sung to the ‘tune’ of We Didn’t Start the fire. A song I would love to write some new lyrics for and one day probably will :).
I had a very long lie in this morning to make up for several crap nights sleep and felt better for it, despite a noisy / wriggly ten minute cuddle with Scarlett about an hour before I actually got up.
I had texts from two of the three potential Book Buyers to say they weren’t coming. I fear we peaked early with our first two buyers book sale wise but am still hoping we might sell a few more. Maybe I should stick them on ebay…
We watched some Beat the Boss which we all quite like and I processed some washing. Davies and Scarlett were drawing – Scarlett doing some firework pictures and Davies having a go at a landscape drawing kit he got for Christmas last year. I showed them how to make firework pictures by colouring over rainbow stripes with black crayon and then scratching firework shapes off and then we got into using the letters of our names to create pictures – a boat using the D of Davies for the sail and so on.
They sort of cleared that up and started playing with geomags while I spent some time sorting out kitchen cupboards. It hadn’t been my intention but I’d gone to find cake tins for Christmas cake baking and not been able to find the loose bottom of one of the pair of tins I wanted to use so started rummaging looking for it. Having taken most of the contents out of the first cupboard and not found it I decided to do the job properly and take everything out, chuck out the stuff we don’t need and put it all away again tidily. This meant matching up tupperware boxes with lids and chucking out all rogue lids and boxes, both the kids bottles went (it’s been *years* even though they were both still using they way past 5yo for milk at night), I found some new decent tea towels so chucked out some of the old tattered ones and created three less crowded and tidy cupboards, a pile of stuff to chuck out and two large bags of stuff to freecycle (which as no one has come forward to ask for will probably end up at a charity shop tomorrow). But no loose bottom. Which I then discovered the other side of the open cupboard door when I closed it so must have fallen and slid out in the very first pile of stuff I took out after all. Never mind, another job ticked off the list as done.
By then the kids were getting on each others nerves and I could hear Davies doing a fine line in being irritating to Scarlett so I called him out and asked him if he’d like to help me instead. He agreed and set to cutting out greaseproof paper to line tins, then greasing and lining them while I weighed out the first batch of ingredients and started mixing the first cake. Davies then chopped some cherries for me and I called Scarlett to come and have a stir and make a wish. I’d used bantams eggs for the first cake and we all had a stir before pouring the batter into the tin. I then asked Scarlett if we could use Splooshes eggs for the second cake. We have had them for a fair few weeks and I was worried they were just going to end up going off. We tested them for freshness in a bowl of water and then smelt them when cracked open to check and they were fine (another double yolker) so Scarlett did the mixing eggs and brandy while Davies weighed out and rubbed in flour and butter and I mixed fruit and sugar. Scarlett then chopped some cherries and we all had a stir and made wishes for the second duck egg cake.
Just as we were pouring that batter into a tin there was a knock at the door and Tasha, Toby and Vinnie arrived to look at books :). The kids had a great couple of hours playing inside and out and I had a nice chat with Tasha who took a few books.
They left and Davies and Scarlett came in for a very late lunch then we made some 3d shapes with the geomags and panels and experimented with the strength of different structures. As the oven was on for hours with the cakes I stuck jacket potatoes in for the kids tea and they watched a Harry Potter film while playing.
Ady came home, the kids had tea, Scarlett asked me to make her a count down to her birthday calendar and we looked at potential places for her to have an animal ‘experience’ as her birthday present. Everything is either stupidly expensive or just too basic with tasks like feeding rabbits or grooming ponies. I understand 8 year olds can’t be set loose feeding tigers by hand but it would be nice to think she could do something exciting and different. All of the really interesting stuff is over 16s only 🙁 The other problem is of course her birthday being so close to the shortest day of the year we are only looking at a few hours daylight and bloody cold outside so most zoo trips are not likely to be enjoyable either. Ady is working on her birthday too so as will my Mum I expect so at best it will be me, Davies and possibly my Dad accompanying her somewhere. I did ask if she wanted to do something with friends but she declined. She’s really not a cinema and McDonalds with a couple of friends kind of girl ;).
The kids went to bed and we had baths / cooked dinner and sat down to watch River Cottage. Davies appeared with an amazing calendar he had created for Scarlett counting down til her birthday, must get a pic tomorrow. It has 30 dates, advent calendar style with numbered doors to open and a picture behind each one – mostly animals or Scarlett or characters from TV she likes. Several have bits of a picture and the next door opens the rest, a couple have little pull out pictures behind them and the final door is huge with 30 on the front and a message saying ‘Happy Birthday Scarlett love Davies’ behind it. It almost made me cry it was so lovely :). And so well made and thought out. I do have a very lovely son.
Who will do almost anything to avoid going to sleep ;).
Which reminds me of another lovely moment from earlier when Davies looked at my tatty notebook with all my recipes written in it and said ‘that’s a precious book isn’t it. One day can I have it?’ to which Scarlett who had just appeared in the kitchen answered ‘No, *I’m* getting that book, I’ve already asked!’. I did offer to write it out again for both of them in nicer books, if I’d known it was to become a coveted item I’d have gone for a prettier notebook but they both insisted it was the very fact you can guess the ingredients by what is spilt on the pages rather than what is written there that makes it so special :). I will sit one day and re-write it into two nicer books to present them with one each though :).