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.