He hates having messy hands. With the exception of sand, he can't bear to have substances spread all over them and always wants to wash them off. Today we made Easter cards involving cotton buds and sponge printing, naturally his hands got dirty. I wouldn't let him wash his hands, in fact I got the sponge and painted it all over mine and then encouraged him to do the same. The next fifteen minutes were spent painting our hands, squelching them and smearing it all over the paper. I think he might be a little bit cured.
Meal Planning Monday #4
I only managed to have one fail last week, and that was not my fault. My mum (despite the planner being up which is partly for her when caring for The Boy) gave him Friday's dinner for his lunch instead. I ended up doing butternut squash risotto, this time in the slow cooker. It didn't work out well: one minute it was undercooked massively, the next it was slushy. I've therefore carried the lasagne forward to this week's planner.
As we're approaching Easter weekend, I've planned for Sunday to Thursday and am leaving the actual weekend free. I've got plenty of freezer food which we can have depending upon what we're doing each day, however I also suspect we'll be out and about quite a bit and I've allowed for that.
- Sunday: chicken (slow-cooker) or mint, chilli and vegetable loaves, with potato fritters and roasted butternut squash and vegetable salad. (Mum, dad, boy cousin and girl cousin are coming over for dinner, hence the choice)
- Monday: pasta and salad (going to try a reduced balsamic vinegar dressing as suggested to me by The Kitchen Mechanic. Incidentally, I will be adding this recipe to next week's planner somewhere!)
- Tuesday: Butternut squash and spinach lasagne
- Wednesday: Shepherd's pie (freezer left-overs)
- Thursday: Mango and coconut paneer
- Friday: free
- Saturday: free
As I type this up, I've realised that we haven't had fajitas in ages and so they are definitely on the menu for next week. A scrummy way of making sure we have plenty of our five a day.
What are you planning for your family meals this week?
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I'm linking this up to Meal Planning Monday over at At Home With Mrs. M.
Why I'll Need A Time-Turner
Now that The Boy is getting older, I've started to contemplate different types of days out with him. He's getting to the age where he has a sustained period of concentration, he's interested in stories and the whys and hows of things, and loves to experience new things. It never fails to amaze me the memories that he comes out with, small events that happened last year but they pop into his head at the most obscure of times when something prompts his recall of them.
I think that the great family day out is something that needs to have a resurgence, it's way too easy to spend the weekends lolling around and not doing anything. When I was a child we always went out on a Sunday afternoon and did something, even if it was only to a park or the beach, possibly a ruined castle, but always something as a family. I don't think there's much of an effort in families nowadays to do this. Maybe parents think that the time spent together has to involve a lot of cost, but I actually think a lot of it comes down to a) the stress of both parents working and b) Sunday trading hours allowing for afternoons spent in supermarkets! Hardly the essence of childhood memories is it?
In June, we'll be going to London for the BritMums Live blogging conference. I say 'we' because there is no way that I'm leaving Mr. TBaM and The Boy here on their own. I maintain that it's because I'll miss them (and I will) but in all honesty, I'm more worried that they'll have a fab time without me and I can't split myself into two. So I'm dragging them to the capital city for the weekend with me. While I'm busy chatting and socialising networking and improving my blog on the Saturday, I suspect they will be enjoying the Science Museum, it's something that Mr. TBaM has wanted to take The Boy to since before he was even conceived.
I'm still trying to narrow down what to do on the Sunday when we have our family time together. I've had fabulous suggestions of London Zoo, the Transport Museum and of course I want to check out Hyde Park and the London Eye. However, I'm wondering how we could forget one of the things that for me is synonymous with London? How could we possibly neglect the West End?
Is there time to squeeze in a child's day out at the theatre or am I asking too much from a (then) three year old? And even then, which production? There are so many different and marvellous musicals on at the moment that I wouldn't know where to start. Maybe one of those that had the 'search for the star' type tv shows? I could always investigate Wizard of Oz tickets but I think that would be more for me in my attempts to get closer to those sparkly shoes that I've always covetted.
I suspect that unless I manage to procure Hermoine's time-turner that we're going to be sticking to the London Eye and Hyde Park, but you never know!
This is a featured post.
Sunday 1st April 2012 – 'What's In Here?' (92/366)
I love this photo, mostly because it shows his growth in 14 months from the same shot taken last year; he was almost bent double to get in this year. I also love it because I used to go into this hole as a child as well, as did every (now) adult in my home-town. I swear the park-keeper maintains the hole and tunnels inside the hedge to encourage the fun!
366 #13
We've had amazing weather for the past week and I'm sure that everyone will have sunny skies and smiley faces in their photos this week. As we rapidly approach Day 100 of the project, I've got another competition lined up for you, but I'm not telling you about it until next week!
Anyone taking part is welcome to join the Project 366 Facebook group. The fabulous community building up there offer support to those taking part in this photography project, and give much blog love. We've made it a closed group so that not every Tom, Dick or Harry can see the content but if you'd like to join just click the 'ask to join group' button in the top right hand corner of the page.
- Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
- Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
- If you can spare five minutes to comment on just a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

#13:52
This is the Hot Wheels track that mummy and daddy made for me this week.
Saturday 31st March 2012 – 'Grasshoppers' (91/366)
ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better
This weekend is your opportunity to link-up a post that you wrote that filled you with a sense of satisfaction. You typed that last full stop, pressed 'publish' and thought "yes, this will be a good one!" and waited.
But no bugger actually bothered to read it, or if they did they certainly didn't comment on it!
Why? I can still hear you shouting it at the stats counter/comments log.
Heaven only know why. They didn't deserve it, they were good posts. It's not their fault that they were published on a Bank Holiday or when people were experiencing blog-apathy. They don't deserve to feel inadequate, not when they've done nothing wrong.
This weekend, I'd like you to help that post to hold its head up high! Brush them off, stick my badge at the bottom of the post and show them off for everyone to see. Don't be ashamed of them, help them shout at everyone:
I SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!

Friday 30th March 2012 – 'The Land of Dreams' (90/366)
Thursday 29th March 2012 – 'Swing' (89/366)
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