It's too hot to think of a title. Really.

So apparently hot weather puts my three into turbo mode. *melts into a puddle*

Squidge has been taking Moppet for rides on the back of his motorbike :D

And when not being a little biker he's been cheffing again - here we have Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, served with garlic ciabatta, radish and fennel salad, and followed by chocolate orange ganache with pastry curls and tangerine segments. 

And here we have Moppet liberally applying the ganache in the general area of her mouth :)

After taking our Brio train set to one of the home ed groups the boys have found a renewed interest in it and I now have a branch line running through the lounge.

I realised that with having had a hectic couple of months I'd let my usual one on one time with each of the boys slip, so I took Sprout out for the afternoon, first for iced smoothies in an attempt to cool down...

...then to the arcade for some Mario Kart (as usual, he thrashed me)...

...a spot of giant Doodle Jump as he's been enjoying the football version on the iPad...

...and a new automated candy floss machine which he thought was extremely cool...

Back at home we'd finally done the Spring (!) clear up of the garden and refilled the sandpit...

...and Squidge was finally giving in to the heat and snuggling with Gruff to watch all the Spy Kids films on Netflix.

We saw a lovely word cloud someone had done of their plans for the summer and Sprout was keen to do the same, so we spent a bit of time thinking of all the big and small things we'd like to do over the next couple of months...

...and while we had the felt tip pens out the boys decided on some body art too!

Chilling in the shade waiting to go into one of their home ed groups...

...and making different games with our blocks once in there...

...followed by a much needed cool down in the river at Downs Banks.

I'd mentioned to Sprout that it was possible to cut a normal piece of paper in such a way that you could step through it, and he was very keen to have a go...

...and Squidge joined in too.

They added lots of balls to their trampoline and made up some games about avoiding the balls, or making them bounce high, or getting them all to collect around Moppet...

...and when not being bounced Moppet can be mostly found making engine noises...

...playing with magnets...

...and making patterns and music on the Cause and Effect Sensory Light Box app.

We had a trip out to get Fly neutered, and stuck around for these light sabre ice lollies (cool right?) and a sadly abortive trip to Games Workshop (after waiting three hours for it to open the guy was pretty rude and would only grudgingly give us any info on Warhammer as he said Sprout was too young and wouldn't understand it. Grrr.)

Back home again Sprout and I played with the Silly Story Laboratory which he's become interested in now he can read some. His stated aim was to put together the silliest stories possible, and by the amount he laughed I think he succeeded :)

And finally the spy kit I've been putting together for them was complete!

It includes:

• A wallet with play money (A secret agent's gotta be able to flash some cash!)
• A couple of wigs
• Two pairs of rear vision glasses
• A security pen and blacklight for writing and revealing secret messages
• A video camera pen
• A pair of write and reveal secret message pens
• A set of fake moustaches (thank you Poundland!)
• A gun
• Night vision goggles
• A pair of walkie talkies
• ....

Also...

• A simple code creator/breaker - Simply print off the alphabet on two strips of paper. Align them so that the 'A' on the top strip is level with a different letter. Write that letter (the key) as the first letter on your coded message. Then find the other letters of the message you want to encrypt on the bottom strip, and write their corresponding letters from the top strip. And there you go!

And finally...

• Four secret identity passports made from notebooks that look like passports...

I put it all together in an old vanity case that someone gave me a while back, which even has a combination lock that I think the two spies like even more than what's inside!

Meet Spyjay Cocopop...

...and Finnfinn Valdez!

I'm pretty sure we've done other stuff this week but it's all a bit of a humid blur - Sprout's been playing Two Birds with me, we've been building a gamers' hotel together on our new Tekkit server, Squidge has been building a spaceship on there too, we've been trying unsuccessfully to install some mods on the new Minecraft 1.6.2, Squidge and I have read *lots* of Mr Men books, Sprout's read (actually!) That's not my Puppy to Moppet as a bedtime story, and we've started picking some strawberries and raspberries from the garden (as although we've taken a break from trying to grow veg here, the fruit is rampant without any assistance from us!)

This insanely unbritish weather looks set to continue, so I'm off to restock the ice lollies and fan my children...