Petits Haricots

i didn’t have wed off, but had to work - with migraine. so missed on what seems to have been a fab visit to a firestation, and also meeting friends to talk to grrrr.

instead i had a suprise day off today - a surprise as i was going to a conference far side of london, but, due to raging migraine and out of migraine meds, that just wasn’t practical. retired to bed with cold compress and gp appt booked. so i now have meds again and at least spent half the day compos mentis with the girls. [well sort of] what struck me was that having got out of the pistols at dawn to dusk for a bout 3 days, they have returned to that pattern. aargh to the levels of bickerdom. it isn’t all bb, the split is prob sb:bb 40:60. just that bb is noticeably more unmanageably horrid. mind you the wailing was also stratospheric today, so i might have been better at that conference in london.

in between bickers and wails and time outs [for me] we did have a lovely time! SB and bB had done some beautiful hama when i came too, and we ironed them b4 they were scattered on the floor - so result! SB then finished singapore maths 2b part 1 [at last - we have been being quite slack on the formal ed front] and bB and i did earlybird 1a -which is v easy for her, as it is predom counting to 10, which she can do in french or english quite happily. actually in english she gets to 20, then starts going up in 10’s. the more/less, most/least is quite easy too. so a romp really, but she likes having done hers whilst sb is doing hers.

after that we did some french - farm and wild animals. much taken by the fact that lots of the african ones had the same names, but with an accent. and we read SOTW on australian aborgininal beginnings - sort of! we looked at aboriginal art, read some dreamtime stories, and thought about doing some painting. but sb and bb had a fight over this, so the offer was withdrawn in a fit of pique [and regretted afterwards - must keep mouth shut!]

girls went out to play, i had a time out by hoeing - i have to say we have done the best so far with the veg and fruit beds. earlier this week chris harvested 3 1/2 lb strawbs!! we are harvesting peas, broad beans too, and the pots are prob ready to have an exploration!!

i then brought out some books on weather and ponds, and a pond dipping kit from ebay - which turned out fab [never linked to an ebay seller before, but actually the magnified tank is v fab] and this rescued the afternoon. we have quite a lot of pond life in our goldfish pond. unfortunately loads of mosquito larvae in the waterbutt, but we have lots of waterboatman - who eat them, a water spider, and pond skaters. we have a plague of large pond snails [oh dear!] and on one lily pad stem was the empty shell of what was some kind of dragonfly we think. so we all enjoyed this. BB liberated loads of pond snails, and then both girls played unhappily in the paddling pool until riot act read. SB had violin, and BB sitting on step… then BB made a card and SB and i played an alphabet game and then we played shops.
i redressed SB’s foot and put BB to bed. and there we are.

it has been v windy here today. from the weather forecast, i hadn’t thought we would be included, but we were! particularly in the morning. no trees down [cross fingers!]

so, what have we done? well, when i got up, BB was engrossed in a castle game - she really has got a lovely imagination for playing games and gets totally sucked into them. SB was doing animal crossing on her ds. luckilly she has spelled all letters correctly this time! so i went on ‘puter to be shocked by the news that a good friend lost her sister last night. many hugs Jax. i don’t have any wise words of comfort, but i am thinking of you, and if you can think of anyway i can help…

girls were both desperate to do one of the experiments out of the horrible science explosion kit. BB wanted the volcano, and SB the snot!! so both were duly done. the volcano is - of course - our vinegar and bicarb type approach, but bB v satisfied. the snot was prob polymer science [i do wish these kits would include some ‘real’ science explanation - equations, what we actually made - if only for me! so, google being our friend, i think we are talking non-newtonian fluids again! here are some possible instructions for prob similar [unfortunately the glue in the pack just said glue!! so not sure what kind it actually was] . on googling, think we would enjoy having a go at the bouncing balls next!

[ooh, on a different note - it was the instructions that reminded me - look here Michelle for stalactite experiment]

where were we, oh yes, we were making snot. we enjoyed it greatly. not entirely sure exaclty what we made! SB gave it a squidge about for a bit, and then declared herself done. so we read a bit about polymers from here, and reminded ourselves on what atoms where, so what molecules were, and got to poymers. we thought a bit about polymers we have about.

