What would Angelina Jolie do?

There are those mums that tell their kids "I don't want anything for mother's day." Who are they kidding? I mean really you spend all year being on hand for cooking, cleaning, hugging and playing, listening, making and general all round providing. Isn't it nice, just for one day (okay let's make that two days as your birthday must come under the same joyous rule book) to kick back and be indulged? Call me selfish if you will but I like to wallow in the 'me-me-me' of this glorious hallmark holiday. Come on, they don't call it Mother's Day for nothing now! I will bet my last chocolate in the box that even a jet set A Lister like Angelina Jolie welcomes the chance for her brood to show some mommy-love.

From People magazine website - Angelina and her babies. All mommies need a pampering...

With the wee ones being a tad too wee to actually understand what this day is all about I have to manage my expectations a little but big tall hubby helped them deliver a day to treasure. Now when I say I want something, I mean bare minimum a card. And did they deliver? Oh yes they did. Wee boy came home with the sweetest card ever from nursery (it is good to know that he loves me because I make him smile - AND - give him chocolate) and both made gorgeous cards with a little handicraft daddy-help. You can't beat handmade when it comes to cards; all that budding creativity on show and it costs next to nothing. Indulgence can come cheap.

Not quite as secret as secret squirrel but lovely none-the-less.

 

Of course the chocolates and flowers didn't go amiss - although wee boy blew any surprise factor by announcing first thing, "Daddy has secret flowers and chocolates for you mummy." Well, not so secret now are they? Bless. But a little mummy-me-me-me-ness does not have to involve presents (welcome though they are), nope what made my day was the constant stream of hugs and kisses from wee boy and toddler girl flagged with the cry "Happy Mother's Day", and big tall hubby's willingness to take on all kid-duties from dirty nappies to bedtime stories for the day and cook me dinner into the bargain...and to do the dishes after. Now that is what I call a pampering.

Back to nature

Spring has sprung and all things fresh, new and leafy are happening. It is that exciting time of year when winter wanders off and we all remember what the sun feels like on our skin. It is a time of hope and optimism. Mother nature is saying hello and it would be plain rude to ignore her. Life in cities sometimes feels one step removed from nature but if you look close enough it is round every corner. From front gardens, window boxes and parks to allotments, roadside verges and even cemeteries there is stuff growing aplenty. Perhaps wee ones pick up on this as they seem overly blessed with energy as the days get brighter and the mornings earlier. While this is fantastic for all things veggie soaking up the goodness of the golden rays it is slightly less than wonderful for any person with a wee one. Toddler girl and wee boy are up at the crack of dawn, literally, so as that crack comes in wider and earlier so do they into our bed shouting 'hello, I've had a good sleep.' I find that hard to believe and even if they have you can pretty much bet your last pound coin mummy and daddy have not; a good sleep requiring the basic semblance of a lie in. It was once if I was out of bed after 6.30/7am at a push (obviously AC  - if we're talking BC then call it midday) it was the best lie-in I could hope for; now if it's 6am I feel blessed and very, very knackered.

In order to cash in on this unavoidable seasonal bounce I get with the garden and grow-grow-grow. Some years this works like a dream and we laugh giddy with the abundance of leeks and potatoes in our grasp. Other years it ends in all out war with the slugs and snails as crops disappear before our eyes. Last year was hit and miss. The veggie patch became pure slug territory and my poor pumpkins were massacred as were the carrots and leeks. But the tomatoes and green beans came on like Olympians and we dined on them in endless nicoise salads or minestrone soups (what else can you do with them both?)

Taking to the garden as the days get brighter has multiple benefits, not least the wee ones can 'help' with the planting. This week we planted our tomatoes, three varieties and I'm going for a double prong attack. A grow bag holds some hopeful seeds out on the patio while little pots sit on our window sills waiting for the shoots to arrive. The window sill method is usually fail safe but I'm not sure how many will make it this year; toddler girl was a little less adept at keeping hold of the seeds than required. Maybe the lawn will sprout a few plants as  more than a few seeds ended up hidden in the grass.

