Wednesday, July 29, 2009

NOT what I was going to blog about

I did have an interesting, informative and important blog post lined up about scoliosis (which I have and, frankly, it's horrid and crap), and the looking-out-for-symptoms of in your child (which is important because it can be easy to miss until it's too late). However, I'm not in the mood to write this at the moment because my head is a bit all over the place - I'm unsettled. The scoliosis thing (including picture of my own, admittedly mildly, wonky spine!) will have to wait until another day.

Right now, I give you this .... made me chuckle and kind of appropriate today I think given a request that Tim got :)

Tim is doing his BIIIG week at work this week. Every day. 5.00 a.m until .... whenever (it varies). Today, he found out that one of the other drivers is leaving in September and Richard (his boss) asked Tim if he'd like to take on some extra hours on a more permanent basis. This is not an unreasonable request but is quite tricky for Tim to agree to because he actually does "other stuff" on occasions. Thing is, I guess, he might feel a little awkward at saying "no" to Richard buuut I honestly think Tim part time is (with occasional excursions into full-time as this week) better than Tim full time permanently. I think they get his best side this way. Why? Because he'd get irritatedly bored if he was doing the same thing day in day out FULL TIME. His job is a bit mundane and repetitive and I simply cannot imagine him being very happy doing more hours - perhaps if there was some more variety in it maybe ..... Flitting about, as he does, doing different stuff gives him variety in his day to day life and he's a happy bunny and can, consequently, do his main job fairly cheerfully. Anyway, I hope Richard doesn't just think he's a lazy bum-hole!!

Talking of lazy bum-holes, I've been one today I'm sorry to say. I woke up feeling sick, no idea why, just felt cruddy, and this kinda wrecked the rest of the day. I was in no mood to do anything. Actually, I think the weather isn't helping here - I'm about to go damn mad if this rain goes on much longer! I spent the last two days ignoring the weather and just getting on with it (got a lot done too!) but today I gave in and was gloomy old Eeyore.

Will pull myself together by tomorrow and get on with - other people have to!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Quick! quick!

Tim is working ALL this week (ye gods! my extraordinary powers of fortune telling are saying that there will be much tiredness ahead), so, I'm going to completely declutter and clean the house (I feel I must as some kind of sympathy act for him).

Anyway, before I start all that .... got to blog. Something worth saying (in case anyone reading this is remotely interested!) This is it. Tim and I have been having a lot of discussions recently about stuff that happened in the past - years ago. This is not the argumental "and another thing ... 10 years ago you said such and such!!" type of thing .... just reflecting and laying some ghosts to rest.

Well, when you do that you inevitably start thinking about what a VAST amount of time has past since then! Where have all the years gone? How the hell did we get from that point to this point SO DAMN QUICKLY?!!

This, obviously, leads on to .... "oh, how I wish I'd done such and such when I had the chance, now it's to late". I feel really sad that I didn't do some stuff when I had the chance - i don't have many of these situations but the ones I do have, I feel a little sad about.

You see, and this is an obvious point, we will not walk this way again.

This is it - one life, one chance, one opportunity to get it right and do the things we want to do.

Mother Nature did not grant us multiple opportunities to get our lives the way we want them and the thought that this really is it and that noone gets another stab at it, kinda frightens me.

So, lovely readers, the thought for the day is this - DO IT NOW! Y'know, me and my "shall I or shan't I" about the drama group? Well, if at all possible and if my schedule permits, I'm damn well going to do it!

I don't want to be old and feeble and thinking "oh god, I wish I'd done such and such when I had the chance!" No way! Wasted enough opportunities thus far in my 39 years on this planet - no more!

So, to you, I say this. Whatever it is you want to do - make up your mind to do it. There will be no second chances, once this time is gone it will be gone forever (scary thought no?) So ....

~ if there is somewhere you want to go....

~ something you want to do (or eat or learn!) ....

~ something you want to overcome .....

~ someone you want to be with .....

