Monday 29th September 2014

C.H.A.R.M Visit

 Clover and Merle came to play with Mollie and Jake this morning, then we all headed out for the L.Z visit to "The Conflict, History, and Remembrance Museum" which is based on the site of the old Tank Museum.

It was a really fun trip with lots to see. We had a guided tour of the museum and went for a ride in a tank. 

Afterwards we had tea and cake back at our house with some of our friends.

Friday 26th September 2014

Conversations at Lunch

Over lunch we discussed what the sky is made of Charlie said the atmosphere which consists of O2, Mollie said she saw a programme that said it's made of little tiny round blue things that you can't see, I suggested they might be called molecules and she agreed. This led on to a discussion about the things we couldn't live without: trees that provide oxygen , bees and water were a few we came up with. Mollie then quizzed Charlie on some maths questions, he then did 30 mins of his maths homework - percentages which he's really enjoying at the moment before we headed out to riding .

Riding

Charlie and Moll went on their first hack today. Jake and I followed on foot.

Monday 22nd September 2014

Certificates!

Jacob got his Gold Certificate for completing the Year 6, Number 1 section in Conquer Maths with an average of 95% !

Mollie got her Gold Certificate for completing the Reception, Number 2 section in Conquer Maths with an average of 99% !

New Clothes for the boys!

 Charlie and Jake's new winter clothes arrived! Moll just can't understand their idea of  modeling them.

Saturday 20th September 2014

Barbecue at Fort Vic

This afternoon we had a barbecue at Fort Vic to celebrate Nanny's 70th birthday, Uncle John, Aunty Sharon and Grace came down for the afternoon to surprise her !!

 

Jacob (Moll's photography)

Moll (Jake's photography)

Friday 19th September 2014

Trip to A&E

Moll and I had a trip to A and E to get her nose checked out - she woke up this morning with a headache and feeling sick. The doctor said her nose could be broken but they don't like to X-ray children's faces and they wouldn't do anything even if it is broken (Shan told us this last night when we were considering taking her when we got home so we decided to keep a close eye on her and let her get some well needed sleep). She's got to be careful and get lots of rest.

Riding

Mollie was very sad that she wasn't able to ride this afternoon because of her nose injury, but  we still had to take Charlie so she at least got to see Georgie. Charlie rode Molly (the horse) again and did very well, the course was a little more tricky this week.

Thursday 18th September 2014

Corf Camp

We spent the afternoon at IWLZ camp at Corf, we would have loved to stay and camp but our old tent finally gave up the ghost at Parkhurst last year. Hopefully by next year we'll have a Bell Tent. We all had a lovely relaxing time despite poor Mollie running into a log barrier - she now has a very swollen and bruised nose!

Mollie and Friends

Girl's having fun down at the the creek - we forgot Moll's cossie so she borrowed Clover's old ballet dress.

Wednesday 17th September 2014

Butter Making

Mollie, Jake and I had a go at making butter in the blender today, it turned out pretty well.

Our ingredients.

Into the blender.

Blending

Turning into butter.

Squeezing out the buttermilk.

Done but not looking very appetizing.

Molding

Ready for spreading on bread.

The left over buttermilk.

Friday September 12th 2014

Mollie and Charlie's Riding Lessons

Mollie and Charlie started riding lessons at Stone Farm in July. They have group lessons that have been  arranged through the IWLZ .Today was their first lesson back after the summer holidays, Steve took the afternoon off to come and watch. Moll usually rides Georgie - she was so happy to see her again she really missed her over the holidays. Charlie rides Molly and is doing really well his posture is good and he's off the lead rein and controlling his horse independently. The photography is by Jacob.

Brown's

After riding we had a quick lunch then went to Browns for a game of putting, only Steve and Charlie completed the course, Jacob hurt his thumb and Mollie got tired so we sat in the shade and watched. We all enjoyed an ice cream after.

Daily Diary January 2014

Friday 3rd January

It was Emma's 6th birthday today, she had her party at St. John's Church hall. Matt rang to say that Ava was full of cold and very grumpy so would I look after her whilst Steve took Mollie, Jake and Charlie to join the rest of our family and Emma's school friends at the party. However by the time I arrived at Matt and Vicki's Ava had eaten and was a lot chirpier so they felt it would be fine for her to go. Matt went ahead to help Vicki get the hall ready and I got Ava ready and took her round to join everyone when the party had started.

