...has just flown by! Even with the two extra days tagged on to last week because of the snow, this week has gone really quickly. We've been busy, but not so busy that I feel frazzled and the kids zonked. So, a quick run-down:
Saturday: girls and Ed went over to grandma and grandad's and made snowmen - just realised I've already blogged this momentous occasion in last Saturday's post! I had a final rehearsal for the first Wind Band concert, which was last...
Sunday: as I've previously stated, it is NOT possible to look glamorous/attractive/sane whilst playing the clarinet, witness:
Was fantastic fun, though, and well-received by our smallish audience of mostly family and friends. We're just trying to get our younger players used to playing before an audience - it's all good practice for them, before we do the rounds of the summer fêtes this year - that's the tentative plan, anyway.
Monday: had school friend, Kathryn, over for the day with her two little girls who are 4 and 3 - got caught in the rain at the playing field, and whilst the little girls were fine because all four of them were well wrapped up in rain gear and wellies, Kathryn and I were not exactly dressed for the inclement weather, and came home looking like drowned rats. Blogging was obviously far from my mind because I didn't take a single photograph on Monday, which is unforgiveable, really, especially when I consider the infrequency with which we have all four of our girls together at the same time. Never mind...
Tuesday: we played host to F's friend D for the day; easy day, the girls all played nicely together, picnic lunch and roast chicken dinner. Perfect! Also made a Valentine card for Ed - not going to embarrass myself by posting a photo of it here, but it was very quick and easy and made use of one of my fabulous Blonde Moments stamps.
Wednesday: even easier day!! A was taken out for the day by one of her friends - play barn in the morning, and home to bake cakes in the afternoon. Her friend's dad was looking after them for the day, and he was a complete star, ferrying them about and then making chocolate cakes with them, one of which A brought home with her, still warm and dripping with melted chocolate! Upon learning that A was out for the day, mum of F's friend D invited F to their house for the best part of the day, and I was left to my own devices, putting together a birthday parcel for my swap partner at the Pad, which included making an exploding box following the excellent instructions on Anso's blog. Of course, I didn't take any photographs, and I can't say too much about it yet because the recipient's birthday isn't until next week. Popped a very belated card and pressie in the post to Kirstles - no excuse for it being late, other than that she had gallivanted off to Barcelona (see fabbo photos on her blog) for her birthday, and then mini cruise to Rotterdam, lucky girl! Made an anniversary card for ma and pa, who celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary yesterday, and a 35th birthday card for my darling cousin Daniel, who is only 5 weeks younger than me. Upon the girls' return from their days out, we dashed out to Hiller's for some last minute ingredients for a Valentine meal - we don't usually do anything much for Valentine's Day, but I thought it would be nice to have a good meal after the girls had gone to bed. Bought some freshly-made Cumberland sausages to have with a cauli and some spuds from the organic box. Picked up a few bargain bunches of daffs as well, and some little tubs of chocolate ice cream for pud.
Thursday: yesterday - A had rugby camp all day - must take a photo of her in her rugby gear because she's got all the kit now, including boots, shorts and shirt, and boy does she look the part. A couple of her classmates were also there, one of whom was in floods of tears because he didn't want his mum to go, and A just waved us off and went and got stuck in!! She is not easily fazed - she was the only girl there yesterday, amongst a pack of boys ranging in age from 5 to 9 - and she won't be 5 until a week on Monday. She is a gutsy little thing, and I am somewhat in awe of her ability to just join in and get on with things - I was a shy, retiring wallflower at her age. F and I decided that we would spend the middle part of the day doing some baking, and we settled on cupcakes, as I had this fantastic recipe book for my birthday (or was it Christmas??!!) We asked F's friend V along to help us! Here are some photos of various stages of the baking process - I hadn't realised that I'd run out of self-raising flour, so had to wing it with some plain flour and baking powder, using a bit of guess-work on the quantities!!
Yesterday also brought a lovely surprise for me in the post in the form of my Valentine parcel from the SOSF Valentine swap. My swap partner, Carol, whose blog is here, included some gorgeous chocolate treats of the mint/choc AND luxury dark choc assortment varieties, together with some chocolate covered sunflower seed kernels which lasted all of about five minutes, some chocolate mini cookies, and a super musical mug filled with tootsie rolls - I have always wondered what a tootsie roll was, having heard a reference to them in an American film (of course I can't remember which film) and now I know!! They are a sort of chocolate-flavoured bite-sized toffee confection, and are delish!! Thanks for everything, Carol - it was beautifully wrapped, and all much appreciated.
Friday: today has been spent with just F, as A has gone for a sleepover at granny and poppa's house, lucky girl. F and I have had quite a quiet day, and the highlight for her was having a big hand in the preparation of our spaghetti bolognese supper. She has learned how to chop an onion, use the garlic crusher, tell when the meat has browned, add the tomatoes, herbs and Worcestershire sauce, and serve up the spaghetti and bolognese sauce. She wants to have regular cookery lessons, and I am all in favour!
Wishing you all a great weekend.
