socialisation

musical mondays was written on sat and the timestamp editied so it posted today!

i certainly didn’t have time to blog yesterday - leaving the house at 9:30 and returning at midnight! it was a wildlife walk day with the people over at the manor born. we went specially early this time, as last time the carpark was full, and it was busy when we got there. needn’t have worried, the blustery rain had put off all but the hardy and foolish…

So we all met up, and set out. Marcus and I doing that couple thing of wearing the same [and it is!] waterproofs, and michelle and chris looked v fetching in their matching trews!! [yep, michelle went a la daddybean!] . girls togged in their muddypuddles [fab waterproofs!] and i need some new wellies.

both girls decided sensibly that they didn’t want to take pictures in the rain, so marcus and I took a minimal number for the seasonal changes thing we plan to do at the end of the year, Jaffa cakes and choc bikkies helped keep the sprits going - but actually it was v enjoyable, i like blustery, and the drizzle cleared. Marcus won the choc bikkie race - which he was v happy with.

the girls played and raced and generally very happy with the 0 birdwatching. i did insist that they look at the daffodils and the cherry blossom - rofl, and we were all a bit deflated by the plantation pond. BB thought it a puddle. these walks are such a fab idea - thanks michelle.

back to there house for yummy lunch [thankyou v much!], and lots of games, the girls, the adults , everyone with a board game and other game fun filled afternoon and evening - finishing at 10.30 when it became apparent that the children were officially tired, so we went home! before tht, numerous games of blokus, yahtzee [which chloe won! - SB and I enjoyed, and we made the girls tot up and multiply themselves - so education too!], really enjoyed carcassonne, cluedo for the kids.

i’ve taken so long to blog, that michelle has beaten me to it, so she has a great pic of BB on blog!

SB at drama - she really has enjoyed the 2 taster sessions she has had so far, so fingers crossed there will be more opportunities for the younger group. ALso hoping they don’t continue to be on Wed - a bad day for us!

BB and i did some more musical instrument making, looked at vibrating rubber bands and saw how the sounds differed as stretched it out, and how ‘fat’ the vibration was. wish we had a copy of fantasia!

We went outside to sow broad beans - v windy. She had been desperate to go outside and do it, and it looked sunny, so no persuading her it was cold coat weather until she got buffetted by a particularly huge blast, and then she put a coat on! We are sowing the broad beans through cardboard again, as they did OK that way, and it significantly reduced the weed growth - weeding is not a forte of mine! Came back in and watched magic school bus arctic.

She then went back to the music experiment box, and we did the filling loads of glasses with water. she was v careful as they are ‘breakaful’ but onfortunately with one of her dongs did put a crack in a glass, so experiment over! Did demonstrate that immediately loses power to make a note. We then did some general messing about!

SB and Chris came home in time for lunch and then watched some dora the explora both singing and actioning along. The goggles have arrived, and SB is trying out some similar to ernests, and a back up plan to whip ‘bb’s’ if the above don’t work. We all played Hisss, though BB got grumpy towards the end when SB got ‘her’ snake. SB chose to do some maths and then was off to rainbows. Seemed like i hardly got to see her.

BB knows its baking when SB off at rainbows, so this time we have baked pink and chocolate cupcakes. yummy. SHe particularly enjoyed the lickings… We played peebo, read a book and then it disintegrated a bit… So we painted her large coil pot and got things temporarily back into balance.
SB returned and there was general raucousness, a bit of horseplay and tea. BB nearly got put in the cellar [ok she didn't but it feels tempting! goggles on a high shelf for whacking SB with, numerous toys in a similar position for being thrown etc] So after tea I took BB to bed for snuggle and story and she fell asleep v quickly.

Sb has been reading and teaching chris landlock in the meantime. time for her bed. We have had a lot of lovely music on during the day, which the girls have danced to etc. They enjoyed looking at some of the utube clips. [no music practice again!]
Back to work for me tomorrow. These last few days off have been a bonus for me. BB is v challenging to parent at the moment. She is utterly adorable but 20% destructiveness and temper, often taken out on SB. It is totally knocking my confidence as a parent and I am concerned about balancing the needs of each. It is clear that only 100% attention really improves BB, but this wouldn’t be achievable if she was an only, as it means 100% full on. However, stretching her with activities and having something at the ready does seem to make a difference, both to BB’s behaviour and the amount of positive attention both girls get. So having this time has helped me see I can still get a rhythm, and although its not perfect, it feels positive. It might be exhausting, but I only do it 3 times a week.

