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Monday, April 21, 2014

To be honest, when I told Lisa I'd look after the kids for the morning, this wasn't part of my plan...


Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, yes, that is chocolate. And whilst it might be slightly upsetting to see it caked all over his right hand and smeared across his cheeky-toothed chops, the more disturbing sight is that of his left hand, palm-down on the dry-clean-only sofa covers. There should be a washable armrest cover there, but he removed it prior to wiping molten Easter egg across the upholstery. He's making his mark in more ways than one.

Anyhoo, the official 2014 Gardner Family Easter Egg Hunt took place yesterday, but unfortunately, by the time you've organised five of them at your daughter's request, it's hard to remember where they're all hidden. I discovered one behind the living room curtain when I got up this morning, and another in my trainer when I went to put them on, but the undisputed master of lost egg locating is Toby, who spent the morning unearthing chocolate eggs that we didn't even know were missing. They should get him down to the Indian Ocean. He'd find MH370 in no time.

So I enjoyed a few hours of quality time with my children this morning, playing Playstation with Amelie and trying to stop Toby looking like he was filming the latrine scene from Slumdog Millionaire. Lisa returned from her safe place in time to get the kids lunch, after which I decided that what with it being a bank holiday, and me being an undisputed man's man, I really should go to B&Q.

Unfortunately, I went with my five-year-old daughter and bought flowers, so I let myself down a bit there. But on the plus side, I did buy some new hinges for a manly DIY project. The doors have come off Amelie's pink doll's house.

Anyhoo, they don't call us Gardeners for nothing (or at all, in fact) so having bought some seed trays and compost, the children and I headed out onto the balcony this afternoon to plant some flowers...


It's not the first time we've attempted to sustain plant life on the second floor balcony, but our previous efforts have generally met with famine, pestilence and wind damage, so we've never actually produced anything with petals. This time, however, I'm confident of success. We've sown pansies, cornflowers and Californian poppies, and whilst I've always had Amelie to do my watering, this time I had Toby standing at the side, attempting to invoke Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, by holding his arms in the air and shouting "Need!". Which is one of the few words he knows.

Oh, and he's still wearing the same pyjamas. What's a bit of mud, when you're already covered in chocolate..?

1 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

SO glad you've done some planting. Amelie's efforts, when she was here, were interrupted by wild insects, which drove her indoors before she'd completed 4 cucumber seeds. I'm sure you don't get flies, wasps, spiders, bees, beetles, or anything else scary on your balcony.