Reading, animals and Benny Hill.....

A few piccies from the last month...

Ginger hanging hearts decorated with tubes of icing...a belated christmas present from Han...thank you!!! They were lovely and the boys all enjoyed having a go. These are Tom and Jonathan's ones. I was a little tardy in picking up the camera so David had already munched his!!
David and I have been looking into World War II these last few weeks. It started with a flicker of interest last November following Remembrance Day, and then we watched 'The 1940's House' on DVD. It is a Channel 4 programme from 2000 where a family lives for 2 months in a house decorated and fitted out as it would have been in 1939. They experience the clothes, the food, wash day, rationning, the black out and air raids (only pretend of course!!!). So here he is modelling the gas mask we made (coloured as it would've been for a toddler...we felt it was more interesting!!)

We also made a label that the children all had to wear like a luggage label, tied through their button hole, and a clothing coupon book. He has been really getting into it and so a trip is tentatively planned to the Imperial War Museum in London. A trip on the train...but it seems so expensive!!! We have also been looking at old money, of which we have a few (of the lesser coins) and we even had an old penny with Queen Victoria on it from 1898!!!! Unbelievable that it is over a hundred years old. Oh yes, and he has been wanting to wear the clothes too. The blue shirt from a charity shop, coupled with some old (dare I say it?) school trousers and a pudding basin haircut, with a tank top on the way knitted by granny. He really does look the part!!!

I got the boys making pom poms the other day too! This bright red one is David's and Tom, made a lovely pink one that he has been wearing around his neck like a necklace and calling it his bling!!! Such confidence...he even wore it to Explorers!!!! This from the boy who wouldn't wear a coat to school because noone else did!!! Hurrah for HE!!!!

We've been making a little progress on the reading front too. Its quite amazing that when I read Harry Potter or Spiderwick aloud, he can correct my pronunciation mistakes or tell me what comes next, yet he cannot read the words for himself. But progress is being made and he has started asking so many questions again....what does this mean, what does that do, why did he say that, etc etc I am just so grateful for audio books to satisfy the boys love of books. I just cannot read to him as much as he would like to listen!

I still sometimes feel that I am not doing enough for him, but with 4 boys at home, one not quite 3 going on 6, it is impossible to have the energy or oomph to do all the things that I would like. It is the reading that I worry about the most. He has a real love for books, both fiction and non fiction and what a world would open up to him if only he could read!! So we are trying to concentrate on that at the moment, but I am struggling to find the key. *sigh*

But then you only have to listen to the news or look at the local school kids (not all of them obviously) to know why you don't send your children to school.

We have had quite a fair amount of stress in our house this last little while too, with the horse being a big part of it, closely followed by the dog. The pony was being fed haylage by the lady we share the field with, which is like rocket fuel for a pony like Bob. We tried talking to her, we tried ignoring it, but it all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when Bob was just so hyper that Jonathan just couldn't get on him. He was rearing up and all sorts and Rob just couildn't control him. A very frightening experience for all concerned, but basically it is down to feeding issues not the pony. So we have moved him to a field nearer to us, sharing with 3 other ponies which is great but it is on a 'try it for a few months and see' arrangement. But at least he is not being over fed now and will perhaps lose a bit of weight...with Spring fast approaching, laminitis is a very real threat to him, and we just cannot afford to have him go down with that and be unrideable in the process. Ugh. If only that woman knew what she has done.

So one stress dealt with, we hope, and one to go. Sophie has herself become a little unmanageable but we had put it down to her being a bitch and being in season. But things just don't seem to be settling down. I mean she isn't a lost cause, she would certainly be trainable for the right person, but I don't think that person is me. Or should I say, us? As a family we are quite noisy and the boys are, or well, can be, quite boisterous. When we go out to the woods or wherever, they tend to go off an do their thing, and quite frequently we are in several groups, which she as a shepherding dog doesn't like. She wants to have everyone in check, in the right place and can be quite protective of us. It is just in her nature, but I mean, do we look like we need protecting? She is fine with people as a rule, but other dogs can be quite a problem and it is making us all uneasy and worry about what we are doing, where we are going and to some extent it is stopping us from doing things that we would normally be doing.

So we have got to the point that we feel we are not the right owners for the dog. It is very hard, because I love my Sophie to bits, as do we all, and she is fantastic at home. No chewing, no seperation anxiety (yes, dogs get it aswell), she is great with the chickens and the children. She is a fabulous guard dog as she looks and sounds the part, but we want a dog that we can take out with us and be a part of it all. Not one that we worry if we see a dog approaching. As I type this, she is sleeping on the rug in front of the fire and is just the most perfect dog in the world, but she needs a firm hand and, as I already have my hands full, I think that the firm hand will have to be somebody elses. I hate making decisions. I hate being beaten. I am useless at giving up and admitting defeat. But I think this time I will have to.

Spring is fast approaching and the season table is changing from this

to something a little more green looking.

I have been making snowdrop fairies from felt, and a sun from clay. Photo's to follow soon.

I have also been knitting socks. Well, it started from an idea Jonathan had about making rabbit skin slippers, following on from his rabbit skin knife case that he made. The fur is so soft that he fancied the idea of rabbit skin pants!!!!! But I suggested slippers....boring old me! So I started knitting an upper so that he could make the soles for them, and then I thought I 'd have a go at socks. A very simple pattern from a book called The Children's Year that can be adapted for any size of foot quite easily! I'm not totally sure about socks for inside shoes but they would certainly keep feet warm in the house, or in bed, or for little people being carried or in pushchairs.

Speaking of keeping warm in the house, our bedroom is so cold at the moment with the freezing temperatures as we all enjoy the beautiful wintry weather, that we have had to sleep in the living room on a mattress. Our room is above the kitchen which is an extension, and was built with no heating in it and has three walls exposed to the elements...so the 2 rooms are absolutely freezing. The kitchen is bearable during the day, as the oven is on at least on for some of it for bread and cakes. Thats another thing...how come a huge batch of bread and scones still only last one day?!!!! Thats the trouble with having 4 boys I guess.

Anyway back to our fffffrrrrreeeeeeeezing cold bedroom. I swear that is as cold in there as it is outside, just without the wind chill factor!!! We have an electric oil filled radiator but it would need to be on full blast all night and as we are in a bit of a financial state at the mo, and I begrudge giving Eon any more money than I have to, we have decided to camp out in the living room next to our lovely open fire which burns free logs. Not exactly a normal thing for people to do is it, but then, we are NOT normal!!!

This is Jonathan helping Will eat his tea up, having already cleared his own plate. I wonder why?Aaaaah, now I see. He's looking forward to eating his peppermint creams he made earlier!!! What he doesn't know is that he still has to get through a bowl of semolina!!! He he!!
The boys have been loving the snow...although we have only had a few inches, they really have made the best of what we have had. So, a quick video for a giggle just so you know its not all bad... Make sure you have a large audience and the volume is up!!! It is a real classic.