We seem to have been incredibly science-y, bit that is what was requested!! Must make more of an effort to suggest the lovely french reading books again, and a few language vids…

is what i have been doing this eve, rather than blogging. oops. diddle daddlying is what SB does a lot of. especially when she is supposed to be actually doing something! like getting out of the house for not-so-local-group-north. We got there to find the patch of puddles already there [escaping from their LEA inspection!]. SB and BB took a bit of time to settle in, and its a group i don’t usually go to [being at work] so i did that mooching uncertainty thing [along with max]. the girls got to sow some seeds, start a leprechaun puppet, and do some egg dyeing. The egg dyeing was pretty adventurous stuff, what with melting wax crayons as well as using turmeric or beetroot dyes. Lots of playing outside as well, and then back to merry’s. We had planned to go home and do some home-ed, but that didn’t really happen. oh well!

i just liked that name of the group that SB went to today, already blobged elsewhere! BB went to her playgroup, which she does v much lie. SB went to n&t to do some french, not finish making a roman sandal and discuss hadrians wall. she enjoyed it, and didn’t moan to me there had been no latin (edit - ah, but she did mention the lack of it at N&Ts). might have been my fault as i told her to be careful to remember it all as we hadn’t been for so long! I was left at home, and we will draw a veil over why i was too sick for work…

on their return, they were all ravenous, and sb ate 3 oranges - so multivits and body shop cocoa butter lip slave must have done the trick for the angular stomatitis then! BB immediately got back into her skates - which she totally adores, and skated about. SB and I did a violin practice [with me sitll lying on couch!] and then she skated off too. they all went out for a good skate about in the sun with chris.

BB did some singapore earlybird, and SB singapore2A. Then SB dived into the pile of books we had picked up from nots and tots, and really bookwormed her way through the rest of the day. BB and I read some books together as well. BB and SB both had a short recorder session - I am trying to instill that recorders can make music as well as shrill shrieks. And yes em, i do remember you saying they should explore the noises, but shrill shrieks are killing me!!
The girls did a final bit of skating on a walk with Chris before tea, BB was cream crackered so I then took her off to bed, and Chris and SB started a huge k’nex edifice - a space needle, to find some bits missing right at the end. this is from the k’nex given on monday, so we haven’t had chance to lose them yet, so chris is going to write and complain!

I am feeling very fatigued, but not particularly v, so hopefully things on the up. have watched 2 episodes of damages - which i really enjoy, we are heading to the denouement at juggernaut crash speed. excellent.

i have put piccie possible ideas in a set on flickr, i need to work out what i actually want i guess!

Edit- added by Chris

BB had a bit of a strop when we got to playgroup. She stayed today for lunch for the first time (gives us a bit more time before we have to pick here up if we are out), excited to be taking her lunch in her Thomas the Tank Engine lunchbox. But they are supposed to be put in the kitchen and anything requiring refrigeration put in the fridge. she was not pleased to have to give up her box Of course being BB, she wasn’t that interested in eating her lunch it seems. she said she got grumpy because they wanted her to eat her sandwich - and when BB doesn’t want to do something she can be grumpy I had meant to say to them to not worry about what she eats of her lunch. So. after getting grumpy, she then fell  asleep so I arrived to find her zonked out on the table

It was really warm for our monthly RSPB walk with chloe, michelle and marcus, and it was lovely! lovely to be out in the sun, lovely to have a nice walk, lovely being severely bossed by BB! She particularly wanted to be first, and to run up and down the quarry steps, so thats what we did alot of! She took her ‘noculars and SB took some real ones, so they could both look at the birds. SB and Chloe also did a finding things all the way round, which they enjoyed. i loved the fact that SB thinks of the R in plRnt and grRs rather than an a - would help if we were northern!
[lots of photos to come on flickr]

back to their house for the usual sumptuous feast - yummy - and lots of game playing. i particularly liked the fire and ice game. girls all got on very well, BB was only intermittantly ‘three’. we adult had plenty of nattering time.

on the way home, SB and i sang together, and its the first time she has ever held the tune with someone else singing with her as well. so i am v happy [BB has always been able to do it]

well, after 3 hours of ’system’ i am cleared of health scares, and need only a biennial mammo [unfortunately not avail on NHS but def worth paying for for peace of mind!] being in a scatty frame of mind, i took all the car keys with me. oops. this meant that chris couldn’t go to group for latin. however, after latin, group came to us for science, which was lovely, as i got to see them when i returned from hospital. science experiments are always enjoyed when water is involved. our floor got a good wash too!

