A frightfully indulgent me weekend!

 This weekend DH has given me a fabulous treat- a whole weekend to myself at home. He has taken the brood camping to meet up with his father- due to my working both Friday and Monday- it would have eaten into the weekend so much to 'wait' for me- so off they went...
Well what can I say- the above photo gives a hint- read my magazine, done some cross stitch (which has stayed out all weekend and has been popped down with the needle stuck through it-without any worry of grubby fingers or losing needle), really good book on the go (Septimus Heap), done some laundry, felt the need to walk through the kids paddling pool, watched a couple of DVDs which I have had sitting on the shelf for an age (Kings Speech and Time Travellers Wife) ......
.....  and then, because I felt so guilty I have primed all the woodwork in the hallway (ALL!) and glossed five doors - am trying to tell myself that I 'could' fit in painting the skirting too but I'm Not Listening! HA! Have an alternate long list for the evening.

 My other treat was to go into the City by myself!!!!! I probably only go once a year and it has been with the kids in tow- so.... I got changed into a skirt and strappy sandals and put on some jewellry!!And off I went- we have had some vouchers for M&S hanging around for 18 months (!!!) and I was determined that it was time to spend them- so I splashed out on a new all season duvet for us- complete with some new linen- I really like the hotchpotch look- although it is a little more floral than it looked in the packet- so I hope DH will tolerate when he comes home and sees the bedroom turned into a English Country Garden! And then being the total mummy- I bought socks and pants for the boys, pants for daddy, shoes and hair accessories for FI, a birthday present for our godson......

And meanwhile the children did this.......

Big People (ish) post

 Work in progress- my jubilee cross stitch which I am now trying to power my way through- have been doing an hour or so every evening. The bottom two thirds is now finished- apart from one guardsman bearskin and am now building Buckingham Palace (the building- not the writing of course!!)- frustratingly most in cream- so you do quite a lot but don't get the overall "I've really added to this" feel. Of course the flip side of this is my crochet squares are suffering- am at about 110 now and have had to succumb to a tally chart on the coloring combinations- in order to make sure I mix them well

SJ is playing a little with crocheting- he is pretty good at chains and double crochet- but then feels the need to 'adapt' it a little and gets himself literally tied in knots- he is determined to turn a 90 degree corner rather than a 180 and keeps talking about making me a phone case-bless.

Well  we have just made a big splurge (?midlife moment)- we have sold the caravan (for a ridiculously good price amazingly) and have changed it for a Motorhome- the idea, amongst others, that I might actually drive this -whereas I know I would never have towed the caravan. So need to do a bit of money jiggling- but it does mean we can downgrade the main car to a small family......

Living and learning.....

 Following natural curiosities and (by their choice) doing a fair number of experiments - good old Usbourne books- The Big Book of Science things to Make and Do, this was Ice Boats- watching the way that ice melts, density of, watching coloring dispersing through the water

 We also made Zappy Zoomers and Catapult planes. Working on our Body model we have just covered eyes and bowels- Daddy did their first dissection- Pigs Eyes- thanks M- I enjoyed collecting those from the butcher!

FI is progressing with her reading- she enjoys moving on a level and has just moved to Blue Oxford Reading Tree- the stories actually have a bit of a theme here- but they have always liked the pictures and spotting the hidden objects- so Biff Chip & Kipper have suited us well.

Life is complicated and moving so fast- the days are bouncing by and sometimes I feel we are living merely for the moment rather than moving our dreams on- of course the flip side is that time passes so quickly that if you don't stay in the moment- things move on. Hmmmm totally contradicting myself there- hard when you are in a renovation project. We have made the classic mistake of having too many things on the go- such that none is moving forward- that is without family commitments elsewhere....

An interview with SJ

Idea and questions attributed to arwen-tiw over at Carried Family........

What is your favourite colour?
Orange

What do you like to do?
Canoeing, Woodwork, bicycling, learning about the Titanic, crafting and training his Wiggly (toy!)

What is your favourite food?
Spaghetti

What do you think of Mummys cooking?
100/100 (would you have said that if mummy wasn't asking the questions?- yes)

Do you like being unschooled? (I don't usually refer to it in this way at home- we normally just call it HE)-
Yes - because at school you are chained to a desk (his words!!). I like having time with my family and having fun with my family.

What have you been learning about?
The Titanic story- how it sank, how it sent distress messages, how it broke up and how it was built. WWII- the Jewish and the Holocaust- how they were killed
About the body- the brain and heart and lungs.

What is the worst thing about being HE?
There isn't a worst thing.

What would you change about your life?
Nothing- maybe not being told off (!!!)

What do you do all day?
Have fun doing things- with my family, with my brother and sister, Lego, colouring and drawing

What is your favourite toy?
Lego

What is your favourite game?
Minotaur (Lego)

What are your favourite books?
Astrosaurs, Jack Stalwart, Wild Rescue

What does Mama say the most?
I love you (bless)

What is Mummy good at?
Cooking - telling people off (!!)

