A busy couple of days, though not perhaps from an HE stand point. This lovely weather brings out the truant in me-afterall you have to make hay while the sunshines because this being england the nice weather won't last!! We have done lots of reading the last couple of days-and he is even trying to figure out posters an notices while we are out and about. I am going to sit down before the end of the month though and get my head around all the sonlight materials and work out a game plan for sept. Then maybe I will feel less guilty about all the fun we are having now.
We went with our NCT group to Activity world today. It was strange to be there without the usual muddlepuddle gang. I got to chatting to one of the dad's as he had an institue of archaoelogy t-shirt on. It turns out that he was there at the same time I was and lived in the same dorm that M and did. We went into fits of laughter remembering the cleaning lady nicknamed mrs. mad who used to talk to herself and throw the bin bags down the stairs. We even had a few aquaitences in common. It really is a samll world.
We popped into the puddles to drop off a few things and pick up one of the new book bags. They are great! Sam can't wait to go to the library to show his off
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Wonderful time at Wickstead...
was had by us all today. We went with our friend F and her son P who is 6. We all had a blast. Wickstead is a an old fashioned family fun park. All of the rides are fairly tame-even the roller coaster. There are several cool playgrounds as well as a boating lake and lots of green space to run around in. There were several coach loads of school children but even so it wasn't that crowded and we didn't have to wait long for any of the rides. Sam has is developing a taste for the fast rides-he loved the mini roller ooaster and can't wait until he is tall enough for the bigger one. I a not a huge fan of thrill rides so he is going to have to sweet talk daddy into taking him.
After wickstead we attempted to make raspberry jam this evening though as it hasn't set yet I am not optomistic. If it doesn't set I hope they don't take away my PM membership card!!
Did some more reading this evening-(thank you merry for lending us the bob books they are going down a treat). He is becomming more confident, especially since we stopped doing headsprout everyday. By stretching it out he is better able to absorb and practice the sounds from each lesson. He is really enjoying the bob books, mainly because the characters in this second set are quite mischevious.
After wickstead we attempted to make raspberry jam this evening though as it hasn't set yet I am not optomistic. If it doesn't set I hope they don't take away my PM membership card!!
Did some more reading this evening-(thank you merry for lending us the bob books they are going down a treat). He is becomming more confident, especially since we stopped doing headsprout everyday. By stretching it out he is better able to absorb and practice the sounds from each lesson. He is really enjoying the bob books, mainly because the characters in this second set are quite mischevious.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Peak Perfection..
Is how I would describe our weekend. We spent two nights camping in the Peak District near Castleton and had a great time. We left friday afternoon which meant that we were able to spend all day sat and most of sun enjoying the area.
We spent most of saturday hiking and sam coped really well. he didn't once ask for a shoulder carry and was keen to try and climb all the rocky outcrops. All in alll we probably did about 6km which isn't bad for a 4 year old or a 37 year old for that matter!! We had a lovely lazy evening with sam making friends which the children in a nearby tent. They spent ages building mountains out of the newly mown grass and then throwing them at each other. It looked like lots of fun and their shrieks of laughter could be heard throughout the site. After a family bowls match sam finally collapsed about 10pm. He must have been exhausted as he didn't stir until gone 8 the next morning!!
Sunday was our 12th anniversary and we spent it climbing up to and around mam tor. The views were just amazing. After a celebratory pub lunch we headed home. I think we all really enjoyed the weekend, doing sporty/active as a family was fun and I think that as sam gets older we will do even more. We hope to fit in a couple more camping trips this summer.
Today was spent doing normals, catching up on the laundry and unpacking. We also managed a quick trip up to hill farm to pick raspberries for jam.
I can thoroughly recommend the Merry Wives of Windsor up at Tolthorpe. The production was really good, my only complaint was not being able to hear very well but I suspect that was due to the torrential rain!