....... take steps to achieve it now ... don't obsess over it, don't worry about the outcome, don't fear, just do it.

There endeth today's lesson.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Just taking stock

Ok, pages of this website have vamoosed again. I've had to take a really long, hard look at things over the last couple of days because I started to feel stressed and wasn't entirely sure why. I needed to find out why and deal with it.

I think, mainly, the problem lies in my resolution to find more time for myself and hobbies/interests whilst still giving full attention to the homeschooling/home etc. I realised that certain things (such as various pages of this website!) were actually milestones round my neck - I felt obligated to "do stuff" with them but really didn't have the time without compromising other areas of my life.

At the moment I have several goals:

1. Finish up the Montessori maths materials book and guide and put that on sale (and then start the Language Arts one). This book is going to be SO good and SO useful for Montessori homeschoolers (especially ones new to the method) that I can't NOT finish it!
2. Finish sorting out the school stuff for the kids so that we can start whenever we feel ready to.
3. Decorate the kids bedrooms and sort out some bits in the kitchen that need doing.
4. PERHAPS ..... go along for the reading for the drama group's new play. I say perhaps because I've come over all shy ... been a long time since I did anything on the stage!

These are the things I'm focusing on at the moment ... the main things anyway!

Might take the rest of the weekend off from blogging (had a bit of an overdose of it recently!) and just chill out. Have a lovely weekend readers and may harmony reign supreme whatever you're doing  

Friday, July 24, 2009

Whoops!

Sorry about the mess (missing graphics and stuff) on this page. This afternoon I was VERY, VERY bored indeed and decided to muck around with things and managed to quite spectacularly screw everything up. Ah well, will sort it later.

Feeling a bit ..... ummm.... outta sorts today .... a bit "oh woe is me".

Tim came home from work and told me how (to put it bluntly, although he didn't use these words), the people at his work think the sun shines out of his backside. This is because, apparently, he does his job extremely well and very rarely makes mistakes - although I don't think they realise that this is almost certainly due to him having slight OCD and having to check stuff SO MANY times that he couldn't possibly do a crap job even if he wanted to! Of course, I'm proud of him, it's nice to think that people think he's great buuuuut I'm also feeling a little bit jealous 'n' blue and deflated.

Obviously, I don't "go to work" any more (as in paid work). When I did, I got compliments frequently because I was bloody good at my job. I don't know, maybe I got so used to it that because it doesn't happen any more I'm feeling left out and jealous. Tim, clearly isn't going to come home from work and say "oh darling you've made an absolutely super job of vacuuming the living room today - well done!" because, if he did, I'd think he was taking the mick. I suppose that's it - people who are "just housewives" don't get patted on the back and told they do a good job - you don't get that buoyed up feeling you get from "impressing the boss". You ...just ... plod ... on.

Oh dear yes, I am feeling sorry for myself today *sulks*.

Even with teaching the kids .... that little bit of paper I get once a year from the LEA saying "all ok" isn't really enough to make me feel THAT great about the work I do with them (the kids) - even though it's a really important job. I don't know, I sometimes really miss those days when I did a job and if I did it well I got thanked and told I'd done well and appreciated for it. Oh, and bloody well paid as well!

Maybe Tim does need to start vocally appreciating the high quality of my hoovering! *laughs*.

PS - get this, I just got a snotty text on my mobile from Orange "telling me off" because I haven't used my online account recently. It came with a stern warning - "if you don't use it soon we will have to delete it". Honestly, do I care? No. Go ahead - delete it. What I am vaguely irritated by is being told by a mobile phone company that I'm a very naughty girl for neglecting their silly website! *Sticks out tongue at Orange*.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

All hell just broke loose

Good grief! Don't kids have the maddest ideas sometimes? Rosie and April went off out in the garden to play a little while ago and I was enjoying some peaceful time while Tim was in the shower. Aaaa lovely!

