Showing posts with label family life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family life. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Our lastest pics from January 07
I had a lot of photos to upload today and there were so many that I could put on the blog! Here are the best of the bunch...
Firstly, here is the photos of the fig and almond raw vegan tolls which I made. They were so simple. Basically whizz up a bunch of almonds and dried figs, add a tiny bit of water if needed and then roll them into some dessicated co-conut and chill in the fridge. They took seconds to make, the kids loved them, and they were so healthy I could let them eat as many as they wanted. Voila!
Last week I finally finished sorting through all the letters I have received from E in the last 2 years. They were kept in a paper bag, but it got ripped, and then Luke kindly opened every letter and separated them from their envelopes. There were 78 letters in total, 4 polaroid photos, loads of gift cards, a little angel and E's gold cross pendant which he gave me. He has had it since he was a child. Steve bought me a nice box to keep them all organised in, and I've numbered the back of them in case Luke ever gets hold of them again. So now they are in date order. It was amazing looking through them to see how much I had read and completely forgotten about. I received another letter from E this morning saying "there were only 78 letters? I thought I'd written nearer 2000!" He he.
Here is a photo of Jude making another one of her papier mache cats. This was taken yesterday.
As well as this one of Luke who was so proud of his playdoh tractor creation that he asked me to take a photo. This was simple to create as well. Take one 3 year old, 6 tubs of play-dough, one tractor trailer and a thomas the tank engine carriage. Bind all the ingredients together (not the 3 year old - he does the binding) and then you have a simple but effective master piece, worthy of a photo.
Before the Christmas holidays Jude did this little project as part of her home education. She has been reading a lot of history books lately so she decided to create this fold open history project. She basically created fold open flaps containing information about her favourite stories from history. The one in the photo is about The Battle of Hastings, and you can see king Harold made from pipe cleaners, tissue paper and a fluffy pink pom pom, at the side of the story. The other pages are about Hieroglyphics, The Two Margaret's, Anansi the Spider, and Leizu & the silkworm.
This afternoon Luke played with Sam's old collection of animals and dinosaurs, which he loves. I had wanted to sit and do something crafty with him, possibly a bit of painting or something. So we decided to make a little jungle scene for his animals to play in. I cut out a big box and stuck tissue paper for sky and grass onto it. Then Jude, Luke and myself set about turning it into a jungle. Luke stuck a few flowers on, a few fish in the pond, and made his own huge fluffy cloud before losing interest and asking us "is it ready yet? is it ready yet?" every 30 seconds. We may add bits and pieces to the finished scene at times. But it looks pretty good,
don't you think?
Firstly, here is the photos of the fig and almond raw vegan tolls which I made. They were so simple. Basically whizz up a bunch of almonds and dried figs, add a tiny bit of water if needed and then roll them into some dessicated co-conut and chill in the fridge. They took seconds to make, the kids loved them, and they were so healthy I could let them eat as many as they wanted. Voila!
Last week I finally finished sorting through all the letters I have received from E in the last 2 years. They were kept in a paper bag, but it got ripped, and then Luke kindly opened every letter and separated them from their envelopes. There were 78 letters in total, 4 polaroid photos, loads of gift cards, a little angel and E's gold cross pendant which he gave me. He has had it since he was a child. Steve bought me a nice box to keep them all organised in, and I've numbered the back of them in case Luke ever gets hold of them again. So now they are in date order. It was amazing looking through them to see how much I had read and completely forgotten about. I received another letter from E this morning saying "there were only 78 letters? I thought I'd written nearer 2000!" He he.
Here is a photo of Jude making another one of her papier mache cats. This was taken yesterday.
As well as this one of Luke who was so proud of his playdoh tractor creation that he asked me to take a photo. This was simple to create as well. Take one 3 year old, 6 tubs of play-dough, one tractor trailer and a thomas the tank engine carriage. Bind all the ingredients together (not the 3 year old - he does the binding) and then you have a simple but effective master piece, worthy of a photo.
Before the Christmas holidays Jude did this little project as part of her home education. She has been reading a lot of history books lately so she decided to create this fold open history project. She basically created fold open flaps containing information about her favourite stories from history. The one in the photo is about The Battle of Hastings, and you can see king Harold made from pipe cleaners, tissue paper and a fluffy pink pom pom, at the side of the story. The other pages are about Hieroglyphics, The Two Margaret's, Anansi the Spider, and Leizu & the silkworm.
