Sunday 6 April 2014

Wishing you a good week

Hurray for the Easter Holidays.  Two whole blissful weeks of no school.  I think I'm more excited about it than the little people are.  When it comes to the holidays, I always have unrealistic expectations of what we'll do.  In the end there are plenty of days where the only things that happen are mundane everyday chores and other tasks that just have to be fitted in.  And thus the weeks will fly by.

This time I'd like to do a bit more cooking with them.  The biggest boy is at an age now (ten) where he can prepare a simple meal.  This was something he helped with last week.


All very easy, and except for the rolls not involving any real cooking.  I'm thinking he's probably capable of much more now.  He's really keen to learn at the moment, so I feel that I need to seize the day and make sure that he can feed himself so that he doesn't end up one day living on pot noodles and cold baked beans. You will note a small hand shooting into the picture.  You have to be fast with any food photography in this house.

I'm sure the other two would like to do a bit of baking as well.  I have a one at a time rule when it comes to cooking now.  Otherwise everything turns into a huge competition.  Who can put the most ingredients in, who can stir the longest, who gets to crack the eggs.  It ends up with pushing and shoving and eggs on the floor and a shouty mother and everyone thinks that they have been done out of their turn at something.  Mano a mano is definitely the way to go.

I've also got them to agree to help a bit in the garden and at the allotment, although of course this kind of help usually requires quite a bit of extra work for me afterwards clearing up the chaos.  But I love that they are interested in growing their own food and in bugs and beetles and bees and butterflies.  Hopefully we'll plant some potatoes and maybe even do some weeding.

At home there is work to be done on the patio, the site of all of those broken pots, although I suspect they'll just keep on kicking the balls around and it will be a neverending cycle.  I top dressed a couple of the blueberries the other day.


They like lots of water and ericaceous compost, but other than that they are such a lovely easy crop to grow.  I've never had any trouble with pests, except the littlest boy who is a big berry eater, and the occasional blackbird late in the season.  And in the summer we have loads of fantastic healthy blueberries.  A plant I'd definitely recommend if you have room for one.  As a bonus it's very pretty and has beautiful flame red leaves in autumn.

I'm trying not to have too many grand plans for these two weeks.  A little pottering, a little shopping (school shoes and trainers, no doubt costing a fortune), a friend or two to play, the park, the allotment and maybe even a picnic.  It's not too early is it?  Surely the sun will shine a little.

And some days we will just hang out at home and relax and wave to any passing balloons.



Tonight everyone is really tired, after a long day of football matches and a party with a magician for the littlest boy to go to.  My camera wandered a little at the football and I found this beautiful old house set amongst these lovely trees.


I'm almost certain no goals were scored while I wasn't looking.

So now everyone is tucked up in bed, too tired to dream.  Tomorrow will no doubt be filled with fun and excitement and maybe even a little adventure or two.  I hope you have a good week.

32 comments:

  1. Have a wonderful Easter break. It sounds like you have some good plans and some good food in your future.

    Love the picture of the old house. Don't you always wonder who gets to live in such interesting a house?

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  2. I agree with you, one helper at the time is just right, any more is a sure recipe for disaster. We always make lots of plans for our holidays and then end up doing not much at all. We are a lazy bunch! Have a great holiday CJ.

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  3. It's so nice to read that your son is keen to learn... especially as I'm currently struggling to get a reluctant teenage boy to revise for his GCSEs. When you have a baby they warn you about the sleepless nights and dirty nappies, but no one tells you how hard it is to get them to sit down with a book because their exams are only weeks away! Hope you all have a great time over the holidays - looking forward to reading about your adventures!

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  4. What a nice day you had.. thanks for sharing. I think it's great that your son is helping you with meals.. that shows good parenting!! I head to Cincinnati tomorrow to stay in a hotel near the airport for an early flight home to Oregon on Tuesday. I'm ready for home! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  5. I hope you have a great holiday break. I agree with you about one helper at a time, my two are too much to take when they're together. To be honest, I don't particularly enjoy baking or cooking with children. I'm too nervous about messes and things getting broken. But I try to be patient because it's good for their learning process. I'm glad your son wants to learn more. I hope you get to do lots of relaxing things now.

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  6. I'm so glad your boys jostle and compete while baking. I thought it was only mine...and that shouty-mother-thing rings a bell, too. Hope your week is a good one, Jill

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  7. Enjoy your break friend! How fantastic to get cooking with them in the kitchen! And that your son is excited about it!! And is your blueberry bush in a pot!?! Hmmm. I have never grown them but you have me very excited about trying! Enjoy these special moments and a wonderful week to you friend!!! Nicole xoxo

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  8. Have a lovely Easter break with your family CJ.
    Kate x

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  9. A beautiful post! It rings true with me - allowing free time to play without schedules, encouraging kitchen adventures, even tending to blueberry bushes, you have a kindred spirit here! Enjoy this break! Chrissie x

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  10. Have a great break, & one helper at a time sounds just right. Enjoy xx

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  11. Lovely post and photos, I especially like the up'up and away one of the hot-air balloon. I guess that you'll be just as busy as ever during the holidays.
    Thanks, and you too. Flighty xx

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  12. So much pleasure to make some meal together with our children. So funny!

