Thoroughly exhausted.

So ten days since I last posted...seems more like a month!!!!

My birthday was the 15th and we had intended a walk and picnic along the canal somewhere in the sunshine that we had been promised...but we woke up to the most digusting, miserable looking day we have had for a long time. So we went off to the woods for a walk so that we would have shelter from the elements.
I had not really expected any presents on my birthday as we had only just bought Louis and my very expensive but well worth the money, walking boots, but I was pleasantly surprised with some gardening tools and gloves and two DVD's....The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.
I loved those programmes so much as a child, dare I say teenager? Its just the whole family thing that I loved. Wooden houses in the countryside. All a bit twee I know, but I love them never the less!
So we sat down to watch the Waltons after lunch...yes, as a family!!!! and half way through the second episode, I realised that the sun was starting to show through!!! Jonathan and I were becoming increasingly fidgety so abandoned the living room for the kitchen and eventually spilled out in to the garden.

And a birthday cake made by Rob...it is supposed to be a sunshine. Aren't I lucky! Lemon sponge with lemon curd in the middle. Yummy!!

Rob and I eventually snuck (is that a word?!!) away for a walk along the canal in th esunshine with Will and Louis, and left Tom to cook tea for them. We even managed to go to a village pub for a meal afteer putting the younglings to bed, leaving the oldies to watch a film and puppy sit!!!


So wow! What a wonderful birthday!


And so I wonder then, why I have been have such a personally wobbly week?
Unsettled and feeling low inside.

We attempted to move our kitchen into the dining room and make the kitchen in to a boot/utility room, which is a fantastic idea in theory but in practice, with out th emoney to get the sink fitted and a downstairs shower room installed, it wasn't going to work just yet. It would be a good plan though. Keep the mud in one room, and maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't feel so stressed out by being indoors?!!
Hmmm. I'll let you work that one out.

On Saturday afternoon, following the failed room swop plan, and having put all the coat hooks back up in the cubby holes and put all the stuff back that we had moved....yes, we had actually dragged the fridge from the kitchen in to the dining room just to see what it would feel like!!!!!
we went off to the woods to camp. Tom had gone off on Friday evening for an Explorer camp (almost too old for Scouts now) so it was just the 5 of us and the dog!!! Two tents and all the paraphanalia found its way somehow into the car, and off we went!

We found a suitable bit behind some fir trees for cover, and put up the tents and lit a fire. We cheated slightly this time by doing the main bulk of the cooking on a stove, but it was all good fun. Sleeping wasn't quite how I envisaged it though. I expected the wee one and the puppy to be a nuisance, but the older two to talk and mess about for a bit before iving up and going to sleep exhausted.....no!!!!! Will went to bed about 8.30 and we sent the other two off about 9.....Louis went in with us about 10. Will slept pretty well, only waking up once, and LOuis was an absolute star!!!!!! But those two boys? They seemed to talk ALL night......everytime I woke up, which was very frequently, I can assure you, I could hear them....yak yak yak
Then there were the badger noises, fox barking and a few pheasants squarking....
And at about 5.30 there was a load of noise which initially conjured up images of a tribe of indians on horseback hurtling along the track, but which I later realised was probably the farmer moving his sheep...or feeding time. It was the wierd war cry/yodling noise that I couldn't place!!!!

We got up at 6 and had a cup of tea or two before packing everything up and heading off home, thoroughly exhausted!!!
''But we couldn't sleep'' was all they could manage to come up with!!!

Most people would have gone home to have a relaxing day at home after that, but no, not us!!!
Off to the Hunter Trials to watch the novice section....some really beautiful horses and ponies jumping cross country jumps, a few of which we knew and others that we had seen the year before, but much improved! Jon has hopes to take Bob next year..........

And then, Will, David and I stayed home while they went fishing!!!! Tom came home exhausted from camp and cycling the 12 miles home on someone else's bike!!!

So a restful day on Monday, you would think, wouldn't you...
Jonathan and I took Bob out on an 8 mile ride.....me on my bike. We were seeing how long it would take us to hack over to our friends place to use her outdoor school.
Then a walk along the canal in the afternoon when Rob got home from work.

