I miss chrismas..

was sam's favorite saying today. Actually he started saying it on the way home last night. When I asked what he meant he explained that he would miss getting presents and they way the people seem to be nice to everyone at this time of year. I reminded him that we could keep the christmas spirit all year long just by being nicer and more considerate to others. he seemed to accept this but what bothered him most was not getting presents again until his birthday!! The song Material Girl could have been written to for him (except the girl bit!!) He did eventually reluctantly conceed that getting presents everyday migh get a bit boring but he reallly wasn't convinced. Guess one of our goals for next year should be kindness to others.

We had a nice christmas eve and christmas. Christmas eve was busy with the cinema and the crib service. We were all so keen to see Narnia but all left feeling vaguely disapointed. Sam has enjoyed the book and the cd but the movie did not capture his imagination and he was put out by the bits they changed. M thought the beginning was too slow and I too was put out by the bits they changed and the casting. Lucy seemed too young and Peter too wet behind the ears. Not really sure why they added in the beginning bit about the blitz, except maybe to educate american audiences who may not know about the evacuation of children in the last war. I have to say that that bit was well done and I was crying as the train pulled out. I can't imagine sending Sam away not knowing the people he was go to or how long it would be before I saw him again. All in all we decided that Polar Express wins our vote for best xmas movie we have seen as a family.
We had a mad dash from the movies to church-where we made it just in time for sam to carry in one of the crib sets. He did a great job and I was proud of him. It was a nice service with lots of friends from the village there. Everyone is always so welcoming there, we reallly must make more of an effort about going next year.

After church we had our usual xmas eve supper of party food and champagne (not for sam though-he was drinking mango juice!) and sam got to open one gift. he chose dad's gift and then spent the rest of the evening building lincoln log houses for his new hot wheels to knock over. Once he was safely asleep we finished up the final bit of wrapping-not too much this year thankfully..

Christmas came early in our house with Sam bounding in about 5am. We managed to get him back to sleep until about 7 when we all trooped downstairs. he was delighted that santa brought him acceleracers swamp beast and he and M spent most of the morning putting it together. We went to M's parents for xmas lunch and had a lovely time. It was nice seeing everyone, especially B & J. J is geting so big now, he is only 8 months old but desparate to walk. The boys got on really well and were lucky to get lots of nice gifts from their grandparents.

Today M had to work so Sam and I have spent the day exploring his new toys (code for mommy putting together lots of lego). It was a nice chill out day

thank you grandpa

thank you grandpa, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

xmas eve pressie

xmas eve pressie, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

santa's been!!

santa's been!!, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

yeah it is hotwheels swamp beast!

yeah it is hotwheels swamp beast!, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

almost there

almost there, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

more pressies

more pressies, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

A cheerful guy

A cheerful guy, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Uncle P and J

Uncle P and J, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

You know you have spent too much money when..

one of the sales assistants in lush knows your son's name! We walked into tonight to pick up a few last minute things and sam was greeted by "hi sam" by the assistant (who is also called sam). She helped him select the things we needed and treated him like a vip. shame she didn't give us a discount though! Everyone was very jolly in town tonight and there weren't many people out shopping thankfullly. It was a different scene at tesco though-it was packed and the shelves were empty-especially in the xmas section. they are alreay moving things around, no doubt the valentine cards and easter candy will be out next week.

We have had a good tidy up downstairs and it is looking very festive. I just wish that I could catch some of the xmas spirit. It is not that I dislike xmas it just has sad memories for me. Even almost 20 years on I still find it hard to be festive. I really should be more jolly and make more of an effort for sam's sake, I want him to have only happy memories of this festive season. we do have our little family traditions that are starting to become established and I hope that we will be able to build on these as the years go on. I think he does believe in santa, at least I hope so. I know that I do. I started to wrap his santa pressies tonight and realised that I am going to have to sneak out for paper he hasn't seen tomorrow. It will totally spoil the magic if santa has wrapped his gifts in the same paper that we have used.

We are really looking forward to seeing The Chronicles of Narnia tomorrow afternoon. Sam is as excited about that as he is about xmas. We have started to read The Horse and His Boy as our bed time book. It is not one of the books that I remember very well so I am just as curious about what is going to happen as he is. I could read head but that would spoil the surprise.

In case I don't blog tomorrow night a very merry xmas and hannauka(sorry about the spelling) to everyone!!

Party time , excellent!!

sorry for the bill & ted reference, it just seemed an appropriate title for tonight's blog. Today was the xmas party with the boys, it was the first time we had all been together since half term. It was lovely to see everyone, especially A & C who live about an hour away now. All things considered everyone got on really well and a good time was had by all. It was so nice to see them all together again. As we left sam hugged everyone and said "I love you". That about sums it up for me as well. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends. We may not see each other as often as we would like but when we are together everyone just clics. Thank you to the NCT and to jesca for bringing us all together. Can't imagne what the last 5 years would have been like without you all!!

We have unintentially slowed right down in the build up for xmas. Thought I would be able to manage everything but somehow haven't. Sam seems to be using this break to be reading everything in sight. It took us ages to go round sainsbury yesterday (apart from the crowds that is) because he wanted to read the labels of everything I was putting in the trolly! We have done lots of math though having to measure out all the ingredients for our holiday baking and then divide up all the goodies equallly between the boxes. Just one more batch of biscotti to make and then we are done for the holidays. I am glad, I don't think my waistline could take much more! Tomorrow we have to finish making the xmas crackers for the family and pick up a few bits and pieces in town and at tesco. The cat also has a check up at the vet so we will be out and about all day.

We are really looking forward to xmas eve-we are going to the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. going to the movies is fast becoming a family tradition, I just hope that we dont' also end up in casualty like we did last xmas! after the movies we have to rush to the crib service as sam has asked to carry one of the nativity sets into the church. I was amazed that the asked but pleased, it will the first time we have been to church since easter I think.

I have a couple more sections to finish up on my list of 7 things

7 things you year me say

1. sam be gentle
3. just a minute. let me check email
3. I will be there in just a sec.
4. yes, sweetheart
5. Sam!
6. love you
7. leave the cat alone please



7 things that attract me to my spouse

1. his confidence
2. his smile
3. the way he takes care of sam and i
4. his sense of humor
5. his intelligence
6. he puts up with me!!!
7. he walks to the beat of a different drummer

7 people that I want to do the quiz (If you havent got a blog you can use my comments box)
1. Mary
2 Cheryl
3. Justine
4. fiona
5. Matthew
6. Melanie
7. the girls

Asleep at last..

The boys are finally asleep. I think that I heard the last few noises about half an hour ago. For two tired children they certainly managed to stay awake. At one point I snuck up and to see what all the noise was about and heard sam reading to peter from one of the bob books! Sam stopped the story half way through and said to P "I am a good reader you know!" It was all I could do to stop myself giggling. The sleep over seems to be going well so far. There have been a few squables but P hasn't asked to go home and Sam hasn't told him to leave which is always a good sign. If tonight is successful from sam's point of view this could open the flood gates for sleepovers. Today P and tomorrow all his other friends!!

M's aunt and grandmother came up today to take us out to lunch and exchange pressies. It was lovely to see them and Sam was remarkably okay with not being able to open the gifts they brought. This was aided I suspect by the fact that Nan arrived with a lego car for him that he was allowed to open today. I hope they like the fruits of our baking day. The chocolate bark turned out very well and was dead easy to make. I think that I will make a couple more batches for the girls for next week.

