Petits Haricots

i think may is my favourite month. i love the smell of mayblossom early on and then the elderflower. only mayblossom out at the moment, but this year there are that many fields of rape that the smell of them is overpowering. I do wonder whether that is why i have had a migraine nearly solidly for 2 weeks.

mayblossom reminds me of my childhood. my school playing field was surrounded by a hedge of them, and also some hawthorns making a dingly dell to play games in. It reminds me of little nanny, whose birthday was may first. it smells of the promise of summer, and the need to be getting those summer seeds going of squash, sweetcorn and climbing bean.

I love the smell of the mayblossom

I am sad not to have posted blogs for the last 2+ months, as you forget bits, and somethings never get captured that you would have liked to say. so i am going to randomly say things!

We had a great holiday in wales, near newgale in a cottage just a step or 2 from the beach. we relaxed, had fun as a family and enoyed each others company. I remembered thinking i should blog about the joy of having bb’s hand in mine, walking along the coastal path and then the road [as she got irritated by the flies!] as she told me all the things that were catching her imagination or wanted to know more about. the joy of rock pooling with sb and bb, finding shells, stones, crabs and just picking about. letting them set the pace, and what to do. dreamers all 3 of us! playing board games with sb, laughing and beinghappy together, or jointly eyerolling at bb feeling proud of my girl reaching the cusp of teenagerdom, walking towards womanhood andd being v lovely. Also having time to talk with my husband, board games and just remembering why he is the perfect man to have married. we also got to meet the portico parents – v lovely, and sb quite taken by gaffers programmes. I also got opportunity to sit and let thoughts flutter around my head. It has been v v hard losing my sister, as well as losing little nanny, and i have been finding it all much harder again recently.

we went to the big bang science fair in brum – fab! staying at a travelodge with friends fairly centrally. we got the most from the science fair, both girls being enthusiastic, interactive and gaining alot from it. we also visited a museum in the jewellry quarter which was fab. we also had a shopping day, where i enjoyed spoiling the girls

otherwise, home ed has been carrying on, we have had history days, weded days and extra days out

BB has got more confident in reading, and is really keen on drawing and planning out designs – particularly for rockets. she is keen on space things currently. she has become happy to be left at judo and gym – big deal for her .

sb has passed her piano grade 2, and working on clarinet, home ed is ticking along, and she has read everybook we possess that is suitable for her! she is definately showing us the teen she is going to be , much more confident about who she is and what she likes, a real pleasure.

we have done a fair few family things – a family party for my side of the family at easter, celebrating my cousins pregnancy – woohoo – and missing those family members who are no longer with us, and celebrating dh’s parents golden wedding with his family. cross over of the families at each party, as with all these years, we really are one. v happy to see those we love x

and obv my work doesn’t get anyless stressful.

there we go, a catch up! i guess i have missed out loads!

All my time not interacting with kids, or being at work has been taken up by sewing. I have made pretty much all by myself [with a bit of help here and there to get tricky bits cut or sewn right], pretty much by hand, and pretty much in authentic wool and linen, 4 complete costumes for us to be tudors and take part in the annual recreation at Kentwell Hall.

I am VERY proud of myself

and speedily catching up!

Home ed
usual things really, SB doing a fair bit. struggling with the galore park history syrwtl 1 level of now detail and interrogation, so helped her out a bit, with a mixture of other resources and wikipaedia, think she has got the measure. Also need to sit with her over music theory. otherwise she is independantly cracking on, and we review bits and pieces. Reading loads and loads, as always. Also practicing well for her piano grade 3 that is coming up, and clarinet, as her teacher suggests she might do grade 3 next term. BB is reading lots of apple tree farm books now. Definitely getting the hang of this :), and she is also doing lots of careful crafting, drawing and sewing.

we had another great wodensmeet, continuing on with the real science for kids physics, this time investigating inertia and momentum with marbles. Preparing a storyline for 3 little pigs animation, and making some fab rabbits and assorted other critters from old socks. other art, chatting etc also went on.

home ed groups – arts award, forest skills etc and usual after school activities – BB is really enjoying judo and doing it without sb now. both got some more badges at gymnastics. sb level2 and bb level 5. SB is loving the spanish element in her ballet class currently and would like to learn to flamenco.

I had d and v for 3 days which was a nightmare from a work perspective, not v pleasant, and also stopped us going to an interesting looking CHEF thing on calendars and clocks, that i was told nails would be involved it didn’t stop us going to the CHEF science faire, which turned out to be absolutely fabulous and we all really enjoyed. talked to interesting parents and interested children. picked up some experiments to repeat at home and had a great time. Thankyou

we had a musicetc, where i repeated one of the science faire experiments and we talked about surface tension, also some latin was done and practical music. i almost failed to leave in time for my sewing fest with a lady with a skill at tudor corsetry, and we spent 10 hours setting the reeds into the bodies. hoping the next sessions go more swiftly!!

my parents came for the weekend, and lovely to see them. particularly as dad getting over a big op – nephrectomy for cancer. we now have the histology, and completely removed, so we can all breathe more easily we didn;t know when he came up, so a bit stressful. this may have been another impediment to blogging.

