Opps

I bet dh that if Hull won the footie today and went into the premier league I would move back. ( I didn' t think they had a prayer) They won:0 My sister is down there at the match with her dh, nephew and baby L. I semi watched it but I Jonah all things to do with footie so left the room until the extra time bit in which I screamed in a very undignified manner at the T.V for 4 minutes. It was a huge relief when the whistle blew. I nearly cried but I grew up with some of the players and I was so pleased for them. Meanwhile I had burnt the tea. Dh is annoyed cos I have welshed on my bet.

Matters financial have been on my mind today. I have been sourcing coal for winter. Sad fact is it is not the cheaper option I had hoped and no one will bring us less then 10 sacks of it which means forking out £100 in one go. Not an option. I worked out to keep one fire going, on an evening only, will take the best part of 2 sacks of coal, plus logs each week. That is over £20 of fuel just for one room for a few hours each night. Dh thought that was alright until I pointed out it will be winter and unless we have the central heating on ( which defeats the object) the house will be freezing everywhere apart from 4 hours in one room. Heating another room will cost another £20. I a m not keen on coal fires in kids bedrooms either. Also coal does not go down in price in summer as I had been told. Wood burning is not an option by itself cos we have been through two trees in a few days just lighting one fire on an evening.

I have also been pricing secondary glazing for some of the bedrooms to try and keep some heat in. If dh makes the units it will cost about £400 for a bay and 3 windows. Waterbutts will cost £120 and I need to source a mulch to act as a barrier to the plants don 't need watering so often. With this in mind sacrifices have been made :) Dh is now cigarette less and annoyed about it but I pointed out cigs are not a necessity ( he doesn't agree of course) and food and bill paying comes first.

D 's reading has taken off and he is reading loads of things out of context to me that he sees in various places. I have planted more in the garden and we have got a idea for a veg bed that doesn' t involve paying for topsoil we will sort over the weekend.

Here She Is!

She is so sweet :) I took one look at her and nearly 40 years rolled away cos it was like looking into the face of my sister when she was born ( I saw her birth). It was quite emotional. Sister's dh delivered her - what a hero eh? I swear she smiles too - not just wind, proper smiles in response to talking to her.

We had a lovely day. J was a bit upset today but we spent some time playing with him and including him and I think he will be fine about L's arrival soon. I thought it was going to be a awful journey to my sister's house, involving an hour wait for a bus after getting off the train, as non of the trains connected with the bus times - typical. Then late last night it dawned on me that getting off the train earlier and getting a taxi was the quickest solution. Duh, dodo brain that I am didn't realise this at first. The taxi was expensive ( but cheaper then the bus cos 3 girls went with me) but we managed to get to her house in under an hour by getting a train that hardly stopped and the taxi at the station we got off at:) O.K for a one off now and then. Train home was a packed out, over heated, no windows open, nightmare of holiday makers with tired kids and standing room only but we have had a great time.

Beautiful Weather

It has been a lovely day here today. The sun has shone all day and it is very warm. The girls spent most of the day reading on the swing seat in the garden and I planted up yet more plants into tubs for the front of the house which poor dh had to drag round on a sack barrow :)

I was forced to put in the plants cos I a m out all day tomorrow and they couldn't be left until Saturday but I still feel very weak. However every cloud and all that cos it has forced me to slow down and take stock.

B has spent ages pouring over the huge world map. He told dh that penguins only live in Antarctica and not the North Pole. He showed dh both places on the map and talked at length about penguins. He knew a lot about them. Dh was surprised until I pointed out why - Mr Poppers Penguin's book was the start of B's quest for knowledge on penguins. It struck me that both boys have learnt loads from the read alouds we have read and I had a think. I think I should read them the rest of the books that we didn't get around too. Doing this will put weeks of time on the geography but so what really? We are starting now anyway but it will need careful planning cos the culture part of it is festival based and I don't want to miss out on them cos we are not at the right spot calendar wise when they come up. I can slot the books in at an appropriate point if I think they will like them and they really are too good to leave gathering dust. We have also decided to do US history next ( whenever that maybe lol) cos B loves all things US. Then British history when they are about 12 ish cos British history is hard. ( and they are baying to do that now as well - not enough hours in the day really).


Chuds and Harry had a big adventure last night when Harry forced their run open. I checked them all before bed and they were all shut in properly so I can only assume Harry banged on the door until the bolt slipped. This morning they were prancing around the garden and ran away when I went out to them. They can't get out the garden cos it is completely walled in and we have a locked gate which has no gaps under it and they can get in the garage through a tiny gap ( well the smaller rabbits can but Harry is huge so not sure if he can tbh) if any foxes managed to scale the 9 foot wall so....

