We went to Milton Keynes today – we went there and we DIDN’T go to the new IKEA!

Josie kindly woke Max and i up at about 5am, in that odd time where you haven’t really had enough sleep, but you’ve had too much to actually get BACK to sleep. Max got up with her, i dozed and finished off listening to A Christmas Carol. Do LOVE my iPod So that meant that Max also had us all in the car and on our way before 9am

Shopping was not actually that successful as the House of Frazer there didn’t have household stuff and we’d got vouchers; Amelie threw a perpetual tantrum about wanting to spend her Xmas money again (she spent it yesterday) and Fran had some bizarre itchy foot thing going on. Maddy and Josie (who the girls seem to have renamed Joey) were good though. Eventually managed to get Amelie some new shoes, Maddy bought a Barbie and we toddled off to grandads.

Amid much Leapster-ing, Gameboying and general humbug, we had lunch and a not very peaceful visit. Auntie L taught Fran to knit. Then we came home via Northampton, stopping on the way at a BETTER HoF to spend vouchers on a digital radio. Yum yum.

And now it is the last day of the Year. I have a final resolution, which is that i need to more proactively sort out Amelie’s health this year, as she is fast degenerating into the kind of child who got sent away to The Chalet School because she was a frail child. I’m concerned about her, she looks dreadful; her skin is raw, her eyes are dark circles, she coughs and scratches and whines all the time. Something has to be done. It is bad enough i am considering wheat-free and flower remedies – and it takes some doing to have me considering dietary difference, i can tell you.

On another note, i’m kicking back off on a Charlotte Mason style reading list. But having given Ambleside a go and found it too old-fashioned and American, not to mention too Christian for my tastes, i’ve decided to make up my own. I’m blogging it and i’m hoping i might pick up some people on the Early Years List who might help me create it. Worth a go anyway. The girls liked doing it last year, i just want it to be more relevant and accessible. I’m hoping that this way, it will actually encourage Fran to do some of the reading herself now.

A very Happy New Year everyone.

If anyone has good tips on this craft, i’d appreciate them. Brothers girfriend needs some help

The slightly less pleasant side of winter is having to go out in the post-snow freezing, driving wind and rain. It was -2C when i went out this morning, with a distinctly less that impressed Amelie in tow. First stop was for cheap-o bookshelves which are nonetheless perfectly good enough for a bathroom book/toiletries shelf and a paperback bookshelf for our room. Then on to Toys R Us where Amelie spent Xmas money on another Dora outfit I wouldn’t mind but she then yells because she can’t get the gloves/shoes/tiara on properly and goes mental. I tried to talk to her today about the way she is being; she just smirked and wouldn’t look at me. She is doing that “I want what you’ve got until i’ve made you cry and got it and then i don’t want it, so long as by then you are emotionally incapable of having a nice time with it” thing. Just delightful. Ah well…

Home for a variety of further present playing, though Fran was very into Animal Crossing today. Maddy has um.. not sure Fran and i did make a finger puppet from a set, but i got wound up as she’d lost half the templates and then totally failed to use any intelligence about following the instructions. Ooops. We did end up with quite a cute panda though.

Shortly after this the Beans arrived to fill the house with mirth, merriment and much tea and cake consumption. The children managed to play a game, eat popcorn, create havoc and generally have a nice time. Even a SB can be out-princessed here, so it all mucks down rather nicely.

I think i impressed Chris and Heleln with my utter inability to wait for my birthday to open my Nano, which appeared via a nice man in a Lynx van while they were here. We all stroked it admiringly It’s very pretty.

Now, must do something useful. Education anyone?

***You Passed 8th Grade Math***
Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Admittedly, i guessed at the median/mode one, had to ask what the silly hat arrow was and got the percentages one wrong (so Max tells me) but hey! lots of equations there – before you know it i’ll be “good” at maths!

Another day in the familiar winter close down chez Raymond. So far everyone seems to have come through remarkably well, although Amelie is being a royal pain in the arse. Everything is a face off at the moment, she can’t do a single thing without a fight and argument. Oh well, another year and she’ll be 4 1/2 (all being well) and we’ll be friends again. Right now, boarding school is attractive.

