Owlfit of the Week

This is Little Owl's third and final Monsoon outfit of the summer.  I've been saving this one to show you as its been worn to a couple of weddings over the summer, and I didn't want to splash it about before hand.  This dress is just lovely, the bright colours and patchwork design makes it really interesting.  It hangs beautifully and really flares out when Little Owl twirls, in fact, it was really hard to get a picture of Little Owl as she wouldn't stop dancing.

As usual, Little Owl is wearing her Livie and Luca sandals.  However, there was another pair of Livie and Luca shoes that would have looked stunning with this dress, I just couldn't justify buying them for a couple of wears!

See what I mean?  They were made for this dress! 

If you enjoy reading about Little Owl's Owlfits, click on the badges below and find some other blogs showing off their kiddie fashion.

Our Dining Room - Operation Turkey

Behind these doors is our dining room.  Its hard to believe we have only been in our living room for a year.  The dining room is our next big project, Papa Owl and Grandmadad have been doing bits of work on it for, well, probably the 3 years that we have owned the house.  Things picked up speed this year though when Grandmadad announced last Christmas that he was "getting too old for all this cooking turkey business" and so Operation Turkey commenced!

   

This is the view from the other side of the door.  Operation Turkey isn't going so well.  We are now working on Operation Turkey +1.

And this is what the rest of the room looks like.  Actually, I took this photo this morning, this evening there is even less floor.  The plaster in the corner all had to come off as the damp was so bad.  That was ages ago now, possibly 3 years ago, and the damp has been solved and the wall is drying out.

The ceiling  fell down 3 years ago, not long after we bought the house.  The old central heating pipes ran above there and we think there was a slow leak over many years.  Luckily this fell down before we had moved in but until we get it fixed, we can't decorate the 'green room' above.

There is one bit of the room that we are happy with though - our fireplace.  The original fireplace had been removed decades ago and we were left with a blank wall.  We couldn't believe our luck when we found this! 

So that's our dining room, Operation Turkey +1 is well and truly underway!

Cross Monday Week 24

A week at Center Parcs didn't lend itself to much stitching this week. Must do better!  Just two weeks time and I'll have been working on this project for 6 months! Wow. 

Silent Sunday

Owlfit of the Week

 

As we are in Holland this week, I thought it only right to share one of Little Owl's Dutch outfits that I bought on our last trip here in June.  Both the hoody and the shorts come from a shop called Hema which is a department store selling low priced products.  It was only after I bought them that I spotted the label on the shorts saying 'boy' - oh well!  I love the wide waist band on the hoody and the big cuffs, which as well as looking good, help to keep Little Owl snug too!

The hat from H&M is beginning to look a bit small (I think its age 6-9 months) and is soon to be put away, and with the recent cooler weather, I suspect the days of the Livie and Luca sandals are numbered too!  But not to worry - I've just ordered Little Owl some more Livie and Luca shoes!

Cross Monday Week 23

The detail in the tree I am working on really doesn't show in the photos!  The flowers are made up of 5 stitches of 3 different colours.  Nearly done now!  Looking forward to finishing this section and starting on something new!  Now I have a confession to make - I took this photo on Saturday as I'm going to be spending Monday traveling from Belguim to Holland... well not the whole day obviously as it isn't that far but I'm not sure if I will have any internet for the next week, if I don't that might mean I get a lot of stitching done though!

Silent Sunday

Little Owl's First Hike

This is a Post by Papa Owl.

The outdoors plays a huge part in my life as a qualified Mountain Leader and member of the Institute of Outdoor Learning.  I spend a large part of my working life there and love climbing, hillwalking and mountain biking in my leisure time. I am passionate about the physical and mental benefits of spending time Outdoors. You can challenge yourself, learn how to take risks and just have fun. 

It was only natural therefore that we would want to make it a large part of Little Owl’s life. Well, the craziness of family life and renovating a falling down Victorian house has meant that I really haven’t done as much ‘outdoorsy’ stuff with Little Owl as I should. When Laughing Owl asked me if I could look after Little Owl for a day I decided it was time we went on a hike.