What is mummy not good at?
Woodwork and lego

What is your talent?
Bike riding

What do you find it hard to do?
Concentrate (maybe that one may have had a suggestion from me!!), Paint

What do you hate to do?
Work book....

Interesting.....he doesn't do work book that much though......

Summer' s a comin



Well you can't have the real photo tonight- as it remains a secret until the GP season swaps are sent out- in a couple of weeks......
.....so you get one of our skating trip last week instead. FI is tottering around the ice- one of those where if she forgets what she is doing she can do it quite nicely- but if she starts to think about it....We took TP for his first try- he HATED it- apart from the fact that he couldn't keep his legs under him- he kept trying to kick mine out from under me- so we nearly gave up until the man persuaded him to try a 'seal' ( a push along that they sit astride with their feet running on the ice)- he loved it- and frankly so did I- like skating with a zimmer frame- fab!! Did my confidence the world of good too- as well as increasing the resistance- so I actually came away with my muscles believing they had done some work.

Anyway back to GP swap- think summer picnics- trestle tables with checked tablecloths and pretty wirework folding chairs- think jar of flowers on the table and coloured tumblers and home made lemonade......

Just need to think up some 'extras now'

Finally given in....

 Well- at the moment the sun is shining- the washing is on the line- I've had a cup of tea- feeling a bit like pants- full of cold and very slightly achey- but I'm not giving in!!! We have finally given in to our principles and have bought a trampoline for the back garden- but as I speak the children are all dressed and are almost lined up at the door (nasty mummy said not until after 8am on a sunday morning!!!!)- hopefully lots of outdoor time now..... and the odd bit of brain space for M&D!! I love my children dearly- their infectious excitement and excited chatter- seeing the world through novel, new eyes but I am naturally a quiet contemplative person and just every now and again I crave (and NEED)  a quiet moment.

Traditional Bank Holiday weekend activity- trying to make decisions on a bit of DIY. This is the wall of our hallway- which is a very funnel shaped room- that is very definatly a room as well as the hallway- this wall faces the front door and gets quite a bit of light. We are planning on putting floor to ceiling bookshelves (!!!!swooon swoon!!!!) on the side walls (my library!!!!!) but wanted to make a statement on the opposite wall.....hmmmm like the stripe but could be busy, cream floral looks a bit bedroomy to me and the gold is maybe picking up a little too much dazzle - quite like the taupe with red flowers - that feels like a 'safe choice'- the black is spectacular- maybe too spectacular?? Hmmm- maybe a few cups of tea sitting looking at it.....

Needing a holiday or at least a tasty ice cream

Ice cream anyone?? TPs cutting out -from activity village- he really enjoyed selecting what to put with each cone and building his own. However this was in a rare delightful moment - as opposed to the general unpleasantness that is his behaviour at the moment! Am really struggling with him and DH even more so- shouting and squarkingat the top of his voice, ignoring and defiance..... and all of them constantly seem to push, poke and wind each other up- some more underhand than others. SJ has just attempted to throttle his sister......
Am thinking we are all generally run down, all tired- waiting for some sun, waiting for some motivation...days are flying by and not much seems to be being achieved...waiting for something....

Gosh what weather!

 Is it me- or has the weather of the last week or so actually been worse than most of the winter? Maybe it is the anticipation of wanting 'more' or the knowing that it is almost May and therefore 'should' be better? However positive signs are that the garden has done its green explosion- where overnight it seems to chnge from that wintery slightly bare/ woody look to lush green green green everywhere you see- surely the farmers can't complain about the dry spring this year??
Anyway we have certainly seemed a little more housebound- which gives excuse for attacking the craft books (mainly- but not exclusively Usbourne)- hence FIs crown- which is practically all her own work. SJ has been doing some 'directed' drawings- where a picture is built up layer by layer- he quite enjoys meticulous detail rather than flowing pictures at the moment.

Tea parties with the teddies are always a favourite with FI and are always much improved by the addition of real tea (water!) and raisins or mini biscuits!
It has been a busy Gymnastic week for us as well- the older two have taken part in a friendly competition which they had to 'learn' a routine for and then travelled to another leisure centre where a hundred children were taking part. I was so proud that they have the conficdence to do this- in fact it just was never an issue- no nerves etc- just taking part and trying- no medals here but that is very small priority. In addition to that Gymnastics they have also been to a HE taster at the local Gym Academy where some of the Olympic Gymnasts are training- it was excellent- fab facilities and quite awe inspiring- am hoping that it may continue in some form and then we will have to think about whether we continue th local classes at the leisure centre or not (where it is possibly fair to say that stagnation is occuring).
Time is a flying on a crafting front- I NEED to get going with my GP Season swap- which I have sort of decided what to do for the main bit- just need to think about some little extras hmmmm. Unfortunately brain has been busy and a little preoccupied elsewhere ......