ANd yes, it did work, the divers did dive with pressure [mostly!].

Sb went off to rainbows, where she cried because she was teased. I think all the undercurrents are getting to her. I know all mothers prob project personalities on their children a bit, and i am prob guilty of seeing her as ’sensitive’ and maybe that encourages it, dunno.

whilst SB was at rainbows, BB and i watched ‘dinodors‘ and had a nice snuggle, and looked at pictures. poor babe was missing out on the trip yesterday and then i was out this morning. She does like to know what is happening. she is gloriously cuddly though. She did - for once- demonstrate her demanding behaviour with others around. thing is, i think i need to focus on both girls for different reasons, and don’t feel i am doing either justice. parenting is just such an enormous responsibility.
SB returned and we watched the Australopithecus episode of walking with beasts, with SB cuddling me and BB on ‘fishy on a dishy [known elsewhere as poisson rouge!]. we talked about a few issues thrown up by the film. they do seem keen on recurrently showing mating don’t they? I can feel SB edging herself towards asking the mating question, so perhaps more sensitive to it! As an aside, one of the car bits was about having babies if you weren’t married, and did people have ‘to do the kiss and dance to fertilise eggs’. I very gently queried what on earth she meant, and she pointed out that in fairy tales and real life, all weddings have dancing [which she had realised had some significance] and was this the trigger to tell an egg to grow. SO i said no [and didn't giggle!], and the ’special hug’ bit, but… [bit odd actually, as she knows the daddy provides half the DNA, so how an dance could do that? may be the kiss?]. mind you, BB with her thing about birds and eggs, is sure she was in an egg in my tummy and hatched there.

BB then fell asleep cuddling me, so has missed tea. SB, chris and i talked more about pressure, atoms and molecules, liquids and gasses, based on the earlier experiment, and then heated up our closed system with ebts on diver staying afloat or sinking - of course he sank, so we had a discussion about that too.

SB wandered off to read a book - and the read me salient facts from why is the sea salty. She has really loved that series of books. we then read together a bit more about anglo saxons then bedtime.

BTW I am really loving the american primaries. i wish i was voting there rather than here. i would obviously be a democrat. And what a fantastic choice on many levels - its as good as the west wing!

oh, and chris has spent a fortune on a bike for SB’s birthday. Michelle, not sure when chloe due her next bike, but maybe not having marcus and chris chat might be to your advantage… Before chris raises eyebrows, we did plan to buy a good bike, as for bb too in her time, and apparently they have good resale value. we had better buy a good lock!!

we had an out and about day today. HE sports session, which SB loves. we adults and bb chatted and socialised in the corridor. we then popped into the shopping centre to spend some xmas vouchers. we did well! SB and BB had fun in the ELC and Waterstones. SB and BB were impressed with buying a book in the bookstore rather than internet! We had lunch out at a place recommended by Bob before - good recommendation thanks! whilst at lunch bb refused to put on her shoes as they hurt. so we went to clarks and spent a huge amount reshodding the girls. ho humm.

so back, and SB ballet and swimming, and bB tiptapping on her hammer in pins toy. i am not totally convinced that giving bb a hammer and tacks is wise, but she has loved the toy. we also did some baking together. All watched the start of walking with beasts.

We had one child each for most of the day. Not my ideal, but seemed a good idea at the time. Chris took SB off for a drama taster session. She really enjoyed it. they celebrated a friends birthday there too before coming back.