Both girls joined me for a bit of french, and we did la maison [again!]. some lunch, and an interminable time to get dressed and clean teeth possibly because i was outside hoeing the veg bed and planting the last of the cucurbits in that time! then i rousted them all outside saying it was a nice day, so we should be out. we failed to fly kites in the garden - too much turbulence from trees i guess. Sb settled on doing a stamping craft. bb raced about on her like-a-bike, paddled and played in the sandpit. we topped up the birdfeeders [they get through SO MUCH!]

girls played nicely for a bit, so i pruned the bay tree, and we made some herb bundles to hang in the utility room [where no doubt the spiders will make huge webs!] we harvested and ate strawberries, i rousted BB around a lot, and SB felt hot, so went inside to do webkinz, education city and webland. we got a tp swing cheaply from ebay and cannibalised it so that ours can be pegged into the ground and not wobble around as much. hung a swing off the climbing frame at a v low height so bb ecstatic. sb pleased that she can swing wildly on new set up!

i made curry whilst sb ds-ed and bb watched pingu and 64 zoo lane. think thats about it.

good news on mon, and SB has the plaster cast off. this should help wound heal more quickly as not so hot and sweaty, negative is that it is far more easy to bash - so a mixed blessing really!

tues the girls and chris went to a roman event and enjoyed it greatly. sb was apparently a good hopping legionary! and both girls enjoyed clay pot making

today we had a far to early false start ith SB waking at 5. eventually got her to sleep again, and we had a second wake at 9. we all had a snuggle and a read downstairs - dinodoors with BB, history of london with SB. we read a french story, and did some numbers in latin. the girls have got the latest RSPB mgazines and read those. BB wrote on hers too. she is v keen on the idea of forming letters - usually AOUC.

both girls were v keen to do something crafty though, and BB had decided that this should be with some left over glass paint from suncatchers, so we spent a lovely morning decorating jam jars, and were all very happy with our results. the girls shared and got on well [which was a bit of a relief!] and we chatted and enjoyed.

after lunch, SB and BB did quite a bit of playing together, both with the castle stuff, and playing vet, with lots of giggling and laughing. i enjoyed listening and watching, and in boredom clicked often on H2Opia on facebook! - didn’t want to disturb! WOuld have liked to go out and weed, but knew my mvt would signal bickering. when it started slipping, SB and I went off and did some piano practice, and BB watched something. SB’s piano coming on nicely, she has got the notation fixed in her head now, allowing some really good sight reading.

i was surprised by chris’s parents arriving [though he wasn’t!] and i was still in pj’s, so a quick change and chatting before SB off to rainbows. she took chris with her, as didn’t want to be left, and BB and i played dinodoors, building houses for them [and they knocked them down] and reading. bB really into rhyming at the moment, in pretty much ever sentence she is trying out rhymes, Both girls are execrably making up jokes! violin practice[short and seated] when SB returned, nd then more castle and vet games until tea and bed.

BTW, there were many good moments on holiday. it was v hard work though. i realised i wasn’t projecting enough joy though when SB sobbed for ages over me not being happy. i am making a concerted effort to be happy. when we came back we watched child of our time, and i was v sad for eve, and the loss of her mother. [we also watched a waking the dead about bosnia/serbia - neither of these programmes being a particularly good choice]

yes well, sunday.

i was at work for a lot of the day [and lets gloss over that shall we!], but did get to spend the afternoon and early evening at home with the girls. Although it was yesterday, my brain a bit weak on what we did! i know there was a lot of geomagging, kids k’nex and pattern blocks. SB did an excellent violin practice. we read some books together - and did some french simple words and a lucy chat. i think she had done some maths earlier? not sure!!

Anyay, we bailed out into the garden and played in the tent, and hama beaded. i watered some of the potted veggies. ermm, i think there was more, but the day at work proved stressful, and i guess i have just got a poor memory! i do know that when i got home at nearly midnight both girls were back up again, so i went to bed with sb, and chris with bb. i do believe i would have had no sleep at all without the reassuring presence of a child.

today i have been told SB has done maths and piano. she also has hama beaded, pompom crafted and made ams a t shirt, and we promised not to blog what she wrote on the back [bless her spelling mistakes] but i believe chris alluded to it in a twitter. since that bit wasn’t ironed [fabric pen] might it come out in the wash??

BB also did her t shirt and hama-ed, and happily geomaged and k’nexed. oh, and starfalled some alphabet stuff.
when i got home we played dinosaur ludo, SB to ballet, then to swimming. me and BB just pottered and played on the swings mostly, and collapsed in front of pingu and magic school bus. i must go to bed now as shattered!!

Thursday.

Off to Tots and Nots groups in the morning. Just in time for SB to take part in a French game with Katy. I sat with BB and did a picture with her made from different shapes cut out of paper. Bit of general playing and snack eating. SB did a picture as well. Drew a portrait of Helen. Gina whose does various music teaching there brought along some flutes. so they got to have a go with those. BB was interested, but didn’t want to try. SB managed to get some sound out of it without to much effort. Bit of singing of songs, then SB had her first recorders session with Gina. said she enjoyed it and wants to do some more. It should be becoming a regular thing.

By now BB was pretty grumpy - she wanted to go and watch SB playing, said she was hungry but didn’t want to eat any of the things  I had in the bag. Didn’t want to do anything I suggested etc. - probably tired (had woke me up before 5 am, though went back to sleep later) and hungry (only had eaten half a slice of toast and a modicum of yoghurt ).

