The babysteppers Chat thread

[BlackCatTryingToFly]

Please come in for tea and biscuits or and chat.

< puts kettle on >

< makes sofa comfy >

weve been to the pet shop for a walk free activity as its cold but sunny to see easter eggs for dogs

was they sell isotonic dog drinks too

am planning to use hols to experiment with pasta salads and other lunch options may be able to use for school...on similiar vibe as we have time will be trialing some of my pancake recipes. breakfast muffins too

at least in hols if its not a hit theres time for something else![pessimistic emoticon]

not much happening here today

Survived the grocery store with Toddler in tow! Once I got him into the trolley (with a quiet reminder as he struggled that he knew he had to sit in the trolley to get the special crisps as part of his lunch) he was a perfect star the rest of the trip.

Toddler's up for his rest and I'm having some lunch.

Hello!

We have been out this morning but should be in more or less from now on.

Dh's car is on the blink. It was fine until it was MOTed last Friday which is a bit suspicious.

Can I ask if you are buying your dcs Easter Eggs? I can't decide whether to buy mine chocolate or a small gift.

I am tempted by the fact that chocolate eggs go away once eaten and don't need any sort of storage really. However, the dcs already have a small one from dh's Mum and sister in the cupboard and may well get another from an elderly relative and possibly something from my dparents (although they may give a gift instead). That adds up to a lot of chocolate.

Hello carrots

mine getting one from dp.we have odd tradition of new pants at easter...harks back when i was a tiny zoolet and we went church easter sundaynew dress if didnt have a nice summery one that still fitted.
alas not especially religious anymore but ritual of new pants has been passed on to my zoolets and whilst dd1 thinks funny she would kick off if didnt get a pair...

we dont get any from relatives,i havent any close ones.dp family just dont bother fullstop so no extras there.now dd1 has saturday job she may buy them a little one.sometimes we go to an egg hunt and they get hollow one size of a creme egg.
to be honest they have plenty treats and i would rather buy something we can all share[greedy emoticon] for less money

oh and another thing they always choose egg to be sent to the bunny on groounds has something to keep after.dd 1 and 2 have mugs and ds and dd3 have picked hot wheels with cars

if any of you like to give homemade stuff to grandparents etc from dc i have a lovely no cook white chocolate fudge recipe.only heat involved is melting the chocolate.its highly calorific but a doddle to make and tastes fab!
if anyone interested i will post it

I am interested zoo although I doubt it would get anywhere near the grandparents. My parents wouldn't and dh's mum shouldn't iykwim.

Dd made tea for us tonight - pasta with philidelphia and sweetcorn. During the meal we got to talking about weight and ds guessed my weight at 105 stone (knowing his ddad was 12 stone!)

I think that means I won't be getting an Easter egg then

oh dear!
any concellation ds thinks i remember dinosaurs being alive!

well done tweencarrots making dinner[impressed emoticon]

Ds also thinks I can remember when the world was black and white so I am going to completely ignore the fact I am fat and carry on as normal

must be boys certain age thing

i "see" you as slim

carrots, regarding Easter Eggs ours is a bit of sticky one.

MrScout grew up giving/receiving eggs to everyone in the immediate family (sisters, BiL, neices/nephews, parents, Nan when she was alive (died last summer)). Somewhere along the line it changed from eggs to presents but MrScout kept giving eggs. When we got married we kept with that everyone gets an egg from us, usually a nice-ish egg though since I've become a SAHM I've toned down the eggs a bit. We were going to give Toddler a piece of Brio for his collection in February MrScout went a bit nuts in the Brio-buying when he found several pieces at amazing prices but we rarely just buy TS presents/toys, especially expensive things like Brio, so put the bag of goodies away for birthday, Christmas, etc -- but when Tesco was having their Buy One Get Two Free offer we ended up with one for Toddler (we have five neices/nephews and six small-ish eggs). So Toddler, from us, is getting a small egg and a Brio crane.

