Just trying to help

It was Christmas morning.

Everyone was busy getting ready, and exited to open their presents.

But no-one was allowed to until family visitors arrived. 

Everyone had to wait for granny June, auntie Flo and Uncle Geoff arrived.  

I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time I’m sure but it certainly didn’t seem that way now.

Dad was outside getting all the tools and toys in the shed, as well as keeping an eye on Joe in his bright red snow suit, making it harder for him to hide or sneak away.

Mum was rushing around the house, cleaning and cooking all at the same time. 

Mary wanted to help and see if she could lessen the load. 

“Is there anything I ca do to help?”

“Yes of course Mary, that would be very helpful.  Could you take this wee tub of soapy water, with a sponge, if you could just wipe down all the surfaces in the sitting room so everything is ready for when our visitors get here,” said mum with a smile as she rushed away to her next task.

Mary got to work wiping down all of the surfaces in the living room.

Time flew by, or at least it felt like it did as the next thing, the door bell rang!  

The visitors were here already!

Mary rushed to put her sponge and soapy tub of water into the kitchen, while mum was clearing away all the kitchen tools.

Dad led the family guests through to the sitting room and the sofa.  

Thankfully mum had already set the table, one less job to do.

Mum and dad made sure everyone was sitting comfortably and took them a drink of their choice. 

Everything was going really well, drinks went down a treat, quickly followed by a beautifully cooked dinner (complete with a starter, a main course and even a desert!)

Now everyone was very full and sleepy, dad gestured to move from the dining table to the sofa to properly relax.

Everyone was sitting comfortably, and waiting for some light entertainment on the TV now they had shared all of their stories with dinner.

Dad found the remote and pressed ‘ON’

The TV made a very odd noise, ZZZZZZ BBBRRRRRRR and then smoke started coming out of the TV.  Mum rushed and unplugged the crazy TV.  

Everyone was in shock, unsure what to do next.

After a second that felt like forever, “Which game would we like to play? Monopoly or connect 4?” asked dad.

Everyone spoke at once, the silence was filled.

It wasn’t until the next day when all of the family had left, mum asked Mary.  “Dd you clean the TV as well as the shelf’s?”

“Of course”, replied Mary unknowingly.

“Was the sponge dry or soapy?” asked mum.

“I made sure it had a good lather of bubbles to pick up all of the dust from the top and the sides”, advised Mary triumphantly.

“Ah I see, that might have been why the TV didn’t work, electricity and water don’t work together.  I was so busy I didn’t think to tell you.  I’m so sorry Mary, I’ll make sure I don’t get so flustered when everyone visit’s." apologised mum.

“Yea, that sounds good.  Everyone enjoyed talking more than the boring TV anyway, I found out lots of new things about auntie Flo and granny, but I wasn’t a fan of the horrid smell the TV was making, how about we find out a bit more about what we can do without a TV for a while?” sugested Mary as she turned and reached for her art box.

©joannehepburn 22/12/2018

Autumn

Mary loved autumn.

 She was trying her best to get Joe to love it too.

 All the leaves changing colors from green to yellow to orange and red. 

The frosty crisp mornings, making sure you remembered to take your gloves hat and scarf whenever you left the house so you would still be cosy and warm.

Mary didn’t think Joe was listening but she carried on telling him about all the good things that autumn brings like Halloween, lots of sweets, fireworks night, warm nights beside the fire with mum and dad watching films and soups with the best crunchy bread.

Mum was quietly sitting in the kitchen with her coffee listening with a smile to Mary trying her best to convince Joe that Autumn was the best season, she was sure her big sister had done the same when she was wee, she adored Autumn too.

©joannehepburn 29.11.2018

Soggy socks

It was such a rainy day.  

There was puddles everywhere.

“Lets go for a walk.” Suggested mum.

“But its raining,! Complained Mary.

“The rain, never hurt anyone, and we have jackets with hoods and wellie-boots.  It will be fun, you can splash in the puddles.”

“OK, “ replied Mary with a pretend huff with a smile.

Mum got Joe and herself all bundled up ready for the rain, wellies, jackets, waterproofs and an umbrella (it probably wouldn’t get used but she took it anyway).

Mary put on her bright red wellie boots with her yellow jacket (just like uncle Mikes bright yellow farm jacket so she could be seen and stay dry).

The rain was so heavy it was bouncing off the pavement.

Mum was the first one to jump in a puddle, with a BIG splash.  

Mary and Joe quickly followed suit.

Jumping stamping sloshing, they were having a great time trudging through the woods.  

