One child and It..

We went to an outdoor performance of Five Children and It tonight and sam was captivated. We had heard the story on little toe a couple of months ago and to be honest I didn't think that he had paid any attention. He must have though because he knew the story. He really seemed to enjoy it, especially as we went with F and her children and M and her son. Just as we were walking home the heavens opened and we had the most tremendous thunder and lightening storm. Poor sam was frightened but as we were half way home on foot there was nothing I could do. I did my best to cheer him up and thankfully the storm finished by the time we got home. He is now snuggled up in my bed as he said that would make him feel better. He must habe been shattered because he was asleep with 5 minutes.

We had a lovely surprise this morning-a parcel from my friend Mary containing the most wonderful animal cookie cutters complete with sugar cookie recipe as well as the scrummiest lip balms for me. It was so sweet of her and a wonderful surprise. Sam was so delighted it was all I could do to persuade him to save making them for later in the day. We had a few mystery jobs to do and a bit of food shopping before we could have fun baking.

After all our jobs were done we got down to the business of baking. We had a ball, especially with the decorating. I think there were more hundreds & thousands on sam than there were on the cookies. They turned out really well and were delicious-thank you so much Mary!!!!!!!!!!

I am not going to complain about our weather again!

Have just been looking a pictures of the damage that katrina brought to the south and it is unbelieveable, epecially the flooding. My heart goes out to everyone who has been hit, it must be a nightmare to say the least. How do you carry on with life when your house is no longer there and your car is up a tree?? I just can't imagine how I would cope in such a situation. I just hope the rest of the hurricane season passes without incident.

I guess this must be another weekly round up as I don't think that I have blogged since about this time last week. Last week passed by in a blurr-we were busy everyday, either seeing friends or going out. This week is equally as busy as is next week-then we are going to settle down to some serious (but fun!!) structured learning. I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to organise our lives to ensure that we fit everything thing in. As much as I dislike schedules I have created a loose timetalbe for our structured learning to help organise my thoughts if nothing else. My goal is to set out what I want us to achieve each week and then work toward that. We are going to jump into the sonlight K programme with both feet instead of just dipping our toes in the water has we have been doing up to now. I am excited as it is a good programme with lots of scope for adding and enriching it. I would like to try and work in lapbooking to go along with some of the read alouds-balto especially lends itself to a lap book. I still feel like I have a lot of planning and organising to do before our D day of Sept 12th. If nothing else I need to organise all the resouces I have, otherwise I will never find anything!!

Opps, I was supposed to be talking about the highlights of last week-there was of course the poem and getting sam's new blue & white karate belt. We also had lots of fun playing with friends. We went over to play with J and her boys and they got on like a house on fire.
We also met up with all the boys (except C who was camping) as one last big outing before they all start school. It seems incredible that they are old enough to go, I remember when they were all born. I was pleased to see that they were excited about going and sam was excited for them. we gave them each a pencil case with some bits and pieces in it and they seemed pleased. Sam does not mind in the slightest not going to school but seems to be happy for his friends. I am not sure they boys understand why sam is not going to school but they are accepting of the fact.

Merry and the girls came over today and I think a good time was had by all. They got up to all sorts-playmobil, lego, sand art, the sand box and even a spot of painting! They all played really well together-though sam lost the plot a bit when it came to sharing the playmobil bus. there are some disadvantages to being an only child and not sharing well is one of them. I was never very good at sharing my toys so I am trying really hard to make sure sam is, though I am not sure if I am suceeding.

Rounded of today with a spot of ironing and Finding Neverland. What a good movie-I was in tears by the end.

Author, Author

I am proud to announce that we now have a nationally published poet in our family. Sam's poem about Harvey the Crane engine was published in the August issue of Thomas & Friends Play & Learn magazine. We sent it in months ago and to tell you the truth I had forgotten all about it. The postman arrived this morning with a huge parcel for sam and when we opened it inside was a letter telling us the good news, a copy of the magazine and a Tomy Pop & Catch Thomas (easily the most annoying toy in history!!) Sam was beside himself and kept shouting , "I won, I won". I tried to explain that getting published was better than winning a competition because they chose his poem because it was good and not just because it was the first one out of a hat. He has been on a real high all day and has told everyone that we met that he is a published poet.

We have had a good day, filled with lots of laughter and friends. We watched P & B this morning and then this afternoon S and her girls came to play. They all played for ages in the delta sand, I am so glad that I got it, it has really been worth the expense.

Some of my teaching must be sinking in because when P (aged 6) asked me today how to spell elavator sam burst out with-"it starts with e"! I was dumbfounded-he must of sounded the word out in his head to come to that conclusion-either that or he remembered what the word looked like. Either way I was very proud of him.

Our usborne origami book arrived so now we have to start our origami lapbook. I am terrible with anything techinal like this so envisage that we will be asking M for lots of help. I suppose that we really should be doing a mythical creatures lapbook as that is the topic of the next muddlepuddle but sam seems more interested in origami so I am going to run with that. We can save mythical creatures for another time.

