A Sunny Autumn Saturday

It was the most amazing way to woken up with a smiling face and shouts of "Daddy it's sunny" followed by are you getting up. When I looked out of the window Lucy was right it was a lovely start to the day and the weather forecast was right for once. It seems a long time since they got it spot on, it has been changing from one minute to the next. 

Hand in hand we trotted down the stairs and Lucy sat on the sofa with her blanket and I put on the television for her. After I made a coffee I sat down next to her and we had a cuddle while we watched "Bob the Builder" together. It wasn't long before her little tummy was rumbling and soon she was asking for breakfast. With a bowl of coco pops in front of her she settled down to eat with one eye on the television. Soon the bowl was empty and she settled down to watch a little  bit more television before she went off to find something to play with while I had a sit down and finished waking up. 

While Catherine and Emily were having a lay in after all their early mornings, Lucy and me set about making bread for lunch. She is so good at adding the ingredients for me. I just measured them out for her. Once again the only thing she didn't do was the flour, although she did try and help me sieve the flour but it was just to heavy for her. We used the same recipe that we used on Tuesday and we were hoping for the same results. She loves baking and making cakes, they all do.

With the bread on Lucy decided it was time to find some playmates and I agreed it was time that Emily and Catherine made an appearance. After all if they sleep in too long they wouldn't get to sleep later tonight, and it would put their sleeping pattens out. Soon Lucy was off upstairs to get them and all I could hear was Lucy telling them to wake up and that it was sunny. I followed her up after I heard movement to remind Catherine that her maths tutor was coming to day to do some work with her. It wasn't long before they were all downstairs and in the family room together and having fun.

At half ten, Catherine's math's tutor arrived and she settled down at the dinning table to get on with her work while Emily and myself put Plan A in place, "Operation Distraction". Thankfully it worked as there was no Plan B, Lucy was suitably busy not to disturb Catherine. It all revolved around playing outside in the garden and if need be taking George for a walk to the Church and back. The later wasn't needed and we managed to take up most of the time on the bicycle or doing stuff on the table outside by the shed. Meanwhile Catherine had a super lesson with her tutor as they worked out the things she needs help on to improve her grades.

Just before Catherine finished her lesson the bread maker went ping and the bread was done. It smelt absolutely yummy while it was cooking and when it came out looked just as good as it smelt. The idea behind the bread was to have it with some soup, but Emily and Lucy loved the pasta with the tomato sauce so much and they wanted that again. So in the end Catherine was the only person to have soup with her bread, which she cooked herself. They all sat down at the table to eat. Lucy and Emily ate most of their pasta and Lucy even finished off the last bit of soup that Catherine left. They all loved the bread and I must say it did taste as wonderful when I had some with my soup. 

With lunch over it was back to playing for the girls while I sat down and had a nice cup of coffee. Occasionally I was joined by Lucy jumping on my lap and giving me a cuddle before heading back off to play. I just love the way she does that and I will miss Lucy doing that when she grows out of it, like Emily and Catherine.

With the weather being so nice it would be have been a shame not to make the most of it so we headed out to the country park in Melton. As you will know if you are a regular reader all three of them love it there, so it is an ideal place to go with them and not too far away from Langham. So with Lucy in her wellington boots off we headed for some fun.

They were all excited by the time we got to the park. Emily was out of the car first quickly followed by Catherine. As they headed off to the climbing area Lucy headed off to the playground. Soon she was on the horse bouncing backwards and forwards before she headed off to the climbing frame. There she was pretending that the covered area was a house and that it was raining and she kept having to go indoors. At one point she found a stick and preteneded to put under bed in her house and went to sleep, but I'm not sure why. This game seemed to form the theme of her play even when she was on the other things to do in the playground. The only thing that stopped her game was when some other children came along and she wanted to make friends and asked them their names before she started following them and get them to play with her.

After playing with her new found friends for a little while, Catherine turned up to find out what Lucy was doing. Soon Lucy was playing her game again and this time roping Catherine in to play with her until Catherine got bored and they started playing chase. At first Catherine was the one being chased until Lucy decided she couldn't catch her so she swapped it round so she was the one being chased. Once Catherine had caught her they headed off together to go and find Emily. 

Emily was in woods where she had built a den the last  time she was there. Surprisingly it was still standing and other children had added to it and now there were bridges across a ditch to the climbing area. Emily was over the moon as you can imagine, she thought it would have been pulled down and wrecked the day after she built it. Clearly someone had been looking after it, maybe the boys that helped her build it. 

When they were all together they went in to play in the climbing area. I had managed to secure the aerial runway from some departing children. Lucy watched Catherine go down before deciding she wanted a go with Emily. She is not yet big enough to do it one her own, but I can see she wants to try. Moving from the runway to tree houses Lucy found some more friends to play with including a little girl a month younger than her. You could see how confident Lucy is when climbing and running around, the little girl she met need far more encouragement and help in doing things to do thing Lucy does with out thinking although they were the around same age.

Just before we left Lucy and I went round the flower garden. Even though it is late in the year there are still a few late flowing plants there. Soon Lucy was pretending it was my birthday and saying the flowers were all mine. It was really rather cute. Just before we left Lucy decided to jump in a large muddy puddle and made the biggest splash I had ever seen her make. Of course her trousers were covered in mud. If you ask me Peppa Pig has a lot to answer for!

When we got home Emily, Catherine and Lucy headed off to the family room to play while I got on with cooking dinner. On tonight's menu, Spaghetti Bolognese. As we had Catherine favorite yesterday it was only right that it was Emily's turn today. Every so often one of them would come into the kitchen and ask for a taste of the sauce. This procedure went on until the dinner was on the table, good thing I allow for it or there wouldn't be any sauce left. They all sat down at the table and when they were finished there was hardly anything left on their plates. For pudding they had strawberry trifle and it turns out that Lucy loves it, she ended up having third's although she didn't quite finish it she really gave it a good go. 

After dinner there was an hour or so for Lucy before bedtime. She made the most of it burning off all the energy on her bicycle and toy car and racing around the house. One of the good things about not having carpet at least she can have some of her outside toys inside as long as she is careful, which she is. At bedtime she had her bath and was soon listening to a stories in from Catherine, Emily and finally me. As usual I had to read her Q Pootle 5, before she got her kisses and cuddles and slipped off into the land of nod. I can't wait for it to come out on television so we can cuddle up and watch it together in the morning. 

With Lucy tucked up in bed it was time to rejoin everyone downstairs who were watching the X-Factor together in the living room. The show really getting interesting now and the count down to Christmas begins next week with the start of the live shows. I can't wait to have a coal fire again as the nights get colder and we can all cosy up together and watch the show. It will be interesting tomorrow night to see who has made it through to the final. Normally by now I have a few people that I want to make it through to the end, for some reason this year I don't but I'm still enjoying every minute of it. The end of the X-Factor signalled bedtime for Emily and Catherine and after helping me clean up the kitchen off they went to bed.

It has been a lovely day and I'm so glad the sun has come out and we got the chance to get outside and get some fresh air. I fear tomorrow going to be wet again and as I finish this the rain is pouring down outside. Although Sundays seem rushed it still would be nice to get out and at least take George for a walk with Lucy to the Church, who knows we might see the squirrels again.