As ppl might have read below, on monday chris bought fish from the fishmonger at the market. Today we dissected them at latinetc! i was really impressed, particularly by the younger [and more sensible group] at how carefully this was done in the main. i think the younger group were aided by being on 4 wanting to do it and 2 adults, to the older groups impatient 6! We started with looking at the beauty of the mackerel, the camouflage elements, and how we thought these might work, at the shape and dynamics of the fish - muscled and bullet shaped, likely to be a fast swimmer we thought. at the various external features - vent, protected eyes and gills, the various fins and the fabulous mouth. Then we started cutting!
we started with gills, talked about their purpose and investigated them - they are v beautiful! then we did our eviscerating slit - careful mostly not to eviscerated! amazingly we found the swim bladder, gonads, stomach and heart. may have found liver! def found lots of muscle and spine. and then after discussing those, they merrily set to on destruction! actually, that’s not entirely true, E did a beautiful dissection in the littlies, BB was a bit wilder! in the older group i think J and J did well to hang in their, being uncertain about dissection [and i have promised that will be the only one this term - so no eyeballs yet!] and the smell got to chloe. SB and maddy really enjoyed gutting etc their fishes…
other than that, they did music theory and latin and for the littlies french. we stayed and chatted whilst katy went to baby music, which was nice, i like the opportunity for a good natter. i listed to M and then J doiing their violin practises. we brought Maddy home with us, and she did brownies and judo v happily with SB, watched charlottes web with tea, and now all is finally quiet upstairs…
this is the third year that we have gone to centerparcs for a january break with friends. more friends than ever also holidayed this year, so there was a home ed camp feel to it as well! SB in particular loved having lots of different friends to go down rapids and flumes with as well as general messing about in the water!
We shared with jax from ‘making it up’ this year, so got to enjoy lots and lots of lovely cuddles with soa, the gorgeous new baby. She is a total delight, and at that bit where she is smiling and laughing and being coy, as well as cooing and burbling - very cute! surprising us all, BB and small really did a good job of playing together the majority of the time, and big and SB had their usual tempestuous relationship - but this is starting to be far more boom than bust as well [which is relieving for me and Jax on the eardrum front! rofl!!] we adults had our chilled, wine enabled evenings after the hurly burly of camp life! we ate well - due to some pre-prep, thus , i think, enabling kids blood sugars to be better managed, and a more peaceful chalet as a result! big ate everything i cooked -so into my good books ! and small was surprised by liking some of it too!!
we mostly swam - surprisingly enough! we enjoy swimming, we enjoy messing about in water, and therefore we enjoy centreparcs! SB is fish like anyway, and was an intermittent visitor as mostly with friends - as mentioned above! i mostly played with BB, who has great confidence in the water, swimming over and under and really enjoying it. we got some zoggs seals that she had great fun with, as well as the noodles. we just loved it! also, whilst swimming, we adults got to chat with each other, share keeping an eye on littlies so we could go down various of the waterchutes and just chill. I really needed a holiday to chill, so this was ideal! i think i prefer elvedon for the pool rather than sherwood, but not a huge lot in it! i missed the salt hot pool, as the outside pool here not so hot, and had the rapids running off it, which BB permanently tempted to go down! I also missed the gentle ‘indoor river’. This year we did have a new ‘gadget’ a ‘nereus’ plastic bag for popping digital cameras in and using in the pool to a depth of 20m. remarkably successful i think! no leakage and the pics far better than i expected - main prob being the children actually staying where put!!
the playparks were enjoyed too, we had a couple of different sessions there, once predom with the deependers, and another predom with the sotp plus assorted other children brought along! and we did a nice cycle en masse round the complex. This was rather great, picking up a few children on the way - glad that B found her bike again - will not suggest here that she takes after her mother tho… Although i did take crafting stuff, we didn’t actually have anytime to do it, as most days we swam 2ce [morn and eve] and parked in the middle, or we did the cycle. we also had a mini birthday celebration for big and e and a meet at starbucks - so v sociable!
on the social front, the families [12 of them!] were divided into 3 areas, so i guess i saw the most of the ones in ours, and the families that we seemed to share a wavelength with for pool visits! so i missed mostly monsterteeny and manorborns [except for their all day endeavour!] and saw more of the portico, puddles, deependers, sotp, babs, jo, lovelyem and a sprinkle of ali!! me ‘n jax socialised out 2 of the nights, and ‘the boys’ 1 night - though they made the most of it, having a games and beer night and getting in at 4am!!
these poor unsocialised home ed kids! As a promise for the difficult sunday, both girls had agreed to do some home ed ‘work’ whilst away, which we did for 2 of the days! though SB did do recorder every day, and don’t think she will have much trouble with the grade 1 pieces. She also read loads of her new books…
so all in all a fab hol!! i will prob think of bits to add, but off to bed [probably!]
i think sometimes this blog is a catalogue of things that we didn’t quite get to do. not a very positive and uplifting thing! so i am going to positive spin the fact that i had such a migraine that i couldn’t drive to what looked like a fab art and craft experience for the girls into a positive opportunity for home learning! [though still, i hate being bound by migraine].
