Archive for April, 2004

By George it was a good one!!!!!

Today was just one of those days…. a really pleasent, together, enjoyable one.

It started off well when we found the bonus material on the Lilo and Stitch DVD - a walk round of 6 islands, with music, volcanos, whales, coral reefs, fire dancing and all sorts to amuse everyone. It also has a “learn the hula” bit so we all tried that! Fran was very good at it - she can be so graceful when she isn’t being a fairy elephant.

Then they all played in the garden again together, making a “camp” and then after checking on our experiments we planted sunflowers. Moo had brought them home from nursery and it was nice to do something specially hers. She and i then sat with the Bob books and did the first three which she seemed to really enjoy.

I made a picnic lunch and we ate it on the patio together while i read “The Gardener” to them. Its a beautiful story, in letter form, set in the American depression of a little girl who goes away from home for a while when times are hard. It made me wail!!!! (But i think i covered it up!)

Then it was off to our HE group (i roared again on the way at all the England flags up - WHAT am i like?????? I only put this cos its the only pregnancy i have blogged for and its funny!) The group was brilliant - someone had organised dragon masks to make, someone had made silver swords and shields to stick heraldry to and they had built a maypole which we tried valiantly to weave around! PMSL!!!!! I am extremely lucky in my HE groups and i know it.

Then home for more garden, rabbit adoration and general weary boisterous behaviour! A lovely, lovely day. Makes me SO glad to be with them all.

Ammi has added “finished” and a heap of animal words to her expanding vocab - she is ALMOST conversational in a funny burbly way now - i love her sayting “babababa” for sheep!

And Fran has accomplished some completely amazing headstands all without being taught - so beautifully controlled - incredible!

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Good Garden Links

Just in case you didn’t remember it….

Muddlepuddle links

and then also…

make a scarecrow
Herbs
Brainpop Pollination
Edible indoor gardens
The great Plant Escape
Plants
Compost experiments

Plus our books that we are using…

Kingfisher - Dig and Sow
Barefoot - The Gigantic Turnip
The Paradise Garden by Colin Thompson
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small
plus a couple of Parragon cheapies from Tescos - Our Earth and Plants
and Usborne Starting Gardening

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More stuff to do with Growing

I had a deeply fuzzy start to the day, mainly due to a huge hormonal crying burst last night - at least i KNOW its just hormones and i daresay its linked to the MASSIVE requirement for dolly mixtures, chocolate and cherry bakewells over the weekend! So we had a fairly slow start.

After Moo went out (and horror of horrors i really think Ammi is outgrowing her nap!!!!) Fran and i did some letter block work. We reinforced the -at, -am and -ot endings and then did some -ag ones too. This is going okay really - certainly the manipulative seems to be working nicely but overall i feel a bit frustrated with reading for Fran. Its fine “teaching” her - she gets everything we do together, its fine working on it and its not those things that bother/worry me - its that she just doesn’t care much for books and this is such an anethema to me that i find it hard to comprehend. We read in front of her, to her, with her - but she just doesn’t feel grabbed by the idea of it being a skill to have. I know i know i know it will come and i appreciate that the very nature of bouncy, high energy Fran makes it more likely she will come to reading later but oh i find it sad! I long for a Hannah or Poppy!!!! I guess it all comes down to leading a horse to water ad then waiting for it to drink. In the meantime we just pootle along at the skills side of it in a relaxed fashion.

Then we did some experiments. First we did the “watch food colouring go up the plant stem” one - a control (we discussed control experiments), a blue and a green (mainly because i only had green and know it works less well than blue or red but sometimes separates which is cool.)

We also started an Avocado seed (did you know avocados are classed as berries?) and had a look on this avocado site for bits and bobs. Said seed is now residing in a jar of warm water in the airing cupboard for 2 days. We used the Usborne Starting Gardening book which has LOTS of stuff to do so i am very glad we have it. I’m gonig to make it a definite starting book for my “shop.” I’ve found a load of links which i shall try to sort out later.

Cress is now mostly sprouted.

We also got the potatos started which i have put on the garden blog.

Took Peter off to the vets only to discover he had removed said tooth on his own! *rolls eyes* Have booked him in to be “done” next week too so then they can be together.

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Get growing you!

We had a good day today. Firstly we managed to get to the rink for 9.30 (an achievement in itself!) and the girls had a lesson. Then it was SNOWBABIES!!!!!

It was great actually - they had done a good job. Lots of toys, 3 instructors, baby skates and as it was the first one they had little (hideous!) stuffed toys, mini eggs and certificates for them all. Fran pulled Ammi on the sledge for AGES and Moo did her best too and they all had a lovely time. Was really nice to just be able to sit back and see them all get on with it - i far prefer watching my children have fun to have to actually taknig part! lol!

While Moo was out we had a good time GROWING stuff - started off digging out all our relevant books (i’ll list them tomorrow) then we started some cress off.

Quite impressively we added water at 1pm and by 2.15pm we had shoots! Don’t ask me why but we are doing a seeds far apart and seeds close together experiment here….

We also started a pea experiment…

So this is the one with one with water and light, one with just light and one with just water. We shall see.

