In At The Deep End

I think we were just about to leave for Okehampton when I stopped

So, a fairly easy drive across rather too much country to get there and we arrived and unloaded just about in daylight, which made things easier. The boys enjoyed using the cage to carry bags from the car and then it was just a question of lugging everything upstairs and we were done. The usual socialising, dishwasher loading and unloading, kitchen helping and so forth kept me busy while the children for the most part threw themselves into the melee and just resurfaced for meals and occasional reassurance. A was a bit clingy at times and not quite certain of so many people, but still spent a fair bit of time pottering. We managed a bit of music practice most days and read Story of the World as bedtime stories, if only so that we had caught up in time for the Historyetc morning, which involved purple dyed linen squares, fimo charm making, glass bead stringing and a plague of frogs to help us remember Phoenicians, Egyptians and the Exodus. We had a trip out to take part in a nativity at Pennywell which was absolutely freezing (when we were asked to keep the barn door shut so as not to let the heat out I was hard put to it not to ask “What heat?”) but a lovely experience nevertheless. J, K and L enjoyed meeting the animals beforehand, especially J who liked cuddling the ducks, but A was so cold that she just wanted to huddle up under my coat. The Santa visit was a little disappointing, as both boys got the same gift, which didn’t really suit either of them, but L was happy enough with hers (and even happier to swap it for a secret diary) and A is still carrying her teddy around with her Warming up with tea/mulled wine and mince pies afterwards was very pleasant, but we somehow managed to miss the fact that almost everybody else was going to a glass/marble museum on the way back Still, getting back early meant that we were able to make a start on tea prep and fortunately the children didn’t notice that they had missed out, or if they noticed, didn’t make a fuss. L very much enjoyed taking part in a play with some of the older girls, despite missing some of the rehearsals because of her mean mother making her go to bed and the boys enjoyed table tennis and pool (?) as well as the inevitable DS-ing. Oh, and there were a couple of walks as well, which I missed because of being busy in the kitchen for one and with a grumpy Anna for the other, but J did both and K and L the longer, colder one (once L had been coaxed into putting on more clothes!). There was snow on Christmas Day, which was excellent timing, and a lovely Christmas dinner, lots of carols and presents… just how Christmas should be

On the way back from Okehampton we decided that it was a shame to have gone so far and be so near to Stonehenge without going to see it, so we detoured from our planned route to go that way, stopping for Daktarin for L’s sore mouth on the way (thanks Jan!). It was the first time any of us had been there and it was quite magical in the snow, but incredibly cold! The car park was closed because of ice, so we had to park further down the road and walk back, slipping and sliding and hoping it would be worth it. It was. We borrowed audio tour sets, but mine wasn’t working (too cold for the batteries, the chap said, and I certainly had to work on warming up my camera batteries to get that working) so the children had to give me edited highlights from theirs. We didn’t hang about, but took lots of pictures and listened to the tour as we were walking there and back rather than in the right places, then lingered in the gift shop, sorely tempted by the snowglobes as that was how we had seen it ourselves. We resisted, but bought a little model to make up ourselves Unfortunately the cafe wasn’t open so no nice warming drinks, but we were happy anyway.

Got back late but not stupidly late and the children were all able to surface in time for the last music school of the year. They’ve really enjoyed SMS and we’re definitely signed up for another term, but the more I hear about our nearest town music school the more I wonder if it might be better overall for us – rather more expensive but would include instrument tuition as well, plus it’s for children and adults = more expense again, but I’d love to learn an instrument alongside the children, and it would be good for Bob to pick up guitar again, I think, if that’s an option. We need to find out if their sessions include choir/singing, though, as that’s what the children get most out of at SMS and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them. Girls had ballet, then we all thought about unpacking…

On Sunday 5th December L’s godmother came to visit, bringing gifts The children always love it when Michelle comes, because she has so much time for them, but we managed a bit of a grown-up chat too (we were at school together so go back a long way) and a generally very pleasant afternoon, which we followed up by spending most of Monday with Michelle again, but at Emma’s house (J’s godmother and another old schoolfriend) – a very nice way to pass a few hours, even if meeting Emma’s gorgeous puppy did give the children ideas… Monday evening was judo, although iirc L was feeling too tired so gave it a miss. On Tuesday we went over to Gina’s so that J could have a last piano lesson before his exam, but at least didn’t have to go at stupid o’clock for strings group as that had finished for the term, then on to Djembe, with a horribly screechy car which Chris was able to reassure me was almost certainly not as bad as it sounded (and the garage managed to fix it very quickly the next day as it was in fact caused by a loose bolt – phew!). We swapped K, who was getting into the drumming, for SB, who was finding it hard on her delicate nerve endings (nasty toothy accident at the end of Okehampton), when we left early to go to violin, so SB and J did non-verbal reasoning tests while L and A did violin Rainbows Christmas party for L but no gym for the boys thanks to term ending in November!