BB and i meanwhile, played with the k’nex building aeroplanes, did some painting - actually most impressed by her use of colour, read books and went outside to play in the sun for a bit. We got cold as scantily dressed, so leappadded indoors and had lunch as she was too hungry to wait for chris and SB.

when SB came home they had lunch. SB then did a fair amount of reading, BB and i played with a traintrack, then did SB’s violin practice. I took SB to rainbows and was helper for the session, whilst BB stayed with chris. i enjoyed the helpering actually. they did a great puppet colouring in craft, and i was rather bossy in enabling the girls to share the pens [oops] but 4 of them had piggies, and there were 2 pinks, and initially the all wanted all pink - so we thought of other ways to do things!! Chris and bB were out in the garden.
back home, and we had a watch of some magic school bus, but something went wrong with the server connection, so instead have had a walking with dinosaurs fest! [AKA a nice snuggle on the sofa!] i have started readign SB ballet shoes as a bedtime story
Sis has surgery tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

we had a lovely time at centreparcs, sharing an 8 person villa with making it up residents! both families were not at peak due to outside stresses and strains, but we had a fabulous time anyway. I have never been to centreparcs before, and would now thoroughly recommend it as a winter break - particularly with friends. We not only shared a villa with some, but were happily surprised to find another family there which we know, who’s daughter and ours has great fun playing together, and i enjoyed having other adults to tallk to as well.

We obviously spent a LOT of time in the pool complex, for 3 days we did a late morning across lunch and late afternoon swim [going for the least busy times] and on the middle and last days went for the long swim and lunch there option. i guess we pooled for about 4-5 hours a day. BB was absolutely ecstatic about her ’swimming holiday’ it [I think] was absolutely what she had hoped for. She loved the swimming, progressed from wanting to hold on a bit, to wildly throwing herself into deep water [the salt pool shelf] and swimming back with her ring on. She has got faster and faster with her swimming, using a ring and doggy paddle. Just so confident in the water. she was very happy to dunk under the water, get absolutely soaked, pop under to pick up diving rings [within standing depth]. it was lovely to see. Sb also had a ball. She is a water baby anyway, far more comfortable swimming under the water than on top [though her stroke there improving] and fearless. she enjoyed the rapids, shoots and slides, waves and diving for rings, and just generally loved being in the water. She loved having friends there to play with as well. i liked the tubes and the hot salt pool best, though the ‘river nile’ [named by SB] was good beacuse we all pootled round that together. the rapids at night were good - in fact swimming outdoors at night was generally good, as something i haven’t had much opportunity to do. chris thought they should have some wilder shoots and rapids!

Other things - well, SB went to the roller disco, except there wasn’t any disco to it at all. however, she did get to try out inline skates and fall over a lot. She def wants some. Good, as i have bought her these for when she finishes her swimming term [i find it hard to believe my wildly confident girl of the last week needs a bribe for swimming bravery mind you!] Must get some padding for her! All children had fun at the playpark. SB was daring, and BB and I had fun. BB did lots of scootering everywhere, which she enjoyed, and SB cycled. we were actually one of the closest chalets to the complex [by luck] so I think SB was disappointed not a longer bike ride. However, it was much easier for the little ones coming back at nearly 8 after evening swim!

A fair bit of crafting was done in the tiny gaps of schedule! both Jax and I brought some craft kits to do, BB was mostly keen, making pompom things, and a pencil craft. Small painted his aeroplane, and SB and Big scoobied, drew and beaded. Big did some fantastic facepainting. [even if a nightmare to clean off!]. An assortment of games had been brought and were played. Sb and BB had broght lucie chat and the other french reading book, which we read a number of times, and big and small also seemed to like. SB had brought her music theory book - and even did some of it!! we adults fed, watered, read stories and provided intervention breaks as appropriate in the day, drank a modicum of wine at night whilst setting the world to rights, and also played scrabble [tim won twice, but it was a close thing. jax moaned about the lack of refreshing screens - rofl!]
So, last day, last swim and meal and home - to loads of yellow moon boxes - rofl. bought ‘a few things’ in the sale. oh and my new swimming costume!! [too late but never mind]. great break. real world submerged me now, but nice to breathe if only for a while.

not-v-local tots group with crafts and latin for girls

Panis romanae

SB been good at piano practice this week, also done some maths and handwriting. both girls watching muzzy german.
fun playsession with rainbowsR

all done by chris as i have had dreadful week of slog! SB been up late, and have played games together

was somewhat hit by emotional and crap viral unwellness, feeling v sick and dizzy, stuffed up, and bleurgy. SO I didn’t go into work, and for once didn’t feel guilty [i am good at guilt] because i feel i have nothing left to give in botheredness, its already attributed. I read another lucie chat book to both girls, SB read to me about dinosaurs. they all then cycled off on a playdate and i collapsed in heap on sofa with duvet and tablets.

