A merry Christmas day

Had a good time. We managed to put off the big "pressie opening" first thing until after our cooked breakfast. Pressie opening started around 9.30 a.m. - I don't think Ben could wait any longer (he was climbing the walls)!

From the lovely happy smiles and surprised expressions, I think Katie and Ben (and hubby too)were very pleased with their goodies. Katie made an adorable felt snowman for Ben and Ben made a variety of paintbrushes using twigs and things from the garden (feathers, straw, etc., etc.) for Katie. I got a fabulously cosy fleece/hand knitted coat/cardi - very hippyish and very me so I'm very pleased (OK so I chose it, but I did put it away for P to wrap for me so it was still a Christmas day surprise).

This squidgy "stress" ball is hard to put down - changes colour as you squeeze it through all the holes.

Katie's main present from us was a couple of rats which she'd been after since the summer. We'd found the cage on Freecycle and then sanded it all down and carefully re-sprayed it ready for Christmas. With a bundle of toys/houses and other such things all placed inside the cage Christmas Eve morning, we headed out to choose a couple of rats. Pets at Home only had one male, one female and three very young Dumbo rats available which was a bit disappointing. She didn't want to split the Dumbo rats and couldn't buy just one of the others (they only house them in pairs so what happens to the odd ones left over?). Luckily there were a couple of female year old rats up for adoption the exact colourings that Katie had hoped for, so we bought them. She (well us all) are over-the-moon - they are so adorable. They had been named Poppy and Meg by the lady in the shop and I think Katie will keep those names, they seem to suit them. Poppy is very forthcoming and was happy to be picked up after her 24 hour settling in time. Meg was much quieter (and abit nippy too), but this afternoon she let Katie, Ben and my sister (who was visiting) have a hold and a play, so hopefully her shyness has gone for good.

Poppy

Yesterday lunchtime we went for a super Christmas meal at my s-i-l and b-i-l with b-i-l doing a professional job of the cooking. We had the full works. Huge slices of turkey, mash and roast potatoes, veggies, roasted carrots and parsnips, pureed parsnips (which were delicious), brussels, leeks in cream, stuffing, gravy and cranberry and port sauce on the side. A very moorish Christmas pud for dessert (not usually a lover but this was by far the best I'd every had) with rum sauce. Champagne and wine (although in tiny quantities for me as I'd picked the short straw (for once) when it came to driving home). Big pat on the back for J - THE Christmas Day cook who used parsnips and leeks from his own garden - you can do it again next year!!

P enjoyed his freedom to drink, but didn't enjoy me having a giggle at him. He is so different when he's had a few. He'll join in a conversation and then complete forget what he, and other, had said just a few moments before, or he'll misunderstand something and go off at a tangent. Katie and I stuffed his boots with Christmas cracker hats and he didn't even notice how uncomfortable they were! Needless to say he slept well - and snored for England!

We all had a lovely time. I got these very pretty mini fairies from P's parents. I'd first seen them on this website about 2 or 3 years ago but each Christmas I'd leave it too late for buy one. Now I've decided I'll add to my small collection every year. The photos are dark and so don't show up the lovely colours (but you can see their beauty on the website, although I think Orla is no more!), but they are truly lovely collectors pieces.

"Baird" - Autumn Fairy


"Mistle" - Winter Berry Fairy


"Orla" - Jewel Fairy

My sister and her family visited today for a large buffet lunch (so large we couldn't even finish off the food at supper time). Lovely to see them all. Katie enjoyed showing off her rats, and Ben loved have a long play with his two young cousins.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day.

A wonder through Winter Wonderland

on Christmas Eve Eve (as my sis and I used to call it).

The photos don't do it justice. The trees, flower beds, statues and pathways were amass with white lights and the fountains were multicoloured. They were so white and bright we all felt very chilly by the time we came out! It was quite magical, and a lovely start to the Christmas festivities.

Sandringham

Spent some time at Sandringham park today. Tried to get a peak at the house to see if the flag was flying, but the walls and trees were in the way. We were told that the Queen and Prince P. were in deed at home and had greeted the public that very morning (probably on their way to church). Felt kind of strange being just a stone's throw from them!

Katie and I had a horse and carriage ride with Katie sitting next to the driver for a chat about horses and horse driving etc. He wouldn't let her have a go at driving but at least she could sit with him and get an idea of how it all happens.

