Sunday at home

Tony was up and about a little bit yesterday but still spent most of the day lying down, his back is not recovering very quickly. He played Terraria with the kids and watched Saving Mr Banks and all of us spent some time in the bedroom chatting with him, so it was another relaxed family day.

When I went up to let the chickens out I discovered that our broody hen Darkness's chicks have started hatching! I had thought there was another week to go so it was a big surprise! The kids and I spent a bit of time setting the pen up, making sure they had food and water and could get in and out of the box when they are ready. (We've seen one, rather large, chick and could hear one or 2 more peeping from under their mum.)

Throughout the day Caitlin did some more logic puzzles, did a lot of drawing (she's recently figured out how to draw people and is practicing frequently), watched The Next Step, mowed the lawn, and went to visit our neighbour. LiAM watched Scooby Doo and The Day my Butt went Psycho, played Terraria, helped me chop more vegetable, made patterns on the peg boards and played with his toy animals. Millie watched a couple of The Winx DVDs (which she'd been waiting to watch for days), played Terraria, jumped on the trampoline, played with the peg boards and with the toy animals. I weeded and pruned while Caitlin mowed the lawn, baked a chocolate beetroot cake (which I like and don't think anyone else does. I did this one but with less maple syrup, the taste was a bit too beetrooty for the others, I will try a different recipe next time http://www.yummygoodness.com.au/2015/03/14/moist-beetroot-chocolate-cake/), and pottered around doing housework or chatting and playing with the others

When Caitlin got back from next door, she and LiAM and I went out the front to check out the fence where it looks like a car has crashed into it. We did a bit of detective work and figured out that the car must have left the road sideways and hit the fence sideways, it was fun for all of us and quite exciting to be solving a mystery. It was a gorgeous afternoon and I was wishing I had my camera with me. On the way back to the house we heard a steam whistle - the Healesville Heritage festival was on this weekend and this was one of the steam engines heading home. The kids ran back out the front to see it and I did go and get my camera while I told Millie it was coming (she decided not to run out - we'd heard 3 whistles on Friday before the festival started and every time she and LiAM went to see, and we missed them all, so she figured it wasn't worth another attempt). We waved to the steam roller as it went past, and played out the front for a little while and I took some photos.

Back inside Caitlin created some workbooks for herself and then all 3 kids spent most of the evening creating little cars and boats - using stuff out of the recycling box and cutting, pasting, painting, they made some cool stuff.

Tony watched Back to the Future 1 and 2 (on TV last night, as this is the week that Marty comes to when he goes to the future - October 21, 2015) and the kids and I were in and out to see bits of the movies - we all ended up on the bed watching the end of the 2nd one which was really lovely. Tony helped the kids get to bed - he rubs their back and they prefer they way he does it to the way I do it, and he felt well enough to get up and do that last night which they were thrilled about.

Back pain and movies

Tony has had a sore knee for the past couple of weeks, and this week his back also started to give him a lot of pain - possibly from limping on the sore knee, or possibly a separate cause (he'll probably go to the doctor today and see what's happening) - so much pain that he took Friday off work and spent all day Friday and Saturday in bed. Having Tony home but bedridden was not how I thought Saturday would turn out - and it ended up being a really lovely, fun and relaxing family day, and way better than I'd hoped for even before Tony was incapacitated.

Millie and LiAM and I started the day playing Harry Potter - Scene It. When the on screen questions involve unscrambling letters or filling in letters we skip to the next question, and I sometimes reword the written questions from the cards or make them more general for Millie, otherwise their knowledge of the movies is enough to play on equal terms. It was a fun game of Harry Potter trivia, and in there we also had a long discussion about odd and even numbers, leading to LiAM explaining that 1 is a more useful number than 2 because you can just keep adding 1 to numbers and get any number in the world, and you can't do that with 2, and Millie suddenly had a realisation that odd and even numbers 'are like stripes on a tiger' because as you count it always goes odd, even, odd, even. (It's so cool to watch her learning, because she has such a strong sense of patterns, and she applies it to most things that she learns - it's as if she converts everything she's presented with into a visual pattern in her head and then she can understand it). Millie also had a go at reading some of the instructions and was happy at being able to figure out some of the words.

