The postman rang twice..

..this morning. The first time he handed me a smallish cardboard box, the second time a plastic parcel. Inside were our Pairs in Pears and Bananagrams. Both K & M enjoyed having a go at playing around with the letters.

I think it was mostly M that came up with this and apart from a little bit of help with some of the spelling (elaphants, sistur, nugits) it was just down to her and K.

This one was just M's work, she would have continued but ran out of the letter 'S'.


Other than that we continued and finished Ballet Shoes and both K & M did some more cross stitch.
K at work...

And the two coasters she's made so far from the kit she had for her birthday.

Having finished reading Ballet Shoes, we talked about what we might move on to. Given that Shakespeare has cropped up in Ballet Shoes, (Pauline and Petrova take parts in both A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III) and they received a boxed set of Shakespeare stories for Christmas, we thought we might read some of them (although only the comedies, because K does *not* like sad things). We'll also be able to visit some of the Shakespeare places next time we visit my parents (I grew up about 10 minutes from Stratford-on-Avon).

After all that literature and craft we had a bit of a change and watched a few episodes of both Walking With Dinosaurs and the follow up Walking With Beasts and K watched the second Stargazing programme that was on the BBC recently and I recorded, while M & I played Bananagrams.

A Victorian Day - with a twist.

Today I have been reading aloud to K & M, while they have been quietly sitting doing cross-stitch. Very Victorian, no? Okay, but how many Victorian girls would have been doing a cross-stitch of a dinosaur whilst dressed as a dog? Sadly M said I wasn't allowed to take a photo and 'put it on blog' as my girls say.
It's been quite a while since I have read half a book in a day, about 6 months ago I was doing so on a regular basis, but coughs, colds and a lack of voice put paid to that over the winter. Today I started reading Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild and was barely allowed to stop for lunch.
We've had this book for probably over a month from the library and K has been reading it but with several other books on the go at the same time. I got the impression that she did quite like it but was finding it rather tough going. She finally finished it this week and I asked if she thought M would like it, which she did, so I offered to read it allowed during the day (rather than bedtime story, which M chooses herself) and she was quite keen. She is enjoying it much more having it read to her than when she read it herself.

Sitting on my hands and a cracking time.

The two small people had a rather considerable disagreement earlier as to who would get to bake today. I wasn't sure whether we'd fit in two lots (and the suggestion that one do so today and one tomorrow was roundly rejected), so suggested that they could do so together, given that the main issue was actually how the fairy cakes would be decorated, rather than what they wanted to bake.

I decided to just leave them to it and as I start typing here they're getting started with making fairy cakes. It can be a bit hit and miss whether they manage to cooperate or descend into an argument, but so far it seems to be going okay. I'm trying really hard not to get involved and just let them get on with it, although I haven't been able to resist pointing out a couple of things to keep them on track.

After the baking the bit that they always look forward to...

Then the decorating. K had borrowed a cupcake recipe book from the library quite a while back and so had chosen something from there (with a twist for her 'own special one')

M did her own thing mostly, including a Bagpuss one specially for me.

Considering the icing that's green, darker pink and grey was left over from K's birthday in October and is really horribly dried out, I think they've done pretty well!

And to cap it all off, they've had a pretty good go at cleaning up after themselves (after a bit of prompting from me that is).

We've had rather a productive day today. This morning there was making and painting happening and I'm happy to say that both K & M have reached the stage when they can not only get paints and the like out themselves, but can also do a pretty good job of clearing everything up afterwards! M made 'a box for carrying things', which she painted along with a telescope and various containers.

K painted a telescope, I think probably for use in future Swallows & Amazons games.

After a quick trip to the shops and the library we came home and finally got round to using the egg shells we'd saved from Pancake Day to do an eggsperiment (sorry - couldn't resist!) from our science experiments book. Called Dome Sweet Dome in the book, it demonstrates the strength of a dome shape.

You need 4 eggs, break them at the pointed end and use the contents for making pancakes, or if you find you need more, making fairy cakes!

