Garden Camping

This weekend we decided to camp in our garden. My eldest has been desperate to camp since last summer and I've always sort of discouraged him. I'm not a big camping fan to be honest but my husband is and our eldest is dying to so we decided we would give it a try. We thought camping in the garden would be a good place to start, all the conveniences of home but the fun of sleep outside. Also Angus is only 4 so we weren't sure he'd want to stay in the tent all night.

We already have a tent, it's just a 2 man tent but it was perfect for what we needed this weekend. My husband has a roll mat and his own sleeping bag but we needed to get one for Angus. We went to the Mountain Warehouse which is just round the corner from us. Angus got a very nice sleeping bag, roll may and a mini torch. What was even better was all of our items were reduced! Yay!

We then spent the afternoon setting up the tent and getting things ready. Honestly I think Angus had as much fun putting up the tent as he did actually camping! After we had gotten the tent all cosy we started to think about dinner. As we were camping, we had in a bag tacos, I'd seen this idea on another blog, This Big Adventure and thought it was awesome! We were not disappointed, everyone loved it, even my fussy 2year old!

Once dinner was done and tidied up, it was on to the next authentic camping experience - toasting marshmallows! Both the 4 year old and the 2 year old loved this and who am I kidding me and the husband liked it too!

Then it was bedtime, Brodie and I were sleeping in the house so that was pretty uneventful but husband and Angus were in the tent and that was much more fun! They got into their pjs and read stories by torchlight, talked, listened for owls and other animals and eventually Angus went to sleep. Once he was sleeping husband came into the house for a little bit and we had a glass of wine and chatted while keeping an eye on the tent!

And I am pleased to say that Angus slept all night and thoroughly loved it, in fact he wanted to sleep in it again tonight! So a massive success really, I think we will be investing in a bigger tent and some more equipment and going on lots of camping adventures! And we will definitely be garden camping again!

Here are a couple of tips that we found useful:
1. Put a duvet on the ground under your mat or blow up mattress, it really helps keep you warm through the night.
2. Get little torches for your kids. Angus loved his and it came in handy for trips to the toilet
3. Lots of blankets and pillows to make the tent cosy and comfy!

Have you camped in the garden? What are your tips, favourite camping food, favourite places to go?

Mother's Day

Mother's Day in the U.K. was Sunday just past. My husband has always been pretty good with birthdays and Christmas so I was never worried that he would fail on Mother's Day! And this year was no different. 

First he got up with Angus at 6:15am and let me sleep for a further 3 hours. When they did wake me they brought a cup of tea and some pain au chocolat. This was lovely but there were also presents!

The first of which was this lovely Mother's Day yarn box from Devon Sun Yarns! (Turns out my husband is a very good listener) Inside the box was lots of lovely things including some gorgeous sock yarn. It's come out quite blue in this photos but there is quite a lot of purple in it too! Perfect colours for me! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make yet but it will be something for me!

There was also a teabag and some chocolate which was very nice. The little pins are very sweet and I love the stitch marker! My husband and Angus also very thoughtfully chose me a card with knitted pictures, they know me so well! 

The second of my gifts was this little lot, which Angus made at a group he goes to, the cakes were eaten mostly by Angus but I love the photo frame and the handmade card!

I had a lovely relaxing morning and in the afternoon we went into town for a lovely walk down by the river and then for some coffee and cake! Although I had a white chocolate hot chocolate which was so yummy!

My in laws also arrived from Scotland o Sunday, so we all went out for a lovely meal to finish the day off

If it was Mother's Day with you I hope you had a lovely relaxing day too filled with treats! 

A chocolate cake kind of day

On Friday Angus and I decided to have a quiet day, I'd been feeling pretty yuck all week with a cold and cough, so taking it easy was ideal. I asked Angus what he wanted to do thinking he might say play trains or make a tent but no Angus wanted to make a cake. When I thought about it, it was actually a great idea, a chocolate cake was just what we needed!