Anyway, I was up, BB was happily playing with happy street [they've been playing with it all week since it was about to be consigned to loft!] and SB was still asleep. chris roused her, and she did music theory whilst i cut out tissue paper circles for a craft in homage to harmony art mum. Luckilly, when i was thinking of doing this, i accounted from the differences in artistic temperament between her own offspring [guessed and hinted at on her blog] and my two! SO we had much smaller areas to fill, no particular design/plan/ rules, just a desire to stick something at the end on the window that might liven it up through the winter. So we did it, BB just did one, and returned to happy street. SB did 3 and i did one. we decided to string them together and hang off the window, and decided that we liked them, and SB has plans to vary it a bit. it was a bit fiddley, even massively simplified, to get the 2 bits of plastic to stick nicely. If i was going to be a bit more expensive about it, i think using laminating pouches would give a much neater look!
oh yes, before craft, SB had a second ever clarinet practice. I think chris is going to blog their fantastic trip yesterday, but also her part-christmas-present-early of a new clarinet arriving yesterday has heralded the sound of a very novice clarinetist. yesterday, sans migraine, i was enthusiastic. somewhat less so today, so suggested playing it to chris in the kitchen…
Erm, and a bit more ermmming!! well anyway, at some point we did some french - acombination of walking through the jungle with The Usborne First Thousand Words in French. they make a lovely combo, with a lovely story book with few words, but then all the names of the animals in the other one, so we can look and see if we want.
i was going to say we did some story of the world, but we did that yesterday, christopher columbus, magellan, amerigo vespucci. both girls were gripped with the idea they didn’t know the rest of the world and just sailing straight from spain, so we followed it on the globe, imagining we didn’t know what was there. SB and BB both did a bit of maths, we snuggled, I sowed on brownie badges, dozed a bit, repepped with medication etc etc. i didn’t move much from the sofa! played games with both girls, rummy, snap, monopoly. oh, i did piano prac with SB too, and she did some recorder.
Chris’s parents arrived after their hospital appointment, so we had a nice chat, SB and BB played snap etc with them whilst i rehydrate them and then nanna got suckered into an enormously long game of monopoly. chris’s dad has a few further tests to get through…
then it was mad ferring around - BB had rainbows, then SB brownies followed by Judo. BB got out the gears, and had fun with those, then the funblox, and finally fell asleep in my arms watching ice age.
i think i am going to call it a day, but think i rescued a lovely family home day from a disappointment day.
oh! edited to add - and how could i forget! major fuss today, as sb insisted she wanted to try some fake ham, as apparently she had it at nursery and liked it [?], so she did, and nearly gagged. chris, bB and i didn’t even try! but she also hurt/jiggled a wobbly tooth eating it, and later this evening it fell out. so she is 10 down!
Thursday was Tots and Nots. Bit late getting going in the morning, but SB managed to get a piano pratice in before we left just a little late. Once we got there SB was straight into Philosophy Club - apparently this week it was about the difference beteen hearing and listening. Me and BB sat and made a cardboard cutout digger that Gina had provided the materials for. Sat and read with BB, played with Megablocks and playdough, had snacks, some playing etc., SB did a poem activity with Katy and some of the other kids. Recorders all round with Gina. Had intended to leave early enough to get home for a bit for SB to do a bit more preperation for her presentation for the next days HE group. But she wanted to do French as well so we ende up staying on for that.
Went straight onto gym via Pets a Home for cat food and Monster nibbles. Had the traditional ‘whats the best deal on catfood this time ‘ activity since they always seem to have a couple of brands or another on a BOGOF or somesuch. This time, one of ou preferred brands was on a BOGOF that menat that buying multiple small packets was cheaper than buying a big sack. So me and SB pondered those for a bit.
Then we looked at fish, ahhh-ed over hamsters and other small furry things, found suitable treats/nibbles for Monster, put BB off from trying to buy uneccessary rabbit tat. Off to drop SB at gym and then me and SB headed off into town for a little bit of shopping (went into Millets for boot laces, BB came out with a fluffy fleece jacket….) Sainsburys and then to the playground.
