Busy

I seem to of been incredibly busy and a bit distracted lately, busy due lots of soft fruit ready and in need of picking, so picking, sorting, freezing, dehydrating etc. Not complaining but it takes a long time to pick gooseberries from 2 bushes and all those thorns ouch!! We've had a huge crop of raspberries, eaten loads but frozen some to use in baking or to add to porridge, managed to actually grow enough peas to freeze some, M normally eats them all before I get a chance and the french beans are nearly ready for picking. Have some late harvesting peas to put in this weekend, be great if we can extend the pea season.

 Distracted because M's hospital appointment was finally due, we've known for a long time that she will need braces on her teeth but appointment with the orthodontist, discovered it was going to be a bit more complex than that. Our hospital visit confirmed this, her top jaw is too small and needs widening and her teeth at the back do not meet either, which makes chewing very difficult, this will need surgery to correct. This on top of the sensory issues she has really does explain a lot of the issues she has with chewy foods! The whole process will take 3 years, surgery won't be till she is at least 18 as she needs to be fully grown before they do it, we will go back in a years time to start the process. Think the process will be tough on her and us but need to look at the long term benefits, this comes on top of the surgery she will need on her nose at 18 so she can actually breath through her nose properly, she is in for a bit of a tough ride :(

Anyway onto something happier, lots of garden photos, I love cornflowers, plenty of buds too, so should have a lovely display soon.

Have I mentioned I love sweet peas, these were from a mixed colour selection but seem to of managed to just pick out the pink ones!

Raspberries,

sweetcorn,

jostaberries,

blueberries, under netting now in the hope that when ripe we get to eat more than the birds!

The jasmine is flowering well this year and the bottom of the garden smells divine, have taken some cuttings, it will be lovely to have some at the front of the house, having a waft of that gorgeous smell every time you leave or come home.

The rabbits have discovered they love grape vine leaves, it's lovely watching them trying to reach the higher ones, as they balance on their back legs.

Had a lovely day at the county motor show, lots for all of us to see and do. L got to sit in the driving seat of one of the huge lorries, my that is a long way up!

They usually have an animal handling section, which the girls love, M wanted to hold the largest snake they had, as we waited in the queue, she was debating which to do, I encouraged her to go with her first choice (not bad for someone who doesn't like snakes) and she was so pleased with herself for doing it, picture further down, L held a chameleon.

L wanted to go on the bouncy castles but didn't want to go on by herself, which made M's day as she got to go on as well to help her through, so happy girls.

Also at the weekend L's maths workbooks arrived, these  are the saxon maths ones and I have used them with both the older two and we loved them. These were supposed to be for September but she couldn't wait to see what they were and to start, she ingeniously used the holes that are punched in the work book to hold her pencils while not in use. Enjoying a quieter week this week as minded children are on holiday and hubby has booked a few days of work, so hoping weather stays nice and we can do some days out.

Giant Bubbles, Rivers and More

Today we had fun making giant bubbles, recipe is here, we used straws with wool threaded through them to make the bubble wand, we have all enjoyed seeing who could make the largest bubble.

Knowing that the heat was going to last, I decided to make some ice chalks, they need a hot day for them to work well and melt enough to draw with, think I should of made more than one tray though!

 They all had a great time exploring the feel of the ice cubes and looking at the colours before deciding to try and draw something.

Home ed wise, my plan today was to look at rivers with M, now I had planned to use the sandpit to create a mini river, tiny waterfall, plunge pool and estuary. Now the last time we did this it worked really well and we even managed to create a meander, didn't work so well this time think the sand needed to be wetter before we started! Anyway at least M can see how a river picks up debris and deposits it at the estuary etc and the younger ones have had a fantastic time playing with the very wet sand and water.

Toucan artwork from last week.

The rabbits enjoying the freedom to explore the garden and nibble various flowers, they have discovered how delicious the grape vine leaves are.

Tigers and Garden

My younger ones are fascinated by tigers and we have enjoyed the story The Tiger Who Came to Tea and then had some fun creating tiger prints, using shaving foam as a base, first time we did this we used a bit too much black paint, so only a little black otherwise it seems to take over the picture!!

Then use a knife to gently mix the paint into the foam.

Gently lay a piece of paper down and press on it all over, then leave to dry, while paintings are drying

they had a lot of fun mixing the left over paint into the shaving foam and exploring the texture!

