From Bonfire Night to Christmas begins

I do have an excuse for not posting regularly, have been having major problems with our one and only laptop, well, net book.  It seems to be OK at the moment, not sure if it is a virus,  or whether it is just plain old knackered.

Either way, it is working at the minute, so will blog on.

Continuing from my last post:-

We did have a bonfire, actually on the night of November the 5th.  Hubbie had to work until 8, so during the day D prepared the fire, B made tomato soup, and J and I made gold lanterns.  So Hubbie was pleasantly surprised when he got home, and we had a lovely evening. 

Since then:-

My beautiful daughter turned 14.

She wanted to spend her birthday shopping, so that is what she did.  We also had a lovely family meal in her favourite place - Pizza Hut - having her favourite eat as much as you like Mr Whippy Ice cream for dessert.

What else - cannot remember to be honest, (which is what usually happens when I do not blog every couple of days)   have arranged my visit from the LEA, that will be in a couple of weeks, looked at houses to rent, but none any good, and basically have been doing our normal rugby, group, Hubbie working normal type thing.

Now  we are of course planning for Christmas, putting any thoughts of moving on hold until the new year.  I have my Christmas ingredients ready for Stir Up Sunday this weekend, got the decs down from the loft, started Christmas craft with James and plan to do Christmassy things all this weekend to start the season off.

No - it is NOT too early.

Now, have to sign off so I can try and figure out how to change my blog template to something Christmassy.

xxxxx

"As a parent, there will be times when you are very challenged by your children - they won’t listen, they won’t do what you ask, they fight when you have asked them not to, they won’t stay in bed when you put them there, they melt down when you are out and other people are looking at you.... That is the nature of parenting. And you have two ways of viewing your child in situations like this: you can view your child as a problem - that’s what most people do - or you can fit specially ground pure crystal lenses and view this child as your teacher. The child who challenges you can teach you more than any other teacher you have ever had or will ever have, and without a student loan. So how does a ‘problem’ suddenly turn into a teacher? Your perspective." ~Pennie Brownlee.

Remember,Remember, the 5th of November

Gunfire treason and plot!

And all that.

But firstly,  Halloween - well the crafts didn't go quite as planned. It was a wet and blustery day, and D had his trials for Devon Rugby in the next town.  The plan was that we would all go, M and D would stay at the wet, soggy and very muddy pitch, and the rest of us would go to the Superstore to do the weekly shop.

J had other ideas, he wasn't feeling too good, and he had never been to this rugby ground before, and really didn't want to go off and leave his Dad and Brother at a strange place with "strange" kids (there were other lads from other teams there, I think he was only expecting our team).  He gets a bit funny sometimes if things are not  very familiar and the norm, bless him.  So we stayed.  I was happy as I like watching the rugby, although I was nervous for D.

He did well, and they will be picking the team after the next session.  Fingers crossed.

We got back late and didn't have time to do all the crafts and all the shopping, but we had a great time apple bobbing and trick or treating.

Weekend M was working, so not a lot going on, Rugby match on Sunday which was a bit of a disaster, not just because they lost their first match of the season, but because some players didn't turn up, the pitch was hilly and water logged, and D may have possibly broken his thumb, with an impending cup match this weekend! Not good.

Other injuries from the weekend:-

B fell on a wooden shoe rack (which was on its way out for the bonfire, but J wanted to play with his Star War Figures on it).  Somehow she slipped on her slippery socks on our slippery laminate flooring and fell onto the rack.  Took a fine bit of skin off and is very sore.

Later that day, M was carrying a wooden desk through our back door, (which for your interest, leads into our dumping ground  Dining Room).  Right inside the door there is a radiator, from which there is a radiator clothes horse type thingy (not sure of the correct name) with drying knickers hanging off of it.  I will get to the point.  Anyway, as he walked in, the thingy with the knickers, got caught on the desk and were hanging from it, so I walked forward from the kitchen, onto the wooden step from the kitchen into the dining room, with slippery boots on and went ass over tit bosom, and hurt my ankle.  Is was swollen like a balloon, and yes, I did scream like a girl.

So, half term over with, back to our routine today. 

B got on with her English studies this morning, D, reading and Biology and they both have spelling and maths tests to revise before Friday.  I did some art and craft with J, we did Bonfire Night paintings which involved a lot of glitter and gold paint, and also made lanterns, with glass jars, also with a lot of glitter and gold paint.

Also I have been trying to help J with his knowledge of days of the weeks, tomorrow, yesterday, months etc.  Mainly because I feel he is getting frustrated not knowing what is happening and when. Christmas could be tomorrow to him, which gets him all in a muddle.

So, apart from planning to make or purchase a Days of the Week learning Calendar, I thought I would make a point of telling him what day it was each morning. His response to this "What do you keep going on about Monday for, I just want to know who ate all the Coco Pops"!

So that was that.

Everything stopped around lunchtime when J  discovered a Phineas & Ferb Movie for free on BT Vision "On Demand".  So while they were all quiet, I got on with some housework, whilst listening to the 80's channel on Digital Radio.  Gotta to love Culture Club.

After the film we went to the library, picked up lots of Christmas Craft and Christmas Cooking books, then onto the park for J to perform scooter stunts.

This afternoon D and B prepared the fire, which we are having late this evening when M returns home from work.  Jackets, sausages, soup to keep us warm and marshmallows roasted on the fire.

Happy Guy Fawkes