A mountaineer in the making?
I was going to entitle this post ‘Scaling new heights’ but then realised that I had already used this title for my last blog post – doh as one Homer Simpson might say. Anyway we are currently staycationing at Andy’s parents in Stockton and are using the opportunity to explore the local area. In all of the nearly 13 years Andy and I have been driving up the A19 past Roseberry Topping, on the way to his parents, we have always without exception said ‘we must walk up there one day’. Our excuses to date for not doing this have been along the lines of ‘it’s too cold’ (to be fair to us we usually travel up this way around Christmas time) and ‘we haven’t got enough time’. We could hardly use the temperature as an excuse, with the car thermometer soaring above 20 degrees and the time factor certainly didn’t apply, as we are here for a week. Now you could hardly blame us if we used the children as a reason not to scale Roseberry Topping this time. I mean what person in their right mind takes a 3 year old who is liable to whinge at the distance and difficulty and a 1 year old who must be close to 25lbs (this is only significant as he was going to make the ascent in the Daddy taxi), up a mountain (ok hill, but it is as good as a mountain to a 3 year old who is only 97cm tall!)? Anyway Andy had made the decision, which is a fairly rare occurrence in this household, and we were going despite my protestations of ‘it looks like rain’ and ‘what if Ava falls off the side?’.
So armed with one 3 year old and a hefty one year old snuggled in his rucksack (highly recommend Little Life), we made our ascent and rather surprisingly there were no groans from Ava about how long it was taking or that she wished to be carried. Only 50 minutes after arriving in the car park we were sitting on top of Roseberry Topping admiring the views of the Tees Valley and high fiving our achievement. Definitely an ‘I did it Mummy’ moment for one very pleased 3 year old. Does Mont Blanc, Everest or K2 beckon for her, we’ll see.
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- Start of the climb
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- At the top
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- High five
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- Roseberry Topping
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
Scaling new heights
It’s been at least two weeks since I posted anything about what the boy has been up to. Well okay some of you new readers will feel like it’s been five minutes but indulge me! While I have been taking my role as a Stay-at-home-Mum seriously, watching the Olympics and carting children between play dates and activities, Benjamin (or BenBen as I am starting to call him, as he says MaMa and the chances of him saying Benjamin before he is 3 is pretty remote) has been cultivating a couple of new skills of his own. This week I discovered that he can now scale the whole staircase (best not to shout at him while he’s half way up – this led to a quick look down, followed by a terrifying scream) and if you ask him where his head is, repeatedly, he will now show you! My little baby boy is fast transforming into a toddler and anyone who has been the proud owner of one of those knows exactly what that means, yes, TANTRUMS aren’t far away!
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- Don’t look down
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- Where’s your head
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
PINK is the new GOLD
Great Britain may be hunting down the GOLD medals at London 2012 (22 gold medals as I write this…way to go Team GB!), but for one little lady it’s all about pink.
Ava’s pink medal
This medal has been produced thanks to a gravy lid, pink foil left over from an Easter egg, a lollipop stick, some gold ribbon from one of Benjamin’s birthday presents and one white address label that Ava wrote her name on. (Unlike her Uncle, who first wrote his name on the bedroom window sill, this parent has taught her child that pen is only allowed on paper!).
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
Pimp my cupcake
It seems to be an unwritten rule that every mother should be able to make a decent cupcake. I guess some have a natural flair for this activity whilst others need a little helping hand. I certainly fall into the latter category so when the opportunity to attend a cupcake making class came up, I jumped at it faster than Usain Bolt can run 100 metres.
Technically this was a cupcake making class with an ulterior motive as the host was a Pampered Chef consultant so as expected there were more than a fair sprinkle of product plugs and I was left wondering whether it was possible to make the perfect cupcake without spending £17.50 on the muffin pan with the extra deep holes and £13.95 on the cake scoop which promises that each cupcake will be exactly the same size. It turns out that Pampered Chef aren’t responsible for Stork, the magic ingredient that makes cupcakes taste extra nice. The decorating equipment was surprising easy to use and I had oodles of fun trying out various different nozzles with some great results:
Cupcake decorations
Inspired by my cupcake class I offered to make cupcakes for a couple of joint birthday teas. The first set I made in my down time when the children were safely tucked in bed and the second set had the finesse that only a certain 3 year old can achieve. Having seen the difference in my cakes compared to the ones we made at the class, I think Pampered Chef may have made one sale out of me. The muffin pan with the extra deep holes probably would have prevented the volcano peaks in the middle of my cupcakes, although it turns out that like a well fitted wedding dress, buttercream icing really can hide a multitude of sins.
Ava’s cupcakes
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
A first I am not proud of
So I’ve got to Post number 7 and my promise to myself about this blog is about to be broken. This is supposed to be a positive blog about ‘firsts’ but I could hardly ignore this one.
Andy gets home from work, he wonders into the office, checks the post and opens an ominous letter. A humph and puff or two later, he enters the kitchen where myself, Ava and Benjamin have already commenced dinner. He says ‘what day of the week was July 21st?’. I answer ‘Saturday, the day before Benjamin’s birthday’. He says ‘what did we do that day?’. I say ‘a walk along the river in Reading and Ava, your mother & I went to pick your own in the afternoon’. The look of relief on his face as he realises, it wasn’t him, is palpable. ‘You have been caught speeding’ he says triumphantly, with a footnote of ‘I really thought it would be me first’.
35 mph in a 30 zone. I now have to officially own up to this misdemeanour and go on a speed awareness course. The silver lining to this may be the half day I get to spend on my own, although the Q&A states I will have to pay for the course instead of the fine, so I am left wondering how much a little me time is going to cost and whether a treatment in a spa might have been cheaper not to mention more relaxing. Nasty feeling I may have been caught again today though and if I have, I’ll have to accept the points and the fine to boot…grrrr…
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
I Did It Mummy 