Cooking

chris and i stayed up a bit too late with playing online agricola with the babs last night [i won - yay!] SB also had a late bedtime, having read a book she then got scared by, so had to have time to read a more comforting book, so was v tired today!

whe we got up, it was snowing - again! and quite hard, but a quick check suggested no snow at merry’s, so the science stuff was gathered and we set off. we were also the firsterers there!! actually, due to a number of circs we were 2 families down and one family up, and that worked pretty well! Did science in dribs and drabs, as it was basically setting it up and then watching what happens.

as we are on a ‘biology’ term, and roughly looking at microbiology, today we looked at yeasts. We have done a fair bit of discussion on and off about bodies, energy sources and then lungs, oxygen and carbon dioxide, so we did a bit of a recap. there was surprise that yeast might be ‘alive’ so this wasn’t a simple chemical reaction. that actually what was happening was the yeast would be using sugar to fuel the division into 2 [actually this is a bit of a simplification, as yeasts actually bud off rather than divide like bacteria] that they are single celled organisisms of funghi. we knew what it was used for, and i briefly touched on the krebbs cycle without naming and shaming it, saying effectively to make the energy, a gas was given off as a waste product. we had quite a talk about the various gas possibilities, but mostly settled on CO2, partly because this is something we breathe out as a waste, and partly because i had brought along some lime water to test for co2!! so we used my beautiful new erlenmeyer beakers and placed 5 spoons sugar, one heaped yeast and 250mls warm water and topped off with a balloon. soon enough this began to fill with ‘the gas’ and then each got a chance to mix ‘the gas’ with lime water - which rather fabulously went cloudy! and also to put a lit match into it - which v satisfactorily immed went out. so we learnt a bit about micro orgs, their needs, and waste products, and how to test for them. fab! this book suits this experiment pretty well, and we read it again earlier this week

I also did some of the sampler sewing - not as well as Merry! Kty did french, the children voluntarily did some music, and Zoe was pasta and tea maker - thanks! there was no snow at merry’s, tho it did snow on and off. we got back well in time for brownies - still snow here!

BB had her face painted and then decided she was tired [she fell asleep in the car on the way home whilst SB and I sang along to serge - above] and watched star wars whilst i snoozed.

SB was at brownies making valentines biscuits and then judo. this is the game of 2 halves, as this owl has a very brusque and brisk nature, and is just one of those busy women who perhaps SB isn’t so used to. so she asked to get changed in her toilet [it was at the big house for cooking] and j agreed, but whilst she was doing it, she was called for, and couldn’t hear so then got told off. then found someone else had taken her biscuits as they looked nicer, which she had made for me. SO loads of tears. Arrgh. I know she was prob stressed, but this isn’t the first time SB has cried. And yes Sb wears her heart on her sleeve and has no thickness of skin to speak of, but i do think that this being so a bit of compassion over the taken biscuits and actually, since sb had asked to change in the loo… oh well. we had a long discussion about different folks, and that j would prob be surprised that that exchange had made sb cry… btw Merry and katy, SB says she just isn’t used to shouty ppl as we and you don’t shout! Anyway, lots and lots of hugs on return, watching magic school bus inside ralphie episode, and to bed as a happy girl again.

before we get to today, i thought i would just like to say i went out to a restaurant both monday and tuesday! monday with chris, as girls at nanna’s so we made the most of the evening by going out to a local turkish, which was delish! tuesday was work night out at a chinese-malaysian - mucho yummy! had mock peking duck for the first time and liked it [have always steered a bit clear of the mock things!] must take chris there, it was near where the deependers live so would recommend it, tho a bit on the pricy side! mind you, the non veggies all had lobster as one of the courses, so i am guessing if i had been with chris it might have been half that price!

and so to wed, thought would raise christmas cheer with the science, and thinking hard for a good end of year finale, decided on crystal structure! went really well. we looked at crystals with SB’s rather fab microscope

now, this has mixed reviews, so anyone considering one, i think digital with usb port is a fab thing, it works quickly and easily and the laptop we run it on is our oldest one. the x200 doesn’t have enough light, so i agree there, but if you see one of these going cheap, snap it up, as far more fun than something you have to look down eyepieces for! all the children were v interested in it, from the v youngest, and it was quite some time before BB declared boredom! tho i notice that when they moved to slides, she was still watching!

we discussed crystals, how they form, and that if i had a powerful enough microscope [they don't do toy electron microscopes yet!] we could have seen the actual crystalline structure - which we discussed! then, whilst gina did music theory we them, i prepared my ace card - we made the crystalline structures out of maltesers held with royal icing. great fun! enjoyeed thoroughly by all, and hoping that they might remember some of them [i said them till blue in face!] simple cube, face centered cube, body centred cube, hexagonal close packed. and here are some examples!

actually it was a busy session and v much enjoyed by all. Gina also did bells with the big’uns and clarinet with the SB. Merry continued with sewing samplers with everyone - remarkably patient with all the needle traumas! BB also remarkably patient with hers. katy did latin christmas carols [well, latin translations!] and french and also boiled sweetie window biscuits. All went down really well, lots of happy laughing kids learning lots.

we were not only first to arrive [as hadn't seen any morning emails!] but also first to leave, as BB wanted to go to the rainbows christmas party. she didn’t join in any game, but when we ate, a girl sat with us, and they got on well, as she was really outgoing and friendly. not sure if bb will ever go to rainbows again, but she was much happier having had this interaction. i think she is just much younger than the others - prob directly due to home educating as we don’t push the outward facing thing.

SB had brownies party afterwards, which apparently didn’t have enough games. we watched doctor who, a crazy long bath was had, and the day was done.

chris and the girls had a busy end of week whilst i was away on a lovely course at Madingley Hall in cambridge. v fab!! I got to start an new book there, which i am REALLY enjoying.

on thurs they went into town and had a bit of a shop. SB is on the lanky side, so has great difficulty in finding trousers that stay up without having to bunch lots of material up either with with elastic or belts. so they popped in to next, and a small fortune later she is really happy! BB had boot heaven at clarke’s, but SB not so fortunate, as with an E fitting there seems to be no shoes for her. the specialist shop in town seems to have closed down, so a bit more of a search is in order i remember this from my childhood! They then went onto a home ed friend for a playdate before rushing back for gym.

friday. ah yes, a home ed visit to a local orchard. a yearly event where the rather long suffering owner drives round the home ed rabble on a wagon hitched to the tractor!! i have been before, and it is excellent. he is v informative, the children get to try different apples, including new varieties and old trusted, and also see the sorting bit. he makes juices as well. SB came back with armfuls. BB had her footie lesson later on and then both happy to see me we have found the yoga dvd, and both girls rather cutely did it. SB and i both had a giggle reading the bagthorpe saga - our bedtime story. SB has decided she is rather good at doing trances - i v much agree, having seen her trance for over 30 mins doing one maths sum!!

Saturday. we started with the quest seekers presentation at the library. a bit weirdly it started by a speech about how hard reading was and why most children don’t choose to do it - this may be true, but seemed an odd start to the thing. and anyway, mine love reading, and i imagine a fair number of the other questseekers do too!! BB won the questseeker raffle and got a little ball game thingy, and in the book sale i bought SB 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles for 30p each - a bargain! also persuaded someone else to buy Azincourt, which i really enjoyed. we posted some postcrossing postcards on the way home and put up our world map with the received ones.

SB has done a fair bit of piano practice over the last 2 weeks, so we had a ‘lesson’ together, and she is really moving forward. i am hoping that the speed of progress when she practices might persuade some more practice!! we did some recorder duetting as well, which we both like. whilst sb did some other home ed stuff - maths and music theory - bb and i played with her farm animals. i think i might neeed to practice at this, as i am less and less fond of playing with things! SB got out a tescos elecetric fan kit, which she put together quite happily - bit like this one Ein-o’s Box Kit Electric Motor Electric Science. we then had a lovely time making cards for chloes birthday party.