It was not to last. The peace was shattered by April's ear-splitting screams from the garden and I rushed out to see what was wrong. She was sobbing something incoherent and pointing to her legs which were completely covered in bleeding scratches. Apparently, according to Rosie, they had decided to play "blind chase" (no, I've never heard of it either) whereupon they have to chase each other round the lawn with their eyes closed. Oh yeah, great plan *rolls eyes*. This preposterous game ended abruptly when April tripped and fell straight into a collection of blackberry brambles.

Anyway, she's now lying on the sofa looking sorry for herself after I cleaned her up and applied generous amounts of Savlon and kisses :) Silly billies!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sleeping Bag

When I wasn't doing silly things on Google Docs, I took some time to make a little sleeping bag thing for April's gnome dollies. Got the idea from here. Sorry about the blurry pictures!

Aaaaah! Night night!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Mucking about

...with Google Docs. Just as an experiment because I've never used it before even though I had an account, I made a little presentation on the first thing that popped into my head - Montessori grammar symbols :) Then I got really carried away and made Montessori Grammar Farm 1 - they might be fun for someone although we probably won't use them now but I just wanted to experiment *smiles*

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Be gone Huey!!

I have "Naturally" by Huey Lewis and the News STUCK in my brain and have done since yesterday. No matter what else I listen to it's still there! *Groans*.

Just realised that I meant to upload some home ed stuff yesterday and completely totally forgot (blame Huey!) and today I'm feeling a bit tired (blame the endless rain .... and Huey). Will try and do it tomorrow - promise!

Off now to tidy up and get the kids in bed ... going to relax then with a glass of wine and cook dinner :)

All the birds have been blue

They dont know what to do

Ever since you said goodbye to me

And the flowers in their gloom, have just refused to bloom

Cause we all want you back, you see mmm, naturally .......

Aaarrrgh!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Must .... exercise!

Off out to Castlepoint in a bit .... going to buy myself an mp3 player in the hope that it might actually get me doing my exercise (I've got a mini trampoline that, frankly, rarely sees the light of day). So, I'm doing myself a favour, spending some of my birthday money and, hopefully, going to get a bit fitter. Hmmm.

Still no sign of us getting to Compton Acres (for my birthday outing!) any time soon. We're forecast rain for the rest of the week and, next week, Tim is working EVERY day (6 days of 4 o'clock starts - bleeeurrgh!) so no way we're getting out then. At this rate I'll be going for Halloween or something *sulk, sulk*.

Right, off now to have lunch and then get ready to go out .... later I've got some stuff to upload to the materials page so if you like/need home ed stuff you can go have a look :)

Added later - got myself an iPod Shuffle in bright pink ... the cutest thing ever :)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Be afraid, be VERY afraid

Rosie's turn to make a silly movie this time. First a little background information (if only to explain the sheer bizarreness of it!) In this house we hate aubergines (disgusting, sludgy things) - we hate them so much that Rosie invented The Killer Aubergines! These are, apparently, a bunch of maniac aubergines that come from the Purple Planet and force us earthlings to eat nothing but aubergines for all eternity.

Anyway, having seen my film she decided to make the Killer Aubergine movie so off we went and brought one of these vile vegetables specifically so that she could stick googly eyes and stuff on it and set up some scenery and take photos. She then set it to weirdy music, added the sci-fi special effects and hey-presto! Done!

There are no captions so here is the basic story. Killer Aubergines arrive in their (very small) spaceship and a battle starts (cue odd green lighting and "flashes"). They chase the poor (stick) earthlings trying to round them up in their spaceship to begin the process of force-feeding them with aubergines (I'm slightly confused at this point - I guess they must be sacrificing some of their own kind?!!) Anyhow, the earth people are having none of this and produce a frying pan and threaten, presumably, to sauté the aubergines into submission. The defeated aubergines turn around and run back to their spaceship and fly off, never to be seen again. The end. I laughed and laughed when I saw it :)

Two things before you watch:

1. Yes, we did waste an entire aubergine for this - shocking!
2. Yes, we are a bit odd sometimes.

Just click here to play!

