Good evening all as they used to say in Dixon of Dock Green (showing my age now).
Today was an odd, bitty day, but good.
Washing done before Callum got up again though, so he had to wait a bit before he had his shower (water pressure in the house means that if there is any water running downstairs, you'll get a cold shower).
A nice cuppa and a chat; like the morning chats, then off into the kitchen to weigh out all the ingredients for the Xmas pud. Had kept and froze ends of gluten free bread, so used those up to make the breadcrumbs and as I'm also vegetarian, we used melted butter instead of the suet. Lovely easy recipe as you just weigh it all out and chuck it all in a big pan. Once all in and stirred we take the obligatory turn to stir and make a wish before setting aside to mature overnight. During the day any other family members get to take their turn of a stir and a wish, so when big sis, Terri, turned up that was her cue for her turn.
A quick tidy up of the kitchen with Callum helping by bringing through any washing up, tidying away the ingredients, bringing through the recycling bags from outside and putting anything in that was necessary and helping to put away. Then into the living room for him to play on Roblox and attempt to finish off the game he's designed which he was having a slight problem with as he wanted to tilt the end of the bridge. Whilst he did that I watched Elementary (USA drama based on Sherlock Holmes). Callum watched along as well and we ended up having a discussion on the great fictional detective.
Big Sis arrived and soon after they both went off to make cupcakes. I could have a nice lazy afternoon on the sofa.
To be honest not much else happened today, but it was nice to have him downstairs with us communicating during conversations and having a chat about Christmas. Have found some books his friend likes in the Book People leaflet and he's going on a scouting mission tomorrow night at his house to check he hasn't already got them. Fingers crossed he hasn't as it's a good set for a good price.
Tonight he's still playing on Roblox and chatting to one of his friends.
All in all, it has been a quiet, social, family led day and it's been lovely.
Cya
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
A LITTLE BETTER
Good morning my lovelies and apologises for not posting yesterday.
What kind of day was it? Well, better than the one before.
For starters Callum was up a bit earlier than the day before and no nose bleed, but still a lot of hrumphing. Our normal, well usual now, morning chat with a cuppa then ensued and we discussed boring things like whether or not he had enough clothes that fit, what cooking we would be doing tomorrow and what he would like to do lesson wise for the rest of the week. We decided that after trampolining today we would go through his wardrobe, make a list of what he needs and get rid of anything that doesn't fit anymore. Then check out the ingredients so we can make Xmas pudding tomorrow (well today now).
He toddled off and got dressed, brought down his rubbish, washed and cleaned teeth, got bottles of water ready for lesson and dug out the library books that need to go back. On the subject of books; we had another lengthy discussion on TV and laptop versus reading at night. I don't mind him watching TV or playing on the laptop when he goes upstairs, but I don't want him doing it until midnight which is how he seems to be at the moment. It means he isn't reading anything and he's late getting up in the morning, not that I expect him up early. We have had this conversation a lot recently and I've said that I'd like him to watch TV until about 10-10.30 and then read for a hour. He can record progs should he wish to watch them and watch them in the early evening after dinner. So what did he do last night? Well he went up at 9pm as usual, but didn't take the laptop. I went up at 10pm and there he was watching telly AND reading. Not quite what I had planned and I did argue the point and I will continue to argue the point until he gets the idea. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
That afternoon we went off to trampolining. Lots of practice on position of arms, etc to make the moves look more professional. Then on to somersaults. Kim, the coach, decided to use the belt and pulley today so that Callum could get much more of an idea of how it felt to come out of the turn. He's somersaulting fine, just not landing them and that has to do with when he needs comes out of the tuck and using the belt and pulley Kim is more control of the move and should be able to help him out. I wasn't sure how Callum would feel about being strapped into a belt and then attached to ropes but actually dealt with it ok apart from the one time when he hadn't given himself enough push and ended up suspended upside down in the tuck position. I was going to publish a video, but I can't upload the vid from my phone for some unknown to me reason. I uploaded via an email, but I can't open the file. Have checked instruction booklet and online answers but to no avail. If he does it again next lesson I'll make sure I take my camera with me as I can work that, haha.
After tramp, it was subway and a bit of shopping before returning home to sort wardrobe and wait for dad to come home. Then off to cinema to see Skyfall. Callum's first Bond movie at the cinema. He loves Bond, but so far it's only ever been on TV or DVD, so today was big screen time. He loved it!! We got there early which meant we were first in the cinema, so we could get sorted and comfy. Callum had remembered to take DS with him, so he played on that whilst waiting for the film to start. He likes getting there early, but doesn't like waiting, so the DS is a perfect solution. A supersize combi of salted popcorn, drink and a chocolate bar saw us through the movie before heading home still in time for dad to get to bed on time. Disadvantage of getting up early is an early bedtime, but means I get the evening to myself to watch what I want.
I think overall Callum had a good day today. Tomorrow (today) big sis will be visiting and we'll be making Xmas pud and she'll be making cupcakes which I'm sure Callum will help her with. As to anything else, we'll have to see what time he gets up and how he feels. Got loads we could be getting on with. ;-)
Anyway, cya and hope that the today/tomorrows aren't too confusing.
What kind of day was it? Well, better than the one before.
For starters Callum was up a bit earlier than the day before and no nose bleed, but still a lot of hrumphing. Our normal, well usual now, morning chat with a cuppa then ensued and we discussed boring things like whether or not he had enough clothes that fit, what cooking we would be doing tomorrow and what he would like to do lesson wise for the rest of the week. We decided that after trampolining today we would go through his wardrobe, make a list of what he needs and get rid of anything that doesn't fit anymore. Then check out the ingredients so we can make Xmas pudding tomorrow (well today now).
He toddled off and got dressed, brought down his rubbish, washed and cleaned teeth, got bottles of water ready for lesson and dug out the library books that need to go back. On the subject of books; we had another lengthy discussion on TV and laptop versus reading at night. I don't mind him watching TV or playing on the laptop when he goes upstairs, but I don't want him doing it until midnight which is how he seems to be at the moment. It means he isn't reading anything and he's late getting up in the morning, not that I expect him up early. We have had this conversation a lot recently and I've said that I'd like him to watch TV until about 10-10.30 and then read for a hour. He can record progs should he wish to watch them and watch them in the early evening after dinner. So what did he do last night? Well he went up at 9pm as usual, but didn't take the laptop. I went up at 10pm and there he was watching telly AND reading. Not quite what I had planned and I did argue the point and I will continue to argue the point until he gets the idea. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
That afternoon we went off to trampolining. Lots of practice on position of arms, etc to make the moves look more professional. Then on to somersaults. Kim, the coach, decided to use the belt and pulley today so that Callum could get much more of an idea of how it felt to come out of the turn. He's somersaulting fine, just not landing them and that has to do with when he needs comes out of the tuck and using the belt and pulley Kim is more control of the move and should be able to help him out. I wasn't sure how Callum would feel about being strapped into a belt and then attached to ropes but actually dealt with it ok apart from the one time when he hadn't given himself enough push and ended up suspended upside down in the tuck position. I was going to publish a video, but I can't upload the vid from my phone for some unknown to me reason. I uploaded via an email, but I can't open the file. Have checked instruction booklet and online answers but to no avail. If he does it again next lesson I'll make sure I take my camera with me as I can work that, haha.
After tramp, it was subway and a bit of shopping before returning home to sort wardrobe and wait for dad to come home. Then off to cinema to see Skyfall. Callum's first Bond movie at the cinema. He loves Bond, but so far it's only ever been on TV or DVD, so today was big screen time. He loved it!! We got there early which meant we were first in the cinema, so we could get sorted and comfy. Callum had remembered to take DS with him, so he played on that whilst waiting for the film to start. He likes getting there early, but doesn't like waiting, so the DS is a perfect solution. A supersize combi of salted popcorn, drink and a chocolate bar saw us through the movie before heading home still in time for dad to get to bed on time. Disadvantage of getting up early is an early bedtime, but means I get the evening to myself to watch what I want.
I think overall Callum had a good day today. Tomorrow (today) big sis will be visiting and we'll be making Xmas pud and she'll be making cupcakes which I'm sure Callum will help her with. As to anything else, we'll have to see what time he gets up and how he feels. Got loads we could be getting on with. ;-)
Anyway, cya and hope that the today/tomorrows aren't too confusing.
Monday, 12 November 2012
NOT A GOOD START
Okay, where do we start? I suppose at the beginning.
I got up, cleaned the house, washing on, washed up, sorted out craft corner (mine), had two cuppas and then......yes, he surfaced! :-) About 10am! Very floppy flouncy with a bit of hurmph thrown in.
Got a cuppa for himself and went back upstairs to the room of doom.
