And then...

it's the weekend!!!!

Half term is here...it's been a short half term but I want to say 'At Last!'

As always we've no real plans, no real money to spare for a Big Day Out but if the weather is kind we can wrap up warm and hit the local park.

If it's not so kind then I see a LOT of colouring and making ready for Halloween, possibly even the odd Christmas card can be made for Nannies etc?

I've got a surplus of laminating sheets and was thinking about grabbing a few jewel coloured leaves and getting the kiddos to laminate them to make a window display.

I definately see glitter in my very immediate future

:)

The garden could do with a final pre winter clear up, I have a couple of boxes ready to go to the local dump for recycling and it would be the perfect excuse to take a look around the charity shop there...

Any ideas on how to make Day of the Dead celebrations on a tight budget would be appreciated!

Happy Weekending to us all

Spinning Carousel...

I spotted the first Christmas 'tat' in the supermarket earlier this week!

September isn't done already and there it was, 

pushing it's way through, elbowing Halloween & Guy Fawkes Night and trampling over the Rememberance Day poppies.

OK not literally but that's how it feels.

We have lovely festivals to share and celebrate; I feel a bit sad when large retailers seem to pressure us into one-up-man-ship that Christmas is the be all and end all.

What's that? Did you ask am I anti Christmas?  Well heck no!!

I just want to enjoy the year at my pace and enjoy ALL the festivals;

I'd like to give thanks to Mother Nature for the harvest and offer enough to the Harvest Festival to give a meal,

Spend time with my family remembering love ones past on Day of the Dead, sharing food, light, laughter and love,

Enjoy a freezing BBQ with sparklers flashing and fireworks popping, reminding the children of the story of Guy Fawkes,

Remembering those who gave their lives so willingly fighting for our freedom, we'll wear our poppies with HUGE pride and gratitude

Battening down the hatches, decorating our home with love,

decorating our tree, sharing a meal, sharing love and laughter and yes sharing presents

Snuggling in till New Years Day and our trip to the seaside to blow out the old year and start 2013.

Sometimes I need to remind myself to step off the carousel, stop and inhale all that I have already and simply enjoy.  

Close my eyes to the outside world.

Dia de los Muertos...

Day of the Dead

Next year we will celebrate Dia de los Muertos, I like the idea of celebrating the lives of my loved ones who have passed on, remembering them, honoring them with family, food and telling stories of them.

It ties in nicely with Halloween and All Saints Day 

No need to make the home scarey but a chance to get creative with lots of flowers, face paints and food

Food should play a big part in celebrations at this time of year...the harvest is not long in and we've always thought of Halloween as a time to give thanks to the spirits for the good harvest and to scare the bad spirits away from the fields for the coming year.

Bippity Boppity...

BOO!!

Not all things that go bump at Halloween are spooky!  This year I managed to fall over whilst putting up the outside decorations and broke my ankle.  

As RV has soccer practice on a Monday & everyone else was out it meant that we had no decorations this year...

We did manage to do a couple of pumpkins though

H took influence from Mary Shelleys' Frankenstein this year...wish I had a better photos' as it really is very good

RV's pumpkin was sadly for him left for me to carve last minute with a bread knife, but it did the trick

I also did one with just holes all over and it looked lovely but didn't show up in the photos but we have our casper ghost too

So a broken ankle has meant I've had to spend more time than I would normally at home...and I've imposed a self controlled internet limit so I don't fritter the days away in blogland

It's not a major or serious break, a small but rather uncomfy one, resulting in lots of swelling around the joint and bruising.

I have been drinking a fair amount of 

whilst twiddling these onto the crochet hook

and have been nibbling away at one of these

apple pie

yummy!!

Loopy has been at her books almost every day, she is loving the new activity books and I need to keep her motivated with the work books so we can keep this little burst of enthusiasm from both of us going.

The basic phonic books we ordered have arrived (Montessori inspired) and I'm looking forward to her going through them and recognising a few of the words straight of.

We will be starting to look at the high frequency words too now, things that don't necessarily make phonics sense but are in our day to day vocabulary and high readers in books.

More work books on the way, these are more like you find in schools than home and I hope will keep her busy little mind ticking over :)

So despite the ouchy we're doing good!  I've not had to get up and out to do the school runs, the down side has been I've been quite isolated.  We are an insular little family, not needing or really wanting to find others but I do miss the social interaction that basic things like the grocery shopping and toddlers group provide. 

 I don't think the kiddos have noticed a huge difference as I have made a real effort to ensure that they are doing bits and bobs till RV comes home and they go out the front to play.