Our Tribe

Our Tribe

Sunday 31 March 2013

taking it easy

church day today. a great celebration of the resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ. only pumpkin, plum and mummy went as Bean is still ill. there was a moment when pumpkin didn't want to come too but then he changed his mind (as is his way)

we have been continuing to take it easy and i have been eager to speed it up a notch but the smalls are all on go slow so i'm trying to follow their lead and not rush them or over do it. Daddy has taken pumpkin swimming (Friday) and yesterday went to visit nana and grandad and see fa3 and family. mummy stayed at home with bean, we walked into town and back and got snowed on! we spent the afternoon watching tv and plum had a two hour sleep. it would have been a great opportunity to get some chores done but bean didn't want to be on his own so i sat and knit and folded some laundry but mostly curled up with him and watched tele.

today has been a treasure hunt which daddy organised and the boys loved and egg painting inspired by Timmy. a completely spontaneous activity but thankfully we had all the necessities to make it work.

i've been putting together the diary for April and transferring some of our missed adventures this last couple of weeks onto provisional dates. hoping bean gets better soon.

Thursday 28 March 2013

Crafty






A quick trip to the new craft shop on our road inspired some printing work today. the new craft shop so close to home may be our financial ruin.

Bean bought a packet of pipe cleaners and we spent almost half an hour twisting and turning them and making various loops and knots and twirls.

Pumpkin bought a stamp which after some initial experimenting led to us making our own and printing more pictures. It also reminded me that our craft supplies are incredibly low so I have done a bulk order of bits online and am now eagerly awaiting exciting parcel delivery to replenish stocks.

Bean continues to get up at 4am and have a peek few hours. Today this extended until about 4pm this afternoon (when he has been in bed for the night or had a nap in the last few days) He curled up on the sofa. He refused dinner after eating well all day and finally took himself to bed about 6.30pm and was promptly sick again :(

All in good time

Wednesday 27th March 2013

And the sickness continues. At least for Bean :(

Today's biggest adventure has probably been mine. We successfully got passport photos taken for mummy, Bean and Plum yesterday but Pumpkin refused. Desperately trying not to show any stress at this stressful situation (knowing that would make things worse) I sought the advice of other mummies that i know and trust. How to get a passport photo with Pumpkin's consent. A variety of ideas came forth and in a strange combination of events they all helped toward the successful and consensual photos being taken.

It all began with one mummy sending us photos of her boys (and Pumpkin's friends) on their journey to the airport and mummy and Pumpkin having a chat about what worried him about having the photos taken. Never being one to be overly clear about himself, reasons ranged from- not wanting to go on holiday, not wanting to go on a plane, being shy, not being able not to smile, not wanting to sit on the chair. I'm not entirely sure how helpful the conversation was in itself but it was good to sit down and give him a chance to talk it through even if it was inconclusive. I also got out all our old passports and left them on the table, he had particular fun looking at Bean's photo. During the course of the afternoon and more photos arriving from our friends journey, he declared 'i think i do want to go on holiday.' I didn't get over excited and I didn't mention the passport photos again...just quietly thankful for small steps.

We spent the morning doing various things but included a photo session for all the smalls. We just messed around and took silly photos of us in various poses including the funny 'trying not to smile' pose. It was my intention to use one of these photos as his passport photo. After this we went to the post office to post the completed forms and i noticed that they also took photos for you so i enquired whilst we were there and they talked to Pumpkin and showed him how they do it. He continued to refuse. but they did say they would check my home made version for me which i thought was good of them.

Later after lunch, I interrupted the boys watching something to get on the computer and do Pumpkin's photo. It wasn't a deliberate move more a necessity and I told them I would be 15 minutes. Pumpkin began to get more and more impatient and I explained to him that I had to do it on the computer because he didn't want to have it done at the shop. I then turned it around to clarify and said 'if you had your photo done in the shop then I wouldn't be on the computer' (no expectation just explanation) and he said, cool as anything, 'okay, let's go to the shop' I don't think i have got the children in the car so fast! he went to the post office, happy, smiling, bouncing, had his photo taken and home we came. easy as that!

