just another morning here

Easter guests have gone home, and now we’re just pootling around getting a few jobs done. I’m trying to keep the children in relatively good habits of not getting up too late etc., so that it’s not such a culture shock when term starts again.

Today was the shoe shop stop; trainers x 2, school shoes x 2, and shoes to go to the prom in (and therefore totally unsuitable for much else). Very Expensive. Still, everyone was happy and if I’m lucky they will last into the autumn term too.

Anna has now reached the same shoe size as me; I’ve been waiting for this for ages! Now at least every pair of shoes I buy for her, I can borrow back if I ask nicely!

Visited DVLA to get tax (oh, and a quick geocache), then I delivered a car to my parents in the afternoon, so drove up to Gordano to meet them half way. I like a good drive, especially on my own, so didn’t mind. The kids sat around watching iPlayer and playing games while I was gone.

Once back I made a quick veggie lasagne for more friends who came for dinner. We tried to watch Heston’s Feasts on replay but it wasn’t working; had to resort to watching it on the laptop after they’d gone (amazing, wish I had been a dinner guest!).

Very relieved on behalf of home educators that the proposals for changes to home ed legislation have been dropped tonight – had a drink alongside many of my friends this evening (any excuse!). On the other hand I’m still praying for the best outcome for a good friend’s baby at the moment; seems odd and slightly wrong to be blogging about normal stuff when life hangs in the balance.

Lovely first day of holidays here. Steve went off to work relatively early, while the girls and I got up a bit later, but in time to go to town for a little bit of shopping, and to see the re-enactment of the Crucifixion on the Cathedral Green. We successfully bought Abbie a dress for her Y6 prom, and dashed to Tesco for rolls for lunch, then watched Jesus being crucified – I find it very moving. Some small children behind us really did get upset when they nailed his hands and feet as it was very realistic.

Anyway, after that we dashed home and I made some rather nice roast parsnip soup, so there was a choice of that or Heinz tomato soup from a tin when my parents and brother came for lunch. They’re down to look at a car or two at the garage this afternoon but decided to come and see us too

As I write, Joe’s singing his way through a Passion Service; I did want to go but I’ll have to save it for next year. Hoping to pop in for evensong instead. In the meantime, the girls are baking simnel muffins for when Grandad and Nanna come back for a cup of tea, and I think I might watch The Sound of Music!

Must admit I quite like this newfound enthusiasm for baking; she made a rather nice looking Easter Bunny lemon cake yesterday, and we haven’t been allowed to cut into it yet!

As an aside, I was surprised to find that I haven’t used Good Friday as a post title before now, in 7 years of blogging – strange, but I haven’t!

Riverford have been sending out recipe cards since Christmas, which is good, as I often get stuck in a rut with meals. We tried these Cheesy Cabbage Patties this evening, and I thought they were really nice.

The children moaned and gave them a verdict of ‘ok’. When I said it made a change from bangers, mash, and cabbage (which is what I normally do with cabbage!) they all replied ‘but we like it like that!’ I had thought I’d win them over with the addition of crinkle cut chips, but no. Ah well, you can’t win them all. I was proud of myself for making the effort to cook something more interesting, anyway. Would have been an awful recipe to try without a food processor though!

In other news … er, there isn’t much. Anna tried out a new youth group just down the road last night, and met a few old friends there, so I suspect that will become a regular, at least if all homework is done!

We’re preparing for impending school changes by sorting out uniform (mainly from 2nd hand shop so not too bad) and getting more nametapes. Annoyingly only saw these little button things on a different website *after* I’d ordered standard woven nametapes … now trying to persuade myself that they’re just a gimmick and probably not as easy to apply as the video would have you believe …
Also sorted bassoon lessons – same teacher has been organised to visit the new school, meaning I don’t have to break the contract with him, phew. Was worried about that for a little while!

Having a few niggles about mornings – we have all been struggling to get up in the mornings and it reached traumatic levels this morning when Steve and Joe were only just on time to leave, having both been in a rush to get ready because they didn’t leave themselves enough time. So they took the car I should have taken instead of the one which failed to start. Only problem with THAT was that Anna’s blazer and school bag were in it – of course she didn’t notice because she was still in bed; had she been up she might have missed her blazer before Steve was all the way across town. So I dropped her to school in the last car we had in the drive (fuel light on, of course ), and left her with her bassoon, freezing in just a school shirt, waiting for Steve to drive back with her stuff.
This MAY teach a few people a lesson about getting up a bit earlier …

Today had to be pumpkin day. The girls are going to a party tomorrow night where there is a pumpkin carving competition, so they wanted to join in – and we won’t have time for everything tomorrow. Joe carved one too – so I had three lots of pumpkin innards to use up (and Abbie’s was a BIG pumpkin!).

So far we have made:
Pumpkin Pie – we used this recipe but having tasted it, half a cup of sugar would have done the job, it’s way too sweet!

Pumpkin Cake – this recipe looks fabulous, although I haven’t actually tasted it yet. This recipe, meanwhile, tastes ok, but wouldn’t come out of the tin in one piece so NIL POINTS for that one.

Tomorrow will be soup and scones, and I guarantee I will still have a 2l box full of pumpkin flesh to go!

It’s been a nice day, just pootling about with the kids, and I didn’t get enough days like this in the week, could totally have another week off … ah well.