week. The weather was ok, really hot when the sun came out and cold when it went behind a cloud! I still managed to get sunburnt again!!

Had some good chats with people at the group and the kids enjoyed themselves building bird houses from twigs !? and playing. We have a few more people interested in our camp later this month so it looks like it could be fun. Some of the older kids came and asked to play rounders today so Dave got roped into bowl for them, but the game seem to be a bit more relaxed this week with no drama!

Just got home in time to rescue my washing from the line before it rained. We seem to have an endless supply of laundry as the holiday cottages are all booked up this time of year. Unfortunately it all has to be ironed as well and ironing fitted sheets is a PAIN!!!!

There was another church picnic planned today at Brockhole, however we seem to be the only ones that turned up!! As we couldn't find anyone else the kids got togged up in their wet suits and we sat on a little beach by the lake for the whole afternoon....bliss! The kids and Dave went splashing about in the water, playing Swallows and Amazons and jumping waves whenever a boat went past. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves while I lazed about and read a book. It was a gorgeous day today, really warm and sunny, so absolutely perfect! Stopped for an ice-cream on the way home although it was already tea-time.

After getting our holiday cottages spick and span we decided to go for a drive to have a look at a campsite at Sedbergh. We are planning another few days there with our Home Ed group in a few weeks. Unfortunately the weather has been awful, we ended up taking my poor little car through puddles galore, some more like rivers!! Still it kept running, just about! As we were out that way we decided to have a drive on to a little village called Dent, which is a really pretty village with small cobbled street in the middle of nowhere. We got there a bit late and didn't even manage to get an ice-cream so headed home.

Found out last night that foot and mouth has reared it's ugly head again. At the moment it's just in Surrey and I really hope it does'nt spread any further. We are surrounded by farms and fields full of cattle and sheep, even some in the field behind our garden (very close to the house). I think we both feel really upset as we remember watching the fires burn from last time and have a few friends who are farmers around here. We just have to pray it does'nt spread this time and feel for those farmers who may lose everything they work so hard for. We'll just have to watch and see.................

Not much happened today, the kids had Phoebe around to play this afternoon and she nearly ended up falling fast asleep on my lap watching Jungle Book!! Seeing as we haven't got much to report I thought we could put a few photos of around our house and views from our windows. (We do have a caravan for anyone who would like to visit!! )

Today Dave took charge of the kids, they all went off this morning to pick up some logs from some lovely friends of ours in Grange-Over-Sands. After loading up the pick-up, playing and yacking they appeared back for lunch. As soon as lunch was finished they went back out for another load. Dave loaded up then took them for a walk along the prom at Grange and then onto the Ice-Cream Farm. The farm makes gorgeous fresh ice-cream from their own cows and have a small playground with ride-on tractors and animals to look at so the kids love it (and Dave!) They came back home happy and covered in ice-cream (well Ben was anyway!)

I spent the day cleaning, washing, ironing and other really exciting things that had to be done but it was a good day, the sun was shining and I actually managed to get a lot of washing dry.

As the weather was a bit grey and gloomy we decided a trip to the library was due. Dave was picking up more breeze blocks to do retaining walls with so me and the kids loaded up books and of we went.

On the way we popped into a small garden centre to try and get some caterpillar killer, they are happily munching my veggies at the moment so they are destined to die!! Apparantly soapy water works according to the guy there so that a nice cheap option to try first!!

Spent a an hour or so choosing books and reading a few then home for lunch. Was meant to be tidying the house this afternoon but decided to make carrot cookies instead! As soon as I got them out of the oven I got a phone call from a friend and left the kids happily licking out bowls and spoons, only to come back and find them merrily munching their way through the cookies as well!!!
They didn't even pretend to look guilty just kept munching!!!! Still I managed to save most of them for Dave to try when he got home. Yummy!

Another lovely sunny day. Well, I have now lost one stone!!!! HURRAY!! Just need to lose lots more but one step at a time.

Took the kids to Brockhole, usually one of our favourite places, however today it was packed! There were people everywhere, how dare they be there!!! We ended up at the playground as usual but I think Ben was a bit bewildered, (he's like me, not so good with huge crowds of people!) and even Eilidh didn't kick up a fuss when we had to leave. Still, we had a nice picnic down by the lake with Eilidh splashing about in the water but not quite a fun as it normally is ....roll on September!!


We got back home to find the electricity off and had to get fish and chips in for tea (that's our excuse anyway!)