Wednesday was a Latinetc day, rather a hectic one as we had puddlechicks without Merry and HH had to go out for part of it too. Lots of Skoldo French happened, and some GP French and I think both kinds of Latin, lots of fimo modelling – making the beginnings of a periodic table in fimo and then using remnants to make letter discs and interesting other little projects Baked potatoes for lunch seemed to work, but it was logistically interesting for first go with fewer adults than usual to organise serving up, as Zoe had to dash off to look after dog things, so it was just Gina and me with all the children at that point! K had ‘cello and then his Cubs Christmas party but J was feeling a bit tired and under the weather so missed his Scouts one (plus the Scouts calendar suggested it was next week, so we thought it was a normal meeting until too late ).

Thursday 9th December was Tots, as ever, then CHEF sports for the boys and then J’s piano exam, which he was very nervous about, particularly scales… Dashed back to teach, made easier by exams moving forward since there was a gap before our time and then enjoyed a nice gentle Friday – much-needed!

The girls had their last ballet lessons of term on Saturday, and Sunday was more dancing, with folk dancing for all the children in the afternoon. We left Bob at home to do jobs A nice quiet couple of days at home, doing gentle HE, music practices and lots of Christmas cooking and crafts, making chocolates and so on, and then we were off to London on Wed 15th (sadly missing a Christmas crafts Historyetc) to see Father Christmas at the Harrod’s Grotto. This is something I’ve been trying to book for literally years, but each time I only think of it too late for the ridiculously early time the tickets go up and miss all the slots. This year I finally managed it, and booked extra so others could join us We went in on the train and arrived with plenty of time to look round the toy dept. first, admiring all the displays and enjoying a magic show, then met up with Gina, Dave, J, E and S to go and join the queue… Considering it was free (apart from a £5 booking fee, which gets loaded onto a loyalty card for use elsewhere in the shop) it wasn’t bad, although the queue was quite long enough and the Santa we saw (I think they have several working at once, behind carefully guarded doors so you only ever see your own one) was jovial but slightly vague. The children were delighted with their outsize chocolate coins and pleased enough to get a book (until they realised they all had exactly the same book as each other!) and to pose for a photo (which we declined to buy; it was nice but not *that* nice!) and we were not rushed at all, so they all had a good chat. Afterwards the children were given certificates making them honorary fairies or pirates, signed by Mrs Christmas and Tinkerbell – they could have been signed by Peter Pan, but we didn’t wait to see him; the toy dept. beckoned again. We had packed lunch with us, but the Biffs didn’t, so we set off for a museum where they could buy lunch and we could eat ours. The V&A came up first, so they stopped there, but after a quick scoot round we went on to the Science Museum, since we had more time to spare than they did and there are better places to sit and eat your own food there. We then spent several hours in the Launchpad, including a talk about rockets, which found K and J dressed up in nose cone (K) and fiery helmet (J) sitting on wheeled chairs to demonstrate Newton’s second law of motion, and then L trying to push a heavy body (large man on wheeled chair) and then travelling at great speed halfway across the room when he took his turn to push her Once we were in danger of being thrown out (or locked in) we went back to Harrods to find a nice way of spending our £5, and of course ended up spending rather more The children begged for one of the magic tricks we had seen demonstrated (J has been practising and is now quite proficient at making lights appear from nowhere, pass through people’s heads and so on ) and we got a Christmas pudding for FIL, thus resurrecting an old family tradition.

