THE Most Frustrating Day - Ever!!!

Boy - can days like today get right up your nose!! At the weekend we inherited a perfectly functioning computer from Paul's parents, but it was running Win95, only had a 2GB hard drive and was full of junk!! So toady I set out to add another hard drive and a faster CDRom, plug in a USB card and upgrade it from Windows 95 to 98!! and successfully managed to de-funk the thing completely!! How is that? All I had to do essentially was plug in the new drives to the IDE cables, slot in the USB card and do the upgrade, but no - now the thing won't even boot!! Earlier this evening it was ALMOST running OK (it was finally recognising the A drive, which it seemed to stop doing almost as soon as I took the back off, and accepting the boot disk) except that it wouldn't recognise the CDRom Drive for no apparent reason, so it wouldn't read the Windows CD - so I re-installed the old slower CDRom drive - but it didn't recognise that either. I put back the faster one and then it refused to even recognise anything - nope - just a blank screen!! It has consistently refused point blank to acknowledge the presence of another hard-drive (yes I've fiddled with the jumpers in any number of combinations - all to no avail). Unless I disconnect the bigger (4GB) HD altogether it tells me there is no hard drive at all!!
RRRRRRRRR - is all I can say - a whole day WASTED!! And I'm really stumped as to what to do now! All the IDE cables seem to be the right way round, the CDRom drive is powering up OK, but can't be recognised, the A drive has gone AWOL again and now I can't even see what's happening on the screen! The hard drive SOUNDS like it's starting up, but...

Oh - and I managed to stuff up win95 in the process of all the fiddling too, so I'm not even loading in 98 yet, just trying to re-install 95 - thought that MIGHT be an easier starting point, but it seems not!!

Grumpy Mummy, disappointed kids!! I had hoped that I could simple switch the 4GB hard drive from their old PC to the new one - thereby carrying Win98 across with it and all their programs, but it JUST WON'T LET ME!!

Is there any computer whizz out there with any suggestions as to what I might try tomorrow? Jax? Jon? Anyone...?

And just to cheer myself up - I'll post these piccies!!

cow bum (stuffable)


pink bum (wrap)


minki bum

LEA visit - 2nd time around!!

I already wrote this post once, but forgot to make my usual 'copy' before I hit publish and guess what...blogger ate it!!

Anyway - today went well. Carol (the LEA lady) came and she was very nice. When she arrived Jacob was sat reading quietly on the sofa, the big girls were playing in the yard, Ellie was sleeping and Joel was hoovering the kitchen, so all was calm and peaceful - for once! We sat and chatted for a bit then Jacob decided to show off his handwriting - his show piece (he does have great handwriting for his age)! Other than that the children hardly showed their faces. The children did all knew she was coming and why - and were completely un-phased by the whole thing :) She certainly was not intent on quizzing them about anything and didn't she seem too worried about seeing any of their work. She said that, as everything was so hunky-dorey last year, this was really just to update the files as to where we are at. I have no problem with that. I showed her my 'planner' - she was suitably impressed I think (!!) - and explained that I use it as a baseline, but that it is quite flexibly adhered to. We chatted about what resources I use and I explained that I try to teach one subject at any one time, but at 2 levels, for the most part and that generally this works out OK :)