Merry having rung, we realised to take an alternate road work free route!! and arrived second at the pool venue, in time to give a very pregnant Jax a hug! and for Big and SB to exuberantly greet each other, before all those staying at the manor arrived too. i loved the pool, a great depth baby pool for bb to manically swim in. as an aside, her swimming is really coming on - although it is still more drowning with style, the backstroke is particularly good! scarily, she actually dived in twice - eek! luckilly bellyflopping rather than smashing head on the ground. i got to chat to the babs a bit! the bigger girls were being crazy in the bigger pool, though SB, big and E were mostly playing with the floats rather than the long floaty obstacle course.

lovely time, i love swimming!! [though i actually didn't get to do much, mostly kept an eye on crazy bb!!] party tea at the venue and lots of the blogring were in attendence! said hello again to michelle’s friend B, who i have met before and like v much! [she should blog you know!!] the cake cutting was a crazy moment!! back to the manor and wine and chat and relaxing until suddenly it was midnight, and we drove home to the sound of kids snoring!

sunday [btw having to blog with left hand only bb asleep on me and sb snuggled up also, watching jungle book - hard!!] anyway, i had planned to go to west stow for a reenactment weekend, but i had an unsettled night with lots of v unsettling themed dreams so had a lie in to recover - as did SB from having a late night. bb was up early tho. so i was a bit put out to have ‘ruined’ the day, but recovered! i discussed with the girls what fun things they wanted to do, and SB wanted to make the viking flatbread that was in the young archaeologists magazine. could i find it anywhere??? nope!! luckilly google to the rescue. the recipe galled for buttermilk tho… so we have made our own butter and topped up the amount of buttermillk with the first ‘washing’. we did do some of the butter in a jamjar for authenticity!! but the rest we did in the food processor, and is now in the freezer! SB then made the dough for the viking shardbread. we made one batch with honey, and the other with herbs, tried some each, but froze the rest to take to history group next friday and hopefully rewarmed there!! tasted delicious!! BB did some painting and stamping happily whilst we did this.

SB and i played bohnanza and landlock, she played castle keep with chris. i played an extremely long game of farm animals with BB. SB and i got the solar panels that we won on ebay to power a knex motor tried out, and thought what we might try and build - but didn’t! instead BB did some fimo-ing - piggies - and SB hama-ed some witches hats and we are all out of black. i seem to be constantly ordering from bead merrily!! think i might save up the order though!! i used some left out and hardening hama to make eyballs, teeth and worms beads for a scary halloween necklace! [having grumped at bb for starting something months ago and then doing no more so the fimo was dodgy!! Although our present to chloe had sparked some interest from SB, we didn’t actually get round to doing watercolour painting. nor the piano, maths and ballet practice we had planned. oh well!!

hoping for an early bedtime for the girls, but have, unfortunately, woken bb up, so not sure when she might fall asleep again! but an early out tomorrow.

today we did a lot of splashing in and out of the pool. even i went in. it wasn’t as hot as yesterday, but by the time i had hoed the veg patch, i really needed to cool down! oh, and SB cooked poached eggs for breakfast - fantastic.

last weekend apparently cousin m told sb that when he does really well, he gets a mars bar. she wanted to know what the home-ed equivalent was. hmm, we said, what do you think? so she has got the timetable idea out again, and if she does 2/3 of what is on there, she gets her mars bar. some of the splashing today has therefore been the tears when we pointed out we could see she had ticked off things she hadn’t done. claims that someone else had done that were discarded. also tears of ‘completing’ her english [section 3.1 of galore park] when i opened to find it wasn’t. it took an hour to complete it. we aren;t autonomous, but we are child led and normally we don’t have battles over what to do, and especially with wailing thrown in. but fibbing about it to me changes the goal posts. once she was done, she was all happiness and light, so it obviously wasn’t so traumatic after all.

things that sb did happily were: singapore maths - giggle at it suddenly becoming newsworthy!; music theory - having finally found again the My First Theory Book! listening to me read The Story Of the World - the Middle Ages V 2 (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Paperback)): Middle Ages v. 2 about the taking of constantinople and some french words about animals.

BB has also been busy HE wise. although i was tempted to ‘give them stuff to do’ and the read a book, i felt i owed it to us all to actually interact, so grabbed a science kit for BB, and she LOVED it. it is now her kit, as too simple for sb. it is a first electric kit, and she followed the pictures rather than the written instructions, with a bit of help, and made a circuit with a light, and then a motor, which whizzed cards on it and blended the colours - more excitement. but what was so fab was her total thrill and enjoyment that she COULD do it!

both girls made very glittery cards for my sisters birthday at the end of the week. am a bit stalled over what to do as a present. what do you get? hmmm. flip camera? digital photo frame? john lewis vouchers [snort!] just dunno. the cards, however, will give a lasting impression - certainly to the carpets! sb in particularly spent ages getting it just how she wanted.

we did lots of messing in the pool though. bb is being v adventurous in that not quite swimming way. sb learnt to swim by drowning under water and then standing to breathe, and i think this is bb’s technique too. she jets under water and then stands up, breathes, and does some more. she is booked into a 2 week intensive swimming course this summer [my word!] and might be able to swim after that! i love the fact that she went on that they would have to have her somewhere shallow as she had v short legs - so she does. SB is quite the water wild child, and having great fun twisting, rolling and cavorting in the water. i also got lots of cuddles. good!!

last week i was lucky enough to swan off to a conference to lake como. we ate at good restaurants and learnt a lot in a good conference. the hotel was way out of town though, and getting back from the station, it was safest to walk along the railway tracks of the goods yard… not something you expect really to do! the only day out trip to belagio was lovely. I did, however, spend the entire conference getting more and more worried about little nanny, she had seemed to be getting better monday and tues, but by thurs things were not rosy, and on fri i knew active treatment had been withdrawn, and i just wanted to get home.

so having travelled all sat, i was welcomed home by a fantastic hug and cuddle from my girls. migrainous and travel sick on discussion with mum, i was encouraged [tho didn't need much] not to set straight out. so we snuggled, watched dr who, ate curry and made an early night.

not too quick off the mark to go out, and was rung to say i was too late after all. i feel dreadful that i didn’t re-prioritise things and see little nanny that last time to kiss her goodbye. prob silly, as she had slipped into a morphine sleep by saturday. but… so as no longer visiting, imposed on the manor borns to keep me sane.

we had a lovely, tho v lazy rspb walk, and have had to promise C i will do better next tine the kids appeared to have fun anyway, and bb was being particularly gorgeous really. all 3 played together without any major kerfuffles throughout the evening too, and after a lovely relaxed meal we went home to pop all of us straight to bed.

and so today, we were going to norfolk, and then not as it was a getting documents day [i have 2 days compassionate leave] and instead going tomorrow. [later and later]. so we decided to do fun things, like baking. we all got up v late, had brekkie v late, and then sb made brownies from *her* recipe book, and bb and i made a yummy choc sponge. the girls then played with silly string until it ran out. BB wanted to read a french book Lucy Cat at the Beach: Lucie Chat a La Plage (Lucy Cat) falls off perch in surprise, but agreed! SB did a verbal reasoning book and then read It’s Elementary: Putting the Crackle into Chemistry (Dk Reference) and wants to try and turn her urine into phosphorus now.

more playing, and we made pictures with light reactive paper, Sun Print Paper, which i remember enjoying as a child, and we did today. SB off to ballet, and BB and i did some pond dipping, and then retired to watch donald duck. on SB’s return, we made another cake from her recipe book Marie Claire Kitchen and had ken hom vietnames stew for dinner [SB's favourite dinner in fact]

SB and I then looked at some tiny pond bugs that i had captured with her digital microscope. slightly tricky as they kept whisking about, but she did manage to take some photos. No idea what they were. very speedy though!

anyway, tomorrow to norfolk. thanks everyone for your good wishes and thoughts, I have REALLY appreciated it.

Well, I guess with Helen away most of the week in Italy ata conference it was never going to be a normal week, but still. I had vagur idea that I would try to keep the week fairly empty, have a relaxed time, get some housey jobs done etc. But was not to be.