Unfortunately it meant moving Bean when he was all curled up under a blanket and he fell asleep whilst we were out but he was so good about having to go. He woke up when we got home but was in bed by 5pm. He's still getting up about 4am though!

Cupcakes made from moonsand

Exploring the Antarctic by Bean


The photo shot:











Monday 25 March 2013

It ain't rock and roll

It seems to me that we may have moved into a slightly jazz funk mode (although maybe not quite so lively) I've realised that normally daddy and mummy play the part of the walking bass in a jazz composition and provided some sort of constant rhythm occasionally speeding up and down or adding a twiddly bit to the plodding on of life and over the top of this the smalls play their own little improvisation that fits very nicely because daddy and mummy have chosen their rhythms to fit the overall composition. not so at the moment. mummy still feels unwell and is mostly not in action and daddy is picking up extra duties and is completely tired as the night wakings/early risings continue. we're like a jazz ensemble let wild, all still playing our own tune but the ease at which we used to play together has gone as all our own rhythms are unknown even to ourselves (fortunately, we have a Master conductor at the helm ;) )

It is slightly calming though as no one has any energy for anything so there's no friction or differing of ideas. it's just eat, sleep, rest in various combinations. Bean went to bed at 1pm yesterday afternoon and got up at 5am this morning. he went back to bed at 11.30am and got up at 3.30pm. He's asleep again now on the sofa.

Last night daddy was in a bed with Plum by 8pm and I headed to bed about 10pm to be greeted with Pumpkin in full cry. He was tossing and turning and not very articulate for nearly half an hour. It was clear that he was in pain though. He has some kind of (viral?) rash all over his skin (except palms) and it was too hot and itchy. I lay with him until he settled and went back to sleep. Plum woke during this time due to the noise level and daddy settled her but she was awake by 1am and nursed pretty much constantly the remainder of the night. Pumpkin woke a couple more times in the night but only for tucking in and Bean woke once.

Pumpkin has been awake all day but not energetic and has spent most of the day on the sofa and declared that 'I don't like Lightening McQueen' so today's viewing was cancelled! We did have energy this morning for a few magic tricks and watching Tommy Cooper and trying out simple tricks on each other. which was great fun. and we had lots of time for cuddles today, which is exactly what they need. lots of sitting with mummy under blankets, cuddling on laps, lying together in bed.

Pumpkin requested a chocolate cake with a picture of our house and road on it. this one thing took me all day and Pumpkin added extra sprinkles at the end.

The big news today is that, after 12 days with no heating, we have heating again. hurray hurray.

All night long

23rd March 2013

Well, that was an interesting night! Plum woke for a feed at 1am and after finishing wanted extra close cuddles which i was struggling with as i felt hot/cold/ill and passed her to daddy but she wasn't happy with this but i was just not in a place to lie comfortably with her, i also had two hot water bottles going so was a little concerned she would find this too hot. so, i moved to the bed in (what will be) Plum's room and spent an uncomfortable 3 hours trying and not succeeding to sleep. Plum spent the same time being very unhappy with my absence so daddy didn't get much sleep either. Finally, by 4am i felt better and returned to bed, settled Plum with a feed and as i was doing this Bean woke up. Bean had gone to bed at 3pm the previous afternoon.

Bean went downstairs and, well, i'm not sure what he did as we all went back to sleep but Pumpkin got up at 7am and daddy got up then too.

Daddy has been a bit of an all round star, really. He has spent the day running around after all four of us, asking for nibbles and drinks and other things all in our own time. he also did a few errands this morning and took Plum with him which gave me a bit of a rest. Mostly he went to get a passport form for me, as me and the smalls all need new passports before we head to the States in May, which is now official as the tickets were booked last night. We're very grateful (although i'm not really articulate enough to describe how grateful) to a friend of ours who has bought us the air flights so that we can go and visit mutual friends in Florida. It is a trip of a lifetime for us and not one we thought we would ever be able to take as a family or maybe even ever!

