As if the Children don't get distracted Enough!

Look who came to visit us yesterday...
After a little investigation, it seems (s)he is a racing pigeon who has een blown off course by the fowl weather and has landed in our garden with exhaustion. We have been instructed to feed it up for a couple of days then shoo it off so it flys home.
Trying to work with a pigeon who decides it want to take up residence under the table (instead of the garden) was nigh on impossible!! Later on it sought refuge behing the piano in the lounge and didn't come out till all was a little more peaceful!
It slept the night on our drive - near it's sunflower seeds and this morning went back to the garden, but I haven't seen it much this afternoon, so maybe it's already flown home...But it was fun while it lasted :-) The kids called him 'Fluff' - who knows why?!

Another Great Resource Site...

I was looking for some 'venn diagram' work for Jake tonight (as he failed to bring home the set task) and it had to be on 'nature and animals' and in the process fell upon this website! It has some fantastic books, but the teaching activities for 'parents and homeschoolers' is fabulous and could easily be used aside from the books themselves as part of a unit study and/or lapbook type project. The 'for creative minds' section is lovely too - so don't miss that bit! And best of all - all the extras are for free :-)

WE HAVE MORE BABIES!!

In our little make-shift fish-tank pond we have baby frogs
J . Last night we saw the first one - the one in the picture, and today we saw three more. There may be more yet as we have lots of very fat tadpoles which may still develop. The frogs we have are varying in tail length from none (this one - which the kids have named 'Amphi' - hmmm - that's original J), to still quite long, so I'm guessing they have not long morphed and we may have lots more morphing to come! So now we need to feed them and in a week or so may need to return them to the stream from whence they came before they start hopping all over the garden and thinking they can head back here to breed next year! I think we'll keep the breeding in the stream J

We really didn't do much for this pond except make it as much like a natural pond as possible, which wasn't hard with an outside tank. There has been an ample supply of natural rain-water (except for the odd dechlorinated top-ups at the beginning when we had a few hot weeks), to the point of needing to remove some water as tadpoles apparently like it shallow and spacious as opposed to deep and confined. We added; (1) a bit of original-pond weed that has survived well and which came with it's own supply of pond creatures to boot, including water snails, weird things with shells (like leaf shaped crabs - very strange looking things) and other minions of water mini-bugs which have made great fodder for the bigger tads and froglets. (2) lots of silty mud which the tad's like to burrow down into at the bottom of the tank. It came in off the stones from our garden which the toddlers seemed to think were a necessary addition, no matter how hard I tried to stop them (from fear of contaminating the tank)! And (3) the odd feed of goldfish food (apparently tad's love it - they did seem to J - and it apparently prevents them eating each other as it is a good source of protein for the froglets, and now (4) fruit flies for the mini-frogs, attracted by a few ant-eaten strawberries growing/rotting in the flower bed nearby!

The frog is so small he was very hard to photograph, but I hope you can see him OK J

A Really Cool Game...

Hap'd upon this game and got hooked! Go have a look!

UnCut Video - "Baby Breakdancer"

UnCut Video - Now Playing "Baby Breakdancer"

Check this out - it is very funny - and gifted!

My Meez

Happy Birthday Caleb

(2 today)

I'll blog more about our day another day - too tired tonight!

Tagged!

I've been tagged twice now, so here goes (in between feeding my thirsty baby!) ;

 

The rules are simple…. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I trained as nurse after leaving college at 18, but it was never a vocation that I loved. When I felt called by God to train as a midwife I bulked at the idea, but it turned out to be the job I loved. That said, I was pregnant with JA before I finished my training. I worked for a bit after I had him, while my Mum looked after JA at home, but only until I was pregnant with JI (about 9 months in all). I really did love midwifery and hope that one day, when my family is complete and all raised up, I will be able to return to it. Ideally I'd like to work independently, but that might mean forfeiting an NHS pension (if there is such a thing by then) because I didn't work for long enough 'in the system' to hold it down the first time around - they gave me it all back when I left. The thought of having to work within the confines of the hospital system might stifle me I think, but all the same the women there need pro-natural midwives just as much as those who can afford to pay for one! Well, time will tell… It's a long way off just yet - I've a newborn to see into his teens before then!
   
2. I grew up on a council estate and with a staunch resolution to not let history repeat itself (if you want to read more about that you need to read this; I am From… ) and am achieving that end to date!
   
3. I LOVE the sunshine, but it doesn't love me. I get headaches and sunstroke if I spend too long in it L. But I equally love to take a walk on a crispy cold winter's day - especially in the snow!
   
4. I have had six fantastic homebirths and would have made that seven if not for a shortfall in the NHS system up here! But none the less - seven uncomplicated, beautiful memories to hold onto. Each individual and yet strangely similar. Each without pain relief of any serious kind (discounting water and a TENS for the first three). But I do not claim that childbirth is painless (it is so NOT), I just maintain that it is bearable if your body is allowed to do it's job the way it is designed to - without the interference of pain-relief, noise, bright lights and nagging doctors & midwives who can't stand to see a woman in pain and who seem to think that it is a bad' thing as opposed to a normal thing (to name but a few factors)!
   
5. My house is always a muddle, but that is only to be expected I guess. In my mind I would love to me more minimalist, though in reality that is never going to happen - even when the kids are up and gone. I simply couldn't do it I don't think. I like 'things' too much - I just don't like to have to look at them all the time! When I was a kid I wanted to live as a 'hermit' type person - in a house without utilities (no running water, or electricity etc…), on the side of a mountain away from civilisation and noise. I wanted to grow my own produce and live off the land. BUT when I moved to Nantwich I missed all the shops I had been used to in Colchester and struggled to get used to the compactness of small town living. So in truth - I guess it's the idea of the ideal that I love, but the shear hard work of the reality of it makes it much less appealing. J Can't imagine the kids going for it much either!!
   
6. My dream is to live in the Lake District…I wonder when… (guess I'd need to learn to drive before we ever did that though - the buses are not so great up there!)
   
7. I can't drive L despite having had three sets of lessons that have got me 'nearly' to taking a test each time, but I've never quite got there. Now if I ever do learn I'll be driving a 9 seater with 7 kids in the back - which scares me witless!
   
8. I am committed to allowing God to determine the size of our family - so watch this space - there are likely to be more children at some point in the future!, BUT, I am also very content with the 7 blessings I have and in my natural mind would be pleased to stick with this number. We have a great balance of boys and girls and ages, so I'm praying that Nathanael might be my last.., but "not my will…" At any rate, I have a lot of weight to lose before I want to be pregnant again - each pregnancy takes it's toll on my already overweight body and I need to not put it under that strain again until at least a couple of stone has come off!
   

 

Hmm - now who to tag…

TAGGING:

Jan

Jules

Jax

Nicki

Nathanael's birth story is posted!

Me and My Big Sis!

One Week Old!

Birth Story...

...might get finished tonight. I've tried to finish writing it several evenings, but it's not easy to find the gap of time when baby and/or other children don't need me and when I have enough energy to bother with the laptop! But Nat' is a very good baby so far and everyone here is very happy with him. I will try to post another 'week old' photo up later. I am recovering well too and was able to get to church today - although I was wiped out by the time I got home. Need to go feed the little one...