Thursday was to have been a very difficult day, with Tots in the morning and then an afternoon of rushing around between violin stuff for L and tuition stuff for me, but fortunately my tutee cancelled (unfortunately for her it was because of a nasty accident at school, but it made my life easier at least) so at least we only had to be in one place at a time rather than two. It looked as though we were going to have some snow at last, but it stopped at about 1/2cm, not really enough to be any use to anybody! L played a duet with her teacher (Jingle Bells – nothing fancy!) and was one of the first to play because it was done in age order. She should have been first (since A was not playing) but there was somebody who had to leave early and so went before her – I think she was relieved! After the violin pieces Kate, their SMS singing teacher and A’s beloved Baby Music teacher, did some singing and games with the children while the adults got first go at the party food and a much needed cup of tea and then I left them to it, as Bob had arrived by now, and dashed off to teach my A-Level retake student – who gave me a lovely box of chocolates for Christmas

Quiet Friday, doing not much, but with friends round and then Saturday was Crisp Packet Fireworks, which was fab (we bought both the books!) and an extra child coming home with us, as S came for his long-promised sleepover. We returned him on Sunday, after the christingle service at our old church, and then were unexpectedly invited to lunch with A’s godparents (it’s been a godparenty kind of month!) which was lovely. On Monday we had been invited to a children’s social, but as it turned out Bob’s car wouldn’t start so he had to take mine and that left us with a quiet day at home, putting up the tree and decorations and then livened up at the end with “ice” skating in the annual town get-together. I missed it to be at home for a tutee who didn’t turn up (grr) but the children and Bob had a good time, at least. On Tuesday Bob still had no car so we performed some complicated vehicular manoeuvres to enable us to go and play/collect a bike and Bob to work (plan had been for him to work form home, but poorly work laptop knocked that one on the head – one of those weeks!) and then Wed and Thurs we stayed at home, which was rather nice actually. On Friday Bob’s parents, sister and nephews came across from Colchester for lunch and we had a very convivial few hours, then went to a family communion (kind of children’s midnight mass, at 7pm) came back and read lots of Jotham’s Journey, found socks to put up for those who couldn’t find their stockings (actually socks are far easier, especially when it’s one of a pair ) and left out three mince pies, some alcohol and a few carrots, as per Harrod’s Father Christmas’ instructions.

This has been a catching up kind of week so far. J tried an English SATs paper, to see how it went – reading first of all. He didn’t do as well as I’d hoped (level 4A, so fine for age) but we realised when we went through it together that it was largely because it was the first time he had done anything like that and there were several questions that he had answered but not quite in the right way. It was clear that he had understood exactly what he was reading, but he didn’t get the marks because the mark scheme requires you to answer in just the right way. A little exam technique practice wouldn’t go amiss, I think He has had a similar problem with the short writing paper – he produced a rather lovely piece of descriptive writing but didn’t stick to the brief, so much of it doesn’t count (and we *still* need to work on consistently using capital letters!) – and the first Science paper – with a couple of marks lost because he was (correctly) answering a far harder question than they were asking! Having gone over those, I’m hoping he’ll tackle the remaining papers next week and try to put into practice the things we’ve talked about when it comes to answering questions

L, watching J do papers, wanted to try too, so we had a look at a Maths Level 2 paper from 2004. Despite occasional tears and tantrums *sigh* she got through it and scored highly enough to be worth looking at Level 3 when I can summon up the courage We might try some English papers too, I think, and maybe get K to do some too, although I’m not sure whether to jump him up, drop him down or attempt to find something aimed specifically at his age. Perhaps we’ll start with the Level 3 stuff to build up his confidence and then move up from there…

We also spent a couple of happy hours doing a Sculpey kit which worked really well – there were a number of different things to make, so each child could choose what they wanted to make. After we’d baked them they spent another couple of hours happily playing tea shops with the results Double the fun – thanks Merry

Wednesday was Latinetc, but a rather depleted one, with no Beans and no Puddlechicks. We did have the pleasure of Zoe and her girls, though, and a last session with Michelle and C for a while (although you’re always welcome to come along anyway, Michelle ). No science, but we managed some French (pencil case vocab game – rather wild but fun!) and another quick whisk through Minimus chapter one for S and P’s benefit, followed by some chatting about Roman dinner parties and rich and poor households. I rather like doing half Latin and half Classics J and J did some GP Latin too, while the others played on the field. Some Music Theory happened, I think, and some recordering, and we all ate cake (J wanted to make one for C, including a little Eiffel Tower on the top, which he made very painstakingly, and occasionally painfully, out of cocktail sticks, only to find the craft sticks a few minutes after he had finished. Ah well.) and yummy crumble, which E assured me had been made by Gina “all by herself” Zoe had brought along lovely craft idea, which all the children managed to do, some with more help than others, making little felt brooches (or stuffed toys) with buttons and beads sewn on for decoration. They were all very pleased with their efforts, I think, and it worked well because the shapes could be pre-cut and then as many or as few buttons added as child (or parent) had patience to sew Gina’s glue came in useful too, for those who were tired of stitching

