18/52 FRIENDS, FERRIS WHEELS & FORESTS

I am so thankful for having some lovely family time this week. 

 

It makes my heart sing to hear you play together in the garden during the evenings I have to work and, because of the continued pleasant weather, you have been able to do more of it this week.

We were then very blessed over the weekend to be able share with friends the dedication of their son to their Church and God.  We are not religious, but our friends have a strong faith and it was lovely to see the happiness it brought to them and the love and support that they have from the other members of their Church.

 

We made the most of the bank holiday and our season tickets to Drayton Manor with a cheeky trip their and then to top of our week I was invited to join our twins on their school trip to the Lickey Hills which we all really enjoyed.  Whilst there we shopped, enjoyed the park, had lunch and went on a lovely walk with the ranger, Penny who had done some pond dipping and showed us newts, we made nests using pegs as a bird would use their beaks, walked through an orchard and spotted fairy doors (to name just a few things).

 

How lucky we are to have had such fun in seven very short days.

I wanna be like you hoo hoo

Shirt & Tie

Sailing Away

Sweet Sleep

Dedicated

Scooter lessons from Daddy

Ferris Wheel

School Trip - Lickey Hills - Making Nests (D)

School Trip - Lickey Hills - Making Nests (A)

14/52



Celebration Assembly
(without Daddy, hence the sad face.)

Breastfeeding our Babies

Baker Boys

Sweets for my sweet, (icing) sugar for my honey.

Such concentration

Craziness by Daddy!

10/52 A SPRING IN OUR STEP

It really feels like spring is on its way now.  The dark nights are becoming a thing of the past, we're having our Inspire workshops at  school (which foundation classes are always the last to have) and we have even managed a trip to the park in the sunshine.  Here's hoping for more of the same.


D's Inspire Workshop
Owl Babies

After School Catchup

Swinging Together

Cud-tle
Lu You

Football

Football

4/52 YOUR DELIGHT

My blog mostly documents moments of delight that the three of you bring to our everyday lives;  those moments that most days are my saviour in a day that is often full of not so delightful moments.  

 

This week, though, I am mixing it up a little and documenting your delight; those instances where I have captured you doing things which have brought smiles to those beautiful faces of yours.



Enjoying your little brother's toys

Celebration Assembly
Using finger spaces and full stops

This little piggy...

Even girls who wear pink love Spiderman

Watching the world go by

Belly Laughter

BURIED TREASURE

A - 365

D - 365

Following on from a post yesterday's about our precious hour, today you two showed me Buried Treasure which is a phonics activity that you have been having a go at at school with your teachers.  I really enjoy you showing me and talking to me about things that you have been doing at school so this was fun for me today.  Thank you for sharing it with me.

PRECIOUS HOUR

A - 365

I am still struggling with you and D being at school.  I have to collect you both just after 3.00pm and we are normally in the house and sorted by 3.30pm which, on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, gives me an hour with you both before I have to dish up the dinner and then start working at 4.45pm.  I am desperately trying to make sure I have prepared dinner while you are at school and that I have something we can all do together for our precious hour.  Today I got out some phonics wipe clean books that we have and we all practiced letter formation while we talked about your day at school.  Oh how I miss the luxury of the time that we have had together for almost the last five years.  It is so heartwarming to see how you submerse yourselves in school and how you are forming such lovely friendships, but there is a tiny bit of me that constantly feels anxious and possibly even uncomfortable about school and wishes I was confident enough to consider other approaches to education like homeschooling and unschooling.  I know that as parents we are all supposed to know what is best for our children, but I'm afraid that I honestly sometimes really don't...... 

STICKERS

A - 365

D - 365

A&D have both been getting stickers from school for doing well at things which has, in turn, prompted them to play teachers with their own stickers.  Here D waits to be given the sticker which A is so carefully choosing for him.