Funeral

Monday was my Uncle Robert’s funeral, and we were all going.  My Dad has stopped driving now, as it is just too painful for his arm to steer the car. A tad annoying really when you onky functioning arm stops functioning properly. So I hired an MPV to take us all , plus my neice Liana down to the funeral.

I relalised on the Sunday, that I didn’t really have anything to wear, at least in the legwear stakes. So headed to Tesco first thing on the way to get car to find something. Ended up with a suit, which was fine, except that in the shop it just looked black/grey next to all the others. In the daylight when I  it was a more browny colour, nice enough, but not quite what I had intended. Ah well.

Funeral was, in the context of funerals, good. Some affecionate and moving speeches from a Son-in-law and a couple of other people who knew him well. Some proper hymns to have a good sing to (if you are going to go to church I really think you need to have some proper hymns to sing) and a few hugs and tears. SB managed fine. BB mostly sat on the floor of the pew and coloured, but she was tired, and started to complain of being hot etc. in the church. But didn’t want to go outside with Helen, but fell a sleep after a bit.

The coffin was wrapped in a big picture of a steam train, and the organist played the theme tune to Thomas the Tank Engine at the commital at the crematorium - get the theme here

He was a good man, with a strong faith. It does seem sad that after waiting years for a grandchild they probably had given up on getting, he only got to spend a couple of years with her. If you are somewhere else now Uncle Robert, I hope it is as good as you would have hoped it was.

After refreshments I had to take Stringbean over to Birchanger Services where I handed her over to Michelle. She was going to stay with them for 2 nights whilst she did a Sailing training course. I then headed back to my Aunts house for a bit. Took Helen to the tain station so she could go and stay in some posh hotel room at Heathrow. Eventally the remnants of the party headed back to our house, where we all went to bed pretty much straight away.

Tuesday

More driving about.

Took hire car back, did a bit of shopping, had hair cut, sat in cafe and drunk coffee, read The Gruaniad without any children - bliss Home to find Butterbean has been spending Grandads money. Take parents and liana back to their house. stay there until time to take BB to her football class. True to form she did manage to somehow knock her head within the first 10 minutes - so ws of woith an injury having a cuddle.
But did convince her to go back and do some more . She almost finished the rest, but stopped part way through the short game they have at the end. She doesn’t like this bit as she can hardly ever get the ball, and if she does it gets tackled away fro her in no time. So basically runs around a bit and then gets bored

Had dinner at the cafe there, a bit of TV and then bed for her. SB rang up from the Old Manor, upset becuase she had bashed her toe (a classic SB-ism) and wanted to come home. This wasn’t really that practical as they are an hours drive away and there was just me, and anyway I expected her to get over it and she did it sounds like. I guess this is something you need to learn to deal with really.

Wednesday

Out again. via the Park and Ride, where we met the Patch of Puddle gang on the bus, and then were reunited with SB in town. We were going to The Cloth Place, a project by Big wide Talk, the took over 2 floors of a lovely old building, that was a shop. Filled it with all sorts of cloth things - animals, vegtables, food, various props, and the kids get to use it how ever they want as long as they don’t hurt each other and repsect the stuff. I forgot the camera but borowed Michelle’s. She has been more organised than me and posted some piccies.

It was great fun Afterwards we had a picnic in the park, including a good strop by BB as she chose a drink, and then wanted to change it after it had all been paid for and I said no. We then went to the Archaeology museum, which I’ve not been to before. And had an interesting hour there.

Then back on the bus to head home, SB to brownies and general flopping abolut until dinner and bedtime.

Thursday

Yup out again. Kids all tired, and not wanting to get up.  Off to Tots and Nots, only really went becuase it was the 3rd and last of three sessions that SB has done on philosophy. They were finishing early as they were off to the Coth Place again. Then into the car, and the hour or so’s drive to my parents to leave them with BB. A short time there, then off again to take Sb to gym. They have started building work there and there isn’t much space on the balcony anymore so rather than be hot and squashed I popped into town, a little bit of shopping and another peaceful coffee

Home dinner, played a game with SB, a bit of TV and bed.

Friday

Not out

SB has commented that she gets given stuff to do while we do something else (!).  With all the other boring stuff of life that get in the way and never seem finished (housework, washing etc. etc.) I find myself ending up putting stuff off with them, so decided not to spend today tidying the house (sorry H) and spent mucho time with SB whlst BB was awayPottered about in the morning, a modicum of housework, reading and playing a game with SB, plenty of music practice. SB cooked lunch, where she learnt how to cook scrambled egg on toast. Then we spent all afternoon working on a project she has been wnting to do for the last few weeks. I won’t say what as it might give the game away for someone, but involved much sawing and nailing and gluing.

Once we had finished what we could, we needed to get a couple of bits, so off to the DIY shop. Then we decided to find somewhere to ahve dinner for a treat. Realised that we don’t go out in the evening much and din’t really know what was around that would have things SB might like. But found a pleasant Italian place, and a dinner with just the two of us, which was also rather pleaant.

Home, to SB’s bed time and me trying to blog a bit of the week, which I’ve managed just about  - shock!!

Shortly we are off to get BB, then this afternoon it is the carnival procession. SB is on the Brownies float and I think she might be doing a ballet display. Helen should be back homw sometime this afternoon as well

we had another fab day today, nipping on a latinetc field trip [ ] to colourbox [as arranged by our field trip organiser] despite dire warnings re parking, there actually was loads. I did park in the wrong place [the place google suggested!] but they said it was OK [i think they thought i was seeing a truancy team] and we walked round in fab sunlight to struggle a bit to actually find the venue - though succeeded!

really enjoyed it [sorting flickr photos prob next week!] as did the girls. they both enjoyed the dark maze best! we started in a room with white spotlights that then changed to the primary light colours and these overlapped etc. I think the kids much to fascinated with shadows to be overwhelmingly bothered re light blends, but we tried! anyway, the loved it, particularly lobbing penguins around. we then moved to the dark maze. michelle and i tried to get through it first before the kids with torches, and nearly succeeded. it was absolutely entirely pitch black, and i did enjoy it. the kids also raced through, and bb was v proud when she went through on her own without torch!

then into the white room, and played with light boxes and prisms - my fav! making rainbows, splitting light and then bouncing it around mirrors and trying to join it back up. we adults had endless fun. to be fair the kids did too, before going back to dark maze to play a wild ghost game. def recommend it, and apparently we get a video too!

everyone came back to ours, which was lovely. lots of playing in the garden [must remove pirate ship before weekend!] and adult chatting. SB and chloe cleaned the garden furniture, and then in true apprentice style [DOH! I missed it tonight!!] realised they hadn’t agreed a price structure in advance. cleverly they tried to get chris to sign without reading a document - but failed, canvassed adults on the appropriate price, and i agreed to pay them double what i thought the job was worth, and half what they thought! a good lesson!! eventually just kirsty and kids who are staying over. Kirsty laughed at me lots as i cleaned [and moaned about it!] the kitchen cabinets and then sorted and cleaned the pantry. i really am not a cleaner. when i do it, i go all mazportico, and concentrate on a minutiae rather than a global pic too!! well, you have all seen my house [i think!] so i guess you are not expecting miracles!!

