just another morning here

We have had a manic day. Managed to get all 7 people in the house this morning up, dressed, and out of the door by 8.45am which I considered to be quite an achievement. Steve went to work, Caitlin & Riona to school, and we took Josiah to Start Right, then came back to breathe a sigh of relief and do some drawings of Greek fashions for our project.

Then we headed out to Crealy to meet up with EO friends. That was lovely in itself, and at lunchtime I skipped out to pick Joe up then went back to be with everyone again. The other day when we visited Steve’s grandparents they gave the children some Christmas money, and during December the Crealy shop is offering 20% off to members.

I bought a really nice jumper there the other week, and the girls had both been eyeing up jumpers there too, so we suggested that they might like to use their Christmas money at Crealy. Unsurprisingly, this suggestion was met with cheers from the children – Joe too, because he’s had his eye on a sword and helmet set in the shop there too, which I’ve been saying ‘no’ to for months now.

So, the Christmas money from Gran & Grandad paid for all three children to go and see Father Christmas in his grotto and get a small pressy from him, and actually the gifts weren’t too tatty – and they were letting the children choose, so all three of them had something they wanted. NB – for keen observers, Anna chose something vaguely resembling a Bratz doll, aargh!

The girls both bought their jumpers and Josiah had his sword & helmet, plus a disc shooter toy (otherwise known as a gun which shoots foam discs, in addition to the ubiquitous sounds and flashing lights). To be honest, I think Josiah would have been just as happy with simply the 99p sword, it has hardly left his side since he bought it, in fact he ate his dinner with it in his other hand …

As soon as we got home we took these photos which will be included with a thank you letter to Gran & Grandad tomorrow. The shooter thing was great fun, actually, the girls were looking quite envious in the garden late this afternoon!

Then, as if that wasn’t enough for today, Steve’s Aunty Jacky turned up ready to do Greek dance and drama with the girls, which went down very well, especially being dressed up with gold and silver sparkly bits! They did all that stuff that the NC harps on about in its dance section – sequencing, putting together moves, practising and performing. They also chose a poem to read ‘dramatically’, which was hilarious to listen to!

The Greek project is now officially on hold, we’ve been charged to make some papier mache Greek vases over the next few weeks and once we’ve done that, and painted them white in preparation for being decorated in a Greek manner, Aunty Jacky will pick the project up again with the last couple of sessions, due to include a Greek banquet. All good projects should include food

This evening Steve is watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the children – he was meant to be somewhere between here and Sheffield, but plans changed somewhat. I was glad his plans changed though, because it means there’s a chance that I might get to see the Raines whenever they get their new car!

Plans for tomorrow are to make more chocolate truffles, put our gift boxes together, and work on that thing we’re not supposed to be talking about Anyway, I’m supposed to be sitting under Josiah for the film, so I’m off to make a cup of tea, then join them

We’re about to continue the Greek project by watching Troy – dubious historical relevance I know, but the girls were supposed to be finding out about Greek fashions this week so I’m sure they’ll take something useful in!

Made loads of Christmas cards this morning to the accompaniment of my new carol CDs which arrived this morning, then this afternoon the children watched TV while I chatted to a lady who’s interested in being involved with the Miscarriage support work. Oh, and I finished categorising the blog today, too!! After that came cello lessons and playing at the park, and then a friend has arrived for tea and the evening. All very nice and laid back, which is just what I was hoping December would be.

I am SO rubbish at thinking of titles!

Another reasonably nice if somewhat boring day … Ruth popped in first thing (luckily we had just about got dressed by the time she was on her way back from the school run!). The kids all did some workbooky things after she’d gone (maths & english), as well as working on some project things that Aunty Jacky had asked them to do – looking at the Greek alphabet, some colouring, and storywriting using Greek Gods as the main characters – only they didn’t have to write it down, the aim being to demonstrate oral tradition! Just as well, because Anna’s turned into rather an epic! Abbie raced through to the end of the maths book she’s been working on and finished it off, well, Anna finished hers yesterday and she’s never one to be outdone So now we have two laminated trophies up on the noticeboards. They’re planning to finish their english books by the end of November too, then we’re declaring December art & craft month, definitely abandoning the ‘normals’ for a month, anyway! Although I might try and keep up with the handwriting, because they are definitely benefiting from doing some writing each day – then again I guess a Christmas card a day will sort that one out!