Much playing went on, and when they returned we had a violin practice. BB played katanimo and then then the ikea building things with screwdrivers etc- think it was bjgga or somesuch nonsense. SB made some shapes with polyhedrons - she was seeing how many she could do and we talked about their names. She found the theory made easy book one very easy, and enjoyed racing through until I said enough!
SB then has her ballet and swimming run. Very proud of her for doing all the swimming today, as she has been very worried. BB and i watched bob the builder, did bob the builder jigsaws and played mother and baby games. on SB’s return we read radius and the king of angleland all together, with BB doing actions with papo people- cute! SB then had a thought about angles.

lots of bedtime stories, but she is still frightened of aliens.

Hmm, we had a lovely morning of latin and science with local home ed friends. it is certainly popular! the children do prob about 1/2 of latin and roman related talking, and about the same of science or craft. The group does aim to do both! then loads of rampaging. we were late [as usual] so it had [as usual] a late start. perhaps one of my new years resolutions should be to not be late!! The science was water based - thinking about liquids, how they seemed to work, and then what might sink or float, how we could change the shape and perhaps it would float, and then we added salt to see if it would then float. A very untechnical description of why this happened! [by me, so i can be rude] we also looked at surface tension and made a mess! This was all greatly enjoyed, prob due to mess, and pics on flickr! lots of playing children after whilst parents got to chat.
SB had rainbows, and BB has been asleep. I’ve been texting family, scrabulous, and our mondeo is now fixed - woohoo.

SB has done a fair bit of ‘home ed’ with chris these last 2 days, with maths, handwriting and piano practice. Since back from rainbows we have read stories from the usborn stories of dragons, some SOTW2 [Christianity comes to Britain], thought about doing some calligraphy and found stuff for tomorrow for that, and read Lucie Chat en ville. such a good series from the book people that I have accidentally bought it twice!

well, this weekend I have mostly been eating potatoes. no, this isn’t some new years faddy diet [though heaven knows that I need to shift a fair bit of weight and get fitter this year - I may have said something similar last year. in fact, o the subject of new years resolutions, I made 3 last year, and I'll try with them again this year], instead this is the try to chase migraine away diet. my job goes through cycles of stressful and majorly and exorbitantly stressful. We are in the latter phase… This tends to increase frequency of migraines, and also seems to reduce the success of any medication. Everything taken thus far has been totally pointless. A bullet in the left temporal region would be far more effective. Anyway, I am blogging, thus the potatoes would seem to have finally won [and plenty of fluids]

However, it being typical that my migraine occurs when off work, I have tried to great levels to still have some interaction with my lovely offspring. ooh, btw, there seems to have been a great reduction in baggy poo poos since normal service has resumed. A low level of them is tolerable!

Yesterday we all went to the panto [may I state for the record that pantos are not ideal with a migraine, but the one hour journey each way was the major stupidity!] I actually enjoyed the panto [yep, even with a migraine, s must have been good]. The cast were enthusiastic, the audience keen and participatory, the story near negligible, just enough to run the gags and music. SB and BB loved it. Their faces shone with excitement, SB in particular loved all the shouting and clapping, BB also got into it. It was so worth it. Arranged by the rainbows - thankyou! I have to say that the look on SB’s face of sheer thrills and enjoyment was worth the hideous journey for me each way. She really loved it.
on return home, to be honest, I just died and went to bed. No idea what chris and the girls did , he thinks they played a game. I got up just before they were going to bed, and delayed things a it. but it felt better to play a game with them and read a story before chris took them up.

Today, still feeling in need of trepaning, i thought I would do better, so got up, read some history to SB, and we did french and latin conversation, times tables and read some barefoot stories all snuggled on the sofa. She then did some violin practice - now we have lost the other blasted book! Anyway, it was lovely to have such a snuggly time with SB. I get to have less snuggles with her now as she gets older they are only on her terms! She is such a lovely girl to snuggle and cuddle.
ermm, oh yes, SB did some webland. BB and I did jigsaws, read books, snuggled and did counting practice. BB amazed me by spelling today. she was spelling zoo lane and said zz oh is zoo!!! She also did some plasticining.