I then broached the subject of my difficulties with Jacob with her. I explained that Paul & I think that he MIGHT have ADHD and why we think so. We discussed some of his 'behaviours', his inability to concentrate for more that 5 minutes at a time and his seeming lack of attention even when he thinks he is listening to you! There are all sorts of other little 'odditites' that make us think he might be ADHD and really we want to be sure we are schooling him appropriatly. It's not that a 'label' will change anything that much, but it will help us know HOW to tackle the problems we face with him. SO, if his attention span IS only 5 minutes we have to only EXPECT 5 minutes of attention from him - if we get more that's a bonus, but our day will need to be a lot more broken down than it currently is. However if there is no REAL problem, outside of Jacob's control, than really it's just a case of disciplining him (appropriatly) so that he learns how to knuckle down and concentrate for a given slot of time. We (Paul and I) need to know if our expectations of him are too high (which if he has ADHD then they probably are, because they are based on expectations of a 'normal' (almost)8 year old), or if they are about right and we just need to help Jacob reach what he is capable of - bearing in mind that he is a very clever kid in reality. The amazing thing is that he has begun to voice his difficulties, so I think he even recognises that he has a bit of a problem. He has said things like; "it's like my brain switches off and on and off and on. And when it's off I can't switch it on again" - how descriptive is that! But there is a sad side to that too, in that he has also begun to say things like "Joel is brainier than me." This simply is not true - and I have told him so, but what he sees is Joel being given a task, completing it and going to play, while he is struggling through - having not even really started on the task he has been set to do that should have taken him about equal time (ability level taken into consideration). Because Joel is able to apply himself he naturally gets more free-time and Jacob equates Joel getting his work done with him (Joel) being brainier. But if I let Jacob go at the same time he would achieve nothing at all and there would be even less reward in that - it would only add to his discouragement to never have anything to show for a day's school :(

Anyway - Carol ageed that it would be good for us to have a formal assessment so that we would have a baseline to work from and have a better idea HOW to get the best from Jake. And she is going to find out for me how we go about that outside of the school system. Like I said - she was very helpful and sympathietic to my dilema, which was nice. :)

On another subject now; Nappies :)
I got a 'bimble in the post today. How cute and gorgeously tiny is this nappy?! Paul reckons it'll never fit a real baby! I think he forgets just how diddy they are (babies that is) when they are new!:) Ellie appears to be getting 'into' the whole cute nappy thing too. She keeps going to look in the nappy bucket to see what new additions she can find and if I'm not quick enough - she brings them to me - eeeew!! I think it's not helped by the fact that I can't resist fleecy pink nappies/wraps - and neither can she apparently! I really should be trying to buy a bit more unisex - poor little baby - if it is a boy (which I'm fairly convinced it is this time), he'll be in pink nappies half the time!! Although, that said Abbie has gone to bed tonight in a blue car print nappy. I'm trying to discourage her from wearing them and when I put a woolly sheep one on her she liked it a bit too much!!

Check these out too -all you nappy lover - pocket liners - what a cool idea! I'm going to try making some this evening - just to make life even easier for Paul, but if mine don't work I think I might invest in some :)

I might even post some pics of in the next few days - just to get you all coveting cute nappies!! And so that I can have that memory of my babies with cute snuggly bottoms!! Oh, how I wish I had discovered these YEARS ago - it's only take me nearly 8 years, but then I must confess I wasn't looking much in the in-between times. Kooshies were naf, so I think I gave up on the whole idea for a while and went down the 'green disposbles' route as a compromise - shame!!

Still Alive!!

Well hello!! Thanks to all of you who have kept in touch despite my absence from blog-world of late. I thought it was about time I gave you a really brief update of the Wellyboots tribe!

Well we survived Daddy being away with great success and even managed a trip to Wales for a long weekend to see him in action! His absense has even resulted in a much greater level of acceptance of household chores for all :)

Since then life has been ticking along steadily, with it's usual ups and downs of family-life and homeschooling :) On the whole the boys are doing very well - the usual ebbs and flows of enthusiasm taking their course! Joel seems to have finally grasped that 'making 10' strategy that we were struggling with some weeks back (no, we've not been at it constantly since then - just a steady drip-feeding and regular visits!!) and Jacob is nearing the end of Sing' Maths 2B, which means we will be into 3rd grade Maths. Having looked ahead, I think we might do some CGP Yr3 stuff first - for consolidation purposes - before we move on. I don't want to bull-dozer ahead just yet with Maths and leave him still back at Yr2 level for English. I'd rather concentrate less on the maths and broaden our horizons a little :)

Today we learnt the (potted) history of Ireland; from the Celts (300BC) to the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1921) and the declaration of an Irish Republic in 1948 - yup - that was a long tough one, but some very interesting stuff there and it made the boys see that we 'English' are not always the good guys!! Didn't we do some nasty stuff to those Irish people back then in history - no wonder they hated us!! Anyway - not dwelling on politics, but I learnt loads today hand-in-hand with my boys :) I think I might remember more than them, but ...!