The children watched some Cbeebies later in the day, and a toy order arrived. Just about within the three weeks they promise, but out of 12 orders included only about half were complete. Which would be okay if I didn’t have to travel to deliver them, so by the time I’ve travelled twice or three times with the back orders, my profit will have been consumed by my fuel bill. I know I haven’t exactly bent over backwards to make loads of money through this little enterprise but I sort of hoped it would have been a little bit easier than it has been! Oh well – better stick to helping Steve sell cars, I guess.

Went out to Crealy again this afternoon, it’s been another beautifully sunny mild day here, so we made the most of it and went for a walk down by the lake – all the little bridges were closed, which was sad – I guess in the winter they become a bit of a health and safety hazard if they’re slippery. Anyway, we fed the ducks and geese, Josiah got his hand nipped by an overenthusiastic duck (!!), then we went up to one of the indoor play areas when it began to get a bit cold and dark, and I read some more while they played, which was lovely.

Interestingly, Josiah has developed an uncanny knack of making friends when we’re at Crealy – he was tearing around with a couple of other 3ish year old boys who were there together, and had obviously managed to become part of their game – very interesting to watch, it’s only recently that I’ve noticed him doing it.

Once home we had tea, chatted to friends who popped in, now everyone is in bed with books or CDs, it’s very peaceful. Steve and I are going out this evening to our small group and then for a drink afterwards. Anyway, must dash, babysitter should be here soon …

Well, I succeeded in giving what was left of yesterday’s chocolate cake away to the friend whose birthday it was, so didn’t eat too much myself

Joe went off to nursery this morning and the girls & I did some handwriting – Anna chose to copy a psalm from here, while Abbie is continuing to work her way through a Schofield & Sims book. They are both really improving, and it’s quite nice to see them take pleasure in watching their own progress. I think they did a couple of pages of maths each as well – nothing too strenuous though. They spent the rest of the morning together on the computer playing here – which makes me cringe, but they like it.

After picking up Joe and some lunch and a bit of housework we went to the park to a home ed meet … which was nice, although I can’t believe we ended up discussing the other group again (the one with the exorbitant prices, lol!) and still not really getting to an answer – our best bet at the moment seems to be to try and talk our way into concessions on the rent. Either that or find somewhere else to go. Not that I’m at all sure we’d go wherever it was or however cheap it was, well, not regularly anyway. I guess I just find that the week is usually full enough anyway … then again having said that I do think we maybe ought to give it a try again, because I feel like the kids are missing out and the reason we don’t go (other than the cost) is more because *I* wasn’t enjoying it than anything else. I dunno! Turns out both Jules and I had been paying over the odds without realising in any case … I still think it’s all too confusing!

Anyway, the children had a nice time playing, we took scooters which I think got used by everyone … and then we had to leave to get home for Steve’s Aunty Jacky who came round for another Ancient Greeks project session with the girls … they did some work on alphabets and numbers which complemented what we’d done the other day, and she read stories to them from Story of the World while they coloured, all very nice and laid back today.

Discovered I’d left Joe’s hat at the park when Jules called round to return it (thanks Jules!!), just as I was on the phone to Stuart telling me they’ve been approved at the adoption board – great news, and now I’ve stolen his blogpost for tomorrow

The highlight of our day though, came after tea when we (well, Anna, Abbie and I – we left Steve at home with Joe who was crying because he wasn’t coming) called for Mollie & Emma from up the road, and went off together to see Wild One at the school round the corner – a Theatre Alibi production. It was absolutely brilliant, we all really enjoyed it – highly recommended if they ever tour near you!!

No snow here, just wind and drizzle. Typical!