A Little Garden Update on a Rainy Afternoon

All of the girls' toys, games and art & craft supplies have been packed away and dust-sheeted up as the extension has been broken through to join onto the existing house now (this equates to a whole lot of dust and rubble!). We have been setting up camp in the imaginatively named 'TV room', which is a small room downstairs where we have our TV that is unaffected by the building work (apart from the fact that it has been crammed full with displaced stuff from the rest of the house).

My lifeline has been the TV. We have been watching far too many DVDs than is healthy, trying to keep the girls out of the way from the building work going on in the house - I've watched Cinderella, Anastasia, Tangled and Swan Lake (just terrible) enough to last me a lifetime. Poppet has rather enjoyed this lifestyle and I think I will have to wean her off DVD's slowly!

We get out most days for some fresh air and to stretch our legs as the girls have dancing classes and toddler groups on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on our days off we go to the library, the shops or the park. I don't drive so we walk everywhere (well me and Poppet do, Little goes in her pushchair). 

Today we hadn't been outside at all; we had to stay in in the morning to help Uncle Mike while he got the heating in the extension up and running (house is now all toasty thank you Uncle Mike). In the afternoon, Little was napping and Poppet was requesting yet another DVD. Our garden has been out of bounds for a while because of the building work but I decided to take Poppet out to explore all the changes. It was windy and raining but Poppet has been given a lovely new cosy waterproof all-in-one from Grandma, just perfect for our wet and wild weather!

We managed to make our way to the back garden after navigating around the scaffolding; Poppet was most disturbed by the 'broken' steps and general mess - "we better go inside mum". But we persevered!

We hadn't seen the back of the house since the brickwork and roof went up on the extension - it looked so big! 

Pea seedlings have survived the winter

We checked on our little winter veg plot - and were very excited to see a row of little pea seedlings just poking up through the soil. Our garlic has all grown too, I'm  really looking forward to our garlic harvest in the summer and seeing if it tastes any better than shop bought.

Our garlic is getting big!

Poppet checked her 3 purple broccoli plants, (except she called them pink broccolis until I reminded her they were going to be purple) - she declared them to be 'not ready yet', and was also disappointed to find no strawberries on her plants. After our short but fresh trip outdoors we felt a lot better.

Poppet: 3 yrs

Little 16mos (as ever, napping - I promise to do a Little post shortly!)

Extension Progress

We are currently in the process of extending our house to make an open plan kitchen-diner downstairs, and a third bedroom upstairs - it's going to make a massive difference to our living space and I am so excited to see it come together!

We are very lucky that our project manager/building contractor is none other than Grandad which is great for us because it means the girls get to see their Grandad lots and 'help' out with the building work, but not so great because he gets through a hell of a lot of gingernuts.

Poppet loves keeping an eye on the building developments and knows that "Dandad's making a house for mummy". 

Grandad lives 2.5 hours away so when he is working on our house he stays with us too. He has to fit our extension around other work commitments he has, so he comes here for a bit, then is away for a bit... When he is here he works from morning to night to get things done.

So here are some pictures of what has been done so far :

First came the digger to dig out the foundations. Then Grandad and Daddy had to fill the trenches with wheel barrow after wheel barrow of concrete. In the cold and rain. It looked like very hard work! You know, from where I was watching, through the window, with the heating on and a cup of tea in my hand.

Then two very efficient bricklayers came and completed the foundation brickwork in one day.

Poppet did work site inspections regularly to make sure things were being done right. Grandad tried to explain to her that this would be the new kitchen but she looked dubious.

The girls' love when something gets delivered and watch in fascination as the lorry unloads.

Telling off Grandad

One day Poppet was shocked to discover that Grandad had made a hole above the back door and told him off - "Grandad you made a hole. You shouldn't do that. That's naughty". She was very concerned about his reckless hole-making behaviour and every time we heard loud building work she would gasp "Dandad's making a hole!".

But I think he made up for it later in the day when he put up some walls, however Poppet still wanted more - "Tan you make a roof? With sticks?". She is a very demanding customer!

Grandad delivered the next day with a roof made of sticks. As long as the big bad wolf doesn't come by we should be fine.

Poppet had a go at marking the chipboard

The new kitchen!

Before, during and after

And that is where we are up to just now! Next time Grandad comes he is bringing Uncle Mike as well, so we will need to find out what his favourite biscuit is!

A Digger in the Garden!

Things have been getting a little messy around here but it's all for the greater good! Grandad's been 'making a mess' according to Poppet, who has been keeping an eye on him. The arrival of the digger was a very exciting event for Poppet who has been watching all the developments in the garden with interest. Of course her own little digger had to join her while she watched him work. 

Helping Grandad dig the foundations

She even got a shot on the digger with Grandad, which she was a bit unsure of at first, but at the same time fascinated.

Daddy got a ride on the digger as well (not on Grandad's knee though), and managed to not hit any water mains! Whereas Grandad the experienced professional hit two in one day, but this just added even more excitement to Poppet's day!

The building site is set to continue for a few more months as we get an extension built so there will be lots more excitement in the garden in store for the girls (and mama who loves seeing the progress!).

Poppet: 2yrs 9 mos

Little: 1yr 1mos