Picked up some lovely meats, cheeses and olives from the farmers' market there, then had a nice stroll in the woods with Ben and Katie having a scramble over various log piles etc. A lovely day out in all.

Daily "positives"

Have been feeling a little fed up of late. Perhaps it's the weather (don't we British always blame things on the weather?), perhaps it's the fact there seems to be so many outstanding things in our lives at the moment that we all want to get done and dusted, I don't know, but it feels like the bickering between me and Katie is getting worse and it's pulling me down. I've been assured today that it's probably her age, and that other parents with daughters of similar age seem to be going through a similar problem. She's growing up, she has her own thoughts, wishes and grievances and I understand that. However, I do feel that she's still young and still needs to listen to the advice of those who love her. She needs to remember that people are to be respected, not just grunted at or ignored. Katie and I have always had a brilliant relationship, and still do most of the time. Other times she's a totally different person and we're thrown into finding the best way of coming through it without squashing her opinions and feelings but guiding her the best way we can.

Having had a particuarly bad day on Thursday, it was refreshing to read Dawniy's blog about thinking of three positives for each day. It would have been hard to find even one positive for Thursday, but today I started to pay attention to things Katie and Ben do and found quite a few happy, positive things that I could list. It helped that we had our HE group Christmas party so we were out the house and in company of good friends. Katie was over-the-moon to see her friend who now lives in Wales so she was certainly in a positive mood! So, my three positives for today are:

(1) Being at the party was a good plus for us today. Mixing with the other children and parents, chatting, eating and playing games are always positive things for me and for Katie and Ben.

(2) We got out of the house on time this morning. A huge positive because often we're late due to a sudden last minute toilet run, needing a book to read in the car, losing something "vital" for the journey, forgetting to put coats, gloves etc., in the car. All these things put me on edge and I hate to be late for anything, so leaving on time and intact was perfect.

(3) The blasted rabbit hutch cover had blown off again in the wind that's decided to pick up again here. Putting that back on the hutch, together with the under blanket (to keep Billy extra warm!) is a nightmare at the best of times but in the dark (like tonight), it's ten times worse. Katie offered to help me re-cover and tie it all down, in the cold and very breezy darkness. Very thoughtful.

The idea is to write out 3 positives each day. Can't guarantee I'll do that (not that good at blogging), but I will certainly try and find and acknowledge the positives each day, as they happen.

Victorian Christmas

Met up with a large group of HE families at Peterborough Museum yesterday for a whole day Victorian Christmas educational session. We needed a full house to afford the event, so the day was opened up to families outside our HE group. It was lovely meeting others from Norfolk, St. Noets and Cambridge. A lot of us travelled a fair distance, but the day was really interesting and good fun so it was certainly worth it.

We started at 10 a.m. and met "Dr. Walker". A wealthy gentleman from Peterborough's past who politely showed us his decorated Victorian parlour. The children learnt about life in a wealthy household, the foods that would have adorned the table at Christmas, and the general goings on - how the household employed servants to care for them and their children and how Mrs. Walker was exhausted with all the Christmas preparations, buying new winter clothes for the children as well as entertaining and purchasing gifts. He was very sad to hear the kinds of presents some of our children were expecting; obviously not as rich as himself! Soup and fruit - not that exciting! After the discussion, the children set to making mini Christmas crackers or decorating and writing inside a copy of the first Christmas card.

Moving from wealthy onto poor, we met Mrs. Kilburn who lived in a tiny terrace house owned by the railways in Peterborough. Her husband had badly hurt his leg and she talked to the children with concern about him possibly losing not only leg, but his job and the house too. She needed to find 6 pennies to pay Dr. Walker for treating him - eventually, having gone through all her household chores the children thought she could do laundry for the wealthy families to raise the money. Being able to have a go at using the different kitchen bits and bobs was brilliant. Striking flint (which would have been used to spark light the range or parlour fire), sitting in the old tin bath, using the mangle (I remember my grandma having one of those), trying out the irons and beating the carpets all kept the children, and the adults, busy.

"Mrs Kilburn's" kitchen


Making sparks by striking flint


Bathtime!

After a short lunch time break with some of us having Christmas crackers to get into the festive mood, we moved on to the afternoon session beginning with a Magic Lantern show (see also this link). We saw some of the museum's collection of hand painted glass slides, some of which had a lever to change the picture, used with a projector to make up a short film. Victorian children thought this idea was magic, which is how it got it's name. As the old projector no longer worked, we watched a few lantern shows from a Powerpoint presentation - traditional nursery rhymes and pictures of pampered cats, dogs and frogs (all with rather posh names).

