PHEW, I don't seem to have stopped for days :)
Sophie spent the weekend being sporty again, she was asked to try out for the Cardiff Cougars All Stars Cheerleading team. They are the national champions, the standard is high and competition is intense- all existing members have to try out every year too! Sophie has only been cheerleading 6 weeks so I was amazed seeing what she can already do I'm usually working when she goes so this was the first time Id seen her. I was completely astounded by the standard but she kept up and having warned her 6 weeks isn't really long and she shouldn't be worried if she wasn't as good as the existing members I was eating my words somewhat. We are awaiting a call from the coach now which should come in the next few weeks! The holiday will keep her mind off it
We spent Tuesday in the company of other families in Aberavon for The Wise up beach fun session. MUCH lovelier pics than I took are here...http://www.wiseuphe.netfirms.com/beachday.html
This one is my absolute favourite of Sophie :)Sophie spent the weekend being sporty again, she was asked to try out for the Cardiff Cougars All Stars Cheerleading team. They are the national champions, the standard is high and competition is intense- all existing members have to try out every year too! Sophie has only been cheerleading 6 weeks so I was amazed seeing what she can already do I'm usually working when she goes so this was the first time Id seen her. I was completely astounded by the standard but she kept up and having warned her 6 weeks isn't really long and she shouldn't be worried if she wasn't as good as the existing members I was eating my words somewhat. We are awaiting a call from the coach now which should come in the next few weeks! The holiday will keep her mind off it
We spent Tuesday in the company of other families in Aberavon for The Wise up beach fun session. MUCH lovelier pics than I took are here...http://www.wiseuphe.netfirms.com/beachday.html
The kids made a swimming pool ( arf) with a tarpaulin. Flew kites,kindly donated by Lisa from playworks! made sandcastles, buried people ( not so great when they are in wet clothes) and swam and splashed in the lido. It started off freezing but eventually the sun appeared and we all ended up sun kissed and freckly with exhausted kids.
We dropped into Mums house afterwards as it was relatively close and presented her with her birthday cake creation. She really isn't very well though and only lasted an hour before we said our goodbyes. It makes me feel dreadful being so far away :(( only an hr but still!)
Tuesday night saw us having our first sleepover in years which went like a dream, our guest was incredibly well behaved, polite courteous to a fault and impressed Darren ( who was the banner of the sleepovers originally) because he was nothing like the kids who thought it was OK to stay awake giggling, being cheeky and silly well into the early hours (3am with kids cheeking you isn't remotely amusing- I have to agree with him!) but T was an absolute dream (and yes he is a normal kid - we didn't hire an android) and got an approving "well he can come again" from Darren :) It had been all very sudden with T just asking at the end of beach day " Jenny, Can I come home with you ?" so we collected him from home on the way back from my mums once he was showered and changed after the beach fun!
Dropping him back to his Mum the next day didn't go quite so smoothly... the M4 was shut due to a terrible accident and we were routed off a junction too early, meaning an hour in a traffic jam with T saying " I don't feel well I think I'm going to puke" ( UUUHOOOOO!) Thankfully we did meet his mum, brother and friend to reunite them and he wasnt sick!
We met Chloes friend from school and had a lovely lunch in Pizza hut, Chloe was really good, she cant eat the pizza because she Coeliac but was perfectly happy with endless plates of salad from the salad bar and happy conversation before Sophie, Connor and I went to see Kung Fu Panda ( Don't bother- grab it on DVD, its not that good- I almost fell asleep) and the teens went to watch Hancock which I am told was just amazing ( SIGH)
Chloe stayed at her friends for a couple of nights which was nice for them both as F is an only child who lives on a farm and gets a bit lonely but Chloe loved it as of course shes a friend from school ( who are now spread across the UK and beyond during hols) but also F's house has a swimming pool and a trampoline. They also have a Wii fit... F is on a fitness kick, trying to slim down and of course Chloe joined her in all her endeavours and came home last night happy but tired yet spent at least 2 hours flaked out on the sofa today snoring. God only knows what the heck they did in terms of their 'fitness plan' Its clearly worn her out!