I decided that a short walk along the South Downs around Firle Beacon would be a good route. We could park on top of the downs so no steep climbs and there would be loads of flexibility in how far we could walk. We didn’t complete a major expedition and walked about a mile from the car park to the top of Firle Beacon. It would normally take me about 15 minutes but it took the best part of an hour. We stopped a lot to look at the sheep, at the birds, the cows feeding their calves and to eat lots of Haribo’s! I learnt on a previous walk with Little Owl and her cousins that some form of extrinsic motivation was required. The phrase "you will get your next sweet when we get to the gate" was used a lot! She already knows that we only have sweets when we go hiking.

When we got to the top we put on an extra jacket, it was windy and chilly even on an August day, and tucked into our packed lunch. I had insisted that Little Owl carried her own sandwiches in her rucksack as when we do longer walks or even overnight camps in years to come I want her to carry some of her own kit so it’s worth starting good habits early. After lunch we walked back to the car which took about an hour again with lots more to look at, especially with my binoculars. A quick trip to the playground in Firle followed and then we drove home with Little Owl fast asleep nearly the whole way. 

So, what tips have I got for parents taking their little ones hiking…. 

1. Be flexible.  Make sure you can adapt your route according to weather, tiredness and sweet supplies.
2. You will not necessarily go very far, but that’s ok. It’s not about you.
3. Make sure you have plenty to do along the way. Things like binoculars, bird identification books and cameras are great. Farm animals and wildlife are also really good distractions.
4. If you are cold it’s not fun, plenty of layers needed even in summer.

Would I take her again? YOU BET! I had a great time and can’t wait for our next adventure!

Owlfit of the Week

I love this Cath Kidston dress!  I bought it in one of their stores in Windsor, March of last year and if memory serves me correctly, it cost £18 which I was pleasantly surprised by.  I bought it for Little Owl's baptism which was in May last year, just after she turned one.  It is an age one dress, so I was really pleased when it fitted her still this summer.  It comes with a matching pair of pants which work great on their own or over a nappy.

Now British Summer being what it is, you can't often get away with a sleeveless dress, so I team it up with this white cardigan from H&M.  At her baptism, Little Owl also wore white tights with this dress, and white shoes from H&M.  These sandals are from Livie & Luca.

Baking with a Toddler

The lovely Baked Potato Mummy recently posted The Importance of Baking With Toddlers.

"Do it" she said.  "It'll be fun" she said.

Papa Owl has done some baking with Little Owl, mainly when they have been visiting his parents, and it did look fun, so what could there be to loose?

Now I don't exactly come from a long line of bakers.  My mother is to baking as hurricanes are to camping, but to be fair, she has never set fire to the house and all injuries were non-life threatening after hospital treatment.

I dug out Little Owl's hat and apron which she was given last Christmas, and also a baking tray with cake cases which I picked up at the supermarket a couple of weeks ago and got started.  "All of the gear and no idea" kept springing to mind, which is also a family trait.

Doesn't that look fun?  The perfect toddler activity, learning to use the knife, sorting out the cake cases, delicately filling the tray with cake mix, edible cakes at the end?!!

Let me tell you.  This was a NIGHTMARE!!!  Little Owl was determined to eat the cake mix at every opportunity including when it was just butter in the bowl.  She would press her hands down on the scales so I was unable to measure anything accurately.  The ripe bananas were so ripe that they got up and took themselves to the bin leaving me with one small banana for a recipe that works best with two or three, ok so that wasn't Little Owl's fault... but....

Little Owl loves to play in mud kitchens, and can often be found pouring and mixing, but given the task of pouring the milk in the bowl and it ends up all over the table.  Mixing became eating.  Don't even mention sieving the flour. We played tug of war with the bowl, the spoon and just about everything else.  The kitchen was a mess.

Cakes finally in the oven and I sent Little Owl into the living room to play with her toys, while I tidied up and thought about pouring myself a large gin.  Something caught my eye and I turned round to see Little Owl with her oven glove on one hand and her other hand on the door of the oven!!!!

ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When the cakes finally came out, they tasted crap.  More banana needed.  Little Owl was then on a sugar high for the rest of the day and I was twitching for gin.

So look at the pictures and don't ever be fooled again - baking with a toddler is HARD WORK!


To be fair to Baked Potato Mummy, she can bake better than me and therefore produces edible food, she mentions courgette quiche, and Little Owl did love it.  Baked Potato Mummy also made some brilliant suggestions on how cooking with older children can help their maths skills, including measures and conversions, and ratio questions if you want to use a recipe for different amount - which appears on both the Higher and Foundation GCSEs.