Then we spent ages gonig throguh a book called “Dig and Sow” and talked about CO2 and Oxygen exchanges between animals and plants. We even got as far as the chemical symbols and what the letters/numbers mean. We also did Soil and how its made and erodes, seed dispersal and various other topics. Oh yes Baobab trees, which we found on the site i posted below.

i need more plant experiments. I shall have to look at the Usborne Quicklinks page.

Went into nursery early to discuss next year. Was quite surprised to be offered a full 10 sessions as playgroup could only ever offer Fran 5 even in her reception year. However we are aiming to reserve her 3 full days but expecting she will only use two of them (the extra might be nice for her when babe is new.) If they can’t work that into the classrooms then its going to be 4 mornings rather than afternoons as it has been this year. Should free us up a bit more really.

The other debate is whether to keep her in the room she is in or move her for a new experience (which would also mean new staff i suspect as they don’t often do big shuffles). A year ago i would have said “no no, keep it all the same for her” but now i wonder if the new environment and a new set of staff would be a good challenge and help her adjust to something new. Although for Fran i LIKED the fact that playgroup was the same for those 3 years. Its all a bit boring really as i am less happy with her going back than i was really - its been great for her this year but will anymore be gained by next year… hmmmmm…..

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Its quite unnerving…

I’ve been looking at this pic of the girls (taken by Chris!) for a few days because its my desktop one currently…. and i just suddenly can’t get over how ALIKE Fran and Moo are! Same eyes… same nose…. same mouth and even same split in their fringe!

Its quite funny really - i am sure people think HE is a form of control freakery (certainly nursery seems to!) and whenever people comment on the similarity between them all, i have this bizarre feeling its seen as an extension of my controlling behaviour!!!

Anyway.

Rather adorable pic of Moo…

plus nice pic of Fran directly after her gala

and finally the proposed future cast member!

Today was good, although i was tireder and did less. Moo went back to nursery and i missed her a lot, so did Fran. Fran commented on the huge traffic jam outside at breakfast and i said it was cos of the school at the end of the road (not the one we are in the catchment area for strangely!) I asked her if she ever wanted to go and she looked at me like i was MAD and said “NO!!! And DEFINITELY not today - its SUNNY!!!!!” All morning they all played, following a giant pressie opening session and an intro to chewy sweets (so cruel a mother am i!) All most chuffed with Maggies Easter pressies - so thank you again Maggie.

Fran spent a lot of Moo’s nursery time on the “Cat in the Hat” cd rom and then sewed a very pretty foam photo frame all by herself from a kit, which she put the above photo of 5 girls into. We have agreed a new plan for reading practise and also to do some writing as Moo is catching up! lol!

After we got Moo (a big debate ensueed at nursery about whether to put her in a new classroom next year or stay the same but tbh i am wondering if i want her to go back at all) we went to Notcutts. Bought rabbit food, nearly succumbed to a new rabbit (glad i didn’t as i got home and discovered Peter has developed a HUGE hooked tooth apparently overnight and will have to go to the vets tomorrow. Bizarre too as its sticking out like a pipe and i KNOW it wasn’t there yesterday when i put him in his run….). We also got lots of veg seeds and played on the playground where Ammi insisted on going up a 20ft spiral staired slide and coming down 3 times while i expired with fright quietly underneath!!!!! We also did the “play then please buy” play equipment area and the summer houses, then Ammi had a meltdown and we were late home to let daddy in!!!!

Finished off by taking the big girls back with me to the old house and salvaging all our pots.

Tomorrow its “snowbabies” at the ice-rink and finally Ammi can go on the ice legitimately!!!!!!

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Oh dear- think of another way of saying “nice day”!!!!

Today has been so good - its been sunny and everyone has been so happy. I got the “big girl” lego out first thing, its been hidden in a box for a year, and Fran played with it ALL day - first on the dining room table and then on the patio and then in her room on their “new” desk. She has asked for some for her birthday - apparently Poppy has Harry Potter lego so thats on the wish list! Moo joined in at times and also played lots by herself - mainly a Shrek inspired game using Rapunzel Barbie and a large Milo Tweenie… well i can see where she was coming from! Ammi did Duplo, dolls house, garden, rabbit watching and a fair bit of general pottering.

Everyone got on so well - its amazing how different the feel is to this house - the tv went off by their choice at 10 and stayed off all day. i got the craft cupboard done, sorted out a blanket box for towels and bedlinen and spent a fair bit of time sat in the sun reading Gone with the Wind surrounded by my happy, playing children.

Moo is back to nursery tomorrow and i really resent it - i’m going to miss her very much :~(

Finish with a couple of pics from Windsor


3 happy girls


and this one under Henry VIII gate which is a terrible photo but tickles me enormously because for some reason it was very important to Poppy that Fran should be in the middle, and tried for ages to make it work with Fran putting her arms around their shoulders… and as you can see, Fran has a certain height challenge there!!! rofl!

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Garden blog

Have ressurrected the mudpud garden blog with some trepidation…..