Hand painted Victorian slides

The group set about either making a cornucopia to hold sweets or chocolates, or start a Christmas tree cross stitch before taking part in some traditional parlour games. The classic drawing game, known today as "consequences" was popular during this time. Other games which the children all enjoyed included throwing playing cards into an upturned hat (and trying to get them in), a thinking game named "earth, air and water" and "find the ring"

Finally, we all sang "O Christmas Tree" around the museum decorated tree.

Some of the children went to a lot of effort to dress in traditional Victorian wear - even down to one chap smearing boot polish on his face!

It was a full day and I must admit I was gasping for a cuppa by the time we came out. I'd intended on doing some Christmas shopping for a couple of hours, but there was no way my tired brain could concentrate on that.

This Victorian Christmas link tells you lots about the traditions and Christmas inventions of the time.

Sculpture class has finished

I promised some photos of our finished work:

Here's Ben's bowl. He cut the wood into a square and then drew a circle onto it before chiselling out the centre to form the bowl. He then used (with some help) the woodturner to smooth all the edges and the bowl to form a lovely piece of woodwork. Later he drew a pattern and his name and used the pyrograph to burn the pattern finishing off with water colour pencils to colour it. Ben also made a small wooden penguin, similar to Katie's fish using chisels and a whittling set to get the shape and texture, then the pyrograph to burn the features.


Katie added a base to a ready made box shape. She had to mark and saw the wood to fit the base before glueing in on. After some sanding to smooth edges, she used the pyrograph to burn different horse pictures onto the sides, finishing off with the water colour pencils to add some colour.


Here's my finished gargoyle. I had great fun doing this, and found working with clay very theraputic (plus the time flew by). Carving, pulling, shaping and altering the shape was brilliant - I have visions of becoming a plastic surgeon some time in the future!! I left adding the wings for a good two weeks as I thought it would be really difficult to get them right. However, an evening sitting in front of the "box" and the pair just came together without any hassle. The gargoyle is completely dry now and can't be fired as it hasn't been hollowed out enough inside. Have now started making a dragon for Katie, so more photos to follow.

Update on the Cubs thing

Just realised that I haven't updated on Ben going along to Cubs. We managed to go three times in total (half term was between these) but he's now decided to stop going (just after I'd purchased the uniform, naturally). Actually, I feel a little guilty in that perhaps, with a little more perseverance and persuasion from me he may have stuck it out a little more and perhaps grown to get used to it. Who knows.

He wanted me to stay each time, which was fine and actually I quite enjoyed being with the children.

One of the main problems I had, and noticed that Ben had too, was that the assistant leader had, how can I put it, a voice that was a problem to understand. No offence to him, he was a happy, loud and enthusiastic chap but his voice, perhaps the tone, loudness or whatever, made it difficult for me and Ben to understand. I don't think it was just us as I noticed other children asking him to repeat himself. He'd also occasionally bellow when a child misbehaved which made even me jump at times! He was very good at trying to make Ben welcome, but without communicating properly, well, communication can break down!

The main leader wasn't so bad, although she would at times talk down to the children, something I really cannot tolerate.

Ben, I've come to understand, likes to know exactly what's going to happen and hates to be put on the spot. To be told that "now we'll play a game" but without instructions as the other children all seemed to know the game or "pack together" again not explaining to Ben where to stand, what to do, what to say, etc., etc., made him really nervous, especially as it was assumed he'd know what to do after the first session. Once he'd get into the game etc., he'd be OK, but then they'd throw in "right, this game now" and he'd go into panic mode again. OK, so perhaps he'd get used to this and get to know all the games in the short time he'd be at Cubs before starting all over again at Scouts, but it reminded me of when I was a child and having similar feelings of not fitting in, no-one else new, etc., etc., and just wanting to disappear into the walls.

