In the last couple of cays
- Amelie and I played a game where she was a Persian Cat called Purry, who could sometimes turn into a tiger or a person, and sometimes talk even when she was a cat, and I was her owner (and sometimes her mother). She hasn't played games like this quite so frequently lately as she used to, and it was fun.
- LiAM and I have had a couple of late night talks as he's been going to bed (he likes someone to be close by as he settles down to sleep, I've been sitting on a little green chair next to his bed and he's been chatting to me). We've talked about Pokemon and movies and ways that world peace might be achieved and if it's actually possibly, and what would happen if one country took over the whole world, and what civil war means, and Wolverine and Magneto....
- Amelie made little dog treats for an imaginary dog, out of coloured straws
- Caitlin rang up and organised to go back and groom the ponies again, I dropped her off and the owner stayed inside (it was a hot day) and Caitlin did all the work (catching the ponies, grooming them, checking their feet, spraying a cut, feeding them, popping them back in the paddock) by herself - she was thrilled and loved every minute
- we went to the library and read books, played board games, watched youtube videos
- we met friends in the park and played for a couple of hours
- Caitlin found herself some great clothes at the op shop, and I bought a game and a heap of towels iand some DVDs and kitchen stuff
- we went to the bakery and got a yummy snack
- we had friends come and visit for the day, the boys played Minecraft and the Lego Movie video game, Amelie and J played pokemon (cards) and lego and My Little Ponies
- Amelie played a new board game (where you build a wall out of bricks and sit Buzz Lightyear on top, then use aliens to push bricks out and try not to collapse the wall)
- we watched Dragonnest (which reminded me a lot of Lord of the Rings) and Bridge to Terabithia - none of us had ever seen it, and we really loved it
- oh last week we watched an anime movie which is now one of my new favourites - The Wolf Children, it was incredible. People who are half wolf/ half people, motherhood, children growing up and finding their own way, friendship, accepting difference - a whole heap of my favourite topics, and very well mad
- Amelie watched more Pokemon and a Barbie movie (Barbie and Swan Lake)
- everyone has played Disco Zoo, and LiAM is getting more comfortable every day at reading the notifications himself
- Amelie and I played celebrity head, and she wrote some of the labels for my head herself (Zoo, Cat). It's such a fun game to play with her, she asks such interesting questions when guessing her own, and answers my questions in a really fascinating way when I'm guessing
- we practised lots more Auslan - I've been doing some every day and I feel like I'm retaining more of the signs than I was, and then I'm able to use them when talking to the kids and they are picking them up
- Tony came home early enough last night (just after 8) to eat dinner then play for a while with Amelie and her soft toys - she was so happy
Showing posts with label Auslan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auslan. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Monday, 8 February 2016
Terraria, horse riding, games
My tiredness continued into yesterday - I obviously pushed hard all last week and then collapsed a bit on the weekend. Tony had yesterday (Sunday) off work though and we had no big plans so I was able to take it fairly easy. It got hot early and I found it quite exhausting, especially when I was in the kitchen.
I was up early and had a bit of time to myself, then LiAM, Millie and Tony came out. LiAM was very excited that Tone was home for the day, and the three of them played Terraria for a while before breakfast.
Caitlin went to a friend's house in the morning, I took her over there and then stayed while she had a horse riding lesson - I hadn't seen her ride much and was impressed at how straight her back was and how comfortable and confident she looked in the saddle. Her friend then had a lesson and I left Caitlin there for the day, and I went to pick up V to bring him back to our place.
Once we got back Tony, LiAM, V and Amelie all played Terraria together and spent a lot of time negotiating with each other to swap armour and weapons, and coming up with team strategies for defeating the bosses. They played on and off all day and I loved listening to the conversations. I don't find Terraria easy (or very enjoyable) to play, but I do know a lot about it and enjoy hearing other people playing. LiAM was reading the attributes of the items that he found too, without any help - he doesn't realise he's reading when he does that, because the words just make sense to him, and he still thinks that reading is difficult. When he understands what something says without having to try hard, he says he wasn't reading, he just knew the words. Which at first was kind of true, he was recognising certain words that he already knew, whereas now he often reads things correctly with no context, and with words that he hasn't memorised - it's quite fascinating (and exciting) to watch his reading develop so naturally.
Amelie watched some more pokemon and finished the series she has been watching. She then watched 'Annie' (the new one from last year), while the boys played Halo on the xBox. I did a lot of work in the kitchen and cleared most of the kitchen table and all of the area under it, ready to reorganise things a bit with some new furniture I picked up from hard rubbish. Tony and I did a scout around the house and yard to see if there was anything we could put on our own hard rubbish pile, and did manage to find a goodly sized pile of broken chairs, a ripped mattress, broken ride on toy and a few other things. Glad that we remembered to do it before things start getting picked up today.
