Easter egg hunt

Yey, Easter weekend was here.  Mary loved Easter weekend, there was the Easter egg hunt and lots of games and then a really tasty dinner, then maybe, if she and Joe had been really good they got some Easter chocolate too.

Mum and dad took Mary and Joe to the park where the Easter egg hunt was taking place.

 Mary spotted the first clue in no time and dad spotted the second which was lucky because even once Mary had spotted it there was no way she could reach it up in the tree branches.

The third one was really well hidden but Joe spotted it from the buggy as it was nestled safely in a hole in the tree.

3 more clues to spot, they took no time in spotting them and rushed back to the finishing line, so the judges could note their time.

Mary sat down with mum and dad for a bit with some juice before having some fun on the bouncy castle. 

Mary loved the bouncy castle but didn’t like it when there was lots of others,  they were always really boisterous and knocked everyone over. 

Mary didn’t like that, one bit, but thankfully today they were all still trying to find the clues on the Easter egg hunt so Mary go to play with a few other girls chaos free until the boys returned.

Joe was getting restless and Mary was getting a bit tired maybe too much bouncing.  

They all sat down to enjoy some less active Easter fun.

There was a selection of beautiful Easter eggs on display for the winners of the Easter egg hunt later. 

They were all decorated differently, some with sparkles some with foil others had faces painted on them and some had fabric and beads wrapped round them.

Mary used her imagination to decorate her egg to help her spot it when  she rolled it down the hill.

 Joe tried but he was still quite young so his was loops of blue with some squiggles in orange.

Once all of the children had decorated their eggs everyone went out to the top of the hill to roll them.

It was a bit manic, some of the eggs rolled straight some were thrown and made a bit of a mess and others got stuck on stones or rolled all squint.

  

After all the activity and celebrations they went back to the hall to find out who had won the competitions. 

Mary tried to sit still, Joe was snoozing it had been a very long day.

“3^rd in the Easter egg challenge is Charlie Smith” announced the minister and the crowd cheered as Charlie went up to collect his prize.

“2^nd in the Easter egg challenge is, Ruth Davies” said the minister with a smile as Ruth was helped onto the stage with her mum to collect her prize.

“And finally 1^st in the Easter egg challenge is, Mary and Joe Noble!”

Mary didn’t know if she should run up on to the stage, or hide. 

But mum picked up Joe and took Mary’s hand.  They walked up onto the stage to collect their prizes.

“Joe has also won the best decorated rolling egg too” said the minister while Joe was trying to steal his thumb.

“Well done all the contestants, I hope you have all had a fantastic day.”

And with that everyone started to go home.

Mum carefully put a snoozing Joe into his car seat and Dad helped Mary with her seat belt.

What a great day, we’ll maybe save some of the chocolate for later said mum, but Mary and Joe were both sleeping dreaming of their excellent day and their wins.

©joannehepburn 28/03/16

Granny's button box

Mary was going over to granny’s house for the day.

Mary loved going to grannies, she got to test her makeup skills, eat cake and play with her button box.

Mary carefully opened the garden gate and made sure she closed it behind her.  Then walked up the path counting how many bird feeders granny had out today.  She walked up the steps and always rang grannies door bell to make sure she knew someone was coming before opening the door and walking into grannies house.  

Mary always found granny either finishing a cross word or reading the last few pages of a good book.

“Good morning Mary” said granny with the last clue in the crossword left to fill in.

“Morning granny” said Mary with a skip and a grin.  “What we got planned today?”

“Well,” said granny as she completed the crossword and folded the paper. 

“I fancy a makeover then some cake then we could tidy up and see what the buttons have for us, what do you think?”

“Yes, let’s get started,” Replied Mary with glee heading up the stairs to get the makeup box.

Granny followed taking her time so Mary had plenty of time to arrange everything for granny’s make-over-Mary-special.

Granny sat down and let Mary begin.  

There was blusher to make granny look like she had been out in the sun, or for a nice jog. 

Lots and lots of pretty eye-shadow but today Mary selected a lovely subtle silver shade with a little sparkle. 

 Now for the tricky bit, mascara.  

Mary loved how it made granny’s eyes look even bigger, but Mary was always super careful, no body wants’ mascara in the eye, ouch.   

Lastly Mary chose a peachy lipstick. 

Granny was all ready for the summer day now.  

Mary had a final check and passed the mirror over to granny.

“Oh wow, very good Mary, I’ll need an event to go to now,” smiled granny tilting her head to view every angle.

They both went down-stairs and enjoyed some malt loaf, and a little bit of jelly afterwards.