The kids watched Scooby-Doo for a while and I tidied the kitchen and played on the iPad and Tony attempted to stay out of bed, but headed back pretty quickly. He decided to pass the time by watching movies, and started with Pitch Perfect, which he hadn't seen. I was going to go and do the washing or something, but decided to stay and hang out with him and watch the movie, and Caitlin joined us when she woke up. It was so great, watching a movie with Tony - we used to do it all the time and I'd really like to add it back in to our lives as a regular thing.

Tony then watched Australia, which neither of us have seen, and LiAM and I cut up some veggies to make chicken stock and some lunch. He is great with the sharp knife and loves to cut any vegetable I give him - he explores the texture and colour and shape and finds the best way to cut them, even though he very rarely eats them. It's funny, he's probably the most excited about our box of veggies arriving each fortnight, because he gets to play with a whole range of new cutting up options.

After the movie was finished LiAM and Millie and Tony played Terraria together for a while, and Caitlin and I did some logic puzzles. I also watched an episode of Green Lantern that I hadn't seen before and really wanted to see what happened - but it didn't resolve the story line I was interested in so am hoping the next episode is on today. Caitlin and I sorted out a lot of the hair and jewellery baskets that are around the house - she's getting her dressing table set up and wanted to find all her hair accessories, and it was great to go through the baskets and get rid of the things that are broken or no longer used. Millie was given all of the little metal bangles that Caitlin has collected over the years, so she is very happy.

Tony and LiAM put Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet on next - and I wanted to watch the start of it, then settled in to watch the rest of the movie as well - it's a long time since I'd seen it and I love it so much - the sound track, the actors, the cleverness modern adaptation. It was also the first time I'd ever seen it and not cried - unusual for me to not cry at a tragic ending, even if I know it's coming! LiAM watched bits and pieces of it, but the kissing scenes didn't interest him and he decided to go and play with Millie making patterns on the peg boards instead.

I cooked a late dinner - mince curry - while Tony watched Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and the kids watched the Batman Lego Movie  (LiAM gravitated between the 2 tvs at first and ended up with Star Wars). While we ate tea, Caitlin skyped with Tony's sister, who is coming down to Victoria in a few weeks for Caitlin's Confirmation, which we're all very excited about. Millie and I had a good chat to her as well, and then Caitlin and I spent some time looking at saints names so that she can pick a Confirmation name.

Our last relaxing weekend day for the summer?

Originally Tony was supposed to work yesterday, so it was a pleasant change of plans that meant we had him with us for the whole day! It's great starting vintage with the whole family well connected and communicating well, although we'll miss him a lot once his hours start to go up.

The kids played together a lot yesterday, on the iPad or playing imaginary games - last night there was a long involved (and loud) game that started as a family going on a picnic and ended up being a spy type adventure. It was fun to watch while I was getting ready for bed.

LiAM watched the final collection of episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds and the rest of us watched bits and pieces as we were interested (I stayed for the final battle, it was exciting and down to the wire and wrapped up the series quite nicely). Millie watched a couple of Barbie movies in my room, and I stayed with her and watched Mermaidia Fairytopia. Tony and LiAM and Millie played Terraria on and off, and LiAM tried to watch more YouTube videos but our internet allowance has been reached so the speed is too slow - very frustrating. While everyone was watching movies Tony and I had a round of Letters and Numbers (like the tv show, I have one of the books and we play infrequently, when we get 20 minutes or so quietly together during the day). It's very challenging and lots of fun to play against each other. We each have our strengths, and after each round we work together to find the best solution to each question. It's also helping me learn my multiples of 75...

Tony took the 3 kids to Yarra Glen park in the afternoon for a play with some friends, and I spent a few hours tidying up and organising things, and also made a very yummy chocolate tart. The kids and Tony had hot chips while they were out, so we all grabbed bits and pieces to eat as we felt like it through the evening, rather than having a sit down dinner (I had some yummy cheese and tuna toasted wraps). We all played cards (the 5 of us) while we watched the men's Australian Open tennis final, then I went and lay down (while the kids were playing their game) and once they'd calmed down read the Bear books to Millie (and the others) again.