They had to try and be careful, the leaves were very slippy when they were wet.

They were all having a great time, Joe spotted a frog, mum showed them both the dragonfly taking a rest under a shadowy leaf out of the rain, and Mary found a group of slimy slugs emerging from the shadows to bask in the rain on top of the leaves.

Mum didn’t realize how far they had gone until she spotted the river!

Time to turn back.

“Lets head home, get some yummy  warm food and dry off.” Suggested mum.

Mary and Joe were having so much fun splashing they barely heard mum, but they followed her anyway with stomps, jumps and squelches all the way home.

Mum opened the door and took her wellie boots off in the hall on some newspaper to try and get them to dry off quicker.  

Mary sat down on the stairs to take her wellie boots off.  She pulled and pulled, she didn’t realize she had put them on so well; with the 4^th pull they flew off with a big soggy squelch, revealing a very soggy sock.

“You must have a hole in your boot Mary, or were you splashing in very deep puddles?”

“ERM, maybe both,” replied Mary trying too take off the other boot.

“Yuch” she exclaimed as she freed her other very soggy foot and sock. 

“Blugh!   They are all squelchy.”

“Oh Mary,” exclaimed Mum those were some very wet socks.  “Lets get you all cleaned up and in some nice dry socks.”

In super quick time both Mary and Joe were all dried off and in some cosy dry socks, sitting in the warm kitchen with some of mums yummy soup.

Mary sat wriggling her toes, it felt much better when they were dry, it didn’t feel very nice when they were cold and soggy.  

Home safe, warm and dry, Mary and Joe drew all the creatures they had seen on this very rainy day.

©Joanne Hepburn 01.09.2018

Apologies

I am so sorry I have been neglecting you my faithful audience.

I have recently decided to go back to school, well university to try and gain my masters degree.

Again my apologies, if there are any subjects you think would make a really interesting childrens story .  I'd love to hear it, be it a simple phrase, a sentence or a word said with emotion.

Hopefully that will get you thinking as soon as you got something let me know and we'll see what we can create.

Thank you for not loosing faith

Busy, busy, busy

It was a dull rainy day. 

Mary was not impressed, she had so many plans for building tree houses and dens but couldn’t put up the basics if everything was damp.  

Right it was a day in the house, today Mary would follow mum or at least try to help mum. 

Mum was always busy.  

Mum had no time for sitting around wasting time, always busy, busy busy there was always a chore to be done, or was that granny?  Mary couldn’t remember but at least she would not be bored.

First challenge was to find all the laundry.  

That was all the trousers thrown on the floor, and t-shirts, oh and don’t forget all the socks, even the sneaky ones hidden under the bed.

Once all items had been retrieved they were placed into the laundry basket for sorting. 

Mary helped mum, or at least tried to, mum was very quick at this, she was a professional after all,  Mary thought she had helped sort a good few into their correct piles.

Now to put them into the washing machine, first for the powder that made all the stains disappear and the lovely liquid that made everything smell good.  

Mum helped Mary with the box of laundry powder, it was big and heavy but Mary managed to fill the scoop and pop it into the drawer in the machine, now to measure the lovely liquid, Mary always thought it was like a shower for the clothes, they go in messy and come out dirt free, just like new. 

Now Mary took note of all the different wash temperatures and wash length, it was a lot of different instructions.  Mary did not know what to choose but Mum had it covered. 

Sssshhhhh mmmmmm the washing machine got started and started to spin, Mary liked to watch for a bit but then got dizzy, it was time for the next chore anyway.

Hovering, lets suck up all of the dirt.  Mum got the hover out of the cupboard and Mary un-wrapped the cable so the plug could reach the socket.  Whirrrrrrr, the hover sucked up all the fluff and hair the carpets looked like new, Mary helped steer and mum directed the machine.  

The house was done in no time, Mary liked the stairs best, back and forth then step up and back and forth again till you were at the top.  The bedrooms were no bother now that all the laundry was out of the way.  

Soon enough all the rooms in the house were dust free, time to put hover back in the cupboard and move on to the next chore.

Dishes, Mum washed and Mary died, they had a wee rhythm going on in time to the radio, those were done in no time too.

Now to just hang up the washing and all the chores would be complete!  I think lunch would be a very good idea after all of this hard work,  as if it was planned, Mary’s tummy rumbled. 

“Yes I think that would be a very good idea,” laughed Mary.

©joannehepburn 30.07.2017

Laundry day

Mum was rushing round like a fly trying to get out of a closed window.

Picking up socks here and grabbing tops there.

