Getting ready

Going to Melrose is great, but it does mean you have to catch up on a huge pile of washing and ironing beforehand in order to have any clothes to take with you! As I stand at the ironing board (a very unaccustomed place for me) with the children playing at my feet, I'm imagining all my fellow-hostellers doing the same thing. I normally do very little ironing, but having been trying to avoid using the tumble dryer recently to save money, stuff has been left hanging over radiators and getting very creased. We'll be setting off some time tomorrow as we're staying with T-bird on the way up. Jade is very excited!

It seems like the right moment to record just how lovely both girls are being at the moment. Jade seems to go through phases of difficult behaviour sometimes (or maybe it's me!) but she's just being totally fantastic currently. She is a delight to be with and watch. She's funny and bright, and I'm loving to notice how her mind and thinking are developing, and her interesting use of words as she learns to use descriptive language. And of course she's very affectionate, wanting lots of cuddles during the day, writing notes to DH and I saying "I love you" and telling us she loves us "a hundred and billion"! Her reading is absolutely astonishing (she made a good attempt at "anesthesiologist" yesterday), although she is a good deal more reluctant to do much with maths. For anybody going to Melrose who hasn't met her before, please be aware that she will not speak to adults and don't take it personally! She will probably take a while to warm up to the children too, but will be fine once she's had time to settle in.

Shannon is totally adorable, apart from about 6-8 times per night! She is so funny, with great facial expressions, and she seems quite aware of her comic ability too. Her speech has come on in huge leaps and bounds over the past couple of weeks, with new words and phrases arriving every day, and she is very polite, saying "pardon me" after every fart and "please" when she wants something. In fact, she often just says "please .......... please" and it's a bit of a struggle to work out what she's actually after. Some of her lovely words are: "Bampa" for Grandpa, "butoo-hly" for butterfly, with the 'f' as a little blowing sound a bit like an 'h', and "bed-dik" for breadstick. She can count pretty well, being mostly reliable at 1 - 10 (occasionally missing out 8), quite good at the 'teens', and on one notable occasion recently she counted from 24 to 30, all on her own! Even Jade still sometimes can't remember what comes after 29, so I was astonished at Shannon, at age 2y 2 mo!

Anyway, I guess that's enough procrastination from the ironing/packing task, so I'd better stop there! See some of you on Sunday!

Phew!

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

I'd have been a bit embarrassed if I didn't, LOL!

Bits 'n' pieces

It's been a bitty sort of a day. We had to go out fairly early this morning (9.45!) to meet somebody and pass on something she needed, so after that was done we went to the nearest small town where I don't usually shop but I had heard there was a nice shoe shop there. Both girls needed their feet measuring as they were both done last September and I thought they might have grown since then. Jade surprisingly hasn't (yet) so she's still OK but Shannon is 2 sizes bigger. Luckily she is already wearing a pair of Jade's old trainers which are the right size so that was OK! Popped into a nearby charity shop and got 3 things for 50p each - a battery-powered bubble blower at Jade's request, a new 'princess-y' filofax type thing which will be good for a birthday prezzie if/when Jade goes to any parties this year, and a Dora flip-top cup similar to Jade's existing one, which means Shannon can have one too so there won't be arguments over Dora cups! So I was pleased with that little haul.

We got home, had snacks/food, then got the girls doing some colouring/cutting-out/sticking type activities while I attempted to beat the kitchen mess into submission. Then I got Jade busy on the computer and Shannon likes to sit and watch, so that kept them happy while I made lunch. This afternoon we were going to do some baking, but I started to measure out flour into a bowl and found the scales were not registering anything at all, so they seem to be kaput. Even though Jade had been nagging me all morning about the baking, she was pretty unfussed that we couldn't do it and instead I dragged them upstairs to do some tidying and sorting. I got the Christmas decorations back into the loft (!) along with several other boxes and bits and pieces, so that cleared a bit of space in the spare room (which used to be Jade's room) and in a cupboard in the corner of the girls' room. The plan is to move some of the downstairs toys into that upstairs cupboard, and hopefully keep the downstairs a little bit clearer and tidier. That's the theory, anyway! I did get as far as sorting out the 'general' toybox downstairs and throwing away all those Kinder Egg toys, cracker toys and general tatt that ends up hanging around. I was feeling ruthless so I threw away all the art creations Jade has been doing recently, that have been prolific, but it's definitely more about process than product so they've gone in the bin.

