A Little Bit of Home Ed...

We've been a bit slack here of late, what with girly cousins staying over half term, decorating the girls room and birthdays and stuff, but there's been some learning happening too. 

For Lent the girls, Paul and I gave up meat this year. This has meant some learning adventures in vegetarian food & getting a balanced diet. I have certainly enjoyed going back to my veggie days and the girls don't seem to be missing meat too badly either, but I think it's proving a lot harder for Paul who  would basically be a meatatarian given the choice, and who strongly dislikes what I consider the basics of a vegetarian diet - mushrooms or  tomatoes! He's not mad keen on pasta either, so I think this is really quite a challenge for him.

One of our favourites so far has been Homity Pie ~ why have I never met this before?!

Then there's been chinese hom-bao (steamed, stuffed dumplings), which, although eventually successful, were a LOT of work and I deem only to be repeated if cooking for two, rather than 10!!

Another great success has been Sweet Potato & Butternut soup, with hunks of bread ~ yum!

Then of course there's been lessons in 'decorating' ...

And besides that some 'formal' learning too.

Chip's home-ed is the most photo-worthy though, so... (hover over the pics for details) ...

   

   

   

And that's all for now really. 

Another Birthday Girl...

Time seems to be passing too fast. Already we are in March and it's a few weeks since I blogged. In no time at all it will be Easter and Spring will have properly arrived ~ although it's pretty chilly still just now. 

At the end of February daughter #2 became a year older: Phoebe ~ aka Princess #2 ~ turned 14.

Her day was filled with opening presents and cards in the morning and the painting of the girls' bedroom in the afternoon. The redecoration was a belated Christmas present to all three girls, and Paul had booked this week off to get it done. It was a fun way to spend a birthday. 

   

   

  

    

There was also a bit of haircut (which ended up with me giving all three girls a trim/chop) and at some point I think we might get round to re-henna-ing her hair too, but that didn't fit into this one day. 

Of course there was also a birthday tea, with all the usual banter ;D

  

  

A bit about Phoebe:

• Funny ~ quirky funny! 
• Shy ~ but not! She's slow to warm to situations and people, but once she's comfortable, there's no stopping her - She is a crazy cat!
• Sister ~ the middle of three. She has always had a strong bond with Abbie, her older sister, but increasingly I see the three of them coming together more, and a stronger bond growing between her and Lilo too. 
• Feisty ~ still my fiesty one. She certainly holds her own in this family, with a strong sense of her own identity. She is not easily carried on others' opinions and, whilst she may not always voice her own, she certainly has them! 
• Animal lover ~ all her life she has loved animals. That love is showing no signs of fading any time soon and from it she has gained a sense of direction for her life.
• Artist ~ she loves to draw. She may not be the worlds best, but what she loves it, throws immense amounts of determination into 'getting it right', and has produced some lovely pieces of work recently :D
• Beautiful inside and out ~ Paul used to call her his English Rose. She has that kind of soft beauty: pale skin, small features, generous eyes, a seriousness & sensitive nature that shows her sullen at times and shining with wonder at others.

Past posts tell me how much, and how little she has changed over the years. I love looking back...
8th birthday (with pictures from 0-8)
10th birthday (the BIG one)
11th birthday (with a good description of who she was then, and still is a bit now)

And some pictures from 9-13...

   

   

To read her take on her day, read HERE.

I hope you enjoyed your birthday beautiful! I certainly did ;-)

PS : ~ here's a couple of before and afters of the girls' room...