Rainy days

Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, spent over an hour role playing together. Today's theme was schools. They reasranged the letters and words on the fridge and had 'lessons' and then took their babies and fed them and put them to bed. They then repeated this over and over again.

Pippin and mummy made a marble cake together that Bean, 10, declared to be his new favourite cake.

We buried Charlie the guinea pig. Pippin played guitar and sang a 'goodbye charlie' song and bean got his prayer book and we said the 'thank you for our dead pet' prayer.

In the afternoon we went to Fisher's Farm. We played in the new indoor area and then all the smalls went for a pony ride. It was pippin's first time on a pony ride. We then played on the go karts for half an hour before heading home.

Back home bean and pumpkin, 8, played terreria together. Plum and pippin played together before she went and lay in her bed and watched on her tablet. Pippin fell asleep on the sofa and the boys watched more Simpsons.

Back again

Friday
Bean, 10, planned to stay up all night so Pumpkin, 8, and Plum, 5,joined him. We set them up in the living room with duvets and pillows and a matress for Plum. Plum was asleep by 11.30pm.

Saturday
Daddy was home for the first weekend in a four weeks. The children rested in the morning. Plum and Pippin played role play all over the house for the morning: mummies and daddies, babies, doggies, cafes. Pumpkin, 8, was particularly busy playing roblox and lego. He wanted to take daddy to see the den that they had built at Sheffield park on Thursday. So we spent the afternoon den building at Sheffield park and playing on the huge rope swing in the tree. Back home bean, 10, worked some more on a lego model of his own design and then recorded a tutorial video on how to build it.

Sunday
Church day is getting easier. Bean, Pumpkin and Plum packed their own bags, snacks, drinks and toys. Church was follwed by a bbq at church, again the easiest year yet, not breastfeeding one or holding a tired youngster whilst trying to help little ones get food and then unable to leave them whilst you get your own food. This year the boys got their own plate of food and the girls sat happily together whilst daddy and i got our food. They also all got their own dessert and then played with the other children. We ended the bbq playing cricket with the other children.
Pippin took a huge nap late afternoon and i took Plum, Pumpkin and Bean to the play park. We spent the evening watching films chosen by Pippin and Horrible Histories chosen by Pumpkin. Daddy helped Bean to upload his videos onto his youtube channel.

Seemlessly

An At Home Day today, much needed although we did end up popping out to collect the car which included a trip to the shop for apple supplies.

Bean, 9, has been a whirlwind of activity. He began with making a projector using a tutorial he had seen on YouTube. He needed a little help with the craft knife but it was a really simple idea. The image came out upside down and he fiddled with it on and off all day until he had worked out how to get it to project the correct way up.

I had made moonsand for Plum, 5, and her friend J who was coming to play. Bean immediately began construction on The Great Wall of China and a whole heap of questions ensued about who built the wall and why and can you climb over it.

Bean showed me a riddle he had heard on The ANT Farm about Antoni and Cleopatra and Ceaser, we worked it out together and then Bean was asking questions about who they were so we pulled the Egyptian book off the shelf and looked them up.

Next we searched for the Usbourne book on castles as Bean wanted to build a castle in minecraft. This was followed by 5 card draw which Pumpkin, 8, joined in and we used pennies to bet with.

I played Top Trumps (superheroes) and Plop Trumps with Pumpkin and we tried to all hook up via multiplayer on Terreria and Minecraft but for some reason we couldn't.

Our friends A and J came to play. Plum and J played together for hours, Pippin, 2, joined in too. They played moonsand and in the rabbit hutch and then doll's house and Grosseries.

Pippin put on Peppa Pig and we watched The Angry Birds movie. Pippin got a giant floor puzzle out and we put it together and then took it apart more than a few times.

It was an unexpectedly active day.

Home on the Ranch

Still at home. Day 7. One full week for the girls. But Pippin, 2, is still sporting fresh spots. Plum, 5, is truely on the mend and now itching to go out.

We started the morning with The Winnie The Pooh movie followed by more moon sand play. We built different shaped sandcastles using the moulds we have and then Plum got her mini My Little Ponies and Pippin got her Bing toys to play with. Plum hid her toys in the sand and then mummy had to find them.

Plum has also signed up to Teach Your Monster To Read and in the afternoon she and Pippin played mummies and babies together using the soft toys, cot, baby blankets, dummies. There was a brief moment when Plum watched SevenSuperGirls on YouTube and then we put on The Heffalumo movie but she didn't watch it all as she returned to her game with Pippin.

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, played minecraft on the temple map. They built a tree house, tamed two dogs and a horse, played hide and seek and allowed Plum and mummy to play too. We spent some time trying to work out how to take screenshots from Bean's tablet but were unsuccessful. Bean and i read more Harry Potter in the afternoon followed by a deep bath so that he could practice putting his head under the water and holding his breath. We played more of the paper game he made yesterday and then made a couple of flip books together.

Bean and Plum played lego together in the evening. Plum made a race track with action posed runners and a finish line. We read stories and, for the first time since she got chicken pox, she slept in her own bed.