Oh, and I've changed my own family photo movie to a link rather than having it embedded because it kept playing automatically and driving me mad!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Birfday all finished now

My birthday seemed to go on for an inordinately long period of time this year - lasting, as it did, several days! Apart from Wednesday (my actual day), Friday my brother came over with a card and birthday pennies and then Tim and I had our (absolutely yummy) dinner on Friday night along with watching the Proms (didn't Stephen Fry look incredibly slim!!). Then, yesterday evening, we went to mil's for her birthday dinner for me - curry this time and French apple tart afterwards (which I requested as it's one of my favourites). I was very lucky and got more cards and more present money (oooo! shopping!) The kids spent most of the evening out in the garden with Uncle Rob and the rest of us chatted about "stuff" (you know how these things are!). Tim and I didn't play the piano this time - I forgot to mention this - a few days ago we went over there for Luke's birthday and Tim taught me to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (no small feat as I'm a musical blank sheet!). It was a bit lame really and I only played with one hand but he "filled in" the other bits and in the end we made beautiful music together *smiles* Think we must have driven everyone else mad though because I kept going wrong and having to start again!

Anyway, last night we didn't get home until nearly 10 which is VERY late for April and the poor little thing was saying she was cold and tired aaaaah!

On another note, I'm still considering the drama society thing ... seriously considering it (just think it might be soooo much fun) - they let you take part in a one off show if you want before sort of committing yourself to any more. Problem is, rehersals are on a Monday evening and I'm worried that they might clash with any activities the kids are doing (NOT that I've actually finalised WHAT activities the kids are going to do yet - too many to choose from and not enough days!)

Right, off now, time for lunch :) Was going to go to Compton Acres today but it's not very nice out and waaay too windy - going to go the first sunny day we get.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Oh this is funny!

I've been playing around with pictures and found a great site where you can make little movies of your stills. Here's my first attempt - just a collection of random family pics from over the years. Check out the first picture, the effects on it are hilarious oh, and make sure you can hear the music because it just makes it :) Click here to play.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Link

Added a link to Tim's not-very-frequently-updated family photo page (see sidebar under links) ..... if you wanna take a peak ;)  

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Achey

Spent FAR too long playing Sims yesterday and gave myself a stiff shoulder which is really rather painful. Have to ration it from now on I think!

I've also been adding to my computer time by working on the Montessori materials book. Now, I've got to be honest and say I'm having a hard time with this - it's nearly finished but I'm not sure it is actually going to get finished. I've simply run out of enthusiasm for Montessori, I suppose because we don't really use it any more (bar the odd thing here and there). The homeschool curriculum I've put together for the new year is really based on ease. That doesn't mean I'm skimping on my kids education - far from it - just that I'm choosing materials and methods that are easier to implement than Montessori. The MEP maths we're using is completely scripted (that is, the lesson plans are) and requires no prep whatsoever. We're doing lapbooks which we're very familiar with and are SUCH a fun way to learn (AND I've got the first 2 or 3 for each of them prepared, printed and ready to go!) For English we're sticking with bog standard workbooks (Jolly Phonics for April and Letts Essentials for Rosie). Chuck in plenty of "free" learning and you've got a very easy to implement homeschool schedule. The Montessori simply took a VAST amount of time to prepare (printing/laminating/cutting out) and a VAST amount of time to present lessons and a VAST amount of time to continually remind the kids to put stuff back on the shelf when they'd finished (now we just chuck it all in a crate-type workbox!)

The thing is - I'm determined to get time for ME. I totally don't care what some other homeschoolers have said to me over the years about not needing time to yourself away from the kids. I do NEED it! By the time I'm done teaching them and organising and getting them to various activities I'm done. I want time alone (which Tim is very kindly providing by taking them out and leaving me at home), time with Tim (which we get by having very strict bedtimes - even Rosie goes to her room at 7.00 but is allowed to watch tv, read or whatever as long as she doesn't disturb us) and .... wait for it ....

... time for my own interests.

