Sunshine and Flowers...

It's been so beautiful here today, but we had no plans, so I scheduled the dusting for 4 O'clock and had fun the rest of the day. The kids had spent some time on the computers before lunchtime came round, so that was their lot for the day, meaning they had to find other forms of amusement for the rest of it! I asked the girls to don their newly inherited beanies and pose for some photos for me - which they willingly did. I'll not post the pics here, but you can see them on my 365 and from the link on the slideshow. Once outside they stayed there for a while, playing in the pop-up tents. I captured butterflies and grass hoppers :D After lunch JI, Boo and Beefy decided to head on down to the brook (JA stayed to put his photos on iheartfaces, but I think he wished he'd gone later on). They took down JI's body board to float downstream on. They had a ball by the sounds of things and, whereas the brook had been extremely cold the other day, today it was apparently 'perfect' - but they were playing in the shallows, rather than the significantly deeper bit that JI fell into the other day (fully clothed!!).

When they came home they were hot and thirsty so tucked into bowls/cones of ice-cream (so nice now they can help themselves to those kinds of things) and chilled out in front of the TV for a bit.

All in all it has been a lovely day. I'm hoping to be able to take the little ones down to the brook tomorrow if the weather is nice. If you are wondering why we didn't all go today - NJ crashed out on the sofa mid morning while I was hanging the washing out and when he does that I do NOT disturb him else he is foul for the rest of the day, plus I'd far rather he napped in the morning than just before teatime, which is his other choice of time! Paul finishes earlier tomorrow, so I'm hoping we can go paddle en-masse!

Late Night Tot-School

My smallest likes to get up when all the others have gone to bed and do this (taken a few nights ago);

You just have to check out that pencil grip though - not enforced by me, just natural. The only thing I have to train my kids to do is put that second finger under the pencil, which actually can be quite a challenge! Looks like NJ won't have too much of an issue with it though as he does it sometimes already. I think it's just htat his fingers are to small to always hold a pen like that. He has recently taken to colouring small and fine - it's very cute :D The only thing that is not so cute is that it is not always on paper!! Washable markers are a wonderful invention ;-)

The Annual Visit...

Today was the day that I had my annual visit from the HE Support/advisory person (CP). She has been visiting us for 7 years now and we get on really well. We chat over philosophies over a cup of tea and I twitter on about the kids as I would to a friend while she hurriedly tosses from sheet to sheet jotting down stuff about each of the kids :D I never stress about it. I seldom show any work and this year, as it is holiday time the kids weren't even working. They were all busy milling about and asking to go the computer and/or Wii. The house was a relative mess as befits holiday times and no-one getting up very early, sleepovers of friends the night before and me only remembering about an hour before she was due and rapidly running around trying to make sure everyone was dressed and chores were done, as well as putting away all the underwear that was drying on pipes (I do have some pride)! In the midst of our conversation R&R arrived to take Babsi off for the day - and the phone rang at least twice, but I left it to the kids to say I'd ring back soon. We sat in the kitchen to chat (often the quietest place to be) and then I just showed her the school room before she left - and the new workbox system, which I very briefly explained. As ever she proclaimed me highly organised (which I suppose I am really, even if it doesn't always feel that way) and left with a smile on her face . I did broach the subject of 'current reviews' with her (didn't want to mention 'Badman' as I think that is a bit undiplomatic, as she is so nice...) and she said she was not really sure what would happen. She anticipates the main change being compulsory registration and perfectly well understood that everyone in her 'trade' was as open minded as she and that this is a major cause of concern to many HEers - their concerns come out of past bad experiences and are not unfounded. I expressed a distinct distaste for the idea of my children being interviewed without me present and she said that actually that left a bad taste in her mouth too and she could not see that as being right. She thought there would have to be TWO interviewers (for safety reasons) and I said that that would make it more like an interrogation than a friendly chat! I expressed that I could not see how any child faced with two complete strangers would be flowing in conversation about how wonderful their schooling was (home or otherwise). For instance, take your average, well developed chatty 2yo and put him/her in a room with a Health Visitor for their developmental check-up and how do they behave? Most hide behind their parent and won't do or say a thing!! It is not possible to make a fair assessment of that child's development without having a conversation with the parent - the child is giving NOTHING away! I suspect this would be how any child would behave under the duress of what I can only see as an interrogation. When CP visits us just now the children are always about and because we are having a friendly chat over coffee they often voluntarily come and show her something they have done/are doing and they do not feel under any stress if she looks over their shoulder to watch them for a minute or two (as she has done in previous years, but only ever at my invitation). Surely this is a far better way to assess the happiness and progress of children than any 'interview' would be. That said - I am not actually very pro the assessing of progress at all because unless you have someone very open minded (as CP is) then they might not be prepared to consider ALL the areas in which children progress as being relevant to 'school', but again that would depend on what their idea of the purpose of school is. For me it is to see my children functioning as confident, independent, intelligent individuals who can hold interesting conversations and be strong enough to cope with what life throws at them, but even more importantly than that, I want that their lives are deeply rooted in Christ and their faith in Him be the underpinning of all that they are and do. Tall order...maybe, but actually, it just means listening to the hearts of your kiddos and I do feel we are making progress to that end :D The academic stuff is all in there too, but that is just PART of the progress I want my kids to make.