This afternoon Luke played with Sam's old collection of animals and dinosaurs, which he loves. I had wanted to sit and do something crafty with him, possibly a bit of painting or something. So we decided to make a little jungle scene for his animals to play in. I cut out a big box and stuck tissue paper for sky and grass onto it. Then Jude, Luke and myself set about turning it into a jungle. Luke stuck a few flowers on, a few fish in the pond, and made his own huge fluffy cloud before losing interest and asking us "is it ready yet? is it ready yet?" every 30 seconds. We may add bits and pieces to the finished scene at times. But it looks pretty good,
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Temporarily raw vegans?
Well, what's been happening here then? Hmm, let me think. I've done some tidying. Then I did do a bit of tidying. Then I picked up some bits here and there and returned them to their rightful places. Then I tidied a bit. I think we own too much stuff.
Yesterday we took a trip to the Asian Supermarket in Belfast and I stocked up on lots of nuts, herbs, seeds and various dried fruits. The kids love going there because it's like walking into another world, a new culture in a foreign land. Luke kept asking me what things were, and I kept answering "I'm not sure what that is honey". I managed to spend £45 there and then stopped at Sainsburys for loads of fruit and veg.
We've been eating a raw vegan diet for this last while. I'm on a mission to improve the health of my family. Have been on it a while, but keep side tracking every now and then. The benefits of eating raw foods are amazing (apparently - haven't been doing it long enough yet to comment personaly). Anyway, with the help of my rejuvenate book I've learnt how to make some cracking, life enhancing salad dressings, that even Steve likes! We have been eating the most amazing salads. Even the kids have been stuffing them down. And this evening after our double cabbage & apple salad (which was delicious despite how it sounds) I made a desert which is healthy enough to feed the kids for breakfast. And it was a hit so I took a photo which I'll load onto the blog tomorrow. I made little cakes from nothing but almonds, figs and a bit of dried coconut. Jude came back for seconds so she will be in the toilet all day tomorrow! Ha.
I've had a terrible pain in my lungs all afternoon and evening. It's getting worse and moving round to the back of my lungs. It hurts when I breath deeply, when I slouch, or when I bend from one side to the other. Basically, it hurts when I move or breath. I haven't done anything strenuous. Maybe its all the toxins coming out. Going cold turkey from junk food might be taking its toll on me.
It's time for bed. I could ramble on all night. But I won't.
Yesterday we took a trip to the Asian Supermarket in Belfast and I stocked up on lots of nuts, herbs, seeds and various dried fruits. The kids love going there because it's like walking into another world, a new culture in a foreign land. Luke kept asking me what things were, and I kept answering "I'm not sure what that is honey". I managed to spend £45 there and then stopped at Sainsburys for loads of fruit and veg.
We've been eating a raw vegan diet for this last while. I'm on a mission to improve the health of my family. Have been on it a while, but keep side tracking every now and then. The benefits of eating raw foods are amazing (apparently - haven't been doing it long enough yet to comment personaly). Anyway, with the help of my rejuvenate book I've learnt how to make some cracking, life enhancing salad dressings, that even Steve likes! We have been eating the most amazing salads. Even the kids have been stuffing them down. And this evening after our double cabbage & apple salad (which was delicious despite how it sounds) I made a desert which is healthy enough to feed the kids for breakfast. And it was a hit so I took a photo which I'll load onto the blog tomorrow. I made little cakes from nothing but almonds, figs and a bit of dried coconut. Jude came back for seconds so she will be in the toilet all day tomorrow! Ha.
I've had a terrible pain in my lungs all afternoon and evening. It's getting worse and moving round to the back of my lungs. It hurts when I breath deeply, when I slouch, or when I bend from one side to the other. Basically, it hurts when I move or breath. I haven't done anything strenuous. Maybe its all the toxins coming out. Going cold turkey from junk food might be taking its toll on me.
It's time for bed. I could ramble on all night. But I won't.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Red Plate
In this edition of Above Rubies there was an article about encouraging our children. People wrote in with different ideas that they use to encourage their kids. One of the suggestions was the New Zealand tradition of the Red Dinner Plate. They have a special red dinner plate which only comes out once or twice a week to mark a point of achievement with one of the children. When the family comes to the dinner table they see the red plate in someones setting and get excited as to why that person has the red plate. Then at dinner time the parents say why that child has been given the red plate, and everyone talks about their achievement and encourages them. It can be given for anything that has involved some level of achievement and effort. Perhaps for overcoming a fear, winning an award, showing kindness to another etc. Well, after reading that article I liked the idea. Of course the plate does not have to be red, it just has to be special. But then I accidentally ended up in the Marks and Spencer Christmas sale (I was supposed to be in the cinema but Luke got bored so we wandered round the shops for a bit). There in the sale section was a huge pile of plain red plates, reduced to £1 each! Well, I had to buy one. I felt a bit daft buying just one dinner plate, LOL.
