Thank you for the music...

Music has always been really important to us - I first met Phil when I went to see his band and then we became friends and he and I used to get together in the evenings and play and sing. The biggest girl wanted a guitar, like Phil, so we bought her one when we got engaged and she tried to learn it for about five minutes. Since then, she hadn't really expressed any interest at all in music, except to play around on the piano as the littler ones do. So it was very exciting when she suddenly announced that she'd love to learn the flute! We duly hired one, and she's loving it. We're very fortunate that my sister teaches flute so she's giving her lessons when we see her (about once a fortnight) and I'm helping her out with practising. It's such a lovely instrument, I'm tempted to learn too!In a flash of inspiration, she searched for an Adele song and is now learning to play 'Someone Like You' beautifully. It's so much more motivating playing something like that than 'three blind mice! And discovering her ability with the flute has encouraged her to learn some more on the piano too and to start wanting to read music. It's really lovely to hear her enjoying it so much! And the littler two both love music too - Phil can't sit down to play without the tiny girl climbing onto his lap or the small boy jumping up beside him to join in! It's frustrating for him, but lovely to see. Slightly less lovely is the demo mode on the hideous little keyboard that seems to be playing all day every day... still, at least they're enthusiastic!

My inspiration at home...

Having spent another few days stuck inside with poorly children, I've been thinking about why I love being at home, what makes it feel ok even when it's a horrible mess! We were surprised when we liked this house - we'd sworn we'd never live in a modern house but it just felt right for us right now. I was determined that we'd have a characterful home, though, and I decided to add the character and make a few little areas feel more like 'us'. I thought I'd write this post to remind myself of those bits!

Our hall, a bit of colour on one wall (which looks blue here but is actually teal), a lovely quote and a wall of old family photos behind the front door...The downstairs loo! I've got a plant and books on the windowsill but that's too dark to photograph! I love this page from last year's diary - the we'moon - and it's reflected in the Moroccan mirror.
A corner of the dining room with our pinboard made by my brother's lovely girlfriend, a gorgeous mini canvas I bought at a Midsummer Fayre last year and a branch of our resolution tree - I can't photograph the whoe tree as there's too much paperwork and clutter piled around it...The top of one of our bookshelves. I LOVE books, can't manage long without reading (yes, it's a little bit alphabetical, I know...) ! But I love seeing the rainbow up there - not getting as much play as it could do but it's special when someone remembers it's there (!) and when we had it on the floor, one arc was snapped so it's lasting better now that we use it more carefully. I love the fish too - bought in an African shop when I was 14 but no-one else has ever liked it much!And finally, a space of one's own!! My Aunt has been telling me with delight about clearing out her newly married daughter's bedroom and finally having it as a study/writing space for herself. This is a far-off dream for me (actually I secretly hope we'll be able to create a study before our children leave home, but that's very secret!) but for now I have the space inside my bureau. This gorgeous furniture came from my Grandparent's house and I keep the top shelf full of their books - I love the handwritten messages from 1908 and 1917 inside the covers of some of them! But I've got all of my birth books, spiritual books and exploring/journey books (I don't like the name 'self help', lol!) in here too, with cards, postcards, crystals and items that inspire me or that I need to keep especially safe. It's the only place in the house where I can put something and know it won't be touched and that keeps me feeling sane!And here ends the guided tour - next week I hope to leave the house a little more!

Strewing...

I keep coming across this term - I think it refers to a way of leaving things around in an attempt to inspire children to get involved with particular activities (please correct me if I'm wrong!). It works quite well for us because I feel I'm not neglecting anyone, they know I'm interested in what they're doing and keen for them to join in but there isn't any pressure. I have a tendency to over-involve myself in things, sometimes being controlling. This technique reminds me to hold back, to watch what happens, and to interfere as little as possible.

To this end, I tried doing threading myself, asked my boy if he wanted to join in (was politely refused - see last post!) and then left my creation and the beads and pipe cleaners on the floor. A big thank you to Joxy for the threading on pipe cleaners tip - brilliant for little fingers! This happened after about 20 minutes... he loved it and spent half an hour threading and creating great shapes and a bracelet for his baby sister - a big success!

Poorly again.

I must say, Universe, just for the record, being vomited upon when it is still dark outside is really not my favourite way to wake up. No it is not. But after the adrenaline rush that comes with dodging sick while moving sheets, towels etc and washing sicky child, we were all wide awake and started another fun-filled day. Well, actually a rather dull day since the poorly baby above has been most reluctant to let go of me or to play firefighters, which has made for irate moods all round.

The fireman, in fact, was a great doctor for a few hours - he raced to get cloths, shouting 'emergency, faster, faster' then hugged his baby sister and told her 's'alright, darlin', which was priceless. But he soon got bored with her lack of enthusiasm for his games and after creating a few lovely accessories for the fire engine, he's given up and is pointedly watching tv. He has refused, point blank, to come near or join in the beading craft idea I just tried to suggest in order to make myself feel like a better parent. He tells me, in quite a firm and rational voice for a three year old, "yours is very nice, mummy, but I don't want to make one, I'm watching some people on the telly at the moment'. And I consider myself pacified, give up and just let him watch some annoying lady on cbeebies making junk models. He's never watched cbeebies before but he's broken the DVD player so will have to put up with mr tumble or whatever this is - that'll learn 'im!