I think I might try and attempt some kind of 'lap-book' type thing for our studies of Ireland. That really would be adventurous for me. I'm trying to figure out HOW I might do it though!! Any of you done any 'lap booking' can give me some advice?

In History we are just reaching our studies of Egypt (having done 'UR' and Babylon briefly last week and made 'early' clay jars - which we still need to seal and paint). I'm really looking forward to having a good delve into Ancient Egypt :)

If you are all wondering WHY I haven't been around much it is basically that come the evenings I am spent on 'giving out' - so to blog takes too much brain work!! I have been busy vegging on e-bay buying far too many nappies for the new baby! I have decided that, bearing in mind I will have two babies in full-time nappies for at least 6 months (unless Ellie trains early like Boo did) and Boo still in them at night, life could get VERY expensive to keep using 'Nature Baby' disposables. SO, we need to go back to re-usables. I used to use Kooshies, but to be honest I never found them that fantastic, so I have been on a 'best nappy' hunt :) I have discovered MINKI nappies - and they are simply fantastic. I have NEVER successfully used re-usables at night but now I not only have Ellie back in them full-time daytime, but I have BOTH Ellie & Boo in them at night - with NO leaks and nice dry-to-touch bums in the morning!! I also really like WONDEROOS and I am about to try out Fuzzi-Bunz too. A friend of mine is selling me on her size 1 Tots-Bots for when the baby is newborn. The Wonderoos and Fuzzis can be used as wraps and as stuffables, so they will come to good use with the TotsBots :) I just like the idea of something I can use like an All-in-One for ease of Paul using it too. He seems to like the Minki's best as well :) Thank goodness for e-bay though. I can get them for half the price and they are still in great condition even though they are 2nd hand :)

The pregnancy is going fine. I'm getting fatter all the time and the baby is lovely and lively now ;) !! The children seem to be quite excited about the prospect of another brother/sister and Phoebe keeps saying "your baby out now?" in a questioning, yet demanding type way! and "your baby kick me!!" - not sure she appreciates that much!!

Anyway - that's my brief update and I shall TRY not to leave it so long next time. In the meantime I shall try to get round the blog-ring and visit you all over the next few days or so. I've given up e-bay for the next two days at least - I've spent all my money!!

I forgot to mention - we have our annual LEA visit on Thursday. I'm not at all worried - we have it in the bag!! :)

Tired!

Hi All. I wish I had the energy to blog properly, but I don't!! Suffice to say things are going reasonably well here, despite us all missing Paul loads!

Joel finished Singapore Maths 1A today and did some addition and subtraction without much help from me at all - he remembered the steps well - BIG sigh of relief :) And Jacob reached his first 'write a story' page in Just Write, which initially brought tears, but then he knuckled down for once and made a reasonable attempt for a pretty-much first go at story writing :) Not sure how he's going to feel when he sees that the next page is another 'write a story' page! He said to me today "But I've done this kind of thing before!" He seems to think that once he's done it once (which actually he really hasn't) he'll never have to do it again. I explained that yes a little, but he will be doing it more and more. Hopefully he won't be totally unprepared to write another story when it comes to it. Fortunatly it's not something we do every day, or even every week for that matter and I do know that it is not that unusual for a 7 year old boy to not be that enthusiastic about story writing!! Fact, figures and accounts of things - they go down better these days, so I try to build his 'essay' skills mostly that way instead. But I also want to help him devlop his imagination more and the Just Write is great for that, because it is so step-by-step, giving concrete tools for imaginitive writing.

Anyway - going to finish my chores now (load dish-washer, wipe down kitchen and d.table, quickly run hoover through ready for the group in the morning, fold the washing and put next load in dryer) and I REALLY need to go to bed!! This is why I am so tired!!

Very Quickly...

