104/366 - Poppy Makes Jewellery

Poppy was really missing her School and friends today so we decided to get crafty and cheer her up. This is her modelling a bracelet she made out of a pipe cleaner and some beads. She threaded them all on herself:

Karen x

A Lovely Afternoon - Bike Rides & Crafty Stuff

As usual Thursday afternoons are special Mummy/Poppy time. Rosie sleeps for a good 3 hours which means Poppy and I get to play and spend some quality time together.

Today we have made the most of the good weather and took the bike out on the hill outside the back of the house. I had the baby monitor with me and could see the front door so knew Rosie was okay:

After that we came in and did some painting. Poppy and her Daddy made a little clay pot the other day and it needed painting so we did that and decorated it with little gems. Poppy had great fun and was thrilled with the result:

Finally we sat back and relaxed. me on my laptop and Poppy on Daddy's ipad ssshhh don't tell him:

Once Rosie got up she joined in and painted her little pot:

And then we all made some cakes:

What a lovely afternoon!

Karen x

We Collected Our Pottery

Last week I wrote about how we had been painting pottery at China blue in Totnes. This week we went to pick up our goodies and the girls were thrilled with them.

This was the square tile Rosie painted herself. At 19 months she had had great fun being let loose with a paintbrush. We are going to turn it into a coaster:

 This one was Poppy's. As soon as she spotted this little frog, she knew he was the one she wanted to paint. He now sits proudly on the fireplace "so Rosie doesn't break him" (Poppy's words):

This last one was Rosie's hand print. Daddy really enjoyed helping her with this and would have happily sat there for ages painting something of his own:

To be honest these pictures aren't the best and they look better in real life!

We would definitely recommend it for something to do and will be going back again soon.

Karen x

Painting Pottery At China Blue,Totnes

This afternoon we headed off out for some family fun. With the weather being cold and miserable we decided somewhere warm was required and found the perfect place.... China Blue, Devon Ceramics in Totnes.

We have driven past it before on several occasions and have been meaning to pop in and see what its all about, but until today hadn't been. I am really glad we did though.

There is a warm welcoming feeling, lots of pretty things to look at and a very laid back atmosphere. Despite having lots of pretty and breakable things around, I did not feel like the children were getting glared at and although I kept a close eye on them, I was pretty relaxed.

The girls were keen to get painting and the staff quickly explained the options. We had a choice of using either poster paints, which would dry quickly, have a matt finish and we could take our goods home today or we could use ceramic glaze paints which looked nicer, were water proof but we would have to return in a week to collect them. We settled on the latter.

We let the girls pick some items to paint. Poppy chose this little frog and lovingly painted it in a variety of bright colours:

Whilst Rosie set to work painting this square tile. We are going to turn it into a coaster:

Daddy also got stuck in by painting Rosie's hand and doing her hand print on another tile before carefully painting her name and age:

Husband and I would have happily sat there painting but with two girls and messy paints you cant concentrate on anything for long.

These were the results of our hard work. We just have to wait until we can collect them next week to see what the complete finished results are like:

There was also a lovely cafe complete with lots of big comfy chairs and sofas where we all enjoyed a nice cold drink, afterall painting was thirsty work.

I must admit it is the type of place Husband and I could have relaxed in for ages but it was surrounded by lots of shelves of goodies and breakables which the girls kept wanting to touch. So not so relaxing with children!

All in all a great afternoon out and I wouldn't be surprised if family members got presents from here in the future.  Would recommend it for something to do.

Karen x

Girls day out

Today we had a lovely girls day out shopping.  I had promised if Poppy was good for a whole week we could treat her to some new crafty stuff and she really has been so off we went. First we went to the ELC where we treated Poppy to a new bumper pack of soft stuff tools and dough, a collage jar and some A3 bright card.  Rosie also got some little bells that she took a liking too and shook for the whole shopping trip with a big smile on her face.

Next we headed off to next where I treated myself to a pretty new top.  By this time the girls were starting to flag so we headed to M&S for some lunch.  They had a lovely little cafe we have not been to before which was really nice.    The girls were very well behaved and I felt really proud of them.  Little Rosie did look like she was advertising Tommee Tippee though. She had all of these:

Magic Mat

First cup

Travel bib

Before leaving the shop I quickly treated myself to some new underwear (sadly that is not me modelling it):

Then it was time to head home for a nap.  All in all a pleasant day for all.  I love my girls and days like today make me smile!

Karen x