Category Archives: General

no time, no time

Posted on October 7, 2009 by | 5 comments

sorry about hopeless blogging. life is feeling v short on time, and blogging and reading others blogs is a casualty! wouldn’t be so bad if the man himself – whose blog this is remember! – did some catching up too!!

me – well, with the girls went and visited mum and dad for the weekend. always good to catch up, relax and be loved and spoiled!! though did have one of the most horrendous journeys down for roadworks, diversions and parkedness!! also saw my BIL and nephew and niece for sunday, which we all enjoyed. a flying visit from sis too. returned late on sunday. chris had a weekend of tidying, though i really wish it had been windowing. i am sure it is going to fall in one of these days.

monday girls did some shopping for ballet stuff and new cycling helmet for BB. SB had ballet, a bit of home ed type stuff done i think. tues is library day, and a visit to chris’s parents, with swimming then for both girls. i played some games in the evening, and we watched a rather boring fact dvd on ice age survivors.

so to today. latinetc! it seems ages since the last one, and i have really missed them! it looks like we might be making a few changes to structure and layout, a dynamic process! today i did science – as always – and slightly shorter sessions, which i think worked better. i had 4 mystery chemicals, and descriptions of properties of 4 chemicals, and we had to identify which was which. think it worked v well!! merry did some fab fimo craft – though sb did a beheaded version!! a latin refresher by katy. think sb has forgotten vast swathes! and some music from gina and our busy morning was busy! we were going to go to the park in the afternoon, but it got chilly, so merry and girls came back to ours, and there was fancy dress going on.

excitement for bb’s first rainbows! she thinks one of us will have to go until she is 7 :roll: we’ll see!! she loved it though. sb is currently in brownies, and getting more badges probably, then judo. we did a really good piano practice today as well.

the other thing we are doing is postcrossing towards some geography!! actually working currently, in that each of our sent postcards has been looked up on a map, and more excitement over the current 2 received.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, daubing and making, DIY/ house renovation, General, geography, investigating, language, music, noises and sounds, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

bits and bobs

Posted on October 1, 2009 by | 1 comment

i nearly made the title discombobulated, but felt that was a bit too pretentious, even for me.
what has been going on then this week? lets do me first, as that is rather quick
1. far too much work. crisis saw me losing my day off in a state of high stress – 9/10 on the stressometer.
2. worried about my sis, she is having a rough week of it, and needs lots of positive thoughts.
there you go!

family
weeeellll, due to item 1, they didn’t go to a fab RI event on wed. however, did go to a local raptor centre. SB has done lots of piano practice. She was also lovely to me on woeful wednesday, and made me a sandwich and gave me lots of hugs, and i love her kindness and generosity. she bought some material, and together we made a tabard for one of bb’s sylvanians. we have sent some postcrossing postcards, and she has read lots of books. not sure what else! oh yes, started her second theory book, and also the 9-10 nvr book. today there was a lot of microscoping to look at crystals – v much enjoyed i believe. BB is bb.

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Posted in General, vivien

A weekend in the country!

Posted on September 28, 2009 by | 8 comments

at the last minute, with the weather looking good, we decided not to follow up on any of our plans to go places, but instead to camp, and took our little evolution tent to the wilds of rutland so we could cycle round the water. [see, I am doing well with excercise this week!] so we went to wild hall, a lovely campsite with good shop and good cafe [though we didn't use it] let down a bit by the toilet facilities – i think would fail on the michellometer, but were just passable for me! We were taking it easy tho, so got tent up in a relaxed fashion, had a very relaxed picnic lunch and then meandered to cycle track. our first one was the more tricky, lots of upping and downing and track. bb was a maniac, and scared me somewhat. sb declared herself unable to go down slopes – all that flat living!!! :roll: we did fine until bb got stung by nettles, and then scraped something or other etc etc, so we made our way back, had a relaxed tea and bed time, and i have finally read enders game!!

the next day was another lazy start. we had brekkie, i played games with the girls, we got the tent down, and then went to normanton and did some more cycling. this was a much easier cycle, mostly flat, good tarmac, so both girls enjoyed whizzing along and we clocked up 7 miles, with an ice cream break, which i thought was quite good!! sb and i had lots of chats as we whizzed along, so i felt reconnected after a difficult week – always good, as i love sb so dearly and yet often say or do the wrong thing.

both girls read lots of box books in the car. since i have found out they can both read without being travel sick, am stuffing books for them in, and they are enjoying that. bb suggested the french colour car game on the way back too!! a dinner break at little chef and home. fab idea dearest husband!!