I was going to bed an hour ago, but two 'phone calls later...

Anyway, today we went out at 9am (how impressive is that!!) to run errands in town. We paid to many bills - when I eventually remembered my P.O. card account pin number to get the money out (pregnancy block!!). Bought Joel some new trainers which are just TOO cool, so he's a happy bunny :) Bought them both a cake in Chatwins and a pasty for me. Then put Joel's old shoes in the shoe recycle bin at Safeway and did a little bit of 'social ed' by making them read the sticker on the bin which explains what will be done with them. Then we went into Safeways where Jacob noticed the mountain of baskets stacked by the door.
J - "Look Mum, there must be about 60 baskets there!"
M - "No, a good few more than that I'd say."
J - " A hundred?"
M - "OK let's do some Maths - estimation - count the number of baskets in the middle size stack."
J - "24"
M - and how many stacks are there?"
J - "9."
M - "OK, so how many baskets are there?"
J - "24 x 9 ... I can't do that, it's too hard! And not all the stacks have 24 baskets in them so it won't be right."
M - " No, it will not be exactly right; it will be an estimation - a close guess. To work out the answer break down the numbers. 24 is 10 & 10 & 4 isn't it?"
J - " yes."
M - " so 10 x 9 ?"
J - "90 ... + another 90 that's 180"
M - " plus the 4 x 9..
J - "36... 180 + 36. That's 216. WOW!! That's a LOT of baskets. I was nowhere near when I said 60!!"

Maths lesson over - we had multiplication, addition and estimation covered in five minutes!!

As we really didn't do much more school today (about 30 mins just finishing off left-overs) I was pleased we had squeezed that in :)

Also while we were out today a lot of 'social' education happened. That is, me telling the boys what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in the street and any other public place for that matter, and how they should learn to walk along nicely like normal human beings, not leaping about and behaving like orangutans!! :)

Not much else to report today. The kids are still being really good at chores etc... :)

Still Alive - honest!!

Well yes I am, but it has been really hard to get time to blog of late. Immediately following the Christmas madness it was another mad rush around here to get 'back to normal' - decorations down and packed away and the house cleaned down because Paul has had to go away for a whole month as part of his degree. It's a practical placement and he has gone to LLanelli (S.Wales) for it. I wanted the house clean before he left as I guessed that I might not get much time (or energy) to clean it whilst he was gone and at least with a clean slate it's easiER to keep it that way!! So we blitzed all week, as well as getting bits that we both needed in Crewe before he left and I was 'stranded' in Nantwich for the next month, unless I should choose to take 5 children on the bus - which of course I never would!!
SO, he left last Saturday morning and aside from missing his company and help, in the evening especially, life is actually trotting along quite nicely - I am amazed to say! I have made a couple of laminated charts. One is labelled "The Helping Mummy Chart" - which is basically a chores rota for all four of the older children. It includes tasks like emptying bins, hoovering the kitchen floor after lunch with a mini-Hoover, keeping their rooms tidy, helping tidy up at the end of the day, laying and clearing the table for tea, etc... - simple stuff, but so much help :) And so far it has worked a treat - no tantrums, no fuss, just reasonably happy helpers. I think because they can see that they each take a turn at things it make sit all seem so much fairer and keeping the boys separated at tidy-up time works well too because it seems to mean they get the job(s) done with a whole lot less fooling around and distracting each other. I just hope it keeps up for the whole month and maybe even becomes so much part of life that it carries on even once Paul is home. At the top of the chart I have written "A happy family is one where everyone works together and helps each other and a happy MUMMY keeps everyone happy!" - They like that :)
The other chart is a checklist of morning and evening "Must Do's" in the order they have to be done; get dressed, make beds, open curtains, have breakfast, get pencils, writing mat and ruler on the table ready for school, etc... This REALLY helps Jacob as he can just keep checking back to it. He is NOT good at retaining lists of things to do and this has cut down on my nagging him at least 75%! Joel on the other hand read the list on day 1 and has committed it to memory pretty much - and sticks to it very well. They are SO different! :)
There have been a few stressful moments, needless to say, like when Joel poured his whole drink of Ribena into his plate of fish and chips that he had not yet touched! He was really hungry too because he had been swimming, but that was all there was unless I'd given him my tea, which I wasn't about to do because had he used two hands instead of one to move his plate, his drink and his cutlery (all at the same time) it MIGHT not have happened & even much less likely if he hadn't been throwing a wobbly over having the 'wrong cutlery' - rrrr - but hey, he learned his lesson I hope ;) And then last night Phoebe dropped her pot of yoghurt upside down on the carpet in the lounge (our dining table is in the lounge)! And tonight 3 out of 5 made a fuss for one reason or other. Jacob wanted beans and Phoebe wanted spaghetti - each of them usually has the other, so I was a little annoyed, but just swapped them over and Joel was still making a fuss about not having his other cutlery (I have a feeling I have ditched the fork!). But we got over it and had a reasonably civil tea-time :)