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  13. two weeks of pottering I can't wait. my eldest has gone off on a trip with Guides, so I have only littlest at home, although he's not that little, and I was thinking the same as you - time for some cookery lessons! good luck with the school shoe shopping we got new ones this week, littlest was thrilled that his feet are now bigger than his dad's!

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  14. Hope you manage to fit in lots over the two weeks - no quest to see a kingfisher?

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  15. Hope you have a lovely couple of weeks without the school routine. I spent some time baking with BigR yesterday. She's really into the weighing out at the moment...and the making of mess!

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  16. Hope you have a great couple of weeks. It's school holidays here too and I was looking forward to a few lie ins but that's not to be. Eleanor's got GCSE revision classes at school four days out of the five this week, so much for the Easter holidays.

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  17. You're a good Mom Claire - lots of love, some humor, but some good ground rules too! Great idea for the blueberry bush in a container - I never thought about that. We would probably have to plant ours in the ground though - it gets too cold to over winter here.

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  18. I hope that you have a wonderful time! I always thought that blueberries were very hard to grow, so good to know that they aren't! When I make my list of new plants that I would like I might have to include a blueberry bush, especially given how expensive they are to buy from the shops!! Happy holidays! xx

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  19. I hope you all have a good week and Easter break. I hope the sun shines, too. That is interesting about the blueberry bush. I have thought about having one and I'm always keen to add new fruit bushes here, so perhaps I will treat myself.

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  20. I hope you have a wonderful Easter break! That sounds nice to get some time off to just wander around a bit. It is great that your boys want to learn how to cook. I'm sure that will make their future partners happy:)

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  21. Love the balloon in the blue sky. Could you send some of that blue our way please?

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  22. I hope you have a wonderful Easter hols with your children! I know exactly what you mean by only one helping with the cooking at one time! Sarah x

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  23. Thanks for that, CJ, have a lovely week, too! Our boys start their holidays only next week, so I have another week of relative peace and quiet, and trying to finish the jobs that I won't easily do when they are around. On second thoughts, that probably means I'll have a mad rush this week to get everything done... ;-)
    We are lucky (in some ways) to have acidic soil (we're really on a bog...), so we are growing rows of blue berries in the garden. And they are actually surprisingly easy to grow, and the fruit is so much more lovely fresh from the bush!

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  24. CJ I always feel so peaceful after reading one of your posts. Really! I love it. Anyhow, I love your photos and I'm with you on getting the kids more hands on with their meals. Really with everything. I often get irritated and impatient with my newly turned 11 year old when he seems to be waiting for someone to do something, or not looking for what he can do for himself. However it's me whose got to be disciplined in getting him to work for himself and others more. Drat!

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  25. Fabulous shots of the balloon and blue skies, so clear. I hope we have more skies like that this week! Yes, cooking can get competitive here too, and before I know it we have two bowls, two spoons, two baking trays...ridiculous. Your way is better! Have a great week. x

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  26. Have a lovely week CJ, I know how much you would love to have the children at home to educate them yourself. Enjoy your precious time with them :)

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  27. Oh I used to LOVE the school holidays! Time to just be as a family, without rushing. Now my boy is all grown up and at college, and I carry on working through the holidays, but it still feels nice to have an extra day off now that college has halted for a few weeks. :)

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  28. Yes, too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth at our place too :-) Hope you're enjoying your holidays so far. We still have another week to go before school holidays start here but they can't come soon enough and I hope to be doing much the same as you. A whole lot of pottering around and relaxing sounds absolutely perfect. Mel x

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  29. How lovely that you're 10 year old is interested in cooking! My ten year old grew very interested this year, too - his favorite thing to make is actually chocolate chip cookies, but last night he made taco meat. We, too have had to limit cooking helpers - we are working on having one child be the assistant for the day. We have blueberries, too - my two year old has almost cleaned us out both summers she's been here! We need to get some more this year!! Have a wonderful holiday, no matter what gets done!

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  30. In our Old house I had a number of soft fruit canes and plants but for some reason the blueberries never did, I left everything there as I thought the new tenants would be gardeners, which they weren't, and now they've just moved a year on, I'm wondering whAt I can go and dig back up....its such a money saver in the summer, especially for raspberries.

    Our hols start next week, I can't wait, I do so much car time that I should find an extra two hours in my day...I think food will feature very heavily in our fortnight, we are having a week on the Isle of Mull which is very exciting as we've never been to Scotland, lots of walking and good foood

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  31. I hope Easter is going well, half way through, where does the time go? We, too, always have plans that often don't happen, I just really enjoy the slower pace of the mornings, no school run - bliss :)

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