Another Birthday!

The last few days have been lovely! Jaime, Tony and Charlie came to stay. Charlie is 11 months old now and he is just soooo cuddly cute!

We all went to Gulliver's Land on Saturday. Charlie loved the rides; the faster and higher he went, the more he loved it! Katie was very brave; she rode the roller coasters, rides she had previously refused to try. I think it was down to Jaime encouraging her, and cuddling her in tightly as the train hurtled around the track! Afterwards we ate at Nando's (fast becoming our favourite place to eat).

 

 

Gulliver's Land was so good we planned to return the next day. However the heavens opened all day Sunday, so we went swimming at Oasis instead.
Charlie absolutely loved the water! He is such a lovely baby. He embraces all new experiences with a huge smile!

Today was my birthday. I don't think it's necessary to mention here just how old I am today, suffice to say I am now officially,according to Dave, "middle-aged"!!!

It was a bonus spending my birthday with my gorgeous family. I received some lovely presents from Dave and Katie, and Jaime is treating me to a weekend in London next month. We have tickets to see "Matilda. Lucky me!

Jaime, Tony and Charlie went home this afternoon and as usual I feel so sad. I love it when family come to stay, but I hate it when it's time for them to go; the house suddenly seems too big and so quiet.

A Nando Birthday!

      

 We celebrated Dave's "special" birthday with a scrumptious meal at Nando's.






Dave loved his birthday presents which included a new top, cigars, aftershave, PC games, a new gold ring (from me)  and a disgusting amount of chocolate!!

Katie helped blow out the candles and shared in making a wish. Then we tucked into cake!

Kat's Big Brother

Last weekend Stephen, Dave's youngest son and Katie's lovely big brother, joined us for the weekend. He'd come all the way from Newcastle to Bedford.
Katie hadn't seen her brother in a while and she was genuinely thrilled to be spending time with him again. Stephen is well into his twenties, but still a big kid at heart which suits Katie just fine!

The weekend flew by too quickly, but they managed to watch some favourite films, play on the x-box, go swimming and on Sunday we all had a lovely meal at Frankie & Benny's restaurant in Milton Keynes.

Dave left for work early Monday morning and we drove Stephen to the train station shortly after. Katie was unusually quiet in the car driving back home, staring silently out of the window; she was missing her brother. It's times like these when I wish we lived nearer to family.

We've managed to do some school work the last couple of days, despite Katie coming down with a cold. We have finally finished our year 4 Maths Books and have started year 5. We also finished Galore Park Science. Katie really enjoys  science and she's looking forward to the science sessions starting soon with our HE group. Galore Park English has not proved so popular but I am not too concerned. Katie is reading constantly, she is writing much more, and she is keeping her blog updated regularly. Actually, she updates more regularly than me!

Katie has really taken to the recorder. I bought her a music book along with the recorder which she has been studying. Her lessons begin Monday but already she has taught herself a couple of songs and she is even reading the music! She'll be doing a half hour Recorders and a half hour singing every Monday, leading up to a Christmas Concert in December. Now this will be interesting as Katie doesn't do singing...not in our presence anyway! I can imagine Dave and I having to "hide" at the back of the audience at the Christmas Concert!!

We have been birthday pressie shopping in MK. Dave has a special birthday coming up, the kind of birthday that requires a special pressie , not just the customary box of Maltesers!The truth is, Dave would be more than happy with just a box of chocolates, but Katie and I have found him a special gift ; a gift he can keep forever. I can't say what it is right now just in case he takes a peep at this blog and spoils the surprise!

Not Back to School!!

Katie and I joined our friends and a bunch of lovely HE families at Campbell Park today, for the  Not Back to School Picnic. The weather stayed fair and the children played amongst the trees and hid in the maze. It was so good to talk to like-minded parents, and looking back, I wonder how we managed in Cyprus all those years without the company and support of other HE people.

We would have stayed out longer but we had to rush back home to meet the electrician. My very expensive, and only just out of it's warranty, washing machine blew a fuse last week and managed to blow the electrics in the utility room too!

We have Steven coming to stay at the weekend and I'm hoping the washing machine is fixed by then, or else the washing will be meeting him at the door!

Funny Old Week

It's been a funny old week. It was one of those weeks full of randomness...I felt like we weren't really doing much, but looking back we actually did lots.

Firstly it was a strange week because Dave wasn't around. He managed to bag himself a job, travelling around the south-west, chatting to random people and drinking lots of tea! On a serious note, I am so proud of him.... He "retired" a few years back, but has had a few temporary contracts since then, which has helped greatly with paying the rent! I think he likes working too, as long as its short term. Keeps his brain active!

Kat and I have done lots of shopping, especially for the home. The house is lovely, but fairly bland(lots of magnolia walls) so we have been looking for pictures and ornaments and furniture to make it more homely.

We have built flat-packed storage cubes and bed-side cabinets, and re-arranged rooms. Our home is starting to take shape. Kat knows the difference between a phillips and a flat-head and is a dab hand with a screw-driver!

Kat had her last guitar lesson at the Buszy this week. She has enjoyed the lessons so much, we have promised her a guitar of her own, and I hope to find a tutor locally so she can continue with her lessons.

Pets at Home were having a pet handling session at the store in MK. We saw it advertised a month ago, put it in the diary, and Katie has been waiting with anticipation for the day to arrive. She is especially interested in guinea-pigs. However, she was slightly disappointed as she didn't get to hold the guinea-pig for as long as she would have liked. We spent ages in the store as Kat showed me around the small pets section and I was amazed at her knowledge of guinea-pigs, their diet, hutches, temperaments etc. She has done a lot of research!

We managed to get through our "schooly" books. Sadly, I have to get them out a few times a week, for my own benefit really. Kat dutifully, if somewhat reluctantly, does the maths, answers the questions, fills in the blanks...... and then gets on with some real learning, researching the things that interest her.


So all in all, a busy and productive week. Wonder what next week holds?



Kat...doing what she does best...

......having fun!

 

 

 

 

 

One Year On.....

Oh my, it's been a year!
We are still in the same country, but a different county.


So, here I am, attempting my blogging again. Now I have blogged in the past (about our HE journey with Kat and our four year long vacation to Cyprus!) but I have to admit to being a "sporadic" blogger. So, a promise to myself....I promise to blog regularly and not be a lazy so-and-so!

So, we find ourselves in a new house, a new county (Bedfordshire) and a new adventure! Already we have found a thriving Home-ed community, and made some lovely friends.

We are so lucky to live in a beautiful, historic and busy part of the country. There are some lovely home-edders here that go out of their way to provide lots of opportunities to HE children, and on top of that there is just so much to do here.... Beautiful parks, leisure facilities, theatres, galleries and museums. We are spoiled for choice!


Last week I spent a lovely a day with both my beautiful daughters.... Kat, now aged 8, and Jaime aged 26!

Kat and I drove the 2 and a half hours to Jaime's house and then another hour and a half to the hospital, as Jaime is having an operation soon and had an appointment with her surgeon.

We got to spend time with Charlie, our first and only grandchild. He is 10 months old now and just the cutest, most cuddly baby! We took him a book, one of Kat's favourites, The Gruffalo. It was one of those books with the sound effects, and Charlie got straight into it! He is growing so quickly, and I feel bad that I haven't seen a lot of him lately. So, another promise to myself: I will make more of an effort to see Jaime and Tony and Cheeky Charlie regularly.

Then, Kat and I drove all the way home again. That's a 6am start, and 8 hours driving. No wonder we were both exhausted at the end of it. But, it was a lovely day, spent with family.

Cheeky Charlie!