So the decks feel slightly clearer and the girls have mostly played happily today with this and that, although Shannon did fall asleep on the sofa in front of the TV at 6pm so I had better make sure of a reasonably early night as she'll be up early! Not to mention the several wakings during the night.

Sofa blog!

This is something of a milestone - I'm blogging from the sofa using the laptop on a wireless connection! Hooray! I still have all my e-mail settings etc on the desktop comp so am not in the habit of using this machine much but it's rather fun.

Anyway, I've just depressed myself by reading some Patch of Puddles archive - going back 3 years to see what they were doing when Fran was 5. Ooo-er! I am SO behind!

Our Tuesday went reasonably well - not quite as much done as Monday, but we did some more Bible, some more Hero Tales and some more Boxcar children. Can't remember what else filled the day but never mind. Wednesday I was out at work all day and DH was home with the girls. He looked at the Sonlight Instructors Guide and couldn't make head or tail of it, so didn't do any. Today I've been at work this morning with Shannon at the childminder and Jade at my friend Kate's, as my Dad has hurt his back and couldn't manage childcare. Actually he's been coming over once a week for over 8 years, since I was pregnant with Benjamin, and now he's approaching 75 he wants to stop. Which leaves me with a dilemma about what to do with Jade on a Thursday morning. We can't currently afford for her to go to the childminder as well. So that's weighing on my mind.

I've had a nice selection of packages in the post today. I got a selection of organic skincare products as a free gift with my Christmas present subscription to Green Parent magazine; a Little Hearts Matter teddy bear as a gift from them to celebrate their 10th anniversary, and an Usborne Books order which I only placed 2 days ago so that's impressive.

Since Jade came home from this afternoon's school, we haven't done much at all as I am again chronically tired from more terrible nights' sleep thanks to Shannon. Am pondering the possibility of getting some help in the daytime for a couple of weeks so that I can nap, and maybe if I know that I'll be able to catch up in the day I'll be able to stick to my guns in the middle of the night and refuse to feed Shannon, no matter how long she stays awake complaining about it.

And now I must go and do something useful.

I want more like this!

What a good day we've had!

My plan was to start Sonlight K and stick to the Instructors Guide schedule as much as possible, to see if that works for us. Jade has been getting on fine in many ways, but I feel very disorganised and out-of-control and felt that many days slipped by with nothing much going on. Maybe that's just a perception thing, but I thought it would be good to try a different way and find out if it's better.

Things didn't start quite according to plan as Shannon and I slept till about 9am and Jade slept till 9.40am! Jade has been having great trouble falling asleep at bedtimes, despite a consistent bedtime routine, so she was awake very late and hence slept late. I was glad, though, as she needed to catch up, and so did I! She's doing it again tonight, though - she was settled down at 8pm after a nice bath and stories, and here we are at 9.25pm and she's still wide awake.

Once we were up, dressed and breakfasted, we started work. We started with a Bible reading (Beginner's Bible) and beginning to learn a memory verse. I wrote the verse down and Jade decorated it. She then asked to copy it out herself, and who am I to refuse, LOL! So we ruled some nice wide-apart lines on a sheet of paper and she got on with it. Excellent!

Then we moved on to 'Hero Tales' with the introduction to the story about Gladys Aylward. Jade and Shannon were playing with the Duplo while I read to them. We checked out the locations mentioned (London, China) on the globe. After that it was time to get Jade ready for her afternoon of school, so got her dressed and made her lunchbox up and took her off to school.

I came home with Shannon and we had lunch together while watching CBeebies. Shannon snuggled up next to me while I read a book. It was lovely and cosy. After that we went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, and she came too and stood on a stool and played in a sinkful of water, and then played with a bowlful of flour. That took an hour, and afterwards I wanted to get some Usborne phonecalls done. So we sat at the table, and she scribbled and drew while I phoned round all the local schools getting the names of their Literacy Co-ordinators. When I had finished phone calls, I went through the pen/pencil box with Shannon, getting her to scribble with each pen and shouting out the name of the colour after me. She loved it and we did this for absolutely ages. I also demonstrated the pencil sharpener to her, and took the opportunity to throw away several felt-tip pens which were pretty much dried up.