The final decs came down today, and the girls had a joint final present of a jousting papo set to go with the castle stuff. they were ecstatic and had great fun playing. we decided that we all loved christmas, but that the house needs lots of people in it to actually be christmas [BB's wisdom!] . Actually, BB has gone round being ‘wise’ on all sorts of topics recently. She is mostly seriously adorable.

we watched various natury things on tv, SB practiced various dance steps, we all played a few games all together, and generally had an enjoyable day.

my migraine has decreased somewhat this eve, but I have the usual worky nerves. Bah. i hope this is just a phase! Will look forward instead to centreparcs hols - not far away now!

back properly at work tomorrow.

SO I got up relatively early, so I could go to # clinic with mum, to find that they had gone exceptionally early and were through and didn’t ring. I guess because it all seems OK. They are happy with the position and everything. Mum and Little Nanny have laryngitis though, and not too well, and their NYE spent worrying over my sisters breast lump - clinic for her on Mon, fingers firmly in crossed position.

So the girls and I carried on with a great wodge of crafts. BBhas now finished all the spoons, SB has painted all the fairies, and has now done the plaster of paris moulds that may get painted tomorrow [dependent on amounts of snow to play in]

We were prepared enough to put some tomato soup in a flask and whisk out for our monthly walk with Michelle and Chloe, which we had when we arrived. It was COLD. Michelle told me off for whinging!! SB and chloe are supposed to take pictures of whatever they were interested in. They did both take piccies, but SB gradually lost heart due to the coldness of her fingers. We did a dif walk this time to the formal gardens, and will flickr. Again BB was totally adorable - and has remained so at home. At present she is cooking for me [having slept in the car home she is beanying about!] A lovely time was had, and I am looking forward to these monthly walks. next time the quarry again.

We played with the RSPB welcome packs when we got home. lots of reading and discussion. we watched ballet shoes, which we all enjoyed.

But nearly!!

We started off being late for latin group. It is sort of latin plus craft plus science. Katy did a fab latin lesson - but we’ve lost our minimums textbook, and I have forgotten bits of it! I then - rather foolishly - decided to revisit the wreath craft!Katy’s house now full of clippings from my garden, and 3 very creditable wreaths were made - though one of those played with so much it has a bedraggled air now! What I hadn’t realised was that there would be a dearth of knot tying ability. If I had had more wire thingies, it would have been easier. [will remember that for the future! Anyway, those that did it seemed happy enough. there was also some mince pie, jam 'heart' and bread roll making. [oh, we were late!]

We skedaddled off to bowling at a not-so-local venue! We were early - hooray!!! We really enjoyed it, and were only 4 littlies in our lane, so nicely organised that they didn’t feel that they were under pressure! Actually with the lane bars up and the rolling down thingy, it was quite straightforward. Mind you, that didn’t stop us having to get SB’s ball rescued once, that A’s lane didn’t clear and we called an SOS. The piece de resistance goes to A and her mum though, for playing boules to knock recalcitrant stopped balls the final few metres. On the first occasion, the second ball knocked the first through, and then slowly carried on downwards to end up going through just as the barrier thing lifted - so 2 throws as one as it were. But the killer one was when the first ball went through, and the second one was flipped back by the barrier thing as it lifted, leaving us able to catch it back at our end once it had rolled all the way back. What skill!

The we dashed back for the rainbows party [late]. SB enjoyed it a lot though, so that’s good, and BB played with her new farm. When SB came back we had tea and then made sweeties for christmas pressies. The girls were very adept at dipping the ingredients into the chocolate. We will sort out the boxes tomorrow.

yesterday we met up with Michelle and family for a woodland walk and hopefully some bird viewing. It was a bit chilly, so we were all well wrapped, and arrived with not a huge difference between us - so not bad!

both girls were laden with cameras as part of the idea is that they are going to record what interests them on the walk, and be able to see some seasonal changes.

We did go in the bird hide briefly - but BB’s gentle rendition of away in a manger was annoying the other chap there [though not the birds!] , so we decided to mostly walk. It was a lovely walk, and we had a good terrain change with a disused quarry to walk down and up as well. Somewhere near the bottom it was apparent that the sun was likely to set before we made it back to the car, so we did less photography and more walking!

It was indeed quite dark by the time we got back to the car, but the dark walking had been on an easy path rather than quarry steps, so OK there, and we were alll set for food cooked by Marcus.