BOOK CORNER BOOKS

A - 365

D - 365

When we go into school in the morning you get to choose a book from the book corner to bring home with you.  On the days when I work evenings I try to make sure I can sit down with you to do an activity before I dish up the dinner and go up to start work and quite often that will be reading your book corner books.  I am still really struggling with all of the time that you spend at school and my resultant loss of time with you and so I really cherish this little bit of time with you both.

SCOOTING

A - 365

D - 365

On Fridays Daddy has to pick you up from school and today was his first Friday.  He doesn't have the car because I need it for work and so you either have to catch the bus and then walk or walk all of the way (which would be a good 40 minute walk for me if I were to walk briskly and so probably more like an hour for you).  The weather was pleasant today and so Daddy suggested taking your scooters for you to ride back from school.  I humoured him, but I actually thought he was crazy to think that you manage to ride them all of the way back.  Oh how wrong was I?

CAN I STAY TOO?

Teeny - 365

You get so excited when the teachers open the doors for us to drop off your brother and sister; I often think you would stay there if you were allowed.  Today Daddy did the school run and, not knowing any better, he took this cheeky photograph of you playing outside before you both left.

DINOSAUR STOMP

My gorgeous big boy.

Today's 365 photo of you was supposed to be a still from a video I took of you doing the "Dinosaur Stomp".  You told me that you do this as a 'Wake Up Shake Up' at school so we found it on You Tube for you to do at home and it was so much fun to watch you and your sister having fun copying the moves.

I played my video of you after I took it and it was fine, but when I came to take a still from it I couldn't get it to play; it seems to have corrupted or something and I am nowhere near technologically savvy enough to know where to start in trying to retrieve it.

So in honour of your Dinosaur Stomp  today I have linked to the You Tube film.

HUNGER V THIRST

A - 365

School makes you hungry.  Your packed lunch is bigger than the lunch you would have at home and then, despite of the fact that we eat dinner only about an hour and a half after we get back from school, you have taken to having a little snack I between.  Thankfully school also makes you thirsty too, thirsty for knowledge and we are all trying our best to keep you well hydrated..

SO PROUD

A - 365

D - 365

Bless the three of us so proud of your achievements at school; A of your pink star, D of your Angry Bird's writing and colouring and me of how hard you two are trying at school.

19:33

A - 365

D - 365

I find you two being at school emotionally exhausting, you two, on the other hand, find it physically exhausting.  Three minutes after Daddy put you to bed I came in to give you a quick kiss and this is how I found you.

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL

A - 365
D - 365

How did this happen?  How did you two get old enough to go to school?  In spite of the fact that you have both, at times, driven me mad over the summer break I am just not ready for this moment; this day has come around far too quickly for me.  Today was hard, but I know that I will be feeling it so much more tomorrow when I am not at work and have too much time on my hands.

I FORGOT (AGAIN!)

A - 365

D - 365

Today was yet another day when I didn't get round to taking photographs during your waking hours. 

 

Now that  I am working 31 hours per week, more than half of those hours during the evening, (and you will be at school all day from tomorrow) I am finding this 365 project more challenging than ever.  The photos are nowhere near the standard I had hoped they would be by now and I just don't seem to be able to find the time I had wanted to play with and practice photography and teach myself more.  My standards for this project have lowered dramatically over the months and now managing to a blog a photo of each of you more than a few times per week and to take any kind of photograph using anything that takes a photograph at some point before midnight each day feels like a massive achievement.  We will, however, discretely gloss over the masses of photographs that I have on the laptop that I haven't even found the time to blog yet!

 

Anyhow...onwards and upwards!

ALL KINDS OF SHOES

So today we went shopping for new shoes, all kinds of shoes!



A - 365

School Shoes!

 

D - 365

Smart Shoes (& School Shoes)!

 

Teeny - 365

First Shoes!

 

 

Happy Shoes!

TRYING THEM OUT FOR SIZE

A - 365

D - 365

Today we went and met with your teachers in preparation for when you two start school in a couple of weeks.  While we were there we bought book bags and jumpers with the school logo on and of course you were both so excited to try them out when you got home.