What is it with people suddenly doing their grocery shopping on line? I went to book my usual delivery slot yesterday and discovered that not only are there no slots for next week but there are none for the week after either!! I am outraged. As a loyal on line shopper I want my delivery slot. They should have given their regular shoppers first grabs at the holiday slots. Now I have to go to that maniac infested place to do battle with everyone else. I only want my usual shopping list, nothing fancy, nothing different. I will be glad when the holiday madness is over and life returns to normal.


A few more things for the 7 list-

7 things I can't do

1. Draw
2. Sing in tune
3. Keep my house organise for more than 5 minutes
4. Keep my house decluttered
5. Wear nail varnish for more than a day without it chipping
6. pass a book store without going in
7. stop procrastinating

7 movies I would watch over and over again

1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Paint your wagon
3. The Slipper and the Rose
4. Disney's Cinderella
5. High Society
6. Always
7. Raiders of the lost Ark

7 favorite books

1. Atlas Shrugged
2. A Traveller in Time
3. The Amazing Mr. Blunden
4. Girls Forever Brave and True
5. The Flambards Series
6. Calvin & Hobbes
7. The Fountainhead

Will finish the rest of the list tomorrow as my eyelids are beginning to droop. Need to be well rested for the onslaught tomorrow morning.

martha stewart I am not..

but I think that everyone enjoyed themselves and I think that everything we baked was edible! The puddles came round to join in with baking day and I hope that they enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed ourselves. We managed to bake almost everything on the list, what we didn't do I finished up tonight. The girls were a great help and the gingerbread cookies they made were fantastic. Unfortunately they were so good that they have all been consumed so will have to bring something else to the end of year mudpud party tomorrow! Everyone got on really well together and Merry and I got to have a good natter. It was fun sharing our holiday baking day with them, I hope that they enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Sam fell into bed exhausted tonight thank you puddlers! With any luck he may sleep until 7am! I am always impressed at how well the girls take sam in their stride. His enthusiasm can be a bit much but they seem to cope with it very well. sam for his part loves playing with them, long may that continue. I hope he never goes through the phase where he thinks girls and boys can't play together.

I enjoyed reading the 7 questions quiz on the beans blog and was flattered to have been asked my answers to the questions. Can' think of them all tonight but here are my answers to the first 7

7 things to do before I die(in no particular order)
1. see sam graduate from college
2. Learn to fence
3. learn japanese and visit the country
4. live in the caribbean
5. dive in the south pacific
6. research my family tree
7. make a patch work quilt


A busy few days ahead. Sam is most looking forward to saturday, when his friend P is coming for a sleep over. I just hope that they do sleep! Both are very excited and with P being 6 he should be a bit more level headed. I expect we will have a movie night after dinner-sam is very keen to madagascar again. I just hope P i okay as it is his first sleep over too. M is working and had the big car so I won't be able to run P home if he wants to leave. I am hoping that all will go well. I just can't believe that my little one is big enough for sleep overs! Before you know it he will be wanting to learn to drive and to go on dates.

procrastination

Am supposed to be working on my fossils course but as I am in major procrastination mode have decided to blog and watch life in the undergrowth. M is on nights all weekend so will have lots of time to do my studying-that's the plan anyway. I am sure that I can find something else to distract me when the time comes. I am enjoying the course and have learned lots. Sam loves looking at my course book and is always nagging me to do my studying.

Tonight was the belt presentation at karate. The school held a presentation/demonstration night so in addition to being presented with his belt we also got to watch the older children stage a tournament. Sam was very intrigued by the tournament and decided that he would like to do one when he is older. I think he liked the fact that you get to hit and attack someone and you don't get in trouble for it! If there is anything he likes it is to rough house, especially at 6am!

We have had a good week, lots of fun and lots of learning. Our next science set came from sonlight and sam has spent ages looking through all the books. The magic school bus book really caught his imagination so I am off to ebay to see if I can get more at a reasonable price.

I am very psyched because my friend M, (zelda's mom) is hopefully going to come visit in Jan. It will be the first time we have seen each other in about 13 years. It will be great to catch up in person, sam is very disapointed that she can't bring zelda. I have explained about quarintine laws but he still doesn't think it is fair. I have promised that we go out to boston to visit zelda and that cheered him up.

Tomorrow is baking day-lots of mess, lots of washing up and hopefully lots of yummy things to eat.

Its begining to look at lot like Christmas..

We have decorated the house and put up the tree today. I think that this is the earliest that we have ever done it. Sam was in charge of putting out all the decorations and he did a good job. We haven't quite finished the tree-we still have the popcorn chain to do and the gingerbread decorations. Still not in a very xmassy mood myself but doing my best to put on a cheerful face for Sam. We watched Polar Express this evening. It was just as good as the first time and Sam was spell bound the whole time. It is such a lovely story, I think we will read the book on christmas eve before he goes to bed.

have almost finished the xmas shopping-just lots of baking to do next week. Sam is excited as he gets to eat all the cast offs.

Our box from Sonlight should arrive tomorrow-yeah! Can't wait to see the science stuff. Sam wants to hurry up and finish science K so that he can start the next one! We also have the next two Singapore Math books and some HWT things. Next week we plan to do our holidays lapbook-that will probably take most of the week as we have quite a bit of research to do. Would also like to do some more DWN as he really enjoys it and it will tie in nicely with our dr. doolittle stuff. He finished a hamma giraffe this weekend and is keen to do the lion next week. Just have to figure out what to do with all these wonderful creations-the fridge is getting very full.

Marquesa has hit a plateau-not at all interested in food today so back to lots of syringe feeding. In other respects she is doing better, she actually groomed herself today!

Finding it hard to concentrate on this as M has Madagascar playing on the mac. it is so funny-I hope they do a sequal. I think the Penguins are my fav-they were very funny in the short that ran before wallace & gromit. In fact they were funnier than W& G, please don't kick me out of the country for saying that.

A nice start to the week..

After last week which was full of sick pets, children and parents this week has started much better. Everyone except marquesa is over their illness and things have returned to normal. We have had a lovely relaxed but full week from an HE point of view. Reading is starting to click and sam is starting to read posters and signs while we are out. He is also thrilled with the Draw Write Now book that arrived and has spent ages drawing various animals. I have to admit I was surprised how good his drawings are. This is a child who as a rule does not like to draw and thinks coloring in is a waste of time. We started the House at Pooh Corner for our read alouds and while I was reading he drew his interpretation of the 100 acre wood. Okay it does have a prairie dog, horny lizard and pond skaters but it is all his own work. Today was science day, catching up on all the experiments from the past couple of weeks. Sam had a ball-photos to follow.

Marquesa is slowing coming round. She even managed to clean a paw today so she must be feeling a little better. Her eating is getting better as well but we are still having to feed her every 3 hours. She hates being fed so perhaps that will encourage her to eat on her own.

Have started our holiday baking-sam was in 7th heaven with licking the bowl and eating the mistakes. He can't wait for our baking day next week.

She is home!!

Marquesa is home from hospital!! The blockage in her gall bladder is slowing starting to go, thought its cause and exactly what it is is still unknown. She is still being syringe feed every three hours ( except at night) and is very weak. She is a bit perkier though and I think she is glad to be home. She has to go back tomorrow for testing. We don't know what the long term outlook is, we are just glad that she is home so that we can pamper her and give her lots of tlc.

