Easter party

I've downsized to the mini diaper bag and just a coin purse wristlet wallet. (Not sure why I didn't do this BEFORE we left for England.) Regardless, it feels good to simplify (and lighten the daily load). Small victories. :)

Today we took the train into Poole. I hit up Cafe Nero for a white chocolate mocha and they asked if Ethan would like a free babyccino (steamed frothed milk with some chocolate sprinkles). Apparently they are always free for kids there. I loved this place already and now I do even more. It is now the one punch card in my seemingly empty wallet. How cute is this?

Then we went to the "Toybox" playgroup (weekly playgroup Tuesday's from 10-12 at the Poole Baptist Church) I found out about online on the netmums website. It was great! These little old ladies run it and I was blown away by how well-organized it was and how generous and nice and welcoming they were to us. Apparently this was a little out of the ordinary because it was their special Easter party. They had all sorts of toys for kids to play with and a little bouncy house. They also had five different crafts the kids could do (although Ethan is never big on crafts and just wants to play and Hailey just wants to grab everything). I met a few other moms--Adele and I don't remember the name of the other one (she didn't have a famous British singer's name which made it easy to remember). They were both really friendly and had kids near Hailey's age. Yah, potential friends in Poole! They were asking me if I was going to send Ethan to school in the fall (kids start public school at 4 instead of 5 here). Sure! :) Then, they had an Easter egg hunt in the sanctuary, gave all the kids a sticker for their "jumper" (top) and a sheet of stickers and then this little Easter box full of all different types of snacks and we had a little picnic! (String cheese, grapes, mandarin slices, little donut cookies, mini little pie treats, filled bear spongey thing, potato crisps, little Gems). Ha, my kids were a little sugar-crazed and did not need lunch after all that. And the adults all had a "cuppa" (cup of tea and biscuit). They had song time with maracas and most of the songs I knew but they were set to a completely different tune. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" had a bunch of additional lyrics I had never heard before-it was funny! 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OGu_u6-VKNU

To top it all off, they gave each of the kids a huge chocolate egg on their way out! Wow! 

Checking out their loot. :)

Then Ethan insisted we get a little metal double-decker bus for Hailey too at the Pound store (he is obsessed with his) and we got some sand pails and other odds and ends. I grabbed a "banger" (bratwurst) for lunch and we headed back on the train.