SB had brownies then judo and BB, m and a all did some fossils with air drying clay [i shew them my fossil collection!!] v late bedtimes, and i have made a v plain and simple veggie pasta bake for the weekend

we went to Leicester space centre today to have a look around. the journey wasn’t too bad, and loads of parking. what’s more we could swap our tickets into a year pass and therefore go back again! We ate at their tiny cafe -rather lovely broccoli soup. Going in i was a bit nervous of the number of school parties, but they were easily absorbed. we loved it! there were lots of interactive bits big displays and sound bite info - so easily accessible for SB and BB. I loved the visuals in the planets bit. SB says she loved it all, and BB loved the shop!! the becoming an astronaut bit was good, and the job i was given was… medic!! rofl. We all enjoyed the star show visuals [though def aimed for key stage 2 rather than me!] and enjoyed seeing the rockets and satellites. It was a v visual museum that encouraged exploration and talking about things, and we are keen to go back.

leaving on the later side to get back, we weren’t sure that we would make it to SB’s swimming. luckilly we were just a few moments late, and got to see how much she has improved since I last went. her strokes are all strong and recognisable now, though the butterfly is a bit shaky [i never ever got the hang of it] and her diving was more of a jump/fall! but most impressed.

so finally back home, and i got the choc eggs out to add another layer [they apparently need 4 for best effect] and girls are alternating milk/white [BB] and plain/white [SB]. BB had a few books read, and then we did an eino kit on optics. might need more sun for the pinhole effect!

finally some sylvanians and bed in disgrace for sb when i found the alphabet written in pencil on marble fireplace. TBH wasn’t aware she could write the alphabet out. BB helped me clean, and squirted window cleaner in my eye. i appear to still be able to see.

we have had a busy and productive day here chez haricot. i had today off work - yippee!! and having worked the weekend, decided to use it well - ie stay at home. really i should have gone into town and done some fairly urgent banking stuff, but don’t know where the forms are

SO we thought we would start with a bit of normals. SB keen to show me she had moved onto the next piano piece [i am trying to play this v cool - cf violin!] and she has played it v nicely. BB was a tad jealous, so brought me her maffs to do - so we did that, and SB went onto Junior English Book 1 [we are doing this in tiny bites so on 1.5! but we are at least considering things]. I suggested that for the galore park, that although i am unbothered by her spelling elsewhere, she might want to use the dictionary to spell things for this [cue wails as couldn't find circus]. bb and i did jigsaws and then a marble run and sb did some maths - see we have been productive! then we had lunch

both girls wanted to do some science, but ‘on their own’ and bb chose to investigate magnets and sb an eino burglar alarm that she has done before. after this they fancied craft. BB chose air drying clay and initially made more fossils. SB looked at a Middle Ages Activity Book (Crafty History)
and chose to play 3 mens merrels. we decided it was a fun game, so she has made a board and counters out of air drying clay too. then they have both spent ages sticking jewels into air drying clay as middle ages treasures!!

Now BB is watching magic school bus and SB is at ballet. plan to make some scones when chris comes back with cheese. actually chris been gone a while - might have forgotten and gone into hayloft. hayloft currently has a dead animal aroma [something of a concern] so he is investigating!

edited to complete! we made cheese scones - yummy - as planning to visit science museum wed unless things go pear shaped! BB did a short nice recorder practice and then a v long hideous one, so banned to the stairs!! SB grumpilly did 5 mins recorder practice, and then decided to make up music for me to copy, and then made up some more etc etc so did about 40 mins in the end!! i love the fact she is so unthinkingly confident about making it up, and also often modal rather than modern tonal. much reading - she is working through the roald dahl books she happily got for her birthday.

BB was particularly spectacularly ‘not tired’ at tea tonight and after screaming and shrieking in the pantry for about 10 minutes while we all pretended she didn’t exist, came back and let me feed her before falling asleep at the table - so not tired! tho she woke up and pretended she had been pretending and was again not tired, so we got the whole rigmarole 2ce!

this week does seem a bit busy! there are 3 family birthdays on sequential days, one of which also pancake day, and then a friendly family party at the weekend. we are also having visitors tues and wed - so v sociable. i think i need sociable at the moment. a glass of wine and some opportunity to be not me as it were!!

good news is that the GP has now agreed that i am high risk, and is initially requesting an appt at the geneticists re the various familial breast ca genes, and also, if no joy, would support a request for a bilateral mastectomy - though sounds scarily drastic, so would want to make sure i ponder this rather than knee jerk. A bit weird, because the only thing i think of when i think of a bilat mastectomy is that i couldn’t breastfeed again, and i really enjoyed breastfeeding. as this is not really likely to be an issue! it was the nice [male] GP rather than the annoying female one that assumes everything is my fault because i am fat!!

hmm, the girls were busy whilst i was at work. SB did some piano and some handwriting, as well as make a fimo present for chris. bB, well, bB’d!! when i got home, BB and chris went out for cycling practice and SB and i looked at her eggsperiment. v weird!! the egg lost its shell and felt quite unnerving. we then looked at a Rainforest Adventure (Code Master) book she has loved in the past, and she really loved it again!! we worked out the code again - i surprised myself by remembering it though

when BB came back, we decided to see whether our shell-less egg would bounce, unfortunately it went splat!! i think great experiments are remembered by the failures!! anyway, we put the remaining no-shell egg in water and have seen it gradually swell up. so proven that the shell is the waterproof bit.

hmm, I went to gp [see before] Sb and BB cycled off to ballet for SB and park playing for bb and I made SB’s cake. the girls were a bit wild on return, and didn’t manage to settle infront of that salmon documentary. BB ended the day spectacularly with the amazingest tantrum so far of her life wrt to going to bed. she was still tantrumming about being not tired when she fell asleep… horrible. todays sb game was uno.

yep, i am feeling challenged with title finding! in fact, feeling challenged wrt blogging at the mo. but we have done things, so should do it.

Fri - well, the morning was chris’s - looking at his bright kites [cos thats how i know anything!] SB took ages to do some maths, BB fimo-ed more snowmen [merry, you need to teach her to make something else now!!] and chris tidyed up the room of doom!

chris’s parents came over, and my sister and family on the way back from their family holiday, which was lovely, but we had family news to impart to each other which meant hugs were in order. the kids ran about wildly and then collapsed in front of the tv, we adults drank lots of tea. my sister left, nana and SB played games and me and BB played games. I think we did some french all together, and SB did some piano for nana, i think that was it!!

later that night i consumed too much chocolate. i wish stressful things made me not eat, as i would be really thin rather than really fat.oh, and nana bean went off and did the dcsf consultation!! well done. she did laugh at mine, as i printed it off, and it was a bit ranty!!

Sat - a rude awakening as there was an emergency at work, and although not rostered, it was an all hands affair. so i sobbed all the way home in the car some 3 hours later. i was hoping for a better year this year, but … I will just have to hope for more resilience instead. BB was adorable, and hugged and kissed me loads. SB rolled her eyes, and carried on reading her book [ ? this one Narga the Sea Monster (Beast Quest) i bet the author is laughing all the way to the bank, there's loads of those books, a bit like those rainbow fairies, and SB and other of her friends love them], hmm!! but, proudly, i did then spend the afternoon being at least moderately cheerful, and def interactive!

yep, we were rang by chris’s mum about going out that evening for an early celebration of her 70th at a local italian, so we had no pressies, and set about making them. BB made a fab fimo butterfly pendant, and SB a princess pendant - also fab and took her ages. they painted cards and then both did a painting of a tropical bird for sketch tuesday. i was most impressed as bB did a humming bird how much she seemed to know about them. SB did ‘one of those with hair’ and hers was rather dramatic, and def exotic. we had nearly run out of green paint, so i have overordered paint from baker ross!!

getting into the car, BB realised she didn’t want to part with the butterfly pendant, and instead gave nana bean the snowman she had made the day before. there i was thinking we could make snowmen our geocache theme!! we took flowers.

so we went to the italian and actually the girls were pretty good for the 2 hours we were there - service a bit slow, and waitress obviously new. but they liked the garlic bread and the pizza and ice cream. it is a shame that sb and bb decided to draw toilets and then proceed to scream that quite loudly and BB lost it totally at the end over something trivial, so i carried her out, and then she was sweet as pie again!! bless her, but SB fell asleep in the car on the way home, she is so exhausted and has a bit of a hacking cough. hope it clears up soon.

