"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."

Being a stay at home dad there always seems to be so much to do in the house on a daily basis and as I like to prioritise our play time over everything else there just doesn't seem to be enough time to take care of it all. That probably sounds like I'm complaining a little but I wouldn't have it any other way, playtime is the most important part of our day. It's nice though when the children get a little older and they can help out with daily tasks and I can make it into a game, 'first one to tidy up the toys doesn't smell like the back of the bin van!'.

Mornings are always the most stressful especially getting Seth ready for school and making sure that Mrs M has everything she needs for work and were out the door on time. Thanks to our house becoming a sort of co-op of businesses, the opening of 'Opeie's Diner' has really taken the load off in regards to the making of breakfast. 

The Le Toy Van Toaster Set has been a life saver, fueling up the troops before departure and our happy little entrepreneur diner owner is more than happy buttering round after round of tasty play toast. The toaster has been used daily since the diner opened and I can see why, the vintage design is so cute and the spring action that pops your toast up when done is fantastic for children's role play. 

Opeie loves chopping and cutting when we're playing with the play food so being able to slice the butter with the knife and plate that comes with the set went down well and he loves serving our toast with plenty of butter and jam on. The chunky wooden design is great for younger role playing enthusiasts as its very robust and there's no fear of small parts coming off, which is great for us busy parents that need to pop out of their sight briefly at times.

I can see that the Toaster will continue to be one of Opeie's favourite role playing toys and its got me looking at the Other great items from the Le Toy Van Range. As Opeie changes his menu he'll need the appliances to keep up. I'm thinking that play baking will be next on our agenda. In the meantime Opeie can keep the buttery breakfast coming our way.

 

The Le Toy Van Toaster Set can be found at Biggamehunters.co.uk along with a great selection of Le Toy Van products that compliment the set beautifully.

"It's a genuine daisy! I've seen them quite often in fields growing wild. But never before on the head of a child. Now what in the world ever made this thing sprout? I have no idea. But I'm going to find out!"

Despite a couple of little accidents Opeie  seems to have got in to quite a good routine with his potty training. We've been pottering around the house for the last week and a half but after dropping Mrs M at work today (and knowing that Opeie had taken care of business a few times today) we headed over to the lake to feed the ducks. We hadn't been to feed the ducks for a few weeks and were concerned that warburtons may go in to liquidation though the lack of our bread buying. Opeie was really excited and was clutching his bag of bread like some crazy duck enthusiast.

Opeie got the ducks all riled up by hovering his bagels over the railings but not throwing any in. I wasn't sure what he was up to but when an army of ducks arrived i just put it down to the fact that he wanted a feathery free for all. He finally decided to share his bread with the ducks and then cackled as they started biting each other to get at their lunch like some evil overlord.

After feeding the ducks we had some time to kill before picking Seth up from school so we went for a trek around the lake. Opeie started pointing out "pretty flowers" so as we have been learning about colours today at home i used the nice selection to get him practising again which he seemed to find fun.

Our little game was going lovely until Opeie spotted a Dandelion to blow and then the rest of the walk back was taken up by Opeie picking every one he saw and blowing raspberries at them, very cute. Opeie loves flowers especially daisies after the first time we read Daisy-head Mayzie (great story by the way). Its nice to be out and about again, i think i will start venturing out further now he's in a bit of a routine (armed with our potty of course).

Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'

I had so much housework to do yesterday as I was a lazy bugger the night before after snuggling on the sofa with Mrs M all evening. Opeie usually doesn't mind playing alone for short amounts of time while I get things done, I try to do the jobs in short bursts broke up by playing with him. Yesterday though Opeie wanted all the batman figures out and kept coming in and saying 'daddy play!'. Needless to say those big brown eyes have some serious power over me and surprise surprise I didn't get much done.

Opeie looked so cute surrounded by batman toys. and we quickly got in to an epic game fighting the villains in Gotham's underworld.

After an hour or so of playing the game came to an end when our friendly neighbourhood Spider-man decided to take over the Batcave.

After lunch we had to drop the boss at work, the sun was out and although it was a little nippy it was to good a day to be stuck I doors. We headed over to see auntie Lotty as we hadn't seen her for a few weeks. After a nice cuppa, a chat and plenty of cuddles for Opeie we headed to the park for a little picnic as Opeie hadn't long been awake and hadn't eaten.

After the picnic and a play on the park Opeie made it clear that he wanted to take part in his new favourite past time, feeding the ducks. Thanks to Mrs M always being prepared there was a loaf of bread already on the back seat of the car so we jumped in and headed over to the lake. Opeie always looks so happy when he's feeding the ducks, I love taking him and so probably do Warburtons. I think all the MD's will be getting a nice Christmas bonus this year because of us.

Once the loaf of bread had gone Opeie instantly lost interest in being at the lake and walking, so he sat on my shoulders until he saw some steps. I don't know what it is about steps/stairs but he loves them. He counted as he was going up, well up to 14 and then started again, cute. On the way down the steps the other side he said sorry on every step??? Strange boy.

We got back to the car and I gave Opeie a list of places to go next and he said 'castle' so I drove to the abbey ruins that are not to far from us for more walking about. I was hoping I could wear him out so that Mrs M might have an easier night with him. The sun was still bright and it had got a lot warmer by this point and as we pulled up a heard of cows came to meet us at the gate which Opeie loved.

And that filled our time up to going to pick Mrs M up from work. It was such a lovely afternoon and I'm hoping the sun is going to stay out for a while now so that we can get out and about more.

"All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking."

 

The sun has been glorious where we are but unfortunately its been absolutely freezing so this morning we were umming and ahhing whether to go out or not. We decided to stay in but after lunch Opeie started to get restless. It's come to our attention today that we have never taken Opeie to feed the ducks, I'm not sure how that hasn't happened but it seems like without realising we've managed to avoid it. So we wrapped up warm and went for a drive to a lake up the road, but not before heading to the shop for a couple of loaves of bread.

Opeie was getting so excited when the ducks were eating the bread he had thrown that he was laughing and shaking. It really is the simple things that entertain children the most and all it cost was the price of a couple of loaves. It was a lovely walk despite the weather, i felt really bad though that we hadn't taken him before.

On the way back to the car we got to have some fun splashing in puddles...

We got back to the car and headed home but then decided to take a detour as the sun was still blazing. There's some Abbey ruins not far from ours and Ive never been down there as the gates are always locked, but today we thought we would give it another try today. It was a nice surprise to find them unlocked so we went for another walk. Although it was still very cold the sunshine really made it a beautiful day.

Opeie was excited running about and it was obvious that all he needed was a bit of time out of the house. When your kids have been poorly you cant help but try to keep them in the warm in hope they get better but being cooped up was clearly getting to Opeie and getting out and about in the sunshine did him the world of good. We headed home after a little bit of investigating and he was in a much better mood.