Seven Days

 Well, we started off with snow.  Exciting for the children, and the cat.  But started to wear a bit thin when trying to push the push chair through it to the shops in order to get food.  Sophie has done really well walking to school, and pre-school and back again, as she would normally go in the pushchair, but trying to negotiate the steep hill that gets very icy is hard enough as it is, without adding a pushchair into the mix!  It led to a few hair raising moments when both Sophie and I were sliding, and I was trying to support her, but could barely support myself!  Hills and snow are great for sledging, not so great for everyday living!!

Of course, in the midst of the snow we also lost Hetty, but I have already mentioned that, so I won't go on!  But on a brighter note, I won a little competition on Facebook, and received a beautiful faerie in the post from The Faerie Factory.

 Stuart has been very busy with miniatures, spending the week painting some WarMachine Sygnar models for a demonstration the club were helping out with at the weekend.  The club is coming on in leaps and bounds, and making quite a name for itself in the local wargaming world.

 I have been busy too, with two lots of bunting on the go, another order for bunting in the sidelines, as well as a couple of story bags to complete.  I am hoping this next week some of them will be completed.

 To finish off the week, a local derby with our team (West Bromwich Albion) playing Wolves.  Televised, and they won!!  We have come to expect any televised game to be a wash out for us, but a 5-1 win was fantastic, and Sophie was "boing-ing" to the telly!

Thank you Jacqui for the idea of these weekly reviews, I love looking back on the little things.  Looking forward to the week ahead, it is half term, so we can live at our own pace, and we don't have too much planned, which is generally what the boys like doing best, their own thing!!

Snow

 Yay, it snowed!!  I was getting rather sceptical that it would snow, but yesterday afternoon it started, and once the snow got to a useable depth the children (and cat) where out in it!  Plenty of snowballs, plenty of throwing!

 Sophie was out in it for much longer than I could manage, and thoroughly enjoyed herself. 

 It was Gimli's first experience of the stuff, and he seems to like snow far more than rain!  He was chasing around in it, pouncing and thoroughly enjoying himself.

 Ethan was wrapped up nice and warm, but I think we will have to invest in some better gloves.  Sophie has inherited his old gloves we had for Lapland, and Alec's gloves that Ethan has inherited are now numbering one!  What's the bet though, at this time of year you cannot buy gloves in the shops, they'll be getting ready for spring and summer now!! 

One ironic moment, in amidst the snowstorm was the sound of the parakeet.  Not sure what he made of it all, but he's still around!

 And then, completely unrelated to the snow, the other night the moon was utterly fabulous, so bright in the sky and so clear.  My camera was nowwhere near up to the job, and I so wished I had a telescope at that moment.  But I thought I'd still put my measly photo here, just to remind me of the splendour I saw that night.

Hope you are able to enjoy this seasonal weather.  Ethan was hoping that Father Christmas would pay another visit, seeing as it was snowing.  Sorry Ethan!

Not good weather for chickens!

Well, when I awoke this morning there was a light covering of snow, and it was still snowing. It continued to snow all day, leaving us with at least 8 inches by nightfall, when it eventually stopped. I felt so sorry for the chickens, sheltering under the trampoline all day. I threw some food under there, and set up a bowl of water for them. But they did look sorry for themselves. I then had to clear a path back to the eglu as the snow was past their bellies, and even then Betty had to be enticed by raisins the whole way! Stuart got his Christmas present a little early, he was looking everywhere for a hat, and I knew exactly where there was one, the one I knitted for him, to be just like the one I made Ethan last Christmas!

A bit of sledging was had on the sledge I got for Christmas.... oooh.... about 30 years ago!

Followed by a spot of dancing to some Christmas songs from an album Stuart had as a child. In fact, at lunch time, we were sat eating, listening to "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer", when simultaneously Alec and Ethan shouted out "Ho, Ho, Ho" at the appropriate part! It all felt very Christmas-sy and nostalgic.

Snowy weather activites?

What do you do when you discover it has snowed overnight? Put on warm clothes, race outside and play in the snow? Not if your in this household!

Luke has spent the last couple of evenings making a gun out of paper, via instructions on you tube! So, he finished it off, and then demonstrated it. Paper bullets flying out under the power of his breath. He then discovered instructions to build a basic gun that fires elastic bands, rather effective too!

Sophie did venture outside, and discovered "Balls! Snow.....balls"

To be fair, the boys did eventually go outside, just before lunch, and have only just come in, just before tea. So I can't complain too much!

What do you do...?

...when you can't get out the house for a week due to the snow? Well, the snow hasn't been that bad, but it is just completely impossible to manage Sophie in the snow, she's too small to walk any distance without getting frozen, I daren't risk the sling, and the pushchair is a non-starter.

The boys have had time off school, and not much of it has been spent in the snow, rather they have been playing with friends in the warm, building things, playing with Christmas presents, and helping strip the wall paper from what will eventually be Sophie's room.

We have decided she needs her own space for her things, and a bed (whether she sleeps in it is yet to be seen, but the option will be there for her). So currently we have a landing full of boxes, book cases, and stuff. We have stripped paint and paper walked all over the house (I've got to the point of wondering whether it is better to just have one massive clear up once the stripping has finished!) Sophie has really enjoyed it too, although I'm glad we are going to paint her walls rather than paper them, as she has developed a liking of stripping wall-paper!

There is something very satisfying about stripping wall-paper, alone with your thoughts, or chatting away to Stuart as we work as a team. Reminiscent of pre-child days, and working on projects together.

I have been feeling very sorry for the chickens in this weather, they have a treat of warm food in the afternoon, and I have been having to break their water every couple of hours on the coldest of days. As soon as the back door is open, they are in. They must be so cold, walking through all that snow. By the way, we have had them for a whole year now, and what a joy they have been. A lovely introduction to keeping your own livestock.

Talking of birds, we have also made some fat/seed feeders for the wild birds. We had some half coconut shells, and some left over bird seed, so mixed with some lard, we have filled the coconuts and left them hanging in some of the trees in the garden.

I must admit though, I am looking forward to a thaw now, and things warming up so I can start some seed sowing in the next month or so.