This last point is suffering I'm afraid and it's the next thing on the list that needs to be sorted. Yes, I spent all day on the pute yesterday playing Sims but that was exceptional, it was my birthday, I don't normally get chance to do that. I also enjoy other stuff - sewing, cooking reading (for pleasure, not just homeschool stuff!) I seem to find great difficulty getting the time to do those things.

Also, and this is a biggy, I'm seriously considering doing some kind of out-the-house activity, just for me. Time away from the house and everyone doing something fun, just once a week maybe. Don't know what - evening class perhaps! I've even considered bellydancing! I've noticed the drama society that meets near to us are going to hold a new production at the end of the year and are looking for extra people for parts - it's been YEARS since I did anything on the stage and I can't help thinking what enormous fun it would be ..... sooo tempted to go along for a reading in August when they're doing them ........

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Happy, happy day :)

Just a quicky as about to have dinner. I just had the most lovely birthday thanks to my gorgeous family - from breaky in bed, fab pressies (Sims 3 is just BRILLIANT!), yummy birthday cake and letting me hog the computer pretty much all day to play the aforementioned Sims :)

Not quite over as Tim and I are having a rather lovely dinner (at home) on Friday night (Chinese - duck with pancakes .... yuuuum!) We did it this night because the First Night of the Proms is on so we decided to combine the 2. He's taken the day off on Saturday ... just "because" and then, hopefully, we're going out to Compton Acres on Sunday as long as it doesn't rain - if it does we'll go during the week.

I'm a happy bunny ... truly great birthday :)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Snip, snip!

Here is April cutting some paper. Nothing exciting there you might think but, in fact, this is the FIRST time she has ever used a pair of scissors! Ok, let me rephrase that - this is the first time we let her loose with a pair of scissors! She grasped it very quickly and managed to cut out some squares and triangles before grabbing some scrap paper and just cutting and cutting and cutting. I didn't take an "after" picture of the floor area around her table but it looked like someone had emptied a shredding machine all over the place! Tim got up (this all happened very early) and said "I see April has a new hobby!" Heehee!

I may well not be blogging tomorrow as it's my birfday and I shall hopefully be lost in the world of Sims 3 and completely ignoring the fact that I'll be 39 years old *big smile*

Monday, July 13, 2009

Worn out!

I am soooo tired this evening! We went out into Bournemouth town centre this afternoon, primarily so that I could choose something from the Body Shop for the kids to give me for my birthday (I always choose my pressies!) but also to get April a bucket of girly pink lego because she's fallen in love with lego and wanted some of her own. Well, we looked in Boots, W H Smith, Argos ... no pink lego! We trudged around in the sun getting hotter and hotter but no Lego. In the end, we came home for refreshments (and to cool down a bit!) and then went off to Castlepoint where we immediately found the exact Lego she wanted in Boots - phew! While there we popped into W H Smith and got a Harry Potter dvd for Rosie and a workbook for April and then I got sent away so they could do some "secret shopping" heehee!

Anyway, we eventually got home and April set about the Lego ... with a bit of help from dad :)

Oh, and the other thing I have to report today is that April cannot contain her excitement over the Jolly Phonics workbooks we got her from Amazon - I've never seen anyone so enthusiastic about a bunch of workbooks! She keeps pulling them off the shelf and looking at them - they're going to look like nothing on earth before she even starts actual work in them!

Right, off now to relax - got a bit of a headache coming on which I suspect is a combination of tiredness and the fact that it has gone ominously dark and threatening rain any second.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Gone into organisation overdrive!

Morning!

Maybe it's just me, but I'm sooo looking forward to the new school year! Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that April is definately, actually REALLY joining us this year (not that she ever really left!) I don't know, but I'm feeling really enthusiastic and it's started to rub off on the kids which is handy :) We're going to have a very busy summer I think - got lots of daytrips planned, still got some homeschool stuff to plan and get ready AND we're going to give our house it's summer revamp (looking back, I realise we've got into the habit of doing this every year). Got to decorate the kids bedrooms, touch up the lounge/diner a little and am hoping to put some new kitchen flooring down. BUSY!

