Letter from the Queen!!

Well, how exciting was it this morning, when the Postman knocked on our door and doffed his cap as he delivered a letter addressed to Ollie, Max & Charlie Andrew, that was embossed with the EIIR symbol and post marked Buckingham Palace!

It was very hard waiting for the boys to come back from school/nursery to open it. I have never been so tempted to steam a letter open. It was so thick!

It was a lovely letter inside. It was really specific to what they had sent. It came with some really good leaflets about how the Queen spends her day, one about her pets and one about Buckingham Palace. In the one about her day it said the Queen views a good proportion of the items that have been sent into her before asking the office to reply. I like to think she really did see the gift and card we sent and maybe even that someone has actually hung them in the garden!

It caused such excitement in our household! The boys took the letter into school and ended up showing every class and every member of staff! 

Mum hunted out the letter I got back in 1986 and sent it up to us so the boys could see that too and they could be kept together, ready for the next generation to add to it!

More felt food

I didn't quite manage to finish everything I set my heart on making in the last felt food post but I did quite well.
Here are some pictures.

Felt sesame seed bun and burger

Felt bourbon biscuit

Felt Pizza components

Felt four seasons pizza

    

Felt hot dog bun with sauces

Felt tomato slice

Special agents

Another activity to keep the monkeys out of trouble was playing special agents.
Ollie's comic came with a special invisible ink pen which we had great fun with for about half an hour. So I suggested they develop the game further by pretending to be proper special agents.
So they got hats, glasses, binoculars, their cameras, walkie talkies, notepad and invisible ink pen and went outside to spy on our benign neighbour Mrs Simpson (age 80!)

Not sure what she was supposed to be up to but after an hour there was still no sighting and they tired of the game, but given there was no action at all and it still kept them busy for a whole hour imagine if something had been going on. Lots of potential I think!

Insect world

The boys have had a few days off, a sort of a half term thing so we have been trying to keep T.V and Wii time down to the recommended 2 hours. (Which they use up before it even hits 8a.m!)
So here are a couple of the ideas that have been more successful to share with the world and help other people with the same aim!

In the summer holidays we had great success with making dinosaur world. The table returned to being a train table for a while and then was a car road table and it was time for a change so we made... Insect world.
We used some plastic insects Max got from Santa, and some that came in a magazine and some big ones we have had for ages. We used pebbles, some leafy fabric, some leaves and grass from the garden and a log from the fire basket.

Ollie made a spider's web from wool, glue and paper. And Max made a pond from silver foil for the dragonflies.

My felt food addiction!

My name is Katy and I am an addict! I am addicted to making felt food. Why didn't anyone tell me it was so dangerous. I just can't stop. It takes a hold so quickly. It was only 24 hours ago that I tried it for the very first time and now.... what will become of me!?!?!
So far I have made;
2 fried eggs
2 streaky bacon rashers
2 sausages
4 mushrooms
2 slices of bread
2 pieces of lettuce
1 slice of cucumber
2 slices swiss cheese
1 slice ham
1 jammie dodger biscuit
1 chocolate chip cookie
1 fairy cake with a cherry on
and a small bowl of macaroni!

 

 
 
And this is what I intend to make between now and the end of the weekend;
more macaroni
2 slices of tomato
a hamburger
a hamburger bun with sesame seeds
a hot dog bun
a swirl of ketchup and mustard (for hot dog)
a custard cream biscuit
a bourbon biscuit
some slices of pizza
some bits of pepper (for pizza topping)
some bits of ham
some pepperoni
a lamb chop (?) or maybe a chicken drumstick?
some broccoli florets
some bits of carrot
some new potatoes

Then maybe it will be out of my system. I am trying to stick to things that the boys can then do something with to make a meal, rather than just making fruit or something that you can't do much with. Although I did see on the internet a really cool Fab lolly here, and these really cute dolly mixture and creme egg here. Maybe the boys might like to play sweet shops one day...

Fixing up the 'monster' holes in the boys' trousers

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago  http://www.livinglocurto.com/2011/09/sewing-monster-knees/ and whilst I was fixing my trousers this morning I decided to give it a go. Admittedly I did not check this tutorial first or they may have been a lot better! But the point is they don't have to be perfect they are meant to be fun and they have returned to life 5 pairs of trousers that were just too draughty to wear anymore!I got more adventurous as I went on and I think with time they could get quite cool. Bring on the ripped knees boys, I'll be ready to monster them up!

Happy Valentine's to the 'apples of my eye'

This morning I sent the boys off to school with this as their snack as my own little Valentine to them.

The ultimate 'cheesy' Valentine

For my cheesy husband! (E)Dam, I love you!

Saturday Family Breakfast - Apple pancakes with cinnamon sugar

This weekend's family breakfast involved cutting rings out of apples, before dipping them in our usual American Pancake mix (Nigella Lawson - How to be a domestic goddess) and then frying in a frying pan  like a normal pancake and dusting with cinnamon sugar (just a mix of cinnamon and sugar). We had them with some fruit, just to help us feel a bit more virtuous! They were lovely. We did both Granny Smiths and Pink Ladies and I think the Pink Ladies worked best. They flavour and texture was better.

More Valentine's crafts - my woolen heart

Some more talk of love and Valentines. Max and I made these hearts together today. Just some painted cardboard hearts with small notches cut around them so we can wind around some wool.

Valentine's twinkle dough

We have been doing some pinkish, heart and lovey dovey activities in the build up to Valentines. Which Mummy has enjoyed very much, it's not often we see the colour pink round here.

We made some playdough with the usual recipe (1 cup flour to 1/2 cup salt, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1 cup of water mixed and heated in a pan with 2tbsp oil until doughlike and non stick) but 'seasoned' it up with some raspberry flavouring & red food colouring (2 batches one enough to make it pink, one with more to make it red) and then when it was cool kneaded in some red glitter to the red dough and silver glitter and pink sequins into the pink batch.
Max & Charlie spent an hour or so having fun making heart cookies. We then took the dough into nursery so they could enjoy playing with it too.

Diamond jubilee - making a gift for the Queen

So today was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which made me think about when I made the Queen some napkin rings from toilet rolls for her 60th birthday (so I was 8!) and bless them they sent me a lovely letter of thanks. Mum still has it somewhere I think. It's typed and signed from a lady in waiting on lovely headed paper. It was my pride and joy for ages! I wonder if the Queen still uses the toilet roll napkin rings - I imagine she does!?
So I got to thinking maybe the boys could make her a present for her 60th Jubilee. We had a chat about what the Queen might like and after I explained that if I had some big diamonds I probably wouldn't be sending them to the Queen, we thought she might like something to put in her garden.
So we made these....

what on earth are they I hear you ask?

They are diamond shaped bird feeders, that both look lovely hanging in your tree (!?) and serve a practical use to feed the birds!

We made them with 4  lolly sticks, glued to make a diamond, then coloured with permanent markers (so as not to run in the rain) and then the other side spread with peanut butter and dipped in bird seed!

Will she like them?? We will see!!

Once Ollie has finished writing his letter to accompany them I will get down to the Post office and send them off to Buckingham Palace. I just had a thought.... I'd better put a warning on the envelope not to be opened by anyone with a nut allergy - the last thing we want is to be done for high treason  -plotting to kill the Queen with mailed peanut butter!