First week back!

So many new beginnings!

I have moved house, into a lovely little village and very much enjoying country life once again. A house move has resulted in new children starting with me, including a few older ones after school, which is a change of pace!

Days are already going by so fast, I can't believe a whole week of work has passed already! You would think moving to the country would make life slow down but no! There is playbus and toddler group in the week, Bingo every fortnight, Zumba another night of the week (I do want to start getting out to that). We have had a power cut, for which the Mrs actually saw the powerline go up in flames as we were driving past. We've had the council cutting back fallen trees at 11pm. And we're now steaming ahead into another week exploring Chinese New Year.

I had so many things to share as this first week has been a busy one, unfortunately I have just discovered the majority of photos I have taken over the last week have been corrupted and so are worthless! Many cross words have been exchanged between my mobile and I. But lesson learnt; keep my camera with me, do not rely on my mobile!

None the less I thought I would share a few of the highlights from the week, and pictures where I have them!

 We went out on a very muddy walk! Up one of the lanes past the school, we went to find some sheep and horses, but mainly lots of mud and puddles.

 Little 'E' had a bit of trouble staying on her feet, so much slippery mud can make things tricky for little ones, but she did have fun splashing through the puddles anyway.

'W' is a bit bigger and was off ahead with the dogs, he was making big splashes in the puddles, to a point where we had to stop and empty his wellies!

I am discovering 'W' has the most amazing imagination. This week we have been shopping, been on a long train journey, run a restaurant, been firemen saving people from fires, pirates on a ship, we have been in a snow and ice covered land with crocodiles who might eat you, we have hidden in a snow cave, we have been good knights protecting our land from a dragon, we have been Witches, mummies and daddies, and I'm sure many others that I lost track of!!

This week we also enjoyed a sensory 'Winter' tray. This consisted of rice, wooden blocks, a few selected animals, some plastic snowflakes and various scoops and containers.

'E' became engrossed in collecting up the rice, she started out trying some of the scoops but resorted to just grabbing handfuls of rice. She filled containers, poured them into each other, emptied them out and then started all over again.
I have already noticed 'E' is a bit of a collector, a number of occasions this week I have seen her collecting up little bits of toys, finding a bag to put them in or just making a pile. A potential Schema uncovering itself?? This most definitely calls for some exploring in the coming weeks.

'W' was just as intrigued with the sensory tray, his ever present imagination creating a dialog for the Polar Bears and Reindeer. The Reindeer in particular was enjoying rice being poured over it's back. 'W' commented "he likes the feel of that".

With Burns Night on Friday we also spent some time this week exploring Scotland. We looked at the flag and a book on Scotland that talked about castles and the Loch Ness Monster. 'W' and I spoke for some time about why there were no knights in the castles, I explained that we don't really have knights any more, we just have Soldiers and Policemen now. He didn't really like that concept though!

We finished off the week by making some yummy shortbread together and paying a trip to the park to collect some logs to put in the garden.

Nature Walks and Bugs!!

Today I've had a bit of 1:1 time with little 'C', he doesn't often get me to himself so I thought we would do his favorite thing....go out for a walk!

At just 15 months it's amazing how much he wants to walk.

We went out to a local field where I often go to walk the dog but it's hard when I have both boys as it's a bit too off the road for my double but just little 'C' and I packed a bag of drinks and snacks and went off for an adventure!

he had a little break for a drink and snack looking at the flowers around us

When we got back home little 'C' went off for a quick nap to recharge while I set up a little playscape for him to explore!

We were so busy playing with it I forgot to get any pictures! But we had a lovely time walking the bugs up and down the logs and over stones, definitely one I will bring out again in the future!

Today we went to visit.....

.......http://wormseye-view.blogspot.com/!

Just little 'C' today so we decided to get out the house for a change of scenery and see what Pip had to play with today!

 Lots of dinosaurs!!

We made some 'leeks' ready for a St David's day card for mummy! This was a lovely idea of Pippa's; you take a piece of kitchen roll, fold it in half and cut slices half way along the side. So then when it's rolled up there are lots of slices just like the top of a leek!! It's then dipped into some watered down food colouring and left to dry on a radiator until you are ready to make a card!

We're just starting to get the hang of making marks with pens and pencils!! (We finished off the card a couple of days later, hence the 'magic' change of clothes!)

We finished off the day helping to make the bara brith all ready for the following day...just a shame we didn't get to help in the eating!! Maybe next time...

Little 'C' had a lovely time as lack of transport means we rarely get out to different places, but thank you Pippa for letting us come to play!

A Quiet Morning

After such a beautiful few days the weather has definately taken a turn back towards Autumn, but we've had a lovely chilled day none the less.

A morning full of farm play, baby 'L' and 'I' were playing together lovely today, 'I' has had some jealousy issues over the last few weeks so it was really nice to see them playing together again.

Then a trip out to the park for some fresh air and a play! There is a long line of trees down the side of the park which were showering their crunchy leaves down on us, we just couldn't resist walking through and kicking them back up in the air!

After lunch we put baby 'L' down for a sleep and had some story time with 'I'. I read the story first then 'I' announces "my turn" and sits to read the book herself reciting words or phrases she remembers.