Monkey features

An interesting pairing this, Miranda and the Monkey. He's following her around everywhere at the moment, and she confides in him all the time.

Stoat

This is one if Gregory's drawings of a Stoat from our session looking at wild animals on the weekend. Miranda has been playing around with the idea of hamsters, so I like to keep them thinking about the natural world, and how we work to protect their habitats so they are able to live independently...

Nice drawing Greg, Grandan would be proud

James Herriot - The Lord God made Them All, p344

Child Labour

That's not a very long cuddle she complained as I tried to make my way downstairs. When I toldher that I needed to get my dinner ready tonight as Caroline was out at a Governers meeting, she said sheepishly, "you might find some of your stuffed peppers are a bit messy Dad - that's because I did them!"

Well I enjoyed them even more knowing that Popsie...!

Stuck up a Gumtree

I have warned them both about climbing trees whilst wearing wellies, but do they listen? They do not...

This time of year wellies really are the best form of footwear as it gets very boggy in places and they run around like mad things, and they can escape most of the grime.

This one was taken on Sunday when Lewi was out sailing and we were left to our own devices, Mipp is wearing her new hat that Gran knitted for her, and Greg is not (wearing ditto)

Sometimes you capture a moment and sometimes you miss it, and this has a nice flavour of happy families!

So two photos today, just because I can....

Icicles and bicycles

To call it cold this weekend has been an understatement. Darkish with a steady chillwind and a steady fall of snowy particles gas made it feel very grim. Nevertheless Lewi has been out sailing on both days and nothing but enthusiasm from him. Yesterday he was getting some race training from Nigel Walbank, an experienced former world champion at Lymington, and today he's been out with Geoff Havers on the 29er again. They finished 3rd in the fast fleet of 30 boats which is pretty damn good.

Went for a ride and a play at the park uwith Miranda whilst he was out, she was on form, but ut will be nice when Spring does break and we can find something to sing about. Looked for my longtails at Denny Wood yesterday but no sign of them yet....!

The girl with the flyaway hair

Back in the day we used to shoot models in the studio, gaffer tape making loose clothes fit properly and a hairdryer to create the wind blown look...

Back to reality and its amazing the fun you can have with an iPhone at the end of the day!

One, two, three...

what most cookbooks don't show you is

Naughty Norman

The sun was streaming in through the window, it was a beautiful morning. And this was how i found Miranda, buried under a book - not a glimmer of response. She was stuck into a large helping of Bella Lasagne and Naughty Norman!

With the rest of rhe day we've been for a walk from Canadian Crooss via Chapmans Pool over to thr Royal Oak in Fritham... hic!

Prashad

Dinner tonight crafted by Caroline from the newly arrived cookbook from Bradford restauraters called Prashad. Looked good, tasted good and disappeared fast. But then you'd expect that...

I heart you

It was my turn to take the kids to school this morning as Caroline needed to get to work early. So after talking about Valentine's day Miranda decided to make Mum an d Dad a nice card and Greg disappeared off to make something. Lucky arn't we!

GF

Found on my pillow...

Rugged lads

Bring Welsh I often winder if I am the only taffy not much interested in the game. So it was amusing at tea time to hear that Gregory has been made captain of the tag rugby team at Waterside, and very proud he was too.

So now I have two rugby captains in the house, and I desperately need to start breathing the air!

Tossing the pancake

Lots of noise coming from the kitchen at teatime - nothing unusual there, but the hooting and hollering was escalating....

Turns out that we are having pancakes! And Lewis is getting some practise in.

Lego Spaceship

Miranda has been darting around the house with various constructions in her hands, firing imaginary missiles at us all week. Like football fever I think she caught it off Gregory.

They have been disappearing upstairs to make running repairs and alterations to the Lego, and on Saturday she announced that she was going to be doing Lego all day....

Crispy won ton

The kitchen was transformed into a Vietnamese sweatshop for tonight's dinner - an assortment of dumplings! Whilst Greg and Miranda and I visited the Art Gallery in Southampton this afternoon Caroline made some fillings and when we got home Miranda helped stuff rhe dumplings. Some were steamed, some deep fried and some roasted in rhe oven, but we managed to eat all eighty of them in a single session. Slow food, fast food - what's in a name.

Gang wearily

Gregory represented Waterside Primary today in a cross country running event at Gang Warily, coming home in fifteenth place out of eighty runners - hence the photo of his slightly gubby face. At bathtime it took about six goes to get him clean!

Toofy

The slightly menacing Miranda after loosing her first top tooth. It's been hanging on for what seems like weeks, and she has been discussing the impending visit from the fairy for quite a while.

Tonight for a special treat we read Paddington's A Visit to the Dentist, and it really hit the mark...

Guitar Gregory

Greg practicing this evening. He's taken to struting nonchalently like Clapton, but this doesn't go too well with reading his music. So as I have been focusing him, he refused to play the part when i had my camera trained on him...

Miranda equally stubborn this evening so she had to go without beftime story. I enjoyed my own company abd chuckled to James Herriott's Let Sleeping Vets Lie.

I am listeing to Thierry Maillard's 's latest offering called Beyond the Ocean which is VG

Sand Castle

When the kids were small we used to do a lot of sand castle building, tonka toys and the like. We certainly don't do it that often in winter any more, but popsie and I did on the weekend at Lepe, and then we decorated it in the sushine begore riding home (against a cruel cold headwind)

This is Miranda yesterday at Lepe after we had cycled down in the morning sunshine. It was a lovely fresh morning but the wind was bitingly cold. She decided she'd like an ice cream, and nothing I could say would bring common sense. She ate it slowly and announced at the end, "Yes, it was a bit cold Dad!"

Wonky front tooth at the top nearly ready to come out... won't be long!