Entering June

My ballerina in her first Tutu. FI performs in her first proper ballet show at a city centre theatre- dancing to Mary had a little Lamb (!!!) and the pirate dance that she does for her Pre-Primary exam the same week. She loves ballet- don't know whether she really loves it or whether it is because it is the one really girly activity that she does- but we try to get her to two lessons a week ( fortunately they do a membership pricing rather than a per lesson pricing). Shame about the silly mob cap- I gallantly offered to chaperone backstage and am hoping someone will vomit just prior to going on- so I can whip off the mobcaps to use as dishrags!!!

A couple of weeks ago we went on family holiday to North Wales and M succeeded in dragging the older two up Snowdon (up Pyg down Miners)- I was pretty impressed- I did think he was asking a lot of a 4 and a 6 yr old and was rating his chances about 60% . But they have their hats from the summit cafe to prove that they got there. I was just glad to get them back safely- the mummy imagination was on overdrive. M had to swear practically in blood that he wouldn't let them anywhere near Crib Goch- not even to look! Remainder of holiday was lovely- went to a gorgeous National Trust property Plas yn Rhiw- turn of century renovation that I could move into tomorrow- even with the garden toilet! Also popped into Bangor Castle- another favourite- so spectacular. Both of them have made us realise how far our home has moved away from the look that we are so comfortable with- dark wood, ecletic chairs and tapestry heavy fabrics- towards modern furniture- for a variety of reasons- not in the least because we take in other peoples cast offs- because they will 'do' rather than because we like them -or because we need the size of storage- unfortunately beautiful oak wardrobes cannot make the volume of 'stuff' disappear like an Ikea Pax wardrobe can.......

My children are very obsessed with water play at the moment and every opportunity to get wet possible. Which is Ok in good weather.......

On an organisational front I have finally got our menu up and running and we are working our way through. Good points so far is that it is making me get my cook books out and enjoy the process of cooking again- although that has made it more time consuming- possibly off set by reduction in the 'what shall I cook today?' debate. I think I need to accept costs rising- but reviewing some of our food/shopping choices was one of the reasons for reviewing our ways. I am fairly impressed with my HFW River Cottage Everyday book- so far- everything pretty tasty and has worked well and so far not too pricey- but maybe I am picking receipes well for that one.....

Well challenges for this month are probably thinking about potty training TP- as he is hinting it is on the cards and will wee on demand in the potty- so maybe time to introduce pants into the mix. Gosh I can't believe that there may be a point where I don't have a child in daytime nappies..... We also need to start thinking about doing some work on the house again- now we have a daddy back from the depths of an MSc (distinction woohoo! - but still not worth the price on family living- but proud of you!)- so that we can start to think about family next steps......without the house renovation tying us here....

May Crafting and a general progress review.....

Firstly- something of mine. Had a go at appliquing for a T-shirt for FI. Very simple but hard to decide what to do and how to do it- hence it took so long that I was getting worried that she would grow out of it before wearing it!!! Anyway it is finally in the drawer but she is absolutely over the moon with it. I have started a crocheted pony for her birthday- so her reaction to this is promising (should it ever be finished- still on the head!!). I really must collect together their Easter chicks and post a picture -if only as a 'here are my first 3D creations' type thing.

We have actually got around to getting out some of the 'art' books that are on the shelves and having a go at some of the creations inside. FI chose to do this lion by following instruction (hence the proud mummy moment) as this is quite a step on from anything else that she has produced yet. SJ chose a City scape- which started well but is now siting on the table awaiting further additions. He has discovered a pack of Mosaic by Numbers kits that he is slowly working his way through- with fairly intense concentration (for him). And the picture below is one of his (idea taken from some of the things that FI was doing- but I just love the big happy smile......

