13. Make a Mud Pie

We've all been sick for the last few weeks and so we haven't been able to start tackling the 50 things list until today. And what better place to start that with mud pies?

It was quite funny, actually. A couple of the neighbour kids were watching them making the mud pies and weren't impressed by the mess at all. Ten minutes later they were suggesting that grass would be a fantastic addition to the mud pie. Not to mention the fact that my kids seem to do a great job of convincing every kid they meet to ask their parents about being home-educated. I hope I don't have to deal with irate parents tomorrow! 

If you'd like to join in the fun, here's the original post with the details!  

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The Fifty Things Challenge

Following on from The National Trust's article here, I thought it would be a really great experience to do these things with my children. We've done quite a few of them already, but I thought that this time we could scrapbook our experiences as we go along. Take some photographs, scribble down some memories.
Here's the list:

Fantastic, isn't it? I'm going to share this around and see if we can get some people encouraging their children to engage in natural play. With computers and gadgets being such an integral part of modern life, we can often forget to focus on the most basic of pastimes.

So, it would be lovely if you joined in! Here's a button, please do share links to your pictures and scrapbooking in the comments!

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Happy Children, Through and Through

The weather has been quite inconsistent here! These photographs were taken about three days before we suffered yet another bout of snow and hail! We were running around in just a t-shirt before that. We've had typical April showers, too, but the snow was most unexpected!

The BBP soon settled down on my chest for a snooze in the sun, she was quite enjoying the mix of warmth and comfort in her Mama. This particular place is one of our favourite local haunts and we go here as often as we can, weather permitting.

I can hardly believe that in less than two months she'll be a whole two years old. Hasn't it flown by? It feels like only yesterday she was breathing that sweet, newborn smell right onto my skin. How I miss her tiny fingers and toes.

And my little Flower. She has quite a lot of sensory discomfort and really is not comfortable with being touched for any other reason than hugs. It had gotten to the point that she was nervous about having her hair washed and brushed, and having tried a shorter hairstyle that still wasn't quite enough, something had to be done. So here she is, sporting her new 'pixie crop', and very pleased she is with it, too.

We encountered a little difficulty at the salon as some of the hairdressers weren't too pleased that she was having her hair cut so short. I don't know why there's such an opinion that girls must have long hair. A friend of mine told me that she got into some trouble in primary school for having her hair cut short. How ridiculous. So my Flower doesn't have long hair, so what? She's comfortable in her own skin and, for once, she's completely relieved of her need to worry about her hair. This morning, we put a comb through it (after much trepidation) she wasn't sure if it would still hurt, but it didn't, and she was ecstatic. My child's happiness is of paramount importance to me, and I'll never put the ignorant opinions of others before her needs, but still, it really would be quite lovely if people would drag their reluctant backsides into the 21st century and realise that hair is just, well, hair!