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!

Achievements!

When we moved here I sort of sub-consciously decided I wanted to really make the most of living in the countryside and all it has to offer. I've learnt so much from just BEING here!


I've learnt the life-cycle of Swallows (they are so fascinating) and today, for the second year now, we got to watch mother swallow take her fledglings out for their first flying lesson! She will lay again in a week or so (two clutches a year) and this brood will help to feed and raise the second clutch and then not so long after they fledge they will leave again for Africa (as European swallows do). Today Minnie and I talked about why the swallows nest here in our Summer, rather than in Africa when they fly south. We could only guess at the answers. Watching them all flittering (which is really the only way to describe the fledgings early flight) we marvelled at how they just 'know' how, and how they just know how to come back next year and build a nest of their own ~ no-one ever really teaches them how (and Minnie commented how a spider is never taught how to spin a web, it just knows ~ and how amazing it all is! Minnie and TP made their own 'nests' in the garden with bit of hay, ferns and twigs (for their stuffed RSPB birds) and discovered first hand just how difficult and intricate nest building is! They really were just hollow piles of 'stuff' rather than neatly woven, stable builds! 


Taz chipped in that he really couldn't understand how anyone could truly believe that such an amazingly natural knowledge and order could just 'happen' out of a 'big bang', and we discussed why people might believe that theory.


I've learnt how to make Jam (last autumn when I discovered the Damson trees in our garden) and this summer I have learnt how to make Elderflower Cordial :D!!

I want to try Elderflower wine and/or champagne. And then maybe something with the berries at the end of the summer too...
I'm planning all sorts of other things with blackberries, pears and hazlenuts when they fruit! And all of this is growing on my doorstep (well not literally) ~ for free! I'm sure there are so many other goodies out there too ~ I just need to learn to recognise them! Bugs want me to have a go at Dandelion and Burdock ~ just need to find some Burdock and a recipe!


I'm not the only one achieving things though ~ just today I realised that Stitch knows (or can receptively identify) the numbers 1-5 :D He also knows all his regular shapes by name which is earlier than any of my others have acheived this skill. 
Lilo is doing REALLY well with her maths (using Miquon Orange atm) ~ she just seems to remember how numbers work ~ well when her brain is 'on' that is!! Reading however is a much bigger struggle...


DD also seems to have quite an aptitude for number work (not that he does loads atm) and surprisingly seems to be also beginning to remember a fair few letter sounds.  Surprising, because I have done so very little phonics work with him yet (while I'm concentrating on Lilo). He is even able to sound out a few CVC words and work out beginning middle and end sounds really well. He read 'car' and 'bus' of his own accord to me yesterday and told me what each of the letters were by their sound. I am so pleased and am REALLY hoping reading is just going to come easily to him as it did to Bugs. I've certainly not even suggested the idea of learning to read to him yet, but he seems to be doing it anyway :D!


If it seems like we are working hard ~ think again! We are doing a couple of hours of leisurely book work, sat under the parasol in the garden (or laptop work) and enjoying just 'being' in the garden SO much! Tomorrow, of course, is an England match, so I don't envisage seeing much of the boys in the afternoon! Some of the local 2ndry schools are even taking the afternoon off lessons for the match, so why not my boys too!!


Of course our other big achievement ~ although I cannot really merit myself any for this ~ is the fact that we are expecting our 8th child!! :D Those who read my Facebook, Twitter, or BK messages of course already know, but this is for those that don't! 


Baby 8 is due around Dec 7th (but I am ALWAYS late), making me in my 16th week. I have hidden it well (due to already being too overweight) until about the last week or two, but we made the children aware just over a week ago and made it public this weekend. I wanted to wait until we were well and truly safely into 2nd trimester to announce it this time (given my age and gravida). Also it has taken Paul & I a while to adjust to the idea this time tbh.


I have a booking appointment on Friday (with the M/W) ~ I always book late! I'm looking forward (hopefully) to hearing a heartbeat as I haven't felt any movement yet and it will be nice to have something tangible (other than a fat(ter) tummy) to hold on to! :D


I am painfully aware that some who read this blog have recently suffered sad and traumatic loss and my heart really weeps for them. I am also acutely aware that there are no guarantees for this baby (taking into account my age, etc...), and so I ask that, for those of you who do, please pray that all would go well with this baby and me ~ for the sake of those I love! ~ THANKS!

Life Happens!

It's been another one of those weeks...On the Saturday after my last post we all trooped over to visit SOTP for the day. The girls (including moi) attended M's party while Paul took the boys off swimming and for a coffee-&-cake (in Sainsbury's!). In the evening we enjoyed finishing off the party food and catching up a little. I wish we saw more of each other - the children like each other so much :D Sunday was Sunday, but it also yielded the delivery of a new computer tower, as our old one is definitely on it's way out, or loaded with errors and in need of some TLC. The delivery inevitably meant me spending many hours (all night in fact) moving files over and installing the necessities to use it Monday morning for school. I then set to trying to make the old tower a little bit happier (and HD emptier) to nurse it through to it's death - we can at least enjoy an extra PC while it is still breathing! It's STILL backing up now (onto MoZY) and when it eventually finishes I will take it back to a fresh installation of Windows & Office and leave it at that. We'll see how long it lives for! The new tower has a massive 1TB Hard Drive, but just-in-case I fill it up with photos, we have also bought an additional 500GB External HD (which currently is hosting the back-up files of the new PC until I switch the online back-up over). It's complicated and boring, but it'll be worth it! The new tower is virtually silent and VERY quick - AND it doesn't crash every half and hour!! :D

As a result of my total absorption in the setting up of new and old PC's this week the kids had to self-educate & self-fill their boxes if they wished, but basically the orders were to keep out of my very grumpy way as much as possible! I did manage to teach a history lesson and read a couple of stories - the rest was VERY free range and involved WAY too much screen time for my liking. This week will be back to normal - I hope!

There were some interesting bits though; We were visited by this little fella;

This was a real treat. He normally flys off the minute we step foot outside, but he decided to fly in today. He wasn't panicked (or didn't seem it), so I took the opportunity to snap him. I only got one shot though. He flew into the lounge and we opened a big window which he immediately flew out of, much to Taz's disappointment, who was desperate to hold him, or get it to feed from his hand.


The boys have been invested at scouts (don't know if I mentioned they started going a few weeks back)- leading to 3 hours of sewing on of 11 badges for me this week. I don't DO sewing, but needs must! At least they will only be one at a time after this!!

They already have taken apart and reassembled an engine (leading to a mechanics badge) and last week did the first part of a first aid course. This week they are going over to a flight simulator in Manchester (too cool!) as part of work on their Aviation badge. It helps that one of the leaders is a pilot!!



Hopefully this week will be a little more interesting to blog about!! ;D