Got some more photos on the blog...eventually!

After stuffing ourselves with curry last night we both had a really bad night , serves us right! I left Dave in bed snoring and took the kids down to the paper mill in the next village to stock up on lovely coloured paper and card for crafty bits and future projects.

This afternoon it was off to our local Home Education group again for the kids to play and us to drink coffee (or tea!) and chat. Dave managed to get all the kids involved in a game of rounders which was really good although it ended a bit abruptly when one of the boys got upset about being out and ran off with the bats. Of course the other lads ran after him which set him off even worse. What they hadn't realised was that when he was at school the teachers had labelled him a 'problem child' (he's actually Dyspraxic) and would chase him and then physically restrain him so he panicked when the other kids chased him.

Thankfully it all ended up ok and he very bravely came and apologised (although it wasn't really anyones fault.) This lad is such a lovely, kind boy who will happily play with Eilidh and Ben although he's a bit older than them. It's a crime that school has damaged and frightened him so much just because it seems they didn't know how to deal with his illness.

Sorry, bit heavy today and I've got a cold! But it was sunnny again!!

Today was actually sunny! Well most of the time anyway.

Our church has decided that over the summer they are having one service for everyone in the morning and then having picnics at different places in the Lakes afterwards. Sounds lovely but it also means the kids don't have any seperate groups to go to and have to come and sit in with us (or not sit as the case was....) I think I came out of church feeling more stressed than I have for ages!!

Had a chance to calm down on the way through to Fellfoot Park which is a beautiful National Trust park near Windermere where we had our picnic and the kids played and splashed about in the lake. Spent most of the afternoon there and ended up deciding to get National Trust membership as there are quite a few car parks and houses to visit around here. This will give us the incentive to go to all those places we don't normally as they are too expensive! Mind you, we may regret joining at the end of the month when we run out of money again...Ho Hum!!

Dave made a huge, yummy curry tonight and I can hardly move. I don't think my appointment to be weighed on Tuesday will be a joyous occasion somehow!! Still 11lbs down, only about three stone to go!!!!

Eilidh made a quick recovery this morning and seemed absolutely fine after all the escapades of last night! If only I could feel better that quickly! Dave was off cleaning again ...bless him.

I had to do a mad charge into Kendal to get a present for Phoebe, the kids little friend two doors down. I had instructions from Eilidh to get a fairy and pink paper, well I nearly did it but could only find a ballerina and mermaid finger puppet and book .. but they were pink!

The party was great, a 'proper' party at their house with party games and kids actually enjoying themselves and good food! Not like the usual' indoor play area' parties with horrible food and screaming kids getting over-heated and sick!! Eilidh won a prize for musical statues and Ben didn't quite understand why he hadn't won one but fortunately soon lost interest before a HUGE wobbly!

As we had no food in the house and today was pay day we splashed out on tea and went to a spanish place in Kendal ..sounds very posh but we went in happy hour so not very expensive. The food was tasty but not a lot of it and we certainly wouldn't bother going back. The kids had hardly eaten anything so we stopped at the chippy on the way home...cultured ain't we??

Had to do a huge shop in Asda's tonight so worn out now......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Another quiet day.

Dave had to go and do a cottage clean today as my back is going nuts at the moment. He reckons they must have been stabling horses there as the whole house was covered in straw???!!!

We spent this morning making gooseberry cake and gooseberry chutney. Decided the rhubarb was on it's way out so is destined for the bin. Never mind! The kids helped me make the cake and then decided they didn't like it, although it did take Ben a few bits to decide!

Spent some time doing a puzzle with the kids and Eilidh amused herself drawing pictures for all of us until she decided she had tummy ache and was rolling around groaning. Of course being the ultra sensitive mother I told her to stop whinging and then she promptly threw up all over the living room carpet...Oh what joy!! Dave had to take over as I am hopeless when people are being sick (never would make a nurse!) Thankfully she is now fast asleep in our bed, after wearing herself out being sick, I just hope she can sleep it off as they are meant to be going to a Birthday party tomorrow.

