Last night I watched a Transformers movie.
LiAM and Tony were watching it and I was half paying attention and half doing other things (which is the way I watch most TV), and I was getting tired and sat down for a few minutes and watched a bit of the movie without distraction. I really really loved it.
I had planned to go to bed as soon as I could and to read my book - instead I moved to the couch and watched the rest of the movie with Tony and LiAM. It was great to spend that time with them and discuss the movie and Transformers and other things, and it was also really cool watching the movie.
Transformers is something that until a few years ago I would have said 'No' to the kids watching and wouldn't have wanted to watch myself either. I don't even know why I was so against so many movies and TV shows and characters. Some of it was about violence, sure, or concepts I didn't want the kids to see. Some of it was about commercialism, not wanting to expose the kids to the popular shows because I felt, I think, that they had no inherent value, they were just popular because some marketing person had decided they would be and everyone had blindly followed along and watched the shows and bought all the merchandise. I wasn't interested in watching (or even reading) the popular stuff ' myself - I made my own choices based on what I liked - although I mainly made choices based on what I liked, within the range of things that weren't really popular. It never occurred to me that some of these shows were popular because they were enjoyable!
I am so grateful to have discovered and followed this unschooling lifestyle that we have chosen - by opening up and allowing the kids to choose what they watch (and to truly choose, from all options, not just from the options that I have deemed to be ok), we have an environment where the kids have discovered so many wonderful TV shows and movies and books and games, and had SO much enjoyment - and I have as well. There is so much that we all would have missed out on if I had continued to control our viewing and reading. I've discovered that Barbie movies are fun and funny and beautiful and have great story lines and lots of morals. I've discovered that Ben 10 is a fairly typical young (and then teenage) boy who is constantly struggling with his duty to save the world (I was SO anti-Ben 10, and now that I've watched it, I really can't understand why).
It's been a great lesson for me, that judging something before seeing or trying it, is really unfair and doesn't really make any sense. Even without thinking about the kids, my world is so expanded and happier now that I am open to trying things without pre-judging them. And for the kids - it's so much better that they can try things for themselves and make their own choices.
There's stuff that they watch that I don't like - which doesn't matter, because they like it. I watch enough so that I can talk about it with them, and can usually find bits that I can appreciate. I'm also happy to listen to them talk about it even if I'm not a fan. There are TV shows that one or another of them don't like, so they do something else if the others are watching it. I've really come to realise that there is some value in every show, the kids pick out the bits they like and don't dismiss the whole show because of an aspect they don't like - a great skill to have in life. They are much better than me at deciding in the moment if something is worth doing despite the downsides, or whether they'll give it a miss this time.
I've also discovered that love amassing knowledge about anything, and learning bits and pieces about pop culture makes me very happy. I love that we can discuss the worlds of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars in great depth. And at first I was restricting my knowledge to just the things I was really interested in, and I didn't value knowledge about other 'world's. Now I am happy to soak it all in, and I really love that the kids know so much about so many things. All knowledge is valuable and it all links in to other things - I've seen time and again how knowing something about, say, Pokemon, helps a real concept to suddenly make sense.
Last night Amelie astounded me by telling me which stone was used for each of the evolutions of Eevee (a pokemon - there was a picture of each of Eevee's evolutions, and without reading or any other clues, she told me which stone was needed for each one.) I don't know how or when she learned that information, she has picked it up through watching and playing and talking about Pokemon. That particular knowledge helps her when she plays the games, or talks to others about Pokemon - and it also shows that she has the ability to effortlessly learn a whole series of reactions or relationships - when she comes across that kind of relationship in maths or chemistry or anywhere, she won't be thinking 'oh no I have to memorise all this stuff' - she will simply learn it as she discovers it and then be able to use her knowledge when she needs it.