Bean went to bed at 3pm again this afternoon. He has such a burst of energy and appetite in the morning but flakes after a few hours and then sleeps after a few more. The rest of us are on a bit more of an even keel, taking it easy and eating teeny tiny bits but often throughout the day.

It has mostly been a lie on the sofa day and i'm beginning to lose count as to how many times we have viewed Cars this week. Sometimes lying on the sofa with your kids is all that's needed.

however, in a burst of activity, Bean has been working on a lego olympics long jump, queuing area and house next to a park with see-saw, round-a-bout, mini golf course. It's been 7 months since we were at the olympics and this is the first time he has used it as a springboard for anything further. Has it taken this long to process it all? I was also wondering if there was some unconscious nk between the play park and the olympics. Who knows?

Friday 22 March 2013

it's oh so still

The sickness continues but who wants to read a blog about that?! Mostly there has been sleeping in shifts. After bean went to sleep at 3pm yesterday afternoon he woke for about an hour between 2 and 3am and was hungry so ate some crackers and water in bed. he thought it was great fun having a midnight feast. he then went back to sleep until 6am this morning. Pumpkin got up at 6am too.

Daddy put on his superhero cape and got the boys breakfast and mummy a cup of tea in bed as normal but he also made the lunch and put dinner in the slow cooker before going to work (late) and rearranging his day to work nearby. He then came home for half an hour at lunch time and got home mid afternoon. My hero.

Plum had slept all night with a few tossing and turnings but didn't ask for milk until 6.30 this morning .This gave me a good rest despite getting up to be with Bean. she woke for about an hour between 6.30-7.30am but just lay in the bed next to me before drifting off back to sleep and then waking at 9.30. She fed again and then we went downstairs to find Bean and Pumpkin.

By 12.30pm Bean was asking to go back to bed and by 1.30pm Plum had fallen asleep on the living room floor (i had momentarily gone to see Bean and she had fallen asleep by the time i came back downstairs) This was shortly followed by Pumpkin falling asleep on the sofa. So for a brief 15 minutes all the smalls were simultaneously sleeping. Then the phone rang three times in five minutes and Plum woke up, she then proceeded to poke Pumpkin in the face and he woke up too. He fell asleep again a few hours later and woke for an hour or so before finally saying he wanted his bed about 7pm.

So mostly today it has been another viewing of Cars and Bean's favourite Bagpuss mixed with sleeping and drinking and nibbling.

Plum has had free run of the space and toys and is rather taken with the wooden policeman and soldier on sticks which she is getting rather good at putting back onto the sticks even if it is all in the wrong order.

it's oh so quiet

for the first time in a long time (years) it is mummy who is ill, proper lie in the sofa with a hot water bottle under a duvet i can't move poorly. Bleurgh! The boys have fended for themselves largely getting their own drinks and food. Fortunately there is lots of preprepared food in our house (although we are lacking in fruit) crackers, oatcakes, crisps, carrots, blueberries and plums. and daddy came home early from work. Left entirely to their own devices there has mainly been a continuation of the gadget fest that has consumed our week at home. ipad, smartphone, Reading Eggs and iplayer. To be honest i don't think Bean or Pumpkin are 100% yet either. and just to prove that i was right, Bean took himself to bed at 3pm with a tummy ache and we haven't seen him since.

Plum continues to be a milk monster. This is the hardest part about being unwell. I'm struggling to eat to eat anything and even feel ill when drinking yet i feel and am both hungry and thirsty and, of course, Plum is rather draining the reserves. Having said this she has happily amused herself discovering new things in her toy box and communicating her needs very effectively. we took a nap together at lunch time and left the boys to watching iplayer.