Then it was time to get the dinner in the oven and then go and collect Jade from school. We came straight back home, I refused a request for the TV to go on (proud emoticon!) and instead we all played a game of Farm Lotto. This was Shannon's first try and she did really well! She seemed to get the hang quite quickly of taking it in turns, and then with a bit of encouragement, spotting when she had picked up an animal that was on her card and putting the picture piece onto it. We must do that again soon! We were all set for a second game but something distracted me/them (can't remember) and then Jade requested more of the 'learning books'. So I read the first section from the "Language and Thinking for Young Children" which was the story of the crow and the pitcher. It's a pretty short story, and then I gave her the option of either drawing a picture of the story, or doing an experiment with a jar of water and some stones and watching the water level rise. She chose the latter, was very excited to see it really did happen, and did it twice! Then we sat down and started on the story "The Boxcar Children" and by popular demand I did three chapters instead of just one.

By then it was time for me to prepare the veg for dinner so I left them playing. I got dinner on the table by 5.10pm (early for me!), then a bit of TV for them and a bit of computer time for me and upstairs for bath at 6.15pm. Jade loves a really long bath, so she was in there till about 7pm and then more stories and cuddles till Shannon fell asleep at 7.45pm and I left Jade to settle down for sleep. 2 hours later, we're still waiting. In the end I have told her to switch her lamp on and just read. She's always taken up to an hour to fall asleep but not this bad till recently.

Now I have to go into major planning mode for my Usborne 2007 Catalogue Launch party - need to order some new titles and get invites and posters done. Oh, and watch ER!!!!!

Six weird things about me

THE RULES

Each player of this game starts with the ’six weird things about you’ blog post. People who get tagged need to write their own six weird things post and state the rules clearly. At the end of the post tag six more people and don’t forget to leave a comment on their blog to tell them they have been tagged and tell them to read your blog.

1. Well I don't think this is weird but the majority of the rest of the population does. I breastfed Jade till she was 4.5 years old. In fact she still begs to have a quick go sometimes. Sometimes I let her.

2. Even though it's about 25 years since I last played a piano, I still sometimes find myself fingering the notes of a tune as though I was playing.

3. I am a biker! My 30th birthday present to myself was a motorbike, and lessons. Although I love riding, I found it impractical as it's too cold in winter, too hot in summer and the clothing is too bulky to wear to do anything nice at the other end. I hope to be a motorbiking granny, though.

4. Although objectively I guess I am very intelligent (high IQ), I don't consider that my opinion is worth much. That's very weird.

5. I was absolutely fascinated by pregnancy and childbirth even when I was pretty sure I didn't want any children myself. I even took a module studying it at university. I contemplated becoming a midwife, till I realised I am not good in an emergency.

6. I am an introvert, and yet my favourite colour is red. Red is supposed to be loud, vibrant and outgoing. So not me, and yet I love it.

Difficult to know who to tag! I guess it will have to be:

Dagmar
Sally
Jax, has anybody tagged you yet?
Dawn
Claire, if she's not to busy with the new baby!
Katy or Bob

Phew!

Miscellany

Was back to work last week, and Jade went to school on Thursday afternoon only, but we're not back to any semi-formal HE stuff yet. My plan is to start trying our best to stick to the Sonlight schedule from Monday for a couple or three months and see if it works for us that way. Nevertheless, as usual education goes on anyway. In the past few days Jade has:

• made cards for her friends, involving sticking, decorating and writing in them - more writing than she usually does and she did it all herself! she usually starts and asks me to finish.
• Lots of reading, of course, both on her own and by me to her. I wouldn't say she's really reading books yet, but sometimes she will sit down with one and look all through it and is probably reading most of it, as long as there are only 1 or 2 sentences on a page. Technically she can read at a higher level than that but the size and amount of text makes a big difference. I'm trying to remember which books we've read but most of them I've forgotten - I know there has as usual been plenty of human body stuff, ancient greeks, unicorns (her current fave) and lots of Christmas stories.
• Being doing spontaneous sums with collections of items ("If I get 3 of these in one hand, and 3 in the other, I've got 6!)
• plus lots of role-playing (being a unicorn, being Mary while Shannon is baby Jesus, etc).

I've been busy trying to get our finances in order (again!) - almost there and almost got a debt reduction payment plan worked out.

I spent Thursday night and all day Friday at the Usborne Gala Dinner and Conference, which was great fun - we won Sparkliest Table award! Also very informative and inspiring - I have big plans for going further with Usborne but whether I have enough me-time to actually get any of it organised, I'll have to wait and see. Watch this space for more Usborne stuff though!