The final time we went he was nearly in tears. The boys were told to line up and were handed papers with two verses of the National Anthem. Now strangely we'd been listening to national anthems just the week before but hadn't really gone over the words to our one (we were more interested in the beautiful Welsh N/A). They all started singing (!) and after a couple of goes the leader announced that if anyone now knew the words they could form a new line opposite those that didn't to watch them try and sing. Now as they continued to sing more and more boys moved to the other line, most still unsure and mumbling but, I'd expect, they were wise to the fact that they weren't going to be different from the rest. Poor Ben, close to tears, didn't move line because he honestly hadn't learnt the second verse. I had been moved to the kitchen at this stage to make drinks, but Ben's scared face was enough for me to decide that was that (unless he asked to continue going of course). By the time I'd finished in the kitchen he was in the line by himself with everyone else watching him - how uncomfortable is that!?

I must admit he did have one good week when the boys used a pyrograph to decorate Halloween keyrings. Ben was really pleased with himself for not only learning this new skill but also learning to drill the keyring hole by himself. The panic attacks and loud exclamations from the leaders when children accidently burnt themselves was quite interesting. I've heard before that if you ask children to be careful because something could hurt them, they will psycholgically hurt themselves!

So, I'm probably softer than I used to be. I'm sure Ben would have got over his nervousness eventually and maybe had enjoyed himself. The other boys there were friendly enough, although loud at times which Ben can find a problem. Just seeing his face and hearing him say after each Monday night, "well that's over, do I still have to go next week" made me think, what's the point of making him suffer. If he really wanted to do this he'd put up with any difficulties and try and enjoy himself.

At the back of my mind I keep thinking he'll never drag himself away from my side, but I know deep down that's not the case. He managed to do a whole morning of tennis by himself with a whole load of other children he'd never met in the summer, and still he asks to have tennis lessons. He seems such a confident little guy when he's with his friends and freely talks to other adults, I just feel he needs to branch out a little but in what direction I'm not yet sure.

I got a refund for the uniform by the way!!

Doh, forgot the camera ... again!

Had a great Hallowe'en party on Friday evening with HE and local children at the hall where Katie does her art. All the children and most of the adults dressed up and enjoyed nibbles, drinks, spooky games and a disco. P came along too and enjoyed himself - swinging Ben's mate around and around so much that I thought he would pass out through dizziness!

Played "wrap the mummy" (as in Egyptian Mummy) with teams of 4 children wrapping an adult up as neatly as possible in 3 mins. using cheap toilet rolls. We played this a few years ago at home during a Hallowe'en party and I remember saying "you use the bog roll to wrap around your partner" and a few of the children didn't know what bog roll was - so this time I was polite and said "toilet roll"! Great fun anyway, and loads of mess afterwards for snow ball fights and general sliding around on bits of tissue all over the floor.

Katie and Ben carved pumpkins and made pussy cat and pumpkin shaped biscuits for the evening (we sampled quite a few before we reached the venue). Unfortunately completely forgot the camera and haven't taken any pumpkin shots or whatever! Maybe next year I'll be more on the ball.

Car started to play up on the way down, just the occasional judder but by Friday evening it was misbehaving badly and actually quite scary to drive. We had headed off to the grandparents for grub and fireworks but decided to return and pick up our other car instead as the jumping and what have you was more-or-less stalling the car - we drove home slowely and will certainly not be taking it out again - it's time to put this baby to bed. An R reg which has done us proud for about 10 years - shall miss her.

Grub and fireworks was fun but extremely wet. We got home at 11 and sank into bed with a lovely lie in this morning before a day or car hunting! We set out with the idea of buying a smaller car mainly for P to use for all his work driving. We like the Focus and Golf and were looking mainly at these. We couldn't believe how good the prices were, even for 08 cars! We had found a big car showroom yesterday before grub and fireworks, which only allowed us to test drive (with the sales person in the car too - pretty tight squeeze as we had Katie and Ben in the back) on a 30 mile an hour small stretch of road which last about 5 mins tops! Today's car showroom, a little closer to home, let us drive 4 cars in total. Each was an absolute bliss to sample as we are so used to an older car with heavy pedals and gears - it was great fun. Each car seemed nicer than the previous and then we clocked a Picasso which wasn't anywhere on our list for even looking at! The price enticed us into the test drive seat and the "ooohs and arrrrs" just said it all really. The first Picasso was a 2ltr Petrol which would have been silly to buy really as our criteria was for a (small) 1.6 diesel, but upon our return the dealer had brought out a top of the range 1.6 diesel for us which was 6 months old and slightly cheaper still. It had dealer plates attached so we took it for a much longer spin - it was beautiful and we've placed our deposit down!