Last night I learnt lots about Transformers. I learnt that they all have distinct personalities. I learnt that some are good (Autobots) and some are bad (Decepticons) - and that some have switched sides. I learnt that they can be kind and thoughtful, and that they can have their feelings hurt. I learnt that people can ride inside them when they are in their car or truck form. I did multiple searches on the internet while I was watching and learnt the names of the Transformers in the movie, and a bit of their back story, and followed trails of some of the actors in the movie and found out which other movies they were in etc. As always, once I started taking in new information it led to more and more links - I am amazed every time that learning can be so easy and enjoyable, and I am so excited that my kids know that already and spend their days learning happily and easily and without pre-judgement.
Showing posts with label pokemon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pokemon. Show all posts
Monday, 24 October 2016
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Busy and happy
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
- 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
Friday, 26 February 2016
Sewing and karate
On Wednesday night Caitlin had found a library book called 'Made by Me', with lots of patterns and ideas for things to make and sew. She said that she'd start making some of them on Thursday, and she did. She made a doll, several drawstring bags, and some other little decorations. She worked really hard and spent hours sewing, asking for help or ideas when she was unsure, and taking a break when she was getting frustrated. I am always impressed with her sewing skill, and this was no exception, the things she made looked fantastic and she did them fairly easily.
LiAM played Lego Marvel Superheroes again and realised he was close to the end so was excited at the thought of completing the whole game. At one point something had happened in the game where he'd missed his chance to do a vital action in order to finish that level. He tried lots of things and I looked up the walkthrough, and in the end it looked like the only way to finish the level was to start that section again, which was a lot of work. He was pretty upset, feeling like all the work he'd done so far had been wasted. He stopped and had something to eat and eventually decided to go back and do it all again, and was able to calm down enough to enjoy it even though he hadn't wanted to do it. When he got back to the same spot I was able to read the walkthrough to him (he really didn't want to miss his chance again) and he defeated Rhino and Magneto and was thrilled. I'm impressed at his increasing ability to calm down and continue when he's upset or anxious. He still feels and expresses his disappointment, when he was younger though it could mean the end of the game, now he's more able to work through it and get some perspective.
Amelie watched and helped LiAM play, did some more pokemon and planet quizzes with me, watched some more Pokemon, played with her My Little Ponies.
After a while LiAM had enough of his playstation game, and spent time playing with the Titan characters.
When Caitlin had finished sewing she went to visit our neighbour next door and took her creations with her - everyone there was quite impressed too.
We went to karate in the evening. Amelie joined in and trained for the whole class this time. She was quite overwhelmed by the end of it, it's a lot to take in (and at the moment there are 7 kids who have just started, so the group she's training in is quite big which would make it much harder). Afterwards she had a quick play in the park, while LiAM talked Terraria with some of the older kids.
Back home and we had a bit more to eat, and watched Degrassi (far less full on than the previous night) then Heartland. Tony came home and went almost straight to bed. The kids put on a pokemon movie and I went to bed, they got themselves to bed once it was finished.
LiAM played Lego Marvel Superheroes again and realised he was close to the end so was excited at the thought of completing the whole game. At one point something had happened in the game where he'd missed his chance to do a vital action in order to finish that level. He tried lots of things and I looked up the walkthrough, and in the end it looked like the only way to finish the level was to start that section again, which was a lot of work. He was pretty upset, feeling like all the work he'd done so far had been wasted. He stopped and had something to eat and eventually decided to go back and do it all again, and was able to calm down enough to enjoy it even though he hadn't wanted to do it. When he got back to the same spot I was able to read the walkthrough to him (he really didn't want to miss his chance again) and he defeated Rhino and Magneto and was thrilled. I'm impressed at his increasing ability to calm down and continue when he's upset or anxious. He still feels and expresses his disappointment, when he was younger though it could mean the end of the game, now he's more able to work through it and get some perspective.
Amelie watched and helped LiAM play, did some more pokemon and planet quizzes with me, watched some more Pokemon, played with her My Little Ponies.
After a while LiAM had enough of his playstation game, and spent time playing with the Titan characters.
When Caitlin had finished sewing she went to visit our neighbour next door and took her creations with her - everyone there was quite impressed too.