They are extending the gym, and the upstairs viewing balcony is mostly closed off. So me and BB have stopped staying at gym and watching SB as there isn’t much space. But it will soon be too dark to be going to the park and things so not sure what we will do if they haven’t reopened it soon.
Home for a boring dinner of pasta (not organised enough in the mornign to have anything else) and me and SB sat and sorted out final things for her presentation - some photos for a slideshow and questions for a quiz she wanted to do.
Viking and Saxon History
Another HE group, in another town. They have been doing monthly history session, where any kids that want to present something on the theme of the session. They started earlier in the year, but last month was the first one we got to and this was the first one that we have presented at. SB was inspired by a Making Viking Bread’ article in the latest issue of the Young Archgeologists Club magazine, so we used that as the focus. Though we couldn’t find the magazine last weeend and had to look up a recipe on the web.
H made the bread and butter with the girls last weekend. So we took that. We took photos which SB wanted to display whilst she talked about how she made the bread.
She did very well at explaining what she did I thought, thought had to be reminded to speak up enough so people could hear. After that her and BB did a True or False quiz with soem questions relating to the food viking ate. BB was being the ‘glamorous assistant’ and showing the answers.
Though it was a bit of a comedy moment really as they hadn’t practised this. SB had coloured coded the True and False cards for BB green and purple, but BB didn’t quite have the hang of it
We handed round the bread and butter which all went down well
Other presentations included a Story and soup, models of viking longhouses, about the battle of Hastings, the tale of Beowulf.
After the presentations was lunch and playing outside/chatting before hometime.
Home for a bit of playing and pottering about. They both got into a good Bob the Builder lego game so I left to quietly too it.
Then it was off out to BB’s football skills session and home to get dinner ready, followed by a bit of flopping in the sitting room. Me and SB did a bit of her Meccano remote controled car before bedtime.
Tune in next month for the next thrilling instalment of ‘Daddybean does Blogging’
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.
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?
today i have had another sofa day. am feeling better, but has we should have gone on hols this eve and pushed it back to thurs, didn’t want to push my luck!!
the girls have mostly played with baby dolls today. bb devastated cos she can’t find her baby sling, so rustled up one with a fleece scarf. sb adapted my hugababy. would like to say this was accomplished with out wails,tears and gnashing of teeth… but compromises made, peace restored and game continued on and off for most of day. at some point the girls might realise we never interfere or interupt a good game…
in between this lovely sibling play were peppered some HE moments. BB did some real and unreal maths, SB did some galore park english and science [bitesize] and piano practice.
Both girls at swimming lesson now.
edited to add - found babysling in airing cupboard, so today v happy
OK, so a new term is coming, and with that fresh leaf HE feel sweeping around parts of the blogring, not only will we try and do some HE and blog it [and chris, this means you too!] but also be positive and invigorating!
We have actually done some stuff this last week! SB has been on a level 2 sailing course. This wasn;t an unqualified success, as she had some major wobbles with swapping from side to side brought on by a head dunking on falling in. She has had a dreadful barking cough, and this made it worse. Anyway, the brave lass did carry on with the course, going back out onto the water to try some more, but on the last day just did fun sailing, so didn’t get her level 2. she knew she wouldn’t, but was still disappointed.
Meanwhile BB has been on a 2week learning to swim course [well, she is still on it] and is really enjoying it. they have even been in the deep end! This was obviously with a number of flotation aids! She is very proud
other excitements were visiting merry - always lovely, but this time with the added bonus of picking up a rabbit called monster. we will be calling it monsterrabs or mr to differentiate from friends’ child’s blog name! it has settled into life here, and is rather fetching!! as bb puts it, ‘i am rather keen on rabbits!’
We have done some arts and crafts - mostly with a space theme for the upcoming party, and some baking. Unfortunately, with SB under the weather, we have done far too much vegging in front of the tv watching dr who, narnia and assorted rubbish!! My general feeling of only just holding things together, and then not always quite is not really helping. Not quite sure how to improve this as surviving on willpower only really. hmm.
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.
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!!
For those that stumble on my blog [not many do!] the protected ones are that, as they are there for a record for me, and do not ask for the password. that which i want friends, family and strangers to read is all there, laid bare. that which i don’t is protected, and i feel bad at refusal. I could private it - and yes there are a fair number of private posts dotted through this blog that only i see - but a sprinkling ppl have my passwords, for the benefit of their love and advice. these passworded blogs really aren’t that interesting.
so, having done the safety messages, what have we been doing. well, we have been being very hot!! chris has got some scaffolding up at the window, and done some putty work - hoorah! and the girls have mostly been in our paddling pool. indeed thurs i was so hot that i was in it too!!
sb has done a bit more maths and piano practice, and also teaching bb to read. we had a new arrival yesterday - a metronome, which they had fun investigating, a star kit, and a geography book - both looked through the astronomy - bb recognising saturn which she has seen, and sb some of the geography - it does look good.