Today we went to a lovely birthday party, on the theme of Secret Agents, so the children spent yesterday tea-time coming up with ideas for different kinds of agents they could be. In the end, L opted for taking an inflatable globe with her, to be a secret travel agent (sidling up to people and saying “Psst, wanna buy a holiday?) while K toyed with the idea of taking lots of pictures of houses with him to hide under a raincoat, but decided instead to dress in black and take a newspaper with eyeholes. A thought this was such a good idea she had to do it too The party hostess had had the happy thought of providing eyeliner pencils and a mirror so that they could draw themselves false moustaches (there was even a sheet of different moustache types to try) and that was great hit with all the children They also had secret phones with code words to work out in order to get their cake. The weather was kind to us, so lots of playing in the garden ensued (and the hosts do have a wonderful garden for playing in!) while A got to do lots of bouncing on the trampoline because it had been reserved for the three littlest guests – a lovely idea, thank you Emily

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!

Lovely weekend with the Rainedrops, including church on Sunday morning (and actually we just realised that M has still only been to a Catholic church – I think this week we must try to get him to Mass on Saturday and then to the Methodist church with us on Sunday so he can see what differences and similarities there are) and some game playing.
We had an uneventful trip back, thank goodness, but a very late night, having set off at children’s bedtime, and then a slow start to Monday, with music practice and not much else until the afternoon when the four older children were all booked into an activities roadshow in a park down the road. It was free, lasted 2 1/2 hours and seemed to cover a wide variety of fun sports and games – at £5 a head it would still have been great value so to get it free was fab A and I stayed and played in the playground for an hour then popped home for a cup of tea before going back to pick them all up (and spend another half hour in the playground).

On Tuesday I was doing a sling morning so the children all came with me and worked or played in varying proportions while I talked six people (five families) through the why and how of sling use then we went to Gina’s for an afternoon of Geography, Maths, English and so on – an attempt to catch up a bit without the children feeling hard done by, so lots of playing as well – World of Goo is now on my “investigate” list

Wednesday was Latinetc, with some great chemistry experiments involving substitution reactions, Latin, sewing (M was particularly pleased with the little cushion he made ), parachute games in the field to make the most of the unseasonably warm weather and even a little French (but not for M!). No Baby Music or ‘cello this week meant we could go on longer than usual so there was plenty of time for play and chat too.

J should have had a swimming lesson each morning this week, but they were cancelled as not enough children had signed up. However a leisure centre relatively nearby was offering free lessons for children on Thurs and Fri as they had a training course for teachers and lifeguards so we decided to sign the boys up for both days and L for just Friday. On the basis of what Bob told them over the phone M was put into the most advanced group, which left him very tired and feeling slightly overwhelmed, so we have asked for him to be moved down a group tomorrow. J was a Beginner today and will try Post-beginner tomorrow, while K is a happy Beginner and L will join him there. That meant L and A came with me to Tots while M, J and K went with Bob to swimming and then came along to Tots afterwards, which in turn meant that not a great deal happened work-wise at Tots, although some rather lovely pumpkin paper plates were painted M was so tired after a busy week and a very hard swimming lesson that piano lesson was put off (it is half-term after all!) and we came home to make popcorn, flop on the settee and watch videos. Oh, and roast a nice blue pumpkin for baking

On Thursday morning we went to Tots, sans K (who was busy watching a film with his homonym) and did usual Tots things (piano, French, playing a lot) but not recorders as Gina needing to do some child-dropping and -swapping and the necessity of an early finish for Multisport meant that time was very short. When we got to Multisport we found that Susan had brought the Ks there so that made reclaiming our own easy J and M did sport, K, K, E and L watched and had fun with face paints we had brought to get L ready for her Hallowe’en Gym session (deferred from Monday). BB, A and S played and also face painted a bit, and the adults had a frustrating time trying to work through some of the politics of the local HE list and how to make it work better
Home again and got L ready for gym, which Chris very kindly took her to as he was almost passing with SB… Sorted Suma stuff for him to collect, quick cup of tea and he was off to collect the girls again. Lots of violin practice, in anticipation of a weekend without, piano practice ditto then tea and an early night.

