Yes I know its American, yes, I know it is also druidic, and no we are not doing anything educational at all with it.
Instead, we are – allegedly – having fun. I am not entirely convinced, after all, the girls are at an awkward phase of sibling relations, and I am not at my most emanating gentle calm vibes mode. After all, how can you share making red icecubes? theres just nothing to it?? OK, i guess one could have stirred, and the other put in the colouring, but only BB wanted to do it, she found the tray , asked nicely, so why make some bit for SB – I did say she could find her own tray, but of course we didn’t have another one…
Actually, that was just the end, we have been rather more positive for a lot of the day. SB did a quick bit of writing practice – getty and dubay C – and we read the DK space explorers book together. We all played with jigsaw and had a toy food picnic. Chris vanished to sort out the clothes mountain in the spare room [ultimately the best place to be!]. Sb insisted on having her haricut so she could brush it better – so 3 inches removed!
BB wanted to make cupcakes, so we made halloween cupcakes – orange food dye and sprinkles integral to mixture. they were lovely, and didn’t keep to be iced! BB chose too large cups, but the advantage was that the cupcakes came out weird shapes, extra halloweenness!
There was a debate about going swimming, but instead we did pumpkin cutting. Well, I was directed by BB and SB, did all the hard bits. they drew fiendishly difficult patterns for me to cut out. SB’s I was quite good with. BB’s I artistically ‘re-imagined’ [ooh, battlestar galactica soon!]
The choice then between hama/fimo and sweetie making – yep we made peppermint creams – orange food colouring and egg white powder as not cooked recipe. Oh, and we used vanilla essence instead of peppermint. So peppermint creams re-imagined too. And it was only after the peppermint creams that my patience, and SB and BB’s ran out.
SO we are snuggling – different parents each – and watching TV. We are on the next magic tree house book – dolphins at daybreak, so must look out some related books to read through.
edited to add: Have had tea and bath, calm restored. I have had a glass of wine, and hope the pumpkin soup I am making for Halloween won’t suffer too much as a result! SB reading about birds in the DK picturepaedia, and BB playing with numbers. Soon BB will be off to bed, and SB fancies fimo then when a bit of peace.
sounds as though you are a paragon of patience, you’ve done loads today!
Anna’s been moaning recently that she can’t brush her hair so will be getting hers cut too soon, but I’m not brave enough to do it myself!
No, unfortunately not at all patient. gritted teeth, the ‘can you hear I am getting angry’ and ‘do you think I enjoy doing this when you both screech and argue’ have been employed. SB – bless her – apologised, making me feel worse
hugs Helen. Hope theysettle back into sibling sweetness soon for you!
yeah, it is hard when they don’t get on. But at least you did something! Hopefully tomorrow they will be lovely with one another.
I admit to adopting the ‘i’m not going to cope with doing anything with you’ approach and sending mine outside to play in the rain this afternoon, then when they were wet and tired enough they got to watch Star Wars.
oh and by the way the pumpkins look fab.
you have done loads! Clo would love to do more baking/cookery but it’s just not my forte and I find it very stressful so not a harmonious time to be had. It’s meant to be a daddy/daughter activity but he likes being left alone when cooking.
Thanks sarah, the pumpkins are rather great. t-bird, they go through phases. it is mostly BB, and me then expecting SB to have more maturity to deal with it, but she is little after all…
Michelle – a food processor and using cups is an easy way to get into baking. We often do the food processor with BB, whilst SB now measures rather than using cups. makes it quicker, less messy and slightly more reliable!
I was thinking of BSG today …