SB has had gym and yesterday they went to nana’s and grandads [so no doubt watched alot of cable tv!!]
i had a compassionate leave day again today. work are being rather excellent and i am head in sanding about how much chaos this will cause. i will only have taken 4 days in the end for 2 deaths, so i guess i am not being too bad. but i am finding it hard not to grump and growl quickly. i have no tolerance, and am being crap unpredictable mum. aargh. i could at least use this time to be good mum.
anyhoo, i had a lie in/peace to reflect whilst chris and girls went to the library. bb did the craft thing making suns, and loads of new books. on return i was ready to interact. so we cuddled, bb watched her new vid, sb and i did some french and piano practice. after lunch they both got out their brainbox kits. sb ecstatic to make a mw radio and listen to tennis. also made a microphone. out to bb’s footie. her coach is v gentle with her. however after about 1/3 of lesson she was too hot and bothered and came out. sb did some nvr and read about alexander graham bell -one of her favs. the she taught bb to play duck duck goose, involving her shrieking ‘goose me bb, goose me’!!! giggle . another soon to be ex-homeducator was there. she home-edded for a temp purpose and it clearly was ace for her daughter, so congrats in order. she did point out there seemed to be huge amounts of fluff and waffle in the taster days! sb swimming - she is v good at backstroke. back home to icecream, ken hom and bed!
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
well, that was then plan, well, plan B. plan A had been to go camping in derbyshire this weekend and play about on bike rides there. With the death of Uncle Robert, we didn’t really feel right to go on holiday. Mind you, having planned to go camping, i didn’t look at anything else, and now realised we have missed strawberry fair - again! oh well!!
we got up, got ready, got in the car, drove out of the drive, drove back into the drive and then attached the indicator/reg plate thingy. but we did get going, and went to thetford. TBH, i feel nervous about cycling after all this time. this prob is silly [after all, i survived cycling in london for 7 years!], but i wanted to wibble and wobble off road, where we could stop in the shade, and find something interesting to comment on and do, and no sense that we had to get from a to b or go round something. and where if my unfitness was too dreadful, that i didn’t need to feel mortified!
so, anyway, we got there, nearly died when it seemed that parking was nearly 10 pounds!! shrugged, and got on with it. we had a picnic lunch, twiddled and fiddled with the bikes, and set off on the 6 mile family route. it says this is a really easy family route for beginners etc, but , as you will read, it isn’t exactly.
we identified a problem early on. bb is incapable of going a steady speed, watching where she is going, or even going in a vaguely straight trajctory for any length of time. both sb and i did emergency stops early on. chris didn’t, and was the first cycling accident, obtaining a war wound, which we all decided to ignore. and then we got to the path it was very sandy, and very sandy means very easy to skid and slip. and so they did! alot! so we did about 50m at a time. no worries that i might look foolish or out of breath there was there! by the time i had got on bike, i was off, hugging a wailing child. SB had got new pedals with clippy bits, and she didn’t like them. BB at least didn’t mind falling into the sand. luckilly chris brought tools with him, as SB managed to turn her wheel right round and wedge it with one fall, and bb managed to push her wheel and handlebar out of alignment with another finally we had bb on the trailgator - and another stop to sort out the alignment of that and we were really off. i think at this point we had done 15 mins cycle and 40 mins pause! the next stop was a mercy mission as i stopped a dad going past whose trailgator was on so badly that the child was almost sideways. chris fixed that too. lots of kids, and even some adults were skidding/falling in the sandyness. so yes, it was mostly flat, and an easy trail to follow, but not an easy trail to ride.
We had a single hilly bit and stopped at the top for chocolate and refreshment, having actually managed a cycle. sb was being grumpy, so we decided her blood sugar was too low, so fed her and made her drink! it did the job. we saw a couple of despondant families turn back, as this was only a third way round. we looked on the map, found a ’shortcut’ down a firebreak and forest road, and had the best bit of cycling! not sandy, a bit flinty at times [another sb fall] and even bb came off the trailgator and cycled happily all the rest of the way - about another 2 miles - and we did this bit happily and quickly. so next time would try and avoid the sandy bit!