School-wise; We started back this week (am I a glutton for punishment or what - starting back as Paul goes away?) and so far it's been fine. Jacob has been doing fractions. A year ago we touched on fractions. He just simply did NOT get it, he was tense and up-tight and in the end we left it and moved on feeling it was very much UN-mastered. Yesterday he turned the page to the 'Fractions' section of his Math book and his face filled with horror and dread, BUT he stepped in. To his and my delight it made absolute sense to him and he breezed through two 'chatty' bits and two exercises in no time and with no trouble at all :) He looked at me and said - "it must be because I am a whole year older now Mummy" - and I think he was very right on that; he was simply ready to assimilate what he was learning. We could have drilled and drilled on fractions a year ago and what would we have gained? I believe that actually the foundations were built a year ago and he was able to call on his previous attempts to understand it and with that and a year of practical 'life' under his belt (like cutting sandwiches and apples up!!) he simply 'gets' it now. Today he almost finished the section. I am one happy Mummy :)
Joel did some 'sticker book' maths including some additions and subtractions within 20 and got them all right with no blackboard in sight, so I'm hoping he did get it after all and we will have a similar experience with him as we just did with Jake when we come back to adding. At the moment we are doing Length & Weight, so that's more fun :)
Other than that we've done a bit of English and handwriting to get back in the swing of things. Jacob was doing 'Possessive Adjectives' and 'Possessive Pronouns' yesterday - do you know the difference? I had to look at the answer book so I do now! Apparently a PP comes before the noun and a PA comes after it :) This is my pen (pp). It used to be hers (pa). I definitely didn't learn that stuff when I was 7!! The material is actually designed for 8-9 years olds, but he gets it OK and understands it, so why not do it if he can?!
Today I had planned to do some Geography. We are going to look at Ireland these next few weeks. But a friend popped in for an hour (new to Nantwich and also home-schooling), so that got left for today and will probably wait until next week now, because the boys really want to do some History while the girls are out at playgroup tomorrow.(note-to-self; I must go get their clothes out before I go to bed). I also need to pay some bills, get a few bits of shopping and Joel needs new shoes in the morning. Hmmm - will there be enough time I wonder?! Probably not, there never is, is there!?
So that's us. I might not get chance to blog again for a few more days, but if you think of me - well think of me!!

Look What We Got for Christmas!

Hoping You all had a Great Christmas.

With five children in the house this is the usual picture here on Chrismas morning;

Gifts galore!


And I always wonder where it's all going to go!

Here's some of the contents of those parcels;

Girl Power!


Sir Jacob strikes again!


But best of all - we got this on Christmas day too and it didn't go away for two whole days! I can't remember my last white Christmas - it was FAB!!

