Slaving in the Kitchen

We have been hard at work in the kitchen this week, cooking up some Easter treats (I had thought it would be less messy than making cards for everyone - how wrong can you be!?)

On Monday we made yummy Easter Nests. It started off badly when George saw the large bowl full of chocolate but was told that he couldn't eat any of it - and promptly burst into tears! He made a good recovery though, and enjoyed smashing up the Shredded Wheat, and managed to get more mini eggs into the nests than into his mouth, but only just.

By lunchtime today all the Nests were gone, so we set about making Easter Biscuits, coloured red, green and sort of yellow, filled with all sorts of sprinkly things, and cut into the shapes of rabbits, eggs, tulips, chicks and more rabbits. I think I have made them sound nicer than they look, but it's the thought that counts, and they taste okay (apart from the ones which were on the edges and got a bit burnt).

George is getting pretty good in the kitchen. He likes to supervise the making of toast in the morning, and spread the butter on himself. He wanted to do the jam as well, but then I realised he was just digging into the jar and then eating the jam directly from the knife, so I put a stop to that. He knows how to break eggs and stir them up for scrambling, he can grease a baking tray, and he loves to work the food processor. Long may it continue!

Into the Woods...

Although we have lived here for more than four years now, today was the first time we have made it as far as the local woods. It is slightly bizarre to be in the middle of woodland while also in the middle of a city. We went on the bikes (and it was a bit too uphill for my liking). Once again George fell asleep on the way home, thus justifying my choice of reclining bike seat!

Well, it is a stick, but I'm not sure it's quite right...

Success! This is exactly the sort of stick I was looking for.

Funny Face

Asking George to smile for the camera doesn't always produce the desired result:

Theme Park Season Begins!

Today we began our annual round of trips to theme parks, beginning with our closest one, Chessington (I remember the days when it was just a Zoo, but now apparently it is a World of Adventures!).

George has just passed the magic 90cm which means he has access to all sorts of new and exciting rides (but still gets in free). We made sure to do all the rides that Justin and Mr Tumble do in Daddy's favourite episode of "Something Special", even though Mummy was a bit scared on the big water ride. George took it all in his stride, of course, and here are some photo highlights.

Happy Mother's Day

Here is what George and I created for various mothers in the family (I cut the shapes into potatoes, supervised the application of paint and did the cutting out; George demanded more paint, stamped and splotched).

And here is the card he made me at nursery.

We also made a (rather delicious) cake together with purple icing and about an inch of "sprinkles", courtesy of the little man, but I forgot to take a photo!

A Nice Day for a Bike Ride

Another in a string of lovely sunny days in this part of the world, so we dusted off Daddy's bike and retrieved George's bike seat from the loft and set off for Dulwich Park. Although it is more than a year since George was last on the back of the bike properly (not counting the times I stick him on the rack of my bike and push it round the corner to nursery) he was completely unphased and spent the first five minutes laughing hysterically.

We let him off the bike in the park, where he scared everyone by heading down the biggest slide head first, and generally used up so much energy that he was falling asleep by the time we got home. But he perked up sufficiently to enjoy an impromptu visit to our local Thai/Vietnamese restaurant, and did some digging in the garden with mummy.

Fun on the Farm

Today was a lovely sunny day in our part of the world, so we took advantage of it by heading for our local-ish children's farm. George was disappointingly uninterested in the animals, but had a great time climbing and sliding and playing with sand. (His paternal grandfather was with us and enjoyed many of the same things, but I won't post the photos here - I am saving them for future blackmail purposes!)

After working up an appetite with all that fresh air we pigged out at Jimmy Spice's in Epsom, with Italian, Chinese, Indian and Thai "All You Can Eat Buffet". Yum Yum.