Coming home with full beams on our faces, I suddenly realised that all of our past cars have lasted us near on 10 years which'll mean Katie may be 21 and Ben 19 and me fast approaching 50 by the time (hopefully) this car will give up the ghost. Shock horror - I wonder what my children will be doing by then - we could even be ferrying around grandchildren!

Photos to follow - I promise.

Finally, a little plug for my friend's album which is available on itunes to purchase - "Out of the Ashes". Can't get the first two songs of the album out of my head - they are very catchy. Some are on the artist's MySpace so you can listen before you buy!

Ways to warm up ...

... when the heating's not working (still no call from the boilerman - I'll give him one more day!).

1) wear plenty of layers to keep warm;
2) hoover the house, you'll soon be peeling off those layers;
3) get outside (which was actually warmer than being indoors strangely) and do some gardening. In our case, "trim" the hazelnut trees which haven't had a hair cut for several years it seems. Can now see the neighbours (is that a good thing?) and they're happy because they have more light pouring through their windows!
4) Clamber all over the branches littering the ground now they've all been chopped down. It's amazing how much a few branches suddenly looks once they are lying there ready for further chopping and storing (that'll take a month of Sundays);
5) make this chilli side dish* (as made and recommended by P this evening) and eat alongside a steaming bowl of chilli and rice or spag or pasta or whatever takes your fancy;
6) huddle round the fire and snuggle under fleecy throws preferrably with a cat (or two) on your lap for extra warmth;
7) retire to bed with hot water bottle and plenty of warm blankets, lots of reading material and tissues for your cold nose!

I see it's going to get colder as the week progresses - so perhaps these warming tips will help you out! Katie's friend in Wales was experiencing snow this morning and I see it's forecast for parts of Scotland tomorow where our other friends now live. Brrrr.

* Quick Pickled Chillies with Olive Oil and Garlic (2-4 people) (from Daily Mail mag)

1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp honey, sherry vinegar (about 75ml or to cover), 4 red and 4 green chillies, a little olive oil.

Smash the garlic and remove the skin. Put garlic in a small pan with the honey and half the vinegar. Cut tops off the chillies, slit them lengthways and scrape out the pale pith and the seeds (which you could keep to grow your own next year). Please take care with these little seeds, wash your hands straight after handling them and don't put fingers near your eyes - you'll regret it big time! Cut the chilli into strips. Bring the pan of honey and vinegar to a rolling boil, stirring. Put in the chillies and just cover with the rest of the vinegar. Reduce heat and simmer until the vinegar has just about evaporated and the liquor is shiny and sticky but still liquid, ensure the chillies are only slightly crunchy. Transfer to a small dish and add a little olive oil before serving.

Horse show and trip to Lincoln

Katie's friend from Wales came to stay over on Saturday night (a chilly night - we discovered the heating had packed up and our heating guy still hasn't bothered to phone us back with an appointment to fix it - at least we have open fires) and we took them to Collingham near Newark on the Sunday for a model horse show. Left them there for the day while the rest of us went shopping in Lincoln. Had a really lovely time wandering round the shops, popping into small cafes for warming cuppas and doing some Christmas shopping. Managed to get P some everyday walking boots (exactly like my trusty ones that are now ageing but have lasted for years) at half price which was a bonus and update Ben's wardrobe on a budget at Primark. Also wandered round a huge British Home Stores checking out the mirrors and lighting for our soon to be redecorated bedroom and then droolling as we toured Raspberry Village - I just want everything in that shop, especially the chilli fairy lights - something I've always been after.

Katie and her friend seemed to have a good time at the show. They came away with plenty of certificates (lovingly hand made by the looks of it) and winnings from the raffle. Katie naturally spent all her money on more models for her shelves (although now she's run out of space and is having to pack some away).

Everyone was pretty exhausted by the time we reached home.