We are all still a bit under the weather, sam's cold is still lingering and he has passed his tummy bug on to M and I. We managed to make it to london today though. We had a wander around covent garden then went over to trafalgar square to see the xmas tree . I have to say it didn't seem to be as spectacular as ususal, sam even remarked that the one in peterborough was better! We also had a nice walk around the national gallery, which wasn't as crowded as we had expected it to be.

The last week passed by in a haze of running noses, poorly tummies and sick pets. Lots of learning did go on-sam is getting to grips with telling the time and his writing is improving. He spent ages writing christmas cards to his friends-just need to mail them now!

the painted ponies go up and down

DSCF0930, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

sam and the patient

DSCF0896, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

thanksgiving with the puddles

DSCF0895, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Sam & Nan

DSCF0890, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Happy Thoughts Needed

Please think happy thoughts and get well vibes for our cat marquesa. She is in the pet hospital with a blocked gall bladder and not doing very well. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she makes a full recovery and that the blockage isn't cancerous.

The other two patients in the house are doing better. My conjunctiviitus has cleared up and sam's cold is getting better. We had a lovely snuggly day on the sofa yesterday reading and looking at books. We are reading Dr. Doolittle at the moment and he is hanging on every word. Will have to see if I can find the movie at the library and then we can see how the two compare. Despite his cold he is getting to grips with telling time. He has two watches-one of which has a normal face and the other shows the minutes past and two rather than a usual clock face. I am not sure that that is helpful really, it only seems to confuse him and I know it does me too!
We did a really great thanksgiving lap book last week which I must post photos of. He worked really hard on it and seemed to enjoy finding out all the info to go in the book. Not sure what we should do as our next one, maybe something about christmas around the world or winter holidays. We could do hannaka (sp), and kwaza (sp) as well as christmas.
He is very into drawing at the moment-he spent ages the other day doing stuff out of the Usborne how to draw trucks and tractors book. it is good but not as good as the drawn write now books. Must get one of the series to try and help him. My artistic skills are nill, despite the fact that my mother was a fantastic artist. would also like to try and find someone to help us with our origami as he loves doing it but again my skills are very limited.

We went to visit family friends today. When my father was stationed here we rented the cottage on their farm and we have been friends ever since. it was lovely to see them and we took sam over to see the cottage that we used to live in. It has changed a great deal but apart from the color of the walls, my room is just the same. Sam was very excited at seeing my old room and kept asking where my bed was and where were my old toys! Being in the house brought back so many memories. Some of the roses that my mother planted 26 years ago are still there. I like that, it makes me feel that a tangible part of her is still here. They were her pride and joy those roses. Perhaps next time I go I will ask for a cutting to see if i grow a plant from one of hers.

mad scientists at work

The kitchen was taken over today by a young group of mad scientists. They did all sorts of strange experiments-most of them involving sugar! They even made their own sherbert dips and a funky kind of lava lamp. Okay it wasn't really a lamp, just raisins going up and down in carbonated water but it was just as much fun to watch as a lava lamp. At the end they were all exhausted and covered in red food coloring from their sugar cube experiment. And who were these mad scientists-sam and the puddles. We used lots of experiements from our Usborne experiments book and they all worked. I think the raisins in the water was the coolest. They just kept going up and down, I could have watched them all afternoon. Sam was wildly enthusiastic and seemed to loose all sense of volume control. He just doesn't have a clue that his voice is too loud-I just wish that there was someway I could help him to see this without saying 'indoor voice please" 500 times. I am afraid he gets it from me-that and the chatting too much. Thank goodness he is not in school or I am sure that he would be sent in the corner most of the time. It was as usual lovely having the girls over and I hope they enjoyed the experiments.

Our stick insects arrived safely and I think they are all okay. They are very small still so small that is difficult to see them. Their new cage is arriving tomorrow so that should help matters. Sam has named them-sam, mommy and pencil box! M wasn't very pleased to be passed over in favor of pencil box.

Have started thinking about thanksgiving and have decided that we should do a lapbook to help sam learn about the holiday. we have been reading a magic tree house book about it and he seems to be taking it all in. While the historical facts are important what I think is more important is that it is a holiday that unifies our country in a way that even the 4th of july doesn't. To the best of my knowledge everyone regardless of religion or background celebrates it and brings something special to the celebration. No two families celebrate in quite the same way. My father does not eat turkey or chicken so growing up mom never served it. Instead we always had family dish called guadaroni (a bit like a giant calzone) so that to me is thanksgiving-that and pumpkin pie. I could eat both for every meal. pumpkin pie for breakfast is very yummy. I think it is a nice idea in this busy world to have one day set a side to give thanks for the people and things that are important to us. I have so much to be thankful, especially all of my wonderful friends on both sides of the atlantic. THANK YOU.

the king of dot to dot

the king of dot to dot, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

mad scientists at work

mad scientists at work, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

the expanding beans

the expanding beans, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

sam's jack o lantern

DSCF0863, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

DSCF0864

DSCF0864, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

New arrivals

With any luck (touches wood very quickly and crosses fingers) we should have 4 new arrivals this week. No I am not having quadruplet-one car and three stick insects will be joining the family. The stick insects were posted today so should be here on wednesday and all being well we pick up the car on saturday. I am not sure which sam is more excited about. He is very pleased that he will be able to pick up and handle the stick insects but says that he can't name them until he seems them-which is fair enough. The cage we ordered for them should also be here this week. Until it arrives they will have to live in a large sweet tub. We have to go in search of privet for them as well. Time to get the tree/shrub book out to see what it looks like. I wouldn't know it if it bit me.

A busy few days. We have started doing the kitchen again so spent all of sunday sanding, cleaning and getting the walls ready and ripping out the old laminate floor. We have hung 2/3 of the lining paper and will try and finish it off in the week. Sam wan't that keen on helping when he realised we weren't painting quite yet. He spent most of sunday making wonderful mechano creations and crashing them into lincoln log houses. I think he should get a job in demolition, he would be a natural.

Some interesting questions this weekend about heaven and angels. First he asked if heaven exsisted and I explained that lots of people believed it did but that no one could prove its exsistence. He pondered that for a while and then asked if I did. I explained that I did because it makes me feel not so sad about my mom's death. I said that if there is no heaven then when she died she was gone for ever but if there is a heaven then she is probably looking down on us and watching over us. He thought a bit more and said that he liked grandma looking down on him, which made me go all misty eyed-not a good thing when you are going round a round about. A little while later he asked about the order of angels and who was in charge and who was at the bottom. I don't know where this came from, I don't remember discussing angels with him. I did the best I couild and suggested that we had best look it up because I couldn't remember much except seraphim, cherubs and archangels.

Lots of math today-he seems to be warming to the subject. He is getting good at adding and subtracting and has even started doing it in his head. With any luck he will be able to balance my check book for me by the time he is 5!

We are more or less carless this week as the jeep shouldn't be driven any more than absolutely necessary. That should give us a chance to get lots done and start thinking about all the xmas things we need to do. He is keen to make gingerbread cookies for the xmas tree. I suspect this is because he wants to eat them.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that it has been almost a week since a I blogged. We have been busy but not overly busy. I guess I have spent my evenings doing my course or exciting things like the ironing.