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Posted in General

cakes and flowers

Posted on September 25, 2009 by | 1 comment

yesterday was blogged by katy i think! tots and nots then gym for SB, some recorder practice, music theory, colouring in SOTW sheets, box books and some of her schofield and simms workbook. i was massively grumpy when i got home from work. not sure what got into me, but grumped at SB and made BB unhappy by revoking tummy stroking privileges. honestly! apologised to both. i love them dearly and i have no idea why i took my grumps out on them. felt dreadful. especially so when i saw a bunch of flowers in the kitchen which had prob been bought for me.

i got given them this morning before i went to work, and when i came back, i was determined to be a better mum. sb had made a secret, whcih she and bb seemed desperate to spill! but managed to last through tea. it was an unbirthday cake with card and candles and present to cheer me up. i was very appreciative, and think that SB now makes a better sponge than me. it really was v light! SB and i played duets, i snuggled bB and tummy privileges restored! when she went to bed, SB and i played beetle drive. SO i think we are all made up. today was a home day, and bb had footie.

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Posted in General

finsbury parktastic

Posted on September 23, 2009 by | 5 comments

it was an RI day today, meaning up bright and early to catch the train. today it all seemed to go smoothly, there was parking, there was time, and we remembered the croissants! and we shared a carriage with the puddles! so all v delightful. got wathc SB and maddy practice their french conversation on the tube – how home ed cute! as we got off the tube, there were the manor borns, as we walked along the pavement, there were the portico, and finally, already there were monster, teeny and parents! if we had tried to arrange to meet up so effortlessly it would have been doomed to failure!

A bit of playing in the basement, and some interminable queuing as they set up – noticing that the manorborns snuck the back way past all of this! and then in to fantastic pole position seats. i think the experimenters were a trifle concerned to see BB so close, but she was fab! we really enjoyed it. lots of things to think about – with plenty of bangs! we were advised not to try at home, though i loved the luminescent bits… yep, we loved it! Afterwards, bb and sb spent a while poring over the periodic tables outside before we picnicked in green park with friends.

we decided to walk to buckingham palace and wander about a bit, but after we had got there, bb was flagging, and TBH, she has been tired more quickly recently, so we wandered slowly back through green park and came home, meeting the puddles at finsbury park! bb fell asleep on train, and SB and Maddy read some usborne pocket science books, played treehouse and did some colouring – all v beautiful to watch! back in time for SB brownies and judo, and BB and i played hiss and watched shrek. on SB’s returned she watched a what the ancients… on early britons whilst i snoozed!

next week rI is magnets, with latinetc deferred – i think?

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, General, history, investigating, language, Out and About, SB-PE, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

swimming day

Posted on September 22, 2009 by | Leave a comment

its obviously another chris day, but you may have noticed he has stopped blogging. this is a problem, as i am not there!! but i believe they went to the library, read loads of books, sb did some piano practice, spelling and maths. they didn’t get the microscope at to look at crystals though. and then they went swimming. this is the once a month i might get back if i push things, so i arranged to meet them at the swimming pool and chris took our swimmies. i just made it for the end of their lesson, and then we all had a lovely family swim. bb can swim 2m now, but hasn’t worked out how to swim and breath, so tends to have to stop swimming, stand up and breathe – rofl. she also has a weird jelly fish swimming stlye, in that she scrunches herself up then extends and by some miracle she is a bit further along. a bit like dolphin stroke i guess! after having a lovely time we returned for slow cooker lasagne – which was delish. bb exhausted, so fast asleep, and sb should be too. she has been enjoying listeing to anne of green gables on her mp3.

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Posted in BB-PE, Butterbean's HE, General, literacy, music, numeracy, Stringbean's HE

To Do Lists – 10 things!

Posted on September 21, 2009 by | 4 comments

1. sort out craft stuff for ease of child access, and whole room of doom so i can bear to walk in it
2. young archaeologist club
3. the astronomy club again – lost touch in the summer!
4. hire a telescope
5. wildlife trust stuff
6. ? rspb badge things
7. remind brownies re sb’s badges
8. sailing
9. horseriding
10. well there has to be one doesn’t there? family tree stuff then!

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Posted in General

chris’s friday

Posted on September 21, 2009 by | 2 comments

not so near home ed group having a monthly flavour of history. the girls haven’t been to this session before, and had i know a bit earlier, prob could have presented something to join in, as it was all about romans. not had any feedback from chris or girls about the session though.

BB had footie. she found the previous 1 hour sessions too long, and never made it though, so she is happier now that it has moved to a half hour on friday, though that does tie another day up!

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chris’s thursday

Posted on September 17, 2009 by | Leave a comment

nots and tots – recorders and onomatopaeic poems
piano practice and book reading
gym – sb

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Posted in General

memories

Posted on September 17, 2009 by | 3 comments

you can’t bottle smells, and this one will fade. chris has brought back a mattress from little nanny’s. i am glad i had other things to do today, so wasn’t tempted into going, as i still grieve greatly for the loss of such a strong influence and source of love and advice. the mattress smells so strongly of her house – mostly mixed polishes i think! and this is my last time to savour that smell, as it soon goes. i have so many things to worry about, but little nanny, i miss you.

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Posted in General