A rather wet day out.

Today was the first Nottingham Children's Book Festival.  We'd booked to go to a few of the wide variety of workshops and there were also various drop-in activities going on throughout the day.  We got rather soggy on our way to the first workshop, which was activities based on an extract from Peter Pan.

Our Peter Pan nest boats.

After lunch we split up and A took the girls to How to Draw Goodies and Baddies, which they enjoyed, while I went to hear Christopher Lloyd (who incidentally was a HEing dad for the primary years) talk about one of his big Wallbooks.  A and the girls snuck in to the end of his very good talk and we went to find a cup of tea and a piece of cake before A went home and the girls and I went for the final workshop that we'd booked, which we hadn't realised was by the drama teacher who had run the Harry Potter workshop that they'd been to a few weeks back (I just looked back and my blog and can't quite believe I didn't mention it - they thought it was fantastic and have asked C, who organised it, if she can organise a follow up one).  It was only half an hour long, but they really enjoyed it and M in particular is really quite keen to start going to her classes.  It's not really an option at the moment, as the class she runs here clashes with Brownies and the only other option is when K has ballet but a drive away.  However, there are short courses during school holidays that are a possibility and K is due to move up in ballet soon, so we should be able to sort something fairly soon.  Finally, having checked we could squeeze in, even though we didn't have tickets, the girls and I went along to the third and final talk by Christopher Lloyd, where M & I both answer questions (M that the population of the world is approx 7 billion) and took part in the very interactive talk (she 'read his mind', demonstrating the massive influence of the technology of writing, I blew up a balloon).

Christopher Lloyd with his Science and Technology Wallbook.

We were impressed enough to buy the books and had a brief chat with him afterwards.  We then, having mostly dried off during the day, got exceedingly soggy walking home via the shops to buy some marshmallows to go in hot chocolate, which we had while watching Strictly Come Dancing.

In other news, I forgot to mention K announced, while we were playing Vapoosh!, that 1 plus 1 minus 1 times 1 divided by 1 equals 1, which cannot be denied!

A morning out and afternoon in.

This morning we were out and quite remarkably managed to get up, dressed, breakfasted, tooth-brushed and across town with very little chivvying, arriving on time for a 10 o'clock meeting.  I realise this may not sound like much to those who regularly get their children to school on time five mornings a week, but for us it's an achievement!  K & M are no longer particularly keen on going to LLL meetings, although the toddler meetings I usually lead are acceptable, so I am generally I'm the last resort, as was the case today.  They each took a book with them, in K's case Usborne's Thousands of Things to Spot, which she's been working her way through recently and in M's Jeremy Strong's The Beak Speaks, which she read for a while, but found it a bit too tricky to concentrate after a while once the meeting had got going, because the mummies were talking too much.

Once home both girls immediately demanded more Vapoosh!, so we had two games, first the simpler version played with just two dice, then the full version.  K won the first and I won the second, and M is starting to get a bit frustrated as she's now the only person in the family not to have won yet.

After lunch I read the final chapter of Heidi and we started watching a blast from the past for me, the Swiss German television series from 1978, dubbed into English, that I loved when I saw it as a child, which a friend of the girls has lent us. We've watched the first two episodes so far and it's just as badly dubbed as I remember, which is really rather entertaining.  We'd just finished watching when our neighbours popped round with a late birthday present for K and stayed for a bit of a play, until it was time for K to go for her ballet lesson.

Much maths!

When I arrived downstairs this morning, M was on the computer doing some Timez Attack and K had already had a go too.  Both girls had initially been quite keen on this (free!) programme when I got it about 18 months ago, but both had quickly got rather frustrated because of the speed needed to complete the questions.  After a break of about a year they came back to it and got on better and started playing again for a while.  It seems that it's something that they will return to every so often and each time they are making a bit more progress.  In the game, there is a sort of test that you can't progress past unless you get all the questions right first time, and as the game builds up through the times tables, even if you know all your 10, 11 and 5 times tables for example, but are a bit shaky on the higher parts of the 3 times table, you'll stay there until you are completely confident.  That's where the girls are at the moment, but they seem happy with it, so that's okay.