AND, to merge the American traditions Toddler gets a basket from the Easter Bunny. For Toddler's first Easter he received Bunny, last year he received Creamy and this year he's receiving Chocolate in addition to an edible chocolate bunny (an Easter Basket staple!) and a couple of plastic eggs filled with sweets (that MrScout eats) and chocolate (which I eat). Bunny is Toddler's favorite/comfortor and Creamy is a close second. I'm hoping Chocolate will be welcomed into the fold (Dopple Bunny is, but not to the same extent).

So for us Easter is a bit more manic than everyone else I know. I feel I gave up a lot of the Christmas/Santa American traditions/traditions of my family to blend/merge/settle with MrScout's family and not make TS TOO different from his cousins who he sees on Christmas so I have not given up the Easter Basket from the Easter Bunny (even though I love Christmas more). Toddler will continue to receive a new stuffed bunny from the Easter Bunny every year for as long as he continues to believe (I have already insisted on that with MrScout).

Scout we know all about blending cultures. It can be a lot of fun. My dsil is "European" (as if we are not but ykwim hopefully) and doesn't even really celebrate Christmas on the same day as us.

If affects dbro and my dnieces more than us but we try to respect that there are differences too. Usually it is a great excuse for them to have a few extra celebrations and they travel for some festivals that wouldn't happen here etc.

Your Easter celebrations sound lovely. Ours are a real non event. In Scotland the dcs often even go back to school during them. I would really like to make it about more than just stuffing our faces with chocolate. The last few years we have done an egg hunt. We hunt paper eggs and exchange them for an egg at the end incase Pup gets one (chocolate is really bad for dogs). The school also did an Easter bonnet parade which was fun and boiled egg rolling in the park.

We do an egg hut, too, with the nieces/nephews -- it started out as SiL3 and I doing it and now SiL1, her fiancee, SiL3 & I set up. Growing up the Easter Bunny always hid the eggs we dyed for us to find (and sometimes plastic eggs filled with candy). I think this year I might hide a couple of the dyed eggs in the house for Toddler to hunt for in the morning (so he can practice searching in preparation for the big hunt with actual chocolate and sweets with his cousins in the afternoon).

We head back to my parents' for Thanksgiving (only missed 2009 and that's because TS was due the first week of November but we went in January 2010 instead). Some years we go back more often (like the year my brother got married). MrScout and I agreed when I moved over that we would have Thanksgiving at home in exchange for staying here for Christmas. Thanksgiving is not a gift-giving holiday but we take back Christmas and birthday presents (my sister's birthday is always Thanksgiving week and my brother's is in January) and leave them. My parents hold Toddler's birthday presents so that he has toys to play with when we go -- last year they had a couple of things for him to open then took him to the store to pick another one or two toys he would like. M&D send all Christmas presents home with us at the end of the holiday and they give MrScout and me birthday money to spend in the Black Friday sales.

Dyed eggs are a great idea for an egg hunt Scout. How do you dye them?

morning!glad i went ot bed very early as little zoo woke me twice in the night screaming and retching over the loo

on a more pleasant note here is the recipe

no cook white chocolate fudge

200g white chocolate,broken up and melted gently then slightly cooled

175g unsalted butter

50g condensed milk

500g icing sugar

*cream the butter to loosen it then stir in the chocolate and condensed milk

*gradually beat in icing sugar to make a smooth doughish consistency

*press into a nonstick tin,approx 25x15cm

*freeze 15mins to firm up

*run knife around edge then tap out onto a chopping board.cut into 48 squares

keeps 1 week in a cool place in an airtight container

i have given this recipe out many times.others have tried using milk/dark chocolate but its never as good as with white apparently!

carrots, I cheat and use egg dying kits from home (thank you to Toddler's GrandmomScout for keeping us supplied!). I did see a thread in arts & crafts about egg dye/decoration over the weekend.... We also have egg shrink wraps from Toddler's NanaScout so will use those, too.

Poor LittleZoo.

Toddler has been up since MrScout was getting ready for work (and he left around 5:15). I didn't hear TS until after MrScout left but MrScout has told me TS was talking to his Bunny while he was getting ready. No wonder Toddler's crabby this morning.

Morning all, I am feeling a little better today. Was a bit under the weather yesterday and even fell asleep on the sofa in the afternoon but was woken after a short nap by DD.

Our computer was playing up last night too and froze. I am hoping it will stay working though. FX.
I will have to charge up my phone so I still have some contact to the outside world .

