Well I've had my biggest challenge this year with this long drawn out flood malarkey. We're in March now and my kitchen is an empty shell, I spent most of February up at my parents house while the house was being dried and still the insurance company drag their heels over every little detail! AAAArrgh I hate insurance companies.
So I'm going to get all the negatives out first and have a rant...
After putting on my poor mum and dad in their little bungalow for far too long we reluctantly returned home to manage with all the kitchen stuff in the dining room and only the microwave useful, the kids eating round their little craft table and eating take outs (hang on that doesn't sound too bad you know lol) Dust all over the place from the massive fans that had been blowing the house dry, the new washing machine not working and watching the mount Everest of clothes mountain growing huger by the day, baby having an ear infection then chest infection, J and S having stomach bug/cold/cough/runs/high temp, Lee having his knee op and being out of action completely, me slipping on a toy and spraining my ankle and being out of action completely! Now I am a patient person but this lot has put me and my family under quite a lot of pressure but you know what I'm the eternal optimist at heart so here's what we did...
The best snow of my children's lives so far came down and we had a fantastic time
in it
, the unforgettable image of my kids faces upon seeing that first proper thick snowfall. And of course the wonderful first walk in the fresh snow checking out our footprints, finding birds, dogs and cat prints and J making a monster cat print with her mittens! The lovely taste of snow when you just stand there and look up to the sky and stick out your tongue, yummy!
Sledging...proper sledging where you go fast and your sledge is a little bit out of control and there's always a tree or two to dodge!We made snowpeople, snowbabies, snow angels, snowballs, snowcones!! we sang 'we wish it would snow' at the top of our voices and it did!
It was so special as it seemed like years since it had snowed as well we almost were snowed in and of course as others made their way to school and work as the roads were cleared we carried on our snow fest enjoying every bit till the last snowdrop :o)
At Grandma & Grandad's we were so well looked after and my parents are such wonderful people so full of fun that my children had some great times there, playing shops with all Granny's jewellery, hats, scarves, books, toys, musical instruments and even a microphone on the
checkout. It was the best shopping centre I've ever been in! S loved telling everyone over the mic that 'the shop is now open'My particular favourite addition to the shops was the hairdressers where my Dad let the girls put rollers in his hair! I'm very lucky that my parents support our decision to home educate and I think they really saw the benefits while we stayed with them as they got into the spirit of learning through play!
Every day they helped me with activities... baking, painting, drawing, colouring, writing, reading, dancing, singing, putting on shows, and generally making the long visit to the Grandparents seem like a wonderful holiday for the children. Thanks a million Mum and Dad xxx
And even when we came home to our still not finished house the fun continued with my favourite bits like sitting round our pretend campfire reading Stig of the Dump (what an ace book!) J and S loved the Snargets chapter and we had a good few laughs throughout the book at Stig doing silly but really good things.
Getting every bit of red nose paraphernalia from Sainsbury's that we could, red noses, red nose for car, whoopee cushion.. oh yes it still is hilarious as an adult! Jamie's red nose recipes of which the cookies were mmmm sweet, and the strange laughing red soft head that baby B loved when we dropped it for her. And about Baby her first tooth and her wicked toothy grin, and this week starting to move around and grab anyone who comes close to pull herself up on to try to walk!
And finally this week discovering bouldering and my children are naturals at it and I love it too, Lee and I did an induction at the climbing place round the corner and now can take the kids one afternoon a week for free. It was amazing to watch them just go straight up the walls like little monkeys! Even B had a go at getting a hold at the bottom.
And just to let me know that I'm doing the right thing with my children (as if I didn't already!) today monkey bizness with the home ed group 85 children and they say 'what about the social side!!!!!' J and S have made some firm friends now and any concerns I ever had have disappeared as I watched my two girls running round with their group of friends and my baby sat with her baby friends as I chatted about all things to my friends Ah life is sweet
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