Woo hooo

We've had an excellent day today.

It was Mark's first day back at work after the Christmas break which felt a bit sad but me and the girls soon managed to get back into the swing of things without him! (sorry Mark).
We all had a shower and got dressed upstairs which is a small thing that's important to me. I hate the chew of having to dress all of the girls at different points in the morning - I want them dressed, fed and watered together so that I'm not constantly thinking, 'oh, I need to find another pair of socks'... once we're downstairs it's done.
Crikey that sounds so dull but honestly it makes such a difference to the day!!!
We did circle time which was lovely and we told the story of the sheep and the wolf. After telling the story for three days in a row it's like we all play a part. Bea likes to be the wolf and she's introduced a 'mummy sheep'. Sylvie is the sun and the moon and also the baby sheep - yes, she's practising those multi tasking skills making sure she has them down to a fine art by the time she really needs them! Annabelle is just, er, a bit annoying to be honest. She pulls the cloth off the sheep's head, (green silk, meant to be a thorn bush), bugs me for boobie, (it's dead hard to read, move props and breast feed when she's swinging her lanky, yet very lovely, legs all over the shop!) and dive bombs Sylvie. Luckily the story props keep the older two interested enough for them to either ignore Anna or to swot her out of the way, (soooo not ideal but hopefully they'll learn other ways to deal with their teeney sister instead of through the use of windmill arm movements!).

After our story we wrapped up VERY warm and headed to Washington Wetlands Centre which was brilliant! We would normally have our FIAR co-op meet up today but as most of us have had a hectic time over Christmas we decided it would be better to meet somewhere outside and not to plan an activities. We had a good chat about the FIAR sessions and we all feel that there are changes that we can make to make the day flow a bit more smoothly. We're considering alternating FIAR with Steiner Kindergarten so one week we'll do a book and associated activities, the next week we'll be all floaty and Steinery. We're going to H's house on Thursday night for drinkies, nibbles and further discussion then hopefully we'll have the show on the road!

After freezing our lugs and noses off we came home for some lunch. After lunch I started a mammoth tidy up stopping half way through to 'cook the cake that wasn't cooked' yesterday - i.e. the one that was smashed into the living room floor! I was sensible, if a little tight and used the Kenwood instead of the traditional mixing bowl. The cake was bloomin' lovely. I can certainly highly recommend baking with sour cream instead of butter and using cream cheese and icing sugar as icing. Yummy yummy!!!!

 Sylvie vacuumed the floor, (I know, child labour, you just can't beat it!!!) then we set to work making some crowns... and covering the newly cleaned floor in plastic jewels and various bits of sparkle.

Theeeennnn.... we made bird seed feeders from lard, (erk, what a horrible smell), bird seed and porridge. They're setting in the fridge ready for us to hang out tomorrow.

So, all in all a very, very busy day.

I'm in my bedroom at the minute. Sylvie and Bea are lying in bed snoring their heads off as I type. I think they've enjoyed themselves today and I know that Anna has.
Botanic Gardens tomorrow!!!! Stay away rain!

Hum, up and down day

Well, today could have gone better, that's for sure.
I spent ages planning what we'd be doing today and for the next few weeks using the Little Acorn Learning Guides as inspiration.
All went well until we came to mix our '3 Kings Cake'. Sylvie and Bea started scraping over who's turn it was to stir the cake when BAM the ceramic bowl containing said cake mixture landed on the living room floor and smashed.
Oh I was so p****d off. Cake mix containing eggs and sour cream all over the wooden floor which hasn't been sealed or varnished = possibly a very smelly future!!! I lost my rag and shouted at the girls which was a bummer as I'd spent bed time reading loads of one the None Violent Communication books and demanded that they bugger off to their bedrooms while I calmed down and cleared up.
Mark came to the rescue with a bowl of water and a tea towel. He cleaned the floor, calmed the girls and took us all out to lunch which was lovely.
Prior to cake making we had a great time! Circle time went well - we had the silks out, did a lovely morning blessing and were all involved in story time, (we're doing a story about a sheep and a wolf - Bea insists on being the wolf - she has a blue wooden block that howls at very frequent intervals! Sylvie likes to be the moon and Annabelle plays her usual part, 'boob monster extraordinaire'!).

Anna was asleep by the time we got home from Durham. Sylvie and I did a bit of reading while Bea coloured in then we came upstairs, plugged in the lap top and did LOTS of reading eggs... probs about an hour and a half worth. Sylvie LOVES winning points! I think she's really quite competitive and seeing the points mount up gives her that extra incentive to do a bit more. This isn't something I've pushed or encouraged, it just 'is' so I'm fine with that.

Tomorrow is another day. I'm sad that I lost my rag about something as silly as cake mixture on the floor but I stupidly had set my expectations for this morning too high and was probably too busy thinking about what we'd be doing next, (I was sorting snack time) instead of being present with the children and enjoying the moment.
With any luck we'll be going out to see our friends tomorrow, but as for now, it's bed time.
If these little tykes ever go to sleep I'll upload photos from today. Until then, goodbye!