Our Tribe

Our Tribe

Monday 29 October 2012

Autumn leaves

Just a run of the mill Monday except I'm tired. Plum had a very disturbed night and I'm not sure why. She was very tossy and turns and many but not awake. Strange. Dispite this she has been very awake today...how do babies do that? We went on a walk into town this morning and across the park to gymnastics and she didn't fall asleep until the way home!

Lots of passers by commented on how fast the boys are on their bikes, I can't keep up on foot and I'm reminiscent of the days it used to take us more than a while to get anywhere as we had to stop and look at every little thing. We still have to stop at certain places. Today it was: the seeds growing in someone's hedgerow; and under the big tree to collect twigs; and by the colourful tree to pick up leaves; and on the path to run along and crunch in the leaves.

Only one person asked me if it was half term already and said 'I bet that's upset your week?' It has, but not the way he was implying. I forgot about half term and town was busier than usual, too many people to navigate with boys on bikes!

The track came out this morning. It doesn't work but the boys set up a racing track with crash barrier and spectators with seating in tiers! There is also a pit stop for the cars. There was lots of practise laps but no actual racing, apparently it's not a race day.

For the first time in a long time the boys got home and spent half an hour playing before the iplayer came on, normally this is the first thing they do.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Ticket to Ride

An at home day...at last. We have been thoroughly enjoying being at home and completely following the lead of the smalls. We had a family bath time this morning. Plum is becoming continuously worried in the bath and refuses to sit down, I might try taking her in the shower with me. Bean spent one and a half hours in the bath! Now I like a bath but when it's room temperature I feel that that is too long. Just my opinion.

We have filled our day with craft mostly. Making a hanging decoration, finishing our robot costume, Pumpkin has painted a large portion of the house black and a lot of colouring. There has also been some plane making and piloting to far off lands (destination: amberley  museum)

Bean came downstairs this morning to find his dinosaur colouring book on the table and he loved it. He spent two hours colouring it in and put writing on every page to tell everyone a bit about each dinosaur. He wants to make a special front cover for it as well.









Dinosaur Roar

Wednesday 24th Ocotber

Another busy day out except this time a play date at someone's house so less energetic (for me anyhow) The boys, not having been before, we're quite tired with the newness of it all, but they had a great time exploring new toys and activities and playing with new people.

Bean enjoyed lego, puzzles, a spider web game and colouring. Pumpkin found a ride on toy and did a puzzle and played with the vehicles. Plum moved happily around, still not crawling, but getting on very well with the other young one there.

Bean had got the idea of colouring a dinosaur from somewhere but we struggled to find any pictures to hand and I wasn't confident enough to draw one. Once Bean had gone to bed, Pumpkin and I looked for some pictures on the Internet and printed them off, stapled them together and left them on the table with the pens for Bean to find in the morning.



Flying high

Tuesday 23rd October

A last minute invite saw us getting out the house unusually early to meet friends at Pulborough Brooks. We had a great time searching for trees and birds and animal tracks and spotting a white deer. For the first time ever I woke Plum. It was 9 o'clock and I dressed her and put her straight into the car, she breakfast on cream cheese sandwiches and milk stops as we walked around the site.

This was followed by a play date and lunch at our friends house. Bean was taken by one of the ride on toys they had and spent the majority of the time riding around outside. Pumpkin mastered sitting and swinging on the swing attached to a tree in the garden.







Best laid plans...

Monday 22nd October 2012


A major sleep in this morning for Plum. She didn't wake until 9.30, consequently we didn't go to our usual 10.30 rhyme group but did manage to be up and dressed in time to bike ride to gymnastics...just.

Pumpkin choose to take some toys with him today, which I suggest every week but he has always declined so far. He borrowed Bean's laptop toy and took some Lego with him. He played with both but only briefly. Bean got out his laptop in the play area afterwards but only momentarily.

We returned home via the bank and the library. Bean was very disappointed that the half term bfg workshop had 'sold out' already. The last time we went to the library (10 days ago) it wasn't even advertised :( I felt bad for him but I'm sure we'll be able to go another time.


Remember the Lord

Sunday 21st October

Phase: 7 remember the Lord
if you can't find 15 minutes to spend with the good Lord then you are busier than He intended you to be...consider me very busy. It reminds me of that book entitled 'too busy not to pray'...I'm too busy to even read the book!