Pumpkin took the opportunity to watch Cars again hen Bean had disappeared to bed. That's the second ful viewing this week and followed by the second half viewing! It's a good job it's a great film. He's really intereste in the 'extras' now and we have to watch them too.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

In my life

We had an excellent adventure planned for today...but alas it was not to be. Both the boys were up in the night with sickness and so today was a stay at home day and lie on the sofa under a blanket. And there endth today's post? No. The learning goes on. Even in our half awake not so energetic state.

This morning was playing games on the ipad and a long sleep in for Plum and mummy. The boys were so quiet in their 'we're not well' state that we slept right on until 10am. There was an attempt at food but very little was consumed even by Pumpkin although he was most insistent that he wanted porridge and toast, he didn't eat either. He had tried to get himself a drink of milk this morning and when I emerged from slumber, I found milk all over the kitchen floor. 

The next few hours mostly passed with Reading Eggs and a string of questions about volcanoes from Bean which we spent time googling and he also wanted to know why it said gooooooooooooooogle at the bottom of the page and read it perfectly. I put together a little book of his volcano questions and answers for him. How hot is lava? Which is hotter lava or the sun? What is lava? What happens when you touch lava? where are volcanoes? 

I spent about 20 minutes looking at the Where's Wally book with Pumpkin and making paper aeroplanes which he then drew on to make them army planes.

We did think about going outside in the garden as it was such lovely weather but Bean was quite right when he pointed out that he got tired walking from the sofa to the door (all of about five steps) so we opted to stay put.

We attempted lunch, all seemed quite keen but again the food consumption was low, practically non-existent. And the afternoon was a watching fest and a cuddling-sleeping-milk feeding fest from Plum. As is the way, when the solid food consumtion is low the milk requirement goes back up. Love that I don't have to worry about her intake as breast milk provides what she needs. 



Bean drew this on Reading Eggs: A picture of the sunset (black lines are the night coming)
 and the sea going in and out (it is out atm and the white line shows where it comes in to)


Sometimes I think the blog sounds like i'm trying to justify our every activity, defining the educational in everything or squeezing out what is deemed to be educational in everything, when in fact it is not like that at all. I like blog to remind us of our journey (I have the memory of a goldfish) and to remind myself that, even in the tough times, the joys far out weigh any sticky moments we may have. I like to blog about the educational slant on our day by way of demonstrating that life is enough; that encouraging my children's natural inquisitive nature and taking interest in their interests and introducing them to others is enough; that playing is enough; that doing life together is enough; and, today, being the one that is there for them when they are ill or when they fall or when they question or when they are angry or when they are confused or when they are laughing or when they are alone is more important than 'can they read?' 'can they write?' 'do they know their 2 times table?' It's sometimes hard to convey that when you blog about the 'what?' in the day rather than the 'why?' but I love spending my days with my children and i'm glad i have that option in my life.

Monday 18 March 2013

Good times

Wow! What a day. I feel like I haven't stopped. Someone asked me this morning, when we were at our regular singing rhymes place, whether we would be going home straight afterwards. mmm...no. Next we went to gymnastics for Bean. This is our only scheduled structured commitment each week and is just enough for us, thank you. It's a small group and Bean is confident enough to have his voice heard here. We also like meeting with friends. He had, in the last 24 hours, started saying that he didn't want to go but with a little more discussion it transpired that a conversation we had with him about getting a good sleep before a gymnastics day (by way of advise on going to bed on a Sunday evening) meant that if he said he didn't want to do gymnastics then we wouldn't talk about him going to bed so much! He went to gymnastics very happily. Pumpkin found a numbers workbook this morning and choose to take it with us and sat and did some number work. He also spent some time copying Bean doing his gymnastics moves. 