Finished tiger prints.

They have also drawn some pictures of tigers and described them in their own words, the top one is a cute mummy tiger carrying her baby and the bottom picture is a rainbow monster tiger.

Finished sticker page from the eco kids magazines.

Having fallen in love with the Eco Kids magazines, I've ordered a couple of back issues, including one on the Amazon river, which hopefully will go down as well as the rainforest one did. M has been recapping photosynthesis to help explain why the rainforests are called the lungs of the world and has started to look at deforestation. Yesterday as it was raining so much in the afternoon we sat and watched Rio, which led to a talk about why people were trying to steal the birds, where was Rio de Janeiro, so today's plan to have the maps out and look at Brazil and see where that leads us. Hoping to also do some more art based on Henri Roussea as well but we will see.

M is doing well working through her preIGCSE course, she is on a high as her last assignment came back with an A grade, you can't get better than that. It means even more because she has verbal dyspraxia and as a young child really struggled to speak, lots of speech therapy to help her but it also meant learning to read and write wasn't easy either but she has been very determined and it is paying of now.

I found this series The History of the Home and thought M would rather enjoy it, she has enjoyed the frontier house and the Victorian farm etc, one of the opening scenes was at the Wealden Down Open Air Museum, we have been a couple of times and loved it. Hoping either this year or next we might make another trip there as M was only about 4 or 5 when she went last.

On a crafting front I have just ordered some of this wool in deep water to make the imagine when shawl for a friend, this will be a birthday present, so justifying buying more wool before using up the stash I was supposed to be working through! I alternating knitting at the moment either the main part of L's cardi which is just plain knitting and panel 2 of the blanket with lots of cabling. Reading A Daughter's A Daughter by Mary Westmacott, otherwise known as Agatha Christie, I have not read of her romance books and wasn't sure what I would make of it but actually enjoying it and making me giggle in places. There is a  lovely conversation between an older lady and one entering her 40s  , she talks about how women in their 20's to 40's are biologically and relationship concerned and rightly so but towards the end for their 40s they gain a second blooming in the mind and the spirit and the older a woman gets the more interesting the older they become, a very positive view of getting older. Also have the next two books from The Little Coffee Shop in Kabul to read at some point.

Well my plans for the day might change a bit, L got up and asked to have the colour rice out to play with, so while I finished writing my blog she set up the tray below to play with.

After all the rain and wind we have, this morning we have sun and some photos of the flowers that have survived the weather!

 One of my new penstemons is just coming into flower this one is called heavenly blue.

 We have some tiny cucumbers growing, ignore the weeds, it's a job for later in the week.

Grape vine has lots of grapes growing, hoping for another lovely crop this year.

Linking with Nicole at Frontier Dreams

Rainforest

After enjoying the Eco Kids magazine and the children's enthusiasm for the rainforest, we have enjoyed watching some clips of different rainforest animals, tigers, tapir and macaws, which seem to be the favourite at the moment. Then there was that wonderful moment when they came across a picture of an ocelot and the children realise that they aren't just something made up in minecraft but a real creature.  I've also made the most of my twinkl membership and have used various power points they have put together including this one, which is photos of various rainforest animals and this one on the rainforest habitat. This then led on to a discussion with M about deforestation and I came across this you tube video which worked well for all ages, not always easy to do when you are working with a wide age range. M has decided that next week she would like to look more at deforestation and it's impact, I've found a couple of videos to start her of with, this on the effect on the climate and the lungs of our planet, plus a recap of photosynthesis.

We've had the books out looking at the different layers of the rainforest and the children spent time painting their own rainforest and decorating them with some animal stickers.

Perfect time to introduce  Henri Rousseau, we based out art on Surprise! we'll be looking at some more of his art work next week.

I am hoping to use this power point with them next week as it goes over some of what we have already learnt, plus a bit more.

Weekend has been busy mainly with a lot of time spent at the allotment, planting out plants and more seeds, harvesting a few red currants, strawberries and golden raspberries. Also painted one side of my husbands shed, this is the side that will be seen in our secret garden, when we finish it but was the old chicken run, I've gone for a purple colour bright but not over powering! The rest of the fences I am leaving brown with all the climbers over, think painting it all purple would be too much and today we picked up some lovely butterfly solar lights.