Poor little zoo. Can you give her something to dry up the snot at night time? We used to use Medised but I don't think it is available just now. You can also use Piriton if it doesn't make her hyper. I have put Karvol or Olbas oil in hot water on a radiator and a little on a tissue near their bed as well. It is the most horrid feeling. I am very quick to wretch and can be sick just from a nose blow going wrong so I sympathise.

Thanks for the recipe zoo - we have everything there except white chocolate. Maybe that is a blessing for the moment I have copied and saved it for the archives though.

We were on the news last week due to the scorching 24C heat. Now we have 6 or 8 inches of snow It is the really pretty stuff that is loaded onto tree branches a few inches thick and looks stunning. The dogs, even Twilight, got very excited and went mad round the garden, although Twilight struggled not being able to see the steps and "slid" out the door.

We started a new holiday flying system last night after I ended up hanging washing and s&s a bathroom at 11pm last night.

I have written a list of what has to be done before the tv goes on (breakfast, teeth, dressed, hair) and then a list of all the daily jobs. Dd can do them all and I have gone through them with ds and put dots beside all the ones he can manage.

Dd has started earning signatures for making me smile to earn her place at pony camp. Ds has decided to do a smaller chart to earn some Skylanders characters. Ds is still making his chart but dd has hit the ground running and is very busy doing jobs I am very impressed and just hope it lasts.

Scout will TS be persuaded down for a nap? Sympathies trying to deal with a cranky toddler.

Cats ill and no internet sounds like a circle of hell to me. I hope you feel better and stay connected today.

might try the olbas oil tonight carrots piriton and zoolets doesnt mix sadly..i still have nightmares from giving them all it when had a particularly nasty virus that was a cold and itchy rash...they were all running around at midnight shouting nursery rhymes
by morning i needed matchsticks to keep my eyes open and they were very cranky but didnt selep til usual bedtime.i binned itand swore it would never darken my door again!

she has had a nibble some pancakes dd2 madeand had some of the fruit.i think being tired is the main problem now.
might pilfer a pillow from each of us to try and get her propped up too,shes not to bad during the day and upright as long as doesnt cough and shift any phlegm,poor lamb

as she is feeling sorry for herself i asked what she wanted to do today.stay in pjs was reply and who am i to argue when a pj days on offer

i will do bathtime mid pm and when we all in fresh pjs put on a dvd and have cuddles snuggled up all together on sofa with some home popped corn

im really tired today so may be chatting a lot more than flying!!!

zoo we experience similar horror with dd when she had chicken pox when I was pregnant with ds.

The doc said to give her piriton to stop the itch and help her sleep. I might as well have injected pure caffeine.

She was up all night distraught and I was ill anyway with the pregnancy so pretty fragile by then too. Ours was hastily given to a friend who caught the chicken pox (probably from us) a week later.

We have done most of our main jobs for today. We still have washing to hang, donkey kong to wash as he was left outside and is filthy, muffins to make, lunch to make and tea to make. I am hoping to get the dcs involved in that too. I am determined to raise dcs who can take care of themselves

zoo I am of your pj day. We have to be careful with ds with them but may have one at some point in the hols.

Toddler and I had a 20 minute Ben & Holly break/cuddle while munching grapes and got him up to bed around 10:40. He whinged when I put him to bed/left the room, which is very unlike him so I knew he was exhausted. A few minutes later he was passed out. Bliss.

I'm going to have a very early lunch because I'm hungry.

We are doing art and craft type of things this morning so I will be doing housework this afternoon.

Will try and check in around 12.30 -> 1.30

TTFN.

We had an early lunch too because we were all hungry. Dd made us all paninis with mozarella, pesto and basil. Delicious!

She is legoing again and ds is watching Phineas & Ferb so I am taking my opportunity for a breather.

Scout I am glad you got TS to take a nap. You should both be a lot happier for it.

Ds was up at 4ish but amused himself listening to How To Train Your Dragon on audio book until 6.30 which is huge progress for him. He is tired now though. We are not allowed to let him nap as he should be old enough to follow a normal sleep pattern so we just have to try to keep him going I can see it makes sense but it is tricky.