Journey into Unschooling » Party

Busy

becki — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:00:38 +0000

On Sunday we went swimming to Stechford Cascades. It’s a great place as it has 4 pools. The children love the leisure pool with its slides and fountains, but also like to go into the proper family pool to practice their swimming. Holly’s swimming is coming on fantastically. She’s very confident and can swim along in her armbands no problem. They both had a great time, topped off with a play on the play area outside at the end. Afterwards a Wetherspoon breakfast then back home to do some gardening (weeding, planting lettuces in the ex-potato growbags) before a visit from Michelle and baby Livvie

Today a lovely (if hectic and crowded!) day at Tamworth castle grounds play day with Becky, Noah and Ella, Maxine, Alex and Christian, Tracey and Sam, and Mel and Alex. After an hour on the adventure playground and a picnic, we went to investigate and sample all the activities on offer. We tried play dough, gloop, shaving foam bags with hidden creatures, mud painting, windmill making, colouring, hook-a-duck, hoop-la, bouncy castle, trampolining, bouncy slide and storytime. Much fun for the kids Unfortunately the busy day combined with H getting us all up at 5am culminated in tantrums on all sides by the end of the day :-/ The Hungry Caterpillar DVD was very useful in getting some quiet time for the kids when we got home (and laundry putting away time for me LOL!)

Weekend

becki — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:39:55 +0000

Yesterday a lovely sunny day at Charlecote Park National Trust. The children played croquet, Alfie got to try out a pestle and mortar in the Victorian kitchens, we walked in the woodland garden, admired the Sunbeam Talbots in the rally, sniffed the flowers on the parterre, admired the peaches, apples and figs growing in the courtyard, looked for fish in the river and picnicked in the shade of a tree

Alfie's favourite fungus

This morning, a trip to the recycling centre with old electrical appliances, a breakfast and shopping in Asda then Lauren’s fairy hunt birthday party at Brueton Park followed by bubble blowing and playing with Jasmine in the garden.

Holly in her party dress

Building a fairy house in the woods

Picking flowers to decorate the house

Weekend

becki — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:51:02 +0000

On Friday I went to aquanatal whilst Mom had the children upstairs in the soft play. We then went for a carvery before Dad came over in the afternoon. Alfie’s behaviour was challenging all day so it was good to sneak off and do some chores whilst Dad kept him entertained. Grandad is Alfie’s favourite person and my one chance for a real break

On Saturday I took Alfie to Tom’s 6th birthday party at Star City bowling alley, whilst Rich and Holly went to the park to feed ducks and go on the swings. He did enjoy the party but it was a bit much for everyone – 2 solid hours of bowling with night club level music that meant you had to shout in people’s ears to be heard. Even the food was served to the kids in the bowling lanes so no break at all. I was very glad to get out LOL! We spent the afternoon in the garden – mowing, weeding, vegetable feeding and playing.

A terrible night followed, but I don’t really want to go into it in detail on here. Suffice to say I was the most upset with Alfie (and myself for who else can one blame?) that I have been for a long time. Hopefully all resolved now, although the horrendousness of the 4 year testosterone surge in boys is certainly not an exaggeration. Every day is a challenge LOL.

A great party today for Sam’s 4th birthday at the Snow Dome. Tiny tubing on real snow. Holly was a bit unsure at first, being the youngest there, but after seeing Alfie fly down the slopes a few times she was off too! Tracey took some photos so I’ll get those up as soon as I can get hold of them Afterwards an afternoon in Tamworth Castle grounds before the hot sun turned to thunder and rain

Quick Update

becki — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:37:03 +0000

We are very busy here at the moment so blogging is getting neglected! I really need some quiet days I think! Yesterday we popped to Asda to recycle some old nappies and plastic bags, then to Think Tank to meet Caroline, Lauren and Tom. The kids had a fantastic time as usual. Alfie had been talking about lungs recently (after reading about insects only having breathing holes not lungs) so was newly fascinated with the inflating interactive lungs they have there. To be honest, I think a season pass there is essential for home educators as they cover so many aspects of science in a fun and engaging way. Both mine have learnt so much from there (and me too!) We renewed ours today (thanks Mom and Dad for funding it LOL!). We also stayed for a fantastic night sky presentation in the planetarium. Alfie is fascinated by the planets and stars so really enjoyed it

Today we went on a home educators’ bug hunt and pond dipping excursion in Beacon Park, Lichfield. It was great fun and Alfie particularly enjoyed the tree shake, where he found a caterpillar, spider, flies and a ladybird! It gave us lots of ideas for our own forays into nature Pond dipping revealed tadpoles, cadds fly larvae, water boatmen and fish. Afterwards we drove for 1.5 hours (!!) to Toby’s birthday party in Stourbridge. We were very late but the kids loved the bouncy castle and party games.

Alfie’s Party

becki — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:25:28 +0000

Alfie had a fantastic birthday party yesterday at Dudley Zoo with 15 of his little friends. Once we made our way through the police cordons to the car park (access was controlled due to EDF and UAF rallies) it was great day First of all the land train took us up the hill past the flamingoes and monkeys to the castle where there was a ferret to stroke, and sea lions to see. Once inside the party room all the children got to hold or touch a rat, a bearded dragon, a chinchilla and cockroaches, before making a fridge magnet. then lunch and face painting, before being free to explore the zoo for the rest of the day. My indoor photos haven’t really come out, and I didn’t get a chance to take any of the cake or candles being blown out. Hopefully I’ll be able to put Dad’s photos of it all up once they’re back from London.