We went to karate in the evening. Amelie joined in and trained for the whole class this time. She was quite overwhelmed by the end of it, it's a lot to take in (and at the moment there are 7 kids who have just started, so the group she's training in is quite big which would make it much harder). Afterwards she had a quick play in the park, while LiAM talked Terraria with some of the older kids.
Back home and we had a bit more to eat, and watched Degrassi (far less full on than the previous night) then Heartland. Tony came home and went almost straight to bed. The kids put on a pokemon movie and I went to bed, they got themselves to bed once it was finished.
Thursday, 25 February 2016
A hot day at home, and Guides
LiAM had been looking forward to yesterday for a few days, as we had most of the day at home and he would have the chance to play Lego Marvel Superheroes for a nice long chunk of time, rather than squeezing in half an hour or an hour between other activities. When I got up around 7.30 he was already awake and playing, said he'd woken up at 7. He really enjoyed his long play, was able to really work at some of the difficult levels, get a heap of new characters, and really become immersed in the game. He chatted away the whole time he was playing, telling us what was happening, what he was thinking, talking about the characters and how they react to situations and whether he thought it was true to their character or not, or things he would have done differently if he'd made the game. The girls and I watched, commented, looked up walk throughs when he got really stuck (I love that I can read an instruction that makes no sense to me and he immediately says 'oh yeah, that would work!') and the girls both played with him on and off.
When Amelie woke up she curled up with me on the couch and we watched LiAM for a while then we did some quizzes - one on the Disney Princesses, (we got all of them except Merida from Brave), and one on the planets. Amelie is fascinated by the planets at the moment, we chat about them most days and we've talked about the difference between a moon and a sun and a planet, and the names of the planets in our solar system, and why Saturn has rings, and which planets are hotter, and why Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet (I still need to look that up). She has a little model of the solar system with the sun and the planets revolving around that, and we play with it a few times a week - she grabbed it yesterday to help remember the names of all the planets - all the names are familiar to her now, and she's starting to associate more of them with the correct planet and remember some without looking at them. It's cool to see an interest develop that's completely hers, not something that has grown out of things the others were interested in.
We also all spent time looking at an alien book we'd picked up the day before, lots of great pictures and discussion starters about whether there really are aliens, what they might look like, what they'd think of us and so on.
Amelie watched some more pokemon and I watched with her for a while and played Hungry Babies, then Caitlin came and joined us. She played some Coolmath-games while she watched, and discovered one called Coffee Shop, where you have to buy supplies, set a recipe for your coffee, and sell it to make a profit over a fortnight, as well as get a good reputation for your store. She really loved it and asked me to play a round of it - it was fun and challenging (and I made a profit of $184, I was pretty happy). There were so many factors to think of, Caitlin was fascinated and it started a great discussion about all the decisions and planning involved in successfully selling products.
I spent a good chunk of the day catching up on some of the housework that had accumulated from us being out and about so much lately and me not having the energy when we got home to do much about it. I got quite a lot done and felt happy that it wasn't too much to handle.
It was another hot day and we had an unexpected power outage in the afternoon (which brought a stop to Lego Marvel Superheroes). We got ready to go out as there was no way we could stay in the house for very long without cooling. The girls had Thinking Day activities at Guides and were dressing up as someone from a country they'd chosen (out of the countries that have World Centres for Guides). Amelie was England and wore a pretty dress to be a princess, and Caitlin was Mexico, we found a flowery, swirly skirt and an embroidered top, and Tony's sombrero. Once the power dropped out the girls got into their costumes and I gathered up the library books and we left as quickly as we could. (Still not quick enough to avoid feeling hot and sweaty and cranky before we left, but once we got into the car and got it cooled down everything felt a bit better). The power came on just before we left but seeing as we were ready to go we kept going. The girls were asked to take food from their country as well, so we went to the IGA to buy supplies - and it was closed due to the power outage. We went to Coldstream IGA and Caitlin got corn chips and salsa, we couldn't find anything that Amelie wanted to take. We really wanted scones but I hadn't felt up to making some. We went back to the Yarra Glen bakery and the best I could do was a tea cake, so at least we were taking something. We dropped the girls at Guides then LiAM and I went to the library, he watched some youtube videos and I read my book and it was lovely and cool and relaxing.