We have been up to a few other things too. M has been working with SJ on his swimming- and he has managed to complete 50m twice- just need to do it for the swimming teacher for the 'official verdict'-however what is more important to us -is that he seems to be coming out of his doldrum of lack of attention- especially in swimming and gym (unfortunately with the same teacher- who fortunately knows us and has know SJ since 4yrs- so knows it is a phase- but my goodness it has gone on a long time!!). He seems to have taken a step forward with some of his motivation at home activities too. I don't like to think that we are too 'schooly' but I occasionally ask him to 'do' some things- occasional handwriting in the context of birthday cards for close family etc and to be met with absolute teeth gritted defiance unfortunately leading to the 'if you went to school comments'- which occasionally slip out.......

Gosh handwriting is not his thing- however reading is progressing well- we have gone over to some junior story books now and I would just soo love to walk in and find him reading a book of his own accord. The shelves are heaving with junior fiction which I know that he will devour when he gets going. We have nearly worked our way through the 'Jack Stalwart' series, then we have Pet Rescue/ Winnie the Witch/ Magic Tree/some Beastquest as well as the Enid Blytons. For his birthday I have some Astrosaurs and space cows?? that will appear as well as Darcy Bussell/Worst witch that will appear for FI too. Non-fictionwise he is very into Castles and Knights- lots of Arthur and Knight of the Round Table stories- as well as the Human Body. I have let him see some of the Human Body series on TV- which has been fantastic- even if he has involved moving towards some of the birds and bees type questions. He also has a bit of a fascination with canals too- amazing what picking up a 50p charity shop book does to spark an interest- said book being the Ladybird book of Canals. In fact we are probably going to make a detour on our way on holiday to take in the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct next week

Gosh this is turning into a mega post- think I shall return later and carry out- hungry children are currently snapping at my ankles!

Easter Folk Weekend

Firstly- this will be a very RARE appearance of me- in a photo that I don't hate THAT much (pretty much can be counted on one hand)- would like to say that the one wearing dandelions is me- but of course that is my little princess in a very bohemian moment- as well as a one-up-man-ship on her mother- who was dubious about making daisy chains with other flowers ( OK OK I admit I couldn't face it........)

Well we enjoyed the gorgeous weather of the Easter weekend at a Folk Festival- a fairly new venture for us. We have always enjoyed the folk music but the meet ups are new in the last year. Interesting- average attendee age probably around 50+- but a fair few families around and a range of kiddie activities. Sjs favourite- MayPole Dancing, FIs Country Dancing and TP- probably circus skills,. M enjoyed some beginners guitar lessons and I went along to a Wind ensemble- where I found myself hopelessly out of practice.

FI kite flying on the glorious lush grass of Uttoxeter Race Course ( don't want to think about the water usage).

We are going to try to get to some more- shifts allowing.........

Easter Activities

As we got sick of having Easter eggs lying around until approx July last year- we decided on a new strategy this year....Kids decorated small felt bags (FIs) and then we filled with a handful of mini eggs/small filled eggs and a Kinder egg and a crocheted chick each ( I made my target!!!). In addition they gor two large eggs apiece from rels- so a lot more manageable.......

Have been hitting the Hama Beads again in the last couple of weeks- I have been encouraging SJ towards the ideas books and free design rather than just filling in a complete board. Having said that the rabbit above is FIs (with a LOT of help) and the truck below is SJs.

Other Easterish crafts partaken in this year included egg rainbow scratch art (not cheap but always good for a quick to prepare clean craft).

SJ is allegedly making his sister a set of pyjamas- very cute- he came back from a visit to the Scrapstore with a bag of various scraps of material- a lot of ex samples for curtains I think and meticulously laid them out in a body shape (forgot that they need a back as well as a front!!) and now, when he can get hold of a needle and thread, is stitching them together in a very uneven tortuous running stitch- bless.......

