Further blog bumping today in the shape of Ali (not literally in the shape of Ali in some sort of chalk outline drawing of a dead body on the pavement, that would be silly!) and Freya. Quick dash to the bank and we managed to arrive at their house while Ali was still not, erm, quite fully prepared for guests 😉 So I made tea while she sorted that out and admired the clock her and F had been making before we arrived. Lunch was a walk round to the local shop for ready made sandwiches and the children had great fun going in and out of the garden, playing with F’s toys and generally enjoying themselves. They brought us in snails, slugs and bees and learnt a bit about each one in doing so. Davies had us all smelling lavender and roses along the way to the shop and they later called us out to see how they had made ‘snow’ and ‘winter’ and ‘Christmas’ in the garden with some white chalk on the wet ground. This prompted Ali to dig out a Christmas tree which was then set up in the lounge while Davies had us close our eyes and wait for him as Santa to come and deliver all sorts of presents. We played jingle bells on a keyboard until they discovered a particularly irritating version of Bananarams ‘venus’ on the demo bit and the keyboard was relocated to F’s bedroom. They were later eskimos in an igloo tent and there was some very creative play going on in the sandpit, so imaginative play fully ticked off there for today.
Both D & S excelled themselves in genius with Scarlett annoucing that ‘A is in Freya and Davies and Ade (as in Daddy)’ she meant the sound a rather than the actual letter but she is indeed correct – blimey! 😉 Not sure who was most impressed really; me, her or Ali! Davies then appeared during a conversation about school and measuring our children against their schooled peers. I was telling her how Rachel’s E has the task of writing both his names and saying the number above and the number below each number between 1-20 out of orde (as in what is one above 6? what is one below 12?) which I didn’t think Davies could do and everytime I tried to test him he said he didn’t want to do that. He walked through so I asked him what 9 minus 3 was. He thought very carefully and answered 6. I’m pretty sure he actually did work it out (you could see his eyes moving about as his brain ticked 😉 ) but he said he had just guessed when I questioned him as to whether he just ‘knew’ or whether he had to work it out. Ah well, stops me worrying for another couple of weeks anyway 🙂
Ali and i managed lots of chatting on a variety of topics including our school days, older brothers, siblings, writing, pregnancy and baby choices, business, Home Ed, learning processes, blogging and loads more. I really like spending time with Ali as we almost always end up spending loads of time congratulating ourselves on how great we are 🙂 She is always full of compliments for my children too which is always nice to hear! So that was nice.
Got home and Davies was just desperate to make a hedgehog like the long departed Kevin of my youth so I got out oranges, tin foil and cocktail sticks for them both and they made a Kevin each – they then decorated them with beads, jewels (they were quite bling interpretations of Kevin, he has clearly made it big in the rap industry or professional footballing since I knew him!). They’ve watched Willy Wonka again twice today and Davies is now in bed reciting random bits of the script to himself – if ever he needed a reason to learn to read it would be so he could learn his lines! He has also taught himself the Oompa-Loompa dance and most of the words to the songs but he could have worse role models than Charlie Bucket 🙂 My worry is of course that Tarly will then feel obliged to choose one of the other characters to role play and end up as Verucca ‘I want it NOW’ Salt or horribly precocious gum chewing Violet Beauregard – or go in a very different direction and decide to be Grandpa Joe or Willy Wonka himself!
Ady came home early which as usual seems to signify the end of my patience with the children and the start of my shouting so they got yelled at a fair bit between bathtime and bed. Scarlett was late to fall asleep and Davies is still up in his room Oompa-Loompaing but as tonight is a designated no-wine night I am practising alternate methods of winding down – so, if homepathy works by treating syptoms with small exposure to the causes (or is that how you treat snake phobias by making them touch the snake (assuming of course the phobia is a snake and not heights, otherwise the prescence of the snake would be utterly pointless unless it was a very very tall snake and you had to climb on its back)) maybe I should be doing things like trying to install a new printer cartride, driving behind old people doing 22mph in a 60 limit or be forced to sit watching people with no children parking, quite openly, in parent and child designated spaces at the supermarket.
Stuff to get done this week includes:
some writing – which I might manage to make a start on tonight although I fear my muse of dry white being absent may make it less than creative
sorting out the playroom – the Joyce preparation meant lots of things got put into storage boxes, which look very tidy but do very little for making stuff accessible to the children
sorting out money stuff 🙁
having a bloody good night tomorrow with Joyce and Ros and menfolk
being a Good Wife to Ady as he recuperates from Wednesday onwards
doing some sort of special powers type stuff to encourage fine weather conditions in the Reading area this weekend!
So, where are yr bitches now Nicola???? Billy no mates when no Pimms on offer. We don’t do Pimms, it will have to be brought.
Comment by Chris — 25 July 2005 @ 10:20 pm
Ady’s bought some of those scarily huge bottles of blue wine to bring with us instead (our Reading drink!) so I’m thinking of giving pimms a rest – I like the thought it will be forever a summer in sussex 2005 drink 🙂
And urgh, don’t call me Nicola makes me feel like I’m in trouble!
Comment by Nic — 25 July 2005 @ 10:26 pm
rofl at the idea of Tarly modelling herself on Veruca Salt or Violet Beauregard … !!
Hope you do have a good night tonight 🙂
Comment by Sarah — 26 July 2005 @ 7:17 am
This bitch is still here thank you! She was just consorting with another one :-).
How’s the weather looking oh mighty one?
Comment by Roslyn — 26 July 2005 @ 9:08 am
Have a nice night tonight.
Can’t believe I forgot to blog ‘Xmas’!
Small mauve elephant here is being given a ride on Sleepy Cat’s back.
Comment by Ali — 26 July 2005 @ 10:11 am
Oh and by the way you can tell you’re a home-edding parent when your friend passes you a laminated photo of her perfectly delicious children and you find yourself squeaking ‘have you got a laminator’ then, instead of ‘ah, what lovely children’! Sorrrry.
Comment by Ali — 26 July 2005 @ 10:18 am