Note from dave: Yes, you guessed - she spoke too soon. Eilidh & Ben have both been up now for most of the evening. Ben with a sore throat & Eilidh chucking up nothing in a bowl. Ben has now been convinced to go back to his own bed (at 10.30pm) & Eilidh has now snuggled down with mummy - daddy has got the couch - comfy night then!!!
Lets hope tomorrow brings better tidings.

Today was a quiet day doing not a lot. As Ben was feeling a bit better we all got togged up in waterproofs and wellies and wandered across the field to a tent show just down the road. Needless to say we were the only mad people looking around as it was tipping it down! The kids enjoyed pushing all the water off the top of the tents and we had fun deciding that we couldn't afford any of them and that our tent is better anyway!

We had a wander around Cumbria Wildlife Trust on the way back to see if the water voles they are keeping there would make an appearance but I think it was even too wet for them! Got some milk from the farm shop and wandered back home to dry out, although it seems it's only my coat which isn't completely waterproof!

While we away our electric had gone off (this seems to happen every time we go away!) so all the frozen fruit had to be used up. We had really yummy crumble made with damsons (we think!) Tasted nice though, now I've got to figure out what to do with gooseberries and rhubarb??.

We're Back!

We had a brilliant time, a bit wet and muddy with one day of lovely sunshine but really good. The campsite had a pond with tyre rafts on, and adventure playgound and surrounded by mountains and lovely walks. There is a small miniature train that runs past the site so Ben had great fun listening for it's whistle each time.




The kids ended up with no clothes left as they were all soaking wet and covered in mud but they had loads of fun. Eilidh spent most of the time in the water with her friends and busy making new ones while Ben had some bigger friends to play cars with on the rocks. It was lovely to see three lads playing together quite happily with ages from four up to thirteen - it didn't seem to matter one bit!

There were four families that came in the end. Each evening was spent in front of the camp fire chatting and drinking coffee with everyone and is was good to get to know people a bit better. It was a really nice group where everyone mucked in.



Got back last night and had a good nights sleep. Ben has gone down with a sore throat and headache now so is fast asleep in our bed at the moment so I think today will be spent not doing much (except the pile of soggy, muddy washing ....YUK!)

We are off camping for a couple of nights so just busy getting ready. Eilidh has come down with a cough and sore throat but is insisting she is well enough to go so we are!

We are going to a campsite called 'Fisherground' up in Eskdale (further up into the Lake District) with a few other families from our local Home Education group so it should be great fun. There is an adventure playground, a lake with rafts (?), open fires and zip wires so it sounds like we won't see a lot of the kids while we are there!

Just hope the rain holds off!

Note from Dave: We are going to have good weather so stop doubting!!! Anyone who thinks otherwise..... Is wrong!!!!.

After putting up our new desk this morning we all headed off to the Home Education art group which runs once a month. Today we were doing plaster of paris figures and models, paper waver things, and painting with oil pastels. The kids love this group as they get to do all kinds of different art and craft which they don't get a chance to at home.

Eilidh came home with pastel picture, a paper wavery thing and a bear figure nicely painted, Ben had an elephant figure (painted blue?!), a paper wavery thing and a model of Thomas the Tank Engine made from wire, yoghurt pots and plaster! This took me and Dave all afternoon to do but slapping on plaster was quite therapeutic!

It was a really good day being able to get messy while chatting with friends and the kids playing in the playground and doing craft when they wanted to. Fantastic!!

As we are going camping for a couple of nights on Sunday, Dave popped down to a camping shop near us to pick up a pipe for an old gas stove we were given and managed to come back with a brand new camping stove ABSOLUTELY FREE!! (Dave has done some work for them in the past so we pop in to see them every so often.) Apparantely it was reduced in price but Dave said we couldn't afford it at the moment and just as he was leaving the guy who owns the shop just handed it to him and said we could have it.... how nice is that?? So we are nearly all set for our camping trip.

Hurray ......we had sunshine!!!!!!!!!

This morning I had a coffee morning with the team that help out with the toddler group at church so Dave got on with the loft until he reached boiling point as it was lovely and hot!! The kids got on with reading and watching a Bob the Builder DVD. When I got home they helped me out in the garden repotting some spare veggies seedlings and making a big muddy puddle even more like a death trap!! Our vegetables seem to be doing really well, I'm really chuffed because we were really late putting things in as the garden wasn't ready in time but they all seem to be coming on fine. Yummy!

