A little of what you fancy......

Our Winter House Guest has long since moved outside, shaken off those inside winter blues and shown us what she is really made of!

Sweet nothings

Mummy and daughter hanging out on the bleachers watching son at hockey practise: daughter is climbing up and down the stairs, taking risks and causing other spectators to gasp and reach out to stop the potential fall. Each time Mummy chides her daughter with a firm "hold on to the handrail, please," daughter smiles, throws her arms around Mummy's neck and kisses her cheek. One time too many and there is a telling off. Daughter kisses Mummy then hangs on. "Whisper in ear Mummy,"
"Ok, sweetheart," delights Mummy.
"Poop head." whispers daughter.
"Hmmmmm" says Mummy.

Later on, the same again.
"Whisper in ear, Mummy,"
"Ok, sweetie, what is it?"
"Poop head."
"Why don't you whisper something nice in Mummy's ear, poppet?"
Daughter pulls away, cocks her head to one side and thinks for a moment. A gleam in her eye, she says, "Whisper in ear, Mummy,"
A cautious, "Yes?"

"Nick Junior!"

Behind a perfectly ordinary door......

 ...there is a special space for a special little girl.....

 ...where she can take refuge when the bigger kids get too much and she needs to be alone among the Truffula trees and the Humming fish.

Visitors can stop by......but only when they are invited!

What a difference a few years make!

Jodi and Finn were very kindly gifted some tickets to the NASCAR racing a couple of weekends ago. They both loved it and enjoyed the day enormously. Their memories of the day are a little different and there are fairly obvious differences in what they will tell you was their favourite part of the day.

 

I thought they were going to enjoy seeing these:

One of them did and spent some time photographing them:

One of them spent far more time photographing these:

Can you guess which one preferred which?



(Had I been there I would have spent far more time here:

Dr.McDreamy, for the uninitiated - the spectacular Patrick Dempsey who, when he's not hanging about acting in Grey's Anatomy, is driving racing cars.)

A funny thing happened at Easter.....

...when we were travelling in the car and made a brief pit-stop. I made an unusual decision: I decided to treat my children to some chocolate. Because everyone likes chocolate, right? Well, my eye happened to fall upon some small bags of Cadbury's Mini Eggs. You know what they are? Small chocolate eggs, covered in a sugar shell that looks like real eggshell but all pastel and Easter-ish and pretty.....
"Here you are children, Mummy has a surprise for you!" I awaited the sweet thank-you's and endless gratitude that would flow in my direction.
"What are they?" asked Finn, a trfle suspiciously.
"Chocolate eggs!" (Aren't I fabulous for surprising you in such a way? was what I meant.)
"They don't look like chocolate."
"They're covered in sugar," I was forced to explain, feeling the whole situation turning a little sour. "Why don't you taste one?"
Finn carefully removed one from the bag and sniffed it. Yes, he sniffed it. And examined it close-up. I turned away and helped Meg open her bag and showed her the pretty colours. "Yummy!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands. At least I had scored a hit with one of them. I turned back to Finn just in time to see him take a tentative bite. Here we go, I thought, now he'll thank me. After all, what's not to like about a Cadbury's Mini Egg.
And then it happened. The last thing I was expecting. But never having seen anything like it before, however could I be expecting it?
He spat. He spat out his bite of sugar coated chocolate as if it were a live worm.
"Ugh, ugh, UGH!" he shouted, brushing his tongue with his hand and spitting  chunks all over his car seat. "That is disgusting, Mummy help me! Ugh, yuck, pew, pah....."
I sat with my mouth open in utter amazement. Chocolate coated in sugar? Two of Finn's most favourite things? I pulled an egg out of his bag and popped it in my own mouth to see if we were dealing with a tampering incident. No. Perfectly OK.
The Tom and Jerry reaction was still continuing to my left. "I need a drink, Mummy, yuk, foul, disgusting..." He rambled on, wiping the choclate covered drool from his mouth and spreading it everywhere.
I chanced a look at Meg to see how she was going. But nothing to see there except a steady bag to hand action as she shovelled small pastel eggs into her mouth with barely a glance at her brother.
"Did you see that? I asked Jodi, "have you ever seen anyone react like that over a chocolate egg? What would the Easter Bunny say?"
"Well, at least one of our children is having the appropriate reaction," he replied nodding his head at Meg. We both looked at her and noticed her bulging cheeks.
"You enjoying those, poppet?" I asked, just as I realised she wasn't actually chewing. She nodded and continued to sit there, mouth full but not chewing. She shifted her mouthful about then made moves as if to spit something out. i grabbed a tissue (reflex action, this is quite a common occurrance with Meg) and put my hand under her chin. Out came a carefully formed  ball of...........sugar coating. Small pieces of sugar coating separated from their chocolate and gathered together into a ball.
It would seem that sugar coated chocolate is not to the liking of either of my children.