I got brave enough to adjust the height of the saddle to the correct position, rather than worrying i needed to put feet on the floor. and i also really enjoyed it, and i was right about being crap going uphill - so def more no pressure rides for me first!
we had icecreams back at base. SB was really jealous of those on go ape, and so they played in the adventure park for an hour or so until we left. a chippy pick up since it was late and we were hoping kids might be tired enough to extract from car to bed [nope, slept all the way, woke up at home and now really irritating me!] and had it a carpark which is free, and you can join the cycle trail from after the sandy bit [i guess that will be where we are parking again - though actually we did get the parking free at high lodge anyway due to being so late out and jools holland concert goers arriving.]
so that was our first cycle outing, and we all enjoyed it.
i have tried v hard to shift it, but this day had a touch of the wrong about it. it didn’t help that yesterday at work stressful, or that dad woke me up at 7.30 well, actually bb had already woken me up, but i was dozing again, and then got a series of tasks and errands to try and achieve which i knew were actually unachievable. i’m having a poor sleeping phase anyway, oh, and john lewis messed up my flower order AGAIN. and, and, and!!!!
SO there is the wingeing. we should have gone to an RI lecture, but one of the other winges is that i had v bad migraine yesterday [under control today] and chris prefered a more contemplative day, and the girls have had a number of questions re death. So we didn’t go - though i wish we had, as it sounded fab.
ANyway, despite black dogs, i thought i should get going, and we chatted, tidied the playroom, openend some parcels [including my new bike that chris set up] and then got the fimo out. i thought SB would be finishing her fruit, but she has made a person, and BB made a fish. then we did some ‘work’ SB doing maths and handwriting, and BB before the code. SB really surprised me by telling me her weird and wonderful way of working out the 9 times table - only SB! [it does work]. then we did some more fimo-ing, with SB doing the fruit and veg, and BB making a v creditable turtle. our fimo stocks running low [now replenished by a shopping spree at beadmerrily] i didn’t fiddle myself, and instead subjected the girls to The Story of the World: Middle Ages from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance v. 2: History for the Classical Child (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child) - about the beginnings of russia, which actually sb enjoyed, and then The Drop in My Drink: The Story of Water on Our Planet , which they both like. and just general following conversations - carrying on some they had had yesterday with chris about the big bang and laws of physics, and then some relating to illness and death. lots of cuddling [always good]
we had lunch, did some general messing about and fiddling, and then SB did some recorder practice [sketchily] and we did some recorder duets together, whilst BB danced with pompoms. Chris was joining my bike together, and we did some science, we looked at a few kits, and SB finally decided on the Perfume Laboratory, so i got a Crystal Growing - Complete Science Kit - Amethyst Purple to do with BB. BB was extremely careful, and didn’t spill any, and we reinforced the chemical thing! she was also finished first and went off cycling with chris. SB had to shake some card in water until it disintegrated, so that took 20mins of consistent shaking - i was impressed by her stamina! but then finally made the perfume essence, next time she turns it into something.
Brownies and judo for SB, disney film for BB whilst dinner got going, and i updated dad on the mostly failures of the tasks [HHaricot, you are fired!!] but he was happy that i had tried. i gave my bike a try, but the handlebars didn’t turn the wheel - so back to the mechanic for some tightening, rofl! the girls to bed, after watching some springwatch, and the apprentice for us.
of course, writing this on monday, I am not quite sure I can remember saturday! at my poor memory. this is why i blog!!
sat was an outside day anyway, though SB snuck off to computer game. lets think [ie look at the mess, and like an archaeologist, go for a lower level!] ah yes, both girls did some more of their artwork for the village fair - a frog for BB and a green man for SB. both have boomwhackered, and SB made up a trio for her chris and me to play, whcih was fun! SB did some making things with an idea wooden set. [like first mecchano i guess].
Outside i planted out some artichokes, and read to BB some more bee related books and we looked to see what bees we could find in the garden. SB read a french book [her choice]. both the looked to press some more flowers, and just generally had a lazy playing sort of day. [ah, and as mentioned in the post below, i did some reading!]
chris cooked me a lovely tea of mushrooms in a cream sauce pasta, utterly delicious, but the quorn thing has passed on to wild mushrooms, and i had stomach cramps then all evening! we did watch the human journey - which i am enjoying. think we might get walking with cavemen for the girls to watch [but don't think they will be reading the clan of the cave bear any day quite yet!]
sun saw us go to the RSPB for a nature walk with the manor borns. chris and marcus both cycled there, and arrived a smidge before us dreadful car drivers [though set off somewhat significantly ahead, and without us, there would have been less picnic!] we picnicked - and ogled the roast dinner on the table next to us - before setting out. it was a scorching day, so we were well suncreamed, and took the favourite walk - has to involve the quarry - so BB was mostly happy. i thought she did really well. all the girls charmed the volunteers before we left as well [always a good thing - especially since sb lost her clipboard somewhere half way round!!] we found lots of good places to put our memorial benches - view good, shade better!
