On Tuesday, the kids went off with Dave up to Penrith for swimming and our Home Ed social afternoon. I had stayed behind as we supposedly had a cottage to do, however I discovered after lugging all the linen to the house that no-one had actually been in even thought it had been booked. What a waste of time!! Still they all had a fun time swimming and playing while I got back home and glossed a couple of cupboard doors!!

Wednesday was another trip to the library as the kids had read all their books and Eilidh was desperate to get some more. We popped into our church on the way to look at a some carpet which they were pulling up in the huge renovations that are going on there. We nabbed a nice long stretch which will hopefully redo our stairs and landing and look a bit better that the horrible stuff we have down at the moment!! In the church they have pulled out all of the wooden pews and are replacing eveything so all the wood, carpet kneel pads and loads of other stuff are being given away to whoever wants them. Apart from the carpet we have also grabbed two kneeler pads (for the kids) and loads of scrap wood for kindling.

When we finished at the library we headed back to the car and Dave popped back into the church with Eilidh to use the loo and we ended up staying there for a soup lunch as they had just finished a service followed by lunch. Great!

We had gales last night blustering around the house and more rain. When I opened Eilidhs curtains this morning we found a large fir tree lying across our garden! One of next doors trees had come down.It was leaning on our little shed and across where our greenhouse is stored waiting to go up. The shed is leaning slightly and we think is only staying up because it's full to the roof with stuff!! and two panels of the greenhouse frame have been bent, still I suppose it's better than hitting the house!

Dave managed to chop it all up this afternoon with his chainsaw into smaller peices but i'm not quite sure whats going to happen with repairs to the shed and greenhouse. The next door neighbours seemed to be quite concerned but they haven't mentioned any compensation or anything, apart from the fact that it would have cost them a lot of money to get someone else in to chop it all down and make it safe. Still, we shall see.... Hopefully no more will come down as the wind is still howling now.

After church yesterday, we decided to get out in the afternoon to let the kids have a run around and get some fresh air. We went off to Fellfoot, a National Trust park on the side of Lake Windermere where there is plenty of space to run and a play park with a zip wire. The kids had great fun and spent most of the time climbing the huge overgrown Rhodedendrons (probably spelt that completely wrong!) pretending to be monkeys (did I say pretending???). These make a fantastic natural play area.

Today we had a morning at home doing secret messages with wax crayons, paint, lemon and water. Then Eilidh decided she wanted to do some more of her collage she had started at art group so all the scraps and ribbons came out. Then they made some pictures with pasta, lentils and seeds which they both got on with. By that time I had run out of ideas which were easy to get hold of in our mess of a house so Ben went onto one of his Cd Roms and Eilidh helped make lunch.

This afternoon we decided to make good use of our National Trust membership and got off to Sizergh Castle to have a look around. Unfortunately I hadn't checked to see if it was open, which of course it wasn't!! Never mind, we went to Sizergh Barn Farm Shop instead and had a good look around. They sell loads of lovely food, local crafts and other bits and they also have a farm trail which you can walk around. We followed the farm trail, which was a really nice walk through fields, by streams, and through some woods and had a look at some of the cows and then headed home. Unfortunately we didn't have any money to go to the cafe where you can watch the cows being milked through a huge glass window but I promised the kids we would come back another time.

Yesterday we had a really good day at our Home Ed art group. Jayne who organises the group had arranged for a neighbour who is a proper artist to come and help some of the older ones with drawing. A whole group of them sat around a table for ages busy drawing and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. Meanwhile the younger ones got on with decorating hearts, doing blow painting, joining in with a bit of the drawing, oil pastels and collage (which was great fun!)

This is what we came home with!!

Then Naomi prepared the veg for tea with Eilidh & Bens help, Naomi also discovered a new herbal remedy for headache & Eilidh just had to try it too.

Today we pottered about sorting out bits and pieces around the house. Dave painted the new loft hatch, Eilidh helped me wash and sand another horrible blue door ready for painting white and Ben roped Daddy in to help build him a huge track in Eilidhs room to play with. They had both stripped their beds for me already, isn't it great when they get to the age that they can actually do things!!

Mind you Ben had spent most of this morning in his pyjamas playing cars in his room, only reappearing for lunch wearing a t-shirt and shorts (absolutely nothing else!) BRRR he was making me feel cold just looking at him. They had a lovely bath and sat in front of the fire having supper before going to bed

Today we managed to strip wallpaper from three rooms, stripped out the carpet in four and painted two sides of the outside of the house....well, alright it was only the dolls house but still!!! Ben and Eilidh have been desperate to get started so after getting some paint the other day they just couldn't wait any longer. It is turning a lovely shade of light blue and needs a lot ot TLC but we will get there. Eilidh picked out some wallpaper as well so this will be the next job after all the painting is finished. If only we could get our own house done so quickly!