Sun: i overslept. so wasted the morning, but did need the recuperation time!! got up and got going, we did some snuggly HE on the sofa, as BB wanted to do maffs, so we did some earlibird 1B - getting towards the end, and then a little bit of her before the code before she got bored and went off to skate around in way to big inline skates. she is pretty good at skating in these inlines. if she had a nearer birthday, and wasn’t going to get a ds, i would be tempted to buy a pair. [hmm, googles!]. SB had another go at a bit of galore park english - i think we are chapter 1 part 4 now, and this was underlying nouns. we had a bit of discussion about whether day was a noun, since it isn’t a person, place or thing, but a time . SHe also did some music theory.

after lunch SB and i did some baking - well, TBH, SB did it with me being companionable and listening to Handel’s firework music. we then set of the egg in vinegar experiment - btw it still hasn’t finished bubbling, and the shell still hard, so we are leaving it in vinegar overnight. BB went off practicing pedalling with chris, and then had a ride on the back of the tandem [my heart in mouth, its not been used since SB's accident as she won't use it again]. they watched a bit of magic school bus, then chris and BB baked cup cakes, and me and SB started her new piano book!!Sugar and Spice: Rhythms and Tunes for Beginners

SB and BB did a lot of skatering about, and we then read a french book on days of the week [ Les Jours De La Semaine (Max et Mathilde) ], and then listened to the correct pronunciation on the CD! we finally finished with tea and the second part of the cybermen part 2. Oops, SB and I also played a lot of games today, blokus, castle keep and landlock.

i am feeling a bit glum it has to be said wrt this parenting lark. but what ho, i am sure we can focus on improvement!

girls had a fun day today - that I am REALLY hoping that chris will blog. SB went to an animation workshop and loved it - they did a flip book and stop animation. chris dropped sb off and then whisked BB off to a police dog handling session which she really enjoyed. particularly telling me that the dog bit his arm… anyway, quite a first, SB being left at a totally new venue without parents, but she did know most of the other kids. not sure how many of their parents were there as i think they were all ferrying their kids to the dogs session.

so, when we all reconvened at home, SB did some piano practice, and then decided to make an off the top of the head baking, which ended up being hot chocolate, yeast, sugar, self raising flour and
mixed fruit in random quantities. it would have had breadstick bits, but as we are supposed to eat this, i nixed this! [ it is, however edible as we have all eaten some] BB did primary brainbox electronics.

SB had some good news in that she can move to the wednesday brownie pack, and some bad news at ballet, that she didn’t pass. she is quite philosophical about this, and will practice more next time! bB and i read a fair number of magic key books and on SB’s return we did some french together reading Leo Le Chat Goes to School (First French Story) and recommend it. ermm, i think from there we went on to watch harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, and eat tea and SB’s cake. where i am at the moment! oh, i have flickred xmas day, and now onto the rest of xmas. will get there!

ooh, forgot tosay that SB got her ds back, but bb not got dinosaur duplo. bb has had some more goes at weblanding, and has v much enjoyd it

SORRY for my tardy blogging, extenuating circumstances ‘n all!!
where did I get to - reads own blog - ah thanks for all the well wishes! only Monday. i really am dreadful if there are a few days to catch up on. i had better read brightkite as well for clues!! [it wasn't that helpful]

SO, tues was a working day for me, and chris took the girls to his parents for a final play with uncle and cousins. much enjoyed! i got home v late!! [that was quick wasn't it!]

wed we did some home ed type stuff, as BB v keen to be able to read by 5 and win her DS. nearly everyone she knows seems to have one or access to one now, and she is most put out. however, entirely in her favour, she isn’t being grumpy, but pro-active. i liked the fact she got out her get ready for the code and said she was doing the whole book that wed! she didn’t - obviously! but did 4 pages, and can recognise a t now!! She also did more writing - being v keen on that, even with limited letters. they do look like words, though obviously not in a language i use! she also did various drawings and craftings. Oh, and a fair amount of ‘putering - mostly on poisson rouge.

SB did a bit of her spelling book, and read some of the crusaders book and then mostly got on with making chocolates, wrapping chocolates and decorating a box for the puddle girls. it took her most of the day, and she received negligible amounts of help. she thought to use the molds of the advent chocs, and made plain and milk choc. i was most impressed!

I made the thankyou card on publisher, unfortunately no photo printer paper, so relying on chris to get that so we can get thankyous out quickly - the girls have to write a smidge in them, rather than a whole wallop, so gets it done easily. i also cut bb’s hair at her great insistence at it was getting too long. SB doing some magic trick demonstration put her off sitting still, so a snotch later and adjustment it is shorter than planned, oh well, it does grow quickly.

in the afternoon, waiting for the puddles arrival we read loads of books. we did some french - based around a french book initially, but then cherchez le all over the rooming! we read lots of nice readers with bB - those quentin blake illustrated books from the book people [ Fantastic Daisy Artichoke , Zagazoo , Cockatoos (Red Fox picture books) ]Just So Stories stories and a rather lovely book The Glass Heart

merry and girls [and max - sorry] arrived - woohoo, though i still miss the merrymobile. and we got started!! the girls all ran off and played, with ds then dressing up and generally having fun. BB and josie took a bit more getting going, though the happy street and blokus seemed to help [merry won]. kids had a make your own pizza, toasted marshmallows, chocolates from SB and then watched fireworks provided by Max [we forgot this year - oops] . it was a touch cold!

packed off the younger 2 to bed, the older 4 got ready and ds-ed and very quietly got on with it - no idea when they fell asleep, but before midnight! merry and i played more blokus [my left hand playing as BB won] and we had a take away curry. Chris and i were not au fait with time, so we missed toasting the new year! - oops, but we did have baileys, mulled wine, ‘real’ wine and cups of tea [rofl] and a lovely evening. [we really know how to party, but...] anyway we chatted, chilled and were aspirational

Thurs morning i toddled off to work, but got back before lunch, and in fact before everyone was up. the girls were rampaging about, and ready for second breakfast. Josie and BB integrating well after a good sleep. CHris cooked about 2 billion pancakes for brunch, which were all devoured in the end. The Babs and family arrived during devoural phase, having heard via brightkite that some might be in the offing and nipping down the A14! We waved goodbye to the puddles having seen the new year in in lovely fashion - thanks v much for coming.

they were just going to stay for afternoon tea, but our new Agricola proved too tempting. we set up, puzzle over the rules, and decided to just get on with it. it took 5 hours to play the first game . During that time the children played fabulously, got their own food and drinks, and sorted things out. they were obviously v aware that parents were not likely to intervene. even more fabulously, when they did get parental attention, we were pleased to find the house still in one piece! bB and R are real cuties together, and BB has joined the throng of small girls with a crush on B - tempting him to play lego with her with the promise of dinosaurs! lots of dr who games in play anyway.

i have to say, harking back to agricola, that we all really enjoyed the game. the possible strategies became clearer. we doh-ed over various rules when we got it wrong, and although it took 5 hours playing the simple version [2 decks missing - wow what a game with the other 2 in!!] i think one hour of that was setting up and working out the rules and confirming them and just fiddling, and then we prob could knock another hour off for not knowing what things did etc. so a 3 hour game on the simple rules. AM strongly thinking of taking it to Manor Borns tomorrow, but i think they prefer the shorter games?

chris is suggesting more games : 10 days in… under the ‘will be educational’ ruse!! [a ruse i obviously never use!]. ooh, there is a europe version as well 10 Days in Europe . i think Em is raving about the Stone Age game she got as a birthday present…

Where was I. oh yes, we took so long playing the game, that it was a late dinner for the kids. ANd also declared too late for The Babs and co to go home, so sleepover declared - woohoo! the children seemed to have found a number of sweet and savoury options in the day however, so not too dreadful over late dinner rustled up from left overs - not our best catering acheivement. we had them playing outside with headtorches to use up some energy before dinner and then bed. B was excited by SB’s The Magic Tree House Library: Books 1-28 collection - so went ot bed with one of those, whilst E and SB ds-ed. cutely, when we adults went upstairs, E was asleep clutching open ds - obviously had just collapsed asleep mid play!