It was delicious - as always. And a lovely evening at their house before getting home far too late! The girls did great HE box ticking, by reading loads of Michelles interesting maths books, looking at Chloes tornado and twister facts, and drawing! BB was mostly adorable, but has left orange lizard behind. In the car she was making up songs for it ’snakes aren’t interesting but lizards is’, and we did lots of carol singing. BB really does have a lovely singing voice and can hold a tune beautifully. Both girls enjoy singing and making up tunes and words. SB and I did latin in the car on the way home - car ed at its best!!
Thanks to our hosts!

I think I will add my photos to this blogpost, and at some point see if SB wants to do her own!!!

we have been here.

It was not one of our more trouble free trips. those that twitter may have noticed that on my first attempt, I was aware the seat of the car seemed wobbly. It seemed wobbly from when I first got in - the girls put it down to chrs always leaning back to pick things off the floor for BB [i hope not when driving!] By the time I had gone 20 mins down the road, pulled into a laybye to give it a wiggle, I was quite clear I wasn’t dong a 4 hour drive in that car!.

A return, and apparently some plate thingy is cracked. so got all gear accross to my v old but mostly trusty work car! Mentioned the heating been a bit dodgy - chris thinks thermostat, but is going to try coolant top up - aargh! we have spent a fortune on these cars this autumn.

oh, btw, the first drive out was fab with all these heavilly frosted arable fields and low sunlight!

Had lunch [which we should have been having in magna!] and tried again. This time straight to Kirsty’s, delaying magna for next day. Despite work car having no entertainment of any sort, both girls were fab on the journey up, the traffic OK, and we got there without a hitch. Te children ran off to ds and multiplay ds for most of the time, BB was a bit fish out of water, so snuggeld, read, cbeebied and corrected my drawings [hard taskmaster] whilst Kirsty and I managed a chat between interruptions and mediations [not that many actually]. M was particularly nice to BB, and also gave me a violin demonstration. i was relieved that my tuning agreed with kirsty’s dooberry thingummy whatsit!. SB wathced her inaueral simpsons - rofl!

The children were all particularly awful at going to bed In the end we split them all up. BB a pest, but then…
So not the brightest and earliest of parental starts, though BB was up with the larks! we did go to Magna though and really enjoyed it. It was COLD in there - thank goodness we were all winter wrapped!! and dark and noisy, so at the time BB required a fair bit of ‘managing’ but in retrospect thinks it was fantastic and wants to go again! Sb also enjoyed it, and wants to see the river of fire next time [note they are both planning a repeat!] Most of the time, we had the place to ourselves by careful avoidance of the school group there. [i think i might have slightly annoyed one of the teachers by adopting their tone and suggesting my group be ready to come with me - and the children in my group were much more easy to manage!]

Thanks Kirsty for a lovely stay! Flickr to follow - halfway through but do need to go to bed!!!! must try some of these.

which has been my scintillating conversational skills!

Me and the girls have been very busy today. First off we read the St Lucia bit from while the bear sleeps [barefoot books]. I know the day is tomorrow, but we are out, so we did it today. After reading, we went on to make some St Lucia crowns

And then the girls went on to do some christmas stamping - allegedly to laminate and turn into table mats, but BB’s were just playing a game with each other, and SB’s is ‘minimal’ so we shall see!

Whilst they were doing this I was making the lasagne filling. I am v happy being a vegetarian, and no desire to eat meat, but sometimes chopping veg just takes TOO long, especially when you are making 4 lasagne [for 14]. because my attention was distracted, the children became distracting, so I bailed out of the last few veg, and we went and labelled the christmas cards. Muddlepuddlers be of good cheer, your cards are on the way - and open over the sink! Since with family cards we were talking of 50-ish, this took quite some time! BB also played with playdough. Chris took the difficult things into the post office and managed to cause a nice jam!

We had a late lunch [3-ish] and SB hurried off to rainbows. BB and I did some playing with her duplo, and then made her gingerbread man kit she got for her birthday - with lots of run run… Whilst it was cooking she did some starfall, starting with the gingerbread man one but then dotting about.
 

When Sb returned they both decorated them, had a bath and then a light supper. SB has done some more of ‘the surprise’ with me, and read to me magic tree house and thomas the tank books.

i must look up tomorrows route and get an early night.