200 mile round trip day out

P's off this week and, ever since Katie's horse riding beach day in the summer, he's be on and on about visiting Holkham Bay in North Norfolk. Headed off there yesterday in the cold autumn sun. It was mild at home but by the sea the wind chilled right through all the warm layers we were wearing. In the summer (as long as the sun shone of course) I can imagine Holkham Bay to be an absolutely brilliant day out. As the tide was out we walked about a 1/2 mile to reach the water's edge - it was worth it. The creeks, mini streams and pretty wind swept patterns in the sand, ending up with a clear unspoilt panoramic view of sea and long stretches of sand were great. Not many horse riders today, but those that were there seemed to be ignoring the cold and having a good time. In fact the place was pretty busy with families bracing themselves against the wind to enjoy a stroll on the beach. Hot cuppa and warm pizza picnic lunch afterwards went down a treat! Want to go back and explore further as there's more to Holkham than it's beach with craft shops, tea rooms and beautiful Holkham Hall to explore too. In the summer, it seems, the Household Cavalry use the beach to exercise all their horses - must be a fabulous site.



Lovely patterns caused by wind and tide.

Drifting sands like in the desert!

Only one without wellies and wearing an ageing pair of boots, P "had" to carry me over the creek in order to keep my feet dry!

... sorry got stuck into reading the Holkham Hall website and dreaming. Check out the Christmas and New Year's Eve packages - wow, what a way to spend the festive season.

So, after Holkham we thought we'd head off to Redwings Horse Sanctuary near Great Yarmouth. Katie visited a Redwings when she stayed with my parents in the summer and really enjoyed it. We didn't realise it would be another 78 miles from Holkham round to the Caldecott Centre, but we managed to see a couple of P's work haunts on the journey and get stuck in traffic for a while due to a car accident and then the sat nav decided to take us "round the houses" as we watched the time tick away. Anyway, we got there at 3.30ish (it closed at 5) and wandered round all the paddocks to see some of the horses. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it was feeding time, most of the horses could only be seen from a distance. A bundle of hay is far more interesting than visitors! Some did venture up to the fence for a quick fuss before returning to their evening meal. Nice place, but I don't think it was worth the 78 miles to be honest!

It was touching on darkness by the time we left and we stopped off for grub enroute to home. It was lovely to be home (always is after a day out), lighting the fire (thanks to the heating not working!) to warm us all up, although the only really warm place was bed with a hot water bottle!

Hard at work

Family sculpture class last week saw Katie begin a keepsake box and Ben finishing his wooden bowl.

The teacher found Katie a ready glued pine cube for her to top and bottom. She often needed my help as sawing was hard work, but hey I'm not fab at woodwork and often felt totally inadequate when helping her out. The teacher is fun, friendly and helpful to a point but I do feel he has an awful lot of people to assist with new techniques and although he'll show you how to use various bits and bobs I often need to be shown more than once (or even twice) to get the hang of it! Hence Katie and I often quietly asked the help of one of the dads when using the fabulous saw thing pictured below that looked way to complicated to set up on my own! Anyway, Katie did really well, sawing and planing and sanding but she's left with a bottom about 1cm too long and I think I'm going to cheat and take it along to the local wood yard to ask them to use a super-dooper modern electric saw to slice it off in seconds! Ssh, no one will know!


Ben did more chiselling of this bowl while he waited for the woodturner and then, with the teacher's help, used the turner to smooth out all the edges and bowl itself. Looks great, and will look even more lovely once it's had a coat of oil.



I didn't get a chance to do any more to my clay sculpture, although I'd fiddled around with it alot at home beforehand. Hope to add wings and finish it this week as it is drying out quickly.

It is cold here today, thanks to the wind. Have been having a waterbottle in bed these last couple of nights! During the day, cold or not, I am loving the autumn colours, clear skies and that sense of "something around the corner" - being the festivities of Halloween, Firework Night and Christmas. Have started Christmas shopping via the "net" already (a first for me) and looking forward to a shopping trip to Lincoln very soon. Have been trying hard to avoid all the Christmassy decorations and glitter in alot of the shops, we find they really do put a damper on the excitement of it all when they appear too early. I remember, about three years ago, browsing round a garden centre choc full of beautiful Christmas glitz at the beginning of September. It was fun at the time, but we suddenly realised that Christmas had started just a little too early and there was still a 4 month wait until the actual day!

P has retired to bed early this evening (and yesterday evening actually). He had a bit of a work get-together and "jolly" on Friday which ended in a late and boozy night so perhaps he's either suffering from that or is coming down with "something". During his "jolly" he and his team had to put on a performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller. P opted to be in the group to make costumes (chicken) while others watched and memorised the dance from the video! In the evening he went along to the team's fancy dress (Halloween) party wearing his cape, mad professor wig and skeleton gloves!