We had a pyjama day today, but that didn't stop the learning of course.  Admittedly K & M spent most of the building and then playing with Lego, but after we'd caught up with the Great British Bake Off, which I'd recorded, we finally got round to playing Vapoosh!  It was really fun and we ended up playing three times, twice the three of us and then again with A after tea.  In terms of the maths, there is the mental addition of adding the pairs of numbers on the dice together, as well as the times tables.  I encouraged K & M to try to work out the answer before lookign for it on the board and also to say the sum and the answer aloud, to help learn their tables and they were generally willing to do both of these and a bit of silliness helped as we chanted things like "Seven eights are fifty six and eight sevens are fifty six as well!".

We also talked about probability as in the second game I scored a Vapoosh! (i.e. I rolled four sixes).

Vapoosh!

I explained that there was a one in six chance of a six on each dice and that you multiply them all together to get the probability of all of them being six, which is 1/1296.  K had previously rolled four ones, which has the same low probability as Vapoosh!, but unfortunately for her doesn't automatically win the game.  We also talked about how most of the counters on the board were around the middle, because it's much more likely to roll a seven with two dice, than a two because there is only one way of rolling two (1 & 1), but three ways to roll a seven for example (1 & 6, 2 & 5 and 3 & 4).  We beat the odds and in our third game A won by rolling a Vapoosh! too. 

 All in all a really good game with resulted in much more maths than it said on the box, so to speak.

A birthday or two.

Yesterday we had K's actual birthday, which was quite a quiet one, probably in no small part due to the fact we were all rather tired from our long day in London the day before.  In keeping with her request and since she had already had her bike from A & me and will be getting a couple more when she next sees people, she didn't have very many presents to open.  M had made something for her, a painting.

Dobby!

K spent some time doing a craft kit that she'd been given last year and she had decided that she'd like us all to play a family board game, which we thought was a lovely idea.  In the end though the girls and I went round to see our friend C, who used to teach them piano, because she popped here to give K her present and K expressed disappointment at this because she'd wanted to go to C's house, because that way she could see George, C's guinea pig too.  So C went home and we went to hers instead.

Today we made the most of the continuing good weather and met up with friends at Rushcliffe Country Park.  We started in the playground, then moved on to Gibby's Wood, before returning to the playground and finishing off at the Sensory Trail.  A lovely time was had by all!

When we got home, K & M busied themselves making cards and a present for a friend whose birthday it is today.  They seemed to have a Swallows and Amazons theme going, as M drew a picture of an Amazon pirate hat and painted a skull and crossbones on a fridge magnet for her, from a kit she had, while K made a really good pop up card with a sailing boat.

K's card for A.

The girls finally managed to give the playroom a reasonably good tidy.  They are still really keen on getting a pair of rats, and had been doing a really good job of keeping the room much tidier, which we have said is necessary if they are to have rats, as it wouldn't be fair not to be able to take them out of their cage regularly and if the room isn't tidy they could eat something that could harm them.  Rats for Christmas are still a possibility, but they need to do a bit better at keeping the room tidy to show us that they can for it to happen.

Fantastic birthday treat.

Today we headed down south, for K's birthday treat, a trip for the whole family plus, N, one of K's best friends to see Matilda the Musical.  We  went down by train, during the journey we ate our packed lunch and the girls played card games while A & I read, then we walked from St Pancras to the theatre.

At the station (after the visit to the sweet shop).

On the train.

We got to the theatre with plenty of time to spare and settled in to enjoy the show.

Today's cast.

Our view from the front row of the upper circle.

There had been a few small changed from when we saw it originally back in December 2010, soon after it opened in Stratford-on-Avon, but it was still fantastic and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  N really appreciated it and we were thanked numerous times for taking her with us!  M has decided what she'd like to do for her birthday next June now - go back and see it again!

After the show, we went for pizza before heading home and we just had time to have a quick look at Platform 9 3/4 before catching the train back home with three very happy but rather hyped girls!  Fortunately we don't have any need to get up early in the morning.

Birthday preparations.

Today K has been busy making things.  She chose a trip to the theatre instead of a birthday party, so tomorrow we're heading down to London to see Matilda the Musical again (we saw it when it opened in Stratford-on-Avon nearly three years ago).  As she's not having a party, there will be no party bags, so K has decided instead to make something herself.  Her friend, N, is coming with us tomorrow, so she has made three 'theatre boxes' for N, M and herself.

Three sets of Matilda models.

From left to right there is Bruce's chocolate cake, Miss Trunchbull, Matilda (complete with book under her arm) and the Wormwood's telly!