Snow on Chrsitmas Day


Another snowy pic


In fact there have been a number of fantastic things about this Christmas. One of them being that Abbie has suddenly become dry at night. One wet bed in more than a week. And WE didn't do a thing - it was all her doing. The best gift she could have given us! :) Another thing was that Phoebe, on Christmas day, said "I love you Daddy" as a sentence - for the first time - another great gift! :)

Now, of course there is the after-marth of Christmas to deal with - which I have not yet even attempted to tackle. It took us all afternoon on Christmas day, plus a couple of hours on Boxing day afternoon to get to end of unwrapping the presents. So yesterday and today have been spent playing with them all and making LOTS of mess!! The boys have been learning the rules to new games (like Junior Cluedo & Battleships) and that has involved us grown-ups playing too, of course :) The girls have been spreading feathers all over the house and generally spreading all the little 'bits' that seem to come with girlie toys everywhere. Tomorrow it is my intent to begin to bring some idea of order to the chaos. I have in mind that Paul is going away for 3 weeks on January 10th and I REALLY want to have the house straight and clean before he goes becasue I'm VERY sure I won't being doing much housekeeping when he's gone, He normally does all the cooking here and as that is going to fall to me while he's away that would be my cleaning time (not that I ever do much of that either) AND we will be back to school and playgroup routine - and he won't be here for drop offs at 9am, so I'm going to have to get 5 children out of the house by 8.30am two morning each of the three weeks - something I have NEVER done, or wanted to do!! At least it is only for 3 weeks and not more than that!

Anyway I digress! As far as storing all the new toys; every now and then I buy new storage places (bookcases, and fabric covered cuboards, IVAR, etc...), plus we have massive double wardrobes in both children's rooms, BUT they are all FULL of either clothes, or toys, or both already! I have been trying to think about what could be feasibly got rid of - what is not played with anymore? What could be stored somewhere outside the house until it's needed again? Problem is, with children ranging from 1 - 7 there is not much that falls into either of those catagories. Maybe I could put away the really BABY toys (outgrown by a 1yr old!) - for the next 6 months!! Even the garage has gained new occupants in the form of a new bike and a set of skateboard ramps, so that's pretty overcrowded too! We have 9 bikes (Jacob's old one and a big pink one waiting for Abbie to grow into (that I got cheap)being surplus), four scooters, 5 skateboards (Jacob has a full-size and a 'trick' board), plus boxes of balls and out-door games (cricket, swingball, etc...) - and three disused wardrobes (of the landlords) full of boxes of clothes & shoes that are not currently being worn, camping equipment (long since used :( ), - I could continue, but I think you get the picture!! We don't have a loft and the cellar floods - as some of you may remember from the summer postings. BUT, when all is said and done - I WILL find room for it all and once all the boxes are got rid of it doesn't look nearly so much!!

Tonight we all sat together after bath time and watched Home Alone 2 on telly. The boys loved it and it was a great way to spend the evening. :) I just love having lots of children and it really has made for a fantastic Christmas this year. They all seemed to grasp the wonder (both spiritual and 'fantastical') of it all and were really gripped with excitement for the first time I think. When Abbie opened her stocking gifts on Christmas morning (before church they just have few small gifts to keep them going until the afternoon) I think she would have been quite content if that was all she had - bless her! (maybe I'll remember that another year! ;) ) I asked her, "So is that lovely. Have you got what you wanted?" Her answer was, "yes, they're lovely. I'm very happy ... except for a ballet barr" (with a little wistful shrug). She didn't know, at this point, about the mountain under the tree, or that the 'Bella Balerina ballet barr' was amongst the gifts. In fact she didn't open the barr until Boxing Day (it was the very last gift to be opened) and she never mentioned it again - but she danced around the room when she eventually opened it!!

Oh, the beauty of childhood innocence and the lack of expectation (although not lack of hope) that it holds. My prayer is that, despite the fact that my children seem to get their every dream each Christmas (thanks to a large extended family on both sides), they will not take their blessings for granted and will always be willing to be generous with what they have and remember to think, pray and give to those who have so much less than themselves. This year Paul and I have decided we will, as a family, sponsor a child. It is something we (Paul & I) have done before and we believe that, now the boys can write too, it would be good for them to get involved in this kind of project. It will help them all see and understand more clearly, we hope, just how less fortunate children live and yet, their faith is not dependent on what they own.