Tiny sprigs of spring hope; let the tomatoes grow...

We'd been busy the week before with the carrots, beans, peppers, pumpkins and onions. I don't have high expectations for them as the slugs still own the veggie patch but these tomatoes are the great bright hope of our spring planting plan. Toddler boy is a seasoned gardener now; he fondly recalls the joy of pulling the ripe veggies off the plants last autumn; this has influenced the care he's lavished on this season's seeds.

So we've had time outdoors that doesn't involve a park or the beach; always a bonus in my book. In a few months we can save on the food bills as the crops come rolling in (fingers crossed, slug pellets out) and the days have been packed with planting activity keeping the wee ones busy with no effort required - well just a little effort. Our little seedlings will continue to keep the wee ones active as we embark on the daily do we - don't we water debate. I say debate but it is more of an ongoing 'explaination' with wee boy who would like to water them at every opportunity; but to be fair when they do need watering he is right on the case with toddler girl right beside him.

So come on the sunshine; you've work to be doing!

Sew, a needle pulling thread

In case you hadn't guessed I like to cook. I love cooking, which is just as well as I do a lot of it, tonnes of the stuff. Our bread, cakes, biscuits, sweet treats, soups, sauces and meals are 99.9% of the time home cooked by my fair hand. As a consequence my wee ones enjoy time in the kitchen watching mummy go slowly mad trying to prepare four things at once and keep tiny fingers from being burnt/chopped/blended/crushed in the frenzy.

Alternatively I'm attempting to save the dish of the day from total ruination thanks to the wonderful 'help' the wee ones love to offer. Such help as adding handfuls of salt, pouring in twice as much liquid or dropping it all into the beaten egg mix; all and more has gone before my frazzled eyes as two hours of work goes into the bin. But, you know, it's my mummy-duty to encourage this cooking interest so I'm told and I always like to do what I'm told - well nearly always.

To be fair small boy is now very adept at helping and will almost do exactly what he's asked. I like this progress and to encourage it I decided it was time for him to own an apron. Toddler girl was gifted a charming pink apron which she adores mostly because it is pink. Pink is the colour of joy and happiness for her right now; she gravitates towards all things pinky like a bee to nectar. Both the wee ones like to copy grown up behaviour, so when I don my apron toddler girl must have hers. Poor small boy was feeling a tad left out.

Brighton has some fantasticly lush cook shops, and those shops that don't seem to sell anything specific just random things from joke toys to candles and in the mix is always some fascinatingly wonderful homeware that costs at least twice as much as you'd expect for the size/practicality/general existence. Off I went in search of an apron suitable for a small boy and aprons I found in said cook shops and random emporiums. Could I find one that was A) attractive and B) affordable? Could I heck. If it was cheap then it was usually branded with some hideous kids TV programme and if it was funky it was a small fortune for such a simple item.

Many choices of pattern but it comes at a price.

With no middle ground in sight and very achey feet from all that shop-browsing I admitted defeat and trudged home; it was on the slog up the hill that it hit me - I would sew him an apron. With bags of fabrics at my disposal it was the ideal sollution. That very eve I perused my fabrics and using toddler girl's apron (or apricot as she likes to call it, thankfully I speak fluent toddler) as a basic template I upgraded it for my small man. So easy, it took less than two hours to choose, cut and hand sew the whole thing. The next morning I made pancakes just to have an excuse to whip it out for him.

Should you fancy making your own I found this great web site which has stacks of apron designs you can use... Free-apron-patterns-you-can-make

Now my small boy sports a very dashing denim apron, designed especially for him. It has been lovingly hand crafted from recycled jeans and bears his name in chunky letters of other clothing related fabrics. Waste not want not as the mantra goes. When he stands still for long enough I shall post up a photo as I'm most chuffed with this needle and thread effort. It cost me nothing but time and it was time well spent. All three of us strut around the kitchen decked out in our apricots having a grand old time with whatever ingredients are called for; cooking doesn't get better than this.