Back to the manor for a lovely evening. i think the heat had got the the girls, so they got an earlier bedtime than they expected - suprising michelle, who rode out the storm by sequestering herself in the bathroom!! obviously, none of ours stayed in the room they started, but that was fine, and the new bed arrangements in the spare room are v comfortable - thanks to SOTP
ooh! end of the weekend reached. not so hard!! [may have to add]
well, i have finally faced up to the reality that chris is the home-educator, and i am just a facilitator [which does make me sad] BUT i do have wed and the weekend. so I am still going to blog my day, but perhaps he will do a more portico style week overview - well he might, if he blogs again!!
anyway, we start with the girls already up, SB is trying to log in to cbbc, and bb is watching charlie and lola.
at 10-ish BB is beavering away at english type things - her book B of before the code, Book A of Getty and Dubay handwriting, and some maths - using manipulatives to think about adding up. After this, i leave her dancing to the radio whilst i do piano with SB.
SB has a slower start, and is doing Bond verbal reasoning, which she finds difficult as she doesn’t seem to grasp spelling. SO she gets the dictionary out, and looks up all the possible words for the add a letter thing. all the others she does quickly and easily, but not this one. At least - i think - it gets her to think about spelling. we are going to have to work on it i think. eventually finishing, she and i go and do some piano practice - which she loves.
As it is lovely and sunny, and the garden is looking desperate, we decide it is a gardening day. Chris finishes off the veg bed with rotovating [we haven't done that before], SB decides to rescue some aquilegias from the strawberry patch, and i am itching to plant out some of the seedlings.
of course I don’t do that, I paint BB’s face!
SB also does some handwriting, and whilst we have lunch I read some french to them, as i think it has been quite a while since we last did any french :blush:
More playing and potting on, and i do manage to get some plants out. SB helps by planting out peas whilst i do sweetcorn and dwarf beans. BB is chasing ‘minibeasts’ = ants ‘antistons’ [aka woodlice] and slugs mostly with a mini magnifying glass.
A sudden rush to shower SB and she is presentable for brownies, which is immediately followed by Judo. BB and I potter in the garden, sowing sunflowers and potting up the tomatoes, pressing some flowers, before giving everything a jolly good water. a snuggle with hairy maclary follows, and then a bath.
bed time stories of Black Ships before troy for SB. BB collapses with winnie the witch. the apprentice for chris and me. thus ends our day!!
we were lucky enough to be part of a guinea-pig group of Home Educators on a ‘musical pilgrimage’ to ely cathedral - rather fabulous! we started off in a side room listening to plainsong and discussing its changing to mediaeval music, and the different musical notations. then some settings of psalm 23. following that we learnt our own plain chant and in 2’s went down the full length of the cathedral to choir stalls singing [with all tourists watching - giggle!]
there a fab organist took the children [and adults] through the working of an organ [and a weird short video] then in groups they got to go up to the organ loft or blow down various pies. sb and i were in the first group with a couple of deependers and a biff. he demonstrated the organ, they asked questions and pulled out a stop or 6 and then sb asked if she could play and he said yes! she was v thrilled by this [and i v jealous!!]
we then went down and made execrable noises blowing the various pipes whilst the other groups went up [including bb and chris]. I think the various [few] tourists and and religious attenders were relieved when the 12 o clock bell went for 1 hour quiet time! we had lunch - initially planned as a picnic, but the heavens opened almost the instant we went out! so we backtracked to a classroom.
after lunch we had the final portion of the pilgrimage. we listened to some other versions of psalm 23 [including vicar of dibley version] and sang some modern hymns from around the world, and then went and had a mini candle service in the lady chapel [who i must confess looked a bit like a clothed aphrodite]. excellent day.
BB and SB finished with football and swimming respectively.
we went for a school taster session today for both our girls. they both did really well. obviously we stayed with them. they did some alphabet, copywork and money with a bit of history thrown in. they had some games as well. they looked particularly cute in the school uniform [which was compulsary]. the teacher also seemed v pleased with how each of them listened, behaved and applied themselves to the work. i was rather impressed by BB’s copywork as she hasn’t done any of that before!
but i am getting a bit ahead of myself. in the morning we went to michelle’s to say hello, gossip, drink tea and have lunch - not necessarily in that order. BB was v excited as she loves playing at their house - thinks it is v exciting! SB and C played labyrinth, and BB geomagged and basically kept herself interested. she was being mostly a sweetie today. As part of her brownie promise thingy, SB helped to tidy up after lunch. i am hoping to instill some domestic servitude into them before it is too late, and we are no longer allowed to do it!
in the afternoon we went to hitchin school museum for our taster session. ably led there by michelle with chloe leaning out of the back at precarious angles [ ] and were the first!! to arrive. so we got to look round the museum bit in piece and quiet, have the undivided attention of lots of ladies of a certain age dressed quasi victorian [as it was a victorian event].