Tea Time

On the mend can be a tricky place to be. We are happily recovering from chicken pox and energy levels are increasing however we are still growing new spots so not actually able to venture out yet. Plum, 5, struggles with this the most and Bean, 9, would like to go out too, Pumpkin, 8, is incredibly content with staying home.

With energy levels increasing, we spent the morning preparing a fairy tea party. Plum and Pippin prepared food in the kitchen set and lay out a blanket on the living room floor. I made tiny chocolate cupcakes and Plum and Pippin chopped cucumber and baby corn and pepper and we put them on cocktail sticks. I found tiny pasta in the cupboard so we had tiny pesto pasta too and some grapes. I cut some sausage rolls up small too and Plum found her fairy to come to the picnic. By the time we had finished preparing and playing, the girls were all spent and the afternoon we resumed film watching and cuddles on the sofa.

Pumpkin spent the day playing and watching on his tablet.

Bean has been working on a comic strip: The story of the Farting Cactus and later played lego with Plum. We read another chapter of Harry Potter today and Bean made me his first cup of tea...best cup of tea ever. Plum and Bean also slept the night in the living room both on the floor.

Project Work

Today we followed up on the Treasure Hunt idea that Bean, 9, had begun yesterday. We spent one and a half hours finding the rght map and resizing it on google and copying it into Publisher and drawing on grid lines and then adding them on the computer. There was lots of toing and froing of ideas about what the treasure is and how to hide it and where to hide it. He marked x on the map to show where the clues are hidden and has come up with a game plan and an invitation list. All the maps he made and clues and treasure are now in one folder ready for the event.

Pippin, 2, found the aqua draw and happily spent time drawing on it whilst Plum, 5, played on cbeebies games. She has been watching a lot of alphablocks, squigglit letters and other alphabet programmes on youtube and copying out the alphabet onto paper. In the afternoon Plum and Pippin and mummy made a dress and shoes for Lottie doll together. We had enough material to make a matching one for Plum and material in a different colour for Pippin. Plum began using the felt tips to draw on the cotton so i found th fabric pens and we drew pictures and patterns on Pippin's dress.

Pumpkin, 8, watched Cartoon Network and played Roblox. We ordered daddy the Lego present that he had found for him and talked about how much he would like to contribute to it.

In the evening we finished watching Ocean's 12 and played zombie dice with Bean and Pumpkin. The children all helped daddy unload the food shopping from the car and put things away.

One hour

Today i set aside one hour for each of the children, just for them, well, almost mostly interupted with requests for food and drink and reading this or helping with disputes, but always returning to the one and playing with them.

First was Pippin, 2, we drew pictures and read books for an hour. She is sat next to me now readin 'i like it when...' to me. She's also good at Not Now, Bernard and Jesus loves me and Brown Bear Brown Bear.

I sat with Bean, 9, for an hour and played Roblox Murder Mystery. He showed me how to play, which keys to use and how to pick up weapons and strike others. I had a few goes with him alongside giving me pointers.

Plum, 5, made messy stuff today with Pippin joining in too. She got a large bowl and added water and lemon and chopped up carrots and added spoonfuls of flour. She added in cashew nuts and black beans and mixed it all together. We transfered it to a pirex dish and put it in the oven. We then spent some time watching Fixies and chatted about friction, surface tension and tools.

I watched Jimmy Two Shoes with Pumpkin, 8, and then we joined Bean and finished the ninth season of Pokemon and began the 10th season.

Daddy was out for the evening. The boys put on What's in the Bible and then Bean chose Winnie the Pooh movie. Everyone helped tidy up the living room. Pippin went to bed about 9 but took a while to settle. I read stories with Bean and we chatted about how humans have progressed over the centuries. Plum was playing on cbeebies games and skipped a story tonight and went straight to sleep about 10. I put on Finding Neverland to watch on iplayer and Pumpkin watched with me until the end.

Joy in our Heart

Biggest news today is: Plum, 5, went to her first ever gymnastic class and she loved it. We found out at the beginning of the week that she had been given a space at the HE gymnastic class. I had told her and she had lots of questions and was clearly a little excited and nervous. What if everything was too big for her? What if she couldn't do it? Would there be a teacher? Would they show her what to do? What would they be doing? Can mummy come and help? Can mummy sit and watch? Can mummy be near by but not help? Can she wear her leotard? Can she not wear her leotard? What if she needs a drink? What if she needs a rest?

Mummy did go in to the class with Plum and we took Pippin, 2, in too. Plum sat on my knee and watched the warm up games. She attempted the stretches whilst on my lap but it was not very successful so she sat on the floor with the others a little distance away. We found her group and we went of together. She did forward rolls and climbing and jumping and handstands and walking on her hands and bunny jumps and bunny hops and trampolining and rings. She is a strong and agile thing. She loved all of it. Watching her do bunny jumps over a soft box was amazing. She has never done them before and jumped splitleg over the first time. She did it again and again and again and again. She watched her friend do it too. And she did it again and again and again and again. She was enjoying it so much and then, she did it, a bunny jump over the soft box with her feet together, and then she came and gave me a high five and a huge hug.

Meanwhile, Pippin, 2, climbed over the soft stuff, very happily. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, sat outside the gym hall. They ate lunch and coloured and played on tablets. They ran around and played games together.