Friday was a day at home with lots of maths and music, playing outside while weather still good and a tutoring session mid-afternoon. We made chocolate truffles to give Nic and Ady as a thank you for ferrying the boys to the Rainedrops for us (all sorts of shapes and sizes, as all children joined in, including A – hope they were okay!) and made a quick cake while we were at it, then tea and all children into pyjamas, L ready for bed as soon as boys had left and boys ready for bed as soon as they had arrived! It was very odd to be in a house with only 2 children! Even once they would all have been asleep and quiet anyway the silence had a different quality to it somehow.

Saturday was my shop morning, which should have ended at 1:30 ready for a quick dash across to Derby to collect some more Trofast and then up to Sheffield, aiming to arrive by 4:30 or 5 (3 hours from Cambridge according to googlemaps). While I was working Bob took the girls to one of the Festival of Ideas events, where they had a great time making sculptures of big and small things and then came back to the shop at 1:15 ready for a quick getaway as soon as the afternoon shift person arrived. At 1:45 I tried ringing the shop owner to see what was happening, but got no answer to her mobile. Eventually I managed to get hold of her home number and phoned there at 2 to say that we really had to go. She sent her husband to take over but said I could leave the Back in 5 minutes sign up and just go as soon as we were ready. Bob put children in car, I locked things which needed locking, found the sign etc and we finally left rather nearer to 2:30 than 1:30
Bob had checked the oil whilst waiting and found it was low, so decided it would be a good idea to pop home and put more in, since it’s only a 2 or 3 minute detour and meant we could pick up more food and bits for journey too. Unfortunately he was rather generous with the oil and as we set off from home clouds of billowing white smoke followed us After a couple of minutes they still weren’t clearing so I stopped the car and Bob phoned my dad for advice, the gist of which was that the oil had been enormously overfilled and we needed to get some out either using the sump plug or a pipette. I ran home for the baster the children play with in the bath, only to find that the engine layout is such that you can’t get at the oil once it’s in. The sump plug was still too scary a proposition, especially as it’s so far under the car and the front is so low that we would have had to reach for it blindly, so we decided to call out our breakdown cover (handily provided by our bank account) – only to find that Bob had moved the info card to his new car. So we then had to phone the bank to get the details so that we could phone the breakdown people *sigh*
When he finally arrived (it took over an hour) the breakdown man was very nice and said that although he would normally have then towed us to his workshop he would try to do the job on the road for us so we could get on. Since he couldn’t reach the sump plug either (which made us feel slightly better!) we had to drive the car up onto the kerb one side and a wedge of wood the other so that both front wheels were lifted enough for him to get underneath and drain the oil. What he removed was still quiet clean so he poured it into a spare empty oil container and gave it to us to use next time (and the time after that, and probably the next couple of times too – yes Bob did overdo it a bit!) then checked the level and told us to rev the engine for a bit to clear the system and we were good to go Only 4 hours late!
Fortunately the shelves people were happy for us to go late, but it meant we didn’t get to the Rainedrops until evening and so missed seeing Nic and Ady and co The boys didn’t seem to have noticed us not being there as they were far too busy having fun together with lego and DSs (and had had a whale of a time in the morning at LaserQuest) and we did get some leftover party food, including yummy cheese and courgette scones

A morning of normals: Singapore Maths first for J and M, a revision exercise which turned out to be more English than Maths for M as it involved putting numbers from words into digits and vice versa. After a few instances of fivety and similar I got K to write out the numbers from one to twenty, then thirty, forty and so on up to one hundred, one thousand and one million. For K it counted as Maths and handwriting practice, so he was happy, and the resulting poster is now on the kitchen wall for M’s future reference Meanwhile L opted for Music Theory
J did Tutpup on the computer for a bit, L played the piano, K and M played the Loto game M had brought as a present for K when he came, and then M joined J in playing on the computer while K piano-ed. And then we had a snack and I threw them all outside, where J remembered that we had a fresh coconut waiting to be opened by whatever means necessary (although I did remove the cold chisel and offer an old screwdriver instead )
I had a parcel to collect from PO (possibly M’s piano music and medical card; equally likely to be some nice BF tops for me) but somehow never managed to round up enough children at any one time to get there. Finishing off the online shop I’d started yesterday didn’t help, either…

