Tuesday 29 October 2013

Tooth










On our daily walk to school last week A announced he had a wobbly tooth "I am sure it will be out before the end of the day" he told me as he ran through the school gates to see his friends. 

Waiting to collect him at 3 pm I realised that perhaps giving him his apple was not a great idea, I have been handing him an apple everyday when he finishes school, it started when our trees produced a bumper crop this year. As we walked home he wobbled the little white pearl that I remember growing when he was so young, so small, so long ago. 

Morning came and I was woken in the dark by his sweet voice "Mummy, it came out, my tooth really came out" he had emptied his little trinket bowl and there it was, small and perfect. That evening we got out his tooth fairy cushion made my his nanny. He said "Mummy, do you think I will feel the fluttering of the fairies wings on my cheeks when she comes?" I said perhaps and tucked him in. Such a special time for both of us, another sign that my biggest little boy is growing up. 

Friday 25 October 2013

Coffee and Walnut cake




Knowing I was going to visit two friends on Thursday I wanted to make a delicious cake to take with me. I flicked through several of my bakery books and found this, a delicious coffee and walnut cake. It is such a simple recipe and the combination is classic and sublime.

225g soft butter
225g light soft brown sugar (I did not have any so used golden caster sugar which worked equally well)
4 eggs
3 tea spoons instant coffee powder
2 tea spoons boiling water
225g self raising flour
1.5 tea spoons baking powder
65g walnut chopped
1 tablespoon milk
8-10 walnuts to decorate

For the filling and topping
175g very soft butter
400g icing sugar
2 tea spoons instant coffee  dissolved in 2 tea spoons of boiling water
1 table spoon milk

Pre heat your oven to 180c
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, one by one, mixing after each addition
Put the coffee and boiling water in a small jug and stir until all the granules have dissolved
Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter, sugar and egg mix and stir. Add the walnut and coffee mix and stir until all is combined.
Divide the mixture between two baking tins, I use round 8 inch tins.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden
Allow to cool

To make the filling put butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix until combined. Add the coffee mix and milk and mix until light and fluffy

Fill your cooled cake with the half the filling, sandwich together and spread the rest on the top of your cake. decorate with the walnuts however you wish

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Cycle





 
Finding somewhere to take my boys cycling is difficult. We need somewhere that is flat (ish) with no cars. Cycle paths are a great place for families to go, be relaxed and enjoy the scenery without cars whizzing past their ears.
 
We found this beautiful cycle path last year, it runs from Nailsworth to Stroud. There are sections of tarmac and soil. We spent a couple of hours on Sunday there, the boys cycling with me running to catch up.
 
Have a look at Sustrans website for your local paths

Monday 21 October 2013

Tired




Last Thursday was the teachers strike so my boys and I spent the day relaxing, they needed time to unwind as this term seems to be lasting forever, 8 weeks! 8 weeks with only weekends to recharge. A and J are tired, when they bicker, cry and need lots of mummy cuddles I know we need some time to just be, no demands of reading homework and the daily pressures of school.

We made cookies, had a long bath together, watched a film and then went for a walk in the woods.

Come on half term, hurry up


Thursday 17 October 2013

Weekend Stories - A collection










 
Slow weekends are my favourite kind, filled with visits to friends and new adventures. We had a weekend just like this two weeks ago. We visited The Wild Place, a newly opened animal park near Bristol and spent Sunday morning with friends walking round a local lake. Time for my boys to run, explore, ask questions and be without boundaries of normal weekday school life. It is what they and I really needed
 
 

Thursday 10 October 2013

Time




A morning with my eldest boy is rare, now he is at school we are either running to school or spending time as a family. We did though, a few weekends ago have some time on Saturday morning together, we had his hair cut, took ages walking on walls and visited the delightful Hobbs House café for toast and hot chocolates. Such precious time.

We did spot the most beautiful painting of the famous Giffords circus too.






Wednesday 9 October 2013

A poem

I have sung lullabies to my children every evening since they were born, the first called lullaby song which B and I learned in our baby makaton class and the second written by Oliver Hood called Your are my sunshine which is our love song.

 
Recently though, I have been thinking about poems and one which would be perfect for my boys to hear before they go to sleep. This is a beautiful poem written by E.E Cummings in 1920. One which I now reciting to A and J every night
 

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in
my heart) I am never without it (anywhere
 I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
 I fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

 Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

 I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

Tuesday 8 October 2013

After school





Having friends over after school, running, playing, eating snacks, laughing, being little boys




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