Once the library closed we sat outside and read/watched for a while longer, then went to the bakery again for LiAM to buy an apple cake - they didn't have any so the girl helped him decide what else to get (the girls who work there on a Wed afternoon know and love him) and he got a French Vanilla Slice instead. I also bought some chocolate milk for Amelie as she'd been wanting some all day. We picked Amelie up and went home to a house where luckily the air con had worked enough to cool it back down again (enough to be inside anyway). The kids played some minecraft and some more Lego superheroes, until Big Bang Theory was on at 7.30. We taped it so that we could watch with Caitlin when she got home, and it was a relaxing hour after a bit of a full on afternoon out. When it finished we watched a bit of Degrassi, which had some full on issues being discussed, so we talked about that a bit - standing up for people who are being victimised, and how hard that can be, especially when the person in the wrong is someone you are close to - and then watched Heartland. Caitlin was also playing a game on her iPad which requires amazing dexterity and quick reflexes, I love watching her because she's so calm and so good at it. I had a try and I'm a lot clumsier. She was trying to get to 10000 gems to buy a new sub-game and worked hard at it for ages yesterday, and eventually got there - she was so happy and really enjoyed the new game.
Amelie and I went to bed and she was going to watch Pokemon but got distracted talking to me, then the others came in and they were playing a game on my bed, and massaging my feet while we all chatted. We'd been talking about starting to read Brisingr again as we hadn't done so for ages, with the big kids doing more things in the evening they hadn't been wanting to stop and listen when Amelie was ready for bed. So we read a couple of chapters and it was great to get back into the story - we could all remember different bits of what had happened so far, so we were able to keep going from where we were up to and piece together the story.
When Amelie woke up she curled up with me on the couch and we watched LiAM for a while then we did some quizzes - one on the Disney Princesses, (we got all of them except Merida from Brave), and one on the planets. Amelie is fascinated by the planets at the moment, we chat about them most days and we've talked about the difference between a moon and a sun and a planet, and the names of the planets in our solar system, and why Saturn has rings, and which planets are hotter, and why Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet (I still need to look that up). She has a little model of the solar system with the sun and the planets revolving around that, and we play with it a few times a week - she grabbed it yesterday to help remember the names of all the planets - all the names are familiar to her now, and she's starting to associate more of them with the correct planet and remember some without looking at them. It's cool to see an interest develop that's completely hers, not something that has grown out of things the others were interested in.
We also all spent time looking at an alien book we'd picked up the day before, lots of great pictures and discussion starters about whether there really are aliens, what they might look like, what they'd think of us and so on.
Amelie watched some more pokemon and I watched with her for a while and played Hungry Babies, then Caitlin came and joined us. She played some Coolmath-games while she watched, and discovered one called Coffee Shop, where you have to buy supplies, set a recipe for your coffee, and sell it to make a profit over a fortnight, as well as get a good reputation for your store. She really loved it and asked me to play a round of it - it was fun and challenging (and I made a profit of $184, I was pretty happy). There were so many factors to think of, Caitlin was fascinated and it started a great discussion about all the decisions and planning involved in successfully selling products.
I spent a good chunk of the day catching up on some of the housework that had accumulated from us being out and about so much lately and me not having the energy when we got home to do much about it. I got quite a lot done and felt happy that it wasn't too much to handle.
