Thump, pound, thump .... stab, stab, stab

So that would be the thumping and pounding in my head, and the stabbing in my throat .... I don't know if it's tonsillitis or some other sort of 'itis' but it's been accompanied by fever and all-over-body aches.

Fortunately it chose to strike on a Wednesday, when Bill's at home with the girls anyway, so I spent the day in bed - didn't have any choice actually as I couldn't manage vertical. Today there is juggling between grandpa, childminder and friends and Bill coming home early, so though I feel slightly better I should be able to stay in bed today mostly as well. I've broken out the laptop again and am blogging from bed!

Unfortunately it chose to strike when my colleague and I were supposed to be doing workshops about the work of our charity to an NHS Trust in Oxfordshire. I was supposed to be there today, while she had my kids, and she's there tomorrow while I'm supposed to have hers. So I've had to cancel today's, and K's arranged different childcare for tomorrow. Ah well, it's not the end of the world but it's stressful having to cancel something external rather than just a day in the office.

I don't think we've done much specifically educational since I last blogged. We certainly haven't done any more maths or Sonlight stuff. But there has been painting, drawing, sticking, cutting, dancing, reading and the like. We are racing through the series of Boxcar Children books that Katy lent me, which are going down very well with all of us. I have just bought the Story of the World Book 1 and Activity Book, which look fantastic so we'll be getting into that shortly. I looked through the first couple of chapters of the Activity book and reserved some of the 'additional reading' titles from the library so they should come through in a week or two. I don't suppose I'll be organised enough to always plan ahead like that but at least if I manage it sometimes it'll be good!

We did go to the Butterfly Farm in Stratford on Avon with the HE group on Tuesday. The girls and I went on our own about a year ago, and after managing well to start with Jade had not liked the butterflies flapping round her head and we'd cut the visit short. So I was not sure how it would go. She managed well, though, as did Shannon, although there was one particular butterfly that took a great liking to Shannon's hair as a safe place for her babies, and laid 4 eggs in her hair! We had a guide who took us round and did a bit of chat in each bit, and although I don't know what Jade learned, I learned that butterflies taste through their feet! I didn't know that! We saw the caterpillars and the pupae and the emerging from the pupa bit and of course tons of butterflies. It did get a bit much for us all towards the end, though, as although there's no rational reason for it I really didn't like the butterflies in my hair and Jade had had enough, so we came out early and missed the mini-beasts bit, which as far as I'm concerned is not a problem at all. I do not want to encourage my daughters to love spiders and cockroaches!

Last night at about 7pm Shannon surprised me by saying her sister's name properly for the first time! I don't think I'm giving too much away of the real name by saying that Shannon always called Jade "Dandrin", but suddenly last night, she just got it and said it properly! We were all very excited and she repeated it several times, but she's refused to do so this morning. Ah well, she is 2!

Ah, silence. The house is quiet. Nobody here but me. I'm going to sign off and just appreciate it.