Wrap sellotape around the middle of eggs and draw a line round the widest part, then score around the line with sharp scissors or craft knife.

Break off the shell around the hole and then using sharp scissors, carefully snip around the line. (If the shell beyond the line cracks you have to start again.)

Lay out the four eggs in a rectangle shape. Then bring on the bricks or heavy books and see how many you can add before the eggshells break.

We then went on, by rearranging the eggshells into a triangle and repeating. After that we discovered that two eggshells can easily support a children's encyclopedia if you help it balance, but not a 6.5 year old sitting on top, and that one eggshell won't support an 8 year old under similar conditions!

Same place, different time.

We were back at Wollaton Hall and Deer Park today, this time meeting up with lots of other HE folks for Wildlife Watch Group rather than just the family. We had the adventure of going by bus, as the car was in for a service, so that took nearly an hour, as we had to change buses in town.

We were talking about adaptation and after a game outside matching up different adaptations with different animals, we went inside to draw animals and to think about why they are the way they are, in other words how they have adapted to their habitat. M drew a zebra and a cheetah and K drew the baby leopard, although neither was particularly inclined to consider the question of adaptation. Ho hum!

After a half hour break for lunch, we met back up and went for a walk down to the lake. We were going to do the same again but for the living residents, but due to the drizzle decided to go for a walk around the lake instead.

Both girls enjoyed playing with friends varying in ages from about 4 to 12 and adults. K also went off by herself for a while to be 'a grown up explorer' in the bushes and undergrowth.

No trip to Wollaton is complete without a trip to the climbing tree, so after the group broke up, quite a number headed there and the tree was considerably more crowded than on Sunday!

By mid-afternoon there were 3 adults and 4 children left and we retired to the café to recharge. Before leaving we had a look at a room behind one of the shops, that we hadn't realised was there, which has native wildlife displays. We will be returning with our British bird book to make sure we were right about what some of them were!

We had such a good time that we had to dash for the bus to get home in time for K's ballet lesson!

Blast from the past - with focus on K

My girls have long been aware of some of the children's television programmes from my childhood. We have dvds (that came free with newspapers that friends or relations have passed on to us) of Mr Benn, The Flumps, Henry's Cat and more. I also am the proud owner of a Bagpuss hot water bottle cover. It was only this week, however that K & M have encountered the programme itself. M watched a couple of episodes on youtube while K was at Brownies on Monday and yesterday they both watched some more, including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwXL61aMTpU&feature=related

This morning K locked herself in the bathroom for over half an hour and then moved to the playroom, asking for privacy for another hour or more. Eventually she emerged with her 'Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Mill!'

A story by M

I have M's permission to put her story on the blog and she says people she knows are allowed to look at it.

I have attempted to transcribe it faithfully as regards punctuation and spelling, but must admit that I didn't worry about lower/upper case because it would have taken me about 3 times as long to copy out!

M wrote this in 4 or 5 sessions over the course of several weeks. For the first session she asked for help with spelling many of the words, but after that it was only ocassionally that she did so.

I hope you enjoy it!

Part of the original:

The transcript:
Once upon a time Christine was packing to go on holiday. Once she had packed. She was about. to cook but then she stopped she hadn’t thougt what was for lunch and then she knew what she was having for lunch She was having her favourite potatoes with potatoe sawce once she had her lunch she arried on packing the next day she few to potatoe cottage. She was verry excited I love potatoes She landid at an airport she walked to potatoe cottag she was verry tired but hat to unpack she floped on the bed. A wile later she got up and unpack’d her stuff she was verry tired. She ate her meal potato tost and potato juice for poding she had jam rolly polly with potato.
She was so tired she went strate to bed.

The next morning she got her breakfast (potato on bread) then she loocked at a map. She dicidide to go to potato tawn. She set of for potato tawn ivenchaly she got thear. It was luvly thear. She bhort a potato ice-craem she ivan went on the potato tran (instead of a ghost tran) Then she went home. Then she went in the garden a wile later. She went home cose it was
Christine’s birthday and she was having a party. And she prapared it her frends will get thaer soon just then the dore bell rang and all her frends got thaer. Her favret paesant’s wer Mr potato Haed and a box of potato’s The End

Cats and dogs and fruity games

K & M have been dressing cats and dogs.