Crumpets for lunch, then Ryvita when the crumpets ran out – not easy to explain what either of those are, but M seemed to like them anyway While we waiting for the crumpets to toast we did the first couple of lessons from Latin for Homeschoolers (there’s been a lot about it on the local list recently so I thought we’d have a look – we got as far as nauta sum/sum nauta and even ego sum nauta/nauta sum ego/ego nauta sum) and then it was time to get everyone into the car to take K for his long-awaited, eagerly anticipated first cello lesson. I obviously didn’t quite manage to convey the sense of hurry to M, as we found him sitting happily in the annexe playing a toy guitar while the rest of us were running round like headless chickens looking for him in the house Still, we were only 30 seconds late, so not too bad, and E was going first so K got to sit and watch her lesson before he had to worry about his own. We passed Gina on the way and A said with great joy, “It’s Gina! I love Gina!” which boded well for getting her to stay at Baby Music with Gina while I nipped back to watch the end of K’s lesson and get some idea of what he’d been learning – helpful given that I know even less about cellos than I do about violins! I don’t think a week has gone by without A asking if it was time for her baby music, so it was slightly annoying that she spent much of the time asking for Mummy milk I guess it takes a while to settle back in, even when it’s something you love and have been dreaming of doing again! M and J did Draw Write Now while A, L and I were in the class, or at least I think they did; I haven’t actually checked their books yet Next time I need to get organised and take something along which they can do with the other J as well, but for now it seemed best to have something where M knows exactly what he’s doing without needing any help. His handwriting is beautiful (and very French) – I’m hoping it will rub off on J

Gina had a gap after that so came back to ours for a cup of tea and a quick chat, which was lovely both for the chance to chat and for M to meet E and J – we do such a lot with them that it’s good to have an informal meeting first, then tomorrow he will have a few friendly faces before being thrown headlong into the Victorian day at Tots and Nots. I think J and J must have got their heads together at one point, as M came and did his piano practice – I’m glad he felt able to do that rather than just sitting and feeling that he had to join in, or worse, feeling left out.

After Gina had gone I suggested to J that they could get out a science kit and by chance (or design?) he chose one on flying (I think an older version of this) and he and L started to put together some of the bits. I went out to help and L invited M and K to join us, but apparently they both said Science was boring… only to wander down a few minutes later to see what was going on and then get completely drawn into what we were doing A loves balloons, so the simple experiment of blowing up a balloon and then letting it go was a thing of great joy to her, while M was fascinated by the air screws. K was upset that L and J had already made the 2 planes, so he helped me with the kite instead, and then they all went off to the field to throw flying discs, try to get the kite airborne, whoosh the planes around and twirl the airscrews without fear of landing them in the roses where the spiders are (M learned that word very early on; there are a lot of spiders about this year and he doesn’t like any of them!) while I got tea. While they ate we talked about the science behind the kit – why did each bit fly? J didn’t quite agree with the kit explanations – I think he has read up more about it than they included – so we may need to look into it a bit more deeply soon. At least it fitted well with the sycamore helicopters from the other day

Unfortunately Bob was held up at work, which made things very tight for getting M and J to Cubs. We were about to set off en famille (as it were) when he finally made it home, with 2 minutes to get there and a 10 minute walk to accomplish in that time. Just as well, really, as Bob was down to be a parent helper for that session anyway. They ran and managed to only be about 5 minutes late! It was a games session, which apparently M really enjoyed, although he had trouble explaining to some of the others that he didn’t know how to play French cricket even though he was French… J liked the baby lacrosse they did, and it gave me a chance to reminisce about my schooldays
L just managed to keep her promise to Christina by squeezing in some violin practice before bed, but decided to leave reading until tomorrow, as she was getting tired and crabby and that’s always a bad way to start, we find. K had computer time, which made L stroppy until I suggested she could do Tutpup while K read to me, and she won the first two games she played
J and M got in and ate a second tea while we talked a bit about M’s time here so far. He said swimming was good, grinned hugely when I asked about violin and whether he would like to carry on, grinned even more hugely about gymnastics and nodded vigorously for Cubs. Presumably we’ve got the activities fairly well fitted to his likes then
Quick violin practice for the big boys (I had to persuade M to stop ) and then Bob took them up to bed, where he usually takes a few minutes with M to look through his English book, but I think tonight decided sleep was more important.
Oh and we have a letter to M’s family to post tomorrow morning, which he produced this afternoon and which reminded me that I need to email Jacques and let him know how we’re getting on. I’m assuming that if there were any problems M would have told me (although I have been trying very hard to stick to the “I don’t understand French any more” he still knows he could speak to me in French if necessary; I just might pretend not to understand ) but there’s still that slight feeling of what if he’s just bottling it all up (as his maman said he tends to keep things to himself)… I’m sure Jacques will tell us of there’s anything we need to know though…