The highlight of the last few days was the bonfire party on saturday night. F & her husband have a party every year and this year they were kind enough to invite us. Her husband went fire work mad-the displaly was amazing. sam was awestruck. there were about 7 children there and he was the youngest by a good couple of years. He fit right in though and was running around playing sardines and giggling his head off. finally about 11pm he announced he was ready to leave. Up to that point he refused to leave-amazingly even at that late hour we were the first to go. I wish I could say that he slept in the next morning but he was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed by 6.

this week we are having has a science flavor to it as we are going to spend wednesday doing lots of experiments. He is very excited needless to say and will expect to start them as soon as he gets up. Call me a killjoy but doing science experiments at 6am in my jammies and before my morning does of caffine is not my idea of fun. we are also going to start wrapping the mummy, weather permitting. we work on the mummy outside as I refuse to have it in the house. it doesn't smell that bad but there is a distinct odor.

we are also going to be car shopping as the jeep is not very well. our very trust mechanic advised that it was time to put it out to pasture as lots of things are going into failure mode. we are all going to miss the jeep, it has been a good car and taken us on lots of fun adventures. must stop naming cars, then perhaps I won't get so maudlin when the time comes to get rid of them.

It's here !!!!

I am so excited, my course material has finally arrived. Opening the box was like christmas, even sam was excited. He was thrilled with the fossil samples and started naming them at once. Being the eager student that I am I have already read the first chapter and worked out the answers to the first two questions on the end of course assesment. Hermione and I are soul sisters!!

A fairly quiet day other than that. We did our normals in the morning and then met up with Merry & K and their children at activity world. Sam did so much running around that he was dripping in sweat by the time they stopped for their snack. It was nice getting to chat to Merry & K.

Yesterday was a bit of a non starter as far as schooling goes. We had to go to the smart dealer in cambridge to get the spare key sorted out. we had friends coming in the afternoon so we didn't go into the city itself. F&P came by in the afternoon and the boys spent the entire time crashing hot wheels cars. why do boys always have to crash and destroy things? I am sure that girls play much more gently. I don't remember my barbies having crashes or threatening to destroy each other.

Monday was wonderful. We met up with my old school friend Melanie and her children at Verulumum (saint albans). The museum is fantastic and there are a fair few ruins to roam around. Despite all the cool exhibits I think sam probably enjoyed the play ground best! Melanie and I had a good chance to catch up. It is amazing how much we still have in common even after all these years. We are going to try and meet up again before xmas, hopefully we will be able to.

Not much on the cards tomorrow-must check our chicken mummy. I think it should be ready to bandage up next week. Will post photos of its progress provided it is not too gruesome.

Weekend round up

Saturday was a bright and early start-we were off on a family trip to london. First stop was the mac expo. M was very excited, he had been looking forward to it for ages. We let him have a good wander round while sam and I played on the computer games. The show wasn't quite as big as last time we went and sam was very disapointed that there were no good games to buy. there seems to be a real paucity of games for his age group for macs. We have tried everywhere, even the apple store had a miserable selection.
Next stop on the grand tour was the Natural History Museum. It was absolutely packed, especially the dino section. Sam refused to see the roaring t-rex, he said it was too scary. We settled on taking a good look at the mammals as we have just
done a section on them in science. He enjoyed having a wander around but it was too crowded to really look properly.

We then moved on to a whole different planet. We had decided on Wagamama's for lunch and the closest one was in Harvey Nicholas. Talk about feeling out of place! Everyone was very glam with cut glass accents! It was an experience to say the least.

Last stop on the tour was covent garden as M was looking for things for his ski trip. One of the shops we went into had an ice climbing wall and sam and I had great fun watching the climbers. He was keen to have a go but thankfully he is too young.

We were all shattered by the time we reached Kings Cross and it was straight to bed for the young master when we got home.


Today M had to work so sam and I spent the day doing errands. We have had some interesting discussions prompted mainly by our visit to the natural history museum yesterday. He has been asking about evolution and our place in the timescale. He said very quizicallly 'what comes after us?" I was stunned. I explained that I had no idea. He then suggested that maybe dinos would come back. I said that I hoped not for any future descendants of ours. He agreed that carnovoires would not be good neighbors but that it would be nice having parasolophlus (not spelled right I know) as one.

couldn't they have thought of something else?

I am sitting here watching the BBC's new docudrama on Egpyt. When they first announced it a little whle ago I was quite excited, thinking that it would be something new and original. Instead what do they start the series with?? Howard Carter and the finding of Tukenkamun's tomb. I agree that is is very interesting but it has been done to death. There are so many interesting areas to cover and stories to tell-why did they start with this one? Everyone with even a modicum of interest in egypt knows the story of the finding of the tomb-tell us a story we don't know. I hope they do something more original with the next episode.

Fresh air & friends

We certainly had plenty of both today. We met 'the boys' at belton house and everyone ran themselves ragged in the playground and the gardens. They were so covered in mud that we decided not to risk the house. We did make it to the activity centre where everyone had lots of fun doing nature related halloween crafts. It was so good to see everyone and to be together again. It has been so long since we had the gang all together. The boys fell into their old roles and everyone got on really well. There was lots of rough and tumble but no one seemed to mind. Didn't get a chance to catch up with everyone properly but we managed a good natter nonetheless. Sam was so knackered that he fell asleep almost as soon as he got into the car. I just hope he sleeps tonight.

We now have another boy in the family, matthew's cousin's wife has just had a little boy. Mother and baby are doing well and she hopes to be home by friday. He is called Noah and I can't wait to see him.


We went to see Wallace & Gromit yesterday and while it was good I don't think it was as funny as the short penguin film that they showed before. The makers of Madagascar have done a 5 minute short film featuring the penguins from the original movie and it was very funny. Sam laughed so much he nearly fell off his chair! Saw trailers for harry potter, lion the witch & the wardrobe and the march of the penuins. They all looked fantastic, I guess we will be spending quite a bit of time at the cinema in the run up to xmas. Sam want to see the next harry potter but I think it is too grown up for him. He will just have to wait for it to come out on dvd so that we can fast forward through the scary bits.

Happy Monday

Despite the grey and gloomy start we have had a lovely day. It started with a visit from Merry and the girls. We had lots of fun and they spent ages making houses out of the lincoln logs. It is a shame they don't sell them over here-maybe I should set up and import business! We also make kool-aid play dough and lego and play mobil. Everyone got on really well and Fran was brilliant with josie. Josie is so cute and smiley, it is enough to make you broody. Sam shared really well, right up until the end when he started getting a bit precious.
After lunch we ran a few errands with M and then came home to settle into normals. We got through most of them quite quickly. As usual sam enjoyed science the most. He annouced to Merry today that he is either going to be a geologist or an archaeologist. That makes a change from his usual answer which is he is never going to have a job!

We have moved sam's swimming lesson to monday and he did brilliantly with his new teacher. She spent lots of time with him and he has improved already. When he got out of the pool I asked him if he liked his new teacher and he replied that yes, he liked her better, that she was much nicer than his old one. He actually paid attention in class and listened to what she had to say which is a first. The time slot is much better too so maybe it will be a success all round.

The boys are in the other room watching lord of the rings. Sam seems to be enjoying it. Have my book group meeting here to night to discuss Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. It is the first group I have been to in months, in fact I can't remember the last time I was able to go. M always seems to be on call on group nights. Should be an interesting discussion, the book was odd to say the least.

