#100happydays week 2

Another lovely week of happy photos to share, I am really enjoying this challenge.

First up day 9 was a lovely, muddy day in the park with Big Kids Go Wild. It made me so happy to see Squashy relaxing and enjoying spending time with others kids

Day 10 was food again! My favourite-cheese and potato pie. No need to say anymore 😃

Day 11, we spent a happy morning cooking at KFC, and Squashy wanted to make more at home so he did us all yummy flatbread to go with our dinner

Day 12, Momo met pooh bear at a party and said he wanted to cuddle him forever

Day 13 was a bit of a sneaky Mama one! I had a yummy chai latte and giant chocolate teacake while Momo was in a soft play party. He loves cinnamon so it was a rare treat not to have to share!

Day 14, Squashy woke up in a BAAAD mood,and was so cranky, so it was nice when in the afternoon he wanted to draw with me. We had a go at zen-doodling and each came up with something pretty! 

Day 15 was a busy day. We did another cooking session at KFC in the morning and then spent the afternoon at the bmx track. They offer free home ed sessions on the track if we get involved with some track improvements and maintainance, so we helped lay some bricks for a new track for the little ones', it will be great to see it finished and the boys had great fun.

This was a really special day for me as I felt Squashy has made huge progress. He seems so much more happy lately, relaxed and wants to join in with stuff. He spontaneously hugged me in public today, I honestly could have cried. If I'd had a photo that would have been it for today. 💗

Day 16, Wednesday we spent some time at the KFC allotment and helped them harvest their potatoes and made friends with a millipede. Do you know the difference between a centipede and a milipede?  We didn't! Apparently a milliepede is a vegetarian but a centipede isn't and would eat a millipede!

Weekend fun

We had a busy weekend, hubby had something on all day Saturday and Bigman was also out for a friends' birthday at laser quest and Pizza Hut. We had two birthday parties for friends of Momo. One was at a bonkers soft play which was SO busy it wasn't very enjoyable for me but Momo had a great time and met pooh bear 

Squashy definitely wouldn't have liked the noise and crowd there at all so I was glad I took the time to drop him at Nanny & Grandad Bubbles' first. He gets pretty distressed in places with a lot of noise, which is a shame as he enjoys soft play. But all those people make him anxious and he ends up getting upset. Even with ear defenders and his book.

I crocheted a pair of mittens for the birthday boy, who is completely Thomas the Tank mad

I had to bribe Momo to take them off! So now I have a pair for him added to my to-do list!

The other party was at the local leisure centre, more soft play and a huge bouncy castle but was much nicer because it was less busy and they have a Costa's attached ;) 

Momo had great fun letting off some steam. This photo pretty much sums up his time there- he was a blur haha!

I got a very cute new pendant as a belated Christmas pressie in the January sale, I wore it with a matching dress this weekend

Feeling foxy! Hubby calls me 'Fox' so it seems fitting :)

I must also mention Momo's new boots here. He LOVES them! He looks super cute in them, even in his pjs ;)

I think the busy weekend took its toll on Squashy and he woke up in a foul mood on Monday. Thankfully we didn't have any big plans so I was able to let him just chill and bring himself out of it. With an hour stuck in his book, snuggled up to his puss Nemo, he was happy by the afternoon

We then spent some time 'zen-doodling' I read that it can be a good stress relief and help anxiety so I thought we could give it a go. Squahsy seems to be more likely to have a go at something new if I'm doing it, then he comes and watches and eventually wants to have a go. So that's how I try and work things that I think he'd like but is a bit resistant to try. We both enjoyed it and this was the result 

The weekends always go too fast!

Squelch Squerch!

We had a lovely day out yesterday enjoying a but of sunshine with 'Big kids Go wild' one of the Home ed groups we go to. 

It's aimed at over 8's but siblings are welcome and I think Momo enjoys it more than Squashy! 

Yesterday we met at Leasowes Park in Halesowen and set off for some rambling. 

It was SO muddy, I had left my Wellies in hubby's car so had to dig my old ones out of the cupboard, with holes in! 

Momo was in the stream straight away, splashing about, getting wet and mucky, nothing phases him! 

Squahsy seemed to struggle with his aniexty again a bit, especially at the beginning. I'm not sure why, we were meeting friends he has seen and got on with a fair bit, but there were also a couple of new (to us) families which may not have helped. And he was without his old faithful comfort-his crocs. He wears them every single day, even in snow! When he was at school he would wear school shoes but immediately back to crocs once home. He has been the same for the last few years! So perhaps being in unfamiliar, not-so-comfy Wellies didn't help. But it didn't stop him getting stuck in. He seemed happier once we got into the streams rather than the muddy woods.

Once he was chatting with a few of his buddies he seemed to be ok, he always feels sick when he's anxious so we keep a tin of mints handy as he finds they help, but the nausea wore off thankfully. 

We have been there a few times now but I didn't realise how big the park is. We'd have been completely lost on our own! But it is really lovely, so many cute little steams, waterfalls, and lots of logs and trees for climbing. I don't know a lot about plants and trees, but I could resist taking a picture of this pretty one

We stopped off for a little hot choclate break, we had to share it around as there were a lot of chilly wet children! 

Then once refuelled we were off again, more mud, splashing and puddle jumping 

It was a lovely afternoon, not as cold as I'd expected, messier than I guessed and ended up with Squashy happier than he been in other peoples company in a while. I love to see him interacting and playing with other kids, he spends so much time reading or playing Minecraft on his own, which is fine, but it does really make me smile to see him larking about being a kid. 