This afternoon we all went to our friends house for the kids to play and us to drink tea and coffee. They had great fun splashing about with a bucket of water (& Florence enjoyed herself sitting in the bucket!) On the way home we picked up a new computer desk off Freecycle which is great and will give us some more space to work on.

Unfortunately our computer is throwing a wobbly at the moment so we can't get any photos on our blog but we will keep trying!

I am sitting here looking out of our front window at beautiful sunshine over the mountains and wondering why on earth wasn't it like this earlier?? Yes, I think I am getting a tad obsessed about the weather but it seems to have rained every day for the last month! We ended up going to the library this morning to get some new books out, the kids love going and we usually end up in there for an hour or so reading most of them! Eilidh is a real bookworm and is reading way above her age and loves poetry (girl after my own heart!) I've even found Ben sitting 'reading' his books in his bed when he is meant to be going to sleep so I think we may end of with two little bookworms!

As we had some luncheon vouchers from doing internet surveys we decided to treat ourselves to McDonalds (not very healthy but yummy!) and then headed home. Dave and the kids spent the afternoon watching Cars on DVD while I got on with sorting out the cupboards in Eilidhs room. Ended up with a bagful of clothes to be passed onto our friends so a worthwhile afternoons work!!

Note from Dave: This does not mean I did nothing all day, I was at home flooring out & panelling the attic amidst all that horrible fibre insulation stuff, whilst they were all out having fun!!!!!

Dave got dragged out of bed by our postman with a big parcel for us. There was me thinking it was Dave's grease gun he'd bought off Ebay but I couldn't quite believe that the kids were getting so excited over a grease gun! It turned out the parcel was from Grandma and Grandpa with loads of goodies inside for the kids. Dolls, cars, stickers, puppet kit, harmonica (which Ben has quite taken to) and some other things I can't remember now.

I had to do another cottage clean this morning so the kids amused themselves with some of their new bits while Dave tried to get on with finishing the attic. This afternoon was spent helping Eilidh make her tiger puppet and doing some workbooks. Eilidh chose to do an English and Handwriting one which she did really well with and Ben roped daddy into helping him with a counting one (first time he's ever wanted to do anything like that!) Only lasted about half an hour, then they went to look for steam trains on the internet instead....

We had thunder and lightening last night and it has rained most of the day again. I guess we had summer yesterday! Really lovely this evening though so hopefully tomorrow we may get out and about somewhere.

Not much happened this morning, thought I would go for a quiet bath (Ha,Ha) and ended up with an extra body (Eilidh) in with me! So much for a peaceful half hour!

This afternoon was our usual Monday excursion to the local Home Ed group. Kids have the run of a village hall and playground all afternoon and usually end up exhausted. It's great to see all the kids playing quite happily together whatever their age, not something you normally see in a school. Eilidh has found a new friend who is a lad of 10 and they seemed quite happy climbing trees and playing in the sand together.

And it was SUNNY .....Hurrah! I even ended up with a red nose after sitting yacking and drinking coffee in the park all afternoon.

There was a rounders match this afternoon with our church, the teams were decided and off they went. I think the teams were slightly unfair (kids and teens against adults) but the adults managed to win! Ben and Eilidh were too busy playing in some trees and bushes to take much notice but a good time was had by all. Managed to play through a few showers but didn't really get raining again until later this evening.

The Weekend Cometh!!!