Headed off home via Tesco’s for a few things - which was a bad idea - it’s a big Tesco Extra store and buying just a few things seems to involve walking miles. BB was amusing by the bakery counter. I was with SB a bit further along whilst she chose her bread, BB was sat in the trolley shouting out ‘ I want Spooky Spoon bread’ !   Spooky spoon (from the character in Numberjacks) bread being her name for a French stick - ever since we had one that was vaguely spoon shaped at the end and they kids dubbed it Spooky Spoon.

They both amused a mother at the veg bit. They were both begging me to buy a bag of Peas in their pods because they love eating them straight from the pods - but they were imported and rather expensive so I didn’t. Good to have kids who like consider buying bread and vegetables a treat though

Escaped  Tesco and got home to a late lunch of mostly Spooky spoon bread accompanied by a dose of Magic School Bus. SB did piano practice, and handwriting. BB got out her violin and played with that, couldn’t find her maths book which she wanted, so did some leap-padding. then they both got out the Geomags. BB got upset because they kept on sticking to each other and they bickered and argued over which Geomags they each had, could do with more really. I cooked some soup, which neither of the kids seem to like much - probably a tad too spicy for them. Helen came home and read some books with them - I caught one about Alexander Graham Bell.

Then off to bed.

i am going to nominate today as the home-ed day in photos meme [please see previous in sidebar!], and will hopefully get the photos up! it is atypical, because i was at home, because i bailed out of a group today and declared duvet, and rainbows was cancelled. maybe chris will do one as well! thing is, i prob need the photos to remember what we did
8:00 they were both up with chris, so they prob watched something! had breakfast

9:00 I’m up! BB is doing alphabetting [using alphabet stencils to write the letters] SB is colouring in a rainbows picture, and then looking at the difference between the roman alphabet and ours. i read some dinodoor books with BB, we all do family members in french.

10:00 getting dressed and cleaning teeth. i look round at house and decided to spend the day in the garden! [ in fact t-bird gave me the idea with her tent-ed] SB makes a great go at putting up mini-tent [with BB being not too unhelpful, and even nearly helping on occasion!] . I shew them my bag of selected options [not exclusive, they could have gone and got somethig else], and both started with colouring. BB with crayons in a bible book [bought by chris’s parents] and SB in pencil on nice paper. She drew the garden first, and then started drawing my portrait.BB did some before the code.

11:00 sees us discussing the weather in french - well, learning some of the weather words and popping them into saying it is hot and sunny. we read part of a book about food chains, and then had a fruit break. SB chose the ladybird book about the spanish armada [no I’m arder!] for me to read to her. BB liked the guns, and then went off to play in the garden. [I am concerned about her!]

12:00 sees SB doing singapore maths 2B [halfway through] and BB and i looking at the extremely greedy starlings eating all the fat balls, and deciding to have a go at making our own. with a break for a who has the silliest face competition. SB finishes her maths and does it with us.

13:00 mostly lunchtime. SB made lunch whilst i put lard [yuk what a truly awful smell, but the birds have never eaten them when made with veggie fat] over our nut, fruit, seed and mealworm mix. SB made peanut butter sarnies for BB, avocado sandwiches for me [using same knife, so slightly unusual!] and cheese for her [fresh knife!] and we watched some nina and the neurons. About now i thought, ooh, we have done alot today, lets make it our photoblog day! luckily i always take a lot of photo when i am at home to prove i was there. BB did some fab geomags - she wanted to make a square [cube]

14:00 BB did a short violin practice - mostly just enjoying making noise. chris and BB went off to get some pallets from the orchard down the road to use to make an ad hoc empty compost bin [we have filled all of ours] . SB was going to do violin, but took rather a long time getting organised about it! we did do a violin practice too.

15:00 has us back out in the garden. BB in the sandpit and SB drawing with fabric pens on a white t-shirt. both then did lots of playing in sandpit, with water, on slide etc. chris made compost bin, i played hide and seek, and took some flower photos.

16:00 children happily playing, SB did some pot watering and had an icecream. i potted up the yard long beans and put into greenhouse [oops, forgot to say that in the garden blog - must put that right!]

17:00 no more photos. both girls in desperate need of a bath!! after that some tidying up in the garden by me, whilst they watched pingu. a recap on french words we have looked at today.
18:30 judo for SB, i read bob the builder books to BB, we had tea and I put BB to bed.

19:30 SB home and fed, a short look at zoo tycoon for DS and then also to bed [by chris] whilst i potted up toms and cucurbits.

21:00 with the binging of the church bells, the tv switched on and we watch the apprentice and blog. the end of atypical home ed day. with thanks to katy for being understanding of me need to duvet, as we should have been doing science and latin in the morning, which we do all really enjoy. i just needed some home time.

photos to be sourced and added [of course, to make it actually a photoblog!]

well here anyway, as SB and BB had a row about it!

before i start, why is it that as soon as i friends ans family flickr due to an overly persistant re-contacter, chris links to our blog from an everone view photo!! sigh!

anyway, it was another hot one today! started off in the cool with piano practice with SB. she wants to do more piano than violin at the moment, so i am hoping to facilitate that, but keep the violin ticking over. certainly her piano playing is coming on in leaps and bounds at the moment, and i guess this increases the enthusiasm. i’m going to try and find an easy duet book as well for that. [actually if i did more violin duets with her that would prob be a good thing too!]