oh, and we have played lots of board games, in particular carcasonne and forbidden island. BB is getting to be a good game player too . I think this will do for a catch up

lots of things happen, i think, i should blog this, but i dont
why not?
1. trying less screen time when kids up
2. loads of documentation stuff for work to do in eve
3. sewing for kentwell instead!
4. just feel uninspired.

we have blogged since BB was born tho, in a variety of different styles! so we will carry on.

yesterday we went to Kentwell Hall as we are applying to be participants in the tudor reenactment. I have already made lots of the linen clothes, and have a ‘costume elf’ helping me with my buxomy kirtle and bodies . but why i mentioned it was because i was v proud of both my girls, and it defines how they are moving on. SB is growing into teenage hood, independance, and thoughtfullness [well, mostly!] in a lovely way. I have always thought her beautiful in both body and spirit, and think she is blossoming. She was helpful and accommodating all day, knowing that much of our parental skills might be needed to gee bb through something that has a reputation for extreme tediousness. She also appreciated the freedom to interact with her friends with me knowing that should would act responsibly and return appropriately. SHe smiled, questioned and answered with keenness and maturity when quizzing stationheads about what to do, and was happy with her decisions. She even took the teasing at the end in good part when she shew her only streak of noncompliance over helping carry things . i jsut love the person she is, and the glimpses i see of the person she is coming to be. Yes, she has inherited a streak of this from me and that from DH which would be better not, but hey ho .and BB, she is a charming mischievous imp irrepresably wearing her emotions on her sleeve. This is not necessarily a good thing! SO i talked to her a bit about the day, the need to entertain herself quietly [with ds] queue without groaning, sulking or worse still, wailing! And to speak nicely to stranger adults about what she would like to do, including an interview with the boss. She did it all fabulously. this was something likely to wobble her, as all new, expectations varied etc, and talking to strangers, but she was happy, smiley and did it. What is more, she found some of her own solutions and proffered them – for example sitting by our bags whilst i queued for her for lunch. SO proud that she did it

so anyway, we went, more positive than i thought, less queueing too and pretty well structured. We talked to loads of people, tho failed to find dairy, which i think counted a bit against choosing that. BB was ultimately v taken by dyers and gardener, so we put those dairy and cott as places we would like to be stationed. Sb talked to loads of people independently. I was there when she successfully chatted to the stillroom, which had been her favourite. However, she fell head over heels for the charms of annie the pedlar, and now hopes to be a peddlar too, thinking that will be excellent. DH is tempted by being a steward or a woodsman or alchemist [just happy he is tempted by something!] . since sb no longer keen on still, i would go for dyer or still or cott, or maybe house musician, though apparently that has long spells of boring, so perhaps not! So feeling more confident about the whole thing, especially since talking to a lovely costume checker, who said what i had already done for girls fine, tho i should iron more

I was very good, I nearly gave DH the best birthday present ever 11 years ago. However, i only laboured, delivering the following day, so now his birthday is always swallowed by prep for SB’s. Still, I tried . This year he gets closer and closer to the next decade… [perilously close you might say ] and got lots of cards from family. BB gave him an oil painting of daffodils [done by herself] SB was going to give him a book of vouchers to be redeemed, all with tasks for her to do for him. she took loads of great photos of the sylvanians doing these tasks, but because he saw the photos on the camera, instead gave him a home made owl. Although he loved the owl, i have a sneaking suspicion he would have loved the redeemable vouchers too I gave him carcasonne, a game we have eyed up lots but somehow never owned. Ideal in the quick game for casual game players. He was happy

Next day was SB’s birthday, up, opened presents and she was v happy with what she got, including a new quieter ‘trick’ scooter [hopes not a bone breaker!] and a fair number of books. birthday lunch of pancakes always good to be healthy does maple syrup count towards 5 a day?? we took the scooter out for a trial at the nearly always completely empty carpark around the corner, and she and bB had a great time scootering before returning home. She had Big from liveotherwise coming to go out with her to watch a film and met P and S from le ciel rouge there. She had a max guest number, and she found it v hard as there were at least 3 more ppl she would have loved to come too, however, they either had siblings she felt bad about not choosing too, or else weren’t good with scary films, and she was initially planning war horse. Hard choices! but she had a fab time with her 3 chosen friends, in the end they saw journey 2 to the island, which they all seemed to love, and had popcorn and fizzy drinks and went in without adults home to a dominos pizza tea with extras, icecream and cake. initially the plan had been a meal out [which is why restricted numbers] but at the last minute, the devastation of bb of not sharing sb’s birthday treat meant sb changed to birthday tea at home so she could join in. I was happy about that too BB played with small, i chatted to Jax and also entertained SOA whilst the big girls where at the theatre.

