The Amazing Earth & Sock Snakes

I purchased a big inflatable globe a few weeks from the Tiger shop and well... its a permanent fixture in the lounge, kitchen and hallway! As large and annoying as it is, it is also brilliant. Everyday, we lob it at each other, kicking it around and just general silliness with it.

As always, I try to inject a bit of learning into the games so while we throw it about and at each other,  I point to the Continents and ask Archie what they are. Also, I ask him to 'point at Africa for me' etc. followed by lots of screaming and cheering and flinging the globe about. He thinks it is hilarious and has quickly picked it up. He has also learnt England and United Kingdom. 

I have just started to move on to the different oceans and throwing in a few countries. My process for this is; getting his lego characters to explore the Earth, walking through the countries, going for a swim across the oceans and also diving off the sofa and bouncing around the globe. Again, Archie finds it highly entertaining!

The game digressed today into the Hand Snake game, where one of us is sleeping and the other uses their hand to be a snake and catch the leg of other person or swipe a sock from their feet. I made my sock into a snake with some goggle eyes. It made the game much more fun and real for Archie he was squealing and very excited! 

PS... A messy home is a happy home : )

Elderflower Wine

We went elderflower picking with my Mum (Archie's Nana). Ofcourse I wasnt making the Eldeflower wine, but my mum was. We had a lovely time and Archie really enjoy helping put the flower-heads in the buckets. The flowers were just starting to drop so just a few days later and it would have been too late to collect them. I now have a store of them in my freezer ready for my Mum to make the next batch. The cordial is delicious and works well with, water, lemonade or soda water. My Mum will not share the recipe to make the elderflower wine, its top secret, ha ha!

I can't wait until the Autumn and we can take Archie blackberry picking and stock up the freezer for our daily smoothies. Blackberries are so expensive to buy in the supermarkets and yet they are abundantly available across the hedgerows for FREE! Everyone is into this fad about blueberries being a superfood at the moment but blackberries are actually are much more nutrient rich. They contain half the amount of sugar, and much more fibre, protein, vitman C, vitamin A, calcium, finer, potassium etc than blueberries. 

Baking with a toddler

I bravely (ha ha) attempted my first baking experience with Archie. It went really well and Archie was so proud of his creations, he was offering them to everyone and was asking to make more for days after. We made chocolate cornflake cakes. The recipe was really simple, I just found it on the internet.

3oz butter

7oz Milk cooking chocolate

2 tbsp Golden Syrup

5oz Cornflakes

small bowl of mini marshmallows

I thought Archie would be flinging chocolate all over the place and wanting to just eat it all but actually he was really reserved and just ate 2 squares of chocolate. He didn't want to lick the bowl or spoon so I helped him out with that! After heating it all up and mixing it, we portioned it out in the cupcake cases, sprinkled the marshmallows and put it in the fridge. Then Archie asked to check if it was ready about 50 times for the next couple of hours ha ha!

As soon as Daddy arrived home, Archie took him to the fridge to show him what he had made. And the next day, Archie waited longingly for his Nana, Nanny B, and Pops to come round and have some of his chocolate cake. Of course this meant Archie could have another one himself and share everyone else's ha ha!

A Fort of Books

A creative reading hour was spent on the lounge floor. My brother Mark and I used to do this all the time when we were little. We would build a fort out of books. Archie loved this and worked his way around the wall of books, reading bits, knocking them over, pretending the pages were doors and opening closing the 'doors'

Archie was very confused at what i was doing with his books to begin with but soon jumped inside and played and read his books.

A regular favourite book of Archie's, Peppa Pig and the dinosaur park. I am instructed to stomp like a dinosaur and sing the song, A LOT! ha ha.

I didn't capture the end of the reading Fort as we were too busy being giants, stomping around bashing the walls down. Lots of fun : )