I find it so hard, once I’ve fallen behind a bit, to get back to writing at all – which is daft as it just means we get further and further behind 🙁
So, this is going to be an attempt at a quick round up and catch up post, so that I can draw a line under what I’ve missed and carry on from here.
We need to go right back to Saturday 21st November 😳 which was Music School and sling shop in the morning and then the church ceilidh in the evening. Unfortunately M was very tired by mid-afternoon and in the end felt too unwell to come to the dance, so he and Bob stayed at home while I took the other 4 with me. The numbers worked well as A mostly wanted to be in the carrier, leaving 2 male and 2 female dancers 🙂
The following Monday should have been a family trip to the new Donarbon waste site, but at very short notice the site managers decided to impose an age restriction such that A and L couldn’t go. Fortunately Z’s mum stepped in and offered to take the boys for me, but ended up taking only M and K as J managed to make a nuisance of himself to such an extent that he lost the chance to go (I must admit I can’t now remember what he did, but I imagine it was to do with procrastination, his (and my!) besetting sin). They had a great time, learned all about waste sorting, recycling, treatment, compost making and more and came home with garlic bulbs planted in compost made at the site, which are now growing slowly but surely on the annexe windowsill 🙂 They were back in time for a late lunch and then we kept Z here until L’s gymnastics, when we also dropped him off.
Tuesday was a normals day, with violin and then gymnastics for the boys. Wednesday posed a few logistical problems, as I had been unexpectedly booked to do a sling morning but it was also a Latinetc day. Bob worked from home in the morning so I could set off early, then Gina took over childcare with some Music (practical and theory) and Helen did science as usual. I made it back in time to do a quick burst of Latin and French and we still got to Baby Music 🙂 Cello had been cancelled, which gave us a little more time in hand.
Thursday was Tots and Nots, with Philosophy Club, which they are all still enjoying, but Friday was a bit of a disappointment as we set off for the HE group we only occasionally get to, where we hoped to take part in a Messy Play session, only to find everybody standing outside the hall, unable to get in as the keyholder was ill and nobody else could get access or get hold of him to collect the key 🙁 Instead we spent lots of time and not so much money in an excellent charity shop we discovered down the road from there and sorted most of our Secret Santa presents for the following week’s camp. Then we came home and tried out all the games we had bought to see if they would suit their recipients 😉
On 28th November the boys decided that Astronomy Club was more of a draw than Music School, so Bob took L to music while A and I took the boys to Astronomy and then stayed while they learned all about comets. The rest of the weekend, apart from church, was spent getting ready for camp and then on Monday morning we set off for the South Coast, stopping at Ikea for lunch and a nice long play on the way. We were leaving Bob at home, partly because of lack of space in the car but mostly because of lack of holiday time left, but in the end he came along for the middle of the week and joined us – just in time to look after M when he spent a night vomiting and then a day recovering. Apart from that, which fortunately didn’t seem to spread to anybody else, it was a great week, with lots of cake, tea, chat, games, music and craft – and a trip to a planetarium which I’m assured was “really really good” although I stayed at the hostel to do service prep. so missed it 🙁 We had a Christmas dinner together and exchanged Secret Santa gifts and generally enjoyed ourselves, then made our way back home via a much overdue visit to Rodena.
It was quite odd to go straight back into everyday life after such a Christmassy week, but Music School was on and I had a shift at the shop on Saturday morning, then spent much of the afternoon and evening polishing off service stuff, including buying Christingle supplies – enough for everybody who might be at the service to have one. I think Bob has blogged this Sunday so I shan’t do it again, other than to say that all went well and it was a lovely day 🙂
A day of normals (and washing!) at home was just what we needed to recover; there wasn’t even gym to stop for and although K was out carol singing at an old people’s home with the Beavers Big Alice took him there and brought him back for us so it was a very easy day all round.
Tuesday was violin, which was just as well as it gave us the impetus to get lots of music practice done, and I was tutoring in the afternoon, but other than that we had lots of time to do Christmas crafts, try out some cookie recipes and so on. Oh and J and M practised their parts for the Cubs panto, which was to be part of the session on Wed. Wed Latinetc was cancelled but Gina and co came over anyway and we did a few bits together, including making some rather lovely Christmas cards. Cello was back on, but Baby Music had finished, so Gina took K and E and stayed for the lesson, while I kept J here (and made him, M and my J do work 😈 ) then swapped him for K again later. Cubs panto was fun (M was Alice Fitzwarren in Dick Whittington so borrowed a long skirt from L and looked very sweet 😆 ) and they came back with plentiful supplies of sweets – joy!
Thursday Tots and Nots was Philosophy Club again, and also lots of rehearsals for the Nativity Play planned for the HE group Christmas party, alongside an oht workshop to produce backdrops (some of them really quite stunning!) for the play. Friday was local HE group planning meeting, which Bob went to as I couldn’t face it after so much online politics 🙁 Saturday was the usual Music School and slinging combi and Sunday as usual found M with Catholic friends and us with Methodist ones.
There followed a week of Christmas activities – lots of baking, crafting, decorating, singing carols, reading Christmas stories and so forth with some normals and lots of music practice thrown in for good measure 😉 Latinetc found us working out carols from their Latin equivalents/translations and doing seasonal vocab in French, as well as looking at crystals with the help of SB’s fab digital microscope connected to laptop for easier viewing, then making molecules from Maltesers and working out carols on bells. Tots included another quick rehearsal and lots of lovely Christmas crafts, then finished early so we could get the boys to Multisport and then Friday had the big excitement not only of the HE group Christmas party but also lots of snow!