We spent most of saturday hiking and sam coped really well. he didn't once ask for a shoulder carry and was keen to try and climb all the rocky outcrops. All in alll we probably did about 6km which isn't bad for a 4 year old or a 37 year old for that matter!! We had a lovely lazy evening with sam making friends which the children in a nearby tent. They spent ages building mountains out of the newly mown grass and then throwing them at each other. It looked like lots of fun and their shrieks of laughter could be heard throughout the site. After a family bowls match sam finally collapsed about 10pm. He must have been exhausted as he didn't stir until gone 8 the next morning!!
Sunday was our 12th anniversary and we spent it climbing up to and around mam tor. The views were just amazing. After a celebratory pub lunch we headed home. I think we all really enjoyed the weekend, doing sporty/active as a family was fun and I think that as sam gets older we will do even more. We hope to fit in a couple more camping trips this summer.
Today was spent doing normals, catching up on the laundry and unpacking. We also managed a quick trip up to hill farm to pick raspberries for jam.
I can thoroughly recommend the Merry Wives of Windsor up at Tolthorpe. The production was really good, my only complaint was not being able to hear very well but I suspect that was due to the torrential rain!
Thursday, July 07, 2005
How do you age 20 years in 5 mintues?
Set off your friend's burglar alarm, loose her front door key and reduce her daughters to tears. Sorry Merry!!!!! In my defense the alarm wasn't my fault but that didn't make me feel any less guilty. Loosing the key was definately my fault, in my panic to comfort the children I dropped it somewhere on the drive and while merry's very nice neighbor took the children into hers to distract them, I frantically searched every inch of the gravel for the key. All those years of field walking paid off! I was just about to give up and offer to pay for a new lock when I spotted it on the ground (thank you st. anthony of padua). Thankfully the children had calmed down by the time merry arrived and she was able to turn off the alarm no problem. It was certainly an interesting way to end the day.
The rest of the day was very uneventful. Sales at waddling were better than expected and fran's twiddle necklaces sold like hotcakes. Sam is a brilliant salesman-even if he isn't always sure of his target market. He trying to sell the necklaces to anyone who walked by, be they a toddler or a parent. Whatever his method it worked because we sold several necklaces.
We also managed to fit in the library, karate and tescos which should have tied sam out but sadly didn't.
tomorrow is going to be a frantic day-happy faces, a mystery job, a hair cut and getting everything together for camping. I think we will all collapse in a heap at the end of the day.
The rest of the day was very uneventful. Sales at waddling were better than expected and fran's twiddle necklaces sold like hotcakes. Sam is a brilliant salesman-even if he isn't always sure of his target market. He trying to sell the necklaces to anyone who walked by, be they a toddler or a parent. Whatever his method it worked because we sold several necklaces.
We also managed to fit in the library, karate and tescos which should have tied sam out but sadly didn't.
tomorrow is going to be a frantic day-happy faces, a mystery job, a hair cut and getting everything together for camping. I think we will all collapse in a heap at the end of the day.
Why mommy, why??
How do you explain to your 4.5 year old why attrocities such as today happen? I must confess that I was at a loss. I stumbled along talking how we all have different views and beliefs and are entitled to them but that sadly some people feel that the only way to make their views known is to create chaos. He seemed satisfied with this and didn't question any more and didn't ask any more specific questions. My heart goes out to everyone affected by today's events. I hope they catch whomever is responsible for the bombings, though realistically they probably never will.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
What a bad HE mom I am...
we did absolutely nothing vaguely educational to celebrate the 4th of July. We had a brief conversation about it being America's birthday and how it used to belong to England. Sam's only response was to ask if we were going to buy it a birthday present!! If only I could, there are so many things the country needs, unfortunately none of them are available at the mall. We didn't even make flags, or read any of the patriotic children's books that we have. I hope they don't take away my passport next time I go home. This is going to sound silly but it didn't really register that it was the 4th yesterday until mid way through the day. I shall have to put together a project for us to do on the founding fathers to attone for my lack of patriotism. We did have key lime pie for dessert so the day wasn't a complete failure.