This was followed by a play in the park in the wet/ drizzle, by chance the driest hour of the day. We met with six other home ed families, two of whom are new and it was nice to have fresh faces among us. Pumpkin and  M played in the puddles. We had waterproofs with us but not wellies. consequently, Pumpkin go very wet feet. they were covered in mud up to his knees when we got home but he had had a great time. I helped Bean on the zip wire several times. One of the things I like about being with my kids all the time is being able to help them when they ask/need it and leave them to it when they want to go it alone. I don't feel the pressure of only having one hour with them before school/ ballet/ bedtime and i also have to fit in dinner/ shower/ homework. I can schedule my day around the smalls needs. 

This does mean, however, that when we got home and Plum was sleeping, after i had bathed with Pumpkin and made us all hot chocolate, that whilst the boys had some down time, I had dinner and laundry and admin to do. No rest with a cup of tea for me today. 

Daddy came home from work an hour earlier than normal though which always gives the evening rhythm a more mellow flow. After all eating together (rare) the smalls disappeared with daddy for baths and stories and I got that cup of tea...no! A quick clean around the downstairs (it's amazing how much you can do when there is time and space provided) and now I blog with Pumpkin telling me his eyes are sore and me trying not  to push the 'your tired' theme again but explain that 'your tired.' and Plum is playing in the kitchen cupboards again. Bean is sleeping. 

and a cup of tea has appeared (thank you daddy) and Pumpkin is reading a book to Plum- precious.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Search me and know me

Church Day. Amongst other things at church today Pumpkin had his eyes tested! i have been watching his use of screens recently and noticed he gets rather close to them and was wondering if his eyes were okay. at the first mention of this to him he was adamant that he would not be going to have his eyes tested. so, trying to think out of the box, i remembered that a lady at church did something with eyes (!) and thought she might be able to help. what i was thinking was that she might have some idea what an eye test might involve and she could tell Pumpkin all about it so that he would feel a bit more comfortable with the idea. As it happened, it is actually her job to do these tests on children and she offered to do it for him and then if there was a concern we could get it done officially but Pumpkin would also know the drill. It was great. She talked him through it last Monday so when today came he just happily played the eye games with her and, as it goes, everything is fine. Can you imagine the stress that could have been caused if we had made him go and all for nothing. so thankful to God for our church family.

This afternoon saw daddy take Bean swimming, which he has been counting the days down to all week. They were gone for 2 and a half hours. This left me at home playing Reading Eggs with Pumpkin and trying to calm Plum, who has been out of sorts and crying all afternoon (very unusual, possibly teeth?) I was keen to spend time with Pumpkin just us and was hoping Plum would sleep but she wouldn't let me go which stressed me a little as I was looking forward some 1:1. Pumpkin did suggest we made chocolate butterfly cakes and it was good to be able to get to it straight away and not have to fit in the requests of another. 

spot the mistake? (they're on back to front!)

making chocolate butterfly cakes

Saturday 16 March 2013

one small step

15th March 2013

The boys opted for another stay at home day today although we did have to take the car for its MOT in the afternoon. We spent the morning looking at books and Bean remembered that he wanted to make a space mobile. How educational it that? He found several circular household items and lined them up in size order, followed by drawing around them and I cut them out for him as they were on thick card. He then spent time looking at which size circle should represent which planet and passed them to me to write their names on. He read all of the planet names himself. He then went and got the paints and choose colpurs for each of the planets and as we painted he asked questions about some of the planets and we used the book to answer them. We left them to dry. Whilst Bean did this, Pumpkin sat alongside us a painted a picture of gravity. 







Bean demonstrated a lot of aggression this afternoon and against my best judgement we all ventured of in the car to get its MOT. Pumpkin really got the brunt of it today and became the human punch bag for about 20 minutes. As the episode drew to a close, Bean voluntarily said 'sorry' to his brother and Pumpkin immediately said 'that's okay' and gave him a hug. What a lovely and forgiving soul he is. 

Whilst the car was in the garage we ventured to Homebase and selected a few packets of seeds for the garden this year. I'm a vegetable grower by heart but Pumpkin has chosen some flowers for us to try. It'll be an interesting experiment as i've not grown flowers before and these ones are supposed to help with pollination and pest control (that's what it says on the packet) so we'll see how the vegetable patch grows with them in the mix. Homebase is also a great place for picking up boxes of all shapes and sizes. so the boys both choose a large one each and pretended to be robots for a while.