Tony and I did a couple of geography quizzes - we work well together, we remember different things - and were going to play 'Letters and Numbers' but I felt too fuzzy and didn't think I'd be able to think quickly enough. I hope we get another chance to play soon because we both really love playing and it's rare to have an opportunity when we're both home and the kids are happily occupied without us. Amelie spent a lot of time in the afternoon during her elephant puzzle, both as a full puzzle and just making up each elephant separately. LiAM also played with it for a while after V left. Amelie also spent hours playing with her My Little Ponies, they had a great time flying around the house rescuing each other and then having a party on the kitchen table. StarLily (the Magical Unicorn) joined them for a while too.
Amelie and I learnt some signs for colours in Auslan, and refreshed a few other words. Now she can ask for pink milk, chocolate milk and hot chocolate by signing, which is very handy for all of us.
Caitlin stayed at her friend's all day and had fish and chips in the park, then they brought her home and she showed her friend around the property, especially looking at the chicks. Tone met the parents and the guys had a beer and we all chatted for a while. After they left we ate dinner and watched 'Australia's Got Talent', then the kids played some puzzle games on the computer, and Caitlin cleaned up the lounge room a bit to play Just Dance on the playstation - but couldn't find the game so played Book of Spells instead, which then led her to joining the Pottermore site on the computer.
I was up early and had a bit of time to myself, then LiAM, Millie and Tony came out. LiAM was very excited that Tone was home for the day, and the three of them played Terraria for a while before breakfast.
Caitlin went to a friend's house in the morning, I took her over there and then stayed while she had a horse riding lesson - I hadn't seen her ride much and was impressed at how straight her back was and how comfortable and confident she looked in the saddle. Her friend then had a lesson and I left Caitlin there for the day, and I went to pick up V to bring him back to our place.
Once we got back Tony, LiAM, V and Amelie all played Terraria together and spent a lot of time negotiating with each other to swap armour and weapons, and coming up with team strategies for defeating the bosses. They played on and off all day and I loved listening to the conversations. I don't find Terraria easy (or very enjoyable) to play, but I do know a lot about it and enjoy hearing other people playing. LiAM was reading the attributes of the items that he found too, without any help - he doesn't realise he's reading when he does that, because the words just make sense to him, and he still thinks that reading is difficult. When he understands what something says without having to try hard, he says he wasn't reading, he just knew the words. Which at first was kind of true, he was recognising certain words that he already knew, whereas now he often reads things correctly with no context, and with words that he hasn't memorised - it's quite fascinating (and exciting) to watch his reading develop so naturally.
Amelie watched some more pokemon and finished the series she has been watching. She then watched 'Annie' (the new one from last year), while the boys played Halo on the xBox. I did a lot of work in the kitchen and cleared most of the kitchen table and all of the area under it, ready to reorganise things a bit with some new furniture I picked up from hard rubbish. Tony and I did a scout around the house and yard to see if there was anything we could put on our own hard rubbish pile, and did manage to find a goodly sized pile of broken chairs, a ripped mattress, broken ride on toy and a few other things. Glad that we remembered to do it before things start getting picked up today.
Tony and I did a couple of geography quizzes - we work well together, we remember different things - and were going to play 'Letters and Numbers' but I felt too fuzzy and didn't think I'd be able to think quickly enough. I hope we get another chance to play soon because we both really love playing and it's rare to have an opportunity when we're both home and the kids are happily occupied without us. Amelie spent a lot of time in the afternoon during her elephant puzzle, both as a full puzzle and just making up each elephant separately. LiAM also played with it for a while after V left. Amelie also spent hours playing with her My Little Ponies, they had a great time flying around the house rescuing each other and then having a party on the kitchen table. StarLily (the Magical Unicorn) joined them for a while too.
Amelie and I learnt some signs for colours in Auslan, and refreshed a few other words. Now she can ask for pink milk, chocolate milk and hot chocolate by signing, which is very handy for all of us.
Caitlin stayed at her friend's all day and had fish and chips in the park, then they brought her home and she showed her friend around the property, especially looking at the chicks. Tone met the parents and the guys had a beer and we all chatted for a while. After they left we ate dinner and watched 'Australia's Got Talent', then the kids played some puzzle games on the computer, and Caitlin cleaned up the lounge room a bit to play Just Dance on the playstation - but couldn't find the game so played Book of Spells instead, which then led her to joining the Pottermore site on the computer.
Friday, 26 June 2015
More birthdays and lots of activity
Sometimes when there's a lot going on, I find it a lot harder to write than when we are plodding along not doing anything out of the ordinary. The last couple of weeks have been a mix of big events and quieter days. Here's a bit of summary (in no particular order)
- LiAM turned 9. He had a lovely quiet day at home, playing with lego and playing Halo on the PS3, and playing with his Minecraft and Terraria figurines. He had a friend come over for a little while in the afternoon. For dinner we had a family meat pie and a family apple pie - his favourite tea, and some chocolate cake.