A trip down memory lane

Today was, despite the rain, a day filled with sunshine and smiles. Sam and I met up with my friend M and her two delightful children at woburn safari park. The last time M and I were there together was 24 years ago on a school trip!!! Writing that makes me feel ancient. M and I have kept in touch sporadically over the years and today was the first time we have met up since before her oldest (almost 7) was born. The children got on really well and sam is gutted that they don't live close enough to visit on a weekly basis. M and I nattered the whole time, catching up and playing the do you remember game. I even brought along photos of our last trip to woburn-we were quite a sight in our school uniforms. If you had told us then that one day we would bring our children to woburn to meet we would have told you you were crazy. I for one was never going to have children-I was going to be far too busy being a writer/archaeologist.

We did get round to most of the animals but to be honest they were not to priority. The children were happy getting to know each other and we were having fun catching up. I am just sorry that we don't live closer, it would be so nice to see them more often. We will have to fit the smart with turbo engines so we can cruise down and see them in double quick time.
The photos at the end of this post are from today-except the one of my dad of course. My dad and step mom are currently in tennessee and dad and an old friend took their bikes out riding last week. Dad got his gold wing about 2 years ago and he loves it. He took me for a spin when we were out there and I have to say it wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be.

My dad-is he cool or what! 

Feed the birds.. 

a rainy day picnic 

Sam & Matthew

DSCF0508, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Ciao!!

Today was muddpuddle and the theme was Italy. Including us there were six families so it was quite a quiet session. I think everyone enjoyed themselves-we had lots of activities. I think the highlight, especially for sam, was the volcanos. we did vinegar & bicarbonate of soda volcanos on the basis that Italy has 3 major volcanos. Sam chose blue food coloring for the volcanos so we had lovely blue lava!! Sam's french/italian teacher came along for the last 20 minutes and did songs with the children. It was mainly the younger children who joined in, the other ones were busy helping us tidy up. Sam was using the broom with maniac energy. If only he would do that at home. It was agreed that the theme of the session would be mythical creatures/myths. Sam loves the greek myths so it shouldn't be too difficult for us to find an activity to contribute.

He has decided that our next lapbook is going to be all about oragami-do you think that necessitates a field trip to japan???? if only. We hope to go in 2007 if all goes according to plan. Before we start the oragami one though we had best the Italian one. We only have a few bits left to do and plan to work on it tomorrow morning before our weekly trip to the library.

M is working all weekend so Sam and I will probably just do a bit of this and that. If the weather is bad we will probably have a movie session-though I refuse to watch any more land before time!!

My own little Hong Kong Foey

I am pleased to say that Sam has passed his belt test-he now has a blue and white belt. He was so excited, he came running over to tell me in the middle of the lesson. I am so releaved and proud that he has passed.

Finding out about his belt was a nice way to end a pleasant day. We spent the morning at a special happy faces water play session. It was our last ever session and I think sam was a bit sad. He kept asking why he couldn't go back and if we would see Claire again. I assured him that we would indeed see her again as she sells my usborne books so we will have to deliver her orders. Happy Faces has been such a big part of our lives since he was 10 months old it seems strange that we won't be going any more.

This week has been very busy-we have been out and about everyday-thank goodness for my slow cooker!! Wednesday I took sam and 3 of his friends to the park-watching the 4 of them was tricky-thank goodness B who is almost 10 helped me out with the younger ones. They spent ages in the pool and sand and were filthy. I think everyone had fun.

Rainy days

What a lovely english summer afternoon this was!!! Had the wood been dry I would have lit a fire. I guess it is time to put the fan away then.

It was a funny sort of day. We did chores and watched Balto this morning. About 10 mintues into the movie sam said, " this isn't like the book is it, why do they do that mommy?" Not what I was expecting him to say, especially not at 8 in the morning! I think he enjoyed the movie, despite its dirvergence from the truth. I think I even saw a little tear in his eye at the end when Balto saves the day. Perhaps we should do a lap book on huskies and their role as sled dogs.

We then popped out to run a few errands and bag a few bargins at the library sale. As usual we came away with lots of good books, I do love a good library sale. Is that sad or what.

This afternoon was the long awaited bday party of sam's friend A. She and her family moved to DC last year and are now back over on holiday. It was lovely to see them, though we didn't really get much of a chance to catch up. I hope we will get to see them again while they are here. Sam was so pleased to see A and gave her a big hug. he then went on to tell her what was in her present and that he had made the card himself!! The topic of school came up (doesn't it always) and for the first time I have encountered a defensive attitude when I explained that we are home schooling. The two moms in question starting giving reasons why they though it was a nice idea but that they couldn't do it due to number of children, commitments etc. it was as if they felt they had to justify their choice. I must admit that this made me feel unconfortable, it was never my intention to make them feel guilty or defensive. We all have to make the best choices for our children and what is right for one family is not right for another. The most important thing is that the children and loved and valued regardless of where they are schooled.

