Failing to Explain What we've been doing

I have tried to write posts for the last 3 weeks but my tablet has stopped letting me upload photos :( I will have to borrow hubby's laptop, though I often finish posts in the evening after bear is in bed but hubby usually has school work to do. I will have to work out the best way of keeping updated.... apologies again. 

What we've been doing Wednesday

First off, I need to apologise for the recent lack of posts. My husband is a teacher (don't know if I've mentioned that before) so is on holiday for 6 weeks - Yay!! This means that we have been doing (not necessarily frugal) family things, with access to the car. A lot of our normal groups don't run in the holidays either, but normal service will be resumed in September.

I'll give you an idea of what we have been doing though:

Soft play

We went to Sea World in Birmingham while visiting my brother in law and his partner (half price tickets booked online in advance!)

We went to the RSPB nature reserve in Sandy because little bear loves birds. It was £5 to park, and then free entry. Unfortunately we didn't see that many birds but we did see some rather pretty butterflies. 

I did a messy play date for some of bear's buddies, with spaghetti, jelly, edible paint and water play.

We've been swimming, and spent lots of time outdoors going on walks.

Next week we are going to the zoo thanks to Tesco voucher exchange, and at the end of August, we are going to Pembrokeshire for a bargain week holiday. 

I'll try to update a bit more regularly. xx

Wonderful Water Wall

Having tried loooaaads of messy play ideas with little bear, none of which he has been particularly interested in, I thought I should indulge his interest in water. I can't remember where I first saw water walls but decided to make one - my husband's reaction was 'Oh, great, something else for you to obsess over until you've done it'.

I asked on our local Facebook selling group but no one has any spare trellis I could have, so bought a 6x3ft piece of expandable trellis from our local hardware shop for £4.99. Bear was very helpful in getting it home!

I also got a pack of 50 cable ties for £1.80 but we only used about 15. As I mentioned before, my husband is a teacher. Each year, a class wins a prize for most commendations; £25 to spend how they wish. Last year, they ordered pizzas for lunch but this year, they wanted party food. This slight ramble means that most of the bottles were completely free, as they were left over from the party. Husband was under strict instructions to bring the empties home!

So it was just a question of arranging the bottles, punching holes in to tie them, and adding some cable tidy tubing we had in the shed. We made funnels, troughs and roses.

We used some tacks from the shed to nail it to the fence. We live in a rented house so wanted to be able to move it easily; you could build it on your fence if you wanted to.

He liked it but can't quite reach the taller ones - something to grow into. 

What we've been doing Wednesday

Going to the park (again).

Picking flowers

Watching the world go by

Little bear also said 'Mama' for the first time today :)

What we've been doing Wednesday

Helping to tidy up

Working on fine motor skills with chalk

Watering the plants. Sort of.

What we've been doing Wednesday

This week we have.....

been strawberry picking,

walked in the sunshine,

played with foam (not very successfully),

played with small bubbles and

big bubbles! 

What we've been doing Wednesday

Bit of a non week this week, with lack of sleep and some rubbish weather but we have...

been to the park,

practiced fine motor skills,

played with gloop (I did, little bear wasn't interested)

and played with the water for washing our hands.

How do you fill your week? How do you decide what to do each day?

What we've been doing Wednesday

Definite 'p' theme to this week.

 Pottering

Playing

Painting*

Paddling

*detailed post to follow

Let's play outside

This is the best frugal find ever! There is a little boy at the school where my mother in law works who is very kind and generous indeed. He had outgrown his play house so GAVE IT to us because he 'just wanted other children to play with it'. Aww.

The log cabin's current RRP is £379. And we were given it. For free.

We did have to pay a man with a van £50 to bring it to our house as it wouldn't fit in anyone's car though. Also because the red is faded, I bought a tin of plastic spray paint for £8.99 so it now looks like this:

I had paint left so sprayed 2 little chairs we were also given to match.

The table is an old Lack from Ikea which I painted with blackboard paint (given a leftover tin by a friend) and bought a piece of oilcloth for £5 off eBay so it is wipe clean for messy play. I stuck some velcro dots (99p for 10, free delivery from eBay) to the table and the cloth so that little bear can't just whip the tablecloth off.

Lovely.