Fri: unfotunately despite earlyish night and no alcohol due to work [and luckilly not called in] i awoke with storming migraine, and took every med at my disposal, so missed saying goodbye to Barbara and chris - sorry. it was really lovely having you over. I slept until about 2, and have taken more meds constantly since then, so am in ‘bearable but grouchy’ condition. the house was tidied, and children did some home ed things - sb pulled out the Junior English Book 1 she hadn’t been keen on before and did the first section of the first chapter. [i didn't realise galore park was available from amazon too] BB did some more Get Ready for the Code - Book a which she enjoys, and both girls did some writing. SB did a smidgen of singapore maths. BB practiced counting to 40 [as this is her new 'stair' target] and they both counted to 40 in french. we pretended this is SB’s stair target - not that she really ever gets sent to the stairs!! [we only introduced this as BB required different parenting, mainly because she is so strong willed and determined that sometimes we each need a short break to remember we are adults, so a count to 20 [now 40] on the stairs and return and both say sorry accomplishes this]

BB fancied doing a science kit, and chose the music one [University of Oxford Kids Pocket Science Kit MUSIC ]. SB and chris set up the lap top and her new microscope [ link for kirsty: QX-5 Computer Microscope ] in the kitchen. this was her main xmas pressie, and she was v delighted by it. she looked at salt, bicarb, hair, prev made crystals and their slide. it worked perfectly and easily so happiness all round. since at least one person out their is looking to buy something along that lines, 2 things really - at 200 the lighting isn’t quite bright enough. it is oK, but could be a bit brighter. and the clips to hold the slide aren’t brill - though OK. i could be being picky, as the only microscopes i have used in a long while are particularly top of range! i can’t remember altering a slide’s position by hand for example, so i may have a high bar here!! SB found it v easy and intuitive to use, and quickly started to use the computer interface too, so i think ideal for her for quite a while. we are certainly all pleased with the purchase! BB also wanted a go, but was firmly discouraged - at least for now - as this is SB’s present. she did enjoy looking at the pics though [ah donner and blitzen, migraine returned full force suddenly, will wrap this up.]

both did a bit of xmas xraft presenting - felt flowers precut to be threaded to make jewellery for BB, and a felt crafting kit for SB. SB tested me on my french knowledge today - she chose words from the Picture Dictionary in French (Picture Dictionaries) , and I had to get the french. only one wrong out of 10 - oops. she thinks i may need more practice… [it was fire engine as i guessed with lorry of firemen]

i have just gone back and bolded. i just prefer my long blogs to be BOLD!!

and feeling lurgified. today was brought to you by a diet of diet coke and ibrupofen! the girls woke up early, and i was somewhat more tardy. however, when i heard the brass band play on the triangle, i hopped out of bed, and got the girls dressed so that we could go out and hear them. nothing like hearing christmas carols by a brass band outside! the girls both enjoyed listening too.

we came back in, looked at the house, and decided that we couldn’t make it look much worse! so we did some wrapping up in the front room, and finishing off cards for the muddlepuddle list, which we sent out. we then did some christmas crafting - ‘glass’ painting plastic christmas themed keyrings and decorations for the tree. I am always amazed at how careful BB is. i think i forget she is 4 now!

Whilst the girls did this, i read them the Mary’s Story up to the point that they leave bethlehem, and also the hannukah section in While the Bear Sleeps: Winter Tales and Traditions . both lovely books! we also read one of our Camille ne veut pas dormir camille books from little linguist books. i have to say that at the moment I think this way of learning french is suiting us. I enjoy doing it, the girls appear to be picking up vocab. goodness knows what we will do when i start running out of vocab! - lots of dictionary work and ? rosetta stone??

obviously we then had lunch! chris , meanwhile was trying to put up the curtain my mum made when she was last here, but obviously fates were against us! we didn’t have the right hooks mum arrives tomorrow. kinda magically hoping that a tidying up christmas angel takes pity on us overnight as well.

After lunch we made chocolate brazils for grandad. SB was entirely self contained for this, she uses the microwave safely to melt the chocolate and all i have to do is carry the bowl to the table [nor repeating katy's mistake!] bB also fiddled with the microwave and i carried, and she also did some lovely choc brazils [well i did QA one of them!] M dad always puts the emphasis on brazils when they are choc brazils [his fav xmas pressie of all time] on the bra, so i think BB thinks thats how they are pronounced now, as when we are making them, that is what I say too!!

leaving them to cool we return to the front room [we all can't bear to look at the playroom yet] as we fancy listening too and watching carols on youtube, so i flick around allsorts. SB particularly wants tbirds fav ickle donkeeeey! we then dec curry takeaway boxes [we only have the takeaway for the boxes you understand!] with fake jewels to put dad’s choc brazzuls in. BB then plays a happy game being Jesus in my tummy, and SB rather faithfully reenacts the angel gabriel telling me the good news. however when i ask angel gabriel whether my baby will have a long and happy life, she scarpers! When she returns as SB, she explains that she thought telling me whilst i was pregnant that my baby would be crucified at easter might have upset me! luckilly BB is being baby Jesus to distract me, and then somehow morphs into a puppy. [after she has 'hatched' 2 or 3 times - childbirth may come as a shock to her!]. SB did a quick bit of piano. We read Katie and the Sunflowers
. Then the girls start making christmas crackers - actually SB also completes. I fear BB might be following me as an abject failure as completer finisher. I think only Marcus ,that I know, has scored worse.

Whilst I remember, here is a link to the Matisse, King of Colour (Anholts Artists) book, that didn’t come in the book people set. BB has it in her xmas book pile, but i read and enjoyed it!

chris’s parents came round for some extra bedding for their guests over christmas and a chat. they also brought some curtain hooks, but they didn’t fit into the ring things, never mind.

Eventually we had tea and sent the girls packing to bed. i have made the veggie filling for the lasagne, and having panicked that there wasn’t enough initially, there may now be too much. i have also made the veggie sausage and chilli bean hotpot and sag paneer. i think that is enough! trying to have enough energy after I have written this [after midnight] to do some more wrapping, or line the curtains, or tidy the front room or flickr [all jobs i had hoped to do before going to bed] i think the ones that allow me to stay collapsed on sofa are more likely to be winners here. [wrapping and starting to sort photos won the day]

Anyway, just have to say SB was a star of wonder today, helpful, happy, lovely. bB has obviously missed me… But i enjoyed lots of cuddles with both. Cuddles with SB are - during the daytime anyway - becoming rarer, so something to particularly cherish.

on the agenda for tomorrow: make up the lasagne; pour and mould soaps to make; christmas muffins; stollen; more glass painted decs? ; in eve, camp curry, dahl and ? leek and potato soup.

sift 100g of flour and 25g cocoa powder into a bowl. add 75g chilled butter cut into chunks. then stir butter into mixture so coated weith flout, and rub until breadcrumby. stir in 50g of caster sugar. add 1 egg yolk [ie not the white] and stir mixture into dough, put into ball shape, wrap in cling film and pop into fridge for 30 mins.

sprinkle icing sugar sugar onto rolling board and roll out 100g marzipan until 3mm thick. cut out with a small heart cutter. redo - will need 12.

heat oven to 200C [400F or gas mark 6]

sprinkle flour onto rolling board and pin and roll out chocolatey dough until 3mm thick. use a bigger cutter to cut out 24 hearts.

use a paper towel to wipe oil over a baking tray [or use a magic thingy] and put half the choc hearts on the baking tray. put a marzipan heart on each one and put a second chocolate heart on top. press the edges of the biscuit together, bake biscuits for 10 mins.

sift icing sugar over them and then sprinkle some cocoa powder. leave on a wire rack to cool.

as dictated by SB from the usborn children’s book of baking

i was thinking that we might be in yorkshire, but a number of events changed our plans somewhat, and we will be wending our way up on mon. not least is the total exhaustion i feel at the moment, and a couple of chilled days with the family seems to be a good plan.

