A well earned drink!

Early this morning we waved hubby off at the train station as he set off to Holland for a few days. From here we went to our local Sunday market and picked up a roast chicken and veg for our dinner, and perhaps a waffle or two!

Then it was time to change into my super woman outfit and commence a full day of activities to keep my lovelies entertained (and stop the bickering).

Plan of attack:
1. Duathlon training at local park.
One lap jog, followed by two laps cycling followed by another lap of running. The kids were amazing! Olivia did it in 7 mins 57secs and Dex in 8 mins 45secs. They had a swig of water and then Olivia ran off to the playground but Dexter asked me if he could run another lap - he's such a determined little boy. I love watching him run as he flows effortlessly (must not be a pushy Mummy and force him into running. Must not be a pushy Mummy and force him into running. Must not ....).

2. Hide and seek
I am brilliant at this game and my kids are rubbish. I should have taken my nail file to do my nails while I waited behind a not very wide tree in an open space. I didn't realise they'd got distracted by the playground and had forgotten about finding me. Hmmm

3. Ingredient shopping at supermarket
I let Olivia decide what she wanted to bake and of course we didn't have any of the ingredients so I let them loose in the shop. They were great actually and loved the freedom of choosing some of the food that went into the basket (I say some as Dex kept trying to sneak a packet of sweets in without me seeing - just like his Grandad!).

4. Arts and crafts
Olivia wanted to paint her Moulds from yesterday and Dex has been asking to use Olivia's water colour pencils (that she got for Christmas). After some not so gentle persuasion (from me) she finally relented and allowed him two pieces of water colour paper from her pad. I thought it would be a nice idea if they saw me doing some drawing and painting too so we all sat happily together creating our very own masterpieces whilst listening to Olivia's playlist. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy drawing and colouring and found the whole process very relaxing. Of course it then lead to moody children as Dex preferred my picture to his and Olivia wanted me to paint her moulds as I was better than her and she was finding it difficult. Sometimes you just can't win...

5. Baking
Olivia learned and tried a recipe at school recently that doesn't require using the oven and asked if we could have a go. Only three ingredients were needed and even though it was messy and the end product looked like poo (Olivia's description, not mine!) they were delicious!

6. Cooking
Olivia has also been asking to do some proper cooking with me so as they both love my hidden vegetable sauce we made a batch. Dex had lost interest at this point so he was allowed to play the Olympics on the Wii which was good as they were starting to squabble again.
Olivia was quite surprised at what actually went into the sauce. I explained what a garlic clove was and let her have a go at crushing it, she peeled the carrots and courgette and chopped them up along with the mushrooms. I was a little nervous of her using a sharp knife but I figured she was old enough to be shown and I'd rather it was me teaching her and showing her how to use it safely. She did a great job although the carrots were a bit too hard for her to cut and she didn't fancy cutting up the onion as she'd heard about onions! Anyhoo we made a good batch and apparently it's the best yet!

Dinner, bubble baths, stories, things ready for school and I finally took off my super woman outfit! To be honest it's been a great day and I think we all enjoyed it.