We also did some work on Romans, Ben colouring in some pictures for his poster and Eilidh working out Roman Numerals for her project book. We are starting this new idea called a 'Lapbook' which is just a folder with lots of bits and pieces in about your topic which you can add to, a bit like doing a scrapbook.

This afternoon they both decided to finish their Hama bead pictures they had for Christmas, Ben helped me make his fire engine and Eilidh did her last horse for her mobile so it's all ready to put together. They look really good and it's quite addictive once you start.

Yesterday was another quiet day at home, working hard!

Today we went off to the library to re-stock with books and Cd's. Dave came along too and sat reading to both of them for ages while I pottered about looking at books. The kids picked a load of books to take home and we went off to pick up some veg at the market.

We had some bits and pieces to pick up from our friends over in Grange and were invited to lunch which was really nice. We had some lovely homemade soup and then Eilidh disappeared upstairs with Louise, their seven year old while Ben messed about with James (10yrs) downstairs. We sat and chatted for a while and then headed back home.

While I got on with tea, Dave was back on reading duty, workiing his way through the new library books! Eilidh went off to bed with three of hers after informing me that she had already read one of her books! She will probably come down tomorrow after finishing another one, we just can't keep her with enough books. She has read pretty much all the books in her room, some more than once and has even worked her way through the Children's Bible!!!

Today has been quite a good day, the kids have been busy all day while I've been able to get some bits done as well. This morning, we sat down and did some 'work', Ben worked on his ABC workbook, writing letters and colouring while Eilidh worked through some worksheets on measuring and some other maths. They then decided to do some painting (which lasted about five minutes!) and then Ben decided he wanted to go on the computer while Eilidh carried on with some more maths work.

In the afternoon, we watched a DVD on the 'Rotton Romans' as Eilidh wants to know all about Romans and how they lived. I also managed to order an activity pack off Ebay yesterday about Romans so we shall see what it's like when it arrives. Ben decided he wanted to play with some play-dough so we first had to make some (blue and green this time!) and they both spent about an hour and half playing with this while I got on with dinner. Fantastic!

Dave went off this afternoon to help someone off Freecycle with their computer and came back with a bottle of wine which was really sweet of the guy. He is also off to look at another job tomorrow for our friends parents so hopefully that will come off as well.

Sorry, getting really behind with our blog. Well we made it back from Somerset ok, had a really good time and it was lovely seeing my Mum and Dad and my sister and family. I've just found it a bit hard getting back into the swing of things again!

We spend a couple of days just lounging around at Mum and Dads while the kids got busy drawing, colouring, sticking, discovering Grandmas toys again and playing cards on the computer. The weather was horrible (so much for sunny somerset, it rained nearly all week!) but we did manage to have a BBQ and a walk on the Saturday with Fran, Andy, Jack and William. This was great, the sun shone a bit and we were the only mad ones BBQ'ing in January, the kids splashed about in the river and built shelters and drove each other mad but it was a brilliant day. (Thanks Fran and co!!)

One of the days we went off to Street Outlet village with mum to go shopping, this is an outdoor retail place but it has plenty of places for the kids to play so they weren't too bored with traipsing around shops. We managed to get ourselves some shoes and clothes which were desperatly needed and the kids had a lovely surprise of some spending money from Grandma which they dutifully spent on toys!!!

The Travelodge was ok, it was on a trading estate surrounded by concrete but it served it's purpose and was pretty cheap so we well worth using if you can get their special offers. It was a bit weird walking down the stairs straight into a Burger King and Restaurant but we managed!!! The kids even went to sleep at a reasonable hour each night which was great!

Yesterday, we were out at Science Group, learning all about air, making Carbon Dioxide and Fire Extinguishers all with Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar. Fascinating! Fortunately one of Eilidhs friends mum used to be a science teacher so she could give us a hand as I am absolutely clueless whien it comes to this sort of thing. I hated Chemistry and Physics with a vengeance at school!!

Today it actually stopped raining, so we ventured out into our very soggy garden and while Dave and Ben sorted out the shoe rack and front porch me and Eilidh got on with digging out our veggie patch ready for the new crop. Not quite sure what we are doing this year yet and when we are meant to do it but I'll have to scour the gardening sites and figure it out!! (or ask Dad!!!)

This afternoon was spent sorting out the kids toys, I have actually managed to clear a box and bag load of toys from their bedrooms without them realising yet (Ha, Ha, Ha!!)

I also got very stupidly emotional over Ben insisting that he wanted to sell his wooden railway track which he has absolutely loved and played with constantly from when he was tiny up until a few months ago. I felt really upset that he doesn't want it anymore, how silly is that??? I guess it's more the fact that he's growing up so fast and that just brought it home a bit!? Well, I have to look on the bright side as it does sell really well on Ebay and he has tonnes of it so I guess that helps!!