hmm, thinking back to thurs and fri - obviously chris days as i got back from work v late both days. the normal things i think, the nots and tots group thurs, with crafting and recordering, but too late for frenching. then some gym for each in the pm. i think SB did some spelling and maths and maybe a piano, but not entirely sure! BB has done quite a bit of geomagging, and also making long neck dinodoors from the maize packing fillers in one of the boxes we had. friday they waited in interminably for my phone, and unfortunately meant a missed visit to a monks event, which sounded great. the phone came and had the back of it missing anyway! of course, when it arrived, chris nearly instantly found my old phone! after a great deal of fussing about - and i have complained via email re customer service - i now have a working phone - my old one on the old number. other than that, i think the whole day was spent tidying up, and it does look better for it, and the room of doom is a room of gloom instead as it just needs a bit of cleaning, but chris has organised most of it!

and so today . the big thing, i guess is SB’s grading for judo. it is her first ever grading, and she enjoyed it. i hadn’t realised you got to sit in, so BB and i stayed at home and chris took her. he snapped a couple of photos. After the grading they did a bit of shopping - including wellies and some christmas card making supplies - and had a treat lunch out to celebrate SB’s new white and red belt. it does seem to be enormously long ? adult size?

i have had insomnia most of the week, with a standard to sleep time of 5-ish and a get up of 7-ish. so am feeling in desperate need of sleep. i am also quite considerably grumpy - so another reason to try and get some sleep before being sociable! anyway, i was wondering how i would survive the morning with BB as i just didn’t have enough energy to power a biowatch. luckilly BB had some ideas! we made cuisinaire rod patterns, read books and then sorted out my 2 sewing boxes, which BB had great fun in dong, and is now the proud owner of the sewing box i was given when a child, and the pin/needle holder book i made whilst at infants school! following this BB chose to make happy maize pictures, and we have now run out of happy maize.

she then was v keen to do baking, so we did that, and made pink sugar sprinkles cupcakes, which were then iced with various greens. hmm! anyway, loads to take with me to yorkshire. we had a more boring lunch and i did a short violin practice which she danced to, before we read more books together all snuggled up. At this point chris and SB came home and mayhem ensued!

SO with a few card supplies, and the brass rubbings we did a while ago, we made a start on making cards, and between us have made 12 - so not bad! then a bit of grumpyness tidying up, followed by a bit more work on the secret santa things from the girls, as both decided they needed more paint. and actually they both look better for it. i think SB’s really is fab [even with one upside down zebra] and BB added some detailing to hers, which elevated it from looking like a paint accident to a design! SB did a piano practice with me, and had a go at a christmas carol she thought would be too difficult in a different book. SHe was very impressed she could play it [we 3 kings] so that was good. then she is making fudge [rather than tablet, which i prefer] and it is currently in the fridge. So more tidying and then bathtime, and i red meg et mog les oeufs de meg [or something similar!] which is Meg’s Eggs (Picture Puffin)
book in french from the little linguist shop that was fab at delivery times etc and comes recommended! and also hurry up molly, this subterfuge makes me seem interactive, yet doing something easy [reading] educating [french] and ensuring that for once the majority of the bath water stayed in the bath rather than cause further damage to dining room ceiling. fab!
dinner and the bedtime. i think i shall hope for sleep tonight. i feel i should be able to sleep for centuries! SB also at somepoint today fitted in some music theory.

as you can imagine, after yesterday, my black dog on the shoulder seems to have turned into a clydesdale horse! so i decided to be as computer free and child available as possible, with my facilitator hat on. it has actually meant we have had a v productive yet fun day, but i am totally bushwhacked from being so engaged! in reality, i think disappearing off to an alternate reality with a book might help my weariness, but not my heartache.

having fallen asleep [wayhay for actually sleeping] playing civ 4 last night - a go at alternate reality, but actually i prefered the earlier civs - i was woken up by bouncing children at 9.30. managed to keep them bouncing in a mole game, rather than having to get up straight away! On coming downstairs, SB and i started with piano practice together. now she isn’t playing the violin [and i v much miss that] we are making a concerted effort to practice the piano daily. this is already paying off! bB was a bit grumpy that i was doing piano practice with SB, so once she had got going on it i played the most dificult game of hangman with BB. she was in charge of the hang, and the only letter of the alphabet in her 17 letter word was 1 m! so i lost.

BB then leappadded, and chose the phonics series. being BB she chose number 7 rather than actually look at some of the letters of the alphabet! she is def going to learn to read her own way. she wants the dinosaur leappad book that sb has but never looks at. SB meanwhile was doing maths. they have got to thousands - woohoo and all! so she raced through that, as having grasped hundreds, tens and units, thousands is really just more of the same. SB then insisted on more ballet practice whilst BB said she was doing her ‘writing practice’ - ie squiggles on a white board! SB settled into some spelling - she enjoys these wizard whimstaff, and BB and i did a bit of piano fun. I then did some violin practice [faint!] as have strings. boy am i rusty!! i think i now have finger strain - rofl!! WHilst i was doing that, bB was quite happily following instructions on the brainbox primary electronics kit to make a ‘whizzer’ with only a little bit of support from SB.

After lunch it was baking time. SB chose a recipe of chocolate marzipan biscuits - something nice and complicated! and through the afternoon did it pretty much on her own. BB and i opted for the simpler peanut butter cookies. SImpler in recipe, but obviously complicated by BB’s desire to lick things all the time [so i have a series of spoons that are single use licking spoons to keep the biscuits edible!] and her sometimes idiosyncratic weighing and measuring

SB’s mixture had to rest for a while in the middle, so we all read one of my french books from the little linguist - berthe makes a pizza - which we loved. [here it is on amazon] and SB did a recorder practice. the new outerwear from muddypuddles arrived, so SB now has some camo trousers, my pink girl really has vanished! BB got a free glove puppet, so equally happy.

SB finished her biscuits whilst bb and i had a romp and read a book together, then we all had tea before SB went out to Judo. BB off to bed, and SB watched some nina and the neurons when she got back.

SO there you go, a busy day in our household! flickr pics of the day

oh, and any advice on trampolines. still humming and hawing. jumpking ovalpod oval vs bazoongi deluxe 12 foot with funring [ouch for more money, but ? its worth it?]

Started the day with a bit of online shopping, new waterproofs for SB,  socks, mitts etc. some waterproof walking boots for SB as an alternative for her to wellies (managed to pick up some Clarks shoes for her on sale for £15 last week, so was goign to get some other boots for her with the saved money, and got the boots for £15 as well, bargain ) some shoes for me and other bits and bobs.

Got an phone call later from the second place, their order system had had some kid of fit and missed out sizes on some things and mixed up others (a pair of 36″ waist boots anyone)  :-)

Managed to get children breakfasted and dressed in 45 minutes, and SB managed a bit of piano preactice, so we got out in time to get into City 1 for a Home Ed group trip to a Pizza Express restaurant. They talked a little about the pizza making process, (for some reason I was a bit disappointed to find they don’t make the dough and tomato sauce on site - I doubt making a big batch in a factory is much different to making a big bacth in the kitchen, nor is it likley to be any different in any other big pizza chain), showed us how to make the dough into a base - SB was pretty good at that.

Then we got to make up pizzas which they then took and cooked. They had a system of numbered hats so they could number the returned pizza boxes. It mostly worked, though a couple were mixed up. Had a little look rouind the kitchen area (pretty small as they basically just make up the pizzas in there)  - 4 minutes to cook a pizza in their ovens.

Kids seemed to find the big walkin fridge and freezer most interesting.

Then it was back to collect the pizzas. Not sure there was a massive educational value to the trip (making pizzas isn’t exactly something new to them) but I guess they got to see behind the scenes a bit and  have a bit of fun with their friends. And it was free (a bit of a promo for them I guess), so we got free pizza for lunch Then headed off into town for a bit of real, in a proper shop, shopping

Ambled down the road a found a bench to munch pizza on. They are apparently looking cheerful :-) 

Finally found SB a new hat that she liked (another bargain as it turned out when we paid that it was much reduced as was aold stock from a couple of years ago) Though it was an adult hat, that only just fitted SB, so maybe that’s why it didn’t sell. But BB a fleece like the one I got SB last weekin a different pattern it’s just a fleece really, but for some reason it seems especially nice according to SB (BTW, any YHA members you get 10% off in Millets). BB doesn’t get that many clothes bought for her as we have so many from SB,  so when she gets something she gets so excited about it. I finally found some slipper-boot things that I liked, and we looked at various gloves, but none where waht SB wanted.