After keeping my eyes open for years at Christmas time for a nice but not-too-expensive Nativity Set, I finally found one by luck in town while shopping for party poppers for the Usborne Gala Dinner! It's this one. Love it! There was a larger version, which I would have preferred, but couldn't afford it! Couldn't really afford this one, actually, but when you've been looking for something for years and then see one, and in a sale as well, then you've just got to get it!

And finally, today, I've had a long phone conversation with a woman living in my own street about HE! And they're Christians too! She has a 2y 8mo boy and an 8mo girl, and is starting to look around and decide what to do. She's not necessarily convinced by HE yet, but is certainly interested in seriously considering it, and the whole family is coming round one Saturday in February to have a chat and look through our stuff!

Tagged by Ali

Name three things:

That you had hanging on your tree:
1. A shooting star ornament in memory of Benjamin
2. ALL our tinsel (a lot!) because Jade decorated the tree!
3. Chocolate santas (for a short while, anyway)


That you’ve eaten / drunk lots of:
1. Baileys
2. Liqueur chocolates
3. Turkey


That you didn’t do this year but hope to do next year
1. Host a party/generally entertain more
2. Go to a pantomime
3. Go ice-skating somewhere


Favourite presents
1. Digital camera (from DH)
2. Subscription to Green Parent magazine
3. Fluffy cushion for the sofa


That you’re glad you didn’t get for Christmas
1. Smellies/bath stuff (I don't bath, I shower)
2. Anything hand-knitted
3. Plain chocolates


People to tag
1. Sally L.
2. Claire
3. Leandra

2007

So here's the New Year. It's not an occasion I make a big thing of - don't usually bother staying up to see midnight pass, but I do like the feeling of a clean fresh year ahead of me, a mostly blank calendar and a new-ish start.
The past few days at home have been very relaxed - much playing, resting, eating chocolate and hanging out together. It's been nice

Then on Saturday we drove North to visit Bill's Dad and sister. We stayed overnight in a Travelodge on Saturday night - although I can hardly say we 'slept' there thanks to Jade, who woke up in the small hours with a headache, which then progressed to ear ache, and then just seemed to be general insomnia and we were all (except Shannon) awake for hours. So we slept in till about 10am on Sunday morning. Had another short visit to Bill's Dad over lunchtime and the early afternoon and then what seemed like a very loooooong drive home in torrential rain and high winds with both Bill and I needing time to sleep on the journey but the kids not seeming to need the same

Needless to say we didn't try staying up to see the New Year in as even if we'd wanted to we were just too tired, and today we have taken down all the decorations and attempted to get things back to some form of normality.

I am, along with the rest of the population, abysmal at keeping New Year's resolutions, but some how setting goals for the year doesn't seem to be quite the same, so after spending a little time musing and thinking this afternoon, here are my goals for the coming year:

Children:

• Night-wean Shannon
• Get Jade doing regular chores
• Get Jade to usually sleep in her own bed all night
• Much less television - maximum half-an-hour in the morning while I have breakfast and 1 hour in the evening.

Home-Ed:

• Try actually sticking to the Sonlight K curriculum for at least 3 months to see if it works for us like that
• Otherwise concentrate with Jade on maths and writing
• Do more practical stuff like making historical meals, dressing up etc.

Personal:

• Regular stretching exercise - I can feel myself stiffening up
• Regular prayer/quiet time
• More sex (once a year isn't enough, DH says.....)
• Less web-browsing
• more book reading

Home:

• Keep up-to-date with finances
• Reduce debt (currently £10,000 or £15,000 if you count the student loan which I am hoping never to have to pay back)
• Redecorate at least some of the areas in this house that have never been done since we moved here 10 years ago, i.e. dining room; hall/stairs/landing; kitchen.

Business:

• Get at least 2 more Usborne recruits by the end of April
• Do at least one event per week, preferably 2
• Organise paperwork
  

Honoured!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Entirely Miss Reverend Lady Joanna the Defenestrated of Hoptonshire by Leer Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Christmas

Despite the trauma of the dishwasher breaking down a couple of days before Christmas, we had the nicest C. Day I can remember for quite a long time. Everybody was happy, the girls were delightful and the present opening was fun. The only slight problem was that Jade was unwell - she'd had a heavy cold and cough and a high temperature for a couple of days and was still not too good. So she stayed in pyjamas all day and we didn't go out to church in the morning. Lunch was delayed as the turkey was not properly defrosted in time, so we didn't sit down to eat till nearly 4pm, but that's fairly traditional anyway, and it certainly was lovely when we got to eat it. Quite the tastiest roast dinner I've ever cooked, I think!

