Duplo Town

Feeling a bit better, desperate for the feel of wind on my face. The garden and lots of warm layers call. Tom and Annie have created an intricate 'Town with Farm' from the Duplo. Hours of construction and play.

Two Mummy in bed bugs , a trip to London and a visit from Grannie. What a weird month. The picture of us was taken by a woman (why didn't I ask her name) on a business trip stopping over between New York and home in New Dehli. Thanks you.
Fantastic trip to stay with Cousins to be repeated I hope. Very brief Visit from my Mum better come back soon.
Now to be picked up by Mary. What a friend!
On Tuesday Adele and Co came to our rescue then on Wednesday Mary whisked the children off in the evening and gave us food for Thursday. I am very lucky.
Now for high power vitamins and good health til christmas.

A Slice of Ice by Tom :: Feeling his penguins needed a home involving ice slides Tom has made one. Luckly not being put off by my attempts to 'help' he was finished in an hour or so.




The Big Draw:: Callendar Park Gallery :: Tom, Annie and I got stuck in with collaberative art for a couple of hours with Karen Kirkwood and Ewan Robertson. Starting wild, formless and messy, swaping work, reforming and pulling in - composition, rhythm, framing, boundaries, focal points, texture and more mess. Liberating art, discarding the impulse to protect our work from the gaze let alone marks of others we made stuff and set off home to do more.

More Sunshine

Annie has wanted to do painting for days and here we are sidetracked again by gummed paper pictures. And here is Annie modeling hers. How do I rotate these pictures? The camera has gone loopy - or I have - Hmm.

Jake dressed up as a monster by a fire.

The 'Map Man' inspired theodolite in action mapping the road in front of our house.

Up the maple tree again, pushed up there by Tom.

Sunlight through the leaves framing Tom.

We also bounced ball sand cleared a room for a carpet. T and A played a long hospital game with a 100% cure rate. Another Lego quarry has been made then converted into a toy with a train lift by my poor boy who's parents don't buy him battery toys. Now to sort out the un-rotated pictures and put the children's bedrooms back together more cosy and tidy than ever before. Well at least with carpets not covered in nameless muck with cut out bits of the worst bits of muck. Off to arrange beauty.

Autumn Lovelies

My Acer palmatum dissectum seedling 4 years old I think found with two tiny leaves at Callens Edge and transported north then nurtured.

Can you spot the children? Two days of blue skies and warm sun, mmm (contented purring noise).

Egremont Russets nearly ready to eat. Too beautiful to eat.

Knee Trauma

"This is Annie. My knee's sore. It's got two plasters on."

Catch up

Mountain climbing near Crianlarich

Very clever horisontal stilt walking Grannie Minehead.

Butterfly Cakes
Crab Apple Jelly with Grannie Millgate

A few shots from the summer

Back to normal. Matty at his new work the children and me at home back into some sort of a daily rhythm. We've read stories, painted, read poems, started to make a theodolite - Tom, prompted by watching Map Man with a 200 year old brass model- he also traced a world map, talked about autumn, collected and sketched autumn fruits and leaves. Still need to have our 'we've not gone back to school' celebration (or is that a little negative?)

Millgate Easter

Easter at Millgate, Pace eggs, Easter Nests, Egg cups, Easter egg hunts, La'al Ratty, Cousins, Wasdale, lovely hot sunny weather.... and I can't get my photos to upload.

Saline

Off to Saline to try permaculture. Much discussion tea drinking and playing later we had covered several patches of earth with compost, well rotted manure, straw and cardboard. Some cluelessness about what to do with seed that need to be scattered. Some gentle planting of little seedlings by little hands. What will the survival rate be? Note Annie really does have a halo, some enhancement by static electricity I suspect.
Potatoes to be grown in a bag. Planted carefully by Tom.

Lovely mud socks on our first really warm day out. Modelled here by Teagan but sported children and adults alike. A wonderful day by the Burn at Carlops and my first walk after the knee op. We returned refreshed, muddy and covered in freckles.
This is the hill that Annie and Afra climbed. The wee ones all alone off on an expedition. Can you spot them. This is the tree that Tom and Teagan climbed.

Birthday Girl

Annie is 5. That feels very grown up. This is Annie decorating her cake (note her new top) and then blowing out her candles. The last picture is Tom Afra and Annie at a photo shoot for Historic Scotland. posing with a giant egg. They were paid in chocolate eggs. We got to drive right up to The Esplanade to park, very grand. Thanks to Sarah for cappaccino (sp?) with a view in the castle cafe and for reminding me to have fun and enjoy the whole experience instead of worrying if they were doing what the photographer wanted and thanks for thinking of us too.

Annie chose these pictures of Grannie working hard looking after us all.

Tom and Annie had eye tests and will soon be sporting glasses. They are both very pleased.

Annie has used fabric crayons to make a Fairy mat. It has a path, a garden, a maze, a parking space and a field. Tom has designed a town.

I have shelves and a table in my crafty space and now need to arrange my things and start making things.

Knee

Knee is operated on and on the mend, normal service will resume shortly for the meantime wonderful Grannie Minehead (my Mum) is doing everything, children, house, food and (rather grumpy) me. I must post a picture of superwoman.

Home Day

The Babes are happy, they've made and painted wooden boats. Annie and I have put her dolls to bed and created a measure of clearness around them. Tom is in Lego World. I have done lots of To Do's. The sun is shining. Photos here from Greyfriars Churchyard from yesterday and boats made today.

Pixar Exhibition

Off to the Chamber Street Museum today to see the Pixar Exhibition. For free as an educational group. We were mesmerised by the rapidly turning Toy Story show. Stationary models that on being whizzed round appeared to jump, run on balls, throw lassos, parachute and more.
The sun was shining so we went out for some running about and climbing trees and grave stones in Greyfriars Church Yard. Train home to tea and reading 'The Long Winter' Laura Ingalls Wilder. Next I'll try photos but how to attatch them?

Posting Faff

Having set up this blog I have not been able to get into it to add any more but here goes...

Our latest project is speaking as much French as possible at home. With two English-plus-a-smattering-of-school-French parents this will be a big learning experience for all of us.

Home-ed stretches your mind. Not least to find sources of second hand French stuff.

An extended game of Risk with 2 players and 4 sides is going on in the sittingroom and the clutter remains to be de-cluttered so,

Au revoir

We are Annie, Tom and Jo starting off this blog to record our Home education and Homemaking explorations.

Yesterday Tom sewed a bear from brown felt, the bear is named Brown Bear.
Annie did 4 cross stitch kisses for her Grannie Minehaed's 60th birthday next week.
I had ideas for my new crafty space in the spare room.