Tabby Kitten has a new top, made by K. A rectangle with a hole cut in the middle, then stitched up the sides with buttons for decoration.

Christopher has a new collar and tag (they're at the back), made by M using a bone shaped bead thing she found yesterday at Wollaton.

Spot has a lovely new hat and bib made by M.

Those were all made yesterday evening. Today M decided to go one step further and be a dog!

We've only got pink, blue and white face paints at the moment, but the make up that I hardly ever use came in handy, as did a couple of pairs of my socks.

After this M wanted to face paint me...

M was slightly put out that I didn't want to leave the house like that, but I really wasn't up for that! We went to spend the day with friends, because they had an 'insect' day. At the request of boy M (who's a year older than K, there's also girl A, who is about the same age as M and their mum another K!), we took Carcassonne with us and played that and also a couple of game that they have, which I think we're going to invest in. We all played Pairs in Pears (http://www.bananagrams.com/Our_Games/Pairs_In_Pears/) and while the children played dinosaur Top Trumps, mum K and I played Bananagrams (http://www.bananagrams.com/Our_Games/Bananagrams/), which is a bit tricky for K & M at the moment, but boy M and I played afterwards. I really enjoyed it and the tiles can be used in all sorts of ways in the mean time. It's a bit like having a set of scrabble tiles in a handy bag.

A great afternoon out.

Somewhere we've been quite frequently is Wollaton Hall and Deer Park (http://www.wollatonhall.org.uk/ ). We've been for specific public events, such as Fossil Friday, for various HE organised workshops, to observe the deer during the rut with Wildlife Watch group, and just to spend time with friends. We've only been a couple of times to spend time as a family there, but that's what we did this afternoon, when M announced that she wanted to go out and came up with 5 options for us to choose from.

One of the many good things about the place is that there's loads of space outside, so even though it was really busy it didn't feel crowded, as well as the Hall if you're getting a bit chilly.

First we headed, as always, for 'The Climbing Tree', which the girls love and I can't resist either.

A said he particularly liked my 'Jedward hair' in this one.

Then we headed down to the lake. Since the Hall is perched right on top of a hill it's irresistable to break into a run down the slopes. And even if the grown ups find they can resist, they often don't get the choice!

Down by the lake you can find 'The Hollow Tree' (we have such imaginative names don't we!) and plenty of stumps for climbing on and playing in. M's grumpy face is very definitely put on by the way, she was having great fun scowling for the camera!

By the time we'd walked along the edge of the lake closest to the Hall (it's also a lovely walk around it for longer visits) my ears were cold, so we went into the Hall. In the Hall there are, among other things, minerals, some fossils, lots of insects and loads of stuffed birds and animals in there (really well explained and put into their historical context).

M's favourite thing? The fossil of an iguanodon's femur (at the bottom of the picture)

We then seemed to get caught up in a Swallows & Amazons theme. Just some of the things we found include:

An adder

A pair of cormorants

And for those of you who really know your stuff!

A Great Northern Diver (which according to the label is a visitor to the northern parts of the UK, but of course we know different don't we!)

We then ran down the slope back towards the car park for a quick go in the playground for heading home. All in all a pretty great afternoon and it only cost £2 for the parking!

Today we have mostly been...

....dressing up!

This morning using blankets and scarves and hair clips to make 'fashionable clothes'.

And this afternoon, after a rather long game which consisting of unsuccesfully (as a result of much giggling) trying to sneak up on me, as Mummy and Daddy. K in my coat, hat and slippers and M in Daddy's fleece and gloves.

