Category Archives: General

HHaricot has left the building

If you wondered why i have been quiet this week, its because I have barely left work.

But, positive thoughts as I drove home today:

I love watching hot air balloons – though perhaps I was looking at it a bit too often on the drive home!

I love warm autumn mornings, especially in such arable countryside, were the tractors are ploughing.

I love being greeted effusively by my children. [though perhaps slightly too noisy for my level of sleep deprivation!]

i love BEING HOME. [oh, and at some point i will love going to bed!]

A few photo’s

IMG_9273 i' like this and this...

weird reading position

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Mosquitos

I am soooo fed up with them. Having a pond a bad idea – though the fish lovely, and BB always pretending to be a frog on a ‘leappad’. Aaarghh [scratches everywhere!]

Whilst I’ve been at work, there has been painting, a bit of maths and writing, lots of reading, DS-ing and ballet restarted.

On returning SB has done some violin practice – wailed hugely about doing it, and then was v pernicketty about getting it right beofre carrying on, so did way longer than I suggested – all v happily.

Make your own pizza for tea. Listening to french CD about colours. SB is now ds-ing rather than any joint activity, so I am feeling loose endish! BB asleep.

Muddlepuddle Bookbags

Someone posted on the Earlyyears list about ordering these. The old link to the puddlers site no longer works.

Have they all gone, just stopped bothering with selling any more or what? Jax, Merry?

Daleks at Dawn [in the style of mary pope osborne]

well, actually no, it won’t be in that style at all. Just the title.

We had a great weekend, SB got over her wobbles at a Dr Who party, and was most impressed to find that people thought her bridesmaids dress party outfit was a weeping angels costume. She was even happy with the thought that it was a baddy!!

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Nic’s dalek was seriously impressive, Ros’s face-painting equally so. All the children seemed to have a fab time, certainly SB and BB did. Nice to see lots of HE friends there, and also some that we don’t see anywhere else. BB intermittantly ‘very 2′ so I didn’t do quite as much chatting as planned.

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Afterwards we went back to Nic’s, with lots of other families, and yes, we did all squeeze in. The scrummage for tomato ketchup when the chips came nearly resembled the pinata episode at our castle day – rofl.

Relaxing morning the next day, and an easy drive home. SB and BB watching Nina and the Neurons, and I plan to have an early night. Better look for those photos!

ReGenesis

to stop the knots in my tummy, we put on this to watch. It was a rather gripping story, but entirely the wrong choice!!

It is a story fairly related to one of my fears, and ends with an attempted infanticide – for the ‘best’ of reasons as it were. I can think of a number of people who may also not want to watch.

And the ‘science’ at times was v annoying. Maybe why I wasn’t as freaked out as I could have been. Still didn’t sleep well though.

Will watch some more.

muttermutter

Am awaiting yet another ‘news of the future’ update from where I work, so forgive my grumpiness!!

chris is not blogging much. SB has done some education city at the new levels today, which she said was much better. Some maths and writing, and reading an usborn science book.

Other than that,they went out shopping.

We played a bit when i got home. SB did some violin. its not ideal doing it so late as she gets frustrated much more quickly, and is very fussy about perfection. I shouldn’t complain, but it can take a very long time to get to the end of a piece of music . She did play beautifully though. She put on a bit of a dance show, and we also read some greek myths – ulysses
BB and I spent a bit of time looking at the pond skaters in our pond. SHe was pretending to be one too,showing me how she would have to put her legs, before turning into a frog on a ‘leappad’ . SHe has a beautiful mind for thought at the moment.

I love listening to both of them- separately! – when they decided to think through something. SB gradually adds in more and more detail, and possibilities and choices. BB often turns into a dialogue with herself. Lovely

Oh,and RIP Pavarotti.I have loved listening to you sing for many years. such a voice and such a talent.

harumph

My daemon thingy spent all that time as a snow leopard, well past the time it was supposed to fix. suddenly I find it has fixed – as a SPIDER. SHRIEK [humble, leader, solitary assertive and competitive ]

Rainbows

ALthough I would have quite liked to be at a not back to school party today, SB was ecstatic to be going to her first ever rainbows. We had regular countdowns throughout the day. SHe needs a blue polo neck – does that mean her group is blue then Michelle?

Anyway, lots of playing first thing with the 2 of them together and separately. Quickly romped through some maths and writing practice. SB is doing measuring at the mo, and so went on to measure all sorts around the house. Being of ‘a certain age’ we have various things measuring in inches, so we discussed why we do waists in inches, and heights in cm – well, actually we do that in feet and inches, just cm for you for clothes!

I read a number of books to BB at this point as a snuggle cuddle, and SB wanted in, so she read to us half of tell me how ships float, and I read the other half. A tie in with the magic school bus programme we had watched the other day. So we decided we could do the experiments in our head, and did so! She then played on the rainforest maths that t-bird had so kindly pointed out. BB also had a go too – but the nursery level is a bit above her so she was grumpy!