Today has been a huge tidy, sort and clean day. We’ve de-junked the living room, i’ve skimmed off some toys and learning materials for ebay and chuicked paperwork i’ve not looked at in a year. Ma helped me shift the bulk of my tax return last night. Need to finish off the ependiture but it’s nearly there. The shelves are clean and tidy and the presents have homes; Max did a tip run and cleared away a heap of junk and went to Sainsbury’s, only to return with a new microwave and new duvets all round. I’d been having a major attack of the frugals so was slightly shocked to discover he’d taken on my spending mantle!

My beads are sorted and counted, my room and washing is done, the books are pruned and nearly where they need to be (new shelves tomorrow), my accounts are sorted out, i’ve cut back on a heap of things i was subscribed to and cut £40 a month out of my spending already. Max is being a total love and has taken it upon himself to devise us a calorie counted diet; being Max he is now the proud owner of lists of the calories in everything we eat and is reducing out intake by about half! I’m definitely going to lose that weight this year. I want to be thinner.

The girls helped lots today including getting their room sorted and vacuuming the house. As a reward i took them to see The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I know it has had mixed reviews but we loved it; I’m such a Narniaphile that it was going to have to work hard to annoy me but i was swept away and the girls were all spellbound. Fran just sat with a shining face throughout and at the end Maddy was on the edge of her seat and glowing with pleasure. I particularly like Aslan and Mr Tumnus and enjoyed the battle lots. I wasn’t oversold on the Witch, she wasn’t how i imagined her and Mr Beaver annoyed me slightly, but otherwise i found the changes much less offensive than in LOTR. Thought the kids were all great, particularly the younger two but like know i’d have fancied Peter if i had still been at school!

Was kind of exciting to go to the cinema through mist and snow, skate in the (ungritted) carpark and eventually get pulled over by a slipping Amelie. I do love the British public; i’m on the floor, my stuff everywhere, 3 children upset and fretting while i un-wind myself and not one person even asks if i’m okay. Charming

Home to a lovely tea and a version of Swan Lake – i do love this time of year.

How on earth has one photo clocked up 846 views?

I only just even added its tags, so it can’t be that.

Brrrr…. it takes quite a bit before Max leaves the heating on high all day – but that is where it has been today! It is SO cold! We’ve had snow showers for a fair bit of the day, just on and off ones, after maybe 5cm of snow last night. For the first time ever, the girls spent a long time out in it, building a “snowman” who seems somewhat triangular in shape. They had a nice time though. Just looking through my blog today, we had snow in February too, so that counts as a 2 snowfall year; not bad!

I’ve been finishing off our Educational Report 2005 today, it’s listed in the pages on the side of the blog. Impossible to fit it all in really, nor can i be bothered to try, so its all a bit perfunctory. Maybe i’ll just start meeting him instead… funny to be doing one for Maddy too, though i’ve done most of it rolled up into one anyway. Kind of compound the feeling of suddenly having a second “big girl” that has just come on me; she has suddenly got a wobbly tooth. *shriek*

Anyway, that is done, bar the couple of picture diaries i tend to add to it; i’m going to do “Practical Maths” and “Ancient Britain” as they’ll be nice and easy. I do quite like having these, if we weren’t known, i’d probably do them anyway, but increasingly i resent having to do anything, just to avoid getting hassle. When we move, i shall take more steps to stay hidden i think.

While the girls were playing i went for a walk; managed retrieve one card but no parcel from the old house and got gibberish that i *know* was a lie from the owners, who live next door. Never mind. Was fun to be out though and see all the snowmen under construction and kids having fun – must get back into walking now; i’ve found a decent new route, not as convenient as the old one, but less scary.

Mainly today has involved lots more castle play for Fran, Lincoln Log play by everyone, tidying, hieroglyphs with Maddy, Little Shop of Horrors (which they moan ceaselessly about while it’s on but profess to “love it” when it isn’t!) and a load more Leapster and Dora laptop-ing. I’ve just spent my impending birthday money on an engraved Nano and there stops the spending. I’m going for a very frugal year Josie is toddling about with a variety of cuddly ducks she adores and i am off to tidy my bead cupboard. It is blissfully harmonious at the moment; wonder how long that will last.