Messy fun and haircuts

It has been a FANTABULOUS day today.

The sun has shone, and it has been ridiculously hot and humid.

We had 12 children (between 5 families) including Bean and Bear playing in the garden this morning with various messy gloops (and of course the muddy digging patch which was a great hit!); the boys and I got our hair cut by the wonderful Claire who came to our house and snipped away at our locks in the garden. I had lovely lovely cuddles with baby Ilayda, with a rather precious moment when Bear came over. He looked like he was going to be jealous so I said "look, isn't she beautiful?" and he came and looked, and there was genuine awe in his eyes, as he looked at this beautiful bundle. He stroked her head and kissed her face, noticed her tiny fingers and ears.

He's going to have no problem becoming a big brother when the time comes.

The boys and I needed a wash after our haircuts so we trooped upstairs once everyone had gone and eventually I got them in the bath. Bean requested bubbles. Bear wasn't so sure but by the end of bathtime he was possibly having even more fun than Bean, having managed to fall over into the water and come up laughing!! The bathroom was soaked. Utterly. But they were very happy.

Then we had to tidy up the mess in the garden and instead of helping they decided it was a good time to fully investigate the gloop. They did help I suppose. Everything got brought over to the tub of water and cotton wool and noodles. Jelly-covered spaghetti was brought over by the fistful. Everything got "washed" and then we spent ages scooping everything out of the water and dumping it into one of the empty paddling pools. In theory to dry out before binning it! Then they discovered the cornflour gloop and spent a long while splattering it all over themselves and the garden. My garden is a proper mess and the boys are mostly clean but it was totally worth it!

Bear has been a no-nap wonder today, and so he nearly fell asleep in his highchair at dinner (having eaten maybe three pieces of pasta). And so, for the first time in a long long time, I was able to spend the evening with Bean! He wanted to stay up waiting for Daddy. He did try so very hard. He had a great time playing with lego while I re-settled Bear many times, and sorted out bedrooms and laundry. Sleep won in the end, with the promise of a goodnight kiss from Daddy and energy to play with Katie in the morning!

The house is tidier than it has been in months. I have done 5 loads of laundry today and yet somehow the laundry basket is still the same fullness as it was earlier. I don't get it.

My husband is home, Me and My Girl are here for the night, we go camping tomorrow and I am so tired I might fall over on my way up to bed now!