Checked in a few mins later to discover he had a NOSE BLEED!! He's had a few of those recently. He isn't worried about them which is good and I'm assuming it's a hormonal thing and they aren't daily or even weekly, but they are there. Needless to say this gave him an excuse to chill out for a bit longer.
Then a shower.
Then at approximately 11am he took a look at the new programming lesson on codeacademy. He got stuck after about 10mins. Not sure if he really didn't understand it; whether because the site wouldn't actually let him log in properly (sorted now) or whether he just wasn't in the mood. Anyway, once we got the login sorted, he announced he couldn't be bothered as he was tired!!!!
So, Richard Hammonds Miracles of Nature was watched instead which he was far more interested in and thoroughly enjoyed.
Then a quick kitchen visit to watch and help me make a vegetable quiche before, guess what, yep, disappearing into the room of doom again.
Must admit over the weekend he has managed to clear some of the floor. I may actually be able to hoover in there before the week is out. Woo hoo.
Cya
I got up, cleaned the house, washing on, washed up, sorted out craft corner (mine), had two cuppas and then......yes, he surfaced! :-) About 10am! Very floppy flouncy with a bit of hurmph thrown in.
Got a cuppa for himself and went back upstairs to the room of doom.
Checked in a few mins later to discover he had a NOSE BLEED!! He's had a few of those recently. He isn't worried about them which is good and I'm assuming it's a hormonal thing and they aren't daily or even weekly, but they are there. Needless to say this gave him an excuse to chill out for a bit longer.
Then a shower.
Then at approximately 11am he took a look at the new programming lesson on codeacademy. He got stuck after about 10mins. Not sure if he really didn't understand it; whether because the site wouldn't actually let him log in properly (sorted now) or whether he just wasn't in the mood. Anyway, once we got the login sorted, he announced he couldn't be bothered as he was tired!!!!
So, Richard Hammonds Miracles of Nature was watched instead which he was far more interested in and thoroughly enjoyed.
Then a quick kitchen visit to watch and help me make a vegetable quiche before, guess what, yep, disappearing into the room of doom again.
Must admit over the weekend he has managed to clear some of the floor. I may actually be able to hoover in there before the week is out. Woo hoo.
Cya
Thursday, 8 November 2012
BOUNCING THURSDAY
Evening all, how are you lovely people today.
Said we'd be back to normal and we are. We'll writing this is, but normal service re education isn't. It's November, it's dark and it's hibernation time! AND we have Christmas to think about.
So today started....late!!! Callum not up until 10.30am, must admit I wasn't much better at 9.30am. I had loads of paperwork to sort out so Callum went on the Wii and then we did some research into XBox Offers as that's what he wants for Christmas.
This afternoon was trampolining! Group class today. Back drop to full twist today! First time ever done and it was looking good. Had some good news too as the wonderful James is coming back to teach the class. Callum loves James and has missed him, so he'll now have two coaches that he really likes and both understand him well.
Afterwards Carol and Lauren came back for a quick cuppa and a piece of cake and a play on Roblox together.
Us big girls got far too involved with our chat and I forgot I had osteo and Carol was going to be late for her appointment too. Whoops, but never mind. My Osteo was very cool about it and hopefully the same happened with Carol.
So that was it for today. He's now sitting with me in the dining room on the laptop and making whooshy noises, so I'm assuming it's a war game.
Tomorrow is ice skating and next week we start Xmas prepping.
Cya
Said we'd be back to normal and we are. We'll writing this is, but normal service re education isn't. It's November, it's dark and it's hibernation time! AND we have Christmas to think about.
So today started....late!!! Callum not up until 10.30am, must admit I wasn't much better at 9.30am. I had loads of paperwork to sort out so Callum went on the Wii and then we did some research into XBox Offers as that's what he wants for Christmas.
This afternoon was trampolining! Group class today. Back drop to full twist today! First time ever done and it was looking good. Had some good news too as the wonderful James is coming back to teach the class. Callum loves James and has missed him, so he'll now have two coaches that he really likes and both understand him well.
Afterwards Carol and Lauren came back for a quick cuppa and a piece of cake and a play on Roblox together.
Us big girls got far too involved with our chat and I forgot I had osteo and Carol was going to be late for her appointment too. Whoops, but never mind. My Osteo was very cool about it and hopefully the same happened with Carol.
So that was it for today. He's now sitting with me in the dining room on the laptop and making whooshy noises, so I'm assuming it's a war game.