We also had quite a lot of telly watching, firstly the first of the recent BBC Stargazing programmes ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing/ ), which I had Sky+'d, which K in particular was very interested in. Then Mamma Mia. :-)
I have been suffering rather badly with a very painful cricked neck today, which isn't pleasant. However, it does mean that M has read to me. She asked me if I'd like her to, something that she only ever does if I'm ill or in pain, and then read a whole chapter of Happy Mouseday by Dick King Smith. She's reading pretty fluently now, very rarely stumbling over even long or not intuitive words, and is starting to put some inflection in with questions for example.

While you're being read to...

You can do rather a lot when you're being read to, which is something that K & M would be happy for me to do all day, every day when they're in the mood. At the moment Dick King Smith is the author du jour and while Granny, who is staying for a few days, read to them this is what they were up to.

K doing a magnetic butterfly puzzle:

M did a couple of logic puzzles. First the one on the right, which I have never actually managed to complete without the cheat of checking which is the middle piece! Then 'Tantrix discovery', on the left, which she needed a little bit of help to get going with, you start with 3 pieces, then 4 and on the back it tells you what colour loop you are aiming to make. Once she got started she did the trickiest 10 piece one in probably about 10 minutes, although I wasn't timing it. The packet tells you that one takes about 25 minutes!

We took Granny out for lunch to Pizza Express today, and M did what she usually does when she can't decide what to have for pudding. She asked the waiter for a surprise between the ones she can't choose between. This time she really did get a surprise as he brought her both! The look on her face when she realised was an absolute classic. And both girls were very chuffed to get a pudding and a half each, since she shared it with her sister.

The good thing about school holidays....

Is that K & M get to play for a good long time with their 'schooly' friends. We had A & J (and mummy S) round for lunch and play today and they were here for about 5 hours. We only manage couple of hours for after school play dates and between them the four girls have something on every week day at the moment.
So they played in the tent that K & M had made out of clothes airers and blankets. They each painted a cotton apron (I bought a pack aaages ago from Bakerross, which were a 'bargain' but had sat in a box for at least a year or two!).

M & J finished first so they went off and played with the wooden train track, while K & A finished their aprons and also watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58fs5yI8K9I&feature=related . J and A are doing space at school and the moment and J painted the planets onto her apron and I remembered watching that video with the girls a while back and thought they'd find it interesting.
We just had a slight problem when it was time for the friends to leave, when S & I were informed that they had planned a sleepover and invited A & J to stay and we were making them break their promises! Since M still usually comes into bed with me in the night, I think sleepovers are a little way off, but S & I agreed to consider it for the summer holidays.

Setting sail for the theatre.

This afternoon we met up with friends and went to see Swallows and Amazons, which was fantastic. As a friend who went to see it on Thursday said, it really didn't matter that Roger was 6' plus and had beard! It was so cleverly staged, very difficult to describe, but I'll give it a go. When they went on the boats, they held the mast and ribbons for the sail in place and Roger held the frame of the bow. Rowing was done on little boards on casters with pretend oars. Water was a couple of long ribbons moved about by members of the company holding them. I also really liked the way the music and instruments were incorporated, all instruments were played on stage by the cast and even became part of the scenery at times, which worked brilliantly.
There were some changes to the story, but it completely stuck to the spirit of the book and the changes didn't, as my girls would say, 'make me harumph'. M's only criticisms were that Charcoal Burners faces were too clean and that Nancy shone her torch in M's eyes on a couple of occasions. K remembers that she had some, but can't remember what they were, so agrees that they can't have been particularly important.
Afterwards we stopped for the question and answer session with some of the cast, (sadly none of the Swallows, but both Amazons and most of the other members of the cast). M had a question for Nancy, although made me ask for her: 'Why did you shine your torch in my eyes?' Nancy reassured her that it wasn't personal.
So all in all, if this is coming near you and you get the chance - Go!