We are slowly getting back into our daily routine of normals (thank you for that word merry!) in the morning and friends and going out in the afternoon. I am going to use the next few weeks to plan out what I want us to achieve in the fall and start to gather stuff for the projects sam wants to do. Following the sonlight-K program even loosely is going to keep us pretty busy but I don't want to loose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure for sam. We talked a little about what sort of projects he would like to do and he said that he would like to learn more about the ancient greeks (he is really into greek mythology) and also how things (like cars and computers) are made and work. I can see lots of trips to london (the BM and the Science Musuem) in the coming months. I have decided to cut back on the headsprout a little, instead of playing it everyday, we will do it every other or every couple of days. He does enjoy it still but I think he is beginning to suffer a bit with over exposure. It will give us time to practice what he has learned and to pull in other sources of reading material.
Kessingland really enthused us about camping-so we are off to the peak district this weekend with the tent. I just hope it stays dry. M wants to do lots of long hikes, and has promised to do a cooked bfast each morning so it should be fun. Sam is excited about hiking and really wants to learn to use a compass. (We have bought him one as a surprise). We haven't been up to the peak district since I was pregnant so it will be interesting to see if it has changed at all in the last 5 years.
Off on a girly night out tomorrow to Tolthorpe to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. Provided it stays dry it should be lots of fun. I must to find a synopsis of the story because I can't for the life of me remember it.
We are slowly getting back into our daily routine of normals (thank you for that word merry!) in the morning and friends and going out in the afternoon. I am going to use the next few weeks to plan out what I want us to achieve in the fall and start to gather stuff for the projects sam wants to do. Following the sonlight-K program even loosely is going to keep us pretty busy but I don't want to loose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure for sam. We talked a little about what sort of projects he would like to do and he said that he would like to learn more about the ancient greeks (he is really into greek mythology) and also how things (like cars and computers) are made and work. I can see lots of trips to london (the BM and the Science Musuem) in the coming months. I have decided to cut back on the headsprout a little, instead of playing it everyday, we will do it every other or every couple of days. He does enjoy it still but I think he is beginning to suffer a bit with over exposure. It will give us time to practice what he has learned and to pull in other sources of reading material.
Kessingland really enthused us about camping-so we are off to the peak district this weekend with the tent. I just hope it stays dry. M wants to do lots of long hikes, and has promised to do a cooked bfast each morning so it should be fun. Sam is excited about hiking and really wants to learn to use a compass. (We have bought him one as a surprise). We haven't been up to the peak district since I was pregnant so it will be interesting to see if it has changed at all in the last 5 years.
Off on a girly night out tomorrow to Tolthorpe to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. Provided it stays dry it should be lots of fun. I must to find a synopsis of the story because I can't for the life of me remember it.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
An attitude of gratitude
I wanted to say a couple of thank yous before I set about recaping the last week and a half. First, thank you to cheryl for coming to visit, we really enjoyed your company and hope that you had a good time. However, could you please send back the nice weather because I think you took it home with you!!!
Another thank you to merry for organising the muddle puddle camp. Although we were only there for 4 days we had a fantastic time and it was so nice to meet everyone.
Friday we said a sad goodbye to cheryl, we are going to miss her. Sam was cheered up by the arrival of a package from my father containing two hot wheels cars. He spent the whole afternoon arranging his cars and counting them. He is getting very close to the 100 mark.
The past two weeks have flown by and we have managed to fit a lot in. The theme of this trip was in retrospect -stately homes. We visited Belton House, Sandringham, Burghley House, Woburn, and Framlingham Castle. It was nice being able to visit these places, normally cheryl comes in the winter so everywhere is closed.