We got held up trying to leave the zoo at the end of a fantastic but tiring day as the protesters had broken through the barriers and it was considered unsafe to let us out of the zoo. Eventually we were taken via a bizarre back route through rough ground to the zoo car park and made our getaway We stopped off at Basmati for a much needed curry on the way home

A quiet day today to recover. Easter egg hunt in the garden, roast dinner, a bit of spring cleaning, and opening all the presents from yesterday Alfie had some more wonderful things, including some fantastic books and craft bits and pieces. Thank you to all my friends for sparing us any (more) plastic tat

All in all a fantastic birthday week for my wonderful little man

Party!

becki — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:22:43 +0000

A lovely day today (despite Holly’s 5am start – blee!). We went to Wheat’s garden centre first thing, to feed the ducks on Bourn Brook and make our way round the turf maze before buying some more seeds. Next it was off to Evie’s 3rd birthday party. The children had a lovely time playing, decorating biscuits, play doughing, eating and generally rampaging Lovely food for children and adults too H was very very proud of her white and gold party dress

Back home we cleaned the fridge out whilst singing every song we knew, and tried out the stampers the children got in their party bags. Alfie made me take a picture of him singing baa baa black sheep (as you do!) We discovered the fab Mr Man website, which Alfie (a true Mr Man lover!) spent ages on whilst I made a curry

I must, must post on some of the super amazing things these wonderful children have learnt and done recently too. Maybe tomorrow night when I have the house to myself

Busy Sunday

becki — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:11:52 +0000

This morning we walked down to the play area so the children could run off some energy, bought Jasmine some more food, had a bit of lunch in Tesco, Rich and Alfie vacuumed and dusted the car whilst me and H did a few inside chores then off to Sam’s 4th birthday party. It was at David Lloyd gym so involved lots of sporty type games. Alfie and another girl sat all of them out except for the parachute game. He just hates any kind of organised games. It’s weird because he was on the soft play they have there within seconds (whereas the other non-participater was clinging to her mum), is totally unphased by other kids being rough etc (although couldn’t care less about befriending them generally) but just won’t join in any games or things like dressing up, face painting etc. I can’t blame him really. It would be wrong to force him to do things he doesn’t want and I’m perfectly happy with him sitting and watching. I do have to confess to being secretly proud of my confident, pink little H though She was off playing all the games and running round madly with the bigger children. How can you have two children who are so so different yet brought up by the same parents in the same way! She had a ball, bouncing around madly in the pink party dress she insisted on wearing (and was trying to put on, along with her tights, over her trousers lol!)

Both children loved the food (of course!) and soft play. It was great to see Sal too (and not just because Evie also never joins in )Illness has been keeping us apart lol!

In other news, the squirrels broke Alfie’s bird feeder. He has come up with an ingenious idea for a squirrel trapper

Sunday

becki — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:07:58 +0000

Awful night last night. H up loads, A wet the bed (including the pillow it was that major lol!) then kept shouting us all night afterwards as I think having to be stripped and have the bed stripped woke him up too much. Like zombie today lol! Off to bed now in fact

Today we just did some housework that was long overdue, made fudge, played games, Fuzzy Felts, read books, did some crafts and colouring, played a few computer games. Then this afternoon was Evie’s second birthday party with much consumption of junk food, party games and general madness lol!

Park and Party!

becki — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:04:23 +0000

This morning, after a restless night with snotball Holly, we headed to Banners Gate park so they could run some energy off, and so Holly would sleep before the party. It was a difficult morning initially, with all of us tired and irritable. The fresh air did us good though and Holly dropped off on the way back (albeit a very long way back!). Whilst she slept, Alfie and I made some bread and emptied the dishwasher, then I ran round doing some chores whilst he had a snack and chilled out for a bit.

In the afternoon we headed to Noah’s 3rd birthday party. Becky’s parents have the most gorgeous and enormous house and garden! I’m very jealous! They needed it for the bouncy castle and various other play things that were out for the children to play with, as well as the BBQ. The kids had a great time and even after being there for nearly 3 hours and being so tired she could barely stand up, Holly was proclaiming “No go home!”

Poor Holly is so snotty. She’s really warm too and can barely breathe. She wants to breastfeed much more than usual but can’t breathe when she’s feeding, poor mite. She’s had some painkiller before bed so we’ll see how she is tomorrow. She enjoyed herself today though and is eating well so I think it’s just a cold.

Party

becki — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:03:59 +0000

Today we went to Sam’s birthday party. It was Peter Pan themed and Tracey had gone to a lot of trouble. The kids had a great time. Holly dressed up as Tinkerbell but Alfie refused to dress up. It was a great party and Holly had a whale of a time running round and playing. Alfie never wants to join in games and always stands out at these type of gatherings as the one who is hiding away in a corner and not participating, even if we offer to come with him. Having been a shy child myself, it’s really difficult for me to see him being like this, and I’m so glad Holly is confident. She probably gets away with too much as I don’t want to rein her in and risk destroying her confidence. Alfie claimed he had a good time, so maybe he’s just a different personality to other children? I don’t want to raise a “sheep”, I just want him to be happy and fulfilled in life. I am currently struggling to decide how much of my concern is genuine concern for him and his future and happiness, and how much is actually me worrying about what my friends and others think of him, and how they apply that to judging our “oddball” parenting? I’m too tired to really make an accurate judgement right now, so I guess that will have to keep. Alfie is also overtired and we’ve once again had loads of tantrums so that may be affecting his confidence too. He’s gone to bed early tonight again so we’ll see how he gets on.

Afterwards, Nanny and Granddad came round. My dad tried to mow our lawn but the mower died. Typical. Another thing to try and find the money for He did manage to effect a temporary fix on the pram though. Alfie had a fantastic time helping him mend it with a hammer lol! The Asda lorry also came today so we actually have food!

Andy – here are a few pix of Fairy Holly as requested