We weren't woken too early. Jade did wake at about 1.30am as she often does, came into our bed and said, "I think Santa's been - I felt my stocking and it's really full!", but I suggested she should go back to sleep and open it in the morning and she did! In the morning she was astonished because she said she "didn't sleep a wink all night" but still hadn't heard Santa arrive! And the night had gone really fast! So we weren't woken properly till about 7.30am - I suspect it won't be so respectable a time next year! Shannon was still asleep, so Jade opened her stocking in our bed and was really thrilled with everything, especially the Pooping Reindeer!

After Shannon woke and opened her small stocking gifts, we went downstairs and the children launched into the presents! We used to insist on a proper breakfast before opening only one or two gifts, and then out to church, and opening the rest after lunch, but all restraint was out of the window this year and it was all Bill and I could do to keep track of what was being received from whom in order to facilitate the thank-you letters! We didn't get to open our own gifts until the kids were mostly all done!

Particularly appreciated by Jade was the Dora pull-along overnight case:















which, fairly uniquely this Christmas, I paid full price for.

and for Shannon, the Duplo, which entertained her mid-morning for a good hour or more:















which came as gifts from Grandpa and Nanny (2 boxes) and a large box second-hand via Bill's work.

Also from Bill's work was Jade's other favourite:
















and, not photographed but enthusiastically played with by both girls was the Freecycled Fisher-Price Little People Royal Gift Set (this plus some extra buildings/pieces).

As for me, well I was very pleased with my replacement digital camera from DH, plus some MeatLoaf CDs, and he in turn was very happy with his dongle (I always want to blush at that word!) which turns a PC into a TV. And I even managed to keep smiling in the kitchen:















On Boxing Day we had a lovely muddy walk in the woods, all together, and today we've had a visit from my Dad and his wife Pat, so all in all a lovely time is being had, despite having to wash up by hand, grrrr!

Switch to Plan 'B'

I was supposed to be away with the girls at my Mum's now, but the foggy weather dissuaded me. I'm not a wimp about driving in all sorts of weather - it usually doesn't bother me too much - but with the girls on board I really didn't want to be either in an accident (obviously!) or stuck in miles of tailbacks because of someone else's pile-up. If the weather clears by Sunday we may do a quick pressie-swap at a suitable mid-point (usually Millett's Farm Garden Centre near Abingdon).

Anyway this has meant that I have been able to make some inroads at least into some of the mess and clutter round here and have cleared some space so we can move a bit. If only I had a nice chunk of spare dosh I'd hire one of those organisers/de-clutterers to come round and sort us out. It would save me from so much stress and irritability, and I'd get more done with the girls, I'm sure.

The girls have spent most of the day playing, aided by the girl-next-door who was here for most of the afternoon. They also made looooong paper-chains! That enabled me to get on with the said tidying up stuff, as well as loading Money 2007 Home & Business edition onto the laptop to see if it's better than what I'm currently running, in order to keep track of Usborne finances as well as household stuff. We have done some reading together, though, firstly of some Bible stories (Jade's choice) and then one of her Learning Land magazines which covered adding up in 10s which was new to her so I went into a bit more explanation about that. Don't know how much she 'got' it but it's a start.

Hmmm

I don't know about going against the flow but I have obviously lost the flow. Must try and get back to blogging. I just don't feel I've got much to say. I've kind of given up on any even semi-formal educational stuff and we're just doing Christmas crafts, cards and that kind of thing, in the small amount of time there seems to be between dashing from one thing to another.

Jade was in the school nativity play on Tuesday evening - she was an angel! She decided not to sing most of the songs, even though I know she can as she has sung them endlessly at home. She mostly just smiled, waved at me and Shannon repeatedly, and watched what everyone else was doing. She looked very sweet though, and TBH I was just impressed that she agreed to stand up there in front of everybody. Progress, I think!

I feel moderately on top of Christmas, for a change. Our cards have nearly all gone in the post today (except not the HE list ones - need envelopes!) as has the package for the USA - so it's probably a couple of days past the last posting date but that's the nearest I've ever got in the past few years so I'm pretty proud of myself! I have nearly all presents purchased - just one or two difficult people I'm still wrestling over.