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So BB and I did playing with playdough, and she made some cool monsters. Then was doing cutesy stories with them acting out. We were listening to french songs about time on a CD that I got from ebay. SB meanwhile was back with the DS getting her dog to be trained to ‘stick your bottom out’ ???

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I’d had enough of children in different places, so we all reconvened to cut the green leaves to make our rainforest tree, that we were going to do when reading about the rainforest, but never quite got to. The girls loved the idea of sticking it on the wall [chris not so keen, so a paper backing compromise reached!] . SB was VERY tolerant of BB ranting.

SB then started drawing and colouring rainforest fruit and flowers to put on it, and BB and I did a jigsaw. SB remembered a lot of the rainforest stuff – yes, I know it was recent, but I don’t test recall, so never sure what goes in!

Then – drum roll – she cycled off to rainbows with Daddy. She sad it was all right, but will be more exciting next week as they are going on a river cruise – eek!

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BB and I went out into the garden, as she was looking v sleepy. So we harvested beans for tea [surprise] watered the greenhouse and picked 2kg [!] of toms. BB very pleaed with this. I noticed that a lot of her harvested toms weren’t making it into the bowl! [we have some cherry toms as well as gardeners delight and tigerella]. Some of our peppers finally going red – making me v happy.

So I had started making spicy [allegedly mild, but i don't think so] red tomato chutney with our own toms and onions. And that sort of threaded through the rest of the evening. The house doesn’t smell too vinegary!

tomato chutney

SB came back, and the girls did some more flowers and bitterflies, and those and the ruit are now all on the rainforest canopy. We have had a discussion about the understory and forest floor – we are not putting spiders there.

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BB fell asleep in the sling again after tea – she has taken to being put in the sling at teatime. SB was doing her violin practice, so obviously has a soothing effect [rofl] . She then watched Nina and the neurons about taste and saliva before bed time.

She is presently waiting for me to go up and sleep in her bed tonight. I imagine she will force herself to be awake until I get in too. SO might nip up and cuddle her till she sleeps, and if stay awake nip back down.

Flickr has come back, so am flickring a backlog to be tucked into all the last posts!

Blogging for Chris – updated by Chris :-)

Edited to add:

Pah! Gone back to Opera, forgot it doesn’t play ball with the editor in WordPress , does weired things to the formatting of the text. Don’t like it that much anyway, might go back to Livewriter. Though WP editor is better for adding photos with Joe Tan’s Flickr Photo Album Plugin

He can pad this out perhaps?

He can try…. Can’t much get into blogging lately – always seems a bit insubstantial, haven’t really read any or Twitter much either, I did add some bolding though. And capitalised – which bugs me.

Libraryfinished Wild Read. No certificates, medals, presentations or anything! nic, do you have any spare certificates??

It’s all pretty low key at ours, then again it isn’t proper library and is run by volunteers, i’m not sure exactly how the whole thing is arranged anyway. Some of the local town libraries are having a presentation of some sorts. Anyway SB was excited with her magic bookmark :-) Girls sat down on the floor whilst having the ’1st of the month bikkies’ and sat reading books, so a good little advert for HE there :-)

SB done some maths and getty and dubay.Her writing is getting very neat know, when she wants to make is so. I was encouraging her to write smaller to fir the writing in the boxes in the maths book, which seemed to make it neater for some reason. Maths was measuring things and estimating measurements. One bit was about picking the right scale of units for things – so she got highly amused by the idea of very big and very small things for a while.
SHe is v proud bedroom now spotless.Yup, she has organised the wardrobe – he clothes (arranged of course) at one end, BB’s at the other, all the empty hangers in the middle – who does that remind you of… ;-). She was going on about tidying things away a few times a day, and I did hear myself saying one of those ‘OMG I said a parenty thing’ things ‘yes, if you put things away when you’ve finished it odoesn’t get so much of a mess’. Now if only this parent could apply that…..

random playing – some naked playing in the paddling pool, a bit too much screaming and shouting indoors. Some drawing/colouring etc. BB is very much into ‘cooking’ with the play cooker. Have to do something about storing all the food bits though. We’ve got more than we had with SB, and it all now seems to end up all over the floor, and then take ages to tidy up. BB is also very much into playing with various people/animals etc. characters and can sit for ages playing little games.

Swimming – has level 3 and nearly level 4 sign off.Shame dad didn’t have enough change (£2.50) to get the certificate and badge though (shame she didn’t get it to this term, they are included in the cost now). In some ways it’s good to get back to having some things to hang our week on and structure it around, but I do find trisping off to things later afternoon a bit of a pain.

lots of DS-ing, and has finally got her dog trained to some commands!she waited up until 9 for me to get home, and put her to bed, chatting all the while, proud of her swimming, tidying and DSing. we also chatted about rods and cones in eyes.

BTW, last week they stayed over with my parents, went to Hunstanton, for a summer seaside trip. SB likes the seafront fairground there, as was excitedly telling BB about what things she might like to go on BB stayed awake until about midnight it seems…. (sleeping on the way home)

re-edited by Helen – what on earth did you do to the length of the text lines Chris – a right old mess!!