It was going to be one of those ‘it’s raining, mummy amuse us please’ days. …….. good luck me!

At 5 am I was up, thanks to the storm last night. Not that I would have slept anyway, as the kids were up, the dog we’re looking after was barking at the cats, who are terrified of him, were mewing by windows and doors trying to get out and hide in trees. So from 5am this morning there was nothing but noise, at insanely high decibels……I resign myself to the fact that this is daybreak, and I get on: clearing up cat wee, cat pooh from corners, as since the dog my friend lumbered me with arrived they daren’t venture into the garage. Great start to the day. Hands washed (several times) and barking finally under control, I see to the hungry masses, feeding children and animals alike. It was going to be one of those ‘it’s raining, mummy amuse us please’ days. …….. good luck me! We decide a trip out (get the monsters out and run off Duracell energy) is in order and I, after several hours of preparation, have 4 kids and a husband ready to go over the border to Spain for tapas. I see the trail of dog s**t Lola has managed to trample over the seats and prepare myself; I had already been here this morning, only with a different animal. No time to wipe, so a nearby coat (that I shall wash on 90, don’t fret!) will do as cover up, well, desperate times and all that……!

It was equally one of those days that had I not had chocolate in the house, I may not have made it through. Seriously. Another day off school for the kids, stuck indoors as the rain never ceases at the moment. Puzzles, memo (which I always lose at, my brain retreated to a far away land in my first pregnancy, and apparently they never come back, although I never stop looking.), playdough making and playing, bread made, and ooooh, yeah, I did make the yummiest chocolate biscuit cakes in the whole wide world. I have written the recipe below; you should try them! The kids love helping me cook, but sometimes for me the ‘cooking with 4 kids moments’ are not as fun for me as they are for the kids: they sit on the table; squabble over utensils to lick; are far too slap-happy with the ingredients, wildly flinging the likes of flour/sugar/butter/salt, and as I cannot stand mess, I have to put my own concerns on a back burner and really try and do a convincing job of loving the moment and joining in.
Taking on a supervisory role, I try not to let that cross into an ‘ok, let's just let mummy do it all shall we??’ role. The eggs, omg eggs, the cracking of eggs results, without fail, are full of teeny, completely impossible pieces to get out, and usually our baking times are such that the kids bake for themselves, as they are now very used to the crunching of lil bits of eggshells in their creations…….We listen and bop sporadically to a bit of Stevie Wonder, and Mitzi is still convinced that he wrote his song Isn’t She Lovely all about her. Well, you try and convince her otherwise...! Great, isn’t it? At that age kids are brimming with their own self-worth, their beauty, the fact they have inspired some of the greatest tracks ever written, their ability to pump (both loudly and smellily(!)) ….I wonder how long it takes us as parents to wring them dry of all that….!

After today, I feel wrung out, and I hope the rain, rain goes away and comes back another day……..

recipe: 2x 250g bars dark melting choc, 100g raisins, 50g butter, 1 big cup cornflakes, 250g coconut biscuits.
method; melt chocolate and butter, squish biscuits, add biscuits, raisins and cornflakes to melted butter and chocolate. pour into a tray, leave in fridge to set, then enjoy. yum.

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