Category Archives: General

Calm before the storm…

well, for me anyway.

Lovely day today. Sun shining and all is well with the world. Sb happily did her Singapore maths 1A – we are still in term one allegedly, though doing this for some time. Not in a hurry. SHe’s confident enough to do the subtraction on her own, and was getting grumpy ‘cos it was all under 10 answers. So time to jump ahead! She then did a bit of a jolly phonics workbook – but said it was too easy. So after that mostly played with the dolls house and snappit donkey until lunchtime. sometimes with BB, and sometimes most definitely not.

After lunch she wanted to use the egg shells to grow cress in – no cress, so they now have basil. I didn’t supervise/help at all, and she quite happily got it all done, watered and ready for the propagator. i potted up a couple of the toms. She said she wanted to take a ‘window picture’ so here is one by her.
IMG 1281 IMG 1287

She then fancied going to the park, so we all got dressed, and she cycled there with the stabilisers on, got to the field, they came off and have stayed off. BB stayed for ages in the swing – SB hated swings at this age, but BB loves them. SHe was also particularly thrilled with the slide. She clinbed up with chris’s supervision, and I made sure she didn’t fly off too fast – well, i took a puiicture once and she did…

IMG 1316

they both seesawed, and then Sb had a great treasure hunt game, and we lefted righted and walked 6 ‘places’ etc to find the fruit snacks. BB had a whale of a time running about and trying to climb up.
IMG 1328 IMG 1305

SB was grumbly at home, and BB asleep, so some book reading went on, and another snack. We then decided to cook for tea, and she chose aztec tortillas. Like a good HE Mum, i went to find various books with Aztec bits in them, so she read the romans pages! [ok extrapolated from pictures!], while I got the stew going – beans, corn squash and pepper. When she started doing the tortillas, I the read various Aztec facts to her, and she remembered a few to tell Chris. DInner was a resounding success anyway!

IMG 1343

IMG 1339

IMG 1356

We have finished the day watching the planet earth on video, and it was a great one, all about caves. I was lucky enough to study in borneo for 3 months of my training, and have seen the bats exit and swifts ingress into the caves. We did race all the way back to the hut in the dark absolutely terrified though [4 girls without guide!]Now i know that bloody huge wierd thing was a giant centipede! luckilly didn’t have to climb the guano mountain, though did have to throw away a daypack, as never got the guano stains out of it… Confirmed my belief that even if I was thin, I could never be a caver.

Now going to watched a videod Apprentice [I fell asleep with SB...]

Oh and this having more than one blog business is a nightmare!

I am a generous inventor – thanks Merry [i found the thing difficult to paste into wordpress btw]

About yourself – you are an inventor
Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR. #

You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.

# The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you?you’re not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.

# Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.

# Your vision allows you to identify what’s missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.

# Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.

# It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.

# Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don’t get caught up in specifics.

# You tend to more proactive than reactive?you don’t just wait for things to come to you.

# You’re not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.

# You’re not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you’re generally considerate of others’ feelings as well.

# Never one to be found in chic boutiques or trendy clothing stores, you take an extremely practical approach to getting dressed.

# Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

how you react with others – you are generous

# Your awareness of those around you, along with your nuanced perceptions of the world at large, makes you the GENEROUS person that you are.

# You value time to yourself and understand how rich your private world can be?you know that you don’t have to go wild to have a good time.

# You are excited and energized by ideas and often enjoy things more through observation than through experience.

# This tendency gives you an appreciation for different perspectives and opinions about the world.

# Being as aware of others as you are doesn’t mean you find it easy to trust them immediately?this is something that happens more slowly for you.

# Despite this, you are aware of the complexities of many situations and are reluctant to pass judgments on others.

# Although you have fewer friendships than some people, those that you have are meaningful and are important to you.

# You value spending time alone?it is while reflecting on the world around you that you often learn something new about yourself or begin to understand something that’s been bothering you.

Oh bugger

I have spent the last however long – at least since friday – thinking the 27th was a tues, so rang dad to say happy birthday, he says it is yesterday, and today is the 28th.

bugger bugger bugger. And i forgot to give him the cheque for his golf clubs in the card.

How crap a daughter is that.

Good thing he loves me.

oh dear

I think i may have a touch of Nic’s recent problem…

the beans went tp Chris’s parents today, and seem to have had ajolly time – SB made some biscuits and watched cbeebies [all she can remember!] And BB was a bit grumbly – well, she should have had some sleep! SB did a nice hama car with the big beads.
When we all met upm SB confessed to doing no match and sort, so she did 4 pages explode the code 2, and 4 of singapore primary maths 1a. we are certainly not rampaging through the maths at the mo! However, there is no rush, and i think she is happier that the match and sort is a bit easy, and she gets tested with the sweetie games we play – and seed sowing multiplication! Anyway, she is mostly consolidating 10′s and units, so needs to play her jojo in numberland some more. We did various imagination games, musical statues – BB lost!

