Half Term

Came and went too quickly! The local half term was the week before so most places were pretty quiet and we could enjoy them!
We spent the weekend mainly slobbing about. Had Dinner with my parents on saturday night for Dads birthday but spent most of the next two days doing pretty much nothing.. still hadnt shaken the illness properly!Sophie in particular was laid up with a stomach bug all weekend and Darren just had the neverending Lurgy!

Connors speech therapy is going really well, he's seeing the same therapist he was seeing when he was in school. None of the others had seen him when he was in school. She said she was amazed by his progress. He really likes her lots so I hope this 'block' of therapy lasts for a while, She asked whether there was any way she could contribute to his report or anything to the LEA since shes so impressed with what we've managed to achieve since last May.
We went ice skating on Tuesday and I was really impressed with how well Chloe can now skate. Shes been twice with her school and showed off racing around. Connor had skates for Christmas and managed to take his hand off the edge and skate on his own so he was really pleased! Sophie learned to skate backwards thanks to a lovely lady at the ( very quiet) rink who was happy to share some tips with her. I was the only one who wound up injured after taking a heavy fall onto my knees. Its still black, blue and purple a week later! It looks just lovely when Im in work and wearing shorts( the only things cool enough to wear !)
Chloe spent a couple of days with my mum and dad and catching up with my brothers midweek and was really pleased when she made the journey back by train on her own without any problem( a big thing for her despite it being quite normal for the average 13 year old)
I worked on wednesday and fortunately Darren was off sick so when I was offered a load of overtime I could take it, wound up completely shattered after a massive 13 1/2 hour day though! Im enjoying work and took the decision to hand in my notice in the local leisure centre where there have been problems for over a year. Doing so was a great relief, employment rights wasnt something they were conversant with so its a weight off my shoulders for now! I need all the hours I can get my hand on, every penny seems to just disaapear on something or another.

Chloe came home with a request for £100 for a school trip, to be paid by the end of the week... not a chance Im afraid! Ill sort something out but it will take longer than a week! I just have to hope thats going to be ok, if not she cant go. The trip isnt until July so a weeks notice for needing the money is a teeny bit unreasonable I think!

Thursday saw another fab home ed group meeting where the kids all enjoyed a great 'paper aeroplane' activity organised by N. They experimented with different kinds of paper and flew their various models for quite some distance off the stage with varying degrees of sucess. My friend B decided to come along too with her baby F who is becoming a lovely toddler, shes considering home ed too :)

On Friday morning Chloe had a hair cut and dental appointment for a filling but wound up a sobbing mess in the chair and refused to have her tooth filled. It desperately needs doing and Im really worried about leaving it but now we have to try again in April... I have no idea how I am going to get her to co-operate :( Fortunately we went to visit friends after the appointment who took her mind off it!

Ive worked most of the weekend on and off. Theyve spent lots of time with Darren who was sent on an interesting job yesterday! Sir Anthony Hopkins was in Caerphilly, unveiling a statue of Tommy Cooper who was born here. The kids got to meet him and said that he was really nice but they didnt really know who he was and are more interested in watching Tommy Cooper. They were on a clip on Sky news too.

I was working again this morning so they went shopping for stuff with Darren for school( 'tuck' mainly!) and then joined me in work for a swim and the kids had a lovely time testing the new water feature. Its buckets which fill with water and tip at random intervals onto the kids heads. We adults all thought it was a bit naff but the kids think its brilliant!

Home for Lunch then it was time for her to go back to school! ( Pah) The Taxi always arrives too early for my liking but it was very early today, she wasnt even dressed ( they go back in uniform) so she had to get dressed properly in the taxi... I dread to think what state she was in when she got back!

We went out last night for dinner as she wont be home on Mothers day. We managed to see most of the Wales match before we went out and she was really pleased, we had a lovely meal and came home relatively early to catch England V France. Going to school in england where she is one of three welsh children can be hard on occasion, except at the moment of course with Wales riding high in the 6 nations she went off with her wales flag in her bag to celebrate St Davids day in style at the end of the week!
We had the school gerbils home for the week and despite one looking very old and infirm they made it back to school alive.. only for someone to smash their tank in the boarding house( whoops) oh well it didnt happen on our turf so im mightily relieved! She rang to tell me all the things shes forgotten which will need bringing to school next week when she has her Ocupational therapy asessment with the LEA( unecessary and antagonistic but its a long story!)
The new house parents are going to be gardening with them at weekends, the kids will be growing their own veg in the garden so Chloes really excited about that ( its also on our list- a space to grow veggies in any new house).They have 4 younger children and she seems to have settled well into her familiar role as 'big sis and babysitter' at school too!

Formal work was pretty much abandoned for the other two this past week, we just havent had the time! Theyve done lots of Hama beads and education city in the times weve been in the house and Chloes had her homework to do so now Im gagging to get back on track and get to 'doing something!' tomorrow!