Toffee muffins, carrot cake and vanilla slices (lots of 'em)

Walking, dogs, flying, walking, dogs, shopping. It's been all go at the Sharpe household over the last week.

Whilst I was slogging his way down to the back of beyond with work last Wednesday, Jo and the girls were over in Sheffield messing around with Shona, her new baby Daniel and Morgan, their dog. A lovely walk was had by all, followed by some cake (a tofeee muffin). First class.

Thursday was very enjoyable indeed. Firstly, I completed the first two parts of the private pilot's licence skills test. Navigation was the highlight, but I'll be updating the flying blog (www.flyog.blogspot.com) with the gory detail. Jo, Ellie and Connie entertained the Manson family with some dancing round the kitchen to Mika. After Ewan had poured some soap down the toilet and tried to flood the bathroom through heavy handed bidet use, everyone had some cake (carrot cake from the farm shop).

Friday is synonomous with one thing at Chateau Du Sharpe; wind down. Generally this involves three pints in the Belmore (one to start with, a second because it has to be worth the long walk and a third as a quickie before Ellie needs feeding). In this case, Dom and Laura joined us in the pub and Laura was so drunk after only three pints she had to go to bed straight after dinner.

Given the preparations required for Mother's Day, I was up and out early with Ellie looking at things for Jo for Mother's Day - it was a busy morning including the snowdome in Manchester to look at snowboarding lessons, the Trafford Centre to pick up a book and some rather fabulous new Brasher Hillmasters and then the Art Cafe to pick a pot and paint it. We all had cake (vanilla slices) when I dropped Ellie at home - you can never have too much cake. Then Ellie went swimming with Jo and Laura while I was at the airfield to do the final bit of the skills test (the technical oral exam). Ellie's doing very well at the swimming now, going under water without generally bothering too much.

Saturday night we left Dom and Laura in to babysit Ellie while we went to an excellent Japanese restaurant in Chorlton with the Speakman-Whiteheads and Miss Baldwin. As per usual, the instant Ellie knows she's with an inexperienced handler she uses the opportunity to exercise her lungs, so she kept Laura on her toes every ten minutes with a bit of a shout.

Sunday got off to a jolly nice start with Jo being made breakfast in bed and having a bit of a lie in. This meant the original dog walking plans were shelved, so we took idiot dog on a random walk by the reservoirs near the Woodhead Pass. The wind howled down the valley, making the walk across the top of the reservoir bitterly cold, but it was warm enough in the trees by the side to stop off and feed Ellie. We managed to stop in at the Belmore for a quick couple with the child - always a bonus on a Sunday night - before heading back home for a bit of work and a bit of TV.

Ellie's just about getting ready to crawl now. She's been able to turn herself over for a couple of weeks and can raise her head and look around when lying on her front. The legs are going like little pistons - well, chubby pistons - but she's not getting any traction yet so it's all like a golfer taking air shots. When she figures out that she has to push along the floor we're stuffed; we'll have one mobile baby to contend with. It'll be a baby that likes a bit of a shout and is developing a painfully high piercing scream.

Yesterday Ellie's Grandad Sharpe turned up to fit the Biggest Gate In The World (TM). In a sentence, it's 6ft high by about 6ft wide and covers the whole path at the side of the house. The old gate has now gone and the new gate is at the end of the fence, meaning that the area behind the gate is much bigger than it was. The plan is that this will be Connie's dog run, meaning we can reclaim the garden for summer family activities. The gate is probably of sufficient architectural merit to be officially listed.