We are going to work on our Italy book tomorrow and start cutting the paper for the mosaics. if it continues to rain we may go to the movies or have a movie afternoon here.

Excuse me while I rant..

Why are the only winter shoes in sam's size available at the moment horrible black school shoes??? Do retailers think that every child with a size 11 foot is going to school??? They all said to come back in a month or so and thankfully we can because his old shoes are't too too small yet. What if they were though, what then. Any color you want as long as it is black may have been fine for henry ford but it doesn't pass muster with my son. There we go rant over, we will now resume normal service.

We have had a nice few days, lots of social activities but also lots of learning. We have started lapbooking. Our first book is on Italy as we are doing it at muddlepuddle next week. We have painted the cover green, white and red and are now busily filling the inside. We have started off with easy things, like a map, a map of sciliy (with our family's village circled), the volcanos of italy and dinos that have been excavated. We are also going to add something about the romans, art, explorers, the language and exports. I think we are going to need a bigger folder! I will post a photo when we get more done.

A fairly quiet weekend ahead I think. M is working so we will probably try to get some heavy duty cleaning done both inside and out. The front yard looks like a jungle. We may fit in a trip to the movies on sunday and sam has a bday party on sat afternoon. I also want to start planning the next couple of months as far as home ed goes. If we are going to do lapbooking it would be nice to tie it in with the sonlight and muddlepuddle stuff we will be doing.

The week that was..

Yet another week when I didn't post, we seem to have been very busy. As you can see from the photos we have been camping, been to a concert and even managed to fit in a bit of learning! The beginning of the week is a bit hazy but I know that we planted our beans from our science experiment and created a bottle garden in an old jam jar. Of all the lessons we do, Sam really enjoys science the most. Now that I have slowed down on the reading lessons he seems to be doing better and getting more enjoyment from reading aloud.

Thursday we went camping to sacrewell farm with the boys and everyone had a good time. There was a real girl power moment when we had finished putting up the tents as we moms had put them up by ourselves. The daddies rolled up afterwork for a bbq. We spent most of the day on the farm feeding the animals and generally mucking around. After harassing the animals we retreated to the campsite where R organised an obstacle course for the children and then they spent the rest of the evening on their bikes. Sam managed to ride M's bike without the training wheels and stayed up longer than I expected. When Matthew got home the next day he asked for his to be taken off and hasn't looked back.

We had to break camp in the raining the following morning which was no fun. We were very soggy and muddy by the time we got home. It was muddlepuddle week and the theme was Pirates. Each family brought an activity to share and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Sam spent ages working on a jigsaw with J. It was nice to see SB and BB and Chris there.

Saturday we went wall climbing and then on to the courtney pine concert. The concert was fantastic, as usual courtney put on a great show. This is the third summer we have seen him and I think it was the best concert yet. Sam was dancing and jumping and even singing (okay he was singing california here I come but at least he was singing!)


We got up bright and early sunday to go to ikea before going on to our newphew James's christening. The day went well and it was lovely to see everyone at the party.

Yesterday we had the day off of normals to try and get the house in some sort of order. Although we worked all morning I am not sure how much difference we made.

Today was sam's first swimming lesson and he seemed to get on okay. He chatted to himself and the teacher the whole lesson and was very disapointed when he had to get out of the pool. I think that it helped that S was in the lesson too. It think we will try and go swimming this weekend.

Up to to no good

Up to to no good, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

We love ice cream

We love ice cream, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Secret Seven.. the next generation

Secret Seven.. the next generation, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

We went camping at sacrewell farm with the boys (minus A who is on holiday) on thursday night and we all had fun. The children ran around like loons and didn't get to sleep until 10 (at which point it started raining!!). They all got on really well. One of the highlights of the trip ( at least for me) was gettting into the paddock with Julius a very sweet orphaned calf. He was so gentle and sweet that sam and I wanted to bring him home. Somehow I think that Matthew wouldn't have been very happy with us if we had done. The only downside of the trip was the rain. It rained all night and most of the morning so we had to pack down in the drizzle. The moms also didn't get much of a chance to visit because by the time the children were all asleep it started to pour so we had to retreat to our tents.

Courtney Pine in concert

Courtney Pine in concert, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

The Courtney Pine concert on saturday night was amazing. The venue was so small that we had passed him three time before the concert started and he even said hello to me. At first the crowd was very subuded (except for us of course!), I don't think it was the type of jazz they were expecting. But after a while the music took hold and everyone was up dancing, even sam!! We had such a fab time, ti was a shame when it all came to an end.

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A well deserved ice cream

A well deserved ice cream, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Sam and his new tag a long bike.

Sam and his new tag a long bike., originally uploaded by mattamsam.

are we ready to go yet dad?

are we ready to go yet dad?, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Helping dad put on a new bike seat.

Helping dad put on a new bike seat., originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Sam's belt testing

DSCF0354, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

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My aunt's two new kittens, they are so cute...