This week the plate has been set at the table twice. All three children like the idea and they always discuss whether anyone will get the red plate tonight. Firstly Sam was given the red plate. This week his school report was sent home (I will talk about that in a minute), and over the holidays he has been offering (!!!) to help me with housework. Yes, I'm gobsmacked too! But every day he has been asking "Mummy, is there anything I can do to help?" That is something that definitely needs public recognition! Then last night Luke got the red plate, for overcoming his fear of hair washing. He was so scared of bath times that he became hysterical. It was horrible. I suggested showers to him and over a period of two weeks he has gone from being hysterical and shaking with fear in the shower, to asking for a shower every morning. (Santa put a bottle of cherry smelling Chicken Little shampoo in his stocking which has been a real motivator!) So we gave him the red plate to recognise his braveness and mark his overcoming.
I must mention Sam's first term school report. They are given two grades, A - D for achievement (A being the highest), and 1 to 4 for effort (1 being the most effort), and there are also some exam results in percentages.
Art & Design B+, 1
Drama A, 93%, 1
English, talking & listening A, Reading B, Writing B, exam 64%, effort 1
French 87%, 1
Geography A, 98%, 1
History A, 91%, 2
Home Economics B+, 73%, 1
Information Technology B, 1
Maths B, 2
Music 70%, 1
PE C, 2
RE A, 1
Science A, 90%, 1
Technology 76%, 1
Some of those results are very good aren't they? He was quite pleased with most of it. Every subject had a full A4 paged report with comments from the teacher. The staff seem to put a lot of effort into producing it every term. I was particularly amused at the RE teachers comment that if he struggles with spelling he should do all his homework on the computer to avail of the spellcheck facilities! LOL.
This week the plate has been set at the table twice. All three children like the idea and they always discuss whether anyone will get the red plate tonight. Firstly Sam was given the red plate. This week his school report was sent home (I will talk about that in a minute), and over the holidays he has been offering (!!!) to help me with housework. Yes, I'm gobsmacked too! But every day he has been asking "Mummy, is there anything I can do to help?" That is something that definitely needs public recognition! Then last night Luke got the red plate, for overcoming his fear of hair washing. He was so scared of bath times that he became hysterical. It was horrible. I suggested showers to him and over a period of two weeks he has gone from being hysterical and shaking with fear in the shower, to asking for a shower every morning. (Santa put a bottle of cherry smelling Chicken Little shampoo in his stocking which has been a real motivator!) So we gave him the red plate to recognise his braveness and mark his overcoming.
I must mention Sam's first term school report. They are given two grades, A - D for achievement (A being the highest), and 1 to 4 for effort (1 being the most effort), and there are also some exam results in percentages.
Art & Design B+, 1
Drama A, 93%, 1
English, talking & listening A, Reading B, Writing B, exam 64%, effort 1
French 87%, 1
Geography A, 98%, 1
History A, 91%, 2
Home Economics B+, 73%, 1
Information Technology B, 1
Maths B, 2
Music 70%, 1
PE C, 2
RE A, 1
Science A, 90%, 1
Technology 76%, 1
Some of those results are very good aren't they? He was quite pleased with most of it. Every subject had a full A4 paged report with comments from the teacher. The staff seem to put a lot of effort into producing it every term. I was particularly amused at the RE teachers comment that if he struggles with spelling he should do all his homework on the computer to avail of the spellcheck facilities! LOL.
Monday, January 01, 2007
New Years Eve 2006
We had a lovely day yesterday. In the afternoon we were invited to my sister Maddi's house with some of my family, and some of her partners family. They made a lovely buffet tea and a good time was had by all.
In the evening my Mum, Hannah and David came back to our house to bring in the new year. We had a Chinese takeaway and then played a game of taboo. We almost missed midnight completely until I looked at the clock and said Happy New Year! Then as usual, we all made jokes about how we hadn't eaten all year, hadn't slept all year, our visitors had been here all year, the usual stuff.