Tomorrow we are off to see Wallace & Gromit. Sam is so excited. which reminds me, must go book the tickets....

A well rounded weekend

Sam and I managed to fit in lots of fun stuff as well as getting some work done and giving the house a good clean.

Saturday we did a couple of mystery jobs before heading to Happy Faces for bday party. Almost all of 'the boys' were there and it was lovely to catch up with everyone. Sam was so pleased because for the first time ever he won pass the parcel! It was a pack of 100 magic markers and he spent the entire ride home counting them. We then headed up to the USAF base at Molesworth for their annual holiday bazaar. It was like being home in the states again-it made me feel homesick and wistful. I also reverted to my military upbringing and called everyone we enountered in uniform sir! Dad would be proud of me. We didn't buy too much but it was fun looking around. We did buy a pumpkin from the girl scout troop, they were raising funds to go to the same camp in switzerland that I had attended 23 years ago. Boy did that make me feel old. It couldn't have been that long ago, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Once sam was in bed I spent all saturday night putting things on ebay. I listed 28 things and not one bid yet! Somebody out there must want M's old text books. Stayed up way too late finishing the book for book group. We read Vernon God Little and I am not sure what to make of it. I think it is supposed to be humorus in a dark way but I didn't really see the funny side. The second half was definately better than the first.

Today we spent all morning cleaning, or should I say I spent all morning cleaning while sam created a city out of his lincoln logs. I was amazed how well he occupied himself. I asked him several time if he wanted to help me and each time he said he was happy as he was. that suited me fine because it is quicker to clean on my own. This afternoon we went down to the trains. It was the last session of the season. The train rides were free and sam took advantage of that. Several friends were there and the children ran amok as ususal. I think we were the last to leave. Sam is already counting down the days until the open again (he has a long wait, they don't open again until easter!)

A fairly busy week ahead, we aren't going to have a formal half term break because we had most of last week off due to illness. we are taking it so slowly anyway that I don't think either of us really need a break.

A creative moment

A creative moment, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

A creative moment

A creative moment, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

The week that was

After a good start on monday the week went into a sharp decline before taking a turn for the better on thursday and finishing well today. Spent most of tuesday & wednesday feeling really grotty and lying in bed. Sam very kindly passed his bug on to me. Sometimes sharing is not a good thing! Not a lot of normals got done on those two days, though we did watch lots of movies so we can cross media studies off for the month.

Was feeling a lot more human on thursday so we went along to the beans for an archaeology day. Merry & the girls were there as well and everyone had a ball. Thank you so much to them for hosting the day, sam has been talking about it non stop. All of the children got on really well and the girls even managed to persuade sam to join in with their princess games. He is nothing if not adaptable because today he was doing karate kicks with the bigger boys at home ed group. Thursday was lots of fun and it helped to give them a taste of what archaeology is all about. Despite all my snide comments it is a worthwhile profession and one that any parent would be proud to have their child take up. In studying archaeology and working in the field I fulfilled my childhood dream and sometimes I do regret having left it. Oh well, there is still plenty of time to take it up again.

Today was home ed group where we did crafts around celtic autumn. Sam's favorite was the sugar skulls from mexico, indeed most of the children seemed to spend a majority of time on that table. Sam's skull did not make the trip home, it was consumed enroute! Sam was desparate to play with the older boys at group and they were very tolerant of him. They did seem impressed that he did karate and they asked him to show them some moves. Pottered about this afternoon with M before he went to work and then spent the evening watching part of walking with beasts.

Not sure what the weekend holds, two mystery jobs and a bday party tomorrow but nothing else planned. will probably head off to the trains at thorpe hall on sunday if the weather stays nice.

A good start to the week..

you know it is going to be a good week when your 4.5 yr old hands you a box of mechano at 7am and requests that you help him build something! what is it about children and mornings. my son wakes up so bright and bubbly it is almost painful. I don't mind mornings, even early mornings I just need time to compose myself before embarking on major building works. Apart from the mechano at dawn we had a good day. We had fun with our normals and even got a chance to snuggle up on the sofa and watch more of the life of mammals. ( I must try and find the rest of the series on dvd.) We have now completed singapore early bird kindergarten 2A and he has enjoyed it. It is an easy book to work from and he is excited about starting the next one tomorrow. he has also grown to love dot to dot books and luckiy there are a fair few usborne ones lying around. they have really helped him to get to grips with numerical order.

We had friends to play in the afternoon and then did lots of arty activities. We made more deepas to replace the one that broke and then sam finished his weaving. All in all a good day.

We also had a great weekend. Being in london again was great and it was fun just being able to wander. I really enjoyed 'We will rock you' and would go see it again. Sam had a lovely time with the in laws until the early hours of saturday morning. poor love came down with a tummy bug so was up most of the night. I was racked with guilt when my mil told me about it the next morning. He seemed in good spirits when we picked him up but he was very tired. He slept all afternoon and was in bed by 7 and then slept all night. He seems to be better today but hasn't had much of an appetite so he can't be 100%.

We have a fun busy week ahead and are looking forward to archaeology day with the beans and the puddlers. must dry and find my fingerless gloves and my steel toe boots!

A scientific sort of week.. well, sort of.

Following our science day yesterday, we did dinosaurs at mudpud. Everyone brought really cool activities, sam's favorite was the origami pteradon. What a brilliant idea, combining two of his favorite things. For some reason he decided that his did not need eyes so it was flying blind, making it even more dangerous!!! He and most of the other children spent the last 30 minutes of the group flying their pteradons down the stairs and then running around like loons. He was so worked up that his head was damp from sweat! We really enjoyed the group today, all tlhe children got on well as did the parents.

Yesterday was our science day, we had hoped to have the company of the puddles but circumstances dictated otherwise. I had about 6/7 experiments lined up and we managed to do them all. I have posted photos of a few of them. Sam had a blast, science really seems to be his thing. We have also started our chicken mummy-the whole process takes about 6 weeks and it will be interesting to see if it actually makes it that far. We had a good discussion about the mummification process and why people would choose to do so. Sam's main concern was whether we were going to put gold & jewels in between the layers of the bandages. Unsurprisingly I am not going to be donating any of my jewelery to this chicken.

Had a hard time getting sam to sleep tonight. He seems to be very excited about the prospect of staying the night with nana and grandad tomorrow night. When last I left him he was busy reading to his fluffy dinos and telling them that they needed to go to sleep so they had engery to play with nana. He doesn't normally sleep with his fluffy toys, he must have been inspired by our dino session today.

the mummy begins..

the mummy begins.., originally uploaded by mattamsam.

making butter is hard work

making butter is hard work, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

wow the tissue didn't get wet

wow the tissue didn't get wet, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

I think this one is an acid

I think this one is an acid, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

DSCF0792

DSCF0792, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

fun with marbles

fun with marbles, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

A bitty day.

We seemed to be in and out a lot today so we never really settled into work. We did get most of our normals done but not alot else. We had to pick up the car from the garage, deliver unsold nearly new sale stuff back to the seller, go to swimming and a few other mundane jobs. Not as much fun as yesterday when we visited the local mosque with our home ed group and then ended up going back to merry's to play. The visit to the mosque was interesting and generated a lot of good questions. I have visited a lot of old mosques in my travels but this was my first visit to a new mosque. It was beautiful, in its simplicity, especially the caligraphy. Thank you so much to everyone who made the visit possible and to andre who acted as our guide. He presented the children with their names in Arabic at the end which was a lovely touch.

