Comic Relief, Carrots and Cake

'DAY 5 in the Comic Relief Charity Challenge house, and the housemates are getting restless...'

not really a massive surprise considering there's very little food left from my £12 shop. Just two more days to go now.
And in case you're wondering, £12 is all I've spent to feed the four of us for 7 days! Definitely a challenge. Possibly mad. Still, it's for a very good cause, as the rest of the money I'd normally spend on my weekly groceries is going to Comic Relief.

It's certainly keeping me on my toes and I'm baking like a dervish, trying to stay a step ahead. The kids are doing pretty well; they haven't gone hungry, but inevitably the lack of choice and empty fridge takes it's toll, and there's a rising wave of whinging! I'm doing my best to gee them along, and I've heard the older two talking to their friends about the Challenge and why we're doing it, which is encouraging. It's great they feel involved.

Now who'd have ever thought you could get bored of muffins? But I know the kids are tiring of them, and fair play really as muffins have been the only sweet treat on offer for the last 5 days. My supplies are limited: I haven't any butter and just enough marg left for sandwiches - the only thing I can use is vegetable oil. So my cunning plan was to make muffins that look like CAKE...and seeing as The Gallery theme this week is the letter 'C'.... I give you Comic Relief Charity Challenge Carrot Muffins Cake!

I just poured the carrot muffin mixture into a cake tin - and the shape change plus the absence of muffin cases seems to have done the trick! They loved them. Should get us through to friday. I'm sure the topping helped too, but only enough cream cheese spare for these three, and HUGE disappointment when they realised the carrot was made of plasticine..

There's more about our Comic Relief Charity Challenge here

and The Gallery theme this week is the letter 'C'

The Gallery - Boys

I remember standing next to a rather fraught mum in a supermarket who was trying unsuccessfully to stop her son whacking his brother with a roll of tin foil.  She looked at me wearily and said,   'Boys. They can make a weapon out of anything.'
I nodded and smiled and looked down at my then tiny little chubby cheeked gorgeous bundle of first born boy. I honestly hadn't a clue what she was talking about.
You see at that point I only knew about girls. I have three sisters, just about all my cousins are girls and our little baby was the first boy to join the family in years.

I now have two boys who can make weapons out of anything.

Typical boys really.

And as frustrating as these sometimes rough, grubby, lazy, messy little treasures can be, I think I've got the measure of them.
I know what makes them happy, sad, bored, helpful. I know what they'll listen to and what they'll probably ignore.
I know they won't dwell or be too devious - apart from stealing biscuits, which they're pretty useless at because they never hide the evidence. On the whole I feel I know where I am with my boys, and that makes things a little more straightforward. At the moment!

They do still surprise me though, with sudden spontaneous hugs, sweet little notes and the occasional disarming compliment. I'll never forget coming downstairs, dressed up for a night out, and my then 3 year old saying, 'nice shoes mummy!'
Sometimes my boys leave me speechless.
Just not always for the right reasons...

The Gallery theme this week is BOYS!

The Gallery - Girls

'Please can we go now?'

Not one to ever pass up a photo opportunity, my mum - and no amount of whinging/crying/general complaining was going to stop her getting a shot of her four girls in that field of sunflowers.

Just look at us.

What a bunch of miseries.

Apart from the sister who appears to have mysteriously shrunk.

It was the late 70's and we were trundling slowly through France to the coast; the four of us bouncing about in the back of our family camper - colouring in, fighting over felt tips and watching the world go by. I can just imagine how the sunflower photo stop would have seemed like a great idea. To my mother. And it makes me think of all the times I've done the same kind of thing to my kids - usually greeted with a similar degree of enthusiasm.

'Come on girls! Smile! PLEASE!!' I can hear mum, but I'm the sulky, slightly awkward almost pre-teen one in the tracksuit top, and I didn't do smiling - well not proper smiling, just a sort of clenched teeth, tight lipped scowl. Still, I wasn't anywhere near as grizzly as my youngest sister who was having none of it.  Another thing I found out later on. NEVER wake a toddler for the sake of a photo..

This week's Gallery theme is Girls

Ballet Bees and Bumblerinas - 3/2/13

Linking up with SocialPix over at Love All Blogs
and Team Lloyd's Photo of the Week

The Gallery: Back to School!

We're usually running for the bus, but the kids were so keen to go to school on the first day, they were down by the road half an hour early. The youngest has had her uniform lying next to her bed since sunday...

And bar the odd needy moment questioning why they're quite so desperately keen, I couldn't be happier that the kids are itching to get back to school. We've had a lovely summer, but now they need to be surrounded, and I need some space.

It's such a blessing being on the bus route - no school run or school gate for me. The only slight drawback is I'm out of touch with all the goings on. But I can live with that.

I need to make the most of it too, because the eldest leaves in the summer, so this is my last year of school run freedom.

As soon as I opened the bus door the kids were on in a flash; smiling shyly at friends. Quiet for a moment or two. No chatting. Yet. All three looked so smart in their still-shop-creased trousers and perfect new shoes. Beryl the driver laughed saying they wouldn't look like that on the ride home. They never do.

Then the minibus trundled up the lane, and I trundled down it, in my running kit. Because I could.

The Gallery theme this week is Back to School