I plan to write a post sometime about my hopes for 2007, but in the mean time here are a few photos from our day, yesterday. You can see the full set on flickr, if you like, by clicking HERE.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Photos from my 30th birthday
Yesterday was my 30th birthday and I was thoroughly spoilt, as usual. Luke was as excited as expected and helped me open every present. I was woken up at 10.30am and taken downstairs to a room full of balloons, present and croissants & tea. Aunty Hannah and Uncle David had stayed overnight so they were here too.As expected I look very glamorous in some of these photos - in my dressing gown and bed hair.
I got lots of lovely presents including some perfume that Steve remembered me liking when we were at the shops once, lots of socks, a book and CD that I had expressed an interest in from Above Rubies, chocolates, and lots more. I asked for some ladies wellies for my gardening. I told Steve that they had to be feminine ones and these are what he came up with! Aren't they erm, unique? Sam's gonna be delighted when I pick him up from school in them! Ha ha.
During the afternoon me and Hannah took the kids to see the Santa Claus 3 movie at the cinema. In the evening Hannah & David babysat for us while we went to the local Italian restaurant for a meal, and then on to the cinema to see 'The Holiday'. It was a girlie movie, a romantic comedy, perfect for me. I enjoyed it thoroughly although it was very long.
Thanks to Steve for his lovely blog post (below). It was very thoughtful and a lovely surprise!
Here are some photos from the last few days.
Hannah gave David a huge space hopper for Christmas. Everyone has had fun on it. Here is David helping Luke to bounce on it, and Hannah bouncing up and down the hall way.
Aunty Maddi & Uncle Tom bought Sam a scientist goo making set for Christmas. He has really enjoyed it (Maddi has turned into a super star at present picking!) Here he is making some goo at the kitchen table, and then with one of his red goo creatures.
It all gets too much for Nanny and Luke during an evening of feasting at our house and so they crash out on the living room floor!
Birthdays are just so exhausting!
Luke helps me to blow out the candles on my cake (again!)
On my birthday I received two beautiful hand made cards from Tinkhani, in prison in Zambia. One of them was for Christmas. It's amazing that they came on my birthday as it was such a special treat. There was also a lovely letter in it, in response to the photos and letter that I sent from our trip to Geneva.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
All about Christmas
Christmas was a great success. We had a lovely day on Christmas day. As expected, Luke slept in on Christmas morning, just as he did on his birthday. Despite coming in to our bedroom to snuggle up with me and Steve, every single morning at 5am. He manages to sleep in on his birthday and on Christmas. Sam and Jude gently woke him at about 8.30. He opened his eyes wide and said "that was a lovely snoozums I had". How cute.
We all piled into the living room to see what Santa had brought. I love this photo of their excited little faces before discovering their presents.
As usual they weren't disappointed. Three full stockings and a pile of presents awaited them. Luke was ever so excited about his stocking when he discovered a chocolate Santa Claus poking out from the top of it. Stockings were soon emptied and various sweets and chocolates consumed. Then it was onto present opening. Santa had left Luke a large wrapped box. He was very excited about it but asked "where are the Thomas trains I asked for?" He opened the large box and discovered that inside it were lots of little presents. Santa had been shopping on Ebay or somewhere, and bought him a 2nd hand collection of Thomas the Tank Engine Trains. In all there was an assortment of 69 trains, carriages and cars, most of which were individually wrapped. These came with a train track, and various bits of stations and accessories. He has spent 3 days playing with this set and has not been bored for a single second.
Jude and Sam didn't ask for much so most of what Santa brought them were surprises. Sam had asked for the FIFA 2007 PSP game, which he did get. And Jude asked for some gameboy games, which she also got. This year Santa decided that they were mature enough to get their own TVs for their rooms.
Santa must have felt that this would be appreciated, since Luke tends to hog the downstairs TV and cause too much commotion to watch anything in peace and quiet. They were very surprised with these presents.
Every evening we have had an open fire, which makes the place feel so much more homely. Its been so nice to chill out and spend time as a family. Steve is back at work for two days, but then he will have four days off. Just in time for my birthday.
Yesterday, boxing day, we all slept in. Steve didn't get up until I woke him at 11.30 to ask if he wanted to go to my Dads house for some lunch. He did, so we tidied up, got dressed and headed to my Dad's new house, which we haven't seen yet. He put on a nice boxing day spread, and Luke entertained us all with songs and chat. Luke took some of his trains with him to entertain himself. Sam showed his Grandad some of the chords he has been learning on the guitar and then Grandad entertained us all with a few songs, including 'Grandma's Feather Bed'!
