Monday, January 28, 2008

Two for the price of one!


Two for the price of one!
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
Sam lost not one but two teeth on saturday and now has 4 gaps!! Just hope the bottom front ones don't go anytime soon or he won't have any teeth in the front.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Late nights, late mornings

have been the order of the day around here this week. Sam has decided that despite going to bed at a resonable hour he is going to keep himself awake until we come up to bed so that he can have extra snuggles. The only redeeming thing about this plan is that in order to pass the time he has been reading to himself-something that hasn't happened in ages. At first he was reading outloud to himself but now he is reading in his head-yipee! Maybe we have turned a corner and he will start reading for pleasure again. As a consequence of these late nights my early bird is turning into a stay in bed! I had to wake him up at 9am yesterday morning, an precedented event in this house. While I don't like him getting up so late it is nice to have a little time to myself in the mornings. Although I am always the first up and I not really a morning person and take a while to come to my senses.

The big discovery of the week has been bbc iplayer. As you know we don't have a tv and lately sam has started to wonder about things like blue peter and top gear. With a little bit of searching discovered bbc iplayer which allows us to watch bbc programmes on line and as long as we don't watch them as they are being broadcast we don't need a tv license-yippee! This week he has discovered Blue Peter, MI High, Top Gear (a big hit with him and M), Dog Borstall and Timewatch. We watched a really interesting programme on early jousting tournamets which resulted in him making grand plans to create a lance and learn to ride so that he can joust-you can imagine my response. This discovery is not going to turn us into telly addicts but is nice to know it is there to add a little variety to our day.

Sam is extraordinarily excited at the moment as he is going to spend the whole day tomorrow with his friend D. D and his parents are picking him up about 9:30 and then droping him off late afternoon. He is beside himself thinking of all the fun things that they are going to get up to. M and I are looking forward to a little parent time and are going get in a little retail therapy-more browsing than buying but it will be nice to look without a bored young man in tow.

We have had great fun this week with the periodic table-M is going to start teaching sam science on a tuesday morning and next week they are starting with the periodic table. Someone in the 50s set it to music (the tune of a mondern major general by gilbert & sullivan) so we have been learning that. We are up to line four and sam thinks it is the funniest thing out!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Cheese!


Cheese!
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
This is my godson C as taken by sam. Isn't he cute!

Hard at work


Hard at work
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
Our friend C organized a session on the body at Wollaton Hall for our home ed group. The children all had lots of fun and the session was interesting and engaging. This is sam drawing an animal bone, not sure which one.

The completed batmobile


The completed batmobile
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
This is the fabled batmobile that took sam almost a week to put together. It was fiendishly complicated and the pieces took over the dining room table. I am very proud of him for sticking with it and finishing it, it look amazing!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Happy Birthday!!!

A very big happy birthday to my dear M! Hope you have a wonderful day!! As he has the day off we plan to go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch-we are all looking forward to it, especially Sam who is convinced that we ought to take the dogs as they are japanese. Somehow I don't think they will be very welcome, Rogue does not have the best table manners.

We had a lovely bday lunch with M's parents at the weekend.It was nice to catch up with them and Sam really enjoyed playing warhammer with daddy and grandad while I cooked. He beat them but I am not sure that he was playing by the rules! As usual the dogs were overjoyed to see nana and grandad, in fact, I am not sure who gets more excited when the car pulls up, them or sam! Miko and Rogue were pawing at the window and rogue was whining like crazy until they came in the door. Mid afternoon we took them out for a walk to get rogue a new halti has he has seriously outgrown his old one.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Cover your ears..

Sam has just started to learn to play the recorder and also has plans for the guitar!! He has become interested in music lately and in tidying up his room rediscovered the recorder my in laws gave him a couple of christmases ago that combined with the usborne first recorder tunes book I just happened to have made him want to learn to play. We are also starting to read music and he is fascinated with the idea that you could use music notes to write secret codes. His playing is improving but is still very challenging to listen to! I think I have my old flute up in the loft so will go on a search this weekend. We could play a duet-heaven help M and the neighbors!!

It has been a slow start back to school work, he is still working through his xmas lego and would much rather be doing that. I think the batmobile is finally nearing completion and when it is done it is going up out of the way so it can't be broken, talk about a labor of love! It is for ages 10-12 and it has really challenged sam, something I thought was impossible when it comes to lego.

M was off wednesday afternoon so we went bowling. We all had fun but got beaten by a certain young man. It wasn't fair really as he was using the ball roll instead of rolling the ball himself. We played two games and he got strikes in both, complete with victory dance after each! Next time no ball roll for him! I did manage a couple of spares but also lots of gutter balls, guess I won't be on the olympic team.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Don't Blink!


Don't Blink!
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
This weekend we went to a Doctor Who exhibit at the National Space Centre in Leicester. They had monsters and costumes from several of the past series and we all enjoyed wandering around. It was a small exhibit but worth seeing especially as we used our tesco vouchers to get into the Space Centre.

Is the Doctor in?


Is the Doctor in?
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
We were all hoping that the doctor would come out and invite us on an adventure, sadly he wasn't home.

Odd Ood


Odd Ood
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
This guy really gives me the creeps

Exterminate


Exterminate
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
This bit was really cool, it moves around until it finds someone who is not worthy and exterminates them (not really of course!!)

Unheavenly Host


Unheavenly Host
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
The creepy bad guys from the christmas special, they were just as creepy close up!

Frank


Frank
Originally uploaded by mattamsam
RIP Frank. Our Oscar named frank died this weekend, he was very old for a fish and was a very interesting member of the family. He will be greatly missed.