Then the rest arrived and the event started, we were split into 2 groups and got to do the classroom bit first - which i have to say i think is a bonus! SB was so sweet, putting her arms around BB to make sure that they were put together, and generally being loving, adorable and an ace big sister. as it was, they split the mummies up and then asked the children to follow, and realised they had small families on one side, and large on the other, so re-divvied!! we all enjoyed the classroom, we had only a couple of unruly children! and we and the ‘teacher’ managed to ignore quite well for the majority as they were only unruly in that little child way. BB had 2 small melts - all sorted with a huggle. one for when she dipped her fingers in the ink… and the other when she struggled to write 1/3d on her slate, having written everything else v nicely. she did improve again, and as sand writing was next, she thought that was fab!! i thought the lady teacher had excellent teaching and class control skills, and i alternated between being the clever child [d for denarius] and then the dunce [not knowing queen victorias birthday!] so had to sit in the corner with dunce hat on! chris got caned though [SB initially worried, but we told her it would be an act, so she thought it was fab after all]
we went into joseph lancasters monitorial room next, and sb listened keenly [i know this, because she discussed it at bedtime!] and bb didn’t wriggle too much, and there was an interactive bit, a worksheet bit and a crawl through a pretend horizantal chimney bit [v much enjoyed!!] and we finished with SB spending her money to buy a slate, and BB bought a sticky springy lizard [a surprise as she had been much taken with the pop guns!] .
home for SB brownies and judo run, BB having a snuggle, a book read and then my little pony video [groan] and then tea infront of dr who.
For a couple of years, the first Monday of the month has been a HE sports session, with sessions for younger and older kids, with the cut off age around 7-8. But the older session didn’t really get enough support anymore, so that has been dropped (just as SB has started doing them…..) . The re-jigged session now has Streetdance for older ones, followed by a younger ones sports session.
So it was off to that Monday morning. SB enjoyed the Streedance, BB enjoyed the sports, so that was good. SB has taken some stuf in her bag to potetially do after Streetdance, but mostly played outside the hall with some of the other kids, who she doesn’t really know so well as they ahve tending to do things aimed at the older kids. Not quite the normal attendees, so we didn’t have our usual playmates for a post sports park trip. I’d brought the bikes, so we went to the playground (busy as sunny and warm and the last day of school holidays by the looks of it for some kids) and then they cycled around the park paths. Where we discovered a little stream lake bit with some rather over fed ducks and geese who weren’t very interested some peanut butter sandwich leftovers.
Home, where SB did something of a booky nature (probably one of the VR or NVR books) before it was time to get ready and go out to Ballet. I managed to do passable pig tails in her hair.
Jax sent a fortuitous email that reminded me we were supposed to be going out on a trip the following day
Tuesday
Was a HE trip to Ecotech, which was advertised across multiple East Anglian groups and so popular they there is a second one this week. It was a fair drive for us, but managed to get out pretty much on time (which was generous in terms of travel time). Combined with quicker journey than expected we even had enough time to pick up a few bits in the next door supermarket before joining the group.
After an intro, we split up, out group did an activity building model wind turbines first.
It was fun, though for an activity that they must run loads of times I felt it was not as well run as it could have been. Maybe he was a bit unsure of dealling with such an age range of children.
We tested and modified our various versions. The kids got to choose how they arranged the blades, Our first one didn’t work at all. I was an even pattern, though not with them eqully spread.
After a bit of reorganising and it worked:
THere was also a bit of fiddling about with the angle of attack of the blades with one of the other turbines. Bottom line was that the number of blades didn’t seem to make a lot of difference.
After this we had lunch (we had packed lunch, but the cafe seemed fine a reasonably priced)
After lunch we headed out side. Those seven and older could go up the inside of the turbine tower - 305 steps (the only one the public can go up it seems).
SB went up, BB wanted me too stay, even though there were plenty of people she knew staying down, so I didn’t.
So whilst SB was up the tower, we pottered around the bottom, looked around the organic veg garden, where the kids all got Rhurbarb leaves, BB’s lasted about 10 mins before she had mangled it too much. Waved at those up in the tower, a sat in the shade in the Willow den.
They finished up with a session on recycling, but we had to head off to get back.