We also managed to sneak in a visit to sutton hoo while we were at camp. I hadn't been back to sutton hoo since I excavated there back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was amazing to see the transformation. The visitor's centre and exhibition were fantastic and sam seemed to take everything in. In fairness though, I think he was more interested in my tales of the huge spoil heap and running wheel barrows up the barrow run than the items on display! The visit didn't seem to spark an interest in archaeology-thank goodness! No ologies for sam-he needs to have a nice clean career-that does not involve medicine or mud. I don't regret majoring in archaeology in college and feel priviledged to have actually done some field work before moving on to something else. Had I had more passion for the subject I would have carried on as a career but has it was I didn't feel strongly enough about any one area to want to specialise in it. I am looking forward to teaching sam about the subject and about history in general. History was always my favorite subject at school. I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.
Camp was great-matthew and cheryl managed to pitch the tent in no time flat-something I am sure that he and I won't be able to replicate. They were aided in their task by the fact that sam had run off to find merry's girls. Sam really really enjoyed camp-he made so many new friends ( and so did I!) and he hasn't stopped talking about them all. He can't wait for next year. Everyone was so nice and made an effort to be friendly. We had such a good time that I may even brave the long drive to scotland for melrose in feb.
M's parents kindly watched sam for me today while I had a stall at the local school fete. It was better than I anticipated and doing well gave me a bit of enthusiasm for carrying on with the books. I am taking them to waddling on thursday so there may be a few more sales yet to come. M's parents took sam on Nene valley today which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Next week we will ease ourselves back into more structured work. Cheryl has lent us Handwriting without tears and I am excited about starting that. Sam is also keen to do some more science projects as well as making raspberry jam!
Another thank you to merry for organising the muddle puddle camp. Although we were only there for 4 days we had a fantastic time and it was so nice to meet everyone.
Friday we said a sad goodbye to cheryl, we are going to miss her. Sam was cheered up by the arrival of a package from my father containing two hot wheels cars. He spent the whole afternoon arranging his cars and counting them. He is getting very close to the 100 mark.
The past two weeks have flown by and we have managed to fit a lot in. The theme of this trip was in retrospect -stately homes. We visited Belton House, Sandringham, Burghley House, Woburn, and Framlingham Castle. It was nice being able to visit these places, normally cheryl comes in the winter so everywhere is closed.
We also managed to sneak in a visit to sutton hoo while we were at camp. I hadn't been back to sutton hoo since I excavated there back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was amazing to see the transformation. The visitor's centre and exhibition were fantastic and sam seemed to take everything in. In fairness though, I think he was more interested in my tales of the huge spoil heap and running wheel barrows up the barrow run than the items on display! The visit didn't seem to spark an interest in archaeology-thank goodness! No ologies for sam-he needs to have a nice clean career-that does not involve medicine or mud. I don't regret majoring in archaeology in college and feel priviledged to have actually done some field work before moving on to something else. Had I had more passion for the subject I would have carried on as a career but has it was I didn't feel strongly enough about any one area to want to specialise in it. I am looking forward to teaching sam about the subject and about history in general. History was always my favorite subject at school. I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.
Camp was great-matthew and cheryl managed to pitch the tent in no time flat-something I am sure that he and I won't be able to replicate. They were aided in their task by the fact that sam had run off to find merry's girls. Sam really really enjoyed camp-he made so many new friends ( and so did I!) and he hasn't stopped talking about them all. He can't wait for next year. Everyone was so nice and made an effort to be friendly. We had such a good time that I may even brave the long drive to scotland for melrose in feb.
M's parents kindly watched sam for me today while I had a stall at the local school fete. It was better than I anticipated and doing well gave me a bit of enthusiasm for carrying on with the books. I am taking them to waddling on thursday so there may be a few more sales yet to come. M's parents took sam on Nene valley today which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Next week we will ease ourselves back into more structured work. Cheryl has lent us Handwriting without tears and I am excited about starting that. Sam is also keen to do some more science projects as well as making raspberry jam!
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