Saturday 4th January

This morning Mollie said she had been watching an episode of Nina and the Neurons in which they had been looking at fossils and it had left her wanting to find out more, so off we went to our bookshelves and dug out the Kingfisher Young Knowledge book on rocks and fossils and started reading (I think the book may be slightly above Mollie's current comprehension level and I would need to simplify a lot of the information to hold her interest), then we remembered that there is a little box on top of the wardrobe containing Daddy's childhood fossil and stone collection so we had fun examining and trying to identify some of the specimens. We think that Daddy may have samples of a pink mineral called feldspar, a grey/white crystal type stone which we think may be quartz  and possibly the black mineral called mica.  Daddy didn't remember what they were so he couldn't help us. We discovered that fossils are "any trace of a plant or animal that lived in the past, such as a shell preserved in rock layers for millions of years" and that the fossils in Daddy's collection were traces of Ammonites, sea creatures that lived when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Ammonites were closely related to the squid/octopus family. I think Mollie may be interested in making her own fossil/rock collection (she already collects shells) and there are projects in the back of the book that I feel she'll enjoy. Whilst we were doing this Jake kept coming over to have a look and seemed interested but it was his turn on the xbox so that was commanding more of his attention, it may be an idea to get the collection out in the week away from screen time.

Mollie and I also browsed through some art books and found lots of projects we'd like to try (see post: to do on blog/home ed/ plans etc.).

Memories of 2013 in Photographs

Birthdays!

Our family birthday traditions - I make the birthday boy/girl their favourite breakfast, most of the children choose pancakes but it could be a full english breakfast. Steve was away working  in Canada for my birthday in February 2013 so my friend Emma came to stay and she and the children made me breakfast in bed  including a  bowl of my favorite fresh fruit. Steve's Mum always makes the children a delicious birthday cake of their choice. Some years the children have had a party with their friends, this year we've mostly celebrated just as a family but in 2013 Charlie's birthday (which is on halloween) fell on a Thursday which is our regular day to meet up with friends for trampolining instruction and ball games at a local youth centre so I made some cakes to share and we had a mini celebration there, followed by trick or treating with friends and family that evening. For their evening meal the birthday person gets to choose their favourite takeaway meal. Special birthdays this year have included our youngest grandaughter Ava's 1st birthday, Charlie became a teenager, Vicki (Our daughter in law) and Shannon celebrated their 21st, Emma  (our eldest grandaughter) and Mollie were 5, and Jacob reached double figures and celebrated his 10th. Toby (Shannon's boyfriend) was away on tour with his regiment in the falklands for his birthday so we had to have a belated celebration when he came home, Shannon made him a very impressive, Lord of The Rings lego cake.

Art and Craft!

Food Glorious Food!

Steve and the children all love to cook and experiment with new dishes, Shannon. Jacob and Mollie particularly like baking whilst Charlie prefers making meals. Making the daily evening meal is one of my least favourite chores, I do sometimes enjoy it if I'm creating something new but prefer to throw it all together and experiment with my own thing rather than follow a recipe and it's always more fun cooking together with Steve or Shannon so we can chat at the same time.

Fun with Friends

 Early in 2013 we went to circus skills and dance classes. We  also started meeting weekly at our local youth centre for trampolining instruction, followed by team games and playing pool, the girls in the group have made this their fashion/dress up day.  We also meet up with others at a soft play area about once a month. 

In the summer we met up regularly with several other families and spent long afternoons on Yaverland beach and exploring the area, the boys were especially intrigued by a fort that they discovered nearby.  

We had fun camping  for a week with the Learning Zone in Parkhurst Forest. There are usually at least two Learning Zone camps each year, in previous years we've also camped  at Corfe  but this year we just visited on several days. 

We're very lucky to have so much woodland on the Island,  Jacob and Charlie attended a forest school course throughout the spring, the forest and woods is one of our favourite places to spend time and we've joined other families throughout the year for walks and to build dens and have nerf wars.  

The boys are really into magic cards and Dungeon's and Dragon's and regularly get together with friends to play in each other's homes or at clubs. 

 Nature and The Great Outdoors!