Back at the garage, the car wasn't quite ready so they used the boxes as tables and did some colouring and puzzles in the books i had bought with me.

We drove around the block twice on the way home as Plum was very sleepy and i knew she would drop off into the land of nod soon, which she did but so did Pumpkin! Back at home was quieter with two of the smalls asleep at the same time and Bean and i put holes into each planet and string through each one ready to tie up. This actually might be a project we finish.

Goosey Goosey

14th March 2013

For today's adventures we took along fa#3 and cousinC. We spent the morning leisurely having breakfast and getting dressed and changing our original rainy day plans for a sunny day outing to Tilgate Park which also meant preparing a picnic. We were ready to leave about noon which gave us 3 and a half hours for our trip as we had a play date later in the day.

Tilgate park provided play in the play area and stick collecting and tree hiding and maze exploring and Pumpkin spent a lot of time finding the remains of any snow and throwing it at walls and fences, mostly he was enjoying the very satisfying noise that it made as it hit the surface and then onto the floor. Ker-splat!

The nature centre was also open but we had to quick march around as three and a half hours is just not long enough and we were running late for our play date. Bean was full of questions about the otters lying down together (mating season) and Pumpkin was very concerned for the ducks and 'gooses' because there were large areas of ice still on the water and they might get frozen.





Them Bones


13th March 2013

In preparation for today's puppet show, Bean drew posters to advertise it. He did all the writing on his own (it's spelt perfectly) and, much to my surprise, he choose to do a type of bubble writing on the poster. He explained that this was to make it big so people could read it when he put it up. I did the other one as we sat next to each other, it was a lovely thing to do together. 

The theatre also underwent a transformation today as Bean drew curtains and we then painted them together. He then asked me to cut them out for him. Bean and Pumpkin played out in the garden whilst I did this. They knocked a ball into our neighbours garden and asked if they could go and ask for it back. I agreed to the request, although I did follow behind them at a distance, but they were so confident and knocking on their door and asking. I'm so glad we have friendly neighbours who we speak to often.





During some tv watching today the subject of bones came up again and i found this toddler sized skeletal print out that i had up my sleeve for yesterday (but hadn't needed) so I got it out today and we put it together and talked about our different bones and felt some of them and named some of them. It took about 15 minutes altogether but i'm sure we covered more in 15 minutes than a whole afternoons work in school! We had a lot of fun doing it too and i'm sure it wont be the last we hear of our bones!

FA#3 and cousinC arrived soon after this and we are were treated to the puppet show when daddy arrived home. This is the first ever show that has been put on for us. I have memories as a child putting on dance shows and puppet shows for my parents and i'm sure this wont be our last one. It mostly consisted of Bean telling Pumpkin to 'say something' and then promptly beating Pumpkin's puppet in a Punch and Judy style way. It was a play in 5 acts and although the characters changed, the story line didn't!


Tuesday 12 March 2013

It's cold outside

Pumpkin's choice of clothing for the day (shorts) temperature outside 2 degrees.


Not many photos today as my phone was hijacked (as it is regularly) to play Temple Run2 and Angry Birds!
The weather forecast had promised cold cold cold and the snow lay on the ground this morning although it thawed to nothing as the day progressed. I had a few things up my sleeve but, as is often the way, they were not needed (if I hadn't been prepared i would have kicked myself!) 

Today's adventures began 5.45am when Bean arose! I'm so thankful that daddy get's up early as i think it would kill me! Pumpkin also got up before daddy left. Daddy (along with the gritters) seems to be the only person who has to go to work in this weather and extra early too...boo. Plum woke at 9, which is more my style!