The vegetables are growing well and we have sprouting beans on the go too. Water is becoming a issue cos of the meter and the council here has special offers on butts which we need to buy at some point. I had to laugh when I saw the advert - two butts for the price of one - sort of like my body really but anyway...............Dh says another 4 should keep the garden watered but the problem with butts is you only need them when it isn't raining and they soon empty. He has an idea to rig one to the bath downpipe so when the boys have a bath we can collect their bath water. Sounds gross but they are never that dirty :) Also the same rig with the showers. Also next doors have kindly let us attach the butt we already have to their shed downpipe cos they are not on a meter. It is on our side of the wall but their pipe comes over and down our side. When we can afford the topsoil dh is building another huge veg bed I want to grow winter vegetables in. I would absolutely LOVE a green house - one day eh?

Groan Or Yay Depending

Today the boys got up at a good time and we finished off bits and pieces of WW2 and read and did maths e.t.c and at the end I told them that from now on until 1st September they would be having a bit of a break and only do maths and reading and some science experiments. Then in September we would start the geography curriculum ( that I am doing round Norse Myths, animals, rainforests and world history). I thought the idea of a holiday would thrill them but I got a subdued O.K from both and off they trotted a little bit dazed. D asked to start chemistry straightaway. "Can I build a bomb?" he asked "Er...... no .........not on your life son." ( we have an explosive experiments kit that is why he asked he hasn't a clue about bombs in reality)but I said no cos I feel ill.

I dragged myself around the garden planting many plants that have finally arrived - some annuals for the tubs and Rosemary, Sage, Night Scented Stocks and Peonies. I love Peonies cos they remind me of my childhood and being in my nan's garden. Then I had to have a lie down.

Remember the rubbish maps that came? I got a much better one cos the map is pivotal to the whole of the geography we will be doing. It arrived in all its technicolour, 5 x 4 laminated glory, complete with flags of most countries along its bottom. I would have hid it until September. Dh got it out didn't he. B saw it and raced off to tell D it was here. They took it in the front room and carefully laid it on the carpet to admire it and asked "Why do we have to wait until September to do the geography?"

"I'm tired." "You just got up" remarked D. "True." Sigh. Then they spent a while looking at the flags which in turn reminded them about the flag games I had made them. The Europe one is nowhere to be found so I will probably have to re-make it at some point SOON instead of September... grumble, grumble, but they got the African flag game out instead and looked at the matching game in it. Then they pointed out capital cities and other landmarks. I explained I needed a couple of days to get the resources ready and they shrugged and agreed that that was O.K. :) B hadn't grasped I was willing to start it now and jumped up and down for joy when he finally realised.

So off we go again. .....................

Gorgeous Weather and Slowing Down

Yep slowing down. Don' t laugh cos I know I have moaned most of the year we haven't even started but it seems we have done a lot more then I realised. I have just spent over 3 hours updating my busywork website and have only scratched the surface of things done by the boys since the end of this January. It doesn't include all the off the cuff conversations, the sponataneous learning about lions, tides, shells, earthquakes............loads of things I have mostly now forgotten. I also read a blog on the blog ring about a "late reader"who is now getting it which filled me with happiness cos it gave me hope that D will too and he does seem to be at last. I think the time has come to get out more and have some fun times outdoors.

Today has been busy but only on the domestic front. I took down 3 sets of blinds left here by previous owner and hung them in the garden and sprayed them down. One set ended up in the bath cos they were too filthy to clean any other way. They are all now back up and blindingly clean. I cleaned windows, washed paintwork, cleaned 3 en suites and the family bath due to the fact children had neglected their duties cos they bogged off to the beach, and gardened with D's help. The next door neighbour loves the new look to the garden and came over to say how nice it looks. It will be even better with plants in lol.

Ginny is no better but is still bouyant so we will see how she goes. My sister phoned to arranged for me to see baby L on Friday. It is a hell of a journey but is doable:) I have stuff for her, L and J so I am determined to go. I wanna see my niece :) S went to a HE group yesterday and she loved it. It is a long way away and if a dad had not been kind enough to offer to take her we couldn't have got her there. We need a car but we can't afford one so..............

I am very tired and still feel a bit fluey and odd.