One of the greatest things I'm discovering about home ed is how all the different age groups mingle and play so well. Squahsy was the oldest yesterday and there were all range of ages right down to around 2, and they all got on great. Even with other adults too. That's lovely to see and not something that would be encouraged in school. 

It's deffinately been a day I feel really positive and confident that home ed was the right decision for us. 

And it meant the boys were extra tired so I managed an hours peace with cake and crochet after their bedtime ;)

#crochetmoodblanket2014

I started a 'little' project on Jan 1st. I came across it on IG and the basis of it is to crochet (or knit) a square a day or week, with the colour chosen according to your mood. Then by the end of 2014 you will have a lovely big blanket to keep as a memory of the year. As well as IG There is a Facebook page here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/193208130881340?ref=m_notif&notif_t=group_comment_reply&__user=858195491

I chose to do a square a day, ambitious maybe, but I chose just a basic granny square in a single colour. And rather than having a chart according to my mood I just pick a colour either that I like, or that relates to something we did that day. 

This was the end of week one and Momo said he can't wait for it to be big enough to cover his toes!

So we are up to day 16 and not only am I keeping up, I got ahead of myself by 9 squares! 

And as if that wasn't enough, because I was struggling to hold back and it do 1 a day, I started a second blanket!!! I also doing a basic granny hexagon in the 7 rainbow colours.  Then I got so carried away with that one that I  up to 35 hexi's now haha! 

Going on past experience though, I often lose my mojo so I'm sure I will still fall behind at some point. 

Each one only takes about ten minutes so I can fit one in with my morning cuppa most days and another once the boys are in bed. 

I hope I can stick with it, I'm really enjoying it so far and it seems to be helping keep my hooky-habit going strong! I will update on here each week to keep track of them both.

#100happydays Week 1

I saw this on IG and decided to take part. I take lots of photos anyway and it's nice to have even more reason to seek out the happy everyday. I won't post them here everyday but maybe a weekly post of them all will be nice to look back on. I have done 8 days so far so I will do a quick catch up :)

Day 1 was Mr Benn and showing the boys what I used to watch as a child. My mom got me the DVD for Xmas! I had great fun reminiscing and the boys enjoyed something different. 

Day 2 my favourite homemade soup, chunky minestrone. It's a recipe from repeat crafter me that I jigged a bit. I had friends over for lunch so the kids got to play and we ate soup and fresh crusty bread.

Day 3 the boys got a Minecraft paper craft set for Christmas from a friend and they had great fun all day building it and then playing. They have been played with every day since too! 

Day 4, I bought some mangos a few days ago that weren't ripe. These are Momo's favourite food and every day he has gone mad for them but they weren't ready until today. He was SOHAPPY! 

Day 5: I was lucky enough to get me a brand spanking shiny new blue iPhone today! Very happy :)

Day 6: my very pretty new table cloth, it makes me smile Everytime I walk past.

Day 7: yesterday was my good friend Susie's birthday so we baked her a cake. I left Momo to decorate it while I washed up and this was what he did! I was very impressed and 'Sooz' loved it too :)

Day 8: today we have been making mosaics. Squashy actually asked me if we could do them so I got him a book for inspiration and off he went, as you can see he was pleased with the results. It made me happy to see him enjoying an activity he had chosen, other than books or Minecraft

So that was my week in HAPPY! It's been a nice week so was hard to choose just one thing each day. I can't wait til the end to see all my 100 photos.

New Year

Well, I haven't done very well with keeping this up to date. I was really keen to keep on top of it as I really wanted to have some sort of diary to look at back the beginning of our home ed journey. But between a phone with no memory for photos, a PC with no virus protection and just being flat out busy I didn't quite manage it. But now it is new year, I have a shiny new phone and so I am back ON IT! 

We have managed a full term of home ed and have all survived, I haven't torn out my hair, the boys haven't become illiterate introverts with no social skills or friends and we are all HAPPY. So I am looking forward to what this next term brings. 

I feel confident I have made the right decision, the boys are doing great, Momo is picking up reading and writing wonderfully, without me making him do it, just something he is happy to do. He loves the different groups we go to and I love the fact that he gets to play with such a wide age-range of other children, he wouldn't have that at school. 

Squashy is happy too. He is more relaxed, the anxiety is lessening. Not entirely gone butch better than it was. He still struggles with some situations, some of the groups can be a bit noisy or busy, but he gives them a go and we just make sure he always has a book and his mints so he can go and find a quiet corner to switch off a bit if he needs too. He has made some friends and even been invited to play at other children's houses! More than once! This is amazing as he hasn't had any sort of socialising with other kids out of school for years. It made me so happy. 

Over the term we have done all sorts, home-based and out and about, including electricity workshops, farm visits, baking, crafting, ice skating, library visits, bike rides, picnics, camp fires, cinema trips with the youth film festival,  and loads more. There has also been a big jigsaw thing going on here with both boys loving puzzles just lately. We are also lucky enough to tag along with Hubby for work sometimes and this has meant we've had trips out to some lovely places including Cheddar Gorge which was just gorgeous and so interesting reading about how it was formed, and also a day in Banbury, where we searched out Banbury Cross, took some rubbings and hen hunted out some delicious Banbury cakes-purely for education reasons of course. 

The one thing I sometimes find a little difficult is that because Momo is such a bad sleeper, he often doesn't go to sleep until we do, so there is much time on my own, or with hubby. But hopefully that will settle over time, and I'm lucky that most mornings I get a peaceful cuppa before they are up! 

Overall I am really happy with the decision to home ed, I feel like we are all learning not just the boys and I'm really looking forward to what adventures 2014 brings us.