Photo diary: week 15, 366

Last Sunday was a rainy day, on Eddie's request we baked and decorated a batch of rainbow fish cupcakes.
I also spent the whole weekend, trashing the house, throwing things around, trying to find Eddie's bookbag for school. But as it happened, the bag was left  at school. Since we travelled on the last day of school, Eddie didn't pick up his bag on that day. With all the stressful trip I have completely forgot about it.

The first week of school was all about getting back into the routine of earlier mornings, so it took us a bit of adjustment. I feel so bad in the morning, waking up my boys who clearly don't want to be out of bed.
In the evening, weather permitting, I love to have a stroll in the garden. The delicate plum blossom in the dusk looks so pretty.

On Tuesday we received some Robinson Crusoe goodies including a small stash of masks, which Eddie has enthusiastically tried on.

I treated myself to The Glamour Spring Edit beauty box, mostly for the Moroccan oil and Mua Luxe 10 shade palette. I buy these beauty boxes from time to time, the problem is I never use all the products. It's either a nail polish which I don't wear or a tan product which I don't use, this time I don't like the perfume, it smells quite cheap.

I spotted a selection of Paul Hollywood baking mixes in Waitrose. I'm not the biggest fan of Mr Hollywood, but I can never resist new products, so I bought a couple of packs. The Belgian Chocolate Muffins happened to be really nice, I'm definitely going to buy another pack to keep in the pantry for whenever we fancy some quick choccie bakes. They were lush with whipped cream frosting. Top marks from us all.

Eddie's TV tastes cover a wide range - from Little Princess to Johnny English, from Goosebumps to Kung Fu Panda and more. He likes me to sit next to him, just in case it gets scary.

The Moon was visible quite early in the evening today, when the sky was still bright blue. Then while I walked around the garden, admiring the flowers, it was hidden behind the clouds.

Rainbow fish cupcakes

We took a whole lot of activity books based on Julia Donaldson's stories with us to Italy. One of them - The Tiddler Activity Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler- included a lovely recipe for colourful Rainbow fish cupcakes.
The recipe is very basic, and you can bake any cupcakes you fancy, then decorate them as a shoal of colourful fish.

Eddie's been pestering begging me for days to bake a batch with him, he was very enthusiastic about decorating them with Skittles.

I made the icing in three colours, using different food colourings. And then Eddie had a blast, creating fish with Skittles and fruit strings, cut into small pieces to use as smiles.

After he finished the job, he proudly declared that I should give all of them to Sasha. "Why? Don't you want to eat them? Why did you keep asking me to bake them if you don't want to eat them?" - to which he replied that he only wanted to have fun, decorating them.

He later relented and ate one. Sasha indeed was happy to eat the cupcakes. He had them for several days, and really enjoyed these sweet treats.

Plasticine Softeez

It was raining almost every day in the last week of our Easter school break, and we spent a lot of time indoors, trying to do different activities including stickers, colouring, tracing, baking, doing puzzles and playing with plasticine.

Plasticine Softeez is a new range of super soft modelling clay. It is aimed at children aged 3+, and is an easy pliable material for little hands. Unlike the traditional plasticine, Softeez doesn't dry out.

Among the other plasticine goodies we received a Plasticine Softeez Under the Sea Play Box, which comes with twelve blocks of Plasticine Softeez, a play mat and nine accessories including a roller, shape cutters and two modelling tools. There is also an instructions sheet.

The underwater scene shows the bottom of the sea with a couple of sea creatures and corals.

Eddie was happy to roll the plasticine, using the roller. Cutting the shapes was easy enough, when I showed him that he needed to press a bit harder to cut a clean shape. The little spear-shaped modelling tools are helpful for adding lines and patterns.

Just like with cookie cutters, some shapes are more fiddly than the others. That's where the modelling tools come handy to push the plasticine carefully out of the cutter.

All the primary colours are included, and by mixing them, you can create as many shades as you like. The only limit is your imagination.
Under the sea set has a good range of colours, so we kept them as they are.

This creative activity is educational and fun at the same time. It helps develop fine motor skills as well as stimulate imagination.

Eddie had great fun, playing with Under the sea set as well as the extra plasticine blocks. He started with a rather wobbly little car, then moved onto more challenging projects.

This panda might be cross-eyed, but he enjoys his bamboo shoot and a sweetie.

Plasticine Softeez will make a lovely gift for any child who enjoys creative activities. These sets and separate blocks of plasticine are good value for money.
Our only issue is that the play mat is made of a thin plastic which once unrolled, doesn't want to stay that way. Perhaps making it from a slightly sturdier plastic or laminated paper would give a better working surface.

For the information on the full range check out Plasticine Softeez on Facebook and visit @PlasticineUK on Twitter.

Disclosure: we received a selection of Softeez products for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are Eddie's and mine.

