just another morning here

These were on my list as two separate activity days for half term but we ended up amalgamating them in real life so they might as well get lumped together in a blog post as well. The muddling of them happened mainly because we ended up wanting to go to town twice for various things at the museum.

So, yesterday … we got ready and went into town first thing. Anna had a shield (that she won from a music festival back in the spring) that she wanted to get engraved, so we did that en route to the museum. Then realised why there are so many years left out on the shield as it was expensive! I didn’t realise and had agreed to the engraving already, but I am not surprised that some people haven’t bothered to put their names on it.

Anyway. Went via a couple of estate agents to the museum where there was a ‘Meet the Romans’ activity on – there were a couple of Roman soldiers in the museum alongside a table of various artefacts so we spent a while there, and then opened the Romans activity box in the next room. That was a bad idea, as everyone who visited the soldiers then came next door and pounced on the activities too – no problem with that in itself but as designated key holders for the box we were trying to keep track of everything and it was really busy – I think we lost one of the dressing up outfits but it was nigh on impossible to keep an eye on it all! Thankfully the museum people were very understanding.

We went home for lunch, and then had a crafty afternoon – well the girls and I did, anyway. Josiah wrote a thank you note and sealed the envelope with a special wax seal from a set he had for his birthday, and that was about all he could manage, he then slumped in front of the tv for a while. Everyone here has been slightly under the weather with colds/general tiredness and he was worse yesterday so tv and honey & lemon drinks were the order of the day for him. Nothing really bad, just that sort of illness that comes out as being really on edge and easily upset, not great when you are part of a family and other people are likely to annoy you all the time!

Meanwhile I helped the girls plan and start stitching little cross stitch bracelets that we’d picked up in a craft shop in town, so that was a nice afternoon. Reminded me how much I used to like cross stitch, haven’t really done any for years, I might finish Josiah’s birth sampler one of these days!

Emma, Robyn & Lola came round to play for a bit and have tea with us, so that was a nice end to the day.

The kids watched Ren & Stimpy before bed – got an old video from a friend who was chucking it out and we used to love Ren & Stimpy years ago so a good chance to reminisce, there!

Today we did some cooking in the morning. I made chicken & veg soup from yesterday’s leftovers, cheesy Shepherd’s pie for tomorrow’s dinner and some Chocolate Orange Potato cake. Josiah made an Apple & Apricot crumble with very little help. Then they watched tv and the girls got their stitching out again, all felt very relaxed and lovely.

Then we headed into town after lunch for a craft workshop at the Museum. They’ve had Roman things on every day this week I think, and today was Mosaic Making. We’d arranged to meet friends there too so spent a pleasant hour or so roaming the museum with them as well.

After that came a violin lesson for Joe, some house viewings with my parents who were down for the day, and then a lovely meal out with everyone in the evening. Managed to meet two lots of friends in the pub as well which was quite amusing.

Tomorrow is ‘mystery trip’ day – oooh exciting! And mysterious!

Working backwards, just to be confusing.

Today Josiah and I accompanied Anna’s class to the local high school for a ‘Cool Science’ show. It was quite fun, and basically consisted of sticking various items into liquid nitrogen to demonstrate various things. Josiah enjoyed it as much as all the Y6s, and even answered a question, which astounded me somewhat, that he had the confidence to stick his hand up! He then threw a wobbly on the way home which wasn’t too helpful (he wanted to walk on the outside of the narrow pavement near the busy road, I wanted him to walk on the inside), but never mind. Photos are rubbish but give you an idea …

Yesterday we were in school again making Momos with yet another group of children – Abbie was there this time so that was nice. I was on my own, the other mum couldn’t make it, so it was more hectic than usual. Oh, and the school photographer was there so the kids kept disappearing to have photos taken – but that did mean that Josiah got to be in the girls’ group photo so an added bonus there.

And back at the weekend, a photo from the balloon launch that took place at the MA’s 25th Anniversary study day. I found it a strangely emotional and moving part of the day, surprisingly, despite not usually being touched by that sort of thing.

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday; Josiah and I were at work for most of the morning, holding the fort there and getting the usual stuff done while we were at it.

At lunchtime we went home for something to eat, and I threw a casserole together for tea (extra brownie points there) while Joe did some Wii Boxing (always good for burning a bit of energy!). Then we walked round to school as we’ve offered to help out with some cooking in Abbie’s class over the next few weeks.

The class are studying the Himalayas in Geography; as it happens the teacher who is taking these classes actually went trekking in the Himalayas over the summer, so it sounds as if they are getting loads of first hand knowledge passed on to them, and the activities they’re doing are really fun too. Last week this teacher showed me and another couple of mums how to make Momos and today was our first try with a group of children. Ours were filled with tuna – although I fancy trying the sweet version! Anyway, it went pretty well and they all tried and enjoyed the Momos afterwards.

After school we came home and packed up Anna’s cello – took her to her lesson then went back to the office while Steve dashed back to the workshop to sort ‘end of day’ stuff there. Really praying that Terry gets better quickly!

Don’t want to spend too long blogging today as I’m halfway through the Deathly Hallows and Steve wants it next … but it’s been a lovely day so thought I would write something.

Anna had a friend to stay last night; another Anna. Very pleasant to have her company though it was slightly confusing at times The girls spent ages making little braids attached to hair bobbles to sell at their school summer fair, and also went over to the park to meet yet more friends. After the other Anna had gone home, my Anna made marshmallow crispy cakes, played with Mollie and Ruby, then went out to play with yet another friend for the afternoon.

Abbie’s been mainly kicking around here, in pyjamas all day. She read, helped with the braids, played with Mollie, helped me with the guinea pigs, and made chocolate crispy cakes. And then had a bath

Abbie slept in the music room last night to make space for the other Anna, and she started drumming along to her cd last night, and has been doing it at odd moments throughout the day too. Steve came home and has shown her how to hold the sticks properly, and a basic 4/4 rhythm, and she’s been happily playing along to McFly and making a pretty decent job of it, for an 8yo beginner I am quite impressed. Think Steve (formerly known as a pretty good drummer) would be quite pleased if one of the kids took up the drums! Still, it just added the criteria of ‘downstairs music room’ to our list for any future house of ours, as despite the fact that it’s not a proper drum kit, it still sounds like a herd of elephants upstairs when you’re sitting underneath it!

Josiah stayed in pyjamas today too. He did a decent music practice, then played far too much gamecube, working his way through an old Sonic game again. He helped with the guinea pigs too, and also managed to trip over outside grazing his side (not quite sure how he managed it!) and elbow, which left him feeling a bit fragile and needing cuddles which was nice for me Managed to bath him too this evening as he was stinky!

And I’ve really enjoyed just pootling around alongside the kids – cooked a couple of Shepherd’s Pies, made a courgette & banana cake, washed and dried three loads of washing, had a couple of long phonecalls with various people, did lunch for everyone, helped out with the music practices, braids and crispy cakes, washed the kitchen floor after they’d finished, and then finally opened the book