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Just keep swimming…

Feels like these boxes will NEVER go away! How the ******** did i get so much stuff???? Anyway. Things are “getting” straight; we’ve got the dishwasher and washing machine working, a nice room all sorted with just our dining table and all our books in it. No tv or anything and it feels really nice. Its still got floor space so we have put the brio in there for Ammi and Moo, who seem like it the most. I’m also going to put all their pens, paper and stuff and bean bags in there so they can draw at the table and slump to read too.

The big room is coming on - we have “everything” in there - computers, tv, dvd and sofas, so its a real family room that we are all likely to be in together. There is a cupboard off the kitchen stuffed with craft stuff and by the end of the week we should have lampshades, coat hooks and toy shelves all back together. The garden is mowed and cleared and we are getting some top soil delivered to make flower beds. The new patio is lovely and really warm so the pots of herbs should be lovely and fragrant on it.

Moo and i went out to Homebase today and bought new toilet seats together, since issues were threatening over one that was split and one that was “too bumpy” (???????) - anyway, i figured that the quickest way to nip that in the bud was to take her out ot choose new ones and it seems to have done the trick. She’s also very pleased to have new flannels (dirt on flannel issues have been rearing up recently) and squashy bath mats! I haven’t yet figured out how to squash the new “duvet muct be completely square and cover all showing bits of sheet” one but my friend suggested giving her a double duvet which i might try f it doesn’t dissolve on its own. Otherwise she has handled the move pretty well.

Ammi has moved into a bed and is doing okay - the first few nights she was shut in and slept through but the last few we have left her door open and she has come into our room, so she is shut in again tonight - i suspect she half wakes up, sees the girls light and potters out - so if its dark i hope there won’t be an issue. I never leave her to cry anyway, so if she yells i can get her. She was SO proud of her bed though - dear little face just beamed with grown-upness!

I seem to have a serious amount of sewing projects on - the worst of which is definitely a nearly 5 metre wide, 2 1/2 metre deep window to somehow curtain! Eeep! Then there are the gypsy skirts i promised Fran and the HESFES fleece jamas. ARGH!!!!!

Yesterday was a really nice day- very warm and sunny so we went to Ferry Meadows and met up with J&J and their 3 - J is going to be this babes other godmother and along with Kate is my longest standing friend in Pboro - although we see less of each other now as our middle little ones nursery sessions overlap in the middle of the day and make meeting up over the distance we live impossible really. All the kids played in “the woods”, we had a picnic and a long walk and a session at the playground. Ferry Meadows has the outline of a Roman barn thing marked out in it and they all played in that for ages. Pboro was a massive Roman area, i had no idea really! Apparently the equivalent of Birmingham in Roman Britain with a huge pottery industry.

Aside from that Moo got obssessive about “rescuing” the large number of ants who are currently delighted we have moved in and made homes and roads for them and Fran sat glued to Classic FM tv. Not sure what Limpet Lugs did but she seemed tired at the end of the weekend so i daresay she was okay.

Today poured with rain so aside from a sunday dinner and Moo and me going shopping it was a pottering day. On the other hand Moo had chocolate milk which was quite an achievement - thank you Poppy!

I am getting more worried about the fact that everytime i put away pink baby clothes i start howling that if this is a boy then they won’t get used again. I don’t mind at all if this is a boy, i think i would quite like it - but i don’t honestly know if i am going to feel “done” when its here - and i know Max will. When will i know - when its born, when its a year old? Should i know now? The thought of this being the last time just makes me howl - in fact i’m howling just typing this! I sort of feel like having small children is my job description and once i have my last i am just on a countdown to being redundant in 18 years time. Its all i ever wanted to do. I’m not even sure if i have done the definitive good job of it yet. Everyone, except my HE friends, but everyone else i know is just starting and i know its gonig to kill me when my sister has more or my friend Anne has hers or whatever. Heigh ho.

Did have a nice long chat to Anne (oldest friend bar one and Fran’s godmother) tonight and am going to organise a trip up to the Armouries with her.

Enough… too much writing….

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Assertive Moo

Was hugely amused today by hearing Moo march up to a mummy and say “Excuse me, your darling just hit me in the back and i need you to come and tell him off!”

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Now…

Much as i hate to take the p*ss out of people… i was kind of disturbed by my dealings with a 20 year old today at our local soft play area. We have a card there where you buy 25 hours for £30 and then they count off the hours each time you go. I eventually had to work it out for her as she was counting out 100 minutes per hour…. followed by adding up 4 meals at £2.25 each and two drinks at 75P each and coming to a total of £7.35.

Now, there are those who are blessed with mathematical ability and those who are not i admit (and i admit to being one who is not!) but this person is on a teacher training course for primary schools!!!!!

*Thumps head*

Aside from that we had a nice day. Handed over our old house, spent 2 hours at the play area, played webland and now Moo is putting small post it notes into each pane of the lattice windows! Knowing Moo, she won’t stop till she is done!

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And if i could just point out…

… that spending a bit of time with the much healthier looking Mr Portico was delightful - especially when he attempted to rescue the internet connection.

I’m still confused about the Smart car though as i was under the impression that was borrowed from Alisons dad. *confused of peterborough*

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