It was another hot day and we had an unexpected power outage in the afternoon (which brought a stop to Lego Marvel Superheroes). We got ready to go out as there was no way we could stay in the house for very long without cooling. The girls had Thinking Day activities at Guides and were dressing up as someone from a country they'd chosen (out of the countries that have World Centres for Guides). Amelie was England and wore a pretty dress to be a princess, and Caitlin was Mexico, we found a flowery, swirly skirt and an embroidered top, and Tony's sombrero. Once the power dropped out the girls got into their costumes and I gathered up the library books and we left as quickly as we could. (Still not quick enough to avoid feeling hot and sweaty and cranky before we left, but once we got into the car and got it cooled down everything felt a bit better). The power came on just before we left but seeing as we were ready to go we kept going. The girls were asked to take food from their country as well, so we went to the IGA to buy supplies - and it was closed due to the power outage. We went to Coldstream IGA and Caitlin got corn chips and salsa, we couldn't find anything that Amelie wanted to take. We really wanted scones but I hadn't felt up to making some. We went back to the Yarra Glen bakery and the best I could do was a tea cake, so at least we were taking something. We dropped the girls at Guides then LiAM and I went to the library, he watched some youtube videos and I read my book and it was lovely and cool and relaxing.
Once the library closed we sat outside and read/watched for a while longer, then went to the bakery again for LiAM to buy an apple cake - they didn't have any so the girl helped him decide what else to get (the girls who work there on a Wed afternoon know and love him) and he got a French Vanilla Slice instead. I also bought some chocolate milk for Amelie as she'd been wanting some all day. We picked Amelie up and went home to a house where luckily the air con had worked enough to cool it back down again (enough to be inside anyway). The kids played some minecraft and some more Lego superheroes, until Big Bang Theory was on at 7.30. We taped it so that we could watch with Caitlin when she got home, and it was a relaxing hour after a bit of a full on afternoon out. When it finished we watched a bit of Degrassi, which had some full on issues being discussed, so we talked about that a bit - standing up for people who are being victimised, and how hard that can be, especially when the person in the wrong is someone you are close to - and then watched Heartland. Caitlin was also playing a game on her iPad which requires amazing dexterity and quick reflexes, I love watching her because she's so calm and so good at it. I had a try and I'm a lot clumsier. She was trying to get to 10000 gems to buy a new sub-game and worked hard at it for ages yesterday, and eventually got there - she was so happy and really enjoyed the new game.
Amelie and I went to bed and she was going to watch Pokemon but got distracted talking to me, then the others came in and they were playing a game on my bed, and massaging my feet while we all chatted. We'd been talking about starting to read Brisingr again as we hadn't done so for ages, with the big kids doing more things in the evening they hadn't been wanting to stop and listen when Amelie was ready for bed. So we read a couple of chapters and it was great to get back into the story - we could all remember different bits of what had happened so far, so we were able to keep going from where we were up to and piece together the story.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
A day with friends
(I forgot to publish yesterday's post until I came to write this one, which means there'll be 2 published today).
Yesterday Amelie was up early and continued watching Pokemon Diamond and Pearl while I checked my email, did some quizzes, blogged, did some work on my photos, did some Auslan learning. LiAM got up around 10am and wanted to play Lego Marvel Superheroes, so negotiated with Amelie to be able to do that for an hour before we went out. Caitlin got up and watched them for a while and played on her iPad.
We left a bit after 11 to go to the H's, on the way we played the car game we've been playing on all our trips lately - counting makes of car rather than colour. LiAM loves to be Mazda, Amelie is usually Toyota (although yesterday Caitlin was and she saw at least 5 times as many as the rest of us.) I usually agree to be whatever the next car that passes us is - on the way to Yea on Monday I therefore got Maserati as my car to count - the kids agreed to let me pick the next one instead, so that I didn't get stuck on 1 for the whole trip. When we arrived LiAM and A immediately started discussing Minecraft and things they'd done in their worlds recently, and then played on and off during the day. Amelie and J went into the front room to play duplo and Caitlin chatted with us and then went to play on her iPad and play with O.
I had a counselling appointment so headed off to that after a cup of tea. The session was helpful and exhausting as usual - the exhaustion will pass and the help will continue to become more beneficial. On the way home I stopped in Lilydale to buy a birthday present for our friend S, because it was her 11th birthday. I also found some swimmers for Caitlin (although I think I bought a size too small, she's growing so quickly I keep underestimating her size when she's not with me). I treated myself to an eclair from Donut King - haven't had one of those for many many years and it was exactly what I felt like - and I'll probably be happy now to not have another one for many many more years.