We made it nicely in time. BB has started doing a Little Dribblers football skills course at the sports centre, which she was very excited about (after years of traipsing around after SB she is pleased to be doing her own things now.. Once the instructor realised that she didn’t really have much idea what she was doing, and wasn’t very good at listening to what she was supposed to do she was fine. It’s a 4-8 yo class, so a couple were they same age I’d guess as her, though a bit more skilled football wise She felt a little left out as they all their football kit, so that has been rectified via Ebay for next week. I do find it a bit of a shame that all these things get so gender differentiated so early. There was only one other girl there, probably 7-8 and obviously been playing football a bit. Can’t believe there aren’t more young girls who would like to have a go if offered.
Anyway, SB was pleased as she finally got to go and have something from the sports centre cafe, which BB has been doing whilst SB has her swiming lesson. SB watched a bit of BB, and then did some Getty and Dubay handwriting practice. Then me and BB waited whilst SB did her swimming.
Got home to find H already home (unusual for a Tuesday) and glad that dinner just needed warming up to be ready.
Thursday.
Was back to Tots and Nots which haven’t attended for a while due to the possibility of Chicken pox and needing to be careful becuase of family gatherings before and at Easter.SB did a long piano practice before we left, which made us a bit late. SB made a fold out thing showing how the Union Jack is made from the different flags for each country, BB made a shield and sword which she then used to run around chasing people with Both got to do some recorder lesson with Gina, SB did a little piano, then we had lunch there before heading off to another new thing.
A new ‘multisports’ session started up earlier in the year, the replace one that ran before for 8’s and up, seeing as the older sports has stopped on Monday, SB wanted to try this. Shame that it is right the other side of town, so we had to drive 20 mins to get there. SB enjoyed the session, played a bit of hockey, did some basketball skills, though we had to leave just as they were to start a game, to head off to another town for SB’s Gym class. (of course it’s back the way we had come…)
Friday
Was planning on not going anywhere, but realised we had something to take back to the Red Cross. Which sadly has temporarily moved from a 10 minute drive to a 30 minute drive. SB did some of her verbal reasoning book, and some music practice before we went out. We headed via a Citylink depot to pick up some Amazon parcels. Then over to the Red Cross. Since we were out and SB had been complaining of needing new trainers we went shoe shop hunting. Had feet measured in Clarks, of course in typical fashion they only had hardly any she liked in her size (one in fact, and that was one with the funny bit in the heel with a toy in which she doesn’t like). The sales assitant also seemed to have a problem accepting that she didn’t want anything too girly - most had too much pink or purple, or where excessivley ‘boy-ey’ red and black, shiney silver etc which she doesn’t like either. Can’t help thinking that a they need to arrange to have a better system - there have been a number of times we’ve not bought shoes there just becuase the available selection was so limited. Though I do see you can now order shoes on thre website to try on in store.
However, BB was pleased as she got some ‘Croc’ type foam Doodles there which she really loves.
Headed off home stopping in another town, where we found some reduced price trainers in Millets for SB, and some Sandals in the cheapy shoe shop, didn’t find any suitable Crocs though.
Home where they sat and read various books from the Amazon Order before dinner.
We’ve had a few car conversations on the way to various places. SB heard and advert for the National Lottery, so we had a discussion about how that worked, why you were unlikley to win the jaclpot and what she would spend £6 million on. An expensive trampoline and a dog apparently to start with. Also somehow got onto what happens to all the male chicks and chickens that aren’t needed.
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
group] at how carefully this was done in the main. i think the younger group were aided by being on 4 wanting to do it and 2 adults, to the older groups impatient 6! We started with looking at the beauty of the mackerel, the camouflage elements, and how we thought these might work, at the shape and dynamics of the fish - muscled and bullet shaped, likely to be a fast swimmer we thought. at the various external features - vent, protected eyes and gills, the various fins and the fabulous mouth. Then we started cutting!
. they make a lovely combo, with a lovely story book with few words, but then all the names of the animals in the other one, so we can look and see if we want.
and then nanna got suckered into an enormously long game of monopoly. chris’s dad has a few further tests to get through…
for 30p each - a bargain! also persuaded someone else to buy 
, which i really enjoyed. we posted some postcrossing postcards on the way home and put up our world map with the received ones.
. we then had a lovely time making cards for chloes birthday party.
! listening to me read 
about the taking of constantinople and some french words about animals.
- about the beginnings of russia, which actually sb enjoyed, and then 
, which they both like. and just general following conversations - carrying on some they had had yesterday with chris about the big bang and laws of physics, and then some relating to illness and death. lots of cuddling [always good]
, so i got a 
to do with BB. BB was extremely careful, and didn’t spill any, and we reinforced the chemical thing! she was also finished first and went off cycling with chris. SB had to shake some card in water until it disintegrated, so that took 20mins of consistent shaking - i was impressed by her stamina! but then finally made the perfume essence, next time she turns it into something.
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