Well, we are off down to sunny Somerset for a week to see my mum and dad and sister. So probably no blog until we get back. At the moment the kids are getting over excited and driving us absolutely insane while we rush around packing the car so we shall be glad when we finally leave!! Write about all our adventures next week, bye!

So much for a lie-in! I was up watching rubbish on telly at 2.30am as Dave was snoring constantly and I gave up kicking and hitting him and admitted defeat. After crawling back into bed an hour and half later with Dave still snoring, then Eilidh woke up feeling ill and insisted on coming into bed with me at about 6am. I finally lost my rag an hour later and kicked her out again as she thought stroking my hand, playing with my hair and singing would help me sleep!! Needless to say I was not in the best of moods this morning and we missed church again!!!

We decided instead to take the kids and their bikes to Morecambe so that they could have a really good cycle and get some fresh air. They don't get much of a chance to go on their bikes but Eilidh seems to be doing really well and we need to try and get her cycling without her stabilisers soon. Ben was refusing to peddle at all but by the end he was having a good go so we will have to keep it up. Unfortunately they both need new bikes as their old ones were secondhand to begin with, getting too small and too rusty!! It was really cold but good to get out in the fresh sea air. Needless to say we found a cafe for some coffee & the kids found a toy to play on.

Busy day today.

We have at last managed to sell the campervan on Ebay and the lady came to pick it up today Hurrah! What a waste of time that was, we never even went out in it!! You live and learn.

We both had a cottage to do each, so I took the kids and tackled the big one and Dave went off to the little on as he was then back to work painting nasty chemicals on lodges again. Apparantly this chemical stuff is absolutely disgusting, stinks and has to be at a certain temperature or it justs goes like glue. Fortunately him and Wendy (his workmate) have got really good face masks as the label says 'risk of irreversible effects by inhalation'......lovely!!! They are both willing this job to be finished as soon as possible. Here is the place they are working at (especially pictured in the snow just for Fran).After finishing our cottage I took the kids off to an indoor play area in Bowness to let off some steam. It was really busy and extremely noisy although even above all that noise I could still hear Eilidhs voice!!! They had a great time charging around getting red in the face and very hot while I drank Cafe Latte. Came out with a thudding head, I really think they should have a soundproof room for parents!!

Me and Eilidh went off to do some shopping this evening, it was really nice getting a little bit of time just with Eilidh. She is going through a funny phase at the moment and I think is feeling a bit unloved and insecure so it was good for both of us, even if it was only food shopping! Well, they have both gone off to bed late so hopefully we will get more of a lie- in in the morning (Yeah right!!)

Yes, more SNOW!!!

Well we have just got up & here is what it looks like up here:

& it is still coming down, fun & games to come. Here are some more of the kids enjoying the snow over the road in the field.

We had snow!

Yes, we actually had some snow today. Alright it was only a little dusting but we all got excited while it lasted. Eilidh is hoping it snows all night and we get snowed in so we shall have to wait and see!

Dave was off painting horrible smelly chemicals on wooden holiday lodges again today, so we went off to re-stock our books at the library. We had a nice hour or so sitting on the library sofas reading books and choosing which ones to take home and then went off for a well-deserved drink and treat! We went down to the 'Chocolate House' in Kendal and Eilidh had some lovely creamy hot chocolate with marshmallows and we shared some delicious moussy cake and Ben got absolutely covered in chocolate sauce from his chocolate croissant. Yum!! We did a few more jobs and then headed home to sort out the fire as it is really cold again.

We managed to get a big dolls house off Freecycle today. It needs a bit of TLC but Eilidh is really excited about 'doing it up' so we are all going to give a complete makeover together. It will look great, just got to find some more room for it!!

Dave was off to work again this morning, busy sanding and painting some holiday lodges down the road so we got busy too. I got out a load of stencils, colouring in, workbooks and other bits and bobs and the kids sat quite happily getting on with whatever they fancied at the table. Both of them actually decided to do some 'work' in their workbooks which was great. Every other time I get a pang of conscience and try to force them to do workbooks they point blank refuse but as it was their choice today they just got on with it!! Just goes to show that kids will learn in their own time and on their own terms! Mind you, Eilidh's writing and understanding has really, really come on since we last did any workbooks so she is obviously learning even when we think nothing is happening. Amazing!! Even Ben did a few pages of number work and held his pen the right way!!

We went into town at lunchtime, to go and see what they could spend some of their vouchers and money from Christmas on. Ben came back with another Thomas book (surprise, surprise!) and Eilidh came back with some glittery body lotion, and shower gel, definately a boy/girl divide there!!