The main difference in moving from two to three kids is you lose the ability - if you'll forgive the football analogy - of man-to-man marking. However this weekend makes that sound easy. I have my niece and nephew staying and MM isn't even here to help. It will be as though Stevenage Borough were playing Manchester United with 10 men and a host of injuries.
Thankfully I have my super sub. My Mother Who Cleans is coming to help. Not only is she bringing lamb hot pot and fish pie but she will also have every item in my laundry basket washed, dried and ironed before she's even taken off her coat.
Which just leaves me with the occasional stint of child entertainment. The Wii is already set up in the front room - so that's my nephew sorted. And for the others I have prepared a few Blue Peter-esque activities to punctuate the hours of CBBC.
This includes the children's classic - growing carrot tops. Except I got a bit carried away and decided they should make bunny ears. Those of you who tolerate my Twittering will already know this involved some very messy experiments into the best way to paint plastic bottles.
I'm embarrassed to say that I ended up using Farrow & Ball water-based eggshell as an undercoat. OK, so it's overkill, but it worked. Which is more than I can say for Mister Maker and his legendary 'paint and gloopy glue' combination. That man has a lot to answer for - as the state of my kitchen windowsill goes to prove...
However, I'm rather pleased with my prototype. Not so sure how the kids will get on with theirs. After all, it's a game of two halves. Still, they're strong on paper, it's early in the season and I know they'll give 110%.
Wow, I'm so pleased I found you via BMB. We too love gardening as a family so I'm sure I shall be returning here often! Last week I posted about using some of our final nasturtiums for a fun activity:
http://www.kuvik.net/ztoft/playingbythebook/2009/10/16/a-crown-of-fire/
Posted by: Zoe | October 19, 2009 at 01:21 PM
Hi Zoe - love the nasturtium crowns. Ours were riddled with black flies this year which would have looked less attractive perched on my children's heads...
Posted by: Dawn/LittleGreenFingers | October 19, 2009 at 05:40 PM
We don't have a garden yet unfortunately, and are desperate for one (sob, sob). But if and when we are able to ever able to sell our house & move to one with a garden, I shall definitely come here for ideas. I've tried growing cress, but never carrot tops, so that one would be good to have a go at with my 2 boys - don't need a garden for that!
Posted by: Jude | October 19, 2009 at 07:55 PM