SB then got on with some maths and handwriting whilst BB and I made some cheese scones [had to hide some so we would have some for tomorrows picnic!!]. we then did some lucy chat books at the beach - v helpful i now know the word for shark! and BB did some alphabet recognition.

All piled out into the garden under the gazebo to do some more crocodile making. SB has embellished hers so much with papier mache that hers is more of a thorny devil. bB’s was more minimalistic, and then she wailed because it was too wet to play with general outside play. chris and i both did bits of hoeing fruit bed, chris weeded some veg patch, i planted and SB watered. we have started hacking at the yew trees as well.

had some camping pancake mix left, so added cocoa powder to it for a chocolate pancake treat [bB’s idea] we all prefer plain! Then put up one of our tents in the garden for the girls to play with [the cheapy 2 person ‘festival tent’]

cooling down now - phew!

SB loves the drama group, but she leaves by 9.30 and returns at 12.30. at 15.20 she goes to rainbows and returns at 17.00, at 18.20 she goes to judo and returns at 19.40. ie, I get to see v little of her on my day free, and I MISS HER! especially today when crappy with migraine, and the heat really hit me just as she was about. we played castle keep and did violin practice, but that was about it. bleurgh. at bedtime we have nearly finished the orchard book of arthur and the round table [a good book, but it couldn’t really follow on to michael morpurgo’s fab gawain and seem fab]

BB and I have had plenty of time together, and BB is also a delight more often than a tantrum throwing stroppy 3 year old! today we sowed loads of seeds together, watered and potted on [some things might not survive!], she then chose to play with pattern blocks with me for ages [and i had to be careful to only do the allowed bits!] and then we made towers and walls with the wooden bricks. being still dirty from the seeds, we had a bath.
She started getting a bit, well, 3 so we went outside for a run, and read a book all about tigers. i made lunch in time for SB’s return home, but i think the outside bit was the last straw for the migraine i was desperately pretending wasn;t there, so i had to lie down for a bit - grr - in a cool room. cue much wailing and jumping on me to see if better yet. however, chris got out paddling pool and as the temp in the shade became more bearable, i sat out and we narrated stories for each other - BB mostly being a crocodile!

sorted tea and BB then watched a MSB and to bed, SB returned and watched MSB and to bed, and chris has gone out. SB not settling v well, as not used to daddy out.

it is rather fabulous to be at le weekend at last. its also rather typical that where we wanted really brill weather - last weekend and next, it was cold and will be [don’t tell michelle!!] and this weekend of doing nothing it is so fabulous we have even put on suncream!

got up nice and early. merry had stayed over last night, which was also lovely, so we had got to do some gossiping and general chatting. she left pretty early this morning [well for us anyway!] so we were at least up with the larks. BB was anyway, SB stayed asleep and was much put out to find our guest gone.

no time for slacking though! a quick whizz through maths on her part, and BB doing dots to dots on poisson rouge. then piano and violin practice, then some crafting outside. we seem to have rather a lot of unfinished crafts, so will perhaps attempt to finish some before we start new ones!! There are the crocodiles still in progress. today we used 4pt milk to decorate up as animals - gleefully nicked idea from the pig at the manor borns. BB has done [drumroll please] a dinodoor!! SB is in the process of making liz the lizard from MSB. we sat outside on a rug. oh, i do like the outdoor HE!
a picnic lunch outside - woohoo!! then to the church where they were doing a bit of history of the village. more interesting for me and chris, moderately so initially for sb, and minimally for bb. they all liked the aerial shots, and spotting our house in photos though. on return we did a bit more french words - this time la maison book. TBH, these are v basic, with little context, but we pop a sentence around them and think the french sounds, so i am sure they are going to help! BB did some alphabet work as well. We also looked at a DK 4 book about dinosaur bone hunters.
Back and chris sorted out the paddling pool for the girls and they had a splash around for a bit. rather cold water though, so not enthusiastic for a great length of time! then a bit of tv whilst they warmed up - charlie and lola made a comeback! when I went outside, the pool seemed to have half emptied, and yess, huge hole!! it is the first time it has been used. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

we had tea infront of dinotopia, which both girls really enjoy. i think it is confusing the extinct thing for BB, oh well! she has been pretending to be a meeteater dinosaur and grring from behind furniture - rofl!

just a little one as i am seriously on edge - management meetings. i am just not the right type!