We have declared thursday to be science day and sam is thrilled. There are about 4/5 experiments that we should have done and haven't so we will tackle them all at once. We will also start our chicken. M has said we have to keep it outside-just hope a fox doesn't get it!

Not himself.

that is the best way to describe sam today. he woke up cranky and spent the whole day that way. Either it is PMS or he is coming down with my bug. Nothing seemed right for him today, though he did perk up a bit when we went over to merry's to play. I hope that whatever the cause he is in a better mood tomorrow. I can't face another day of a grumpy, weepy child.
This morning we visited a local mosque with our home ed group-one of the father's was instrumental in is design and decoration. It was a very interesting visit and despite his complaining I think sam enjoyed it. Our guide spoke very eloquently on Islam and Mohamed and the chilidren had lots of interesting questions for him. Merry kindly asked us back to her afterwords so we went back for lunch and a play. After lunch sam disappeared upstairs with the girls, I could occasionally her cries of "oh sam" so I think even the girls were frustrated by his bad mood.

We are talking about mammals in science now so I dug our our copy of the secret life of mammals and we watched an episode. It was interested by seemed very long and sam was fed up by the end. We only have 2 episodes on that dvd so must have a scout around on ebay and charity shops to see if I can find any others in the series. We have fallen a bit behind on our science experiments so I think that we will devote wednesday or thursday to them. It will please sam no end to have a science day.

Do you think the OU does a freshers week?

Probably not and even if they did I don't think that I could cope with that much excitement at my age. For my fellow americans freshers week is the first week of college here in the uk where everyone drinks to excess while trying very hard to figure out everything there is to know about college life. I suppose it is a little like rush week back home but without the frats. Anyway all this is a way of saying that I have signed up to do an ou course in fossils and the history of life on earth. Sam has generously agreed to help me if I get stuck. I am really looking forward to the course and am eager to get started. I only wish they did more history/archaeology short courses, I really fancy one on egyptology or the ancient near east.

It has been a good week, despite this icky cold that I can't seem to shake. We have talked alot about ancient civilizations and archaeology. There is a really cool experiment in the SOTW activities book that involves mumifying a chicken (of the prepacked ready to roast variety) I am really keen to try it and sam thinks it would be cool. Must remember to add that to the tesco's list. (thank goodness for home delivery, it is one of the greatest reinventions of the last decade). We also spent lots of time learning about diwali as we were in charge of the diwali cards for home ed group. Sam seemed very intereseted, especially in the mythology associated with the various gods and godesses. I have to say that a pantheon of gods who have exciting adventures seems to appeal much more to him than christianity. I think he would be well chuffed if I announced that we were going to build a shrine to zeus and have him as our household god! He also likes the Indian gods as they get to cool adventures (his words not mine!).

Today was the NCT Nearly New Sale and I was very proud of sam for being such a big help. With M being on nights and needing to sleep during the day I had no choice but to bring him with me. He actually enjoys the sale, especially when he has a pound to spend. He was really good at helping to set up and managed to find a bag of mecano for £1. The sale itself was chaotic and we slipped off in the middle to go to french class. Sam went on his own again without so much as a "bye, mom" so I was left to run errands on my own. After french we went back to the sale to help clear up and then pottered home to wake up M and play with the new mecano. I also managed to pick up Battleship for £1 so we had a family game of that . Sam took great delight in sinking most of my battleships.

M is working tonight and tomorrow night but we are looking foward to next weekend as sam is going to stay with nana & grandad for the first time. Some couple time is much anticipated and appreciated.

Splish, Splash..

We have had a wet couple of days. Went with our home ed group to a local pool yesterday and sam had a blast. I had to drag him out of the water after almost 2 hours. I was freezing and bored but he was happy as larry to stay in. He really loves the water-even at home, he would stay in the shower all day if I let him. Today was his swimming lesson and miracles of miracles he actually listened to his teacher!! The past couple of weeks he has had lots of fun at his lesson but hasn't paid attention to a single word his teacher said. Today he listened to john and did his best to join in. He was very proud of himself and even suggested that as a treat he should have a happy meal for dinner!! Needless to say this was met with a no.

Learning wise we have had a good couple of days. Inspired by fran & maddie sam got out his geomags and embarked on making a pyramid to rival theirs. We also played with the pattern blocks, did our normals, made cuneiform tablets, orgnised diwali cards for home group on friday and had long conversations about god, religion, sumerians and paper making. Talk about a varied day. His question about god stunned me-he asked if god was made up. I did my best to explain the various points of view on the subject and we talked about the reasons why a society would invent god. He decided that he like the greek gods the best as they seemed to have the most fun. I never expect to have this type of conversation with my 4 year old. Next he is going to start asking how babies are made!!! I am a complete coward when it comes to this subject ( I blame too many years of catholic school-apologies to any fellow catholics out there) and am going to let M handle this one. After all, he is a medical professional!

We are settling into our routine now and sam seems to be enjoying the rythmn of our day. He really likes doing sums on the blackboard and writing words on index cards. He even wrote a letter to his great grandmother today all by himself.

As part of our exercise today I attempted to kill myself by jogging with the baby jogger. I should have realised that pushing a 40lb child in addition to trying to run would kill me before I even got round the corner. Oh well, it has to get easier doesn't it?

Elton John or sam?? You decide

DSCF0781, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

whee!!! Newton's second law is fun..

DSCF0788, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

a budding architect??

DSCF0789, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

To infinity and beyond.....

Thursday was our day in london and it was spacetastic!! (okay it is a made up word but it is saturday night so I am allowed a little frivolity). After an uneventful journey (on which we stuck out like a sore thumb-afterall, you don't see many rising 5s on the morning commute) we arrived at the science museum with time to spare. We checked out our favourite french bookshop and the lamborghini garage-sad to say we didn't make a purchase in either. We ate chocolate croissants while we waited for the museum to open and we were first in. We had a quick look at sam's favorite things-stephen's rocket before heading to the gift shop so he could spend his money. At last it was time for the Imax movie and it was easy to pick out all the home ed families-for a start, the children weren't in uniform and the child to adult ratio was much lower! We got seats way up at the back, near D and her children. D is another peterborough home ed mom and it was great to meet up with her and her children. Anyway, the movie-all about the international space station, was fantastic and being in 3d made it even better. Sam was enthralled through out and kept trying to reach for things, especially the m&ms!!!!
After the movie we headed down for a workshop on rockets where the home ed children equipped themselves admirably with answering questions and volunteering. Sam was picked to help demonstrate one of newton's laws ( the first one I think). After the workshop we had time for play before heading up to space food handling. This was very interesting but sam was so shattered that he fell asleep in my lap.
We finished off the day down in the basement at the water play area. What struck me most about the day was how excited and eager the home ed children were and their energy and enthusiasm. It was nice spending time with D and her family, her children are all older than sam but they all got on really well. What her boys don't know about aircraft isn't worth writing down!

We wandered to the west end on few errands after the musuem and then headed back to kings cross. We were both pooped but had had an enjoyable day. I would definately attend more days at the musuem in the future and will investigate whether the other major museums in london do similar events.

Yesterday was quieter-normals in the morning and then time with daddy in the afternoon. He is working all weekend so it was our only chance to spend time with him. M's parents came up last night, it was the first time we had seen them since their holiday. they brought us lots of nice goodies, including the lincoln logs that sam is playing with in the photo below.