The day progressed smoothly through Reading Eggs and de-cluttering Anna's bedroom to accommodate fa#3 and cousinC coming to stay tomorrow night. Bean produced a model of Egypt (must take a photo) which included four pyramids joined together by a wall in a square with a fifth pyramid in the middle. I found two large boxes in the clear out, which Bean has been asking for, to make a tractor with. We had a good half an hour of fun hiding in it for Plum to find him and building various style houses with them until he eventually decided that they would be a puppet theatre. He also drew a clock which informed you when the show time is. We cut out the back of the theatre and it was all set up to go but he insisted that the show had to be at the right time (3pm) so it sat and waited.

Daddy and I have been having some discussions about how we can help and manage Bean with his aggression. One of the things we discussed was food. He doesn't eat any fruit or veg atm and very little carbs (...what does he eat?) Anyhow, we thought that we should try having more of the things he does like readily available. so, today we had food out on the table all day and it worked well. He certainly ate more than usual  and there was less aggressive behaviour although it has to be seen whether this will always be the case. We also took a walk this afternoon to buy fruit and veg as we are completely out. Despite the shop only being a 15 minute round trip including purchasing, it took us one and a half hours. I have no idea what took so long! Stopping here to look at icicles, stopping there to look at the building site. Bean choose grapes and corn on the cob and french beans and apples. Pumpkin choose bananas and pears and carrots and strawberries and blueberries. Just by way of contrast, this is what Pumpkin has eaten today: cheerios; porridge, cheerios and toast; cream crackers, cheese and ham; pasta and pesto and cheese x3; a plum, strawberries, banana; chicken pie, potatoes, corn on the cob; 2 banana muffins. No problems with his food consumption!

Pumpkin and I read the same Cars book as yesterday another three times. He is really trying to sort the story line out in his head. 

And daddy came home from work a few hours early, always a welcome treat, although we missed the 3pm theatre viewing as we were out on our walk to the shops. It's been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Monday 11 March 2013

Better is one day in Your house

Sunday 10th March 2013


Church day. Saw mummy being woken with extra kisses and cuddles and a box of maltesers as it is also Mother's day. By mid afternoon the boys were requesting I share the chocolates which were as yet unopened and I had had the crazy idea that i would save them for after the smalls were all in bed and share them with daddy (what was i thinking?!) 

Church saw us all going our separate ways again as daddy took one class, Bean went to his own class and mummy took Pumpkin's class, Plum stayed downstairs with friends and slept through the message as continues to be her only regular sleeping habit (no comment!) It actually works well for us as we all have our own contribution to the after church conversation, mostly this benefits Pumpkin as he has his own thing to say rather than tagging on the end of Bean's thoughts.

The afternoon was spent with daddy and Pumpkin going for a swim, Plum sleeping a little, Bean and me working on Reading eggs together and then he opted to watch some iplayer and I decluttered the piano top and three shelves in the conservatory (slowly slowly) Plum has also been enjoying her scuttle bug and can now get on and off it herself. Bean often pushes her around and today Pumpkin pumped up the tires for her. 







The blog is one year old today, that deserves a glass of wine, I think. This time last year I was busy introducing you to each of the smalls and their personalities and interests. I thought an update might be in order:


Bean
The good Lord gave us Bean nearly six years ago. He takes after daddy in many ways especially in the way he absorbs information, he is like a sponge and remembers every detail. He has a very strong sense of right and wrong and playing by the rules and is every much the big brother, wanting to be in control but also caring very much for his siblings. He is incredibly articulate and very good at putting together an argument in favour of his case.

He is especially interested in outerspace, castles, the body, lego, nature and being outdoors and heenjoys reading, riding his bike, going to museums and beaches and the park. Bean loves the library. He loves for us to sit and read and piles books up for us to bring home. He loves a good story and will endure adventure and thrill and excitement in a book that he would never entertain on a screen.  He loves to build things and will use any materials going. Lego is probably his best medium but any recyclable materials are likely to be eyed up for some robot or castle construction.




