Messy Sensory Activities and Edible Sand...

Whilst restrictions have eased a little and the weather has been glorious, we've been out in the garden a lot.
DS has enjoyed some awesome messy sensory play with gloop. We always make the gloop up together which he enjoys adding the ingredients and stirring. We tend to add food colouring to our gloop just to give it a pop of colour. When I ask DS to choose a colour, nine times out of ten he will choose red.
Our gloop is cornflour, water and food colouring so its completely edible and safe. DS has a little tendency to taste everything he works or plays with so I always try to make stuff safe and edible as much as possible.

DS has also enjoyed some sunny days out with his wonderful staff. He's become partial to enjoying some chips whilst sitting on the promenade looking out to sea. I love doing exactly the same thing so he must take after me! :)

DD has been enjoying some baby sensory play activities too.
I have recently discovered how to make edible sand! DD can be a little monkey when playing in the sand pit as she often eat the sand.
Pinterest has some fantastic ideas and recipes for safe baby sensory play ideas and I think that's where I nicked my edible sand recipe from.
I say 'recipe' but it isn't really, it's simply a box of Cheerios breakfast cereal blended into fine sand like crumbs. DD seemed very impressed and yes she did eat some of it too! :)

Water is a terrific sensory play activity for both children. DD has enjoyed lots of days in her paddling pool with cups, jugs and such and DS has a cool tray on a stand which he can access.
Water is always a massive hit with kids!

I've been trawling Pinterest just lately looking for activities that can entertain both children as I think cabin fever coupled with boredom is close to hitting them.
DS hasn't the routine of school anymore and DD is missing out on her baby classes so I've been trying to keep them stimulated and engaged as much as I can.

I have had some amazing news this week! I am now the proud owner of an hair appointment! lol
Oh yes, I have a much needed hair appointment in my usual and favourite salon and I really cannot wait! :)

I have been very busy decorating my Mum's house. I've been stripping wallpaper, painting and wallpapering and I have just completed the second room in her house - only 4 more rooms to go *groans* but it does look very lovely though.
Mum says there's no rush so I will just plod leisurely on room by room :)

Now restrictions have eased a little, I have excitedly planned a day out! I have booked and paid for tickets and will tell all once we have been - more on that next time :)

Hope you are all doing well, take care..

xx

He's a Teenager...!

Yes that's right, DS is now a teenager!
This month, we celebrated DS turning a whopping 13 years old!
Absolutely crazy!
DS's Dad and I couldn't possibly be anymore prouder of him. He's a Superstar in his own right.

DS is a good few inches taller than me now and has the strength of an Ox. He's becoming a lovely young man.

We celebrated his birthday out in the garden in the glorious sunshine with balloons, birthday cake and laughter - it was a lovely day despite what's happening worldwide.

Today has been a scorcher of a day in the UK.
I have been extremely busy. I stripped the most stubborn wallpaper in the world off the walls today with gritted teeth, then I sanded the wall and then I washed said wall down. That took most of the day but my lovely Mum did cook me a delicious Sunday roast.

I then noticed that the weeds and nettles on the other side of my fence are starting to obstruct my beautiful view of the farm next door so I decided that I was going to strim them down.
This meant removing one of the fence panels and then climbing over to strim.
It's hard work and keeping my balance is extra hard as the ground is so uneven and slopes quite steeply.

I managed it and then went to the front garden to trim a bush that is getting a bit out of hand.
I then collected all the trimmings and put them into the garden waste. The heat was beating down on me and I was getting really hot and sweating.
When I came back into the house, my face was red and I was a hot, sweaty and shattered mess plus I was shaking. I downed a couple of glasses of water and started to run a very cool bath.

I popped one of my bath bombs in and climbed in. The water was so lovely and cooling on my hot skin and I just lay there for ages soaking my limbs.
I had to drag myself out eventually but at least I was much cooler now.

I'll make sure tomorrow is a more relaxing day as I am feeling so exhausted.

The weekly Zoom sessions with my closest friends are still happening and we always enjoy them.
Last week, one of my friends suggested that we have a 'night out' via Zoom of course :)
So I popped on a set of lashes, poured myself a glass of wine and jumped on :) I sat in the garden in the evening sun for it and we all chatted away :)

I'm loving the evenings at the moment and am really savouring having a quiet moment watching the sun go down with a cup of tea, there's just something so peaceful and relaxing about it.
Anyway I best go and take my weary body to bed.

Hope you are all well, take care

xx