Chrissy is sick (cold/flu), David is grumpy, Geoff is tired & Ruth is fine.
Right now Geoff is messing with a spreadsheet for the game on Monday, Chrissy & Ruth are sending silly messages to Kathy & Brian in America on MSN messenger, and David is on the naughty step.
Bye for now!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Garden Time
Geoff and I have spent a lot of time discussing thoughts for this years gardening, but Saturday we actually got our butts out there and did some work.
The kids loved being out there, and had lots of fun running about and really were very good helpers. Geoff did a lot of garden tiding and covered 5 1/2 beds, a job we should have done by Nov, with old silage sheets. He also dug up our first batch of this years Jerusalem Artichokes and the kids pulled the tubers out of the dirt pile and put them into baskets. I think the Harvest period starts in Nov for these, but we seriously neglected the garden in 2008.
I pulled out loads of plants vines and remnants of tomatoes, flowers, peppers and more and weeded a whole bed, effectively digging it over in the process. I found the garlics that I had meant to harvest last fall and they've all sprouted. I'm guessing that I've got about 20 sprouted garlics from the 5 bulbs I meant to harvest last time. So I dug a channel about 2 inches behind the row of snowdrops (the kids loved our first flowers)and planted have of the first bunch of garlic with a nice 5 minutes gardening/biology lesson with the kids.
++++++++++++++++++
After a very hard morning and afternoon, we flew out to the garden just before the sun started setting. I really felt better for being out in the fresh air and did some tidying before going to help Ruthie weed her garden patch. David joined us, he loves digging, and together we decided that Ruth and David would share her patch instead of each having a separate one and I've said they can half @ 1/2 of the raised bed to work in, with Ruth planting stuff that's just for her towards the middle, since she's taller and can reach in. I was very pleased with how nicely the kids discussed it. I suspect that we will end up leaving an empty patch just for David to dig in. He prefers the soil to the sand pit, which I need to find a home for and setup again. It got pretty disgusting last year, full of insect larvae and stale dirty water as David kept digging soil and adding dirty rocks.
Unfortunately, Ruth's good attitude didn't last, and having pleaded with Daddy and I to be able to stay outside with me because she wanted to be a good helper, she then became very annoying doing exactly what I repeatedly asked her not too, whining and pestering. But more on that current trend, maybe, in a different post.
++++++++++++
Gardening pictures to follow
The kids loved being out there, and had lots of fun running about and really were very good helpers. Geoff did a lot of garden tiding and covered 5 1/2 beds, a job we should have done by Nov, with old silage sheets. He also dug up our first batch of this years Jerusalem Artichokes and the kids pulled the tubers out of the dirt pile and put them into baskets. I think the Harvest period starts in Nov for these, but we seriously neglected the garden in 2008.
I pulled out loads of plants vines and remnants of tomatoes, flowers, peppers and more and weeded a whole bed, effectively digging it over in the process. I found the garlics that I had meant to harvest last fall and they've all sprouted. I'm guessing that I've got about 20 sprouted garlics from the 5 bulbs I meant to harvest last time. So I dug a channel about 2 inches behind the row of snowdrops (the kids loved our first flowers)and planted have of the first bunch of garlic with a nice 5 minutes gardening/biology lesson with the kids.
++++++++++++++++++
After a very hard morning and afternoon, we flew out to the garden just before the sun started setting. I really felt better for being out in the fresh air and did some tidying before going to help Ruthie weed her garden patch. David joined us, he loves digging, and together we decided that Ruth and David would share her patch instead of each having a separate one and I've said they can half @ 1/2 of the raised bed to work in, with Ruth planting stuff that's just for her towards the middle, since she's taller and can reach in. I was very pleased with how nicely the kids discussed it. I suspect that we will end up leaving an empty patch just for David to dig in. He prefers the soil to the sand pit, which I need to find a home for and setup again. It got pretty disgusting last year, full of insect larvae and stale dirty water as David kept digging soil and adding dirty rocks.
Unfortunately, Ruth's good attitude didn't last, and having pleaded with Daddy and I to be able to stay outside with me because she wanted to be a good helper, she then became very annoying doing exactly what I repeatedly asked her not too, whining and pestering. But more on that current trend, maybe, in a different post.
++++++++++++
Gardening pictures to follow
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Monday, 9 February 2009
Snow update
Well. the snow is melting now, and will be gone by morning by the looks of things, but before it stopped falling, we took the kids outside for a bit.
We had a good layer of snow, especially on the grass, so Chrissy suggested we build a snowman.
Ruth was very good at helping roll balls of snow, but David just wanted to throw snowballs, especially at whoever had the camera!
With potato stalks for arms, rocks for buttons, snowballs for eyes and a plant pot for a hat, meet our first (I think) snowman with the children.
We had a good layer of snow, especially on the grass, so Chrissy suggested we build a snowman.
Ruth was very good at helping roll balls of snow, but David just wanted to throw snowballs, especially at whoever had the camera!
With potato stalks for arms, rocks for buttons, snowballs for eyes and a plant pot for a hat, meet our first (I think) snowman with the children.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
It's snowing again
It started trying to snow about 2pm. Now, at 3, it's starting to settle. Last week it didn't start until after we went to bed on Sunday night, and we got 1.5 inches. I wonder how deep it will be tomorrow?
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Choo-choo!
When it came to bedtime tonight, David didn't want to put his wooden train away, so we arranged a compromise. He dismantled the track and passed me all the bits, and I built a simple oval layout in his under-bed storage drawer, where the trains normally get put away. 
Then, once he had gotten changed and brushed his teeth, could drive the drain around the track a few more times before getting into bed, and it would be all ready for him in the morning.
Then, once he had gotten changed and brushed his teeth, could drive the drain around the track a few more times before getting into bed, and it would be all ready for him in the morning.
Look what I'm wearing!
A little while ago Ruth went upstairs to play inher bedroom. She was being very quite, so suspicious-parent-mode kicked in, and I sneaked up quietly to see what she was up to, and this is what I found:
What she is wearing is her bed-canopy. David pulled it down a little while back, and we haven't gotten around to fixing the hanging loop, which he broke, so Ruth decided to use it for dressing up. In her won words "Daddy, it's my olden-days-India dress."
What she is wearing is her bed-canopy. David pulled it down a little while back, and we haven't gotten around to fixing the hanging loop, which he broke, so Ruth decided to use it for dressing up. In her won words "Daddy, it's my olden-days-India dress."
Monday, 2 February 2009
Let it snow....
Got up at 06:55 this morning, on time for getting the children ready for school, and had a surprise when I looked out of the window - snow! The children are, of course, delighted, even as I watch the traffic on the A595 grinding to a halt in the distance. Looks like being a long slow trip to work today. Here's how it looks from David's bedroom:
And here's how it looks from Ruth's.
No drifting I can see, and it looks to be just over an inch deep so far, and still falling.
And here's how it looks from Ruth's.
No drifting I can see, and it looks to be just over an inch deep so far, and still falling.