She also bought three boxes to put them in (rather bigger than she'd planned, but that was all the shop had), and decorated them.

The 'theatre boxes'.

K has been very clear about what she would like for her birthday and in particular the fact that she doesn't want to be given a lot.  She was explaining to me that although she has given me quite a few ideas to put on her 'birthday list' (a list of suggestion in case anyone asks me for ideas), she really doesn't want to be given all of them and would have a dilemma if she were.  We've talked previously about how sometimes we might be given something as a gift that we aren't particularly keen on, but that people give presents with good intentions, so we should remember that when thanking them, but actually re-gifting to someone who would appreciate the item or giving to a charity later is a good way of recycling things.  K was telling me that although she would rather not be given lots of things, she realises that if she were given things from her list or that she liked she would find it too hard to do this, and so she wanted me to make it clear to people who would usually buy her a present that if they did buy her something (and she really wouldn't mind if they didn't), please could I ask them to just get her one small thing.  She has also said the same to M, who has painted her a lovely picture of Dobby the House Elf.

A bit of a catch up.

So far this week we've had one ridiculously busy day (Tuesday) and things have been pretty chilled the rest of the time.  K & M have been keeping themselves occupied a lot of the time at home with various plans and projects, many of which I am not allowed to know details about!  One thing that I have been allowed in on, is a plan to have a stall outside the house selling fairy cakes and craft things that they have made.  We've talked about working out how much things are going to cost to make, how much they think they need to ask for what they're making in order to make a profit and so on.  M has been making little puppets and toys out of felt.  Both girls have been building things with their Lego Creator sets, M mostly following the instructions and K doing her own thing, while I've been continuing reading Heidi to them.  They have also been continuing their anti-pink theme and painting their pink plastic 'mobile phones' (freebies with comics from ages ago) black to look more like mine.

K's 'up-graded' phone.

Tuesday, as I said was extremely busy.  We left the house to go to Fun Club just after half past nine and were barely there, except for two times getting changed between activities, in girls' case until gone 7pm.  Fun Club this month had two main things happening, there were a couple of craft workshops upstairs, run by two of the older girls for an award scheme that they are taking part in, and there was a science theme for the main group.  Both K & M did one of the workshops, a glass mosaic making one, which they both seemed to enjoy.

K's mosaic.

And M's.

After they'd finished their mosaics, they came down and had a look at some of the things going on.  We had had a look through our big book of Science Experiments to decide what to take with us and settle on three simple things.  My favourite demonstration of the centre of gravity of an object, the brilliant but simple demonstration of friction with two books, and some string to set up a demonstration of the transfer of energy between two pendulums hung from the same string.  I'm not sure if K & M actually looked at that one, so I'll set it up again tomorrow and take a pic.  There were also various other things, including ice-cream making, using just ice & salt to freeze the ingredients, which both girls had a go at with varying degrees of success (partly because they'd run out of cream when K had her go, so she had to use milk), but I said we'll have a go at home, which we haven't done yet.

K making ice-cream.

M also had a go at the second craft workshop too, which was rag rugging and she was really pleased with the result.

M's rag rug.

We dashed off from Fun Club, with a two minute stop at home on the way for K to get changed into her leotard (M had worn hers underneath her clothes!) for gymnastics, where they were working on cartwheels.  Then home again for a quick change into appropriate clothes for korfball, before we went round to friends (who also go to korfball).  The plan was for us to take the four girls out for tea to a really lovely teashop as a sort of joint birthday treat for A (who was 10 a week earlier) and K (who will be 10 on Sunday).  Unfortunately, lack of planning on the part of the mummies, meant that we were too late, so we eventually ended up at Pizza Express, with a promise to take them for cake at the teashop another time, probably during half term.

Yesterday, the girls had their final swimming lesson in the class they are currently in, as they will be moving up to the 'silver hat' group next week - must remember it's half an hour later!  Today they had their piano lessons (usually on a Tuesday, but their lovely flexible teacher is happy to change to a Thursday on Fun Club weeks).  They've both been playing a lot (pieces that they've done previously and particularly like) and practising (current pieces) quite a bit too and they are both clearly making really good progress.  Finally this afternoon we went to friends' across the road for tea and play, which involved lots of dressing up in bizarre costumes and lots of fun and noise!