Finally decided on a colour scheme for our rather dreary, cold bedroom. We have a treasured quilt on the bed in shades of burgundy with gold needlework etc., and wanted something warm on the walls to compliment it. We already have a blind and muslin curtains (which we took with us from our first home in P'boro) which would pull the whole scheme together. Decided on a brown (yep, sounds boring and yuk, but actually it's a lovely warm, rust brown - that makes it sound worse doesn't it?!) So, when you read in the mags about cheaply slapping on some paint to change your room I don't expect the "cheap" to be 90 quid (honestly, for 4 cans of paint, gloss, rollers, sandpaper, light switch, lightbulbs (for B) and 2 small cans of spray paint (for K)). I had a couple of vouchers, £5 off a £30 spend or £10 off £50 spend which I hoped to use but to my embarrassment, not only had I shopped at the wrong DIY store, but the voucher wasn't valid until next weekend anyway!

Our two stop-motion HE group sessions that I ran went well. The first session we divided the children into groups and got them working on ideas, putting them down on paper to form a storyboard and then make props and backgrounds. In the second session, which was last Friday, the groups did their stop-motion filming. They all worked so well together and were really keen and dedicated to producing interesting films. My children, probably like a lot of HE children at home, especially in small families, often do projects on their own so to have everyone work in groups pooling their ideas, compromising and generally cooperating with others was one of my main aims of the sessions. Can't wait to see the finished results. Katie and Ben often make short films at home using the stop-motion method. This website, which I found to help those in the HE group, is easy to follow and covers everything from start to finish. For those that remember claymation Morph from the Tony Hart children's art programmes, we came across a Morph clay kit in Hawkins Bazaar. If only I'd seen it before the sessions - it would have gone down well!

Take a moment to check out my few Ebay sales (listed on the side bar). I need dosh! Cheers!

Pumpkin Festival

Needed to do a weekly food shop last Friday and hoped we wouldn't need to travel too far but Katie and Ben were itching to go to the car boot again, Ben wanted to spend his hard earned pocket money on some Lego and Katie was looking for a special artist brush, so we ended up in Spalding in the end! We discovered, by chance, that it was the Pumpkin Festival that day and evening too so, having done our various chores (although we weren't able to source the brush) we phoned P and suggested he head out our way for an evening Pumpkin festivities, carnival and fireworks. With an hourish to kill before the main events kicked off, we thought it a perfect opportunity to have a curry at the best ever Indian restaurant (Indian Cottage) around (sorry to offend any other curry lovers with favourite restaurants, but this was recommended to us some time ago and has put all other curry houses (that we've tried) well and truly to the back of the line-up). With filled tums we headed out into the dark to see the Pumpkin parade - a very long line up of families (many of whom) dressed up in their Halloween outfits caring their lit pumpkins following a band through the town centre of Spalding. Fireworks were great, as all fireworks are. A really lovely, spontaneous evening and to think we didn't even get cold sitting around in cardigans in October! This link tell you all about it and also has some pumpkin recipes and carving tips, perfect for the 31st Oct.


PS - have succumbed to putting up a list of my fav music on my blog (right at the bottom of the side bar). P was cringing at my selection of soppy tunes but most have strong memories for me and I'm sure I'll be adding to them as more "old" favourites are remembered.

New experiences yesterday

Had a good day yesterday. We teamed up with some new HE families that live sort of close to us (no one seems to live that close to us anymore - wonder why?) for a game of ten pin bowling in Kings Lynn. Nice to meet some new people and different set of children for Katie and Ben to get to know. Bowling was good fun as the adults played too (miserably in my case) with Katie and Ben on seperate teams both coming second (by 1 point in Ben's case and 2 points in Katie's!). Tootled off to visit Kings Lynn library afterwards which took far longer than expected due to two things. Firstly I had a "doh" moment and forgot that Kings Lynn is actually Norfolk not Lincolnshire so our library tickets didn't work. Secondly they had just installed a new automated system which unfortunately, just as we were having our "doh" moment, witnessed teams of other people suddenly needing assistance one way or the other in working the new system. The staff of three seemed to go into overdrive running back and forth sorting out problems with us probably being the most awkward needing three new library tickets! All very pleasantly dealt with though but I did feel for them.

