Missing the Mark.

Today I tried to take some of the children to the 'Easter Family Fun Day' that was being held on the reserve, but I'd failed to book and wasn't sure where to meet up. We set out a bit past start time in hopes of finding a crowd, but it all fell flat and we found no-one :( Turns out it all started in the Village Hall, but we didn't quite walk that far. Still never mind, we got some fresh air before the day got too hot, we listened to the birds (and the bees) and I took some nice pictures (despite having Baby in the sling in front of me). Next time, I'll know...

 
We are loving the sunshine and the smiles it brings, so I'm just sharing some of the pictures from Baby's 17wk 'shoot' ~ which turned into a little mini-free-for-all-shoot! Enjoy :-) This is how we roll in the holidays (well, most of the time really, but even more in the hols) !!

Oh ~ and on an educational note... our swallows arrived home yesterday and are busy repairing their nest for this year clutches ~ "WELCOME HOME" little birds, we are all pleased to see you, and the sunshine months you herald in :-)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

And during our non-book week last week, my fabulous, arty, x-teacher friend (and her daughter) came and gave us a Hundertwasser art lesson;

(L-R: Bugs (13), Lilo (7), TP (9), Taz (12), Stitch (3) & DD (5) )

I also signed the three youngest 'schoolies' up for 'Explode The Code Online'. I think Lilo will whizz through it, but it will help firm things up for her, hopefully help her 'hear' things better and set her on the road to writing more and spelling better. DD loves it (and the games he gets to play as reward) and seems to understand it really well. I think he will progress quickly with it. But what shocked me most was how amazing Stitch was with it. He tested in only a little behind DD and although his concentration span is not as good as DD's just yet, he did really well and made good progress in just one session. I was surprised to see that he actually can read a little ~ not only understanding beginning sounds, but sounding out and blending too! He is adding new letters (sounds and names) to his repertoire daily it seems and it wouldn't surprise me if he and DD are both reading a bit before the end of the summer!

Photographic Catch-Up Post

Taking pictures is what I 'do' these days ~ it's quicker to keep a record with a snapshot than it is with a whole load of words. Editing images is so much more me than editing words too, so pictures it is for this post! I hope it gives you a little flavour of life here right now and where the kids are at. Next week we are taking a 'non-book-week'. We haven't had one of those for a while - ages in fact. I can't face three weeks of being nagged into screen time x 7, but the kids all want to 'break-up' as many of their friends do tomorrow. We agreed a compromise ;-) ! So next week will not involve any textbooks, and consequently probably very little written work, probably a fair amount of school-screen-time and as much arts, crafts and sporty time as they like! I believe the weather is going to be good, so hopefully much of it will take place in the garden :).

this is candle making

That's a yellow Jolly Phonics reader in her hand ~ she's finished Headsprout at last  and is well on the road now :D

~  ~  ~  ~

I think you maybe get the general idea ;-)

And if you're not too sick of my pictures yet, you can see them all bigger if you click on them!