Feeling A Bit Ick.

today. I woke up at 6 am feeling like I had the mother of all hangovers, including dodgy stomach except I haven't had a drink. I laid alternating between shivering and boiling hot until 7 when I had to get up for the post. I must have looked c**p cos the postman apologised for getting me up lol. The day has continued in much the same way but I had a sleep and my stomach is a bit better now.

B had no idea I was feeling sick but seems to have a sixth sense for mischief. When doing his creative writing he had to say what he thought when he read the word cat. "Chocolate....cake, bar.................ice cream." he giggled. O.....K. Freezing. B looked down at his kitchen timer he had brought into the room with him ( apparently when it went off he went off too :o) and said "Hamburgers, ice cubes, sausages." O.K . Then he had to think of a symbol for something. "Sandwich." he said slowly. "ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!! No more food reminders please." I got out his Mammoth maths. He did it ( badly actually but I was feeling too ill to care tbh even tho he pretended he could no longer add 60 + 20 !) )but at the end said "I thought you had got some interesting maths?" "Don't you like it?" "Well? When's it get interesting?"( Answer it doesn't if I was honest but I am still winging it.) "D's is interesting. In fact all D's work is interesting. Never mind I will just go away while D does his work" Grrhh. Off he went. D sat down and we did his S.S WW2. B came back down and listened along with him. He enjoyed it. Then I got out D's Miquon maths. "Ah, said B, D's interesting maths." Grrhh. B cleared off again but re-appeared when D had finished. He hovered around like he does when he has something to say but is deciding how it will go down:) He fingered D's Miquon maths workbook and the file of his Mammoth maths. "Do you have anymore of these?" he asked, pointing to the Miquon ( yes as it happens I do) so I took them both and put them side by side on the coffe table.

"Choose." He grabbed the Miquon, saying "Rods win. Can we do the file stuff after it?" "Yes." "Good." he said.

The Winter Promise geography stuff arrived today. This was curriculum on a shoe string cos I only bought the stuff from them I couldn't get anywhere else and have cobbled the rest together with books we have. The world map was a huge disappointment cos it isn't. It was described as a 5 foot by 3 foot watercolour map of the world. What arrived was 5 small sections of map of dubious quality that can't even be put together as they don't line up. The rest of what came is good. What we are doing is each country in turn and also adding in our own stuff with it so, for example, when we learn about Scandinavia we are going to read Norse myths and when it gets to rainforests we will do the S.S learning texts we have and The Great Kapok Tree. Also tied in with it is festivals and R.E, so we can get the Old Testament block in as well. I aim to do it in about 2 years alongside world history, science and maths e.t.c. Both boys will have a travel diary in which they will do work on the countries as they come up and stick in flags and drawings they do e.t.c. There is a lot of map work and learning how to draw maps which will please them. ( I hope).

Happy Birthday

to G. 16 today:) Thanks for the good wishes for baby L. My sister managed to have her 2 days before G's birthday and J was born on the 8th June a day after K 2's, which is 2 weeks before dh's and their cousin's on the 23rd. June will be busy.

We had a BBQ without the barbie ;) No one likes charred food so I cooked it all in the oven and they ate outside. It is a beautiful day here but a bit brisk in the wind. G has had a good day with food of her choice, a cake and mulla to add to her savings for whatever she is after.

I sorted rabbits first thing then spent a good deal of time downloading and printing off some heavy duty maths, science and history for B. Miquon maths is way too easy for him and so is Singapore 4 b. Pity I hadn't worked that out when I got the Singapore. Always ebay tho. Must get more ink aasp. The black has ran out completely now. The printer is still not on song and jams paper frequently but as long as I put one piece in at a time it is usually O.K.



D loves his chalk board and last night he drew on it and wrote words he had learnt from the Ww2 stuff we are doing. He wrote lots of words from memory, without copying them, and I was stunned tbh. We have only done a very small amount of finger spelling but every word we have finger spelt and he has seen in SS he knows now. Words like allies, blockade, invasions, empire...... D said "Well yes of course I can write them mum cos I can hear them on my fingers now." He is so proud. I can't tell you how much he has changed just with such simple steps to help him. His anger has gone. He seems more mature. Also yesterday I found an old audiology report when we shovelled out the loft. I hadn't twigged how bad his hearing was even then, never mind now. He had no response to low or high tones when he was 3! I have a feeling we slipped thorough the review net cos of moving house and I will have to chase it up. He keeps pointing at words and saying does it say.. ? ( and yes it always does). The Miquon is the first maths D has ever done independently. He sits and does page after page on his own and them puts the book back in his drawer. When he is in bed I have a sneaky peep and he is getting them all right so far.

Seems we are now "doing cake" so better go :)