The house is still a complete wreck which is a shame because I was wanting to host a Boxing Day party but thinking about it I don't see how we can possibly fit more than about 4 people in, and I was more thinking about 6-8 adults plus all their kids ... just don't think it's going to work, not even using the traditional 'stash and dash' method of pre-party cleaning and tidying.

Oh, and just for Sally, if you read this - I can't seem to post a link on your blog comments, so comment here and I'll e-mail you with that yahoo group I mentioned.

Still alive!

Yes, I am still here. Just, er ... overwhelmed with everything that's not getting done, really. I've been really busy with Usborne too although I haven't done the accounts yet to see if I've made any money! There doesn't seem to be much in my account, but I did buy some stuff in to sell at Christmas Fairs and some of that is still left over. I'm pretty much all done now till Christmas, though, as last ordering date is 11th December and I haven't got a booking for the coming weekend. I do have some for Jan/Feb though!

Hmm, what else is there to report? Jade was supposed to go to see a pantomime with her school this morning, but she woke up and didn't want to go. I took her to the school, and she still didn't want to go, so I drove her to the theatre to have a look round (she said she was scared of going somewhere new) and I could tell by her face that she loved the place but she still wouldn't stay without me. And as there wasn't a spare ticket for me, that was that! We all came home. Since then the girls have done playdough, sequins (all over the floor!), colouring, helping bring in the Tesco delivery, helping me stick address labels on Christmas card envelopes (cards not done yet!) and currently a bit of CBeebies. We have HE group social this afternoon.

What else of note? She's learned to play 'Jingle Bells' one-fingered on the 'baby piano' thing, which she's thrilled about. She's practising the odd bit of writing at her own pace, loves Numberjacks but keeps forgetting to watch it at the weekends, is still reading of course, but generally speaking we've been too busy to do anything much structured.

Busy, busy, busy....

So much to do; so little time. I've done quite a few Usborne events recently with more to come, a work-organised Litter Pick round town this morning, this evening we are showing our monthly Rural Cinema film, there's been HE group, work and part-time school, not to mention the usual domestic chaos. Sometimes I wish I did nothing except stay at home with the girls. No other commitments, no rushing about here and there. But if I did I'd be bored with the same old thing all the time and no variations. It feels good to be an active member of the local community, putting on events and getting involved.

The main problem is, I'm tired. Tired, tired, tired. I can't believe I've had 5.5 years without adequate sleep. And I was always a 10-hours-a-night girl!! I know I'm not the only one; I know many others have the same problems. But we just can't seem to get Shannon to sleep through at night - and I run out of stamina before she does so I give in and feed her and of course she's getting mixed messages and why on earth should she give up trying when she is sometimes successful?

But the chaos piling up round here is scary; once again it's weeks and weeks since I looked at my finances, my Usborne paperwork is building up everywhere and I just can't get a grip on where stuff should be put so it is messy everywhere. If only I had some time to myself during a morning when I have a moderate amount of energy I might be able to make inroads into it. I've been thinking longingly of school ... and when Shannon gets to the age when she can be at playschool for a whole morning the temptation will be even greater. And because I'm tired and short of patience with the girls, I want to hide here at the computer and just let them entertain themselves, so I'm not doing the educational and fun stuff with them that I want to either.

Oh well, moan over. Normal service (whatever that is!) will be resumed in a little while.

Catch-up

Quick summary of last Friday's science:

Dirty coins in vinegar - slowly becoming shiny
Dirty coins in vinegar & salt - quickly becoming shiny
Coins taken out of the solution - become tarnished again
Egg left in vinegar for a day or two - shell completely dissolved

can't remember what else we did in the morning. In the afternoon, stress levels were rising as we'd had 2 bad nights with Shannon and I was exhausted and very grumpy. so we walked into town and got a few more bits for our Operation Christmas Child shoebox, which is now almost complete.

When we got back, Shannon b/fed and fell asleep on my knee at 4.30pm, which was not ideal! And I was too tired to do that evening's dinner, which was home-made pizza, so we had heated-up leftovers instead. Well, it's bound to happen sometimes!

By request!

The 4-week Menu Plan!!!