Think i might be hoping the other guy did better. not sure - so indecisive!! It was midday though, so kinda ruined the whole day. the morning with the preinterview worries, and the afternoon coming down from interview high - poor buggers, having to listen to me on my soapbox expounding on education!! [btw, this is just a tack on to present post, no radical huge change! more hours though]

The violin strings game from bonners, so the violin is restrung. so had lost her music book - so have looked at the first tune a day book, and done lesson 3. rather stupidly [especially since I spent a proportion of the day saying I was god's gift to education] it hadn’t crossed my mind that SB’s reading of music is situation specific - ie she can find the piano note associated with the musical representation, but has ‘not a single clue’ [how she put it] what that note may be for violin. Her first violin basically uses the letters rather than the musical representation. Its obvious NOW of course! However, lesson 3 starts with d string notes, and actually she is quickly stringing them together.
Oh well, also today there was lots of playing with duplo and lego - S built a pyramid amongst other things, and both girls enjoyed both sizes, the kids k’nex also made an appearance and the marble run.

SB read a book about 5 brilliant scientists from scholastics great black heroes set, and was partcularly taken by how many things you can use peanuts for, and wants to make peanut soap. recipes please!! She also did some singapore maths [having done on line CIMT yesterday - sarah, do i need to send you money [how much] and address??], french on education city - leading to a discussion on whether it counted as french or education city - chose to tick education city on timetable!

we read a story about st nicholas, the st nick bit from while the bear sleeps, and have slippers out in hope. Also the usual bedtime reads. Have found my 13 days of christmas as a read aloud this year. Obviously a MUCH older book - the one I had as a child!

BB and I did some more christmas stamping -v over the top coverage of the card! in the end we were playing some complicated game where the stamps were friends, having picnics etc… SB was at rainbows. Fair bit of christmas carol singing. SB reprised her solar power experiment [under desk lamp] and we talked about electrons again - she seems to have got atoms comfortable in head, and electrons moving along like newtons cradle [well, ok, its not quite, but it sort of makes the flow of current make sense!]

BB still awake. she is such a cutie - i was singing and stroking her forehead n a sleep encouraging way, so she stroked my forehead and gave me lots of kisses!

Think thats it?

well, so its the end of the timetable week. I took a picture of it, but we’ve then done a few extra things so need to do it again!

So today, excitement at getting a chocolate from an advent calendar. Even more excitement when chris’s parents came round and gave them each another one. Game playing with grandparents, then SB was going to do violin - and we found the snapped string! So she did some singapore maths 2B, and then spent ages on education city - we had a huge wobbly over telling the time, so practiced over and over again, and think she might now have got it! She also did some writing practice and then more playing before grandparents left.

BB was mostly playing with her bob the builder duplo, but she also likes making patterns with the connect 4 game, and did some playing with poisson rouge. we read books - she now reads some to me too, mostly describing the picture, but she is good at red nose readers.

We put on some xmas music and gave the playroom a good tidy whilst chris was out getting some bits and pieces. looks much better! BB did her ‘match and sort‘ drawing round shapes and numbers. she did an amazingly perfect dot to dot as well - from 1-10 in order! [think this might be a fluke...] and had some lovely strops and eye rollings.

ermm, we read the first while the bear sleeps story - always nice to get back to that. SB and I did the questions and narrations for the SOTW chapter we did this week - she had remembered a lot actually from other books too. we had a french conversation, and looked at our usborne le ferme des pommiers! quite a discussion after that and also singing away in a manger on polite and friendly yous [rofl!].

BB and I baked a chocolate cake whilst SB did some colouring and then piano practice. it was a bit of a scramble then to get out of the house.

SB was helping the rainbows deal out mince pies [free] at the grand light switch on in the village. She was really proud of being so helpful. The local brass band played carols, and most of the houses got their lights to go on at roughly the switch on time. we - of course - did not. on returning home i found the socket switched off. sigh. I had tried to persuade chris to walk all 10m home and check! The local car driven sleigh made an appearance with sweetie wielding FC. It was cold then, and I had totally forgotten we were supposed to be going to ‘the big house’ afterwards - though we did meet them and R and had a chat, and also the couple and children who used to be know on blog as home-dad [long since back at work!] so very nice.

Got home, BB into bed and SB and I made chocolate cornflake cakes before watching a to the beginners guide cosmos -about black holes etc. v exciting. I think SB enjoys them! She is now in bed and we have moved from the balloon book to chicken soup for the soul - a story for each advent day.

SB does want to continue on with the timetable.