I ‘felt unwell’ so bailed out of high interactiveness, but Sb wanted me to read her some of her waiting usborne young readers – and being mean I refused. I reminded her that they are going to be our fun books together when she reads. So she read a red nose reader cover to cover. I offered to get her the yellow ones, but she said she will read all the red ones first. TBH, i am not sure at what point you announce they read, but she certainly does. just needs practice!

I really have 2 most gorgeous girls.

messing about

How You Life Your Life
You have a good sense of self control and hate to show weakness. You’re laid back and chill, but sometimes you care too much about what others think. You tend to have one best friend you hang with, as opposed to many aquaintences. You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren’t attainable.

mother’s day?

i am having trouble with my flickr badges!

mother’s day didn’t really happen here, as Baby played up last night and Chris is not a limited sleep kind of chap!

Anyway, we had a potteringy day, and I did get a card at lunchtime.

IMG 1188

Before you all point out the hama heart

IMG 1238

I made it for my Mum’s birthday!

So, we did some hama, and SB made another mothers day card for Nana F, having decided she didn’t like the other one. I went to check on veg patch, and came back with asparagus seeds, so we sowed them.

IMG 1191

We all went outside in the afternoon and generally messed about, playing games and hide and seek. Chris managed to plant another fruit tree.
IMG 1234 IMG 1214

Then in for some final hama-ing. I read some usborne stories from around the world,
and threaded hama
for window decoration. Thats about it.

IMG 1243 IMG 1247

And I so needed to feel good about myself as well today as a very hard week at work ahead. :cry:

well, we have started our garden blog

here. lots to put into it at some point! [link on sidebar]

Wallpaper patterns

Butterbean was a total pain last night, woke up around 2.30 – 3 am, basically spent the next 11/2 – 2 hours crying before going back to sleep. I got so fed up stting on her bed that I came downstairs to watch something on the TV. I think she slept from 4.30 to 6, but I didn’t really.
I did how ever learn that there are only 17 types of wallpaper patterns on some program on BBC2 (it’s all to do with the mathematic of group theory or somesuch – and with how you can repeat a pattern on a plane)

Sunny saturday – well mostly!

life is a bit manic for me at them moment, with lots of really late evenings at work – mostly because I got co-opted into being the union rep. Hmmm. Bad move, except that there is huge need for someone of my mouthiness. I just hope that I don’t end up with a dreadful troublemaker label for my efforts.

Anyway, so to today. SB started by making another mothersday card for Nanna French. The sun was shining so we were out into the garden to plant and sow. Obviously planting and sowing with just me trying to keep an eye on 2 girls, jollying one along, and preventing the other from random unplamting and eating was not always straightforward. particularly as SB took it rather badly when her planted broad beans were unplanted and trodden on. We did manage to get into a rhythm, with me and BB ‘sowing’ broad beans [imperial green longpod] at one end of a row, and SB planting them [jubilee hysore]at another. Sb wanted me to help her though, and was put out that if I did, BB would surely rampage. The sooner we have the wendy house for independent pottering about in the better! [it is going in the veg patch.

IMG 1131

like a ray of sunshine, Chris came out with coffee, but more importantly cake. We all sat and picnicked, and even BB must have agreed that cake was more tasty than compost. SB then ran about like a proverbial loon and bounced on her bouncer, climbing on the frame, and bouncing BB on the trampoline.

IMG 1135

When BB went in for nappy change and snooze, SB and I sowed a row of mixed carrots [nantes frubund] and radish [scarlet globe]. This being so much fun, we sowed another. We usually have bog all luck with carrots – but that was in Leeds, so lets see how we do here! [I miss Leeds!]

IMG 1138 IMG 1139

i then hoed approx 1/4 of the veg area, and popped in half of the onion sets [names!] other half to go. I started cleating the asparagus bed of weeds too, but was happy to pass that over the Chris, as SB getting ravenous.

We made more tickabilla creepy crawlies for lunch, and she then spent ages on the Nick Jnr website for games. Getting bored, I went off and did some seed sowing indoors for the propagator. Lots of things, as getting to peak sowing! Mussleburgh leeds, spring onions, Pea [misty and rondo], artichoke green globe, second sowing of mangetout [oregon], and a tray of salad leaves [mixed]. SB seeing what I was doing sowed some sunflower [russian giant]

IMG 1157

IMG 1162

BB woke up and was fed, so SB did some sticker maths, and had a go at the easiest Kakuro – thanks Alison for the link. She got the hang of it quickly, but lots of scaffolding!

We all played rampaging games together, fuzzy felt, and making lots of noise with the noisy toys [my poor ears!] and whatever came out of the box really for the rest of the afternoon. Chris has done a bit more tidying up of the veg area.

IMG 1173
Since we are planning to watch the ice age on tV tonight, the girls had an early tea – through which SB nick jnr’ed again, and are now bathed, so I better go. SB is now doing a guardian sudoko – rather well.

will add photos after bedtime, and perhaps get that gardening blog going!

12th Carnival of Homeschooling

well, we will get round to some proper blogging, but until then I have enjoyed reading some of the articles featured on the
12th Carnival of homeschooling

And here are the Previous Carnivals