In the evening we had our friends Davy, Heather and Catherine round for some food and fun. It turned out to be a great evening. I taught Heather how to play Othello, and Steve taught Davy. Then they competed against each other. The kids all played together for hours until midnight! (Although Luke put himself to bed at 8.30pm)
We roasted marshmallows on the fire, drank hot chocolates, and even put some candles on a cake for Davy who has his birthday on Christmas Day. Poor guy. 
These are Davy's photos. The first one is four cute bottoms roasting marshmallows on the fire, and the second is myself on miniature accordion with Steve and Sam dancing (a sort of cross between Irish dancing and Morris dancing!) You can't say it's not entertaining coming round to ours for dinner!! Steve and Heather disappeared into the garage for a game of darts at one point and left myself and Davy heading dangerously towards various political and religious debates. However, we managed to avoid a fall out and did a bit of a film review instead. (he he).
I must say that so far this has been one of the best Christmas weeks I can remember. All started off with my surprise party. I don't want life to return to normal for a while yet :) I'm having too much fun with my gorgeous happy family.
Thanks to everyone who sent gifts to the children and ourselves, for both Christmas and my birthday. We will write our thank you letters soon.
We all piled into the living room to see what Santa had brought. I love this photo of their excited little faces before discovering their presents.
As usual they weren't disappointed. Three full stockings and a pile of presents awaited them. Luke was ever so excited about his stocking when he discovered a chocolate Santa Claus poking out from the top of it. Stockings were soon emptied and various sweets and chocolates consumed. Then it was onto present opening. Santa had left Luke a large wrapped box. He was very excited about it but asked "where are the Thomas trains I asked for?" He opened the large box and discovered that inside it were lots of little presents. Santa had been shopping on Ebay or somewhere, and bought him a 2nd hand collection of Thomas the Tank Engine Trains. In all there was an assortment of 69 trains, carriages and cars, most of which were individually wrapped. These came with a train track, and various bits of stations and accessories. He has spent 3 days playing with this set and has not been bored for a single second.
Jude and Sam didn't ask for much so most of what Santa brought them were surprises. Sam had asked for the FIFA 2007 PSP game, which he did get. And Jude asked for some gameboy games, which she also got. This year Santa decided that they were mature enough to get their own TVs for their rooms.
Santa must have felt that this would be appreciated, since Luke tends to hog the downstairs TV and cause too much commotion to watch anything in peace and quiet. They were very surprised with these presents.
The morning was spent opening presents and playing with them. We had our Christmas dinner at lunch time, although Luke had spent all morning eating sweets so he wasn't at all hungry. The dinner was lovely, turkey, duck and gammon, with the usual roast potatoes etc.
During the afternoon we just chilled with the kids. Played games. Auntie Jacqueline had given Luke a game that we all enjoyed. The idea was to press down the sharks teeth. Whoever made the shark bite was out. We all laughed and laughed playing that game. Jude got the grown ups version of Monopoly which we have been playing for 3 days now. We are almost at the end of the game! Steve bought me a game called Othello, which is very simple to learn, and we've all been playing that too. We still need to play Sams new Upwords. Sam also got a new Star Wars chess set which he is waiting to play with Steve.
Here are some of the photos from our Christmas day...
Every evening we have had an open fire, which makes the place feel so much more homely. Its been so nice to chill out and spend time as a family. Steve is back at work for two days, but then he will have four days off. Just in time for my birthday.
Yesterday, boxing day, we all slept in. Steve didn't get up until I woke him at 11.30 to ask if he wanted to go to my Dads house for some lunch. He did, so we tidied up, got dressed and headed to my Dad's new house, which we haven't seen yet. He put on a nice boxing day spread, and Luke entertained us all with songs and chat. Luke took some of his trains with him to entertain himself. Sam showed his Grandad some of the chords he has been learning on the guitar and then Grandad entertained us all with a few songs, including 'Grandma's Feather Bed'!
In the evening we had our friends Davy, Heather and Catherine round for some food and fun. It turned out to be a great evening. I taught Heather how to play Othello, and Steve taught Davy. Then they competed against each other. The kids all played together for hours until midnight! (Although Luke put himself to bed at 8.30pm)
We roasted marshmallows on the fire, drank hot chocolates, and even put some candles on a cake for Davy who has his birthday on Christmas Day. Poor guy. 