And meanwhile, I have listed a whole lot of clothes I've been meaning to sell since last year on ebay. I know this time next week I'll be annoyed that I'm trekking to the Post Office to pay more than I've charged for postage to send items people have bought for much less than they're worth, but such is life. And I've just discovered that we really ought to invest in a camping fridge so I'm trawling secondhand ads, and still saving to replace the sadly broken sewing machine...I think I need to sell more than a few children's clothes! But it's good to tick it off the list, anyway, so the day hasn't been completely wasted. Oh and my biggest girl has a school disco tonight, so we'll have all the excitement of that to contend with in a couple of hours... happy Thursday, everyone!

Cardboard Vehicles

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Nothing in the world delights my boy like a cardboard vehicle. Even a turn driving Grandpa's car, sitting on his lap on the driveway, cannot quite compete with the joy that abounds when we receive an enormous parcel (yes, that camping stuff - that was the most exciting bit for me!) and he quickly realises we can create something that will give him hours of fun. Today he was desperate for a fire engine - and this box was the perfect shape! You will have to imagine the corrugated card hose at the back and the steering wheel and keyhole inside, I didn't take pictures of those!


So, Fireman Sam (and he will not answer to any other name...) is currently putting out fires to his heart's content. And this particular Fireman is a cut above your average firefighting hero, as he has discovered the power of accessories. Now I'm not certain that these would be more use in a genuine fire-fighting emergency than those big black boots that the more conventional fireman goes for, but they certainly add some sparkle to the outfit. He's fallen utterly in love with the shoes our beautiful bridesmaid wore at our wedding, has pinched them from her wardrobe and is dancing his way around the house in them. This is sweet, funny and lovely (they're much too big and not very practical!) but also feels a bit sad to me - he said 'Ooh I could wear these to a wedding!' well yes he could, but he'd be laughed at all day and this boy already stops himself from crying when he is hurt because he hates to be embarassed. What is the alternative for boys? Why do we have all these beautiful things for girls, sparkles and glitter and dresses and shoes, and nothing for boys except plain shoes and boring outfits? It must be so disappointing! Answers on a postcard... One of the nicest things today is the way that this little fireman is so determined that his little sister should join in too. Despite her cold and constant grumbling, he has designed and masterminded her very own vehicle, an ambulance, apparently, and brought her a special fire-fighter outfit too. It's actually a construction jacket, but let's not quibble! She just delights in being entertained by him and spends most of her day keeping up with bigger children. She's enchanted by her box and has spent a long time posting the key (a stray adapter from Phil's music corner...) into the key hole. Life doesn't get much better than a cardboard box, sometimes!

Camp cooking

I'm still feeling that camping excitement today, waiting for some new essentials to arrive in the post and trying to book a campsite for later in the year. Making pancakes on the fire at forest school added to the anticipation too!

A lovely smoke-filled morning that made me wish mornings were all like this...

First times...

Today, I did the washing up for the first time in...well, I don't know how long actually! I was relieved to remind myself that, despite Phil's assertions to the contrary, it is really very easy to wash up when you have a dishwasher and can put most of the dirty things in there.

Today, I baked bread that had risen in the fridge overnight! Why did no-one tell me how easy this is? Oh, ok, you did but I just didn't feel brave enough to try it. However, once again I forgot about the dough last night and when Phil refused to let me stay up another hour (no he isn't a dictator, he's promised to help me stick to my plan to get more sleep and therefore be a nicer person...), I was forced to give it a go. Amazing.

Today, I hung washing outside for the first time in months! I have fallen prey to the tumble drier to save our house looking and smelling like a laundry for all these cold weeks and now it's warmer, it's so lovely being able to hang it up on the line again. Of course, it started to rain as I did so, but then I just felt smug that we have an ingenious covered line ;)

Today, I dropped my confident little boy off at his preschool session without him even seeming to notice we had gone. He has been telling me all morning that he'll just say bye and see me later - nevermind that he actually missed the 'bye' bit, he's very happy to be there and I must get used to this empty feeling for a couple of hours a week! My tiny girl doesn't know what to do without him - she's not quite up to causing havoc on her own yet - so is obligingly having a sleep. Which means that:

Today, I am blogging for the first time in far too long! The reasons for this are stress, lack of time, laziness and loss of camera. I've spared you many posts about ill children sitting and watching Peppa Pig for endless hours, and I've really hibernated this winter! I am emerging, though, and feeling pretty good about things. I'm writing, I'm exercising, I'm able to think about making food, cleaning up and playing with playdough without feeling like screaming. I'm sad that my sewing machine is broken but happy to be knitting something real (a hoodie for my tiny girl, can't wait to have enough of it to justify a picture!) and planning other knitted things until I can afford a new machine.
Today I am also feeling really excited about camping! We put our new, amazing tent (above) up yesterday for the very first time. It was a VERY generous present from the in-laws for Christmas and we're all very excited about being able to camp for more than five minutes without having everything we own disappear into the black hole that was a 3-man bedroom compartment being shared by five people. This tent has a lounge!! We may sell our house and move into it permanently... ok, we won't, but it is brilliant, comfortable and the source of much excited planning for holidays this year. Hooray!

So, camera found and stresses easing, I hope to be back soon. Have I read that before somewhere?! xx