So, new families on the HE front and then Ben went to watch Cubs in the evening. Those who have read past blog entries will realise that Ben gets a bit worked up over new situations. Rightly so, I do too, I like to know exactly what's going to happen, etc., etc. Anyway, he was really, really brave staying cheerful until just before going in. Seeing all the other children in their uniforms, knowing they they all know each other and then they start stare at you because you're the "new boy" would turn anyone to jelly! He asked to watch rather than join in. Boy was it noisy (he's not good with noise he's just good at making noise!) - running around and doing games. Then things changed and it started getting interesting and Ben began to loosen up and want to join in (from his chair of course!). They are working towards an aviation badge and went to visit the local airfield last week. This week they were given the NATO phonetic alphabet to learn in about 20 mins. Now, I hardly ever boast about my children in my blog (although perhaps I should a little more), but I was seriously impressed with my son. The other children were constantly checking to see what the letters all stood for but Ben managed to just look through the A-Z and remember it immediately. The leader came over and asked if he could do his first name and he reeled off first and last name without a bat of an eyelid! Proud moment! Proud because at the start of the evening the leader had come up to Ben and asked what school he went to, to which Ben answered that he was taught at home. The leader when into commiseration mode saying to me "is he stuck indoors with you all the time, not getting out and meeting others, is that why he won't join in?" or words very similar. I'm not a violent women, but I did have to resist forming a fist! "Nope, we meet other people and children all the time" (grrr you silly man) "but he gets a little nervous in new surroundings" (grrrr). "These boys have had fun running around at school together all day, you should join them Ben" he says (double grrrrr). Anyway, Ben enjoyed learning all this stuff and started chatting to another cub and seemed quite happy. Next they had to try and guess the airline symbols which he joined in too although the other leader asked "have you ever been abroad Ben?" in a very sympathetic way (or am I just getting paranoid now?!) - "yes, I've been to Portugal" he replied really confidently - that's my boy.

He wants to go back and hopefully he'll take part properly next week. I certainly think it'll do him the world of good having fun with the other boys and they seemed keen for him to join them which was nice.

kilo echo echo papa yankee oscar uniform papa oscar sierra tango echo delta

Cleaning, entertaining and outings

I've started putting up a rough timetable of the week for us all to try and follow work wise. Into our second week of this now and it seems to be working - it often gets added to during the week and looks a total mess by Friday when I can wipe it clean and start afresh for Monday!

All seems to be ticking along nicely: Maths, handwriting practise, Latin, sign language, science, project work and Sketch Tuesday (art seems to be the most popular subject at the moment). Katie did some lovely art on Thursday with the group, drawing seed pods and Autumn leaves practising blending using coloured pencils. Science has been linked to our project work on the Poles - found some fun and easy experiments here. We tried making a mini iceberg to see if 11% (or thereabouts) did actually protrude above water, but ours seemed to average a lot more than that to start with! Maths has taken on a new spurt with re-discovering a now working (for us anyway) Timez Attack. Free downloadable software to help children (and adults I guess) learn their times tables the fun way! We recommend it. This game, together with the physics one I mentioned in my last post, have been played alot this last week. Katie and Ben were even asking to play Timez Attack at 8.30 on Friday morning so it must be good fun. There's a link on my side panel.

My parents visited over the weekend (they were staying for a holiday close to us) and so I spent most of the previous week cleaning the house from top to bottom (major clean, I even did the windows and trimmed all the hedges out front), luckily the weather was on my side. We had a super Sunday roast and lovely walk up to the marshes with them and then met up at Sandringham for a tour of the house and wander around the fabulous gardens during the week. A very popular place Sandringham, although not as busy as at the weekend when we went apple picking there. Came away with two full bags of apples - one of Bramleys the other of Laxton's Fortune. Most people were going for the Cox's but we found them all tiny and very hard. The Laxton's Fortune were spot on!

My house - no, only kidding!

Gardens were lovely. Ben, as always, was drawn to the water. Very peaceful.

You can imagine the smell of apples, it was wonderful.

Weather was just so beautiful it seemed a sin to go home so early in the afternoon, so we stopped off at Snettisham beach for a couple of hours lapping up the warmth of the sun and gentle breezes while the children played in the mud and made trenches and castles in the little stretch of sand. We'd remembered our binoculars for once, so could see right across to the marshes of where we live plus the wind farms there and out at sea near Skegness. The tide was out and people were digging for lugworms. Lots of beach houses with wafts of evening BBQs in the air. We picked up fish and chips on the way home - bliss.