Sunday 29 April 2018

Our visit to Oceans Coffee and Waffle House, Cheddleton


It was the last week day of the Easter holidays, it was wet and cold and we didn't have any plans. So after a morning playing at home, I decided to treat the children to a lunch with a difference! Off we went to one of our favourite local places for a sweet treat, Oceans Coffee and Waffle House, situated in picturesque Cheddleton in the Staffordshire Moorlands.


Oceans was only opened in February 2017 by businessman and Castros Restaurant owner, Jamie Bateman, after he noticed a gap in the market. It already has a legion of fans! I remember the "wafflemania" that surrounded its opening and its first few weeks, and I loved seeing all their updates and unique creations on social media! 

So as a mum who loves all things cake related, it would only be fair to inflict my sweet-tooth upon the children! We've been a few times and I'm still working my way through their menu, so I thought I'd let you all know a bit about our latest visit.
We arrived to find plenty of parking in the purpose built car park right next to Oceans and Castros. It's always a relief when you find a space, because a full car park usually means a busy waffle house and a wait to find a seat! On a drizzly day like today, we didn't fancy sitting in the outside seating area, although the views of the Caldon canal are fab!

Easter holidays, part 3: Just the three of us!

So with Hubby back at work for the final week of the Easter holidays, it was up to me to entertain the kids...and the dog! Again, we stayed close to home because of the pup, but we had a lot of fun and managed to catch up with friends this week too. Here's what the three of us got up to.

Monday

Stan was beyond excited to have a birthday play date with two of his school friends. He had lots of fun, after an initial wobble, and his mum kept me updated with photos and videos! It was the first time I'd left him with someone who he's never played with outside of school before so was quite new to both of us! 

I took Rosie to get the car cleaned and we snuck off to the pub next door for a girls' lunch while we waited! We had a lovely little walk around Endon village and saw where they dress the well every year too.

Saturday 14 April 2018

Top 5 story books for children under 5: Our April picks

We love a good children's book in this house! Both my children, S (almost 5) and R (2 and a half), have always enjoyed listening to stories and looking at books. Our collection at home is growing rapidly, and each of the children have their favourites. However, since joining the library, they are finding it hard to pin down just one story book that they love the most! Inspired by the Bath, Book, Bed campaign run by BookStartI have decided to write a round-up of my children's favourites each month. Here are our April picks for children under 5.


A selection of books we chose for our April under 5s favourites

Thursday 12 April 2018

Easter holidays, part 1: Keeping it local!

Well, we've had a really busy, fun-filled first week of the Easter holidays! As you may know, we welcomed Dottie the Dachshund puppy into our home a few weeks ago so we decided to stay local for our holidays this time. Hubby had a long awaited week off work so we looked forward to doing lots of things together. Here are some of the things we got up to over the long Easter weekend; maybe it will give you some ideas for what to look out for in your local area.

Thursday 5 April 2018

German for Kids: Fünf Osterküken - Five Easter Chicks


Counting to 5: numbers in practice!

A little recap

The aim of today's lesson was to get the children to practise using German numbers 1 - 5 for a purpose - counting!



It is always important to recap any prior learning before introducing anything new; this promotes confidence and helps them to retain information. For our first lesson earlier this month, I decided to introduce the children to German through one of their favorite songs, Five Little Ducks. We used the song to learn numbers 1 to 5. To refresh the children's memories, we listened to the song again and we held up the correct amount of fingers everytime we heard a number. For ideas on how to introduce numbers 1 - 5, read our post called German for Kids: Fünf kleine Entchen - Five little ducks. We then counted up to 5 together and checked their pronunciation of each word. I encouraged Stanley to count back from five too, and he did it with a little help.