Tuesday. Must be a day of rest I hear you cry?!
Nope. A family bike ride, Louis included, over to our friends outdoor school so Jonathan could do a few jumps in preparation for a lesson later on in the week!!!
Will went on the back of Rob's bike and Tom towed Louis in the bike trailer!!!
Well, we had to make the most of the sunshine didn't we? It was 10 miles in total, and Rob took the other boys to the park while Jon used the school. I was really proud of Jon because he has never done that before. He did some 20 metre circles and canter work before doing a few jumps. He and Bob seemed really relaxed and worked really well, despite the heat. And boy it was hot!!! We only stayed 20 minutes, but at least we proved we could do it.
I spent a bit of time in the veggie patch after that, planting the runner bean plants and erecting their wigwams.
Yesterday, we aired the trailer tent so that we could advertise it...washing the inner tents and wiping over the cover. It looks to have wintered well, and I am tempted to kep it, but we have no tow bar anymore and the boys need the space in the front garden.
Then we had a picnic tea along the canal, after dropping the car off at the garage for its MOT etc
A couple of photos follow of eggs that were laid yesterday...one blank quail egg and a very small, strange shaped hen's egg that had no yolk.




Off to cook some lunch now, and then taking Jonathan for his riding lesson. Some more photos to upload later of the veggie patch and the ducklings out in the sunshine!

New blogging spot

No I don't mean, a new blog completely! Just a new time spot for doing such things. Be it reading or writing.
This is mainly thanks to Louis who is obviously much like having a new crawling baby that wakes early. When he wakes, or I wake or Rob's alarm goes off, i sneak off downstairs to let him out in the garden. Then I make a cup of tea and we go back into the living room where it is warm and he plays while I drink my tea and read my emails and do a bit of blogging. Well, that's the plan anyway!!!! Writing is proving to be much more difficult while wrestling with a 5 month old puppy who is all teeth and legs!!
I like the early mornings when everyone is still asleep and all you can hear is the birdsong. It's a bit later today and now I can hear cars and a few voices too. But generally it is quiet.
Soon I'll be sneaking off on early morning walks too, but for now I'm enjoying being able to sit in the living room with Louis and use the laptop undisturbed! I said undisturbed, Louis!!!
I have just been reading some blogs of other HE'rs that have much younger children than me, and it has occurred to me how much the school system has an effect on your lives, long after you remove them from it. I love the way their lives sound...they seem to have so much more time, or is it just head space to reflect upon things, or are they just better at letting things happen and observing such things?
Life here always seems to be so full of things we ought to do, things we need to do today, or things that we have to do before something else happens. Yet compared to others around me here, we seem so laid back and relaxed with no fixed agenda or plan for the days ahead. I know blogs are great at only showing others what you want them to see, but you can get a feel for people from their writing can't you. I want to be more relaxed. More laid back and more appreciative on a day to day basis of things around me. I do notice the nature around me but it always seems that I take it for granted now. Never really seeing what is there, as I would've done when my big boys were small.
That's my one down side to HE I think, that the littlest one is somehow missing out on precious slow walks, playing his way in the garden, going to the park, cooking with mummy and just doing things for him. Does anyone know what I mean?
I will muse further on that and lots of other things in the coming week...they are all off to Cornwall tomorrow in the Moon Buggy and I will be left alone with Louis for a much needed break. Trouble is, I have so many things I want to do!!!
LOL

Here's what we've been doing

My feelings of this morning have subsided slightly and thought I would upload these pictures now.



Louis has settled in really well and is proving to be the source of much hilarity. He is excellent at asking to go out to the toilet and we have only had a couple of accidents which have been due to us not seeing him ask. He has also been very good at night which I gather can be a real difficult time for pups...the first night we had a little whining, but each time I let him out and he squeezed out a little wee and then eventually settled for the night. Since then he makes a few noises but settles very quickly...thank goodness! I guess it is just because he is so exhausted from th edays activities here!! He has been to the local shop a couple of times, the park, the bridleway and even a short outing to our local woodland.


He is also looking forward to his first bike ride!!!


We went to a different farm shop the other day and they have piggies that you can go and see. I lurve piggies. They are so funny to watch!! David loves them too!!!



David and I had an afternoon to ourselves the other day and we managed to fit in lots of 'schooly' things. He finished his The Very Hungry Caterpillar colour in yourself book that he started a while ago. He wanted to get it finished for William's birthday but the last page was the butterfly and needed lots of work!!!



A few pages of words with the same vowel sounds which he did really well. The best he has ever done. The writing was coming more easily as was the spelling of the words. He was as pleased as I was!!



A little book about the life cycle of a frog which needed colouring and writing. These little books from Enchanted learning have formed a large part of the 'work' that I do with David.



Will wanted to do one of his own!




And here are our tadpoles that Jonathan collected the other day, well some of them. Some others had already hatched and he has taken them outside in a bigger container.


That just leaves me with an update on Tom's off road buggy...



The frame is almost there now.

He took the photos himself, so this picture must be of a bit of welding that he is particularly proud of!