Anyway, the girls had a busy day, going to nots and tots, with a bit of french and a bit of latin amongst other things. SB did a piano practice as well.

when i got home they both wanted to do a craft, so some cards for fran are half made! Sb has used a stamping kit, and bB and i have done wax splodges so far. we had candles out for a bit of demonstrating that there was air and you can use it up.[bb is particularly keen on speriments] SB also did some maths. we all read a bit more of these baby french books [they are v much for 2’s but they are quick, and we try and do a sentence with the words, today we were eating or not eating various foods!] SB and BB watched some how things work based on the DK books, which they both enjoyed [and yes, some MSB] . Sb playd some chess, and read some 3rd grade detectives books.

hmm, i am trying to back flickr, blog, think about important meeting tomorrow at work etc etc, and multitasking is not compatible with BB awake. gorgeous though she is.

Anyway, we all got up, CHris to SB to drama, unfortunately he was running late and they went to the wrong venue. it is far enough away that there was much sighing! she got to half of it anyway.

meanwhile BB and I were having a much more satisfactory time. we started off playing silly games - hide and seek frog etc, then did some seed sowing. BB quite keen to do more experiments with seeds, so we have put some different ones to chit and we will see which one germinates first. [more details on gardening blog] after we had done that we did some ‘match and sort’ with singapore 1a. she enjoys this as v easy!! [though she did say she wanted to do SB’s book…] and we read one of the very starter french books on colours again.

Still desperately keen to do ’speriments, i got out an air book, so we saw how we could blow air on each other [degenerated a bit!] and then [b******, FORGOT ABOUT THE LINK THING AND JUST PUBLISHED. THIS IS WHERE I LAST SAVED!] i impressed myself with making some really good aeroplanes.

lunch and SB home. she wanted me to show her her piano hands afterwards, so we did a piano practce, then a violin. BB joined in the violin practice - always tricky! Both girls did afrench book with me on clothes and then ordered crystal experiments, so we set them up - very brave of me to handle chemicals with BB! SB read all the safety warnings v carefully. she remembered that we had hung the rock from string before, and wanted to repeat that, so we did.

Rainbows for SB - feels that there is no time for me in her current wed timetable, so will have to change that. A surprise visit by chris parents, so i made tea and dinner at the same time [grin] and got them to read [and i won’t link this time!] Katie and the dinosaurs and Digging up dinosaurs. we then read a red nose reader together before she wanted to bake pink cupcakes with smarty eyes. so we did. SB returned in time for the lickings, and we said goodbye to grandparents.

Bath, tea, BB bed, SB playing in garden, me potting up seedlings. SB bed. Apprentice, apprentice you’re fired and BB awake. playing drawing birds and dinosaurs with BB and looking at flickr pics of her as a baby. the end!!

chris had minor op this am - all well

his parents came and supervised. SB quickly rattled off maths, handwriting and piano. lots of games then with nana and grandad.

when i came home she got out a fossil find kit we had picked up from a museum, and enjoyed doing that. BB separated sand and iron filings using a magnet [maganet] and v much enjoyed that. she suprised me by using the word evaporated correctly. she also used her maganet [maginfying glass this time!] to look at plastic spider in more detail. SB off to ballet, BB and i read books and played games, and then stuc straws together to make panpipes. SB off to swimming [where her stroke has gone back to ‘unusual’!] came home to find nina and neurons in progress.

At SB request, box books have swapped from explorers to science books with experiments in.

its the musical monday thing, it makes me feel all alliterative!

we did have a wonderful weekend though, as we went and stayed with the manor borns, went to st georges day at wrest park on the sat and geocaching and bird walk on the sun. i would link, but blog being awkward on those kind of things! so thanks to our host family
so, st georges day [actually don’t even dare a bold!]. we were eonly 30 mins behind schedule, and although later than the manorborns, we were still one of the first arrivals. and no surprise because it was COLD. I felt v sorry for re-enactors and EH, as they must have made a massive loss. we still had fun though. SB and Chloe were actors in all 3 performances from rosie bottom and the variously named male actor [will ilink to their company eventually!]. they were excellent as usual, and the children all had great fun. SB giggled her way being lots of diff roles, and Chloe was a v proud horatio. I think they were the best bit of the day! Though actually the fire jugglers were great. SB had some fun dancing with some re-enactors, and also messing about with pikes etc. We watched some displays, and did some sheltering from cold and wet in the orangery. EH did a roaring trade in gloves and hats, and sold out! BB not so enthusiastic, so we spent quite a bit of time playing races around the rather beautiful gardens. kept me nice and warm anyway!

went back for dinner, cheffed in style by marcus. the girls played loads of games, and mostly kept themselves happy. following their bedtime, we played carcasonne with river, and really enjoyed that until 2!

