Enjoying Spring

A birthday get together at Auntie Alison's for cousin Kohan's 7th. Kitty chilled out in the hammock while the others had a water-gun fight.

Kitty continues to develop her interest in photography - this one is called 'experimental grass'.

A visit to Great Mama Kitty's in May. I love this action snap of Grandad, Kitty and Great Mama Kitty in the garden on a very hot and sunny Saturday. Not many men can pull off the open shirt denim look, but I think dad is very much one of them!

Grandam Pih made Kitty another lovely cardigan. She used my Jaeger pattern with a slightly different colour way.

May is great, there are so many parties! Kitty invited her two best friends - dolly Yvonne and Baa to a tea party to show off her lovely Hello Kitty tea set that Auntie Alison bought for her.

As the weather warms up, we made a start at getting this years vegetables in. Kitty is a real help with the watering.

Making biscuits is a good way to fill a rainy Sunday afternoon. We have just about mastered a yummy recipe for chocolate shortbread swirls from the Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes book.

Another charity fancy dress day at school, meant mummy had to make a TV character themed outfit for Kitty. The Fent Shop in Skipton provided the perfect pink and yellow fabric (for just £4) for Tombliboo Eee outfit. Kitty hated it (as you can see) until she got to school and realised that everyone else was dressed as silly TV characters, then she took great pleasure in showing off her best Tombliboo dance! She raised £6.00 for Barnardos.

We fixed the swing in the field with a new seat from Ikea. It get's used everyday!

Our Premium Bond win bought a pink apple sandpit from Argos. This too gets used almost every day whatever the weather! When it's warm, the lid can be used for a pool too.

Our neighbour Fiona's chickens were settling in well, but as they were fully free range the foxes were picking them off one by one. Fiona decided to give them to a friend to keep safe until she can create a big avery for them. We miss them.

Kitty received a good stash of chocolate eggs from the Easter Bunny that she is still enjoying. She also had fun making a fancy Easter bonnet from a craft kit that Mama Simpson bought for her.

As usual, making cakes was the most popular activity. Do we have the next Nigella?

Singing ringing and banana milkshake

I bought some cheap wool from Colne market. It's not the kind of thing I usually like, but for some reason it caught my eye.

I used the wool to knit Kitty a little short-sleeved cardigan. I loosely based the pattern on a free one on Ravelry for a neck down baby coat. It's perhaps a little small, but I'm reasonably pleased with it - particularly since the neck down method is so quick and seam free! It only took me two evenings watching tv. The cheap wool is perhaps a little more itchy than Kitty is used to so she wore it with a turtle neck.

It was quite windy, so we went to visit the singing ringing tree at Crown Point.

It makes a great noise as the wind blows through it's tubes. Kitty liked it, but daddy loved it - in fact he spent so much time trying to record the sound we got a little bored and even Bert was cold.

To cheer us up we went for some lunch in Ramsbottom. Kitty had a banana milkshake.

Kitty's latest photographic portrait of daddy.

Easter preparations

As most other babies are very well behaved and don't eat quite as much chocolate (kit-cot) as Kitty does, we decided to package up slightly healthier 'sunflower challenge' gifts for Easter rather than the traditional Easter eggs for her little friends and cousins. This consisted of a biodegradable plant pot, some compost pellets, a selection of sunflower seeds and instructions on how to take part in Kitty's BIG Sunflower Challenge. Hopefully, some of the recipients will have a go and we can review the results in the summer.

We couldn't resist sneaking in just a few little eggs and bunnies!

Kitty has been working hard on the spring chick production.

We had planned a short break to Blackpool this weekend, but it snowed (!!?!) and suddenly the coast didn't seem quite so appealing.

Instead, we went to Ikea to get Kitty a safety rail for her bed. Yes, bed! She has never been very keen on being in her cage (cot), so daddy took the sides off and made it into a bed. It just needed something to stop her from rolling over and falling out and we discovered Ikea do a really smart rail that clips to the side. It works a treat and tonight is her second night in her own bed.

Kitty enjoyed running wild in Ikea.

I treated myself to some really nice fabric from the USA a few weeks ago for a quilt project. It finally arrived and I can't wait to start.

There are two sets, Good Morning (pinks, yellows and oranges) and Good Night (blues, pinks and mustards) and I've got two fat quarters of each, so I'm hoping I'll have enough for a full size bedspread. It's a really soft 100% cotton flannel, so will be really snuggly to sleep

under.

Kitty has been watching us take photos since the day she was born, so now she has decided that she wants to take them too. Her speciality at the moment is portraits. Here are her recent snaps of daddy, grandad Simpson and mummy.

Ninety-one

Great Mama Kitty is Ninety-one today, so we went to visit and take some birthday presents. We have taken a picture like this of Great Mama Kitty and little Kitty sitting together on the sofa every time we have visited since Kitty was born, so have quite a collection now!

Kitty had lots of fun playing with Mama and Grandad. Mama and Kitty especially enjoyed playing police ladies in their pyjamas.

On the way back home, we stopped off at Matlock Bath for a sandwich and an ice cream.

Kitty charmed grandad into letting her have a Bob the Builder ride too.

Raising money and veg

Kitty made me a beautiful daffodil card for mothers day.

For Sport Relief, Kitty took part in a sponsored aerobics class at school. It was run by one of the other parents who is a trained instructor, so she

designed a special half hour session for tots. Kitty raised £14.

Kitty was very pleased with herself and counted her sponsor money about 300 times.

Note grandad Simpson's lovely handmade bowl.

As the weather has improved recently, we have been spending a bit of time outside tidying the garden. Kitty is keen to help.

We dug over last years potato patch and found a few stray spuds.

When she gets bored with gardening, there are always circles to draw.

We won the Premium Bonds. First time, £25, whoa!

I went on a trip to Blackpool for work to look at some public art. It was a lovely day and I wish I had taken Kitty with me. We have decided to take her at Easter, but for now here are some of the bits I liked:

Lighting at the Library.

High Tide Organ.

Doesn't look so good, but this is pretty cool:

Giant disco ball.

War Memorial.

Carved tree stump.

2 x wee stars

Kitty is growing fast and learning new things on a daily basis. She has been obsessing over her little potty for a while now at home (though not actually using it) but this week we asked them to let her have a go at school with the big kids. They said it was a bit early yet, but on the very first day she came home with two 'wee stars'. She proudly helped me stick them up on the cupboard.

Just a few other amazing things Kitty can now do:

Count to 10 (sometimes missing 7 and 8).
Put on and take off her own nappy.
Put on and take off her own shoes and socks.
Put on and take off her pyjamas.
Sing Bob the Builder (and many other songs, but Bob is the current favourite).
Wash and dry her own face.
Several domestic chores like - loading the dish washer, washing machine, hovering and cleaning work surfaces and windows.
Walk upstairs (counting as she goes).
Thread beads on a string.
Every animal noise you can think of.

.......I have also caught her tottering around in my high-heels, but I'm not sure that's a good thing!

She is becoming a bit of a clean freak.....and likes to show me every bit of fluff and muck she finds. Here she was quite unhappy about a biscuit crumb she found on her oven.

She still likes to get grubby outside though, and feeding the smelly goats is always good fun.

Now that the weather is slightly better, we have been able to play out on the swing.