Today is church day for us and the boys are both throughly enjoying the new arrangement for their Sunday School groups. My major concern was that they are now split between two groups and how they would react to this but it is a familiar environment and familiar friends who take the groups so it seems to be going okay.

Daddy disappeared this afternoon to visit our best man who is not well (again...:(....) so we mostly curled up and watched tv helping us all to recover from yesterday's gallivanting.

Don't blame it on the moonlight

Saturday 20th October 2012

Phase 6: not being so busy. Failed.
Today daddy disappeared to a men's breakfast and I was left with the challenge of getting three smalls ready to leave the house by 10.30 in order to drive to Oxford for a birthday party. All was well and all were a little tired by mid-afternoon but it was well worth the journey and the ensuing tiredness just to be able to catch up with old friends and remember good times.


Friday 19 October 2012

Friends

We took a visit to Amberley Museum today, it closes in a couple of weeks for the winter months :(

We met some new home ed friends there and introduced them to some of our favourite parts. We printed our names in the print workshop and it's lovely to note that some of the volunteers there are beginning to recognise us and engage with the smalls it such an enthusiastic way. Today the gentleman in the print shop made a print just for Plum...her first of many I suspect!

The boys rode on the bus whilst I walked the route and we went into the telecommunications building and played morse code and semaphore and telephone operators. Bean was particularly interested in the different machines they used in aeroplanes to communicate and why they would need them. Fortunately the information given in the museum is comprehensive.

We also went to see the wood turner and saw someone new today who's speciality is making pens. He was very obliging and did a demonstration for us.


We took a train ride together and sat in the barn to eat a late lunch. Thankfully I had taken hot chocolate and soup as I had forgotten my coat and Wellies and it was wet all day, I was rather damp.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Marvelous medicine

Phase 4: responding to the rhythm of the smalls.

So today we tried a second at home day this week with nothing especially planned although I had a few ideas in mind of things the boys have been interested in. The morning started with me cleaning out an old shower gel bottle and Bean jumped at the chance to make a potion (recently read George's Marvolous Medicine) It was a progressive move towards Pumpkin taking over the bathroom floor with a pile of lotions and old half used bottles of stuff from the cupboard. The boys had a great time. Bean enjoyed making his froth and bubble and kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that to make it more bubbly. Pumpkin just enjoyed using what he could and mixing it altogether. We used utensils from the kitchen set and then got the jam funnel out to decant into the bottle.

Daddy phoned and needed the laptop delivered to the other side of town so we all got dressed (nothing like the motivation of seeing daddy to get us dressed!) and drove to meet him. We coupled this with some deliveries where Bean did some lovely map reading and number spotting as we went to find houses.

The potion making continued when we got home plus some colouring and reading books.after lunch we had a shouts moment and whatever I tried there seemed to be no way of breaking the cycle, Bean especially was finding it difficult to exit the angry stress mode so we jumped ship completely and took ourselves out on bikes to the local park. Worked wonderfully.

Plum had a feed and a sleep when we got home and the boys put on some I player whilst I was settling her. The I player stayed on until dinner time.






Wednesday 17 October 2012

Castles and knights

We met our very own knight in shining armour today at Leeds Castle and implemented phase 3: finding people who love our family to share the load.

We had a bit of a rainy drive over to Kent to meet fav auntie #2 at Leeds Castle and we saw a great rainbow. The weather cleared up though and we walked throug the grounds to the castle. The boys continue their fascination with rivers and played pooh sticks at every bridge we came to, put their fingers in the flowing water and worked out which direction the water was travelling in.

Bean insisted we went into the castle and we enjoyed one of the children's activity cards. I invested in two different children's guides and an adult one too so we can build on our knowledge of castles. Bean's interest in castles has spanned almost two years now.

We enjoyed both play areas to ourselves and fought of a pesky peacock whilst we ate.

It started to rain as we returned to the car and the heavens truly opened as we were sitting in the car. We had a little difficulty with the automatic lock and it took us a while to get in the car and the alarm repeatedly went off and i couldn't open the boot but we put the buggy into FA#2car and went to leave except the car wouldn't start. So I braved the rain and returned to the reception to ask for help and our very own knight in shining armour arrived 10minutes later in a green land rover with spark plugs and we soon in th rain and jump started the car. Praise God it worked!

