The Novena to St Joseph starts today!

The countdown to our beloved St Joseph's feast day begins today. Being so close to Jesus and Mary makes him a powerful intercessor for us down here on earth.

As ever, Lacy at Catholic Icing has some great ideas for sharing the devotion with your children: something I intended to do, until our printer decided to stop responding this evening. Roo was very impressed with the printer earlier on today though when he scanned in his picture of a roman cavalry soldier and his chariot (above) and then emailed it to Dada and Uncle B.

Today we had a great day at home. Lots of time outside in fresh Spring air and sunshine, messing about with the wheelbarrow, cut grass, sandpit lid (makes a great toboggan: Mum or Dad have to pull it though), digging, squidging soil, planting seeds and cycling/ running/ tractoring laps round the house. Then the lads' newly opened shop and café kept them busy indoors in between times. The little Toot, barely 18 months old had a surprisingly long bout of play in the café, giving very personal attention to some of the customers: spoonfeeding them no less!

honeysuckle stroll

Roo woke up feeling 'crook' this morning. He missed his school tour yesterday and had to come home early from school on Tuesday on account of a mysterious tummy bug. Today he was supposed to be taking part in sports day, but he was sick at breakfast, so we had to stay at home again. It's such a pity because he loves 'school' and all the fun and company, and the year is nearly over, so he'll be stuck with boring Mum and annoying little brother for two months until he can see people his own age again.

The weather continues warm and pleasant, thank God. I went for a walk down the lane with the lads in the buggy. The place seemed alive with bees: Roo spotted one in the 'white elephant pen' that the landlord made outside and we saw and heard many more along the way. At least three different species of bumblebees and some honeybees, the sacs on their back legs bulging with yellow pollen. They were busy touring the many wild flowers that have appeared since we last walked there. Pretty wild roses and heavenly honeysuckle, as you can see in the pictures. So, lovely sounds, sights and smells, including a warm earthy smell that reminded me of being a little girl (maybe from one of the long Surrey walks Dad used to drag us along on). A lovely stroll, we all benefited from being out in the fresh air: Roo chattered most of the way (even when he's not well he can't stop talking).

I gave the lads a little sprig of honeysuckle to smell and Poonch got upset when it fell out of the buggy as I folded it up. Sometimes the lads really surprise me with little sensitive things like that.

It's the Baby Monster!

At least, that's what Roo calls his little brother when he is covered in food after another food-exploring session in the kitchen. So far he has helped himself to banana, pear, strawberries, raspberries, red pepper, courgette, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, egg, cheese, bread, potato and porridge as well as less healthy options such as chips (in a Dingle chippy), ice cream (mmm... Murphy's Baked Banana flavour, Dingle again) and chocolate cake (an exception for Mum's special birthday). Even our visitors, who were new to baby-led weaning (BLW), embraced this voyage of discovery. Not a puree in sight for this adventurous little epicurean.

On a more prosaic note, Babba Roo ate some cauliflower today. Wow, so what, you might say, but that is really quite an event in this house! Then again, it was pureed and cunningly hidden in some fluffy, buttery mashed potato, (an idea I got from my latest library cookbook find Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld). She purees all sorts of veggies and hides them in things as diverse as chicken nuggets and brownies. I'm quite looking forward to making oatmeal cookies with pureed courgettes (or zucchinis, as our American friends like to call them). Off we go!
On the subject of food, his younger brother has started solids in the last week or two. Solids before 1 are supposed to be fun and he certainly takes to the task with much gusto. He looks so cute sitting in his booster seat, trying to fit his food-filled fist into his mouth. I'm going down the Baby Led Weaning route this time, partly because of the afore-mentioned aversion to vegetables and am eagerly awaiting a book on the subject.