Monday – last of the Monday CHEF sports, at least for us. It may re-emerge in a slightly different form, but for now Monday is the only day we don’t have something on and I need that free time! All the children overslept, so we were late. L was very waily and we didn’t really have time to do birthday things, but she wasn’t in the mood anyway 🙁 We missed the younger children’s sport fairly effectively, arriving just in time for J to do some music theory with Gina and K to do some reading with me, then J and K went into their sports sessions – K had decided to have a go in the older group since it was the last session anyway. L was not very bouncy and just sat with me pretty much the whole time, while A was very clingy and determined not to let me out of her sight, so it was not the relaxed chat opportunity it sometimes is!
In view of this, we decided not to go to the park afterwards, especially as Gina ended up taking J and E home early after J got knocked over in the class. We had to go to Susan’s to collect Suma stuff anyway, and Chris very kindly suggested that he come with us to collect their share of stuff straight away rather than us having to bring it back here and sort it out, so we drove straight there after the session, sorted out Suma and then came home, eating leftover pizza in the car for lunch.
The children still had party presents unopened and L had birthday pressies from family, so we agreed to open things as long as thank you letters got written too. I must remember this plan for next time too; those are easily the most painless letters so far 😉 L snuggled down under the covers and failed to summon up much enthusiasm for anything, though, gradually deteriorating throughout the afternoon 🙁 We played Sssh, Don’t Wake Dad, to much hilarity from A and the boys, we blew bubbles, and we read some of Alice Through the Looking Glass, A’s Christmas present from her godparents (yes, it’s that long since we saw them, despite the fact that we go to the same church!) and between them the children managed to write 4 thank you letters, with a few sentences from each child – a few words from L after an initial burst of enthusiasm, but she was clearly unwell by now, with a temperature and flushed cheeks, but shivering cold. Bob got back in time to be shown various treasures and we ate leftover soup for tea, except L who had next to nothing and then a large celebratory (if that’s the word) last BF – she and I talked a long time ago about when she thought would be the time to stop and decided that 5 was a Big Girl and Big Girls don’t need Mummy milk.
Tuesday should have been swimming, but L didn’t wake up until after 10 and was clearly not at all well then, so we didn’t go. Instead we got lots of everyday work done – Maths mostly, as the boys felt, not unreasonably, that thank you letters should count as English. I feel terribly far behind on normals atm – there just aren’t enough ordinary days in our week; I fear something will have to go!
Wednesday was Latin etc, which was here, then at the Beans, then here again, but all the while uncertain anyway depending on how L was… Fortunately she felt better, although still very tired – mostly thanks to having woken up (and woken us all up) with nightmares. We managed to get the timings to work well this week, with younger Latin (Britons are best! Next time we’re going to share ancient stories from different traditions, because they all decided that Candidus’ story was better than the Roman ones we’d read so far) and Fimo dinosaurs, then older Latin (Off to town vocab, then new chapter, then silly sentences game with adverbs and verbs), middlies Music and littlies Science (looking at the bones we’ve been soaking in vinegar, then making anatomy tee-shirts), then older Science (same but more so!) and littlies French (reading shopping story and then playing Je voudrais… and adding a new item each time – Michelle did a grand job of remembering them all 🙂 then weather phrases and pictures). Somewhere in there was snack and lunch and lots of playing and chatting too – a very productive morning 😀
We made it to Baby Music on time too, then a quick trip to the park before Gymnastics (but we were late for that 😳 ) and the usual mad dash back to get J ready for Cubs – which this week meant a lift with the new Cubs leader as they were off to see a police helicopter. I might try to get *him* to blog that 😉
Today was Tots and Nots, which was nice and quiet 🙂 We got there early enough to get going before other people got there, which always seems to work better. J did piano practice, while K did some Music Theory and L and I did a game with some keyword flashcards. When Gina and co arrived J and J did their Music Theory while E did piano and K joined in the reading game, then E also joined us – it worked well, but L clearly hasn’t yet made the leap that K and E have; luckily it doesn’t worry her yet. The reading game somehow morphed into the French weather game, while J and J were still theorying and other people were starting to arrive. SB came and joined us, taking over my place in the game, which I think then turned into English anyway, while I went and got snack ready. Susan and K came along, which was lovely, especially as they both seemed to just slot back in 😀 It’s so nice to have people who just get on with things 🙂
After snack the older children helped me to make sausage rolls while the younger ones went downstairs and did music activities with Gina and the youngest just pootled, then we did songtime while the sausage rolls cooked and all the Tots left nicely on cue, leaving just the relevant families to do recorder, lunch and older French. There was much Twister-ing too and general catching up. We got back even later than usual, but not feeling frazzled or frustrated as we sometimes do after Tots 🙂
L ended up going back to bed for a bit once we were home (my choice, not hers, but it seemed to help) while J and K got some maths done and I made a large vat of soup to deliver to my friend with new baby 🙂
And this has taken far longer than ten minutes and I should have been in bed long ago :frog:
