Precious Moments Over the Past Few Weeks

We’ve all been beavering away for the past few weeks, the older ones on their IGCSEs and the younger ones on their Life of Fred Maths, Astronomy and Ancient Egypt.  Everyone is involved in the up and coming production of Raggedy Doll at our local theatre, whether it be in sound and lighting (Gary and Thomas), narrator (Lillie), actors (Charlotte and A(9), or dancers (B6).  And me?  Well, apart from doing a bit of teaching, I shall be happily ensconced in playing my part….as a member of the audience with my lovely mum!  Sooooo, there has been lots of practising of lines and ermmm, dancing (if that’s what you can call it!)

Gary is particularly good at it:

The little ones are great and remember all the steps, although not always in the right order at the right time:

Charlotte is particularly funny due to her excessive enthusiasm, which who knows where she gets that from (Gary….):

And then there’s me.  It doesn’t matter how many times I do the dance, I have never, not once, done it correctly the whole way through.  I kind of hope my enthusiasm makes up for my lack of skill….or memory.  And don’t even try to make me sing at the same time as dancing.  That is waaaay too much multi-tasking for my liking capability:

Oh dear.  We’re nothing if not willing….

The girls had their fifteenth birthday party (15!!?  Where does time go?!).  Nik and her gorgeous family came round to do our yearly autumnal party.  We do the same thing every year….pressies, baked potatoes and toppings, apple dunking, singing, doughnut on a string eating competition, a walk in the woods and sparklers out the front:

Here, everyone is listening to a song Lillie and Annie (Thomas’ girlfriend) wrote for Charlotte as a birthday present:

Me and my bestie….

This is what life is all about…spending time with those people who mean everything to you <3

Speaking of which, we spent the Sunday after at a bonfire party celebrating Thomas’ close friend’s 17th birthday party:

Bonfire, fireworks, burgers in a bun, roasted marshmallows and hide and seek in the tall grasses of a very dark field.  So much fun 🙂

Just a few more photos to go, taken when I have remembered of life over the last few weeks.  Then I will have caught up:

Lillie is holding a stall selling her home-made crochet Raggedy Doll hair bands.  She still has lots to make and beavers away every moment she has:

Lillie has also been getting her teeth stuck into her photography.  She hopes to combine her photography and jewellery making in the future:

She often uses her sisters as models and is learning patience as she gently tries to get them to do as she wants (!)

She has produced some lovely images, this one being my favourite:

Thomas is busy right now with his engineering qualification, his maths and biology IGCSE, and trying his absolute best with his English Language.  The best news though has to be that of his interview with the college of his dreams to study Music Technology.  His interview is next month, and he has to produce three pieces of work for them to listen to (recordings he has made himself).  We are all very excited about this next chapter of his life.

Charlotte has been doing really well with her studies.  She will be taking an English Literature IGCSE in January, which I don’t think she will find quite as easy as her English Language but is nevertheless hoping to do well.  She has been accepted by a college to begin her English Language and Literature A Level next September (a year early), which she is so excited about!  She continues with her Law, which she LOVES (although has to work very, very hard at – definitely does not come as easily as the more language based courses).  She would like to continue this to A Level if she does well at her exam in the summer.  Charlotte is still enjoying Latin, and does very well with assignments.  She finds aspects of it hard to retain though, and has decided, to give her the best shot of doing well, she will take the exam in 2019 rather than next summer.  Maths is happening.  She hates it.  But it’s happening.  Let’s leave it at that 🙂

In her spare time, Charlotte still writes a blog, writes many poems, spoken words and raps, mostly about Human Trafficking, her passion.  I think she envisions some sort of future working to prevent this atrocity.  She finished her second novel about the same subject, and after she has taken her English Lit exam in January, will be using that hour each day to learn about self-publishing and hopefully self-publish them both by next summer with some of the proceeds going straight to a Human Trafficking Charity.  She is thinking about the possibility of photo-journalism as a career, and may take the same photography course her sister is on (A level equivalent in photography).  She is in a good place at the moment, which is very lovely for her parents 😉  Long may it last!

Lillie has been continuing with her IGCSE equivalent in Art and Design.  She has received 100% for all but two of her assignments (95%) and is working hard to maintain this level of quality.  She is currently on lesson 11 of 17 before she will branch out and complete her final project on the theme of Twins.  Her A Level equivalent in Photography is going much better now.  It has taken a LOT of energy, effort and time to understand what the course is asking for.  As a level three qualification much more is expected from her in photography when compared to her art and design, which is level two.  She is now averaging between 80-100% in her assignments – a vast improvement on the 65% she received for her first one.  She really, really enjoys taking photos and is slowly learning all about photo editing in Adobe Photoshop.  Lillie is also doing a second level 3 course in Jewellery Making and continues to work on her Maths IGCSE.

The little ones are a joy and a lot of their work will be posted after Christmas (when things calm down a bit).

Well, that’s it!  All up to date, at long last.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!