“Mary could you help please? Could you please pick up all the dirty items you have in your room and put them into the wash basket for me please.”  Asked mum as she darted from room to room.

Mary did as she was told it was quite a fun game as she practiced how accurate her throwing skills were, sock in the corner, straight shot to the laundry basket, yes Mary jumped to celebrate her victory.

 Now to get her t-shirt from the corner of the bed, it was a bigger object less compact could it make it?  Mary threw it with a bit of a twist it made it only the sleve was hanging onto the side of the basket but it was there.

 Next mission, the pajama bottoms, these were heavier and refused to say folded for simplicity, Mary moved closed and raised both hands from behind her head to hopefully give more power, an she let go!  Well one leg made it the other collapsed over the basket but they were mostly there.

Mary picked up everything that had not made it or only half made it to the laundry basket.  

Job done, Mary went downstairs to ask mum if any other help was needed.

“That would be great Mary, could you help me separate the washing please? Could you put all the dark colours into one pile, all the colours into another and all of the darks and dads into a third pile for me please?”

Of course,” replied Mary with gusto, Mary liked this game too getting to play with colours

“All done!” yelled Mary.

“Excellent, can you pop all of the white laundry into the machine for me please?”

Mary nodded and picked up the whites a few at a time and loaded them into the drum.

“Perfect now this bit is a bit fiddly could you measure out the laundry powder and empty it into the drawer at the top of the machine? Mum helped with this one because the laundry powder tub was too big and heavy for Mary to hold and measure at the same time but they got there.

Now for the fabric softener, this was a liquid, lots of mess could be made but they were trying to tidy up everything not make more! 

Mary very carefully opened the bottle, holding it with mums help emptied some out into the lid to the level needed and popped that into a segment of the washing machine drawer too.

Now to make sure the drawer and the glass door  were both closed properly, select the magic swich and press on, slosh mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhh slosh mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The machine whirred into action washing all of the clothes.

Now all they had to do was wait till the whites were sparkling again.  

PING the washing machine had finished its job.

 Mum and Mary took all the clean clothes out of the washing machine into a basket to be hung up. 

Mary picked up a top and 2 pegs then mum picked up Mary so she could reach the washing line, this was a fun game too. 

Mary liked laundry days 

©joannehepburn 23.07.2017

Lost spade

It was a beautiful day.  

The sun was shining, there wasn’t even a cloud in the sky!

“Today is too lovely to waste, how does everyone like the sound of a day at the beach?” asked mum.

“YEY, I do,” replied everyone. 

So mum sorted out some snacks, juice and rain jackets just to be safe.  Everyone slathered on sunscreen and they were off for a day of beach fun.

It was a short walk, dad found the perfect place to view the entire beach and scope any interesting paths to wander. 

Mum arranged the towels and put up some umbrellas to cover anyone that needed some time out of the sun.

Now they had a base, each went their separate ways on their own adventures.

Mum sat and read her book while checking every now and again to make sure no-one was hurt or wandering too far away.

Dad was way off along the beach happily wandering and taking in all the other possible paths and kicking himself for not taking the fishing rods, today would’ve been perfect to try and catch a few wee fish to show Joe and Mary.

Joe and Mary were very busy, Joe digging with his green spade while Mary helped to build the castle Joe was digging the moat for.   

Once Mary thought she had helped enough and built a tall enough castle for Joe, she went off to search for different shells.  Picking up each one that caught her eye and checking to see if it had a beasty living in it, if there was, Mary always put it back.  Or if it was empty it could be taken home to go into the next art project.

Ages went by Dad returned from his wander looking for some juice.  Mary and Joe spotted him coming back and ran towards mum to beat him, they realized how hungry they all were. 

“Aww that was sneaky spotting me, I was going to eat all of your sandwiches’.” Joked dad.

“Nope we saw you,” giggled Joe and Mary.

Everyone found a place to suit, ate, drank and relaxed for a bit.  This whole beach adventure was hard work.

The weather started to turn and the tide was coming in.

“Think we better head home.” Advised dad.

“Good idea” replied mum as she quickly gather up all of the towels, bags, shoes and umbrellas’.

They left in such a hurry they forgot the spade and didn’t take any photos of the brilliant castle with the moat Joe dug.

It wasn’t until Dad went for a walk after dinner that he saw something odd poking out of the sand. 

Well it couldn’t be, but he walked closer, and it was.  It was Joe’s green spade, that had been left in the moat and buried by the castle to keep it safe.  

Dad took a photo with his phone then picked up the spade and took it home with the perfect bed time story .

©joannehepburn 16.07.2017