just another morning here

We are completely knackered. Had to be up really early both days in order to get kids dropped off/cars into the shopping centre before any people showed up. And being nice to people all weekend is clearly more than I can take! Same goes for repeating the same sales pitch type lines:
Would you like to enter our competition? Guess how many balloons are in the van.
No, it’s free to enter (don’t bother reading the fluorescent signs announcing the FREE COMPETITION! all over our cars).
No, there aren’t any in the back of the van, just in the cab.
Well done, we’ll ring you if yours is the closest guess! (unless you are aged around 10, and forget to put your dialling code on your entry, in which case we’ll spend hours searching on BT until we find you – story tbc!)
Can I interest you in £25 off your next service? What car do you drive? Are you thinking of changing your car soon?

Still, it was a good weekend, and probably really worthwhile. We chatted to loads of people, and Russ even sold one of our cars yesterday! Guess time will tell how good it was if/when we see vouchers come into the workshop, or have any customers into the sales office who arrive because of the show.

The children spent one day being spoiled by Grandma and the next day being spoiled by their Great Aunty Jacky so they’ve not had too bad a weekend either! Anna did a trial at the Exeter Children’s Orchestra yesterday and really enjoyed that, she is considering dropping Stage by Stage after Christmas in favour of the orchestra this year, no final decision yet though.

Now wondering if everything is ready for Monday morning – if it’s not, tough, because I am too tired to do it. Another weekend where I really think our household would fall apart if we both worked full time, we have lived on takeaway and been fit for nothing by 8pm!

Joe spent this morning at Steve’s office using Education City to educate himself, as I was driving around with Russ doing last minute errands for the Motor Show this weekend. Oh, and having coffee with a friend! We ate fish & chips for lunch in the office before heading back into town to meet our home ed photography group at the Cathedral.

I had taken the wrong lens for indoor photography (doh) and Josiah was intent on following the leaflet he was given with numbered points of interest to look at in the Cathedral (in unswervingly numerical order and without looking at anything else, honestly, sometimes I worry about that boy), so we didn’t take many photos inside, and then it started drizzling, so our outdoor photos are a bit rubbish too, but we had fun anyway. I wished I had my f30 actually, but it is mysteriously broken and has been sent back to fuji to see what they can do with it.

Back home in time to meet the girls, then I helped them get their homework done and they had soup for tea before going out to Friday Fish (the church’s children’s group), which they really enjoyed. And tonight we have just crashed, as we have got a really early start tomorrow!

Oooh look, we’re even named on the Motor Show website! Not that the Guildhall shopping centre website generates that much traffic, I shouldn’t imagine, but nice to get a mention anyway. If anyone local is in town on Saturday or Sunday please come and say hello to me/us, we’ll be behind the little church in the middle somewhere.

We’re back down to earth with a bump here. Last week my sister was staying, which was really nice, but we didn’t get an awful lot done as we were still in definite holiday mode! We did do a couple of nice things including a mooch around town to show her the sights (or at least the good coffee shops!), church followed by a BBQ with friends on Sunday, a trip to Dartington Crystal (because we’d won free tickets) on Monday, and a fair bit of dossing around at home.

Yesterday we had Caitlin and Riona with us, took Esther back to the station early afternoon, and then the new term began with Anna’s first cello lesson later on in the afternoon. Incidentally, she passed her Grade 4 cello (108), don’t think I ever blogged that. And Abbie passed both the Grade 1s (piano 114 & recorder 107) that she took at the same time.

In the evening the girls both sharpened all their pencils and got their uniforms ready, and I think they even managed an early night – certainly they were in bed by the time I got home from an aborted Miscarriage Support Group meeting (forgot the keys, oops. still saw one person though and had a good chat on the stairs instead!).

Today the girls were back at school, and obviously pleased about it as they were both up and ready way earlier than necessary!

Josiah and I have had a relatively good home-ed day too. He did a couple of workbook pages from a music and a maths book, just to try and get back into the swing of doing something each day. He seems to have forgotten how to write all his numbers!

Then we did his music practices together, then made a picnic while signing up for Education City again, in order that I don’t feel too guilty about hours spent in the office, our next destination. By the way, does anyone still have a valid ‘refer a friend’ code that I could use when I actually have to sign up properly in 10 days’ time? Steve and I had a business meeting to attend together so Josiah amused himself with Education City on the computer at work while we did that.

The plan after that was to head to Home Ed group, which I assumed would have started back today, but the park was empty. Joe was a bit disappointed – I really should have checked beforehand as I probably had the info in an email somewhere. Ah well, there’s always next week. We had our lunch in the park anyway, and it gave us the chance to have a good chat about a couple of goals for home ed, which was good. Joe’s decided he’d like to try making a lapbook about the Romans, so that gives us something projecty to do alongside basic workbook things. He was only 18 months old when the girls did their first ever home ed project on the Romans so I don’t suppose he can remember much about it – in fact thinking about it, they did it with Aunty Jacky and I took him out to the park while she was there, so I can’t remember much either!

Anyway, then we headed back to the garage to get a few more things sorted; we’ve got a stand in the local shopping centre’s ‘Motor Show’ next weekend so there are some extra things that need doing for that.

Now we’re home for piano lessons. Still chasing my tail with lots of paperwork to catch up on so better stop blogging and get on with it!