Week 1 -
Monday: Potato, Bacon & Onion Hotpot with 2 veg
Tuesday: Chicken casserole (slow-cooker) on rice
Wednesday: Spaghetti Bolognese (pre-cooked sauce in freezer)
Thursday: Fish Pie with broccoli
Friday: Home-made pizza
Saturday: Jacket potatoes & beans with secret veg
Sunday: Roast Chicken


Week Two

Monday: Chicken cassoulet with pasta (using leftover chicken) & make stock
Tuesday: Baked Butternut Squash
Wednesday: Salmon Burgers plus salad
Thursday: Meatloaf plus couscous & veg & tomato sauce
Friday: Sausage paella thingy
Saturday: Salmon Teriyaki with rice (AK)
Sunday: Stuffed peppers


Week Three

Monday: Prawn stir-fry & fried rice (AK)
Tuesday: Roast Vegetable & Brown Rice Gratin
Wednesday: Pasta with roast vegetable sauce
Thursday: Home-made pizza
Friday: Spaghetti bolognese
Saturday: Fish in Orange Sauce (AK) with chips & 2 veg
Sunday: Roast Chicken


Week Four

Monday: Chicken Cassoulet & make stock/soup
Tuesday: Fish Pie & make flan for tomorrow
Wednesday: Cheese & Sweetcorn Flan with garlic bread
Thursday: Spanish & Bacon omelette
Friday: Chicken burgers with veg & apple (AK)
Saturday: Pasta & pesto & corn-on-the-cob
Sunday: Chicken drumsticks with potato gratin & veg

AK means Annabel Karmel :-)

I intend to change this over time to include more vegetable-based meals and to add to my repertoire of vegetable accompaniments rather than just plain boiled carrots, broccoli or sweetcorn which are our most usual ones. I may even add a few desserts - I usually feel I can't cope with making one of those as well!

Mission accomplished!

For several days I've been working on a menu plan, and not just any old plan but a 4-week one! I've tried to keep it frugal, balance it nutritionally, include fish at least once and preferably twice a week as recommended, increase our fruit & veg intake and introduce one or two exciting new dishes to our ordinary repertoire. I've considered which days I'm normally at home to do lengthy preparation, and which days often require something pretty instant. And at last, it is done! It also includes a weekly shopping list which does need some amendment, as I actually do a major shop online at the beginning of the month and get everything non-perishable, and then I need a weekly list of the short shelf life stuff after that. But anyway, it's fab knowing what's for dinner, and not having to think about it! We'll just have to see how well I do at sticking to it because it is not uncommon for me to get something out of the freezer the night before, put it in the fridge overnight to defrost, and then end up not using it the following day for some reason, usually lack of time or inclination to properly cook, then forgetting about and having to throw it away!

We had a good HE day yesterday. It started well, with me still lying in bed musing on what we might do that day, and wondering whether to get Jade to practise a bit of letter writing/formation. She was downstairs with DH while he had his breakfast, and after a little while I heard her asking for help as to which way to write a 'd'. DH wrote down examples of both 'b' and 'd', and shortly afterwards she came to me with a piece of paper on which she had written "Mummy and Dady, I (heart) you". So, no need for any further writing practise then!!
We started by going to the 'HE bookshelf' and I asked Jade to choose what she wanted to do, and she pulled out some maths workbooks. She wanted to start with the really easy one so I went along with it for a while and then persuaded her on to the more appropriate level stuff. After she practised writing down the numbers, we moved on to 'odd and even'. I demonstrated with a box full of magnetic letters, asking her to share them out between us, and pointing out when there was an odd one left over and when there wasn't. We got a piece of paper with two columns headed 'odd' and 'even' and she started to write down under which heading each number went. She was enjoying it and asked to do more even when I was ready to stop.

That's a fairly quick explanation for something that seemed to go on forever and certainly raised the intensity for me, because she didn't grasp the idea instantly and I kept having to ask her to think again, while remaining very calm! So I gladly called a break after a little while and then received a string of lengthy phone calls so their free-range playing went on for an hour or more. Then we had a quick lunch and got Jade ready for her afternoon at school, where she had great fun in the 'dance' class doing firework movements, which she enthusiastically demonstrated to me when she got home. While she was out I prepared the evening meal .

Later on, she was combining the odd/even thing with the brief explanation (well, that's all it needs!) of syllables I did last week, and she was sounding out words, counting the number of syllables, and then proclaiming whether the number was odd or even! After dinner I didn't want to do the various active things she was suggesting, so I proposed we played Snakes & Ladders, which we did very enjoyably (except when Shannon kept running off with the dice!). Jade played with very good humour, celebrating when she won 2 games, of course but also taking it in very good part when she lost 2 games. And then I had to insist that we stopped as it was bedtime!

