It is some time since I have linked up to The Gallery by the Lovely Tara Cain from Sticky Fingers, however when I spotted the theme was Expressions I couldn't resist joining in. Every week on the farm as we take a new group of children round on the morning tractor ride to help feed and care for the animals their faces are a picture. These are a few expressions captured here this week.

Why not pop over and see what other lovely expressions there are this week.

An unpleasant surprise

Last weekend after a week without holiday makers in our Scandinavian lodges, I was doing my usual Saturday checks with Farmer Nick round the properties when we both found rather too much 'poop' on the decking just outside the patio doors!

Too big for small birds, too small for a fox, the wrong shape for rabbits, it had to be pheasants! We had seen them in the woods behind and for reasons known only to them they had decided that under the lodge eaves on the door step was the best pheasant 'hang out' zone. We had to put a stop to this before we had holiday makers staying in there again in the week.

A challenge to the children

As ever at the weekend we are only too keen to distract them from TV and technology and so we set them a challenge to go to the shed and devise a trap to catch any pheasant seaking 'squatters rights' on our lodge decking. The rules were simple, it had to be workable, not injure the bird and not make more mess than the birds!

Off they trotted full of ideas and enthusiasm all instantly in competition with each other for the best trap on their secret mission. 

I was actually quite taken back with the logic behind all their inventions having secretly doubted they would come up with anything without a substantial input from Nick or me. 

Coombe Kids proudly present their pheasant traps:

Patiently they took their positions and waited.........

Soon distracted

Sadly patients is not something my children are blessed with and when the pheasant's failed to appear they found themselves distracted by the prospect of flushing them out from the woods, this involved lots of fun and much "Sshhh they are just up there" but we failed to spot them! 

Never mind, perhaps they would come past if we just had a little play in the next door play area and went skidding down the slippery grass bank? Yer right! Not with that football flying round and all the shouting and laughter!

The results? 

Not surprisingly it was round one to the pheasants, but it still made for a fun day and a very different activity for the children. Back to sweeping the poop off the decks for me!

Joining in with Country Kids

What have you been up to outside with the kids? Now that the snow has melted and the temperatures risen I am hoping you have been inspired to grab some fresh air fun time. Please grab the badge and share with me here on the linky. There are some great outdoor ideas here each week so please take a minute to check a few out. Last week I was particularly taken with The Puffin Diaries and their Cliff Top Adventure  A bargain at Wildwood from Faded Seaside Mama and A post from Jamacia from Brinabird 

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Sunday Photo from the Farm

Turning an average day into bags of Fun!

Farmer Nick had the boys sweeping the shed floor. Not an exciting job but they were pretty keen as Daddy had promised a turn on his new toy if they did a good job!

Nick had the electric Gator on trial for the week to see if it would be a benefit on the farm. Lots of fun to be had but at £5000 second hand I persuaded him that it really wasn't anything he couldn't do with the tractor and trailer. I fear it may be a hollow victory as he and the kids clearly loved it and I have caught Nick since eyeing them up on e-bay and on the John Deere web site!

Disappointed that all the fun was over, the children headed back to the shed. Here they became inspired by the bag of floor sweepings they had collected. I am sure I have the only children who can amuse themselves with a bag of dust! They rigged it up to Dad's ceiling chain, designed for working on the tractors, and used it as a boxing bag, kick bag and swing. Ten out of ten for initiative boys! (Just for the record I was overseeing this little game at a distance just to ensure there was nothing sharp or dangerous in their punch bag and that it would take their weight for swinging).

What have you been up to outdoors with the kids this week? Do please grab the badge and share your family fun on the linky. A comment on others would be much appreciated and a great way to find outdoor inspiration. 

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Triplets Party Time 

I always feel slightly uneasy at the responsibility that comes with managing my triplets birthday parties; with 3 of them all inviting their friends we end up with quite a house full. Thankfully we have the farm, the play areas and 30 acres of fun and freedom which all their friends find absolute heaven. Never the Less keeping an eye on a class of eight year olds and focusing their energy takes all of mine and I do like to enlist a little help from some of my Mummy friends too! 

Strategic Planning for Success

I like to have a plan for birthday parties and then allow a little "go with the flow" to develop as well.  I opted for a lunch time party with a BBQ and crossed my fingers for the weather. I can't say we were lucky as it drizzled on and off all day but the children were so excited it didn't seem to matter!

The party plan:

1. Free play

2. BBQ

3. Crafts

4. Birthday Cake

5. Water play

6 Parents collect 

A Party of two halves

They are just reaching the age where the opposite sex are to be avoided at all costs and any game has to be girls versus boys. I should have guessed this really. Since most of the class were attending the party had been the talk of school for the preceding week. Right from the start my over active bunch of children wanted to dive into a water battle, all armed with water guns they had brought. However I insisted in this being the last event no earlier than 30 minutes before parent collection.  With the water game vetoed they boys disappeared off onto the farm and play areas whilst the girls tried out our new play side in the garden. Farmer Nick had bought this on e-bay hoping to embed the track into the grassy banks on the lawns and make a floor level safe natural fun slide for our guests to enjoy near the play boat. Sadly the insurers wouldn't have any of it so into the garden it came, much to the delight of my children in time for the party!

Clio shows us the slide in operation:

Everyone Loves a BBQ

Farmer Nick battled against the elements to produce a perfect BBQ. The boys were still wild with excitement despite their hour of dashing around the play areas and so a BBQ was perfect. No need for plates or sitting down, just a grab and run to suit them. They almost disappeared too soon but were soon pulled back by the prospect of toasting their own marsh mellows on the BBQ under the watchful eye of Farmer Nick.

Guy then had the honour of being allowed to dose the BBQ coals with water before anyone could hurt themselves.

Craft Time

After lunch a little down time with crafts was the plan. The girls were delighted to come in and sat down enthusiatically for home made cookie decorating. The boys just gave me that "you have to be kidding" look and dashed back off to our play boat to resume their games.

Moving happily from biscuit icing to glass decorating the girls were blissful. This was such a simple idea, felt pens for glass which you then just bake in the oven to ensure the design remains in tact after washing. The best thing about party crafts is that the children design and make their own take home presents negating the need for party bags! 

Happy Birthday

No party is complete without a good party cake. This was a giant 3 in 1 banana one side and chocolate the other all with a choice of icing for their own section. With eight candles each it took some lighting but even the boys enjoyed this one, if only because it signalled the time for the long awaited water gun bonanza!

Rabbits and Water Play

The adults sensibly split themselves between the rabbits with the girls and watching through the house window while the boys enjoyed their mad half hour in the garden with water guns. Soaked and shivering, but still laughing, the boys, and one or two girls, trooped inside to change just as their parents arrived to collect them. Pictures came back from the rabbits, but none of us were brave enough to risk the water guns in the name of a photo! 

At the end of the day everyone was returned to parents safe and happy with a bag of soggy clothes or or a beautiful glass and buscuit! Managing the expectations of 3 together on their big day is definitely challenging. However they all came up to Daddy and I later that evening claiming it was the best party ever. That alone made it worth all the effort.

I am linking this post to Multiple Mayhem Carnival hosted this month by the lovely Kerry @multiplemummy

and for the crafty section my 1st entry with Red Ted's Kids get Crafty linky with Maggy Woodley