Newest Beaver in the Colony

Whether real beavers live in colonies or not, I couldn't say, but Beavers (pre-cubs) are apparently organised that way over here. Alex had his official enrollment tonight after several weeks' attendance. He had to say the Beaver Promise ("I promise to do my best to be kind and helpful and to love God" ) and the Beaver Motto ("Fun and Friends") and then he got his scarf and woggle (which word I promise I did not make up - it's the thingy which slides over the scarf to keep it joined up) and a certificate. And voila - Beaver. It was really sweet, actually...

Happy 4th!

Bathroom...

Not quite a "before" shot - more a "partway through the first day and reaching the worse-before-it-gets-better stage" shot. The amazing thing is, at some point, someone had painted large sections of the room in that gobsmacking green. Wow.

Happy Father's Day!

Sofas, so good

One of the many changes in the house in June - the arrival, finally, of the ordered sofas. They came yesterday and are lovely and comfy - and of course, look like proper grownup furtniture rather than something from student digs, which is what the other sofas were beginning to resemble...

A very tired Sarah poses with them - tired because she had just moments before returned from her week-long school journey - 4 nights away and yes, consequently not a huge amount of sleep.

Mmm, cookies

Brace yourself

Sarah was surprisingly willing to be photographed wearing her latest accesory - a "functional appliance" type of brace (though she requested I photograph only her mouth - typical!). She has a medium large overbite and these will help correct that. Children's orthodontia in the UK is covered under the NHS if their particular issue is high enough up on the scale - Sarah's overbite is big enough to make it under the NHS (otherwise, we'd not be going down this route - not yet, anyway). The brace is a funny appliance - it's like two retainers with big plastic blocks on them. The blocks sit in such a way that you can't close your mouth unless the bottom jaw is brought forward a bit - basically, what it does is train the jaw, over time, to come forward and thereby corrects the bite. She's very tolerant of the appliance and the whole wearing braces thing, which makes me very proud of her - a grownup attitude. Of course, she was involved in the decision - we wouldn't have forced her to wear them! Better now than later, when she is interested in boys and self-conscious about her looks...

We'll let you use the word "hot" today...

I often give Geoff a hard time about the word hot - having grown up outside DC, I find it's not really hot until it hits at least 25C/80F or so, and not "very hot" until nearly 32C/90F. Geoff sees things differently, so I like to tease him about it. Of course. But today was hot. Lovely, but hot. Not sure what the high temp was - probably about 25 or 26, but it was sunny all day and just, well, great. Tomorrow looks to be the same. They are predicting a summer full of weather like this - please please please let them be right. It's about time we had a good summer!

Scenes from my day...

Alex decided to play a big game with all his stuffed toys today. He has a lot (as you can see) - he really adores them, and although most of them have rather basic names (catty, bear, dino, froggie, brownbear...) they often have personalities and complex familial units. At least he plays with them!



And then, we have dinner - pizza night. The advantage to making your own is that no one argues over toppings. Needless to say, neither pizza nor wine was left at the end of the evening...

New shirt

I was commanded to take a photo of her with the new shirt (and new socks), so of course, being the obedient mummy I am, I did. The other daughter, would of course run screaming from the camera (or more likely, make a face and hide behind her hands). Yes, they did come from the same parents, not that you'd know it...

Scenes from Cannizaro Park

Alien in the garden

Here's my little alien, set to go off to school today... They are having a special writing week at school, and arrived Monday to find an alien spacecraft crash-landed in the school field. Activities this week have been based around that and around the book Aliens love Underpants; today there is an alien fashion show - there were some really cool costumes at school this morning - most of them showing a little time and ingenuity on the parents' part, rather than a lot of money spent - always the best, I think. One girl had her hair done brilliantly - little knots on top of her head and each one was wrapped with a coil made from coloured pipe-cleaners, so it looked like she had a head full of springs - really clever. We were going to paint Alex's face green, but his class has a swimming lesson this morning, so that option was out.

The older kids have had a spy mission theme, which has also been going well, I think, but doesn't involve dressing up...

Olivia's Sunflower

Planted as a seed at a Brownie day in February (I think - must have been, as my mother was here at the time) - and now, ta da! Not a super tall one, but very pretty. Sarah's is behind Olivia and is only just beginning to bud. There is also a bean plant (obscured by Olivia) which Alex planted in school, also in bloom. He already has plans to harvest the beans...

A night out...

From a rather good (and very unexpected) cover of Girl from the North Country onwards, it was a good show. A good mix of new and old, and if some favourites were left out (Mrs Potter, A long December, Omaha - not that I expected them to play it, mind you) others were included (Anna Begins, A Murder of One, Miami). Sarah and I were both pleased to hear them play Accidentally in Love, the incongruity of which always - still - amuses me. Verdict: highly enjoyable and my goodness, I wish I had as much energy as Adam Duritz...

• Girl from the North Country (Dylan cover - I hope someone youtubes this! (ok, apologies for turning youtube into a verb, lol))
• Cowboys (Sunday AM)
• Anna Begins (August)
• Children in Bloom (Satellites)
• New Frontier (Hard Candy - and I have to say, even in concert, this song still sounds like a dorky 80s throwback)
• Good time (Hard Candy)
• I Dream of Michaelangelo (Sunday AM)
• Recovering the Satellites
• Miami (Hard Candy)
• A Murder of One (August)
• Speedway (Desert)
• Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2 soundtrack)
• Rain King (medley with Mr Jones and I get by with a little help with my friends; featuring Blind Pilot and the Hold Steady) (August)
• Holiday in Spain - encore (Hard Candy)
  

Photos I find on my camera...

Often, what I find is photos of various toys arranged in various ways. Once there was one of a bunch of skittles arranged in piles by colour. Tonight's offering is a bit more interesting - he was being done up by his sister. A patient, tolerant boy!

Wicked!

What can I say - fabulous.

A trip to Kew Gardens

more photos over here...

Daddy Panda is naughty

In our house, Daddy Panda is frequently the instigator of all manner of trouble. Here you can see him with the Family of Panda - and Lucky the Monkey and a penguin sidekick. They are planning the great chocolate Easter Egg Heist...

...and here he is, hiding under the sofabed with his booty. Bad Daddy Panda.

Easter Eggs

Hoorah for Waitrose, who were selling pastel shelled eggs this week - in themselves, they were mostly a kind of boring pale grey blue, but they were very light in colour, which means that, unlike our normal dark brown eggs, they can be dyed with food-colouring. I hard-boiled them yesterday, and today, we have brightly coloured eggs. Hoorah. Of course, now I'll be eating hard boiled eggs for a week - well, Sarah likes them and between them, Olivia and Alex like them - she only eats the yolk, he only eats the white. At least they like the opposite bit to one another!

Prize rabbit

At school, they have been selling raffle tickets to raise money for NSPCC - 20p per ticket, with a variety of Easter Goodies as the loot. My son, the chocoholic, was very pleased to win this lovely specimen, though I'm fairly sure it won't last until Easter - it barely lasted until after dinner! And it's only strict regulation that will keep it from being eaten in one go, I think.