Blacksmiths, armour and snow!
I'm not going to apologise for only posting twice a week - I think I should resign myself to the fact that real life gets in the way of doing stuff like this, and feel pleased that I manage to remember to update my blog more than once a fortnight.
Monday was quiet, Tuesday we went swimming as it was DH's day off. All three little'uns were delighted to have Daddy to themselves for a whole day and we had a very peaceful, productive and enjoyable day. I was even talked into taking the small ones for a 'treat' ie, happy meal land. Eurgh... I know now why I normally avoid the golden arches at all costs. Sure, they enjoyed what they ate, but then we had to cope with two loopy kids and a very grouchy baby for the rest of the day. I felt bloated and out of sorts too - and I'd had one of their so-called healthy chicken wrap thingies. DH, of course, demolished mandatory Big Mac, fries, chicken wrap, large soft drink and half of T's burger, then decided he wanted something sweet and bought a donut and a McFlurry! He must have a digestive tract made of cast iron. :)
Wednesday was 'day-out-day'. We went to Leeds Royal Armouries with Grant, G and B. G is D's age and B is F's age, and poor ol' T is in the middle... no, I can't keep them separate, and mix up the names constantly, so I don't expect you to keep track of 5 kids, either.
The Royal Armouries is such a fabulous place - I think we'll be going back there. We only managed to do two floors. But the girls loved it - we saw two different presentations. One was a two-handed broadsword demonstration, and the other was a girl dressed as Joan of Arc, complete with full armour, chain mail skirt, sword and helmet. When asked, she said the armour weighed four or five stone and took her over half an hour to get into. The three older girls (D, T and G) sat there entranced whilst the woman in the armour recited Joan's last impassioned speech, and then told them the rest of the story. G leaned over D and asked "is this really real?" in the best stage whisper I've ever heard. I think half the museum heard her. :)
Today we did some housework, D did a little writing but got rapidly bored of that. We were supposed to be going to an art morning at a place called the Point in Doncaster, but we were very out of sync and didn't manage it. Instead, we had an early lunch and went to visit a blacksmith friend, who happened to be working on some chain mail! The girls were fascinated by the way a big bucket of c-shaped bits ended up as a swathe of metal fabric. We'll be going back once he's got his forge up and running - we happened to visit in the middle of a remodel.
This afternoon, we went to visit Jax. Apparently Big had really taken to D at their last meeting and was dying to see her again. So we headed out down the M1 about 1-ish through heinous weather. Small and F were alternately companionable and argumentative, and F threw a couple of fabulous tantrums that I've never seen the like of before. I didn't know whether to be amused or irritated. Turns out she was both tired and hungry - silly mommy forgot about the early lunch and she'd only had about 25 minutes snooze in the car. D and Big did paper poppies and played up in Big's room for a while, whilst Jax and I went through some of this stupid paperwork the LEA has sent me. I'm a bit shy and retiring in some senses, and it was nice to have someone tell me how it was perfectly alright to tell the LEA where to, that is, what to go and do. :)
After devouring half a loaf's worth of toast and marmite like a plague of locusts, we headed home in the dark, through torrential sleet and a howling gale. Once home, it was dinner, bath and bed, and by the time I'd come back downstairs, the snow was starting to settle. In November!!! I'm such a big kid, I was wondering if I should get the sled out of the garage.
Monday was quiet, Tuesday we went swimming as it was DH's day off. All three little'uns were delighted to have Daddy to themselves for a whole day and we had a very peaceful, productive and enjoyable day. I was even talked into taking the small ones for a 'treat' ie, happy meal land. Eurgh... I know now why I normally avoid the golden arches at all costs. Sure, they enjoyed what they ate, but then we had to cope with two loopy kids and a very grouchy baby for the rest of the day. I felt bloated and out of sorts too - and I'd had one of their so-called healthy chicken wrap thingies. DH, of course, demolished mandatory Big Mac, fries, chicken wrap, large soft drink and half of T's burger, then decided he wanted something sweet and bought a donut and a McFlurry! He must have a digestive tract made of cast iron. :)
Wednesday was 'day-out-day'. We went to Leeds Royal Armouries with Grant, G and B. G is D's age and B is F's age, and poor ol' T is in the middle... no, I can't keep them separate, and mix up the names constantly, so I don't expect you to keep track of 5 kids, either.
The Royal Armouries is such a fabulous place - I think we'll be going back there. We only managed to do two floors. But the girls loved it - we saw two different presentations. One was a two-handed broadsword demonstration, and the other was a girl dressed as Joan of Arc, complete with full armour, chain mail skirt, sword and helmet. When asked, she said the armour weighed four or five stone and took her over half an hour to get into. The three older girls (D, T and G) sat there entranced whilst the woman in the armour recited Joan's last impassioned speech, and then told them the rest of the story. G leaned over D and asked "is this really real?" in the best stage whisper I've ever heard. I think half the museum heard her. :)
Today we did some housework, D did a little writing but got rapidly bored of that. We were supposed to be going to an art morning at a place called the Point in Doncaster, but we were very out of sync and didn't manage it. Instead, we had an early lunch and went to visit a blacksmith friend, who happened to be working on some chain mail! The girls were fascinated by the way a big bucket of c-shaped bits ended up as a swathe of metal fabric. We'll be going back once he's got his forge up and running - we happened to visit in the middle of a remodel.
This afternoon, we went to visit Jax. Apparently Big had really taken to D at their last meeting and was dying to see her again. So we headed out down the M1 about 1-ish through heinous weather. Small and F were alternately companionable and argumentative, and F threw a couple of fabulous tantrums that I've never seen the like of before. I didn't know whether to be amused or irritated. Turns out she was both tired and hungry - silly mommy forgot about the early lunch and she'd only had about 25 minutes snooze in the car. D and Big did paper poppies and played up in Big's room for a while, whilst Jax and I went through some of this stupid paperwork the LEA has sent me. I'm a bit shy and retiring in some senses, and it was nice to have someone tell me how it was perfectly alright to tell the LEA where to, that is, what to go and do. :)
After devouring half a loaf's worth of toast and marmite like a plague of locusts, we headed home in the dark, through torrential sleet and a howling gale. Once home, it was dinner, bath and bed, and by the time I'd come back downstairs, the snow was starting to settle. In November!!! I'm such a big kid, I was wondering if I should get the sled out of the garage.
posted by Kris | 6:51 am
2 Comments:
ooh, forgot to say we'd love to tag along to see your blacksmith if at all possible...
Sounds great, Kris! Definitely don't feel you have to blog any more often than you do, but nice to hear an update. Have you decided what to do with all the LEA stuff?
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