The children went for a MacDonald's after with daddy whilst i went and viewed a house. And then back home to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince with Bean. Pumpkin watched Squid, Plum watched toy reviews and Pippin was playing on her bike and scuttle bug.

It's Oh so quiet

At Home Day #3 Pumpkin, 7, was positively bouncing with excitement when i said we had no plans today. Bean, 9, discovered that he can watch dvds on their computer so he and Pumpkin chose two that Plum doesn't enjoy and they watched those, star wars and harry potter. They also play the espcapists and watch dantdm and stampy. I set up skype for Bean on his tablet and we play a skateboarding game together. Bean also has a bath today. And him, pumpkin and plum, 5, watch Kermit Swamp Adventures together in the evening.

Pumpkin is in his happiest when we stay at home. After watching films and youtube he plays a capture in the dark game that he has made up with Bean and Plum. This then turned into wrestling. Followed by general climbing, running, chasing, fighting, energetic games.

Plum mostly watched on her tablet today. She has been very restful. She has been watching Steve and Maggie. She helped me make cupcakes in the evening ready for her party tomorrow. We read stories before bed and she read Ketchup on your Cornflakes to me.

Pippin, 2, has been colouring and playing Bing. She has watched Bing and Topsy and Tim today and also found the Peppa Pig dvd on the shelf so we watched that together.

All by myself

At Home Day: i spent 40 minutes this morning setting up Skype accounts for children whilst simultaneously trying to fix the wii and playing with Pippin, 2, in the boys' room, that is trying to distract her from playing with their toys. It is our first day with daddy back at work. It will take sometime for us to get back into the swing of an adult:child ratio 1:4. However, downstairs, Pumpkin, 7, and Plum, 5, were playing with her cake making playdough kit together and Pippin went to join them. Bean, 9, was lying on his bed playing on his tablet.

With Skype accounts finally set up, Plum had a playdate with a friend, E, who moved away 18 months ago, yet she still talks about her all the time. They showed each other their Christmas presents and then both got pens and paper so they could draw together. Plum made a playdough cake to show her and E shared a book with Plum. It was delightful and will become a regular thing. It fulfilled Plum's social need whilst we were also able to stay at home. During the afternoon she lay next to me and watched on her tablet as i rested whilst Pippin slept.

Bean and Pumpkin played escapists together on the computer and continued watching Gravity Falls, coming to get us to show us the funny parts. It was a restful afternoon.

In the evening Bean took all the dvds that Plum doesn't like and found a box for them and took them upstairs. Bean and mummy played two rounds of poopyhead. Pumpkin had a bath. Plum watched cbeebies hair and the tortoise ballet.

Ginger Cat Cake

Another At home Day. This time planned. Bean, 9, had a wedding cake to make in the style of a stripy ginger cat.

Pumpkin, 7, enjoyed not having to share the computer and watched all day. He watched Skylander walkthroughs and Skylander cartoons, he watched DanTDM and Stampy, he watched The Simpsons and probablt other things that I missed.

Plum, 4, also spent most of the day watching on her tablet. After Pippin had a very long afternoon nap, they played together. They each had a dolly and a buggy and they kept putting on coats and shoes so that they could 'go out.'

Bean spent 9 1/2 hours baking and decorating cakes, with food and drink breaks included. It took 2 hours purely to mix and bake the bottom cake. This one on the top was a chocolate cake recipe that grandma gave us. We covered it with a thin layer of marzipan and then had to leave it until last before we covered it with foundant icing and put strips on it. For the following layer we made a Victoria Sponge. We mixed and cooked two layers but he decided only to use one. This was covered with butter icing and orange foundant and then cut out pieces to create the facial features. Next we made a batch of vanilla cupcakes. We used four of these for paws and covered them with orange foundant and decorated them with claws. Bean used a fifth one to make a mouse. The tail is a long roll of orange foundant.

We have used Pinterest to get design ideas for the face and recipe books and people knowledge to get different recipes to try. I have been baking a cake a day this week to try different flavours and sizes and strength and successfulness. Today Bean used YouTube to watch tutorials on how to shape and ice cakes. Daddy went out shopping to find a board to place it on. He couldn't find a cake board big enough so bought a large pizza board instead.

We will all be eating the left over cupcakes and one layer of Victoria Sponge.

At Home Day

An At Home Day today, in which Bean said "i'm glad we had a lazy day, i needed a rest." It's his third At Home Day this week!

Bean, 9, mostly watchedokemon thsi morning and we played mario kart and lego: star wars together on the wii this afternoon.

Pumpkin, 7, played games on his tablet this morning and then watched DanTDM and Stampy this afternoon. mostly he was watching Skylanders playthroughs, he has asked for trap team for Christmas so is getting ready to play.

Plum, 4, played mummy's with Pippin, 2, most of the morning. She played with us on the wii in the afternoon. Bean was amazingly helpful and showed her how to use the controllers and what the buttons did and took her to a place in the game where she could create her own avatar. It was a beautiful few hours of play.

The day ended with A Bug's Life. Plum falling asleep during the movie circa 7pm.