Connor and Sophie have been beavering away, mainly on education city as Ive been so busy. Connor managed to get gold stars ( more than 80%) on every science game in Y4 and was thrilled. I really like the way its been updated now to be far more user friendly to home users. Its spurred him on to complete the level he was on and is thrilled to "be on Y5 when I'm not Y5 just yet!" Just the literacy and numeracy to go, the languages he can get through when he wants
Sophie's not as bothered by levels as Connor but she was a little jealous when he was 'moved up' so maybe that will be a good thing! Shes also discovered Adventure rock http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/adventurerock/
and is also reading "Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging" determined to finish it before the film comes out so I will go and take her to see it ( although the full frontal is replaced with 'perfect' in the film title)
She caused much amusement the other night when she came down and said "mum what does this word mean" and proceeded to say " TTTRRRRAAANNNSSVEESSTTTIITTTEE" while I was on the phone to a friend who almost wet her pants with laughter as I explained.... hmmm explaining what a transvestite is, to an 11 year old in the middle of a phone call... just normal every day stuff then!
Ive been working as usual most evenings and getting the washing, shopping and packing done for our holiday.Darren brought the caravan from the storage site this morning while I was out to get the last of the packing done and plug the fridge in, get the battery charged and all those boring things. We've managed to upset the victor meldrew neighbours 2 doors down who said loudly" Those things shouldn't be allowed" when I was going into the caravan allowed where?? allowed at all? allowed outside the house? what??( Jeeze!) Its not even outside his house! Its 25 yds away!
I went on a fab training day today courtesy of wise up and playworks in Neath/Port Talbot (those people are truly amazing).
We did den building and outdoor activities and had so much fun! It was just like being a child again. Its really true you don't understand something properly unless you teach it to someone else and I think its also true of something you intend to deliver to children, to really understand it you need to experience it. So today it was back to being 10, building dens, making tree folk, a map stick, a mini world... you want to know what all these things are? You'll have to come to wise up :-P ( or get me to come to you and do something with your local home ed group if you are far away if there's the offer of an exchange visit!) ;-)
to make it even better my boss agreed to pay me to attend so I wasn't out of pocket and work will benefit too from what Ive learned!
I can't wait to be able to do some stuff with the kids in wise up and in work. It really was loads of fun, I think we all learned so many creative things :)
I hope I get to do more of it :) Id like to be able to do an NVQ in playwork :)
This will be my last post for a fortnight... holiday is beckoning once Ive worked a shift tomorrow, we leave straight after that at lunchtime
I ope when we get back there will be exciting news ..... My brothers partner is imminently expecting her 4th child but his first( the 'younger' ones are all teens)....Ill be a proper auntie when I return from holiday :D just a shame the bubba is late, we had so hoped he/she would be here by the time we left!
Now I'm off to pack my clothes and collapse into a hot bath!
We dropped into Mums house afterwards as it was relatively close and presented her with her birthday cake creation. She really isn't very well though and only lasted an hour before we said our goodbyes. It makes me feel dreadful being so far away :(( only an hr but still!)
Tuesday night saw us having our first sleepover in years which went like a dream, our guest was incredibly well behaved, polite courteous to a fault and impressed Darren ( who was the banner of the sleepovers originally) because he was nothing like the kids who thought it was OK to stay awake giggling, being cheeky and silly well into the early hours (3am with kids cheeking you isn't remotely amusing- I have to agree with him!) but T was an absolute dream (and yes he is a normal kid - we didn't hire an android) and got an approving "well he can come again" from Darren :) It had been all very sudden with T just asking at the end of beach day " Jenny, Can I come home with you ?" so we collected him from home on the way back from my mums once he was showered and changed after the beach fun!
Dropping him back to his Mum the next day didn't go quite so smoothly... the M4 was shut due to a terrible accident and we were routed off a junction too early, meaning an hour in a traffic jam with T saying " I don't feel well I think I'm going to puke" ( UUUHOOOOO!) Thankfully we did meet his mum, brother and friend to reunite them and he wasnt sick!