Tomorrow is ice skating and next week we start Xmas prepping.
Cya
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
IT'S HALLOWEEN'S FAULT - HONEST
Oh my word, I know we've been a bit busy, but how long?
What can I say? Well there is only one thing I can say...HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEN!
Yep, Halloween has just been, taken over our house and disappeared in a flurry of red fabric, skeleton scene setters and cake and biscuits.
Halloween is the one festival that we celebrate big time in our house. I do tend to go slightly over the top and I have enough decorations to open a small shop. Every year I say I won't buy anymore and every year I do. We now have 6 boxes of Halloween decs and miscellania compared with only 2 boxes of Christmas. Not that we don't love Christmas too, but Halloween is where we go over the top and indulge in spooky silliness.
Even though Callum hates change and isn't overly keen on parties, he's grown up in a house where Halloween has always featured big. His sister is 11 years older than him and I've been doing parties for her since she was about 6, so they have always been part of his life. He actually really enjoys them and over recent years has been having quite a bit of input as to decoration ideas, helping with the baking and sorting out the games.
We try to have a themed party, sometimes it's very loosely themed and other times it's a bit more specific. Last year was a MacBeth theme, so we did try and follow the story as closely as we could. This year was Zombies and the Land of the Dead. We started the party by 'dying' eating 'poisoned' grapes in a musical statues type game, then passed our coffin and paid the ferryman his dues to get to the land of the dead.
Next they had to find their skeletons and search for their organs in pots of goo.
Then a couple of games just for fun as they were now fully fledged zombies; passing the eyeball balloon and, of course, bobbing for apples.
The later has become a firm favourite and all the kids are getting really competitive. There is a special competition between Callum and his sister. She only just beat him this year. It's getting close!
And did we eat? Of course we did.
So that was Halloween. Since then we've been deconstucting 'the lab' and 'the land of the dead'; sorting out the dining room back to a usable classroom; going to a local firework display and.... being ill. Yep, both have been a bit rough since Sunday 4th November. Just colds, so just snotty and sleepy and snuggly. So not really much done at all on school front. However, Callum did design his Xmas card that we are going to have made up into proper cards through a local home ed group and we made apple and cinnamon cake and banana bread today. So not a complete loss, haha.
Anyway, cya. Hopefully normal service will now resume.
What can I say? Well there is only one thing I can say...HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEN!
Yep, Halloween has just been, taken over our house and disappeared in a flurry of red fabric, skeleton scene setters and cake and biscuits.
Halloween is the one festival that we celebrate big time in our house. I do tend to go slightly over the top and I have enough decorations to open a small shop. Every year I say I won't buy anymore and every year I do. We now have 6 boxes of Halloween decs and miscellania compared with only 2 boxes of Christmas. Not that we don't love Christmas too, but Halloween is where we go over the top and indulge in spooky silliness.
Even though Callum hates change and isn't overly keen on parties, he's grown up in a house where Halloween has always featured big. His sister is 11 years older than him and I've been doing parties for her since she was about 6, so they have always been part of his life. He actually really enjoys them and over recent years has been having quite a bit of input as to decoration ideas, helping with the baking and sorting out the games.
We try to have a themed party, sometimes it's very loosely themed and other times it's a bit more specific. Last year was a MacBeth theme, so we did try and follow the story as closely as we could. This year was Zombies and the Land of the Dead. We started the party by 'dying' eating 'poisoned' grapes in a musical statues type game, then passed our coffin and paid the ferryman his dues to get to the land of the dead.
 |
The Ferryman |
 |
Paying the Ferryman with chocolate eyeballs and coins |
 |
Goo of wallpaper paste and food colouring and 'organs' courtesy of Wilkinsons |
Then a couple of games just for fun as they were now fully fledged zombies; passing the eyeball balloon and, of course, bobbing for apples.
The later has become a firm favourite and all the kids are getting really competitive. There is a special competition between Callum and his sister. She only just beat him this year. It's getting close!
 |
Callum 'bobbing' |
 |
The eyeball balloon pass |
And did we eat? Of course we did.
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'Eyeball' biscuits |
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Cheese 'snails' |
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Coconut 'mice' |
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Shortbread 'fingers' |
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'Mummy' buffet |
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Unveiling the 'mummy' |
Anyway, cya. Hopefully normal service will now resume.
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Fireworks at The Great Lines |
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