Pumpkin
The good Lord placed Pumpkin in our care 4 years ago. He placed him in our family to remind us always that life should always have a little fun in it. Pumpkin mostly lives in his own world and only visits the real world when he chooses, and we are not always aware when he is visiting! My family always used to say that i had selective hearing and now i understand what they meant for Pumpkin only hears when he is visiting the real world and we have yet to find the key into his world. but it must be a great place because he has a lot of fun whilst he's there! 

Pumpkin is kind and thoughtful and will do anything to make others happy, he is silly and daft and crazy. He chooses to go out when the rest of the world stays in and wear shorts and tshirt when everyone else is in thermals, he likes the world upside down and the grass between his toes, he will question the way things *should* be and try it out all other ways just to be sure which is best.

Pumpkin enjoys pirates and lego and superheros and space and anything physical and outdoors. He loves his siblings and is an affectionate boy. We have discovered his love of rollercoasters this year and belly laughing to You've Been Framed. He loves snuggling up to stories and playing music. He is also developing an interest in light and shadows. His love of food and eating continues and he joins in the baking quite frequently.

Plum
The good Lord timed the arrival of Plum one year ago (almost exactly three year after Pumpkin) She loves to say 'hello' and kisses a lot! She also enjoys drinking my tea and Pumpkin's orange juice! She enjoys having music on and moves along to it in her own way. She has her own rhythm to life which no one else can fathom but she knows when she wants to sleep and when she wants to eat and when she wants milk and can communicate these things with ease so it's straight forward enough to meet these basic needs but no two days patterns are the same!

She loves pushing the toy cars around and rolling balls, she picks up almost anything she can and pretends it's a phone, she loves her scuttle bug and has found a little selection of books that she returns to daily but mostly she loves one special kitchen cupboard which she empties daily to distribute around the ground floor of our house. 

Snow is falling

All asleep at 7.15am when daddy left this morning, five minutes just for me to drink a lovely hot cup of tea in bed mmmm...

7.30am and the day began leisurely with the boys helping to get their breakfast, which we are finding helps with the contrary Pumpkin who asks for one thing and then cries loudly when it is put infront of him because it's not what he wanted. it has been getting a little wearing but this new strategy seems to be helping. The boys then loaded up Reading Eggs and Bean asked me to help him write a story for the story writing competition and I drank a second cup of hot tea whilst they played happily together. Plum didn't wake until gone 9am. We were all ready for our days activities by 10 which was a good thing as i hadn't factored in the 15 minutes it takes to get everyone suited and booted and then the car defrosted and cleared of snow! 

Pumpkin decorated his eyes today whilst out at Little Verse
(the eye lids are coloured too)
Bean continues to enjoy his gymnastics class and it's lovely to see how he is begining to do things that he once worried about. Today he did a forward roll on the beam without falling off and jumped onto the vault with very little assistance. 

We followed Little Verse and gymnastics with a trip to the park as Pumpkin was very keen to play in the snow. It was completely absent of any other (crazy?) families and we had the whole place to ourselves. The boys chose to go to the maze and spent a very happy and excited 45 minutes running around and playing hide and seek and tiptoeing through puddles. On the way back Pumpkin wanted to check and see if the ducks were okay. They were clearly expecting bread as they were very happy to see us and very noisy too!

Pumpkin making a grassy path in the path     


It was snowing quite hard whilst we were out!


The afternoon was spent drinking hot chocolate, Reading Eggs, designing our own lego mini figures, emptying the kitchen cupboard, making banana muffins, drawing, cart-wheeling, scuttle-bugging and playing musical cushions.

Bean's glow in the dark figure
(the orange outline is the glow)

Pumpkin drew the planets. He took the photo so it's difficult to see but there is definitely a sun, earth with moon nearby, Saturn with its rings, Jupiter with its red spot and enough other spheres to represent each planet.

Plum's favourite game: emptying the kitchen cupboard

Cart-wheeling

Plum in her new best position!