Today we went down to see M's grandmother. It was lovely to see her and sam really enjoyed spending time with her and finding out about what things were like when she was a little girl. Sam was amazed to hear that she had lived in the same area her whole life. He loves the story about nan not going into an airraid shelter because it had a big creepy bug in it. He wanted a detailed description of the bug!!!!
A contemplative drive home while sam napped. I put on whitney housten which is always a mistake because her ballads are so soppy and take me straight back to high school and college. I made me miss my mom even more and hope that where ever she is she loves sam and is happy about the way we are raising him. She would certainly approve of the fact that van gogh is his favorite aritist.

Tomorrow we must catch up on housework and do some gardening. If we don't get the bulbs in soon it will be too late.

Things are looking up..

Businesswise today has been excellent. Completely out of the blue I received 4 new usborne bookings. All of them at schools or playgroups. You could have knocked me down with a feather. I am really going to put a lot of effort into the events that I have in the run up to christmas to try and build a sustainable business. It would be nice to do a few events/parties a month if nothing else to justify all the books that I buy for sam.

We have had a good couple of days and seen lots of friends as well as covering all our normals. After finishing all our work on monday we dashed off to meet up with miriam and the boys. Sam and A were thrilled to see each other, though Sam seemed to want to spend the time playing with me! As if he doesn't see enough of me already. It was lovely catching up with them, we do miss having them round the corner.

Yesterday passed in a blurr. After doing our normals we ran over to merry's to watch the girls while she took to ammi to nursery. Sam had fun playing with the girls as usual. Then we dashed home as E was comming with with her children to play. We hadn't seen them since M started school. He arrived in his uniform and looked so grown up. It seems like just yesterday we were sitting around in our antenatal class and now they are all in school. Everyone had lots of fun and R was able to pop by with S& A briefly. We then took S swimming with us and I treated both boys to dinner at the golden arches.

Today we have had fun day just doing our normals and running errands. Sam is really keen on writing now and loves to write words on index cards for me to figure out. He also loves HWT and is really getting to grips with all the letters.

Tomorrow is our big day out in london and he is beside himself with excitement. It should be lots of fun, I just hope the trains aren't too crowded!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen....

This was how we spent the afternoon, in the company of all three. The puddles and beans and jax kindly let us tag along to a trip to a local country park where they were doing celtic/roman reenactments. It was really interesting and sam's favorite bit was making a clay pot (big surprise there!). He also enjoyed seeing the troops practice but kept refering to it as jousting. It was fun spending time with the three families and the children all got along really well. The cambridge archaeological service had set up a mini hands on museum for the children and they got to try their hand at excavating,identifying finds and building mosaic pictures. An event like this makes me question my decision to give up archaeology because I think I would have been good at the education side of it. Oh well, what is done is done who knows what opportunities may present themselves in the future. There is no way that I could return to it now, unless that is they let me bring sam along. I have tried to upload some pictures but we have used up our flickr allowance this month, I guess they will have to wait until next month.

Sam really enjoyed french yesterday and even consented to being in the class on his own. I was amazed but pleased. I managed to have a good look around the shops and splurged all my mystery earning from the month at monsoon. I can't be doing that every week. Next week I will just take a good book and sit and wait at starbucks.

A busy week ahead, we are seeing each of the boys, all on separate days which gives sam something to look forward to. He is really looking forward to london on thursday as am I.

From India to Egypt and back in one day!!

Unfortunately we haven't been jet setting for real, just having lots of fun at our home ed groups. This morning we learnt about the Indian sub continent with one group and then this afternoon we embarked on an adventure to egypt with the second. Sam really enjoyed making clays deepas (tealight holders) this morning and cooking. At first he did not want to join in but once he realised it involved pounding things and grating things he was right there. We helped to make banana semolina and carrrot halwa (not sure about the spelling). He loved the banana semolina so much that he went back for seconds and thirds and would have finished off the whole bowl if I hadn't have stopped him. We didn't get a chance to taste the carrott dish but we both enjoyed the chick pea fudge that some of the rest of the group made. There were lots of new faces at the group, mainly with children around sam's age. Hopefully we will get to see more of them over the coming months.

After inda we made a quick dash across exotic peterborough to mudpud and egypt. Everyone brought fantastic activities and the children were absorbed the whole session. We took sugar cube pyramids and make your own nile. Sorry to anyone whose trunk is covered in mud due to the flooding of the nile. I think everyone had a good time. Sam and I were shattered by the end of it and after a quick trip to tesco came hope and flopped in front of a movie. I have a bit of plague so am feeling very sorry for myself. Have spent most of the night on the sofa watching clips on the mac of fox news broadcasts.

Not sure what the weekend holds, it depends a lot on the weather. M is working so sam and I will be getting up to mischief on our own. We really should tackle the garden if the weather is nice. There is also a roman day in huntington on sunday that might be fun to go to . It all depends on my plague and the weather. we may end up having a movie marathon weekend if both things worsen.

our sugar cube pyramid

our sugar cube pyramid, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

The nile-well sort of

The nile-well sort of, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Call me a glutton for punishment!

We just received the Superfudge tapes that I got on ebay. I know I moaned about fudge a few posts ago but sam really loves the stories and was dreading having to take the tapes back to the library. I managed to get the same tapes for .65p and he has been as happy as larry all day. He as worn his walkman as much as possible and has been giggling like a maniac to himself. I only hope that I am able to find the rest of the books on cd/tape.
Got all the normals done today as well as doing some stuff in preparation for mudpud on friday. (pics to follow). We created a model of the nile flood plain and build a pyramid out of sugar cubes. Tomorrow we are going to work on our Egypt lapbook so hopefully we will be well prepared for friday.
He seems to be enjoying SOTW and I know I am. We are taking it slowly and I have planned to do a few of the early man activities before we move on to the next section. I only wish I could take him somewhere to see flink knapping. He is very keen to see it and have a go. I did a bit when I was at university but haven't got any of the right tools or right stone to show him at home. I would love to get my hands on a piece of obsidian, that was so nice to work with.
We are looking forward to our trip to london next week-the science musuem is holding a special space session for home educators so we are going along. I can't remember the last time we were in london, it may have been M's birthday way back in january.

Congratulations to my friend S who has just had her 3rd girl. Mother and baby are doing well and are now back home.

Please spare a thought for everyone in the way of Rita. Luckily Key West (one of my favorite places on earth) came out of it pretty well but people in texas and louisiana may not fare so well.

sam really likes HWT

DSCF0772, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

the dino safari is cool

DSCF0768, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

are you sure this is part of the driving test?

DSCF0745, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

crazy driver!

DSCF0740, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

what shall we build?

DSCF0729, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

the famous stepped pyramid of longthorpe

DSCF0773, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Sorry Mr. Disney but....

my son prefers legoland!!!!! When we asked sam which he prefered-disneyworld or legoland he gave legoland the big thumbs up. As you can probably guess we spent the day at legoland and are all shattered. Sam had a ball, helped probably by about a million marshmellows. He did enjoy the rides but I think what he enjoyed the most was miniland. He got a real kick out of watching all the cars, trains and boats moving around. He also enjoyed spending time in the legolabs making cars with daddy. The only thing we didn't like about the day was the queing. Unlike disney they haven't figured out about the fast pass system or even making standing in line fun. Despite this we had a really nice family day out and will definately make our way down there next season. It is such a shame that their season doesn't start until June because it would make a lovely birthday day out for Sam. He took some money out of his piggy bank (£6) and spent ages choosing just the right thing to buy. He chose one of the racing cars (big surprise). I was very proud that he didn't ask for anything above this and didn't make a fuss that we didn't offer to buy him anything more.