H had just finished work so I gave her a lift home. When we got back Amelie and J were still playing duplo, LiAM and A were having a sword fight and then went outside to the trampoline and the hose, Caitlin had helped L move furniture around and fill the shelves. I stayed for another cuppa and a long chat, while the kids played.
Eventually we went home, and it looked like it was going to start raining - would have been such a relief on a 41 degree day. It fizzled out pretty quickly where we were, although when we got home there had been enough rain to leave the roads wet, it had stopped by then though.
I cooked dinner (pasta alfredo) and we watched the new episode of Big Bang Theory. I did some surveys on the computer and Amelie came and snuggled with me and helped me answer some of the questions. Tony came home while we were watching 'Here Come the Habibs' and I took Amelie to bed to watch more Pokemon - this series has lots of Piplup in it, who is my favourite, so it's an extra fun one to watch.
Yesterday Amelie was up early and continued watching Pokemon Diamond and Pearl while I checked my email, did some quizzes, blogged, did some work on my photos, did some Auslan learning. LiAM got up around 10am and wanted to play Lego Marvel Superheroes, so negotiated with Amelie to be able to do that for an hour before we went out. Caitlin got up and watched them for a while and played on her iPad.
We left a bit after 11 to go to the H's, on the way we played the car game we've been playing on all our trips lately - counting makes of car rather than colour. LiAM loves to be Mazda, Amelie is usually Toyota (although yesterday Caitlin was and she saw at least 5 times as many as the rest of us.) I usually agree to be whatever the next car that passes us is - on the way to Yea on Monday I therefore got Maserati as my car to count - the kids agreed to let me pick the next one instead, so that I didn't get stuck on 1 for the whole trip. When we arrived LiAM and A immediately started discussing Minecraft and things they'd done in their worlds recently, and then played on and off during the day. Amelie and J went into the front room to play duplo and Caitlin chatted with us and then went to play on her iPad and play with O.
I had a counselling appointment so headed off to that after a cup of tea. The session was helpful and exhausting as usual - the exhaustion will pass and the help will continue to become more beneficial. On the way home I stopped in Lilydale to buy a birthday present for our friend S, because it was her 11th birthday. I also found some swimmers for Caitlin (although I think I bought a size too small, she's growing so quickly I keep underestimating her size when she's not with me). I treated myself to an eclair from Donut King - haven't had one of those for many many years and it was exactly what I felt like - and I'll probably be happy now to not have another one for many many more years.
H had just finished work so I gave her a lift home. When we got back Amelie and J were still playing duplo, LiAM and A were having a sword fight and then went outside to the trampoline and the hose, Caitlin had helped L move furniture around and fill the shelves. I stayed for another cuppa and a long chat, while the kids played.
Eventually we went home, and it looked like it was going to start raining - would have been such a relief on a 41 degree day. It fizzled out pretty quickly where we were, although when we got home there had been enough rain to leave the roads wet, it had stopped by then though.
I cooked dinner (pasta alfredo) and we watched the new episode of Big Bang Theory. I did some surveys on the computer and Amelie came and snuggled with me and helped me answer some of the questions. Tony came home while we were watching 'Here Come the Habibs' and I took Amelie to bed to watch more Pokemon - this series has lots of Piplup in it, who is my favourite, so it's an extra fun one to watch.
Saturday, 11 April 2015
A double sleepover
Despite going to bed very late the night before the kids were all awake by about 9am (some much earlier). They continued to play Minecraft in S's world. Caitlin was feeling a bit tired and was getting emotional quite easily, so she had a shower and woke up a bit, then went to see if our neighbour was home. She came back to get S and they rode bikes over to visit. I got a call a while later to say Caitlin was feeling really dizzy and couldn't ride home, so I walked over and found her lying on the ground with the neighbours looking after her. I gave her some water and helped her take off the warmer parts of her clothes (it was 5 degrees when we woke up, but the sun warmed the day really quickly and it was getting hot) - she tends to over heat and get very dizzy so once she'd cooled off she felt a bit better and was able to slowly walk home.
