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Monday, June 1, 2009

Mowing Madness

Summer is here, well temporarily, this being the UK of course. The weekend was filled with the sounds of squealing children as they dipped in and out of paddling pools, the smell of barbecues and the sound of lawnmowers. We were no exception. We called the barbecue into service for the first time this year and Mr T declared, quite rightly that the lawn needed mowing.

It is getting mown more regularly at the moment, this is partly due to the fact that Mr T has recently purchased a shiny red lawn mower, petrol is now on the premises and when it starts you'd think there was a motorbike roaring around in the garden due to the excitement it causes in the children.

It was all going so well, the top of the garden was neat, Mr T had even cleared the rather huge weeds that had taken over underneath the children's picnic table. Then it came to the last bit and try as he might Mr T just couldn't get the mower to start. Petrol was put in but still nothing happened.

'Is your lawn mower broken?' was the constant refrain from Matthew much to the mounting displeasure of Mr T. Apart came the lawn mower and various prodding and muttering, a few consultations to the instruction booklet and soon the lawn mower was being pieced together. We all held out breath and were relieved when Mr T's hard work was rewarded with a throaty roar and a huge puff of smoke as the lawn mower decided to work again.

Over dinner Mr T said how pleased he was to have found the root of the problem;
'I could see there was something blocking it starting,' he said ' and when I pulled the handle up it moved, and then I remembered that you're meant to pull the handle up when you start it.' Still at least he had fun.

To balance the post however I should comment on Mr T's achievement of the weekend. He has produced a great cake for our son's third birthday, Matthew is a fan of Roary the racing car and one thing we have liked to do is bake the cakes for the children ( I am pencilled in to produce a fairy castle for Heather in August!) We bought a book telling us how to produce the various cakes and following the racing car model and adapting it for Roary's shape Mr T had made a cake that is the same colour and shape as him and I know Matthew will be delighted.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Battle of the sexes

So, like a fair amount of the population I settled down to watch the Britain's got Talent final. As a treat we allowed Heather to stay up and watch the first part as we had recorded and edited the heats for her. She curled up and passed comment on the acts, like it, loved it and NO! She loves Amanda because she is so beautiful and absolutely refused to enjoy anything that didn't have a girl in it. Despite the jaw dropping talent showcased by Flawless and the eventual winners Diversity she rejected them because there wasn't a girl in their ranks.

Her top three went like this; Hollie, Susan and 2 Grand. She doesn't know the results yet as she was in bed before they were broadcast. When she dismissed them so instantly because they were smelly boys I asked her if she would like it if people ignored her just because she was a girl.

'Well I wouldn't mind' she says, 'because they're smelly boys and I don't know want them to like me!'
Well she has me there, I have to admit defeat but I can't help wondering when it all changed, she is affectionate towards her brother and Daddy and other male relatives and seems to get on with the boys in her class, bit more and more she plays girly games with girls!

hmmm... the question is now do I let her watch the results or just let it quietly fade away.

Congratulations to the winners, an act that lives up to its name and I hope will inspire other young people to work together and work hard rather than hang about on street corners!

In other news we bought Matthew his very first bike today, it his birthday on Thursday and I cannot believe he is going to be three. He spent ages in the shop and looked very proud to have his very own bike and helmet. We let him ride it back to the car and then we handed it over to the birthday fairy! It was odd to see him pedalling around the shop, proud as punch and really rather pleased with everything.