A giant snail came for lunch.....

The girls had a surprise today, a giant land snail popped by for lunch!

We discovered that we could have a few similar food types to munch on so cucumber was chopped and bananas followed, all were happy.

Not our usual play date or friend for lunch but very well behaved, polite and Lizzie is welcome to come again!

a cake for a brother & sister

Today we are doing a little colourful baking for a brother and a sister who have a summer tea party.

We are looking forward to all the jolly activities and the girls think the cake is jolly too to fit the occasion well!

Of course I knew they'd be keen to have some of the multicoloured rainbow layer cake so we dolloped  three of the colours together to make tri-colour fairy cakes.

Mini hats have been favourites in the past so we made some of these to decorate the top and also a personalised bunting cake topper. 

                                

                           

                                    

    

    

     

Little phrases and precious moments....

I love overhearing the girls chat and be a fly on the wall and watch them play.

They have their squabbles but on the whole they are happy best friend sisters and very kind and thoughtful to baby brother too.

Putting them to bed in a shared room the other night I stood under the window only to hear their conversation about us, momma and dad.....

Mini1 "but I love mommy too"

Minimini1 "noooooo, I love momma mostest"

Mini1 "noooooo we can both love mommy the same, and dad too because dad he is sooooo funny"

Tonight mini1 said to minimini1 after a lovely play session together "goodnight my little pastry dove"

I haven't idea where this came from but I thought it was so very sweet and didn't want to forget it.

Mini1 is also into the whole entertaining of friends and family and pre dinner aperitifs and nibbles and tonight being a quiet Monday evening I found a smile on my face when she turned around and said "nibbles and a crisp tonight?"

I like many many others cherish these moments and will miss them immensely when they grow, of course a new development of chat and conversation will start but the innocence and charm will move on and be different and I hold onto these moments with great affection and warmth.

Here is mommy and I love her too....

stOry stiCkS & tWiggY taLes

Our French retreat is in 'the sticks' just outside of Faucon near Vaison la Romaine.

The pool provides entertainment, the woodland adventure and the wildlife great excitement.

Yesterday we gathered sticks and twigs and made up our stories and tales through pictures. The girls found it great fun sitting in the shade of the olive trees retelling the pictures into story form.

The favourite one was about a butterfly who lived in a magnificent castle but when she ventured out she discovered the outside natural world of flowers and more butterflies even more beautiful!

Breast to bottle ......

If only it was as easy as it sounds, and how it has been in the past!

My first two mini ones happily breast fed solely for the first 6-8 months, somewhere between the 6-8 months a bottle was introduced firstly with expressed breast milk and later with formula. They were fine, they liked the Tommee Tippee teat which is the closer to nature one and all was good. 

Well I thought it would be the same with miniminimini1, no!!!! I have tried expressed milk in almost ever brand including disposable bottles, sippy cups, open cups and straws with no success but this week we have breakthrough and why am I not surprised as this wonderful brand has always helped at the beginning with the fabulous nipple cream, have you guessed who...."Lansinoh" yes their momma bottles and sippy cups have happily been accepted by Miniminimini1 at almost 10 months old! 

I'll let you know how we progress but with the heat we currently have I'm so happy he is taking water and he is not completely attached to only my nipples!

Show and tell...,

Tomorrow is mini beasts and bugs lesson and mini1 will be taking in her homemade banana and honey loaf with the honey from our very own honey bees. 

Photos of the process and a few props; honey!, frames, honeycombs are ready to be passed around as is the loaf. 

We also thought a little simplified doodle of the processes would be fun too.

Look at my jewels

Following on from a week of indoor craft and makery fun, the sun arrived friday and has continued to shine so today we enjoyed taking our makery tools outside and minimini1 got busy making pipe cleaner and bead bracelets.
This is a really lovely little makery project as it helps concentration, colour picking, coordination, portable, no mess and a lovely piece of jewellery afterwards.
Here's what we used, minimini1's pieces and a bit of the action too....