Also got a few things going on, website wise, that I wanted to share. I'm going to start adding new items to the free homeschool stuff page soon (been very shabby about doing that recently!) BUT I'm also going to set up a dedicated Montessori page (I've had emails from people asking for it back! :) ) Now, we don't use ANYWHERE near as much Montessori as we used to (and I'm not making any more new ones) but I know a lot of people do and I wanted to try and provide what I can. Soooo, I'm compiling my old Montessori materials (completely revamped!) into ebooks - one for maths and one for language arts (and possibly cultural subjects if I get round to it). These will actually be sold as a kind of curriculum set - 2 ebooks, 1 with the printable materials and 1 guide telling how WE used the Montessori materials. Ok, I'm no Montessori expert but this is what worked for US :) The plan is that I'm trying to include everything needed materials-wise so have had to adapt some things (bead material for example) to be able to produce it in printable format. I've also brought the Sassoon Primary font (can't believe I had to BUY a font - never done that before!) so all the materials will be uniform and are in a font which is used by lots of other educational materials - it's very easy to read and write - lovely! I'm really, really excited about it - it's looking fabulous and the maths one is nearly done (should be ready within a fortnight) so look out for the new page soon!

Finally, I am HOPING to have the "home" page back (recipes, natural cleaning etc) in time for the Autumn. I say "hoping" because it's nearer the bottom of my "to do" list at the moment but I'll get there eventually.

We're supposed to be going to a pool party and barbeque this afternoon (that's been planned for ages) but the weather is HEAVY RAIN, HEAVY RAIN, HEAVY RAIN. Hmmm - might get cancelled methinks!

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Hmmm

...and they think home educators need excessive monitoring in case they abuse their kids .....

Teacher Arrested for Assaulting Pupil

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Decisions, decisions!

Hello! Been a few days since I last blogged but I've been terribly busy putting the finishing touches to September's homeschool stuff for the kids (ooo! so many great lapbooks coming up!) and trying to sort out activities for them both (more on that in a minute!)

I've just got to start by posting this lovely pic that Tim took in our garden (seeing as he clearly isn't going to post it himself even though I said he should coz it's lovely!) We think this butterfly was fairly newly hatched because it sat on the bench in sun for ages before flying off.

Anyway, kids activity stuff. You know, I always thought this was going to be a problem ... finding them stuff to do. For us, there are several criteria a) it has to be fairly cheap b) it has to be fairly local c) it has to offer them something other than just "socialisation" (uggh! I hate that word) and d) we have to take into account Tim's working hours so that he can help out with taxi service if required.

Well, it's not turning out to be a problem finding stuff (I can't believe how much there is going on!), the problem I have now is choosing which ones to go for! They can't do everything because then we'd be out all week at activities and never get anything else done. Rosie is still doing her trampoline class (and in fact this is the most expensive thing we do - it's horrendously expensive!). April has been trialling (is that spelt right?!) a local gym class over the past couple of weeks and, hmmm, what can I say about that?

Potentially, it's a wonderful thing - it's very local, low cost and just long enough (45 minutes) to give the kids a good workout without being over-tiring. HOWEVER, several things I'm not happy with. Firstly, it's in a school hall which has THREE openings to outside and all are left open for the whole session (one of them opening out to the area where the car park is). The hall is completely crowded with a TONNE of people that aren't even related to the class going on at the time (kids from previous class, kids from next class, parents, teachers and cleaners wandering in and out!). Occasionally, you get people wandering in from the carpark and just strolling through the hall on their way to somewhere else. It's just ... I don't know, the security is somewhat lacking! We're supposed to be able to leave the kids and pick them up later but I really don't feel I could do that - yesterday, I had to retrieve April THREE times as she wandered off in the direction of the exits because none of the coaches had noticed! (I'm assuming because it's just so hectic and crowded in there). Then, there's the fact that although this is a class for 4-8 year olds, April is by far the youngest and smallest and, bless her, she really struggles to keep up. She's terribly uncoordinated (still retains a little of that toddlerishness where they tend to be all over the place!) and has a hard time doing some of the stuff. All the other kids are older and more advanced than she is and I really don't think the coaches take this into consideration enough and try and get her to do the same sort of stuff. This means they have to "help" her over the vault or do backward rolls or assist her through the hoop off the trampette ... a few times they just make her sit on the mat while they did stuff with the other kids (which is usually where she got bored and wandered off and had to be fetched back by me!)