Today has been just plain busy. We were out promptly this morning to help my Usborne recruit with her first toddler group event, which went extremely well. Jade and Shannon both happily played with the multiplicity of toys! Then back home (Shannon fell asleep in the car) for lunch, a quick rest and then out to swimming with the HE group. Both girls are gradually becoming more adventurous in a very autonomous, gently testing their own anxieties and finding them to be groundless, kind of a way! Jade took off her armbands and splashed and jumped about a fair bit without them, which she's never done before, and Shannon positively forced me to tow her about on her front and back, only holding her hands, which she wouldn't do at all 2 weeks ago. Back home for a bit of CBeebies and then dinner, after which the large Tesco delivery arrived, and then more Snakes & Ladders.

Better late than never

I didn't make it back to blog yesterday - subsided into bed exhausted at 9.20pm!

So, back to the birthday girl. She is of course an absolute beacon of joy in our lives - she is extremely funny, extraordinarily clever and quite amazingly beautiful in our eyes at least. I used to wonder whether watching a second child (and another girl) grow up and develop would be a bit boring, having already watched the first with those astonished newbie-parent eyes, but no, not a bit of it. Watching Shannon grow in some ways that are similar but some ways that are totally different from Jade is just as enchanting the second time around. And I particularly adore this 'learning to talk' stage, when language is just developing and their little individual interpretations of words mean that only a parent can understand a lot of what is said. I love Shannon's "Dair-DENN" (shouted!) which means 'again', and the way she calls her sister "Dabdid" or "Dadid", although I would not mind hearing an awful lot less of "u-miwk" which has recently turned into "mu-mee-miwk" or "hungry" which is not satisfied by food but only by boob . I swear that girl sometimes asks (and gets!) said substance about 10 times an hour, as refusal brings on wailing, sobbing, clinging to my legs and general heartbreak all round. No wonder she's somewhere round the 99th percentile for weight!

Anyway, as far as early predictions of her future are concerned, I would currently suggest she will either end up as a comedian or a musician as she seems to have a definite talent for both, so it will be interesting to look back in 20 or 30 years and wonder with astonishment how on earth she turned into an accountant!

Birthday celebrations were low-key. We had a lazy morning when she enjoyed learning about opening presents and enjoying the contents! In the afternoon we went to an HE session organised by the woman who I met a couple of weeks ago with the stunning house! It was at her local village hall and she had invited several other HE families for a clay/pottery session with clay, wheel and tuition provided by a local potter. I hadn't met any of these other families before as she is in the totally opposite direction to the other group that I have been attending, so it was lovely to meet a whole new group of HErs (all Christians although there weren't any distinguishing features from any other HE get-together to make it obvious!!!) and a whole new bunch of kids! She is hoping to arrange get-togethers every so often so that'll be great. She was kind enough to organise a birthday cake complete with candles for Shannon and a large group rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to go with it. Jade declined to make anything recognisable from her lump of clay, so after fiddling about a bit making the letters for her name which she then destroyed I made a birthday cake with 2 candles for Shannon and, on request, a person (head, body, legs but no arms!) for Jade. Jade then had a go on the potter's wheel and 'made' a vase (with some help!) but predictably refused to utter a single word or even nod or shake her head in response to any questions from the man so that felt slightly embarrassing although I should not take it that way, I know. Shannon spent the time mostly completely engrossed in playing with the toy kitchen but unfortunately (fortunately?) we do not have the space for any such kind of thing in this house so she'll just have to enjoy them elsewhere.

Afterwards, seeing as we were three-quarters of the way to my Dad's house, we continued on there where DH met us and we had a birthday tea complete with yet another scrummy birthday cake and candles. Shannon made a sort of 'Fff-Ffff' attempt at blowing out the candles but didn't get on too well so we all helped! But that was all lovely and quite fitting as Jade had had her second birthday at her other grandparents' house in the north-east so it was kind of nice to continue the tradition.

Sadly, being 2 hasn't diminished Shannon's desire for mummymilk in the night although we are down to about 2 wakings per night rather than 5 or 6. Not enough of an improvement yet to bring about a vast change in the amount of my daytime fog or sleepiness so that's still something to work on. Hence my early collapse last night!

TWO!

Shannon is 2 today!! Happy Birthday sweet girl - we love you!

More later.