So the week has had it’s ups and downs, early mornings (and I mean early!!!) late nights, troubled sleep, tired grumpy people, laughter, tears, shouts, wails, moans, groans, games, fun, heartache and more! But all that aside we’ve got lots to show for the week both inside and out.
I have found that the only effective strategy with Ot is to sit with him-and keep him focused and help him stay on track…he is very good at going of on a number of tangents…starting off with the meaning of sum and ending on why there are ducks! So we’ll try this. B seems to love stickers at the moment and whilst it isn’t particularly a direction I’d choose-I’ll try anything!
Sunday was a beautiful day and we had fun in the garden, cleaning up the soon to be Guinnea Pig Palace, DH made dinner and Lemon tart (yum!)
Swinging fun!
Lemon Tart!
Looking after the tadpoles
Playing football…
A quick bit of light relief after all that cooking!
On Monday we went to Conkers with Aunty S and met up with a group of HEers.
Playing in the water
Going on the barefoot walk-Ot did oh so love the squelchy mud!
On COnckachoo over to the amphitheatre to have lunch. Tig is looking after A in the front seat.
An impromptu performance or two during lunch
B desperately wanted to go and find a den so we headed there for 20 minutes or so then to the play park.
Tiger went with A&G and L,F,A,&E on the big assault course and we went with JD &R on a few of the easier ones for B.
We finished off with ice-creams. It was a lot of driving picking up and dropping off Aunty S and then heading to Ikea for Tclub stuff but a lovely day.
Tuesday was ancient Greeks at Tuesday Club. Well once I’d gone back to get the keys which had fallen on the stairs…loose key ring!!!!
There was lots to do. We all made hoptolite shields and Band Tig made honey cakes. Tig also made a laurel wreath.
Both Tig and B had a go at smelling the different plants and creating their own perfume for the amphora in the garden.
Everyone seemed to enjoy mosaicing. It would be great to do a big one with everyone!
B’s mosaic frame
Stories on the grass-we did Pandora and made hope (or other) butterflies and after the feast kind Midas with hunting for gold and finally a marathon!
Wednesday was a difficult day, lack of sleep, early early morning for Ot (4am) meant we didn’t get to GO kids and stayed in :0(
Thursday was much better. Tig was super focused on getting things done and had his morning jobs done by 9, Ot by half past :0) B was being super good at listening and we did some doctor playing, some sight words and breakfast.
Tig has def got the hand of inserting pictures into his blog and used the models he built to create the starts of a story in an imaginary system of planets, each with one inhabitant for a different element (based on Lego hero/bionicles I think-possibly totally plagiarised but he was writing happily and that’s brilliant!)
After that we did some science-I challenged the guys to keep their ice lollies frozen (as cold as possible) for 30 minutes before they could eat them, with them being placed on a sunny windowsill…they had tea towels, napkins, foil, a cup, salt, ice, water (because that’s what I could grab easily!).
Some interesting discussions about layers and using the water ice and salt to add an impurity and make the temperature bellow 0 (remembered that one from ages ago) plus padding the bottom so that the heat couldn’t get in there. I hinted at the idea that insulation like in the house would help stop the temperature form changing…interesting talking to Tig about the a metal and wooden box to keep an ice-lolly frozen and coffee warm-talked through the misconception there and he seemed to grasp. We also looked at conductors, predicting the best and worst conductors of heat with the old butter on spoons made of 3 different materials experiment…great excitement as the butter started to melt!
There was some playing, in the garden, Lego, stickle bricks, model making, transformers, note writing dinner and more playing….then we did some art…..
I sat with TIg and we did some contour drawings together then created a cactus outline, used some wet in wet techniques…B came over and wanted to do one so we did and then Tigs was dry so we did the outline in black oil pastel, used the oil resist properties to de a background with black water colours carefully. B had a bit of help and I also worked with Ot whilst B’s was drying…Ot was not as enthusiastic as B and TIg but was very pleased with the end results….
Ben painting his wet in wet and sprinkling salt to try out creating patterns
Mine and TIg’s at the drying stage
Tig and Ot adding the black watercolour background as the final step
Finished and up on the wall…..Ot, Mommy, TIg, Ben form Left to right.
Our art wall
Our butterflies from Tuesday-Ot felt ‘left out’ because he hadn’t done one so he made his at home….Ot, Ben, Tig from Left to right.
Ot made some Titanic and other ship models for in the bath…..