The Morning After the Night Before

We had a very small Halloween party yesterday. We have a very small house which is a shame as it meant we couldn't invite all of our friends but Sylvie and Bea managed to pull a very restrained list together of folks they wanted to invite.

I will post pics later as they're still trapped inside of the camera!

There was hand shaped jelly, ghostly triffle, mouse tarts and spider cakes. Green monster cake, pigs in blankets and lots more ghoulish grub.

Games included mummifying each other, eating blood worms, zombie plops and frogspawn, (not real of course) and musical monsters.
The highlight was a rendition of the story of The Hairy Toe. Sound familiar??

The kids were all dressed up and looked great. They had a smashing time!

Here' a photo of Bea this morning.
Its Mark's birthday today so more partying for the girls!

I

Mysterious things in the veg box

Any ideas?

Are you sure it was the weekend?

Don't you just hate it when the weekend goes so fast that you don't feel like it ever arrived?

I have been going hell for leather in my sweat shop all weekend. I love sewing but my heat aches when I look out of the window at the sun shining on the gorgeous autumn leaves.

My dad has bought a new camera ans given me the 50D back so I'll start taking more pics again.

The girls have had a good weekend. Visiting grandparents, playing in the garden, jumping on the cat and hyping themselves up about halloween!

Time to watch some trashy tele before regrouping and starting all overgain in the morning!

Blueberry Goodness

We have had a great day today with our friend Hayley and her two boys. She put loads of effort into planning a ROW of Blueberries for Sal and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!

Hayley read the book to her captive audience then talked about bears and where they live in the world and about where, when and why animals hibernate. Sylvie knew more than I thought she did about the world, its climate and why certain animals live in certain places. The gang coloured in some maps then they did some blueberry art!! Hayley spent time cooking up blueberries and turning them into paint, with great effect! The gang coloured some hibernating animals using crayons which acted as a wax resist when the blueberry paint hit the paper. Very effective and imaginative!

We had a delicious lunch which the kids really enjoyed then they got on with a lovely craft activity, an autumn window hanging.

It was a really nice morning and we were all chuffed to be part of it.

The afternoon was about hair cuts and football for Hayley's eldest so me and the girls headed off to Heaton Park which was very pretty under cover of autumn leaves.

The girls scootered all the way to Jesmond Dene before we decided to head home.

Mark and I have friends coming for dinner tonight. Its the first ime we have done this in years but now the girls have started to sertle at a decent time we thought hey, lets go for it!
Ive had a chili in the slow cooker all fay and it looks fantastic. Roll on 8pm so we can at it!

I wish I had some photos to post but I didn't take my camera with me!!

My wine is calling me.........

... And a few more..

Our allotment

We have just been for a jump in the allotment puddles. Here are some pics.

Where we are at

I mentioned in my last post that things have been a bit of a struggle of late.
Sylvie has become willfully illiterate. She runs away from me whenever i even suggest doing any reading or writing!!
I think I scared her off before the summer by expecting her to work through workbooks and paper based tasks that left het bored and lethargic. Shes a kinetic learner - I think thats right! She loves moving around and asking her to sit still and work through a book is like torture.
Sooooooooo, this morning I set her tasks that involved her running around like a looney and she was well up for it! We did lots of addition and subtraction mixed with atamping, running and star jumps!
I have download a few new apps onto the Ipad too which have proved a big hit.

All in all, I am trying to relax and let learning happen.

I haven't been eating well or looking after myself which means my energy levels have been/are really low. This must change!! I know that Im not going to give up chocolate any time soon or sweet things but I do intend to make sure I eat a healthy lunch and dinner instead of snacking on crap all of the time.
Onwards and upwards eh!

Oh wow.

I am so chuffed. Ive just found an ap on the Ipad which lets me blog at a pace that doesn't make me lose the will to live! I find that updating posts with pictures through Blogger on the computer takes forever but this ap is really speedy! Ooohhh, I might just make it here more often!

Its been a mixed few weeks full of ups and downs. I've been contemplating our home ed journey and feeling as though we have been miles off course, however, after visiting a local school last night I can honestly say, with clarity and ease, that home ed is the right thing for us.

I was totally uninspired by the school setting and the girls haven't asked anything about it at all so I presume they werent overly thrilled by it! The classrooms all looked the same. Dull. Drab, pointless things stuck on the walls, crappy plastic toys or the kids to fight over, corners made to look comfy and like home.
Ive just asked sylvs what she thought of the school and her resonse was, 'boring'. So, there you go.

The classrooms seemed really small. Bea's personality almost filled the reception classroom. I cant imagine her being in there for six hours a day with 29 other kids. Its not suprising they all seem so tired and angsty after spending an entire day in such a small place.

We are so lucky to be a home educating family. I hope our circumstances don't change as the thought of my girls in school breaks my heart.

Taken just now. Balancing sweets on their noses.

Will this work?

I cut annies hair yesterday. She looks a bit like a monk.
Perhaps a trip to the hairdresses will be necessay.

Just seeing if thisap works!