We just used a simple Mary Berry chocolate tray-bake recipe, nothing very complicated, really just a throw it all in.a bowl, mix it together and bake! However I think you'll agree it turned out pretty good and was very tasty! 

Also to say we had a very happy daddy when he came home to chocolate cake was an understatement, so win win really! I mean who doesn't like chocolate cake?!

Project 52...catch up

"A portrait of my son, once a week every week!"

11/52

At the park!

12/52

Taking a selfie!

13/52

18 months old 

14/52

Hiding!

52 project

"A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

8/52

Angus having fun on a Thomas ride at the fair

9/52

Busy boy colouring in!

10/52

Eating one of mummy's homemade scones

Joining up with the 52 project

7/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Action shot: splashing in the puddles

Joining up with the 52 project

6/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

A trip to the oriental museum this week!

Joining up with the 52 project

5/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Playing in mummy and daddy's bed! 

Joining up with the 52 project

4/52

 

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Angus loves books, here he is reading to his teddy! 

Joining up with the 52 project

3/52

"A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Angus this morning eating toast sitting at the table like a big boy

Joining up with the 52 project

Finger painting

Angus has been poorly this week, unfortunately it has meant we have been housebound for several days (he's quite contagious!) So after a couple of days it was getting harder to entertain him when I was browsing through Pinterest and came across this recipe for edible finger paint, which I pinned ages ago.

So I decided to throw caution to the wind and just do it! How much mess could it be?!

Actually not only was this super simple to make but really easy to clean up! I had put down some bin bags but even then I was so surprised how unmessy the whole process was! Angus also had a fab time, he was so impressed with his pictures he kept going to where they were drying and pointing to them! Super cute! 

I plan to cut up 5 of the pictures so we can send them as thank yous for Christmas presents. The other one I am going to keep put the date on it and start a file of Angus' art work! 

Have you done anything fun with your little ones recently, I'd love to hear about it if you have! 

Happy weekend! X

Fo Friday - The SOS sweater

As the title may suggest this sweater wasn't always easy, you may remember my post back in September.
Well I found a pattern and quickly set to work so that the sweater would be ready for Angus for Christmas! Well this sweater seemed to be cursed from the start, I'm not sure what went wrong but I had to restart it twice which is never good! Anyway I managed to get all the sections knitted and was really pleased with how it was shaping up! Then came the tricky part, putting it together. I have only ever picked up stitches once (here) and it was quite some time ago so I was slightly nervous. However, I was amazed at not only how easy I found it but how neat it looked! Great I thought hard part done now to see it up! That's when I realised...I only gone and attached one of the arms the wrong way round. I was gutted, I have mentioned before I'm not the best at unpicking and was really worried I was going to loose the whole sweater (I'm dramatic, I know!) bu with some very careful and slow work I was able to unpick, save all my stitches an reattach the arm the right way round! I have never been so relieved!!
So without further ado here it is

 And of course one of Angus in it

What have you been making? Hope it was an easier affair than mine! 

Linking up today with  Tami's blog
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

2/52

"A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014"

Thumb in mouth and full of thought, a rare pause for Angus!

 Joining up with the 52 project

Fo Friday

A bear for Angus

This is the first knitted toy I have made and I have to say in quite pleased with it! I did make a mistake with the head and had to start again but after that it was a really quick, easy knit. It's all in lovely garter stitch, I used a merino wool as I wanted it to be nice and soft for Angus, it also happened that I had two balls in my stash that I didn't know what to do with. They were a gift but only 100g each and two different colours, but they were perfect for this bear! The pattern I used was a Debbie Bliss one which you can find on Pinterest. The only thing I found a bit tricky was sewing it together but I'm sure that will just take practise.

Angus seemed quite pleased with it on Christmas morning 

I will definitely be making more knitted toys! 

Linking up today with Tami's blog
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

1/52..

"A portrait of my son, once a week, every week, in 2014" 

This is Angus: 15 months

Today is the first day he has worn Wellies! They have Thomas the tank engine on                 them, his current favourite! 

Joining up with the 52 project