- We had a birthday party for LiAM. The kids played on the trampoline and with the lego and on their iPads and with soft toys (that was mainly Millie and her friends) and the adults chatted and relaxed - a very easy party to organise and to host.
- On a cold morning Millie and I saw hot air balloons taking off in the paddock next to our house. We walked down to watch them go from close up, and chatted to the ground crew. On the way back to the house we looked at the way the frost had formed on different types of leaves and blades of grass and the vines.
- We had an extremely cold morning, still below 0 at 10am (the morning of LiAM's party). There was ice everywhere outside which was lots of fun to explore.
- We have had 3 new chicks hatch. One of them died on the first day, the other two have survived that very cold night and morning and are being well looked after by their mother. One is black and one yellow and as always we can't believe how tiny and incredibly cute they are.
- The kids and I went to Bounce, finally, after talking about it since at least early last year. All four of us had a very fun time (I didn't jump, I wandered around watching and talking to the kids, and giving encouragement when they were trying something new and/or difficult (like Caitlin learning to jump up on to the wall in the performance trampoline area. She hasn't quite made it yet, but she made a lot of progress in this first session of trying)
- Caitlin had 2 performances with Victorian Youth Theatre. We all (And her friend S, and Grandma and Grandad) went and watched the first one, and F and I went to the 2nd one. As with last year, the productions were professional and very impressive, and Caitlin was great in her roles.
- We've been going to karate
- We've watched lots of movies
- We've started learning Auslan (Australian Sign Language)
- Caitlin and I have both (separately) learnt how to crochet a beanie, so we've been making those. I've also been crocheting head bands and I'm working on a scarf, Caitlin has been making beautiful flowers (she made one for each kid in her acting classes and took them in on the night of the last class)
- We've been to friend's houses and had friends visit here
- We've played with lego
- We've played big imaginary games with Millie's toys or LiAM's animals or the Skylanders or combinations of them all
- We've been to homeschool group
- We've been to the playground
- We've hung out at the library
- I've played the piano a lot
- I went to a rally, #bringbackasha, protesting against having babies sent back to offshore detention centres
It's the end of school term today so most of our regular activities will stop for a couple of weeks. As always at the end of term I am looking forward to some time with less scheduling and more going with the moment.
- LiAM turned 9. He had a lovely quiet day at home, playing with lego and playing Halo on the PS3, and playing with his Minecraft and Terraria figurines. He had a friend come over for a little while in the afternoon. For dinner we had a family meat pie and a family apple pie - his favourite tea, and some chocolate cake.
- We had a birthday party for LiAM. The kids played on the trampoline and with the lego and on their iPads and with soft toys (that was mainly Millie and her friends) and the adults chatted and relaxed - a very easy party to organise and to host.
- On a cold morning Millie and I saw hot air balloons taking off in the paddock next to our house. We walked down to watch them go from close up, and chatted to the ground crew. On the way back to the house we looked at the way the frost had formed on different types of leaves and blades of grass and the vines.
- We had an extremely cold morning, still below 0 at 10am (the morning of LiAM's party). There was ice everywhere outside which was lots of fun to explore.
- We have had 3 new chicks hatch. One of them died on the first day, the other two have survived that very cold night and morning and are being well looked after by their mother. One is black and one yellow and as always we can't believe how tiny and incredibly cute they are.
- The kids and I went to Bounce, finally, after talking about it since at least early last year. All four of us had a very fun time (I didn't jump, I wandered around watching and talking to the kids, and giving encouragement when they were trying something new and/or difficult (like Caitlin learning to jump up on to the wall in the performance trampoline area. She hasn't quite made it yet, but she made a lot of progress in this first session of trying)
- Caitlin had 2 performances with Victorian Youth Theatre. We all (And her friend S, and Grandma and Grandad) went and watched the first one, and F and I went to the 2nd one. As with last year, the productions were professional and very impressive, and Caitlin was great in her roles.
- We've been going to karate
- We've watched lots of movies
- We've started learning Auslan (Australian Sign Language)
- Caitlin and I have both (separately) learnt how to crochet a beanie, so we've been making those. I've also been crocheting head bands and I'm working on a scarf, Caitlin has been making beautiful flowers (she made one for each kid in her acting classes and took them in on the night of the last class)
- We've been to friend's houses and had friends visit here
- We've played with lego
- We've played big imaginary games with Millie's toys or LiAM's animals or the Skylanders or combinations of them all
- We've been to homeschool group
- We've been to the playground
- We've hung out at the library
- I've played the piano a lot
- I went to a rally, #bringbackasha, protesting against having babies sent back to offshore detention centres
It's the end of school term today so most of our regular activities will stop for a couple of weeks. As always at the end of term I am looking forward to some time with less scheduling and more going with the moment.
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