Joshua's Boilie Production

Joshua is really getting in to his fishing now and instead of wasting all his pocket money on gaming, he is now saving for new rods, reels etc. Unfortunately he has actually been grounded over the last week due to being on report at school, so he has not been able to go fishing with his mates. However during his grounding he has not wasted the time and has been researching how to make homemade boilies for carp fishing.

So his Sunday project was to make hi first batch of boilies ready for fishing next week. The recipe was Shreddies, jellotine, eggs, flour and blended corn! If it works then good for Josh, saves him having to buy boilies and it is a bit creative and industrious at the same time (not to mention much cheaper than shop bought boilies).

Joshua busy rolling boilie mixture in to balls whilst he waits for the hot water to boil.

Pre-cooked boilies.

The finished version just cooling and drying off before getting bagged and put in the freezer.

Marathon in March Completed

So proud of my little superstar Holly for completing her Marathon in March challenge. March wasn't particularly pleasant weather wise and there were cold and wet days where Holly really didn't want to go out running. But she stuck with it and completed the full 26.2 miles earning herself a really nice looking medal for her efforts. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and many more medals for her in the future.

Is that the face of a happy girl or what?

Well worth the effort for this really nice medal.

All the students from Abacus that completed the Marathon in March challenge.

Fashion Show

With all non essential shops being closed for so long due to the Lockdown, all three kiddies were in desperate need of some new clothes (Even more so given the rate that they all seem to be growing). Anyway finally non essential retail was re-opened on April 12th and thus our main objective this weekend was get the kiddies some much needed new clothes.

We pretty much gave all three of them a free reign to get what they wanted and they absolutely loved it - all three of them going over the budget I had given them! So it has been nice to see them all looking a bit smarter today and not look like their clothes has been shrunk in the washing machine.

Once we got home Holly wanted to put on a fashion show as she trialed her outfits on one by one. The pictures below don't quite capture her cat walk finesse complete with twirls.

With shops being open we also managed to finally change Holly's LoL Monopoly game which she got for Xmas but was missing a pack of cards. So she was over the moon this weekend having new clothes and new toys!

Finally Holly gets to play her LoL Monopoly game.

The start of Holly's fashion show and looking very sassy in this pose.

How grown up is my little girl looking.

This outfit will be nice for the summer.

The pictures don't capture he catwalk prowess.

Trust her to find something with Unicorns on it.

And butterflies...

This was my favourite outfit that Holly picked for herself.

# Hashtag Football Update

Finally Sunday league football is back on after the relaxation of the lockdown rules. Brandon has been back training over Bowers on a Thursday night, Forest Glade on Saturdays mornings and then he had his first league match back this Sunday just gone. The boys finally got a chance to wear their new #Hashtag football kit which hasn't seen the day of light in about 9 months - not surprisingly it hardly fits most of them. So a definite team photo opportunity not only with the new kit but also all of their long lockdown hair cuts!!!

This Saturday just gone, Tina was on a work training course which meant I had to take Holly to football training with me and Brandon. At one point we was a man down as we had odd numbers of players and decided to chuck a bib on her and let her join in. She absolutely loved it and was really getting stuck in to the bigger boys, absolutely no fear whatsoever!!!

Spot the fearless little Holly amongst a testosterone fueled bunch of 12 year olds.

Brandon's team all sporting long lock down hair cuts and their new # Hashtag football kit.

Carp Fishing at Dead Oak Fishery

As we turn our backs on winter and as the lockdown rules start to relax, Joshua has got back in to his fishing. He really does seem to enjoy fishing and has been three time over the Easter half term. The first time was over Lake Meadows with his mate Tom - don't think they caught anything. The second time was over the Wick Lake where I think they caught one little roach. Then today they tried a new fishing lake at Dead Oak Fishery and it looks like they had a top day.

Between Joshua and his mate Tom they caught some lovely looking carp today with the largest apparently weighing about 10lb. He clearly really enjoys his fishing as he was over there for about 6 or 7 hours (and even had a bit of snow) and actually called us saying he wanted to stay longer - at least it is outside and off his PC for a while (they even had a little snow flurry today!). 

What is even better is that he now wants to spend his pocket money on fishing equipment instead of wasting it every month on online gaming.

The first carp they caught over Dead Oak Fshery.

Two good sized fish there.

This was their largest catch of the day which was apparently around 10lb's.

Easter 2021 Under Lockdown (Still)

Not much excitement this year for Easter as we are still under lockdown with restrictions finally easing on April 12th. So no Easter activities or hunts arranged for the kids this year. As always we did celebrate Easter with a nice turkey dinner followed by our cheesecake in an Easter egg which has become our traditional pudding.

The kids got loads of Easter eggs from all the family and then we also bought a box of mini eggs which as usual I hid in the back garden so that the kiddies could all have a little Easter Egg hunt. It was certainly a struggle getting Josh involved this year, he likes the chocolate but not the "childish" games.

Brandon racing around searching for Easter Eggs in the back garden.

Holly found one!

Eventually we did get Joshua involved.

At least Holly still gets in to the spirit wearing the bunny mask.

At least one out of three is happy and having fun.

Other than that me and Holly spent a bit of time over the weekend doing some Easter art.