so we were all rather subdued the next day! but did geocache walk - and found it! so our faith in marcus’s gadget using is undimmed. we then were going to do a customary walk around bird place, but decided to make it a bit shorter, like parental tempers! [i improved after flapjack]. lovely walk though, bluebells nearly out, lots of discussion on growing things etc, lots of bird sounds and some nice photos. we also eventually figured how to do that one game 2 ds thing [shame they have such hopeless parents, we did twitter, but none of the obvious experts twittered back, and we eventually had to be resourceful!]
home our separate ways, so we collapsed into a little chef as thought girls would keel over, and met the deependers having a similar thought following their warmer version of st georges day. car games there and back were in french - shouting out colours of cars!

usual work day, i think cloning might be in order - though hopefully i could have the version where they forgot to clone the body fat, and that is just halved between my doubles! so having done my duty, driving home i thought i should try and do a music practice with SB [usually i feel a bit up for nothing] so i did, and we had a lovely piano practice together [we don’t do these often enough!] then, whils waiting for dinner, i got some really easy first steps in french books and SB, BB and myself chanted words for farm animals, practiced saying if we would want one or not, and if we wanted an enormous one or a little one. SO feeling better that have done what they want!!

not sure what else they did with the day. SB did some french earlier, they had model crocodile making equipment out on the table! def some magic school bus watching!

After tea, sb and I watched the second half of the european womens gymnastics, which she really really enjoyed. telling me how one days he would be watching e and r, as they were v clever and were going to be in competitions! oh and that fran would be excellent at the floor! she read some of her new earth book [ours a fraction of cost as ex library!] mainly the volcano section, and the read to me the magic tree house hawaii one. following on from the fab gawain book, sb wanted some more king arthur, and we happend to have an orchard books legend of king arthur, so have started reading that to her. it is a nice read, but morpurgo def a better man with words! as i left, she was reading a chapter of the magic school bus volcano.

looking forward both to our st georges day weekend, and also to out camping trip at the bank hols

Morning, off to the Library. SB on her inline skates, BB on scooter. So took much longer given SB’s skating speed at the moment. BB very funny, she is very much into mad scootering at the moment. Zooming along shouting madly, she was scootering along, going ‘look I can steer’ when she crashed straight into a telegraph pole

Library, storytime for BB - SB sits and reads other things now, a bit of craft sticking making tulip pictures. which BB insisted we bring home and put up over the cooker taking down old artwork. Finding some more books - SB brought home 9!! Mr Men books. I told her she would have to read them all herself as i wasn’t going to read them (really dislike the Mr Men books), a bit of nattering and home.

Met Trish, other HE mum and child C in library, and they came back a bit later for coffee/lunch and playing. Trying to play indoors didn’t quite work, but decamping to the garden and the sun was much more successful.

After they’d departed they made birthday cards for Helen, and wrapped presents. SB had to go over the road and buy some more wrapping paper. except for crossing the road (which she can do fine at the zebra crossing, but just likes you to watch her in case she isn’t sure about it) she manages such shopping trips OK. BB stuck a strip of paper together and wrapped it up to make what was apparently a fish for Mummy.

SB got on with some more Getty and Dubay handwriting, followed by some maths. Stuff on money (Dollars and Cents - it’s Singapore maths, but it’s all decimal so she’s happy with that) all pretty easy stuff. Was a litle stuck on what writing say 65c in Dollars meant and why it was $0.65 - she got the hang of it though. Though I mad a bad job of trying to explain decimal points. which reminded me we need to do stuff stuff on fractions reallys.
Meanwhile BB played one of those impenetrable 3yo kiddie games with a seemingly random selection of objects, in this case something like a teaspoon, a plastic dinosaur, a plastic tub, a pair of nail clippers and wooden lolly stick.

I did stuff like get dinner going, hanging up washing etc.

Sat and read a bit (of one of the numerous new Book People books) of a book about Rainforests, which some how involved a conversation on rabbits eating their own poo They then sat and read some of their library books before dinner.

we are awaiting the ending of an ebay auction which we would have liked to have won. we have placed a max which is low, but reasonable, but is obviously lower than the reserve. i hate reserve auctions. i refuse to ‘bid up’ to see where the reserve is. And I think in this case it was obviously at something unrealistic, as we are nowhere near our max bid yet. grumble grumble moan moan!!

we had a playdate today with rainbows friend [RR for short]. she was obviously in a bit of a weird mood from the start, dropped off by her mum early in a tearing hurry [our girls stilll in pj’s!] (Note From Chris: Early here was 10.20 )they started playing ok, but after a bit our girls keen to go outside and enjoy sun, couldn’t understand why RR not so keen. but apparently she had watched a film on volcanoes. we prob live in one of the least likely areas for a surprise volcano in the world! it was oK if she wore S’s clothes though, and I went out too. fair enough, i sowed some seeds and interacted in minimalistic reassuring fashion. [a tsunami would be much more of a worry really]. SHe’s a lovely girl really though, just caught on an ‘unusual’ day - and no more off planet than SB can be. However, she did graze herself on slide, so i carried her in and settled her in front of magic school bus, and upset mine by insisting they watch it with her. pizza decorate yourself for lunch perked things up, and then after lunch i did an ad hoc weaving with scoobido fish dreamcatcher thing - which sort of went ok, BB and RR both gave up, and i finished theirs, but they tod me which colours and when to put pony beads on. SB did hers beautifully, but with a fair tension on it, so it is more of a tube fish!

