Baking, pixel art, New foods and parties with dear friends

Owen decided to help his dad walking the dogs, it's a glorious, if slightly misty morning here. The boys then did their own choice of activities whilst I sorted some paperwork and chores out.

Later we went to the park for a picnic and to celebrate a friends birthday.

Owen was very taken with all the Hamma figures, hats and moustaches .

Sam got the squirrel to eat out of his hand...he was very excited.

Sam wanted to bake brownies this morning, we didn't have any eggs so I found a vegan recipe for him. We subbed the eggs for flax but kept the butter in ours.

They weren't pretty..( don't tell but I forgot to take them out the oven soon enough) but tasted nice..not sure I will convince Sam though.

Well they both proved me wrong and gobbled three down.

Since Owen fell in love with a friends Hama bead creations yesterday, we looked at some designs and ordered the beads...TBH I have to suck it and see...we have many abandoned projects in our wake and these are fiddly for a dyspraxic boy. *scared face*. I resisted the urge to splurge on masses of gear ..just.

Owen and I did some pixel art together and then worked on some fractions on khan academy.

In the morning Owen and I did some Khan Academy. First we looked at maths, then we learnt about mummification.

Next I showed him a video about the Pixar Studios and all the different jobs and processes that make up his favourite films. He was fascinated and asked to watch more.

We listened to a talk by Rob Jenson and how he got interested in animation and came to work at Pixar. After which Owen wanted to see some examples of the lessons available to learn more.

He's now saying he wants to learn more about this, so I have suggested we work through the series of lessons together. I was one of those great moments when a link I found sparked a big response..so I am going with it.

Sammy wanted to do Khan and did really well until long division ..to many processes for him to remember ..so we made a game out of it and mixed it all up a bit. After that he wanted to play a money game. He decided to be the banker for the first time ever.

Looks so innocent doesn't he?

He then threw the dice on the floor and was robbing the bank when I came back up from under the table! He's got this bankers role to a fine art already.

There was no remorse and he even tried his had at some insider dealing and shoplifting too...little Scamp!!!!

Owen was up early to walk the dogs with his Dad again, he commented on how much colder it feels today. After breakfast we looked at some more Pixar lessons, this explained how important maths is in computer animation.

It showed us How they make blades of grass using the mathematics of algebra and parabolic arcs.

And we made our own arc and looked at working out the mid points using algebra.

Once Owen had grasped the main idea he decided he wanted to move on. The next bit is more complicated and aimed at older children so I am not sure how he will feel about carrying on and I want it to stay fun for him.

We then moved on to looking at 'Spigot' and 'Bukkit' in relation to hosting a server. After looking at the exploaination we researched how to buy and set up a basic host server. We have a very basic one here of our own, but the boys want to branch out and eventually have a mini game server of their own. We decided it looked totally do able but will work through it together and the boys are discussing what mini games to host still. We see this as a work in progress and we are doing it a bit at a time. 

Finally Owen and I did some work on multiplication using decimals. Much like Sam he's finding multi process maths difficult to navigate..he has the knowledge to do it but needs help sequencing the order of the processes. So I just do a bit at a time, step by step and try to keep it fun.

Sam and I played a few games of chess:

I really thought I might beat him this time...but I didn't ..however I did give him a bit of a scare at one point ..blah, ha, haaaaaa.

As Sam has the 2nd part of his assessment tomorrow, so we talked about what would be happening. He's a bit nervous, particularly as some of it is better if I am not in the room with him. We have decided I will come in till he feels at ease and then I will wait the other side of the door. The Psychologist has agreed if it's really too hard for him to be left I can stay, but I am guessing he will be ok once he's warmed up a bit to her.

I showed him a new app which guides you through social skills. You have to pretend you are helping an alien get use to interacting and reading body language. It was a great laugh...Sam amused me by knowing what the alien is expected to do..but then said to me ' but I wouldn't actually do that myself' and chuckling. So tomorrow could be a whole ball game of mixed messages ..hmmmm lol.

It's an early start tomorrow, which will be a challenge for the family, I am so glad Blokey has the day off to help me with the morning routine and driving.

Off really early and despite the boys reluctantly being in the car when we needed them to be, there were all sorts of hold ups and we were still late and feeling fraught for the appointment. 

Sam and I did the assessment and both consultants agree that a diagnosis of ASD/PDA in addition to ADHD and SPD..phew..done..Sam was a star.

Whilst we were talking to the specialist, Owen and Blokey spent time looking around Leamington Spa.

We were all tired the next day, so we pottered about at home, baking, playing and chatting. In the evening Blokey took the children to the cinema to watch the Mazerunner two.

Dog walking , then swimming this morning. I did some work in the garden and filled the wheelie bin with weeds and hedge cuttings.

Sam decided he wanted to go to the Food festival today 'to try new things', Owen was keen, if slightly nervous and the weather was more like July than October, so off we went.

There was a circus workshop

The boys tried Churros, nachos, Thai and loved the Oatcake barge. 

Initially nervous they went back for seconds!

Bacon and sausage oatcakes..again nervous but ate the lot!

Real icecream..new flavours sampled

There were lots of things overcome today, crowds, queues, lots of smells and noise..I was so proud of them and even more pleased it was their idea. A great afternoon.

We had some good news this week that Blokeys employer have agreed to flexible working hours. We are very happy and it will be a trial period of 3 months, if we can all work together it will be extended. I am I little concerned that the days he works will be long ones, especially over the winter months and hope it doesn't prove to taxing for him. The good thing about it being a trial is we all have a change to tweak things if it proves problematic.