Mary liked the strawberry jelly best but the raspberry was good too, oh and some squash to wash it all down.  

Granny did the dishes and Mary helped to dry them.

Now for the real event, Mary’s favorite, the button box.

Granny had so many buttons, they filled a suitcase!  

There were buttons from old outfits that didn’t fit anymore.  

There was buttons that were very special and plain buttons for boring things, granny had buttons for absolutely anything and everything. 

Mary sometimes found ones that were more like badges and granny always had a story for how they got into the button box.  

Mary liked to match them up best so mum could use them to mend things or even make something new. 

Mary had made quite a few piles of buttons of different size and color so granny could put them into separate wee bags, so hopefully they could be easier to find when they were needed. 

They both jumped when they heard a knock at the door.

“My goodness, I almost couldn’t see you surrounded by all of the buttons,” joked mum.

Yey, mum was home from work.

“Thank you granny” said Mary as she skipped out of granny’s house and headed home.

“Thank you granny” said mum as she followed Mary back for tea with dad and some stories about their day.

©joannehepburn 21.03.2016

Mary in the garden

Dad was outside in the garden, doing something called “Weeding”. Mary went out to see if she could help.

“What are you doing dad?” she asked giving dad a fright.

“Oh Mary I didn't hear you there. I'm just pulling out all the plant's that have turned brown., would you like to help?”

“Yea” exclaimed a very exited Mary.

“OK, well just pick out all the wee plants that don't look very healthy any more.” advised dad.

It was a beautiful day, they were both so busy they almost missed lunch.

It wasn't until they stopped Mary noticed there was some green in dad's bucket.

“Dad why have you got green in there?”

“Don't touch it Mary, that’s a stinging nettle, we don't need them in the garden but they are very good for tea and the compost heap.” instructed dad.

“Oh so it will help other things grow?”

“Yes” replied dad with a smile.

Mary grabbed the first plant she saw and pulled it straight out of the ground!

“Oh no Mary,” exclaimed dad, “That was going to bloom into a flower, see the bud on it?”

Mary tried to put it back but it kept falling over!

“Its OK Mary, well pot it up on its own in the shed till it gets its strength back.”

Mary opened the shed door, to get started.

Dad showed her where the pots were and the pebbles for drainage, and the special soil for seeds to help them grow. In no time the plant was all secure in its new space.

“Now we'll just look after it for a wee bit and once its strong again we'll put it back into the garden.”

It took far longer than Mary expected for the plant to get strong and stand up by itself again.

There was another sunny day and dad called Mary over to help him add it back into the garden.

When they were finished Mary drew a beautiful picture for mum to say sorry and show how much better the plant was now.

12/06/2016

The hoover that lost its sook

Mary was playing quite happily until mum knocked on her door with the hoover.

Time to move and let mum do the chores.

Mary put down the toy and went through to play with Joe.

Mary forgot all about her toy, well that was until she got bored playing with Joe and wanted to play with it again instead.

But where was it?

It wasn't where she left it in her room and it wasn't anywhere else in the house.

Maybe she had taken uit through to Joe's room.

Nope still no toy, where could it be?

“Oh no,” yelled mum.

“Is everything alright?” Asked Mary, with concern

“Yes everything is fine, the hoover just seems to have stopped working, don't worry we'll fix it.” advised mum.

Mum took the hoover outside to check it over and empty it.

Hopefully that would get it working again.

Mary and Joe watched from inside the house.

There was big clouds of dust and when they settled both Mary and Joe giggled because mum was covered in it.

After lots of coughing and groaning.

There was the toy, it too was grey and covered in dust.

Mary ran out of the house to rescue it.

“where do you think your going?” asked mum.

“I'm gonna get tiger”

“You can have tiger but only after he's been for a good wash, although he might be too dirty and might not make it.”

“what!” exclaimed Mary.

“Well we know what happens when we don't look after out toys or put them away properly don't we.” asked mum looking at Mary.

“Erm, yes, but,”

“But nothing, you know the rules, its a very naughty lesson your teaching Joe.

“But.”

“I'll put tiger in the wash hopefully he makes it out, but don't be leaving toys lying on the floor again.”

Mum put the hoover back together, and put tiger into the washing machine after dusting herself off.

Mary sat and watched tiger in the wash to make sure nothing else happened to him.

The worst part was waiting for him to dry.

The next morning mum handed a lovely, dry, bright, clean tiger over to Mary.

Mary was delighted and promised not to neglect tiger again.

With that mum put on the hoover , , , ,sook sook sook.

The hoover had found its sook again, thank goodness.  

©joannehepburn 07.03.2016