Photo diary: week 14, 366

Another week of Easter holidays has whizzed by. We haven't been out much, as it was a rainy week.
Eddie put his pirate hat on Sash, and for some reason they both found it hilarious. They were giggling and I tried to snap them, but they moved around too much, so it's a bit out of focus. The standing lamp didn't help either. I like it, because it is reflects a playful mood.

Looking at our Italian photos, I realised that there are no photos of me, if you don't count one single snap taken by Eddie on my iphone, and it's not the best picture. When on Monday our friend Jen took us by car to the Burford garden centre, I asked her to take a photo of Eddie and me together.
I'm wearing my new hat, which I bought in Italy. It's actually a men's hat, but I really like it, and decided it is very "Annie Hall".

Hyacinths in the garden are blooming in full force. Alas, they seem to attract a myriad of tiny black beetles. I read that they are pollen beetles, and there is nothing you can do about them. If you spray the flowers with pesticides, it will also destroy the bees and ladybirds.

Plum trees look very pretty at the moment.

On Thursday we stayed at home all day, and Ed played with his new Plasticine Softeez set. That kept him busy for the whole of 20 minutes.

Yesterday dinner was a trout with samphire aka sea asparagus. I like the salty crunchiness of this plant.

In a typical English holiday fashion we got soaked on our visit to the Cogges manor farm. On the way back home, we spotted a Mummy duck with several cute ducklings who were covered in rain drops.

Aloo egg curry

It's been raining all day on Thursday. We even had a bit of a hail in the afternoon. Then the sun poked out for a bit before going back behind the rain clouds. My boys and I stayed at home all day. Eddie insisted on having fusilli with ketchup for dinner, Sash had his own usual meal. I fancied a meat-free dinner. Having rummaged in the kitchen, I came up with a plan of cooking a potato and egg curry.

Potato and egg curry
Ingredients:
3 eggs, hard-boiled
2 big potatoes, parboiled
2tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced thinly
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2tsp ground ginger
1tsp garam masala powder
salt and black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
160ml coconut cream

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain potatoes, let them cool before cutting into big cubes.
Cook the eggs to hard-boiled, once cooked, peel the eggs and quarter them.
In a deep frying pan fry the celery and leek in the olive oil, with the added garlic and spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped tomatoes, and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring.
Add the cubed potatoes and coconut cream, mix well with the curry sauce, cook for a couple of minutes, finally add the eggs, and stir for a minute.
Serve hot.

It's a quick and easy vegetarian dish.

Burford garden centre

As always, after holidays I need a "holiday" just to recover afterwards. Our Italian journey was so stressful that my brain has not been functioning properly. I swear I thought the school was supposed to start last Monday, and I was stunned to discover that we had another week of holidays. On one hand, yay, brilliant, we don't need to get up early. On the other hand, how do I keep my guys happy and busy?
On Monday, as happens at every school break, our friend Jen took my guys and me by car to the Burford Garden centre.
There is a lot to see and explore there, and we usually start, visiting the toy shop which has a marvellous phone booth from Dr Who.

Sash loves browsing in the book corner... (all the photos in this post are a mix of our two visits, in February and April, that's why the clothes are different.)

 ...while Eddie runs from one toy to another, trying to convince me we must buy them. I pointedly refuse. The prices in that toy shop are eye-watering. And so are the prices of food in the cafe. £2.75 for a cupcake?! It must be baked with a golden dust.

Coffees for adults, soft drinks and cakes/biccies for the boys. We like to sit by the window.

After a mini-repast we go outside, and look at the plants. There are all kinds of shrubs and flowers, changing from season to season.

I absolutely adore looking at the china sections indoors, both modern, like Emma Bridgewater, and vintage.
The boys find it really boring, so I rarely have a chance to browse to my heart's content.

Back in February I was admiring this lamb pitcher, and didn't realise that Sasha was taking my photo exactly when I was taking a photo of the pitcher. I later found it on my iphone, which he was playing with. He loves taking photos (takes after his Mum, I guess).

This time I wanted to buy some tomato plants but the choice was very limited, and none of the varieties they had appealed to me. We like growing yellow or red cherry tomatoes, which Eddie loves eating in summer straight off the vine.

My guys love the playground outside the car park, and if it's not raining, they enjoy climbing on the wooden frames, tractor or just having fun on the swings. Sash always beams happily, when he's on the swings.

Eddie was proudly showing me his going-down-the-pole technique.

I first visited the Burford garden centre with my friend Trudy and her husband, long before the kids-era. The centre has changed a lot since those days, having expanded a lot. My darling Trudy is no more with us, but I think of her, looking at the beautiful flowers at the garden centre.

Adding this post to #Out&About linky which Alison from Dragons and Fairy Dust and I run together.

And also to the Friday Fabulous linky created by Leta aka Attachment Mummy.