BB showed RR her magnets, and a long discussion about magnets ensued, and a bit of iron detectiving. am planning to do some magnet stuff tomorrow. wish i had sorted out stuff to make an electromagnet, maybe next time. the older ones prob know it all already. hmmm

they went off and played happily for a bit, then a something or other, and I ended up hugging RR and chris SB whilst watching magic tree house and eating apricot scones [lovely] . so peace and happiness returned, chris and sb walked her home, and played for a bit there, as she was much happier back on home turf [obviously being about 200m away, no risk of volcanoes!]

BB and I did other bits and pieces together during the day. she was still wailing about lost dinodoors [if anyone goes to magna, or anywhere else that sells them, could we pay you for a 50p stretchy lizard?] so we made some about of fimo - a t -rex and 2 babies, that could also be eaten! we then went on to make the yummy apricot scones. mmmmm. We read alot of books together, and did some counting and guessing starts of words, and lots of singing. we also made a fish out of airdrying clay, whcih she insisted had a sad mouth [like prunella scales in that supermarket advert!]
Chris picked up BB from the floor at some point in the afternoon, and she really hurt her arm. not a dramatic pick up or anything, but she was really tearful, and held it as if broken. i checked all over and it seemed fine, so calpoled. after an hour of no mvt i decided we should go to have it xrayed, and she wailed and stormed she wasn’t going, and suddenly it was fine to push me away with it etc. yep, it isn’t broken!

anyway, relaxed bed time. chris has started on peter pan with SB, and we played battleships for our evening game.

well, SB reading loads- we got given some animal arks, and she has loved them, and read loads of them. also she has read the sonlight third grade detectives, all the magic tree houses, and all the magic school bus chapter books i had so far, and also horrid henry. these are all nice easy reading books for her. she has stretched herself with reading ballet shoes again, but 21 balloons was a bit difficult [well, its language is quite ornate!]. so i have bought some more 3rd grade detectives and magic school bus from amazon, as well as a couple of other things…

SB has done an enchanted learning booklet about african animals, [nearly a lapbook!!] and continued to read the ‘box books‘ about them [she chooses something to be interested in and we together find books around that and stick in the box for her to find and read as and when she fancies] she also wanted some explorer stuff, so a couple of explorer books threw themselves into the amazon basket too [all that disappointment from non-tent buying as we can’t find a khyam ridgipod porch, and geting the rest without doesn’t make sense for us]. She has regularly done her maths, still a fair bit of webkinz. oh, and although short we have done a lot of violin practice together, and she has done piano independently, and some with today. i think she prefers the piano at the mo, well, there is no setting up to do.

BB has continued her dinodor fest, and with chris has started to make a papier mache landscape for them to live in, she got 2 more from Merry as part of my bonus spending. SB bought herself castle keep, so we have played that every evening, and she is getting very good at it. in fact, if you click on the links, you can see my order at the mo! SB and BB have obviously got a bit more of a surprise coming! BB also been entirely fixated by watching magic school bus, though have persuaded her to let me read her lots of dinosaur themed books [katie and dinosaurs, picturepedia dinosaurs, various dinosaur fact books]

they went on an egg hunt today - as chris twittered, it wasn’t entirely successful…

after a really lovely, but emotionally challenging easter, i have found relaxing and sleeping difficult, so having overslept this am, i declared duvet day.

[oh, just in case chris doesn’t blog, he and sb did loads of map related things yesterday, as well as library and a power cut]

so, when i got up, they were breakfasting [and SB was reading at the same time] BB and i did jigsaws, read books [with a bit of alphabet and number recognition] and tickled. SB did some maths and made and wrote in a birthday card for my dad using paintshop. crafts was a clear request from BB, so i got out an easter craft we hadn’t got round to at my parents, and painted easter window decs. still having glass paint, we then painted some of our takeaway boxes - bb plans to put dinodoors in hers!

BB and i read about birds [another fascination of her is eggs], and SB read a ‘box book’ about why tigers have stripes. SB and i played about with violin practice, and then a viola that mum has given me so that i can play a lower line than before. i realised that although i have messed about with a cello, i have never played the viola before. BB baked scones with chris, and we enjoyed them as a snack afterwards.

we all looked at our science growing experiments. the ones in the dark had grown very tall to try and find light, and had pale leaves [but still tasted ok], the ones in the fridge had only just started to sprout, the dry ones hadn’t done anything, and we have topsy turvied the bean, and discussed the effect of gravity. we also started our grow your own mushroom kit. they decided the spore and straw smelled yukky. chris and i rather liked it! lets see if it works [our previous mushroom forays in leeds failed totally]

since it was duvet day, we then watched numerous episodes of magic school bus back to back [thanks to some friends oop north]. i really recommend them. yep, they are in the all pervasive american, but there is a lot of science in there, they use the proper words, and it is still enjoyable rather than worthy. i had BB trying to tell me all about the crabbity zooey ones [zooplankton] following one about food chains in the sea. and i learned something in the how hens eggs are made one!