I know we all have different purpose for our HE, hopes and dreams for our children - as different as the children themselves are! And THAT's why I resent the idea of being squeezed into a one-size-fits-all mold where someone else, who doesn't know ANYTHING about us or or family, or our genetic make-up, etc..., gets to say whether or not my child is making the progress they 'should' be. Here's hoping on this one that they throw out the baby AND the dirty, stinking bathwater!!

Just For Michelle...!

These were all taken my last week of school (age 16) - 21 years ago! The last one was at our leavers party - on the Gosport Ferry!!.



So now you see - you can all have a giggle at my expense now too :D. I was not one for fashion. I very much did my own thing. Everyone had nice bags that night, but I hated them, so I took my carrier bag and wore my tatty old grey coat - thankfully I left the ridiculous bow out of my hair though for the occasion!!

One thing though - I wish I was that slim again! I thought I was fat at the time!!

You know though, the really odd thing to think about this, is that it was only 3 years after this that I met Paul and only 4 years later we were engaged! We will have been together 18 years this November - that's more than half my life time :D

Chill Pill Day!

I woke this morning with a sore back - still. It was a bit better yesterday, but not so today, so I popped a pill and hoped it would improve, but it didn't much :( Boo and Beefy were round at R's for the day, so I decided to leave big 2 boys to their own devices this arvo and head (slowly) down to Playworld (soft play) with the smallest 3. This was a better plan than I knew. We played I-spy with colours and shapes for the entire 15 minute walk, which C really enjoyed :D When we arrived, much to my delight there were comfy sofas (never been before) and quite nice food :) So I ordered myself a steak pannini and a latte, a jug of juice for the three and 3 large cookies and settled myself down on a sofa. The children mostly played beautifully then for the rest of the afternoon. When NJ had had enough (after over an hour of playing hard) he climbed up on my lap and I dozed off with him there for a few minutes, semi-conscious of the noise of the other two in the background. It was unexpectedly very quiet, probably owing to the fact that it was actually one of the few nice days we've had so far this summer, but they have an outside play area too, with a big climbing frame, swing and a huge sandpit, so outside was an option too :D All in all money well spent when I wasn't up to doing anything at home with them that required me to move!

As we walked home the swallows were gathering for their evening bug-catching flying session. It is fascinating to watch them, and to see how the flock has swelled in number over the summer (with the addition of this years brood). Our resident family has nested again (same nest) and the babies hatched yesterday and today (3 this time), so a few more days and they will be fledging too - hopefully we'll get to see it again - third time this season :D We really have become quite fond of our swallows and the way they dive-bomb us when they want to get to their babies and we are in the way! We will miss them when they are gone, which probably won't be all that long now. I hope we catch the moment when the, now quite large, flock gather together en-mass and fly south to Africa for the winter. I imagine it will be quite something to watch. Apparently they fly in large groups and return to the same area in the same groups in the spring. So I guess one day they will simply be gone and then with the arrival of spring they will suddenly be back :D

Fun in the Sun

Check out today's story HERE - rather than posting it twice!! :D

There's not much more to say really!

It's been a good one.

The Goodness gets Better..

and Better...

The fantastic-ness of this house keeps increasing...we have now discovered we have fruit trees - fully established and flourishing - plums (three trees I think) and in the adjoining, rather neglected field full of ferns, which we permission to access (and where the kids have built their 'den'), a HUGE pear tree! There is another one there too that looks like it could be currants of some kind, although there is no evidence of fruit on that yet, it's just that the leaves look familiar. Then of course there are blackberries in abundance all up and down the lane - and a huge bramble in the 'den field' which no-one else will be picking from :D

JI said to me the other day, having been the one who least liked it here initially, "this house is awesome. I love living here. We have everything we could ever want!" And he's right - we do!!

I'm not feeling too good today. I have a raving sore throat and I woke up with excruciating back ache. I don't know how, but I've definitely pulled a muscle :( So I've crawled back to bed and am trying not too move to much. Stationary typing on here is fine, but movement is not very enjoyable at all! The kids are being great. JI made noddles for everyone and now they are all playing. NJ is lying next to me kicking me and the laptop intermittently just to make sure I don't forget he's there! I'm hoping he will nod off in a minute - he often does this time of day. It's so nice to be on my normal bed (not loft-bed), in my normal room (not shared with the study), hearing to my children playing happy games around the rest of the house and have my 2yo dozing off beside me. Even if I'm not feeling great, life feels like it is just how it should be right now :D

No pictures to post today. I've just been doing some sorting out these last couple of days (probably how I've hurt my back) and there was not much to shoot.