Artists' temperaments

I'd been looking forward to our trip to All Fired Up ceramics cafe since we's first discussed it a few weeks ago, and the visit was timed perfectly as Granny Jill could come along to hold one of the twins. There was a huge choice of ceramics available to customise and I assembled a huge pile of things to do.

Max and Hacker Mummy went first and Max seemed to really enjoy getting his feet painted, as did Harris who went next. So even though Iris, when it was her turn, did not seem amused by the whole activity, I was still feeling pretty confident that E and A would do ok. The problem probably started when I had to wake them up from their nap for their turn, so already they weren't in the best moods, and as soon as the wet paint touched their feet they went ballistic! Granny Jill held A while I tried to persuade a screaming E to print her foot, and then we swapped over. We managed to do two tiles and a photo frame before giving up - the twins were really losing it. Once the babies had finally settled down (a feed did the trick!) and reassessed my pile of ceramics and opted only to attempt one more item - a mug for Young Daddy. We did this quickly, but gave up after that.

Unfortunately then we had to say goodbye to Granny Jill, who had to leave to get her train home. We miss you lots, Granny Jill! With E and A settled back down to sleep (E got comfy on Mummy Williamson for the afternoon, after Harris went off to spend the afternoon with his daddy), we had a really nice few hours chatting and decorating our pieces.

It was strange heading home on my own, as it's been so nice having someone else around for the last few days. It was all going well, and the twins (or 'The Dudes' as Young Daddy calls them) seemed to enjoy my rendition of various nursery rhymes for a while, before they decided that each of them would much prefer to have an all-out paddy. Nat King Cole, earplugs (for me), a couple of sips (swigs) of red wine (also for me), and one running hairdryer later I managed to calm them down, and we waited for a late Young Daddy without self-combusting. Just about.