A few more snapshots...

Butternut & Sweet Potato pie - home made, pastry and all, by the fair hands of Abbie. 
It was SCRUMPTIOUS!


Macro-art by DD. There were faces drawn on the bricks.

BBC-inspired art by Stitch. 

This took him three attempts to get it to work, 

simply because he thought he could adapt the instructions ;-)

Can you think of anywhere better to study your geography :D? 
He was having to hold the pages against the breeze though.

Meanwhile inside...DD cooked fudge.

He did really well, but then boiled it a little too long, so it crystallised and I had to rescue it for him. Thankfully I succeeded and it tastes alright, but perhaps a bit to 'strong' - a little bit liquorice flavoured we think - and it still has some grit to it. Next time...

  

At the same time, Abbie was doing some cooking with Chip - making cookies.

  

  

He did all the work. She really just helped him with the weighing and the order of things. Look how chuffed he is with himself :D

In other news, Abbie had her college interview today and has a place to do her Level 2 Btec in Patisserie & Bakery, with GCSE Maths and English concurrently. It was a bit of a boring, paper pushing exercise tbh, and they didn't know quite what to do with her 'no GCSE's' status, but in the end it wasn't an issue. The chap we met at the open day popped in and remembered her - and pretty much said 'no problem' - I think he can tell she is going to be a great student to have around. As she is starting a year early, they just need to pull down funding for her, but having looked at government stuff online tonight, that really should not be an issue for them, especially as they are already providing 14-16s educational courses.

And, Phoebe has her college induction day in a couple of weeks too. Again, I'm waiting on confirmation of a couple of details, but she looks good to do her VOP + GCSE maths and English a year early (alongside Abbie), which will enable her to jump early onto onto a Level 3 course next year.

It's all change - and it's happened quickly - and been a so much simpler process with Reaseheath than it was first time round with Jake at SCC.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY...JAKE'S 19TH

It's kind of handy being born on a bank holiday weekend - it means your almost always free to have a party! You can't always guarantee the weather, but you win some, you lose some.

So last weekend Jake turned 19. It still seems odd to think I have an working, adult son who will only be a teenager for one more year. Thankfully, working also means he can contribute to the cost of his own party - i.e. if he wants alcohol he can buy it!

So, he arranged to have a BBQ with a bunch of friends over. The weather was a warm, but a bit tempermental, with showers and cloud intermittently. Overall though, it was good and the teens did manage to spend a bit of time outside - and Paul did manage to cook without getting soaked :D

Heather, his girlfriend was also able to be here for the weekend, which was nice. He and she had been clubbing in Manchester (where she lives) on the Saturday night, until the early hours, so by the time they arrived home Sunday afternoon they were both a little tired. Unfortunately, due to a turn of events, Paul, myself and all the chids were in Wigan at gym competition, so when they got back to ours they couldn't actually get in. They camped out in our playroom (which thankfully has a seperate door to the main house and is not locked) until we got back at tea-time. Poor kids. It wasn't the warmest day, so they huddled together on the sofa and kipped I think. And then they went to bed pretty early, ready for a busy day on Monday - which was party day.

  

  

  

Caleb's gym comp went well, and he got possibly his best scores to date, but the competition is tough now he's in the under 12's. He's little and dinky (but strong none-the-less). He couldn't do floor due to a weak ankle at the moment, and not wanting to take a risk because he has a grades competition coming up in June, which is more important. He didn't medal, but I was very proud of him all the same. 

This week the sun has come out at last, and we have mostly migrated to hanging out in the garden, and working there as much as we can. I am in fact in the garden just now, typing this out on my tablet. It's warm and breezy and I love it. This morning has been a little stressful - seriously, how long can it take for 3 boys to tidy one room, and why do things always get damaged in the process?! The chids are supposed to get their chores done by Friday evening, so they can chill on a Saturday, but invariably they push it back and the Saturday ends up being a long round of nagging to get jobs done before the next week comes around :( The sunshine has definitely been an added distraction this week too. I, on the other hand, have done so much washing and drying on the line this week that I have run out of washing liquid!