SB did a bit of education city, and then a lot of webkinz, which she has really got into and enjoys. we also did a good tidy up. so, all in all a very productive duvet day i think! [oh, and we did lots of my favourtie things - like snuggling, cuddling, tickling and laughing]. oh, and chris set fire to the rubber seal on our pressure cooker, as he lit the wrong gas rig - sigh!!! [also cue much choking and spluttering]

i think i must be tired. have found today v difficult. want to wrap in a duvet a hibernate!

chris took sb to drama, which she loved, bb and i played with bricks and blocks, went into garden for a run around, recovered the veg patch where wind had blown off mulch, looked at spring plants and played hide and seek. we watered our seeds in the propagator and looked at how our science seeds were doing.

chris’s parents popped by to drop of easter eggs, and stayed for lunch and afternoon until sb off at rainbows. we did do some violin in that time, and bb did some of her ‘match and sort’ both girls looked at a road safety thing.

i cooked nasi goreng for tea, and realised i was temper challenged when bb wouldn’t eat it as she doesn’t eat rice - since when! so i have taken myself off to the naughty couch, and will eat chocolate and have an early night

today had a raucous wake up call, and both girls were kicked out of our bed and went downstairs to watch raven, until SB complained BB was la-ing too loudly [which she was].

we started with crafts, as both girls keen to hama. SB used the fab gold beads from merry to make a lovely heart. BB also hama-ed a heart and played with the maxi hama too. BB then did a sticking play [bits of polystyrene to other bits!] should bin it soon… kept us all occupied for a bit, with general chatting.

i was reading elsewhere disclaimers on what is blogged, and i have to say that i am presuming people will know that i hug, tickle and play silly games, we talk non stop [like wind tunnel here some days] and there is low to high level sibling bickering depending on what kind of day it is. no, i don’t really know why i blog. perhaps in case i get alzheimers, or if there is some external need to remember? i don’t know whether this blog would actually do what i guess i would most want it to, to say to my girls how much i love them, have always loved them and always will. and that i attempted to be the best parent i was capable of being, and i tried hard! it possibly wouldn’t cos i bang on about what we have done, but i guess that is the focussed HE bit. And yes, because i don’t blog our stream of conversation [which i couldn’t even if i wanted too] i guess this isn’t the full picture either. but, i am this kind of blogger, so this is what you get. i think if you know me you are more likely to fill me and mine around the words, rather than try and make us out of the words?

anyway, we did some work. I have been encouraging bb, in the hopes that stimulation will improve her stroppiness. but trying to balance this against SB’s needs too. SO today BB and i have played alot with the digicolour, done some pre-handwriting practice, done basic counting and matching and sorting, and looked at some letters. She declined violin or recorder practice. we read loads together and sang and did geomags shapes. when SB first had geomags - and for ages afterwards - she mostly used them to make lollipops. BB is entirely different [well, she is about lots of things!] and really wants to make 3d objects - today she made 3d star and a pentagonal house. [3d]

SB and i did a violin practice together, looked at some of the languages section on education city together. SHe also did some handwriting practice and singapore maths. she has read loads of the magic tree house books, so bang goes the plan of reading books around them, as she’s not so keen on re-reading, ho hum! planning to get some magic school bus chapter books and some dk level 4 readers. we get loads of books from library too, but she is a bit of a reading machine. would like some interesting fact based books to offset rainbow fairies and animal ark a bit! SB declined moving and grooving, latin, piano, science kit and barefoot buddhist tales.

both girls did some cbeebies website and colouredsome printouts, and some fighting over the digicolour. [i failed to buy one from sarah years ago!] we had a long discussion about birds as we fed them, and i bought this patio stand to put some of our defender feeders on, as they are hidden in the trees - good for birds, and not so much for watching girls! but it was significantly reduced! [as are some of the bird feeders]

chris doing some more de-ivying around veg bed and a big burn. both girls helped and played with fire [cringe] but no burnings! [bb was keen to discuss burning and dying] they sort of climbed a tree and messed about a bit. prepared for the big storm if it happens by putting toys away. bit concerned as we have plastic bag instead of a pane of glass in the big window, and the conservatory looks like it might fall down if you breathe on it. hmm.

i think that might be it?

oh yes, Sn did a fiar bit of ds-ing, and she is thinking of buying mariokart with her birthday money. we played continuo for our evening game