Monday 5/12/2011

Chilly but sunny day today, nice to wake up to a warm house now we've sorted out the timed heating option! Usual get up and dressing and tidying and so on, a cheerful breakfast and a good whack of table time before we headed out to visit a home ed family - this one has a farm, which is jolly exciting!

The mum (who my mother knows through guides, incidentally) is a maths teacher and is doing some maths with Saurus in preparation for his GCSE, while I do various things with her daughter and twin boys - today it was a variety of games, as loosing is the thing that needs working on! Loosing gracefully, that is, if you see what I mean!

So we played Munchkin (good choice this, as although it does have a winner and is competitive, it also includes co-operative options); Tumbling Monkeys (simple, easy to set up, so multiple games with different winners and losers); a bit of Bang!, much general playing with train track, lego, etc and we also played on their outside play equipment and trampoline and with their many guinea pigs.

We had a great time, and everyone seems satisfied all round, so it will become a regular occurrence, hooray!

Home for a late and lovely lunch (left over roast dinner), and the kids settled down to Hop.

Now, why were they watching an Easter themed film in December, I hear you ask?

Well, it's a predictable one word answer - Petal. Of course. She found it at Grandma's, borrowed it, and has been marketing it to the others ever since!

They enjoyed it anyway :-)

Then I got Petal dressed up as Angelina Ballerina - nice easy costume, basically her dress up tutu over pink tights, her ballet cardigan for warmth, her hair up as normal and some cheap clip-on white, fluffy mouse ears I picked up from Claire's Accessories, a nose and whiskers painted on with face paint and a tail I had made out of creamy white fluffy wool left over from a baby blanket I knitted years ago - I just made a thick plait, added a pink bow on the end and safety pinned it to the back of her tutu!

This was a much anticipated party as you can imagine, and I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it - she spent it silent and on my lap! Her usual teacher wasn't there, although the stand-ins were lovely. She ate a bit of party food - sitting firmly next to me - and we enjoyed looking round at the other costumes.... A vast array of various Disney Princesses, a couple of mermaids, a cat, quite a few fairies, and the one boy came as Father Christmas - I've never seen such a small suit, so cute!

Once we left, she was chattering all about it all the way home! Funny girl :-D

The boys had been diligently cleaning and cooking, I went off to work while Papacrow did baths and I got home to bed Fluff & Petal. Then Papacrow, Saurus, Roo & Wig watched Captain America (it was released today and purchased by Papacrow this morning).

I did the online ASDA shop and, as you can see, frantically caught up with blogging!