Saturday morning found us quickly assembling birthday gifts and cards for a party we had all but forgotten about All’s well that ends well, though, and the children had a good time and came home with interesting cake (no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, no eggs, lots of fruit and nuts) which Bob mostly ate for them and a few bits and pieces they had made
In the afternoon and evening we had thought of going back into the city for some of the University 800 years celebrations, but everybody was so tired that we gave it a miss and just had a pottering kind of day, playing with the dog, walking to the park and so forth.

A has been sleeping really badly again, or at least making me sleep really badly, with lots of snacking and switch-feeding. If it doesn’t calm down soon, I think we may be heading towards total night weaning She’s also at that awkward in-between stage for naps, where she can’t really quite manage without a sleep in the day, but if she has one then she stays up really late that evening. I keep thinking I need to decide how to tackle this, but while I’m still tired I can’t get my head round how to change things so we’re less tired!

On Sunday we intended to go to church, but all overslept (in my case largely thanks to A ) so stayed at home instead. The owners of our dog-sat dog phoned to ask about getting her back and we arranged to take her to them on the way to Gina’s village where we hoped to catch some Plough Sunday celebrations. Then they invited us to lunch, we got chatting and before we knew it it was mid-afternoon Since we were only a few minutes drive away we went on anyway, hoping to catch the end of the Morris dancing, but were only in time to see a few oddly dressed men leaving the village hall Ah well, there’s always next year

Some packing was done on Sunday, but mostly list-writing ready for speedy packing on Monday. The children did a fairly good job of following their lists, L and K notably more successfully than J, who really seems to struggle with concentrating on a task for any length of time – although he can sit and read a book from beginning to end without a single pause so packing wasn’t too painful and we managed to leave before lunch, do food shopping on the way and get to Centerparcs in time to check in, go straight to our chalet (villa? accommodation?), unpack and still get a swim in before tea
In fact tea had to wait while we nipped next door to deliver a birthday present and eat a slice of cake, then being the mean parents we are we whisked our children away, fed them and put them to bed.
Unfortunately all the activities the children had chosen to do were cancelled (3 day football course for the boys, Wise Old Owl walk for L) which saved us a fair bit of money but left them feeling a bit hard done by We did lots of swimming, though, and J, having lost the gasket from his goggles, managed to earn another pair by showing me he could go underwater without them (he just didn’t like to) while L and K soon got the hang of using their float jackets to support them while they whizzed round the pool. The flumes were a hit with L, K liked the trip he did with Bob but then went down by himself without making sure one of us was at the bottom and got spooked and J was completely traumatised by going down with Bob and ending up under the water for ages. Eventually I persuaded him to go down with me instead and made sure he didn’t go under at all, but that was his lot. K and L loved the white slide and would happily have gone down there as many times as Bob could stand (three abreast ) while J found his level with the currents tunnel and pootling in the shallows looking at the lights underwater. A was very clingy most of the time, unfortunately (developmental phase? I hope so!) so Bob and I got very tired arms from holding her on one arm whilst supporting other child(ren) with the other. Ho hum.
We loved the salt pool (especially when we got to swim outside in the snow!) and L and K were fascinated by the sprugel pool and cold plunge (K wants to go back again soon so he can beat his record for how long he can stay in – I think it’s currently at half a second up to the chest ) but it was really only on the last day that A got up enough courage to wander along in the shallows by herself – and then promptly tripped over a step and landed on her face in the water!
The play areas were great too, especially the jingly plates (step on them to make bells chime) and the whistly switches (jump on one end to make an organ/whistle sound, then jump on the other end to make a different sound) and K and L both loved the very tall slide. J is too much his mother’s son, I fear.
Last day spoilt, as usual with holidays, by poor behaviour from J I really need to get my head round how to pre-empt and prevent this, as it is a sad and upsetting feature of every holiday we have and I’m getting a bit tired of it! On the whole, though, lots of fun (Thanks Helen.)