Wintery Precious Moments (February: Week One)

This week has once again been smattered with illness.  Sigh.  But we are on the case!  We are saying no to germs and yes to more vegetables, more fruit, more rest, and less screens…..and, yes, less work and less pressure!  So there.

Okay, rant over.  We are all growing very tired of one or other of us not being well though, and something needs to change.  I absolutely, one hundred percent, refuse to get the February bloooos this year.  They are having no part in my life.  Again….so there!

So what have we been up to this week?   The week began with family games night.  Oh. My. Goodness.  These are a revelation!  We have so much fun!  Lillie organised it this time and we played Pictionary (a game which I had mentioned on my blog and that my gorgeous friend Vicki bought for us!).  It was such a hit – thank you so much Vicki!!

I’m thinking not many of us possess artistic talent:

Oh my, it was so funny…

And the little ones were so good at it!

And school-wise?  Thomas has finished another unit in maths, taken a past paper in maths, English and Biology, and spent a day learning engineering at college.  Lillie has handed in two units to be assessed for her photography, one of which I posted about at the beginning of the week:

She has almost finished her twelve lesson in Art and Design.  Charlotte has revised for and taken a past paper in Law.  She has almost completely finished her next Latin lesson and will hopefully send it off today for marking.  And we are in discussions over whether she start another GSCE in Classical Civilisation or concentrate on getting her book on Human Trafficking published.  Decisions, decisions 🙂

The little ones have been learning all about writing friendly letters and have had a ball with our follow on activities, which I will be sharing about next week:

They have been learning about Place Value in maths, although I think that will trickle into next week as well.  Venus is our planet of the moment and they have been doing all the book work related to that.  We have been reading a great read aloud for our Egyptian studies, which I shall share once we’ve finished.  A(9) has taken the initiative to do some science on her own and managed to make an eye ball and a heart without any help at all:

We are (still) trying to get the shed at the bottom of the garden insulated so the teens can spend more time down there with their friends.  The little ones have now completely emptied the Little House in order to make room for Ab’s Labs.  I think Gary will try to insulate that as well so A(9) can use it in the winter as well.  The two little ones have spent hours upon hours out there, planting up a garden and generally having lots and lots of fun.

The moon was huge on Wednesday night and both Thomas and I tried to get some lovely shots of it:

Thomas hasn’t been feeling himself lately and in particular hasn’t been sleeping well.  A fact that Granny next door blames on the moon!

Mid week the children had auditions for the latest production of Manna.  Both older girls were chuffed by the parts they were given, but little A didn’t get a part at all and was distraught.  I was so thankful that Jaime, one of the founders of Manna, had sent her a lovely personal email saying for her not to be despondent.  It meant such a lot to A, and she is not so disappointed now.

They have all been trying to master the ‘Moving Dance’, which is hilarious when you have a daughter who is as bad at dance as Charlotte is.  However, whatever she lacks in dance technique she more than makes up for in enthusiasm!

I’m not sure why these are so out of focus but they make me smile, so I had to include them 🙂

That’s all for me.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with all the people you love x