so all in all a fab birthday obviously jax stayed over until lunch the next day = great to catch up. Next time we meet she might have a baby! [that would be great!!] DH’s parents came over for the afternoon and evening – played carcasonne and had more presents

otherwise bits missed out in the week include arts award – learning about watercolours, and fab work done. SB can now officially sign up for the bronze award, so we should do that. guides, where sb made loads of cakes to take, and actually really seemed to have enjoyed it, BB’s gym and they bailed out of multisport due to sb foot still hurting. lots of piano practice

oh dear to all the not in time blogging! to hharicot he days! we had in half term a historyetc day. I plan to add pics as we have the capability back, but thought better blog! numbers seriously reduced due to BB’s chickenpox. . theme was vikings to post battle of hastings, so we had some viking and normal ships to build and a viking house. we had fimo thors hammer charms, bayeaux tapestry design and using those packing noodles to make a motte and bailey castle. also baking bread. I was significantly under the weather with migraine, but i think it was a much quieter session than normal. i think missing the other families and their crafts as well. loved seeing the people that came tho, and i love seeing the kids keeping fingers busy but being happy with their friends. think we could do with shaking it up a bit tho maybe adding a bit of show and tell as a v short vignette [can be acted a la horrible histories] would be quite fun.

the following week was a wodensmeet, with key themes of physics forces, animation and sewing. Started with SB, P and S doing some french speaking aloud – reading a french storybook to each other. they all then made a person and a scene for what will be a project of animating 3 pigs story. lots of discussion and v great drawings. Sb did piano prac, and had me and em nagging her and some music theory – putting rhythms to poems, something i admit is nearly as easy to me as breathing, but she really struggles with. need to get her rapping or something! After lunch the deependers joined us as well, which was really fab, and we did science in 2 sessions, rolling different mass and size marbles along a tube, seeing what our confounding variables were, and talking about momentum and inertia. the experiment demonstrated it v well. whilst i was doing that, z was leading some sock critter making from a book of e’s . this was greatly successful, with many fab critters being made. we grown ups did some chatting over ben, sb finished her galore park history and we socialised before going off to judo

BB made me v proud at judo, because she did it without SB, changed with lots of partners and clearly enjoyed herself. the big lads were also v v lovely with her

friday was arts award, looking at watercolours.

this post needs some pictures!

particularly when they have a schooled niece and nephew coming to stay M and E have had a bit of a tough year so far, their dad has been away for 4 weeks in a 1 and 3 week block and i think it showed particularly with E, being v in need of lots of physical love nd attention.

anyway, getting ahead of myself woohoo for annual leave we started the weekend with bb wanting to do more oil painting, and sb sewing, so i got the paints out and bb painted a fab pic of dafodils and started a pic of a footballer. SB and i played lots of board games, and we all wii danced together [i even beat sb on some sections ]

my nephew and niece joined us early the next day and we settled down to the serious business of crafting. my niece now has a good anticipation of lots of different crafts and kits being available for her to do, and i hope i didnt disappoint. my goods are bought, as always, in part from playmerrily [ having nipped there i can see there are some fab arts kits about to come in! ], and cut with crafts from baker ross i think e did 4 or 5 things and was v happy m also did some crafts and we all had a lovely time in the lovely conservatory

monday we had planned to go swimming. unfortunately bb seemed to have developed some spots. some v suspiciously chickenpoxy spots. not many, so we thought we would see how it went in the day. it clearly went chickenpoxy, so swimming cancelled and therefore also any museum visiting and some friends visiting due to babies etc wah!! oh well, best laid plans! we therefore did way more crafts! we did lots of games, wii some running about in snow [the first weekend was still v frozen] and general high spiritedness. phew! tues was much the same, with added baking of cakes. tues i barely moved due to the migraine i had all week – grr!

weds was historyetc, which i will hope to blog separately! but it ha as a theme vikings and the battle of hastings.

by thurs, bb’s spots were starting to crust over, so we planned to end on a high note with swimming on friday if were all crusty and cinema on the sat. we were v relieved that by fri it was clear that she was all crusted over and pretty much better, and whats more, i could be more than horizantal, so swimming it was! great fun splashing about. bb and e competing for my attention but great. we then went home and the kids did a masterchef for me. M did starter of pizza toast. he had made something similar at school, was v confident and did a great job, with me just putting under the grill for him. bb made roasties, from scratch yorkshires with peas, sausages and gravy. i very much assisted and scaffolded E to make meringue nests [which were brill] into which we put some chocolate icecream. it was a fab meal, and the kids loved all the planning, preparation and the delicious nature of it. amazingly happy

sat we went to see monster in paris together and v much loved the film, they spent their holiday money from my parents on sweeties and also the one pound machine pokemon goodies i loved monster in paris, and would recommend it to all. and it was a lovely way to come to the end of what had been a not stressfree week, keeping 4 kids cooped up in a house! luckilly we have lots of resources my b-i-l joined us, v chilled and relaxed and has sold his house. he is definitely moving on, and i was pleased that i could be pleased for his joy. moving on for me is never going to happen. but i don’t want him or the kids to be trapped by the loss in the past, although it clearly affects them still. he is v happy with his new love, and i just really really hope it works out for all of them.

unfortunately, sb managed to fall and hurt her weak foot, necessitating a trip to a and e and we were therefore unable to meet our date with the manor borns for a beautiful walk in the rspb woods on a beautiful day but did join them for a lovely meal and chat