We met Chloes friend from school and had a lovely lunch in Pizza hut, Chloe was really good, she cant eat the pizza because she Coeliac but was perfectly happy with endless plates of salad from the salad bar and happy conversation before Sophie, Connor and I went to see Kung Fu Panda ( Don't bother- grab it on DVD, its not that good- I almost fell asleep) and the teens went to watch Hancock which I am told was just amazing ( SIGH)
Chloe stayed at her friends for a couple of nights which was nice for them both as F is an only child who lives on a farm and gets a bit lonely but Chloe loved it as of course shes a friend from school ( who are now spread across the UK and beyond during hols) but also F's house has a swimming pool and a trampoline. They also have a Wii fit... F is on a fitness kick, trying to slim down and of course Chloe joined her in all her endeavours and came home last night happy but tired yet spent at least 2 hours flaked out on the sofa today snoring. God only knows what the heck they did in terms of their 'fitness plan' Its clearly worn her out!
Connor and Sophie have been beavering away, mainly on education city as Ive been so busy. Connor managed to get gold stars ( more than 80%) on every science game in Y4 and was thrilled. I really like the way its been updated now to be far more user friendly to home users. Its spurred him on to complete the level he was on and is thrilled to "be on Y5 when I'm not Y5 just yet!" Just the literacy and numeracy to go, the languages he can get through when he wants
Sophie's not as bothered by levels as Connor but she was a little jealous when he was 'moved up' so maybe that will be a good thing! Shes also discovered Adventure rock http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/adventurerock/
and is also reading "Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging" determined to finish it before the film comes out so I will go and take her to see it ( although the full frontal is replaced with 'perfect' in the film title)
She caused much amusement the other night when she came down and said "mum what does this word mean" and proceeded to say " TTTRRRRAAANNNSSVEESSTTTIITTTEE" while I was on the phone to a friend who almost wet her pants with laughter as I explained.... hmmm explaining what a transvestite is, to an 11 year old in the middle of a phone call... just normal every day stuff then!
Ive been working as usual most evenings and getting the washing, shopping and packing done for our holiday.Darren brought the caravan from the storage site this morning while I was out to get the last of the packing done and plug the fridge in, get the battery charged and all those boring things. We've managed to upset the victor meldrew neighbours 2 doors down who said loudly" Those things shouldn't be allowed" when I was going into the caravan allowed where?? allowed at all? allowed outside the house? what??( Jeeze!) Its not even outside his house! Its 25 yds away!
I went on a fab training day today courtesy of wise up and playworks in Neath/Port Talbot (those people are truly amazing).
We did den building and outdoor activities and had so much fun! It was just like being a child again. Its really true you don't understand something properly unless you teach it to someone else and I think its also true of something you intend to deliver to children, to really understand it you need to experience it. So today it was back to being 10, building dens, making tree folk, a map stick, a mini world... you want to know what all these things are? You'll have to come to wise up :-P ( or get me to come to you and do something with your local home ed group if you are far away if there's the offer of an exchange visit!) ;-)
to make it even better my boss agreed to pay me to attend so I wasn't out of pocket and work will benefit too from what Ive learned!
I can't wait to be able to do some stuff with the kids in wise up and in work. It really was loads of fun, I think we all learned so many creative things :)
I hope I get to do more of it :) Id like to be able to do an NVQ in playwork :)
This will be my last post for a fortnight... holiday is beckoning once Ive worked a shift tomorrow, we leave straight after that at lunchtime
I ope when we get back there will be exciting news ..... My brothers partner is imminently expecting her 4th child but his first( the 'younger' ones are all teens)....Ill be a proper auntie when I return from holiday :D just a shame the bubba is late, we had so hoped he/she would be here by the time we left!
Now I'm off to pack my clothes and collapse into a hot bath!
1 comment:
Sounds like you've been super busy, the holiday sounds well deserved, have a great time and we'll catch up with you all soon!
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