Went through the market and found gloves (she wanted some thin alternatives to her thick gloves) as did BB - fit her perfectly, which is unusal for a littlie like her (more excitement). A quick hit on M&S, and then it was time for a coffee break (SB had spied a Costa, and she knows they do nice cakes…) I’d said we could have a snack in a cafe if they were good whilst going round the shops. Quite surprsingly !! they were on the whole (a bit restless in M&S), probably becuase we were on the hunt for particular things, and tried not to faff around too much. And I had the buggy, which I can stick BB in.

A pop into Lakeland  on the way back to the carpark, where a bit tired children meant I wasn’ tempted to buy anything unnecessary (it’s an odd mix really I think of decent quality kitchen stuff, and all sorts of useless tat and gadgets).

As an aside, wondering what is the best rolling pin. I used to have a marble ones, which was good, though heavy and coould be too heavy for rolling somethings, but the weiht meant it rolled things out without a lot of effort.Have been using one we bought for SB to use and it’s really not big enough and is hard work rolling out things, I’ve bought a plain simple cyclindrical wooden one for now, but I’m tempted by one of the silicone ones like the Sil-Pin. The kids one is cute

Just about got back to the carpek before it rolled into the next hour, and toolted home.

Kids where much more a of a pain at home (why is the default seemingly into argue about something, even when there is no need?). SB found a white board lurking, so wanted to draw on that, I didn’t feel like going and finding any suitable pens, but SB went and found some, so theyns  drew cats and things and argued over pens (plenty of them) cloths (how often do you need the cloth?)  and who knows waht else. I sat a read a few random books to them when I got fed up with it and had revived myself a bit with tea. But before we knew it it was time to head off for SB’sswimming lesson.

Out, back, Helen was home from work , chips for tea, watched Merlin, children in bed.

Flop.

today was busy busy! after such a late bedtime, i am surprised we all got up, as sb also had v late bedtime, and bb woke up as we went to our v late bedtime! but, a fianl tidying push, stuff set out for science and sort of party food! BB opened her presents, and was particularly ecstatic but the sylvanian stuff from both sets of grandparents was a clear winner [as anticipated], and the mp3 from my sister. however, she is now working though the pepa pig set with great keenness! SB and i did some MORE pas de basques, cifras and clappy dance practice - and she has really got the pas de basque thing. just the rest to go! SB’s my pals are here 3 and 4 arrived from singapore and she was very happy!

the latinetc group arrived and we kicked off with science. i thought a fun session of dropping and consolidating the things we had learnt was in order, so we dropped crumpled vs tightly packed paper, and then made parachutes with different size and weight material squares. the children are getting better at making a hypothesis and thinking why they chose that, even if wrong! they certainly enjoyed all the dropping, and were confident with the concepts. then we made paper aeroplanes, which stretched me some, as the origami instructions were complicated! at this point merry arrived, so hers also had aeroplanes which whizzed about a bit. SLight mayhem and chaos later, and a latin session. i was v giggly to here amo amas amat [amamus, amatis amant] from the living room!

finally the ravening children were fed - we had missed out snack time - oops! and fully satiated went on to head shed loads of cake. though my pingu cake looked good, most children ate icing only. i tasted it and thought it was a lovely sponge! BB v keen on the full dark room and lit candeld cake being brought in and all, so we duly did this.

so mostly an afternoon of playing for children - inside and out - and chatting for adults. thankyou to Anne and A who also attended, and chris’s parents. we had a lovely chilled day. BB fell asleep pretty much as guests left, SB did some maths and the judo. BB is awake and playing again

and the mincemeat is being made.

AArgh to christmas coming. why do i get so behind with christmas thoughts! pressies to get etc etc. its at our house again this year, we were going to have a break, but i’m working boxing day, so no point going to my parents to come back late on xmas day!

ANyway, I digress - well, i don’t really digress, as i haven’t started. I just am not feeling bloggable. I want the blog to just write itself, i like a record of what we do to look back on. i am barely using the camera either. obviously something is not quite right!

SB is more cheery these days [ or else i have got used to her wails and abrupt emotional changes/fragility] she is more stroppy as well. perhaps this is an age and growth thing. i do love having my mostly happier girl back again. She is talking ten to the dozen again, it is often like being in a wind tunnel! [and yes, I do know pressure of speech is a psychiatric term!] SHe tells me her ideas, what she has done, how tshe thinks the world works, and is alive again. phew. I am sure we are not out of the doldrums completely [as her wail about not going to the shop to buy a magazine shows, she is v quick to be desolate], but i no longer have her tell me she doesn’t see the point of being alive. BB is a squirmy armful of self confidence, bounciness, determination and joy. she is grasping the world around her and making it work her way! i love how she has such a clear way of describing things, and using her older sisters vocab to strengthen the emphasis on what she wants to say, and also the gestures and facial expressions! nearly 4! how time flies.

SO this weekend i have been working, but not too busily. The girls have done a fair bit of playing and also HE stuff. we are castle reading in our history at the mo - always a fun thing to play and recreate! SB is doing lots of spelling practice and maths - she hopes to finish her 2B book in time for when the MPAH 3A arrives [she prefers the MP as opposed to the primary maths which i prefer!]. She has also done music theory and 2 violin practices with me. BB is really grasping sounding out words as they are said. she doesn’t know the alphabet and scanty letters, but is good on the sounds and joining them together. we have done a fair bit of the before the code book 1, and today when we were going to do it together she told me she could do her home ed stuff by herself, and did!

thurs was a divali day at nots and tots, which they enjoyed. SB mostly played with L and E, and BB mostly did the crafts. they went on to a fun playdate afterwards, which both were v keen to tell me how much they had enjoyed it. So that was good.

fri was already blogged by chris - SB was v scary i think. she had been desperate to buy the mask, and I agreed as long as she made the costume to go with it out of an old sheet - she had the idea to bespatter it with blood. Was so excited to have the costume and rarred at lots of people in it, and was most impressed with the squeeze the heart thing. BB got fed up with her costume, so we tore the eye holes so that she could poke her whole head through, and then she was a much happier little ghost.

SB got this book from the library.The Magician of Samarkand
i would strongly recommend it [as would SB] and we will look for more books by that author. it is one of our favourites on junior jackanory, and the book itself is written beautifully. we love!!

we have done some french reading and conversation. following a recommendation on another blog, i purchased some more french resources, and we are doing the l’art de dire. I like it. i guess this bit could easily be made up and done with someone confident in french - which I am not! and there may be cheaper alternatives [luckilly i bought before all the currency turmoils through canadian relatives!] but actually i think it is deceptively simple, in that initially i wondered what i had spent my money on [ i bought the lire ones at the same time, and they are more obviously a good buy for that kind of thing] but as i use it to formalise our conversation, both SB and BB seem to be getting on well, and I have more confidence to extrapolate and experiment. you know, by the time i have finsihed home edding, i might be able to speak french! i did suggest to deepend Katy that she could prob write a home-ed conversational french package and have a market ready! I think she may be lacking in time though!! we are still using a various books and reading lots in french.

today we started making mincemeat using Delia Smith’s Christmas
. it worked well last year, and smells gorgeous! unfortunately with the nutmeg grating, there was a small amount of SB grating… never mind!!

what else? ermm, both girls have done lots of playing. BB loves her little things to play with, so will no doubt love her sylvanians - though still tempted by those rather glorious anamalz for her birthday! am thinking what to get other children for presents as well, and yes, christmas is coming!! [i think that may be where this blog started!]