The rest of the day was spent visiting FA#2 new house and dinner at FA#1 house accompanied with Lego, train sets and a new Lego book.





Tuesday 16 October 2012

New every morning

So the new vibe plan is working so far. Phase two: not so much gallivanting around and a few more at home days. The boys are constantly coming up with things they want to do and days out take a lot of planning as do days at home but it involves different things.

Anyhow, today. Asher choose to play Lego with me this morning and showed me how to make different vehicles. The collection of home made Lego boats/ cars/ spaceships etc has been growing. Some have been demolished and parts rescued for newer models but I finally got around to taking some photos of their collections.

Bean choose to build a skate park with the Jenga bricks with me but this very quickly turned into writing his name in bricks and taking photos of different things that he has made. It's common for him to come up with one plan and it turn into another, he can then look back on things and comment that we didn't do what he had planned but we're learning lessons from life and he's beginning to see that he needs to choose carefully and we can do things tomorrow.

We took a quick trip to the farm shop and charity shop and stocked up and then back home. The boys had chosen some craft bits from the shop so got straight stuck into picture making. Bean is making a seasonal picture and has begun with a very colourful interpretation of Autumn, winter is going to be next.

This afternoon adventures have taken us to the play park around the corner (Pumpkin's choice) and Plum took her second go on a swing. Daddy had taken her on Saturday and said she loved it but didn't have the chance to take any photos. He was right, she did love it and this time i took photos.








Monday 15 October 2012

Travelling with you

No photos again today. Getting poor at taking photos but Mondays is the same old routine, to the point where I feel that I'm not doing enough because there is an extreme lack of thought put into the day.

Having struggled last week with morning routine almost daily I have started the week with a new approach. Today the lunch was packed the night before and I encouraged the boys to get dressed before second breakfast which they did. The only slight hic cough was after breakfast water play and the need to change our clothes before going out (best laid plans...) but all in all it improved things so much that we were able to ride our bikes across town to join our Monday morning activity Little Verse. Pumpkin has taken up singing and doing actions again and is now able to sing all the words to most of the songs and even corrected his own actions today. Plum really enjoys the singing and the boys love the story and bean especially enjoys the craft.

This was followed by Bean's gymnastics session where he has achieved his first badge (ironically badge 10) and then a play in the park. We were momentarily the only family in the play area but soon joined by four other home ed families and a few others. The rain breezed in on and off but was largely dry and the whole group of smalls played excellently together. There was climbing the crows nest, climbing, sailing and sliding on the ship, negotiating the round about and playing houses on the sand pit equipment, amongst other things.


We then headed home, still on our bikes. We have been out today for what is exactly the same amount of time as a school day, we got rather caught up in the school foot traffic on the way home, inevitable as we live down the road from two Primary Schools and round the corner from a Secondary School. We've had a great day out and I was glad to have spent it with my boys and not missed out on their journey today.

Saturday 13 October 2012

Tired little teddy bears

No photos today as I completely forgot!

A whole day spent in a management meeting for CAC and daddy largely taking on the smalls. They have built a den in their room, drawn pictures and Bean has made a bed for some of his toys from a small box which he cut large pieces off to make the shape he wanted, Bean used a pillow that he had designed and coloured yesterday and made a duvet for them. I had asked him why the sudden notion to draw a pillow and where he got the idea from but it seems it was his idea and there was no special reason. There has also been lots of lego making, a trip on the bikes to the park round the corner (daddy taking all three of the smalls for the first time single handedly- worth noting) and watching iplayer in their bedroom (special treat as mummy was hosting a meeting downstairs) And after yesterday's late night two very tired boys in bed by 7pm and Plum too.

It's a family affair

Friday 12th October 

Oh my! What a busy day! I went of with Plum today to a Pink and Pampered Fundraisers to sell some wears and help raise some money and the boys went to spend the morning with SGS. They had a great time building train tracks and performing in a band. 

This was followed very swiftly by a visit to friends where we spent a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and the children playing in the den behind the sofa, with their collection of cars and octonaughts with each other. 

