Egg Hunts, Child labor, Bonnets and Boogieing

Ormsby Hall, a place I have visited in my youth, but not since, but we took the boys on an Easter egg hunt there, which was fantastic.

They had to find all the clues in the Hall gardens.

Mini and Maxi had so much fun and I got very muddy in the process, but it was a fun hour on what was a dreary Easter Monday.

Ormesby Hall is a National Trust Property and we have annual membership, so it costs us nothing to get in and this year the boys are getting to the stage where they can enjoy the activity packs in each room, which is only 50p for the book and you get the pencil free!

One of the great things about Ormesby Hall, which was once home to the Pennyman Family is its Victorian Kitchen and Scullery.  The boys loved joining in with the washing. The volunteer (a teacher in her day job) was amazing and she really captivated them with the tales of turning on fires at five in the morning and also the fact that they would wash 68 sheets a week!

It was great that it was so hands on, they got to use a dolly and a mangle and also have a go at ironing (with cold irons)!  There is also a model railway, well three of them set up on the top floor, which is great for little and big men!  The Cleveland Mounted Police are headquartered in the Hall's stables too.

So we then came home and the boys decorated their bonnets for the Clubs Easter Party, which was last night too

I love the fact that they did it all themself themselfust a little help cutting out the egg shapes and adding the glue.

Finally, I leave you with the boys doing Big Fish Little Fish at the party, they danced the night away will 10pm, I came home early at 8pm as I wasn't felling well, they outlasted me!

Easter Bakes, Making New Traditions

We have been busy in the kitchen this weekend, making and baking and bring in new traditions to TheMadHouse.

Hot Cross Buns

"Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns."

"If you have no daughters, 

give them to your sons,

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns."

These have gone down well with mini and MadDad, so much so that I had to make extra!

White Bread buns, which I make the dough in the bread-maker and then divide and leave to prove.  The temptation is to eat them hot, but my they really do give you indigestion.

Magic Mummy mentioned that Tesco had Easter Apron and Hats sets in for 78p and as Mini loves to dress up, we went and got him one and he decided that he needed a strawberry smoothie.

 

He loves making banana smoothies, just milk, natural yogurt and a little honey.  He likes the hand mixer too!!

Chocolate Simnel Cake

Neither MadDad or the boys are keen on fruit cake, so I thought we could try a chocolate Simnel cake.

Ingredients

100g/4oz dark chocolate, broken in pieces
100g/4oz caster sugar
100g/4oz softened butter, plus extra
3 eggs, separated
50g/2oz ground almonds
50g/2oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4/fan oven 160C. Butter an 18cm/7in deep round cake tin; line the base. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
2. Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the yolks, one at a time. Stir in the almonds and chocolate.
3. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form (see tip). Fold a quarter of the egg white into the chocolate mixture, then sift in a quarter of the flour and baking powder. Repeat three more times until the egg white and flour is evenly mixed in.

4. Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and firm. Cool for five minutes, turn out on to a wire rack, peel off the paper and cool completely. 

 I then added some homemade marzipan and melted chocolate to decorate.

I am Sorry

I am truly sorry for a lot of reasons, firstly please don't worry we are all OK.

But also just a little word of warning, a blog is never truly anonymous and there are consequences of writing words sometimes.  They seem so innocent, just characters on a keyboard, but my they hold some terrible and terrifying power when you add them all together.

I made a mistake this week, I shouldn't have posted my Writing Workshop post.  I have hurt people I love and that is something that I never ever had any intention of doing.  I shouldn't have aired my dirty washing in public and I will not again.  I wrote the piece as a way of outpouring the emotion I was feeling a the time and should have left it at that. 

My blog has always felt like my safe haven, somewhere to write down my feelings and emotions, but I never really believed that anyone could or would be hurt by it.  I never thought it might get back to people, if I had known that I would have self-censored myself, I wouldn't have hurt people intentionally and the fact that I have is almost to much to bear.

I have a relationship to try and mend, if that it at all possible and will be doing so over the coming weeks, months and possibly years.  I have betrayed the trust and understanding of the person I love the most, my husband and made it very difficult for him and his family, if not impossible.  

So I am truly sorry, I didn't think, I didn't comprehend the possible outcomes, without the shield of the blog I wouldn't have said the things I did.

I don't know what is going to happen moving forward, only time will tell. 

Closed for the forseeable future

Flower Swap

I decided to take part in Sew Scrumptious' flower swap, my first real swap and I was very excited to get Kelly at A place of my own. 

I love the idea of a swap, it gives you chance to stalk their blog for all the right reasons and put something nice together, that doesn't have to cost the earth, but has meaning and tend to be based on a theme.

I received my parcel from Kelly on Wednesday, but decided to leave it until the evening before opening, as I know my children, they would want to do it all for me and as much as I love them, well I like to have a little bit of the joy too!

Oh and look at what wonderful goodies she sent me

The most divine pin cushion with one of the flowers of Kelly's wedding dress, how honoured am I?

3 lovely lavender cushions which are going to be going in to my drawers!

The most stunning note cards, which Kelly has made herself, not only did she made them herself, but she took all the images too.

A wonderful tea cosy for my teapot.  Woohoo

Some sweetpeas and a fat quarter of delicious fabric

Finally some cute little magnets.

So I wanted to say a great big thank you to both Kelly and Louise.  It has been great fun

Easter Plans

Easter starts for us today.  Maxi had his first ever assembly all about the First Easter.

MadDad made it back from work in time and we both really enjoyed watching our boy, who had a wonderful strong and clear speaking voice.  It was such a joy to watch a group of four and five year olds clearly enjoying themselves.

MadDad is off for the week, so we are planning on lots of family time together and with this in mind, I have exchanged some Tesco Vouchers for some restaurant ones, but even though I did this over a fortnight ago, we are still waiting!

Our Plans include, but are dependant on weather:

Egg hunt at National Trust - we have annual membership

Visits to English Heritage sites, again we have annual membership (via Tesco vouchers)

Easter Dance Party at my Brother and Sister in Laws Club, including Bonnet competition and egg decorating competition.

Decorating bonnets and eggs for the Children's Dance Party

A trip to Fardale to see the daffodils

Making a start of Easter Egg mountain!

Car boot on Sunday, we are going to take the boys with us.

Visits to Kirkleatham Museum, Preston Park, Mima and Wet and wild.

Danby Moors Centre

Saltburn Valley woodlands centre

Duckings swimming

Day learning to crochet - yes I am so excited about this, yep almost giddy

Bric a Brac sale at the Club.

National Railway Museaum at York

Baking, making and lots of cooking and creating

Visit lots of local parks.  The mini's have a list and they like them all for different reasons.

DVD's, popcorn and cuddles

Whitby

Plus we have plans to get some seeds planted and also we do need to repaint the render outside.  Oh and I also have paint for the sitting room and dinning room too, but I am not going to make MadDad do everything in this week, we have had the paint since the January Sales!

So I am planning on having a great Easter and I hope you do too.  I will be posting, but possibly not commenting due to time, so please don't be offended.

What is so wrong with my Children?