Pootling about

We haven't 'done' much in particular the past couple of days, so I thought it would be quite interesting to see what we have actually done, if you see what I mean. We also have electricians in doing some re-wiring, so we've been a bit constrained.
Yesterday was our regular 'busy' day, which means piano lessons and swimming lessons (in which both girls swam 25m, I was given a bit of paper telling me, which I could have exchanged along with some money for a certificate or badge, but being a skin-flint I refuse to do this!). Apart from that we went to the library, which is a rather small temporary one at the moment, while the proper one gets a major re-build/renovation. M seems to only want to get Dick King Smith books out at the moment and couldn't find any she doesn't have/hasn't read, so came away empty handed. K found a dvd she wanted to watch, and after contemplating for while, decided that it was worth the £1 that it cost to borrow.
Today we had to pop out first thing to get some milk, so I could offer the workmen a cuppa, but in the end didn't as I couldn't boil the kettle when we got back because they'd turned the sockets' circuit off! The girls set themselves to box modelling and M fashioned herself a backpack made of a cereal box and some ribbon, which K was so impressed with she made herself one too.
A text prompted a trip to a friend from church to try on a First Communion dress, which didn't fit her more solidly constructed daughter, but was fine for K, so that's that sorted. We walked home along a short stretch of the still mostly frozen canal and identified some tracks in the snow. They were mostly human, but some dogs' and the birds' we deduced were the moorhens, as they weren't webbed.
Once home we had a picnic (K made her own sandwich) while watching the dvd that K borrowed from the library yesterday, The Fox and The Child, which sparked some interested discussion about seasons, habitats, wildlife and the relationships between people and wild animals. M did some knitting while watching and K did some more box modelling. Then it was time to tidy up a bit before taking K to her ballet lesson. M started disecting another owl pellet, I'd forgotten we had, while K was there. Then after tea there was just time for M to watch an episode of Walking With Dinosaurs, while K did a bit more tidying, before bed and story time.

Focus on M

I thought I'd concentrate on just one of the little folk today and since she's been pretty busy, I picked the smaller one, M, who's 6.5 years old.

Before I got up this morning, she'd already had breakfast and done a bit of sewing; some dog treats made out of little bits of felt.

She also played with a colour and cut out farm set and did quite a bit of her Doodle book, drawing monsters and filling in a treasure map, which involved labelling different areas of an island.

After lunch she had a tea party at the zoo with her big sister and snuggled under a blanket (plotting something although I'm not sure what!).

After popping to the shops for some milk, she decided to make some mini-muffins.

She gave a couple to a neighbour, who we bumped into on the way home from the shops and very kindly went in search of the gloves that K had left in the loo in M&S (M has a blister on her heel and really didn't want to walk back when K realised, so I had said we'd phone). Then she decided that she wanted to give some to other neighbours, so we delivered those.

A bit of piano practice was next, a piece from her book first.

Then her own composition.

Then just time for a quick game of Carcassonne while tea was cooking, I beat her by 6 points this time, but it's just as likely for her to trounce me! And the day's not over yet!

Gearing up to set sail

Before I starting this blog, we had a month or so during which we read Swallows & Amazons. When I say 'Swallows & Amazons', what I mean is the series, that's all 12 books. And when I say 'we read', what I mean is *I* read to the girls. All of them, one after the other, for several hours a day. I was occasionally allowed a break for a cuppa or to cook meals!

K & M became Susan and Titty first (occasionally Titty and Roger) and sailed everywhere (sometimes on foot, sometimes on scooters), tacking into the wind when necessary. Fortunately when the wind was strong and M got a bit far ahead for my liking calling 'Able seaman! Wait please.' was acceptable, I kept 'Titty' for when we were at home. After a while they became the Amazons, Nancy and Peggy, most of the time. I made them some hats and we set sail...

...on the boating lake at the university.

After an interlude in Narnia among other places, we heard that Swallows & Amazons was coming to the theatre in Nottingham and we bought some tickets to go with a schooly friend this weekend (otherwise we would undoubtedly have been going on Thursday with the HE booking of over 100 people!).

Today at Fun Club, we had Swallows & Amazons as a theme and so among other things, we made flags,

and peg pirate people. K's is called Peggy (but not the one from S&A), wears a skirt and has a hook for a hand and a scar on her face, and that's a sword she's holding in her good hand.