These are Davy's photos. The first one is four cute bottoms roasting marshmallows on the fire, and the second is myself on miniature accordion with Steve and Sam dancing (a sort of cross between Irish dancing and Morris dancing!) You can't say it's not entertaining coming round to ours for dinner!! Steve and Heather disappeared into the garage for a game of darts at one point and left myself and Davy heading dangerously towards various political and religious debates. However, we managed to avoid a fall out and did a bit of a film review instead. (he he).
I must say that so far this has been one of the best Christmas weeks I can remember. All started off with my surprise party. I don't want life to return to normal for a while yet :) I'm having too much fun with my gorgeous happy family.
Thanks to everyone who sent gifts to the children and ourselves, for both Christmas and my birthday. We will write our thank you letters soon.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Happenings in the house
I've just uploaded 86 photos from Jude's new digital camera and I'm surprised at how much we have done lately. Here are some of the best photos from this week.
On Saturday we took a trip to Belfast while Sam was at stage school. The christmas market was on at the city hall so we looked around it, and then had some cake in a cafe.
Jude eating a chocolate waffle in the market.
Jude at one of the stalls.
Jude and Steve in the cafe.
Jude got some Happy Mais for her birthday and yesterday we finally got it out to create with. Jude decided to make a Christmas decoration with hers.
Luke always loves to help me in the kitchen. Here he is getting me a mushroom out of the fridge.
On Saturday we took a trip to Belfast while Sam was at stage school. The christmas market was on at the city hall so we looked around it, and then had some cake in a cafe.
Jude eating a chocolate waffle in the market.
Jude at one of the stalls.
Jude and Steve in the cafe.
Jude got some Happy Mais for her birthday and yesterday we finally got it out to create with. Jude decided to make a Christmas decoration with hers. 
Here is the fantastic Christmas tree scene that she made. I was well impressed.
Equally impressive was Luke sunshine which he made completely unassisted. He even drew on the plate with felt pen to finish it off. Not bad for a 3 year old I think.
Luke always loves to help me in the kitchen. Here he is getting me a mushroom out of the fridge. 
Last night I made a lovely roast dinner. Whilst I was cooking it Luke made some fresh juice with the juicer. Here he is single handedly juicing some pears and apples, which he added to the melon juice in the pink jug which he had already made. He made this entirely on his own and was very proud of himself!
We are still harvesting the last few vegetables from the garden. Here are the parsnips that we dug up and roasted yesterday, and a huge cabbage which weights an absolute ton!
Steve did a big 2 hour studio photography shoot this week for his course. He used Jude as his subject and came away with some excellent images. I popped Luke and Sam in at the end for a couple of quick photos and there are some nice ones of them too. When he has decided what he's doing with them I will post a few on here, as they are really lovely and very professional looking. I know Jude had a blast posing for them all.
Friday, December 08, 2006
What have we been up to?
It's been quite a while since I posted normal family news stuff here on the blog so I thought I'd do a very quick catch up post. Here are 3 photos from the last 2 weeks. I was ill with a nasty cold, which turned into a bad chesty cough. Just about managed to get through the days but crawled into bed as soon as Steve got in from work every night. That lasted almost a week so not much got done. Although Steve finally finished painting the hall, stairs and landing!!! Woo hoo (no less than 18 walls of varying sizes and heights!!!)
I had to take a pic of these animals. I came downstairs on one of the mornings that I was feeling ill and this was the sight in our living room. Steve had been playing with Luke, with Sam's old animals that he collected when he was little. They had arranged them in such a good order, dinosaurs in the middle, animals around the outside, with the humans guarding them all along the perimeter. Luke has taken to playing with these animals a lot, and often arranges them in different group variations.
I took great enjoyment taking this photo of Steve. After a full day of working, running errands, popping in and out of various places of business, he came home, looked in the bathroom mirror and exclaimed "Who let me go out looking like this?" His hair was wild. I laughed myself silly and he agreed to pose for the blog.
One day last week we took a family trip to the cinema to see Flushed Away. We very rarely go as a family because of the cost (£20! - and that was with cheap sweets from the corner shop, not expensive cinema treats) The film was very good. Luke laughed so much every time the singing slugs came on - I thought they were a nice touch to the film, very entertaining. I could watch that film twice, which is saying something for a kids film.