Well we didn't really expect it but the weather did improve today, lovely sunshine, very warm, a real spirit lifter. Unfortunately Naomi had to work, a couple of holiday cottages needing a bit of caretaking. So it was down to daddy to take the little ones on a trip someplace, however Mummy had gone off with the car seats in her car. Never to be outdone Daddy took Eilidh & Ben off on a nature ramble, well a wander down the road to Cumbria Wildlife Grounds. They have a lovely nature pond there with lots of lovely insects, grubs & water snails in it. Didn't see any frogs, toads, newts or fish for that matter but the kids enjoyed the hunt regardless.
We then went for a wander around the nature trail & gardens, scared afew birds & things (it takes a bit of work to get Ben to understand the word & then to be QUIET!). Then it was off over the road to the rather expensive but very organic Plumbgarths Farm Shop to see if there was any goodies in the cheap basket. Only Sweet Mincemeat which Naomi doesn't like & Pickled Cherries (very strange) which Naomi discovered she does like. So we got some slightly more expensive organic free range eggs & an orange cake to cheer us all up.
After such lovely weather & a nice walk out? I hear you say, "why do you need cheering up???", well guess what made a reappearance on our way home? Yes, the rain!!! Just a spat as it turned out but at least we enjoyed the cake.
Best get off now & let us see what tomorrow brings.

TTFN,

Dave.

Yes, another wet horrible day. If it carries on like this, I think our garden will be sliding down into our house! Nothing much happened today, spent most of the morning cleaning up one of the holiday cottages we look after. Why do people come on holiday and then proceed to move all the furniture around in holiday cottages?? Who knows....

This afternoon the kids and I went to see some of our friends, had to wait until Dennis had got home from school (poor boy!) Me and Kate sat and drank really nice 'proper' coffee while the kids ran riot in their living room. Still, looks like there is a double wedding on the cards as Dennis and Eilidh, and Ben and Florence all decided they are marrying each other!

Last night Ben was in the bad books. After being settled into bed he then decided to help himself to a Kinder egg which happened to be safely tucked away on my bedside table for another day. Unfortunately for Ben, when Dave went to tell him to go to sleep, the evidence was all over his face! OOPS!!

Please, no more rain tomorrow......

Well, no gardening today. After hanging up loads of laundry outside I should of know it would rain!! So we abandoned soggy sheets and went for a drive instead. Had to pick up some coal otherwise none of us will be having baths this week and Eilidh has now decided she wants to be a 'coal lady' when she grows up. Not quite sure why, but she decided our coal man who is a very nice man, looked very fit and healthy and must drink water all day (!!??) so if it's good enough for him then it's good enough for her!

Ended up over at Devils Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale having a picnic in the pick-up. Fortunately the rain did stop for a little while so we went for a stone-throwing session down by the river. Picked up some nice flat stones to do some painting on another day.

Later we had major train track building session with Ben as he wanted to try ALL of his new bits he got for his Birthday at once. Not much of the living room carpet was left to walk on, but keep them both amused until bedtime. Maybe tomorrow we will get this garden done?

Last night the farmer was out in the field opposite gathering the hay, so we had five tractors and trailers busy at work until well after we had gone to bed. I really don't envy them doing all that, they were out again this morning before we got out of our lazy beds! Actually they could have been out all night getting it finished, who knows!

Eilidh went to bed with a headache and ended up in our bed at 3am so it was off down the doctors this morning. The usual thing happened, we sat around waiting for about half an hour to then actually be in with the doctor for about five seconds! The usual response....it's a virus, give her Calpol, Nurofen and plenty of liquids (which we were doing anyway!!) So we have been lounging around watching telly and videos all day as Eilidh's head was thumping every time she moved. Still I managed to get a whole heap of laundry washed and dried (Yes we had a dry day at last!) Hopefully tomorrow she'll be feeling better and we can get on with the garden which is looking more like Steptoe and Sons Yard at the moment.

Spent this morning at Beatrix Potter Attraction in Windermere (because we had been given free tickets!). We were hoping that it would be quiet on a Tuesday as schools havn't broken up yet but unfortunately people must be coming on holiday early as there was a huge queue!! Never mind, when we got in the kids looked at everything for about five seconds and raced onto the next bit, so it's just as well we didn't have to pay. They enjoyed it in their own way (fast!) although Ben said it was a bit scary!? He then fell asleep on the way home so had a peaceful afternoon doing some Maths and Science workbooks (CGP) with Eilidh.

Yesterday was Bens birthday and all he wanted was to play and go on a train (surprise, surprise!). So off we went to Cinderbarrow which has miniature trains running all day on Sundays. The weather was great and all the kids had fun running around and having train rides. Two very tired children on the way home!

The start of our blog, havn't got a clue what we are doing but we will learn as we go!!