Things that make you go awwww!

Today Reuben trapped his fingers in his car window (they are electric and he thinks they are the best game ever!), so when we got out the car, he said " Mummy my fingers scratchy needs mummy milk to make better!"  The boy melts my heart sometimes!

Then later in the garden he was watching a blackbird, to which he said "I go and talk to the birdy and say hello, then sit on its back and he will say squeak!"

I am back!

Well I haven't blogged for a while now and I finally have a new battery charger back so I can take lovely photos again and post away!

So catch up... The weather has been blooming lovely so we have been very busy doing lots of lovely stuff.  Liz and Carl got married on Monday, so we met up on the beach in the afternoon, it was really nice to go down to the beach at 3 o'clock as the hottest part of the day had passed.  The kids all had a great time playing around together.  The north coast has had a recent wash up of these little purple and orange jellyfish, they don't sting but the beach was littered with them (I didn't have my camera unfortunatley)  Reuben wasn't too sure about them but Rowan loved them, he now wants to make a big jellyfish to keep under water in the garden!

Last week was National Breastfeeding week, so our support group had a little do, we had planned to get a group of trainee nail ladies in but they cancelled at the last minute, so I did some aromatherapy hand massages instead, which went down really well, I have even managed to sell some homemade creams!

The rest of the week has passed in the form of sunny days in the garden. Here are some pictures...
The veggies are coming on lovely, courgettes are flowering, the strawberries are ripening, the potatoes are ready for eating, the rhubarb is still going crazy and the herb wall is going great aswell, the lavender is about to burst into full purpley loveliness and the feverfew has just opened its delicate little flowers too.

This is Sandy Lane our scarecrow, guarding Rowans lone squash plant, that is all he wanted to plant in their veggy patch as he wanted the rest of the room for digging and mud pie making!

Our daily rhythm is working out quite well,on our baking day this week we made jam tarts, they look huge in this photo but they were tiny and lasted all of about 30 minutes!

The boys have been having great fun with the paddling pool in the sunshine, inventing different games to play in it, they used to put the slide in it when they were smaller but they are getting a bit too big for it now and almost bursting through the pool!

Lovely sunny days and loads of stuff to do is great but I am still feeling worn out, Rowan has been particulary unsetteld these last few days (full moon, heat and non stop stuff to do) and I am feeling drained and unconnected, but I will blog about this another time aswell as add more photos from the weekend.

A whirlwind full of pigs and bees!

Well time to catch up me thinks....
Life has been super crazy these last few weeks, I feel like I'm in a whirlwind and I can't catch my breath!

I am not really sure what has been happening to make me feel so tired.

First of all, my assignment. It is finished, handed in and awaiting marking! Phew, thats a huge weight off my shoulders, loads more to do, but the fiirst one is done, Yey!

Then, I think the kids just have so many things to do.  since getting involved with the home education network here, the boys have so much to do.  Whoever said home educated kids didn't socalise! 
Over the last couple of weeks we have been to a National Trust heritage farm for an open day, where we got to see sheep being sheared, then the wool being spun, then they got to make felt braclets from some previously spun and dyed wool.  It was a really great day.  Rowan was particulary taken with Mabel the pig.  She is no ordinary pig mind you, and we were told she was big but nothing prepares you for the immense size of this lovely pig, she was HUGE!  Rowan was puzzeled as to how she could see, as her ears covered her eyes, then he said, "I know, she has got little eyes in her ears!"

Then this week we went to a local bee farm, well its a local beekeeper who welcomed us on his land and told us all about beekeeping.  He even had extra suits for us to go and have a look in a hive.  I didn't get a chance to as I was with Reuben, but Rowan went and loved it.  He has since told me all about the queen bee, "she is really fat and makes all the babies".

Rowan and his friend as beekeepers.  This is the only photo this week, as we are still without a camera

I am not sure what else we have been doing, so why on earth am I so worn out!  We have been aiming to go swimming once a week, usually on a Sunday with Tristan.  Rowan has moved from armbands to noodle float and is so confident and proud of himself.  Unfortunatly, Reuben wants to take off his armbands too!

Tristan has been working loads recently aswell, but he has a whole two and a half days off this weekend, so we are all looking forward to a lovely weekend; tomorrow Rowans preschool is having a summer fair, with cocnut shy and splat-a-rat (Rowan is so excited about splat a rat!), then for Fathers Day we are going for another swim and roasty dinner, then on Monday some friends are getting married, so we are going to local beach bar for drinks. 

I do love the summer, loads of things to do with lovely people, I just wish there were a few more hours in the day!