She went to bed and had a good rest for a few hours while the others played Minecraft, watched The Lego Movie, and a Pokemon movie, and some Dance Academy, played on the trampoline, and had pokemon battles with their pokemon cards. Caitlin joined the others later in the afternoon and seemed much better. She worked on her loom bands for a while and they all continued to flit between Minecraft and playing outside.
Someone mentioned the Anzac biscuits the girls had had at our neighbours in the morning, and the others wanted to go over and get some. I suggested we make our own, which everyone was happy with. The boys and Millie helped. I had talked up the excitement of the bicarb bit, where it fizzes up when we add it to the butter - but it didn't fizz and it was very disappointing! I said we could do some painting with bicarb and vinegar to get our fizz fix once the biscuits were cooking.
I took bicarb, vinegar, water, trays, paper, food colouring, spoons, cups, jugs and straws outside, and started by spreading bicarb in the bottom of a tray, then mixing some food colouring and vinegar in a cup, and dripping a bit into the tray - it fizzed up beautifully, lots of blue coloured bubbles. From there the kids and I all experimented in our own way, the boys tipped large amounts of different coloured vinegar into the tray and got large bubbles and mixed colours, the girls used smaller amounts and created more specific pictures, we tried putting the bicarb on the paper in a pattern then fizzing it up with vinegar, or painting with a bicarb, water and food colouring paint and then fizzing that, or just mixing it all together in small and large containers - it was a lot of fun and everyone did their own thing for as long as they felt like.
R arrived with hot chips to share for tea, so we had a picnic in the back yard - throwing the ball constantly for Buckley so he wouldn't join us on the picnic rug, and the kids played on the trampoline and swings in between eating chips and then Anzac biscuits. As it got colder they moved blankets and pillows and iPads out to the trampoline and played and talked out there for a while. Both kids decided to stay overnight again, so R and I had a cuppa and a chat then she went home alone. The kids watched an episode of Dance Academy then Tony put the football on. We watched the football and talked about it and played Minecraft and I went and had a bath and read my book (The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater - like everything else she's written, I find it very hard to put down). After the football the kids put Dance Academy on again. LiAM had taken himself to bed earlier and the others watched a few episodes then fell asleep in their beds in the lounge room.
She went to bed and had a good rest for a few hours while the others played Minecraft, watched The Lego Movie, and a Pokemon movie, and some Dance Academy, played on the trampoline, and had pokemon battles with their pokemon cards. Caitlin joined the others later in the afternoon and seemed much better. She worked on her loom bands for a while and they all continued to flit between Minecraft and playing outside.
Someone mentioned the Anzac biscuits the girls had had at our neighbours in the morning, and the others wanted to go over and get some. I suggested we make our own, which everyone was happy with. The boys and Millie helped. I had talked up the excitement of the bicarb bit, where it fizzes up when we add it to the butter - but it didn't fizz and it was very disappointing! I said we could do some painting with bicarb and vinegar to get our fizz fix once the biscuits were cooking.
I took bicarb, vinegar, water, trays, paper, food colouring, spoons, cups, jugs and straws outside, and started by spreading bicarb in the bottom of a tray, then mixing some food colouring and vinegar in a cup, and dripping a bit into the tray - it fizzed up beautifully, lots of blue coloured bubbles. From there the kids and I all experimented in our own way, the boys tipped large amounts of different coloured vinegar into the tray and got large bubbles and mixed colours, the girls used smaller amounts and created more specific pictures, we tried putting the bicarb on the paper in a pattern then fizzing it up with vinegar, or painting with a bicarb, water and food colouring paint and then fizzing that, or just mixing it all together in small and large containers - it was a lot of fun and everyone did their own thing for as long as they felt like.
  |
| Explosion! |
 |
| A great afternoon to be playing outside |
 |
| Painting with bicarb paint |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)