Trailer, tree cards and tweetie pies.

This is Tom showing off his bike trailer which he has evry right to be proud of! He used the other one as a model and then welded this one together from box section, using the same design, even down to the spring on the tow bar to absorb the impact of the bumps. On it is his homemade CB aerial...made from tent poles and a length of wire...which actually works!!! I couldn't believe it!

And this is my set of tree/leaf cards that I made using a template from a fellow blogger and home educator. I bought a set of pdf files which she then duly sent through to me which has lots of lovely Montessori resources to print. But typically, when I buy anything, there was something which didn't go quite right!!! A couple of the pictures were showing on the screen normal but were printing out with a second, smaller version inset on the main picture...ugh Why me? I tried evrything: printing all the pages again, printing just the afflicted pages alone, using the other laptop, she sent me the file through seperately but still it didn't work!!! Then she very kindly redid the the ones that were causing the problem as a new file and sent it through. Then it worked fine!! How lovely of her. Thank you Sarah!! But how totally bizarre! Here they are...ready for taking to HE camp! Notice the use of another Soap Nut bag!!! Any donations gratefully received...I have lots of ther ideas to make now ;-) And on a sadder note, this is the sight that greeted me this morning when i went to check on the Pekin who is sitting diligently on the Quail eggs.

Poor wee thing. And I don't know why!! It obviously hatched over night and got too far away from mummy to keep warm, but notice the speck of blood? Did the Pekin take one look and say that's not one of mine and reject it? Did she peck it? Then I realised that there are only 5 eggs left under her....there should have been 7. No sign of shell, or anything. Do we have an intruder? No room for a rat to get in but a mouse could. But they don't take eggs do they? Or as Tom suggested...a snake? In our garden? After a quail egg under a hen?

Or did she stand on them and they broke and so she ate them? Which is a much more likely story I think.

So only 5 possible left...I have risked moving her this morning into a solid box that Jonathan made for his ferrets before, so that nothing can get in, the babies can't go too far and so I can just lift the lid to see what's going on. She seems to have settled back on her eggs again fine.

And we're going away on Saturday morning too...why is life so tricky sometimes?

My hugely talented, yet totally modest husband's creation and other photos...

This is the birthday card that Rob drew for me whilst I was in the dining room pressing and sewing Will's jumper... Isn't it great? I love all the little details...obviously personal to me, but I thought that you would all appreciate it. Louis on my shoulders, chicken as a roll mat, carrot bullets, duck grenades, spade weapon with pile of MUD !!!! Ok I'll go to compost, but thats it! It's fab isn't it. Trying to persuade him to do a series for greetings cards...what do you think?

And here are the ducklings, out in the sunshine the other day....they have grown so much! Two weeks old now and I struggle to hold all four in my hands together now to move them!

Tom is now constructing his own CB aerial out of some old tent poles and wire reclaimed from a skip...following some instructions found on the internet. His other CB aerial has managed to put out a signal string enough to be heard 45 miles away!!! He has been learning the CB language and has been communicating with a number of people. It's a good job that he sensible enough to know who to talk to and who to avoid!!! A lot of his 4x4 mates have them so there is a kind of network I guess. Everyone knows everyone!

Tom is off today with Scouts/Explorers for St George's day celebrations. They needed to make a sedan chair strong enough to carry an Explorer...so instead of a wooden one, Tom welded one together from box section and then spray painted it. I have no photo as yet...but I'm hoping there'll be some later on to share with you all. He really is doing well with the welding. The other day he used his trailer that he has made for his bike to take 2 bales of hay down to the field so I didn't have to get the inside of my car covered in hay! I just wish I'd got the camera out.....it really was brilliant to watch!!

Jonathan's riding lesson was a huge success too.....he got to go out in the cross country paddock and Bob and him did brilliantly. Huge tree trunks, tyres, solid walls, poles over a dip and the bank....all like he had been doing it for years!!!! The only hiccup was the ditch...Bob was not going through that for love nor money...not even following me!! So practice needed there but the bank was fantastic!!! They work so well together...a real team. Always brings a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes when I watch them jump. I do hope that we can get him in to a competition some time. His teacher said that he would certainly be capable of it.

David is after a pair of bed socks to take to HE camp next weekend so I'd best be off and get the wool out....now the question is, to machine, or not to machine?!

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!