FoR ThE lOvE oF FuNgUs FriDaY

Not had much time for blogging lately, been working on my way overdue assignement and I still haven't managed to charge my camera (need to find a lead to plug into computer). 

But I thought I couldn't let Friday go by without a fungus photo!

So here it is, a weird one this week, Not sure what it is, Tris will be able to tell me later, but I think it either looks like crusty poos, burnt biscuits or funny little crunchy animal ears!

Fungus Friday!

Here is this weelk fungi;

Laetiporus sulphureus - Chicken of the Woods.  It is the right time of year for these now, time for some fungus forays!

Rhythm and Boys

Recently a couple of things have been really bugging me;
1. the air of chaos in my house, I feel like nothing every actually happens or gets done
2. the boys (Rowan really, Reuben just copies) are so into raah play

So I thought long and hard about how to change these things and see if I can adjust something to make life more peaceful and flowing.

I am in the process of introducing  rhythm into our days.  I kind of started on Wednesday and so far so good, I have been thinking about this for a while and even though we plan on home educating Rowan and Reuben I am not sure the fully autonomus route is for us.  Then upon reading this blog I thought lets try something similar.

Things I have been aiming for are;
A daily yoga session (only very short, just some breathing and a few postures)
One focussed activity a day (today we made a scarecrow)
Lots of free play, books etc
To get out of the house everyday, even if just for a quick bike ride down the lane.
A rest time for everyone (well, for the boys as then I can get jobs done without feeling guilty)

So the last two days have been a success, I felt I have more time to be with my children instead of playing whilst thinking of the one hundred and one other things I need to be doing and they get the undivided attention of mummy doing something fun together and plenty of time to do what they want aswell.

So maybe thats the chaos slightly under control (I don't think its possible to remove chaos from a household with two boys aged under 4 in it!)  Which brings me onto my next problem...

Boys, testosterone, sticks, guns, fighting, and general raahh!
What to do, what to do, I am still flummaxed!
We have no TV in our house, the only thing they watch is an occasional DVD and they have no violence in them at all.  All of their books are non violent, although we do occasionally get caught out on a book from the library.  I don't know where it has come from but at the moment the guns thing is full on, all sticks are guns, bam bam.

At the home ed group on Fridays and Rowans pre school on Tuesdays there is a big testosterone fuelled group of 4 year old boys and it is intense, but they all come form the same type of home, where they are also not faced with violent images.

So today, whilst out on a bike ride, Rowan found two sticks that were 'perfect' guns (with little handles on them.)  He begged me to take them home and after explaining that I don't like guns or gun play I said if he can carry them and ride his bike then he can take them home.  so he spent the next five minutes desperatly trying to fix them onto his bike and he succeeded!  So we now have two 'guns' in the garden.  I think I may hide them and see if they are remembered in the morning.

Part of me thinks maybe this is just an age thing and if I stop making such a big deal out of it then it won't become a big deal.  Just make him aware of the consequences of fighting and playing like that.
I don't know, I don't like it one little bit!

Its my weekly Thursday catch up...  Tristan goes to archery on Thursday evening, so I have the computer all to myself!

Well, this week my camera decided to pack up, well not the camera, the charger, this is the 3rd one and its gone again!  So no charged batteries means no camera!

So whats been happening?...
On Saturday the weather was horrible so we headed to an new indoor play place, which is an old warehouse full of bouncy castles, the boys LOVED it!  There was not many other people there and it must have at least 15 different bouncy castles, slides etc.  It was good fun, of course me and Tristan had to have a sneaky go too!

Then we headed off to a friends party, in a field.  the weather wasn't looking great but when we got there it was fine.  They had a big marquee, haybails (hours of fun for the kids), bbq and camping. We declined the camping but sat around the campfire, chattting until Rowan fell asleep in his chair!

On Tuesday, we went to the Cornish Tree Treat, hosted by the Ancient Tree forum and Woodland Trust. It was lovely, the day started off very wet and cloudy, but then the sun came out and it was really hot!  the earlier rain meant that in the woodland there were some very big puddles and Rowan (not usually one for puddle jumping as he hates having wet and dirty clothes) followed his freind through the big puddle, got a welly stuck and got very wet and muddy!  Then Reuben fell over in a puddle, I slipped into a puddle trying to rescue Rowan.  It was hillarious but also very wet and muddy!  Rowan did a quiz, identifying trees, birds and minibeasts. He loved doing it, got them all correct and was so very proud of himself.  They made clay bugs, watched wood being turned and listened to story telling by a local author who writes cornish folk tales. By the time we got home the boys were wearing tshirts and pants, mud and fast asleep!

We have been at home for the rest of the week, I am trying to get some rhythm into our day, but more about that in another post.