On the education front, Sam has been doing well at his new High School. He gets his end of term exam results back soon, so that will be a sign of how he's doing. He had some results back already, but when he gets his report it will also show the class average for each exam result. He scored no less than 98% on his geography exam! I don't know what the class average was yet though.
Jude has been quietly working away at home. She was quite neglected while I was ill and just plodded on with the work she had been doing all term. I really need to sit down and look at her maths work to make sure she fully understands it. Today she is starting a lap book project. She hasn't quite decided what to do yet. Last night she went on a Brownies trip to see Santa and came home with lots of goodies and stories to tell (from all accounts Santa flashed at the congregation of young Brownie girls, when he stood up and his trousers fell to his ankles!!!)
Luke is getting more and more excited about Christmas as every second passes. He has started waking at the crack of dawn in order to retrieve the next chocolate from his advent calendar. Not a good idea. We should have been opening them at bedtime, to get him to bed earlier. Hes' asking me every day when we will be putting the tree and decorations up. I'm holding off for as long as possible as he will drive me insane once it's up, with constant questions of "is it Christmas yet?" People here in Northern Ireland do put their decorations up very early. I think the general trend here is to put them up on 1st December, or round abouts, but I have seen many houses in Belfast decorated from as early as 1st November. In the south of England when I was a lass I'm sure we didn't put them up until nearer Christmas. When the schools broke up, about a week before the big day we'd put up the decorations, and they stayed up for about 12 days (the 12 days of Christmas, right?) I'm sure I'll get comments from people in England saying they have them up for longer, but I'm sure that's how it was at home. A full month or more seems such a long time to have the house decorated. Oh well.
I'm sure there is loads of other news but I can't spend any more time on the blog... things to do.
I had to take a pic of these animals. I came downstairs on one of the mornings that I was feeling ill and this was the sight in our living room. Steve had been playing with Luke, with Sam's old animals that he collected when he was little. They had arranged them in such a good order, dinosaurs in the middle, animals around the outside, with the humans guarding them all along the perimeter. Luke has taken to playing with these animals a lot, and often arranges them in different group variations.
I took great enjoyment taking this photo of Steve. After a full day of working, running errands, popping in and out of various places of business, he came home, looked in the bathroom mirror and exclaimed "Who let me go out looking like this?" His hair was wild. I laughed myself silly and he agreed to pose for the blog.
One day last week we took a family trip to the cinema to see Flushed Away. We very rarely go as a family because of the cost (£20! - and that was with cheap sweets from the corner shop, not expensive cinema treats) The film was very good. Luke laughed so much every time the singing slugs came on - I thought they were a nice touch to the film, very entertaining. I could watch that film twice, which is saying something for a kids film.
On the education front, Sam has been doing well at his new High School. He gets his end of term exam results back soon, so that will be a sign of how he's doing. He had some results back already, but when he gets his report it will also show the class average for each exam result. He scored no less than 98% on his geography exam! I don't know what the class average was yet though.
Jude has been quietly working away at home. She was quite neglected while I was ill and just plodded on with the work she had been doing all term. I really need to sit down and look at her maths work to make sure she fully understands it. Today she is starting a lap book project. She hasn't quite decided what to do yet. Last night she went on a Brownies trip to see Santa and came home with lots of goodies and stories to tell (from all accounts Santa flashed at the congregation of young Brownie girls, when he stood up and his trousers fell to his ankles!!!)
Luke is getting more and more excited about Christmas as every second passes. He has started waking at the crack of dawn in order to retrieve the next chocolate from his advent calendar. Not a good idea. We should have been opening them at bedtime, to get him to bed earlier. Hes' asking me every day when we will be putting the tree and decorations up. I'm holding off for as long as possible as he will drive me insane once it's up, with constant questions of "is it Christmas yet?" People here in Northern Ireland do put their decorations up very early. I think the general trend here is to put them up on 1st December, or round abouts, but I have seen many houses in Belfast decorated from as early as 1st November. In the south of England when I was a lass I'm sure we didn't put them up until nearer Christmas. When the schools broke up, about a week before the big day we'd put up the decorations, and they stayed up for about 12 days (the 12 days of Christmas, right?) I'm sure I'll get comments from people in England saying they have them up for longer, but I'm sure that's how it was at home. A full month or more seems such a long time to have the house decorated. Oh well.
I'm sure there is loads of other news but I can't spend any more time on the blog... things to do.
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