Imaginative play

They are very into their imaginative play at the moment- especially since we handed over the very rickety old shed to them. Currently camping in there- the basket is a 'fire' and the green ring in her mouth is a 'dummy' (!!!!!)- apparently..... A couple of weeks ago I found them mixing up a big batch of mud pie- and then they started plastering it on the walls of their shed - partly from watching daddy plaster- but also because we had been watching some of Human Planet with children helping to mend their mud house walls.......

Baby play is very popular too- with carrying in slings being high on their list. SJ was going to scoot his brother and sister to Playgroup whilst having flopsy rabbit slung on his chest- until he became worried that she might fall out ( and that would be a disaster!)

Tired & plodding

Other than the general tiredness following multiple acitivities mentioned in the last post- we have also been having some wakeful night periods with TP- deciding that mummy & daddies bed is better- but then kicking us and trying to perform 360 degree manouveres........needless to say we don't particularly want to bed share with a whirling dervish- so there is some element of returning going on- of course that is dependent on how asleep the adult opening the bedroom door is as sometimes letting him in seems like the easy option..........

The perfect family shot- I nearly have smiles all around and I am where I am supposed to be- out of sight behind the camera!!!

Have been doing a fair amount of life contemplation at the moment. We are feeling a little like we are stagnating at the moment. Ms Masters is in its final push and one thing we have learned is that we are ALL DONE with formal study until the kids are older - it costs too much to family life. We knew it would be hard- as he started it when TP was a month old- but we are ready to have a daddy back now......

Have been doing a little rethinking on the education front and am trying to be a little less suggestive...... Have been doing quite a bit of reading around philosphies etc and I guess ideally would like to go a little more and more towards unschooling (what I really mean is that I don't want to hear myself uttering the words "if you were at school you would be there from 9-3 and all I'm asking is 20 mins now") on a motivational (coersion) front. However I am not sure that I am thinking this as a 'now he can read we can relax towards this approach'......... I guess to a point I am not sure how we are filling the days as they seem to fly past. I seem to have great intentions but not a lot to show -however then I think and say well he hass done a tremendous amount of K'nex ( the latest craze)- in fact more or less the whole instruction book ( 8+ yrs- not bad for a 6 yr old).

I think my priorities for the next few weeks are.....

I'd like to think up a meal planner for us- more specific than anything we have done previously. I'd like to get better at cycling things through my cupboards/freezer and spend less time thinking 'what shall I cook tonight?'

I'd like to address some of the house things that are bugging us- a little decluttering, general maintenence- then we can think about some bigger projects.

I'd like to start coming up with some longer term goals than merely getting to the end of Ms Masters.

I'd like to revisit our priorities for shopping choices as I feel we have slipped since the recession/economic downturn (whatever the trendy phrase is) began.

Busy, busy march

Busy couple of weeks here- have hardly been at home. Spent a few days in London- which we had been promising ourselves for a while- but were waiting for the children to grow a little ( wanting them to have some memories as well as making it physically easier). We inflicted ourselves upon my brother for five days (Zone 2) and tramped around. We had done quite a lot of discussion prior gauging the various family members priorities thus visited Natural History Museum, Imperial War Museum, Tower of London, HMS Belfast, climbing the Monument and walking past Houses of Parliament/Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Nelsons Column and Downing Street. Higlights for the children were probably HMS Belfast and London Bridge (looking down the 'gap' where the bridge lifts), Mark liked the new wing at the Natural History Museum (Darwin Wing)- am not sure what mine was-probably seeing little awe inspired faces as each marvel unfurled in front of them (probably with the Underground at the top of the list). Lots of tramping and lots of pale stoical faces- who are still recovering 2 weeks later.

We then immediately went away in the caravan- over to Boston Lincs and had a few days near the beach, visited the Seal sanctuary at Skegness and some lazy mooching plus making friends on the playground at the campsite. Then Daddy took them to Devon for a few days to do a round the reli's tour- sounds like an interesting time was had..... Then I traipsed them upto Haworth yesterday for my aunts funeral- gosh we really must allow them to have a few quiet home days.