We had a hugely busy evening preparing for tomorrows CAC meeting at our house but both Bean and Pumpkin chose to stay up later than usual tonight, this is especially rare for Bean. Plum also decided to join the party so what had looked like a free evening to plough through lots of jobs turned into a family affair! Bean and Pumpkin both relaxed and watched iplayer and Plum played on the kitchen floor whilst I found an excuse for the third weekend in a row to make a giant cinnamon cake...mmmmm.

No photos today as I was toooo busy.

Even roses have thorns

Thursday 11 th October

Oh dear! What a day.
Having a very busy week and lots of disturbed nights (not just Plum) I'm very tired and hold my hands up to  being a little grumpy and short tempered, patients is wearing very thin! There has been some shouting (mostly me) and some tears ( mostly the boys) but also a lot of hugs and making friends.

It's not all been bad. We ventured out to pastures new today and met home-ed friends in the rain and downpour and drizzle. The boys sat in my friends car playing lego! Pumpkin got into the spirit of things just as we were leaving and ran through a very large and deep puddle several times with great excitement.

The afternoon plan was to watch tv but we had hooked up the computer to another laptop yesterday and I couldn't get the sound to work so the boys went and happily did various other things: lego, drawing, dressing up, making. 



Gullivers Travels

Wednesday 10th October











Beautiful day with friends at Petworth House. After deciding not to venture into the house today and explore the grounds some more we did infact go into the house. Bean enjoyed dressing up again and we found some of the paintings that matched the outfits in the wardrobe and the guide told us some information about the previous owner. Pumpkin joined an organised school group and listened in on some of the stories about the sculptures and then told his brother all about them.

We visited the rotund twice. We talked extensively about its position and the great views. Bean loves a great view and really appreciated this one. The second time we went it was covered in an array of ladybirds, all different colours...magical. 

We also spotted a few different mushrooms and have sent pictures to pops for identification.

A little more independence

Tuesday 9th October

In recovery from our trip yesterday I had nothing planned today except to go with the flow. Bean however had other ideas. I talk about money a lot because it is something that is always on our mind. Last week a (very unhelpful) shop assistant gave the boys a sale magazine from the toy shop and they have had their noses in it ever since. It was a real opportunity totalk to Bean about where money comes from and where it goes. As it was the month end I promised him I would see if we had any pennies left for him to spend on a new toy. To be fair this is something that never happens in our house, we avoid toy shops, toy aisles and gift shops where ever we go unless it is a gift for someone else. It so happened that by some miracle we had some money left and we decided to let. The boys have some to spend on something of their choice. We also knew that our trip to Legoland was coming up so we talked to them about taking the money with us but Bean was adamant that he wanted a toy from this magazine he had been given. We managed to persuade him to wait and yesterday standing in the large Lego land shop full full full of merchandise all aimed at enticing children Bean said 'no thank you I'm keeping my money for the toy shop' daddy was particularly amazed. Pumpkin bought a Lego tractor.
So today Bean requested the promised trip to the toy shop and so off we went, on our bikes of course.

Legoland



Monday 8th October



I can not rave enough about how great our day at Legoland was. Made all the more better by the fact that there were hardly any queues and we didn't have to pay anywhere near full price we got real value for money. We managed the day well and it was a real success. The boys sat with daddy the night before and looked at a map of the park and YouTube videos of the rides. This helped to give them an idea of where we were going and what to expect and the boys were able to choose a few things that they wanted to go on before we got there. It helped to manage their expectations and stopped them from being too overwhelmed when we arrived. 

The journey there was raining raining racing in but it held off the entire time we were there so except for being a little colder than I would have liked and overcast, it was dry. Bean was true to form and didn't ride on anything fast and made me ask every operator if the ride was fast before he got on it! He also refused anything wet or loud...and some of the rides do have loud accompaniments to them, what could have been a pleasant ride around storybook land was quite deafening! Pumpkin was also true to form and bounced around like he was in kiddy heaven and thoroughly enjoyed all the fast rides he had time to go on. He had decided that he would like to go on the roller coaster so we took him on the infant one first . 
Having rode that twice, once with mummy and then once with daddy, he announced he wanted to go on the big one, so we did and he loved it. I was quite pleased as I like roller coasters too.

Word has reached us that the offer we took advantage of is a perminant one now for those operating in the home educating world and so I can see us frquenting Legoland throughout the year and I am very much looking forward to it.