Our week went well, we are slowly easing into our routine. He is very keen on science and is pleased that mondays start with science. Tomorrow morning we are going to start a model of the water cycle. Watch this space for photos!

Sam's lego plane

DSCF0717, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Egyptian mudbrick house

DSCF0714, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

gobble up math

gobble up math, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

School days, school days..

Although today was the first day of our school year it started uneventfully and it didn't seem any different than the way we have been working. We managed to get almost everything done and sam was still eager for more. He is really turning into a little scientist and would have spent all day doing experiments if I had let him. I just wish my enthusiasm for science matched his. He also enjoyed our Gobble up Math book and is looking forward to doing it every day. Today we did patterns with twiglets and cheese chunks. Tomorrow it is pasta patterns!


We saw Merry and the girls briefly today-we watched the girls while Merry took ami to a taster session at nursery. Sam and the girls played nicely and had lots of fun with maddie's wooden pyramid. Sam is slowly warming to the subject of ancient egypt, the mean hippos and the gory mummification bits appeal to him.

Matthew has just taken delivery of an ipodnano and sam and I are both very jealous. It is smaller than my shuffle, black and very cool. We are now an apple family with two macs and three ipods! I guess when my pc finally dies it will be replaced with a mac mini.

Tomorrow after our normals we are going in search of winter shoes for sam-that aren't icky black school shoes.. Wish us luck!!

No more fudge please!!!

As much as I love the Fudge stories by Judy Bloom I am getting really tired of hearing the same book on cd over and over again. It has got to the point where I have most of it memorised!! There are 4 fudge books in the series but to date only the most recent is on cd. We have read all of the others but the last one we listen to everytime we get in the car. I am beginning to believe that Fudge is a real person. I have tried other books on cd to distract him but none of them capture his imagination the way Fudge does. Please Judy Bloom bring out the earlier books on cd and save my sanity!!!!

We had a lovely day today, a nice slow start to the day and then a long walk in the afternoon. As part of the Heritage open days the Milton Estate opened its gates and laid on a 2 hour walk around their grounds. The estate is only about a mile from the house ( and infact our house was built for some of their workers) but I had no idea just how large it is. There are thousands of acres hidden behind the ugliness that is bretton. The land and house have been in the same family since 1502! Which to me is mind blowing-imagine the clutter they must have in their loft!! Unfortunately the house was is not open and indeed is never open to the public but from what we could see of it, it was pretty impressive. Sam seemed to enjoy the walk but we were both flagging a little towards the end. He got a kick out of the sheep, who followed us across fields. Following all that excercise we came back and watched Rugrats the Movie again. He is now tucked up in bed fast asleep, excited at the prospect of starting our lessons tomorrow with science.

Tomorrow is the 'official' kick off our home schooling year. We are doing the full blown Sonlight K and I just hope that I manage to make it fun and enjoyable for us both. Sam has lots of ideas for lapbooks that he wants to do as well as various experiments and art projects. He is very into clay at the moment and I can see that the stuff we bought on friday is not going to last very long.

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday party-which was out of doors at audley end minature railway. Luckily we managed to fit in the trains and bouncy castles before the heavens opened and we had to retreat to the party tent. The picture below is of sam riding one of the go-cart, bike type things there. He had lots of fun on the bikes but wasn't so keen on the bouncy castle.

Future grand prix champion! 

I guess we are official now!

All of sam's friends bar one have now started reception. It seems impossible that these boys that I have known since before they were born are now old enough to go to school. As sam has obviously not gone I think we must be able to say that we are now officially homeschooling. It feels good but a little daunting. I am just waiting for a call from the LEA asking if he is WASP (without a school place). I now have all of my sonlight stuff organised and have read through all of the IGs and have a good idea of what we are doing. I have also made a list of all the things I still need and the various projects we have planned for the first couple of weeks. I do like making lists, they are so reassuring, now all I have to do is actually do the things on the lists! I have decided to start the week with science as that is by far sam's favorite subject.

Today we ended up meeting Merry at Flag Fen, and though we weren't there long I think that sam enjoyed it. He was very disapointed that he couldn't do any excavating but cheered up when he saw all the dragonflies that were zooming about. It was nice being with Merry & the girls, they are so interested in history, especially Fran. She kept quizing me about my past life as an archaeologist and I tried to think of all the exciting bits to pass on. It is a fantastic subject and I am glad that I studied it. Sometimese in my madder moments I think about going back and doing another aspect of archaeology-like egyptology or colonial american archaeology or even palentology. Mabye when we have settled into a rythmn I will look at doing an OU course.

We also saw R and her children today. She very kindly watched Sam while I did a couple of mystery jobs in town. It was a luxury being in town on my own and I took the chance to have a quick look in some of the shops. Saw lots of lovely clothes that I wanted but can't justify buying. Consoled myself by getting some pretty undergarments.

Sam wanted to doing some painting this evening so we got out the oils and the canvas pad. He did a great painting of an underground carriage-I will post a pic once I have downloaded it. He put a lot of thought into the pic and even went to find is model carriage to copy from. Perhaps he has inherited some of my mother's artistic talent because goodness knows I haven't got any!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

What ever possesed me to schedule my car for a service (in cambridge no less) for first thing on a monday morning-especially knowing that we would be away the weekend before?!! I must have been mad. What a rotten way to start the week-getting up and out the door first thing to sit on the A14 and then to be treated like a poor relation by the dealership staff. I know my car was cheap (it is a smart) and the rest of the cars they sell cost a bomb (mercedes) but do they have to treat me like a second class citizen? Any way, after that nastiness was over Sam and I spent a pleasant day in cambridge wandering about the shops, taking in the sites and hitting a few museums. He actually asked to visit the archaeology museum-maybe he does like history afterall. Unfortunately it was closed. We went to the dino museum instead, it is his favorite museum, and pottered around there. We found a great wool shop and chose a pattern and some wool for me to make him a winter hat. I am nearly done with the baby blanket I am doing...4 hours in the car both sat and sun helped to speed things up.

We had a wonderful weekend. We went to Longleat and a good time was had by all. We stayed at a great pub and had a wonderful view from our room of a white horse carved into the moutainside in the distance. We were all really impressed by Longleat, there was so much to do that we had to go back sunday to finish everything off. Sam though the monkeys were fantastic-thankfully they didn't do any damage to our car but we did witness them vandalising several cars around us. The house was much more ornate than I expected but felt quite homey as there were lots of family photos of lord bath dotted around. Sam enjoyed seeing all the animals and was delighted when I agreed to hold a chilean rose tarantula. It was not scary at all and if he wants one as a pet when he is older and more repsonsible he can have one. All in all it was a lovely weekend and we would definately go back.

My planning kicks into high gear this week as 12th is the start of our homeschooling year. Sam is excited, especially as I have told him that science will be our first lesson of the week. I don't want to get too hung up on the timetable aspect, as long as he is learning and excited by what he is doing, it doesn't matter if we fall a little behind. I just home that I am up to the challenge.