I have my doubts. Tim and I both feel the kids should be doing one sporty type activity a week which is why I chose this. However, I'm beginning to wonder if something else wouldn't be better - for example (much to my shame!), I have 2 non-swimming daughters :( We are considering finishing Rosie's trampoline after the autumn term (already paid for) because she's getting a little bored with it and we feel that, perhaps, she should have swimming lessons. This led me to start thinking well, why shouldn't April do that as well - if she starts early we won't have the same problems with her not swimming at 11! This is part of the "thing" with activities for us - to be financially worth it they have to serve a purpose as well as socialisation - them both learning to swim is a vital skill for life, not just a fun, social class. If I'm going to spend my money I'd rather do that than the gym tbh.

There are plenty of other things to keep April busy in the meantime (kids club at the local church, Badgers and her name is down for Rainbows). Sooo, I'm wavering with the gym and thinking of just enrolling them both for swimming at the start of the spring term. In the meantime, April can do all her other activities.

Oooo! and there's also free tennis coaching they could do at a court not far from us!!

Aaarrgh! see what I mean? Too much choice!

As for Rosie, well, she's starting Guides in September. Or possibly Girls Brigade. Again, we have a choice to make - they could both do Girls Brigade on a Monday and they could go at the same time and Rosie would wait for her session (apparently they've got loads of sisters and the ones that wait all go off in another room and do crafts and stuff while they wait for their group to start). It is going to involve a little running around on a Monday night but I have been informed that Girls Brigade is generally better for being "nicer" (don't know how else to put it!) and I think that would be better for Rosie who is a little quiet and shy.

Goodness me! Thank goodness we've got the summer hols to work all this out!

PS - one week today until my birthday and Sims 3 ....... how childishly excited am I?! *laughs*

Friday, July 03, 2009

All aboard!

April was off out in the garden early this morning and was delighted to find LOADS of snails on the garden path. They'd presumably come out for a splash after the bit of rain we had overnight (I say bit because, despite what the weather forcast predicted, it has been gloriously sunny and warm all day ever since). Anyway, she collected them all up and sort of .....erm... took them for a ride on her toy Dizzy. Then she let them go, collected another load and made a garden for them out of bits of grass, leaves and old buckets which she kept nicely wet so they'd be cool! She played with the molluscs for three and a half hours!!!

I've been making a sort of moveable alphabet for her for September. We have actually got a very nice, proper Montessori alphabet but the font is wrong for us (bit Century Gothic as opposed to Primary Sassoon) as we are going to use the Jolly Phonics books from the autumn. So, the Montessori one is going on Ebay and I had to put together a homemade version out of loads of little boxes mounted on a sheet of card. Ok, it's VERY homemade but I think it looks kind of cute and (possibly due to the girly pastel colours), April thinks it's the best thing ever *smiles*. I downloaded and printed the alphabet from here.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

I don't know what to say really!

It is quite UNBELIEVABLY hot!  Yesterday was hot, today is hotter, tomorrow is (apparently) going to be cooler - thank goodness.

Don't get me wrong - I am NOT moaning! I absolutely love this after the freezing winter and so-so spring but, really, it is too hot to do anything.

Oh, and Tim just made me want to cry by giving the kids the last of my Häagen-Dazs icecream leaving me with bloody Mini Milks!! What possessed the man?! Mind you, I do feel sorry for him - and pretty much everyone else at his company who does the same job (very physical) - he must have been terribly hot at work this morning!

Off now to sort of ... melt.