Camper van, colds, the museum and coins.

Today both boys were grumpy with as they have colds. We did a bit of maths and they messed around with their own various projects.

Owen made some Hama bead creations and I helped him fix them to his bedroom door.

Blokey and I were still finishing jobs on the camper van. Him, hot water and shower system, me curtain making and general dogsbody. So the boys pootled around doing their own thing and then went out to play with their friends at the park. They both are still not well so very touchy and snappy.

The next day Sam was up at 3am, so I went for some fresh air before Blokey left for work. Both boys were finding things pretty tricksy, especially each other. I had arranged for friends to come over but their mate also had a fever so we cancelled. We managed a bit of maths before they both retreated to their respective corners of the house.

I am not sure if they will be able to go to jujitsu today, but they may pick up this afternoon. Well they went and had a good time but were wiped out when they got in and there were tears.

They slept in the next day and we're still a bit lack lustre but a little improved. We decided to cancel our afternoon plans in favour of a rest. So we headed off to the library to stock up on books. The boys did a Harry Potter based quiz whilst we were there..that went well, we got books, that went well...so maybe I should gloss over the monumental meltdown and bickering in the charity shop next door after..yes...lets do that...

..I am also glad I made the right decision about not going out later lol...they had lunch and retired to different rooms, which is the only way they can stop arguing at the moment.

The next day both boys felt much better and Owen read a passage from 101 Dalmations to Sam over breakfast.

They then quizzed each other on their understanding of what happened.

Owen practiced his writing, whilst Sam went for a shower.

Sam then came down, but was so excitable he gave himself hiccups.

This was his second attempt at writing because he wasn't pleased with his first..hiccups can be pesky.

The hiccup version.

Practicing his upper case letters.

Owen was now working on a Hama bead project.

Sam collected all the coins in the house and tried to find treasure using his book from the library.

In the afternoon we went to the Potteries Museum in Hanley, where we met some friends. We had a good look at the Staffordshire Hoard.

Sam found some pictures of coins on the Timeline.

We talked about how skilful the designs were on the goldwork.

We all had a close up look at the hoard through magnifying glasses, so we could see the finest details.

Next we went to visit the Spitfire.

Owen thinks it's hilarious that 'we painted targets on the side so the Germans had something to aim for'.

He then dressed as a frog and sang 'Mad World '.

And drew a cow.

On Friday I came down from my shower to find that Sam had set up his own work and was practicing his writing skills.

He chose a word for every letter of the alphabet.

Then he read some Sherlock Holmes on his Kindle.

Then we wrote out maths equations for each other to complete.

Owen did a Mystery Science lesson.

Then practiced his writing, using limericks for inspiration.

The next day Sam and I did a long walk before Brian went to work.

Hot, History, walking and Manchester

We started with some maths today..Owen first.

Then we  read a passage from 101 Dalmations and did a spot of writing.

Sam worked on his maths too.

And kept going till had got his writing how he wanted it.

Later they both played out with friends but it was so hot and tempers frayed.

The next day I suggested we get out into the woods. After some deep thinking, the boys made me pack a spare set of clothes, swim trunks, food, drinks and full face snorkelling gear. They were not dissuaded buy the fact we would be going home for lunch, that the stream is only shallow or that it's 10 mins drive from our house. I had a massive back pack and a hip bag...so resembled Laura Croft, but less glamorous and more hot and sweaty.

Here they are looking disappointed that the stream isn't a raging torrent....

I hope I don't have a terrible accident...we can only guess what the emergency services would think looking through my heaving back pack...

We did some walking and balancing.

And sheltered from the hot sun but walking under the trees.

...had a little paddle ..

It was still very hot!

Yes take a snorkel mother but I won't need sunglasses...here is Sam not squinting one bit...no sireee..no sunglasses needed..just the snorkel.

Back home the boys worked on their own projects before having friends round to play. After dinner they went to their jujitsu class. I would like to think they didn't bicker the whole time..but apparently they did. Sam has been worried about a display he's taking part in this weekend. I emailed Sensei and made sure Sam got to class early so they could have a chat. Sensei worked his magic, and Sam is happy to take part at the weekend now.

Sam through one of his all nighters, possibly because it was so hot. He had already had something to eat when I came down at 6am, so we went for a walk before Blokey went to work. Owen slept in. 

He's skipping up the road chatting his head off here.

Counting bees in the poppies.

More bees. He's like a Jack Russell , running away and back to me.

We get home and I show him some caterpillars in our garden. Neither of us know what they are and we are very amused by their Mohawks , so we spend time identifying them.

Sam works on his fractions next.

Then he goes off to do more to his animation project. 

Owen works on evquivalent fractions whilst he eats his boiled egg.

Then we do a lesson from Mystery Science about how plants can be changed due to careful breeding and selection.

Next I went to sort Sam's room out. It's becoming more and more impractical to use, as his things are scattered far and wide. He's also camped on the floor to sleep at the moment and I can hardly get through the door. Although he's asked me to clean his room, he gets more and more upset when I touch his things. It takes me over two hours to carefully guide him through the process of tidying it up. Every thing gets a good wipe over and I group all like items together so they are easier for him to find. He's been getting upset about not being able to find things, so hopefully this will help. There is now floor space for when his friends come over and the whole room feels calmer and organised. Despite his earlier wobbles, and keeping a beady eye on everything I touched, he's actually quite happy with how it feels now. We managed to throw some empty boxes away ( he wasn't relinquishing them willingly at first) but when I showed him what I had in mind he agreed.

This sent Owen in to a frenzy of tidying his own room before I even got to it. He threw a few bits out, stacked his books and all I really needed to do was give everything a good wipe over. He doesn't hoard as much as Sam and doesn't get sentimental over things like paper bags etc, so it's a bit easier with him.

Later the children go to play at the park and when the get too hot, pitch up at home with their mates and play in their bedrooms until dinner is ready.

This morning Owen is up first and watches some Crash Course lessons whilst eating his breakfast, then he feeds and cleans his giant snail.

Sam joins us, then he decides to work on Roman numerals and fractions.

We also have a good laugh looking at limericks and he copies one out.

Owen fancied a go at limericks too, so he read a few out and decided to copy this one into his book.

Next we do more work on fractions and the number system.

The children watched a lot of the Crash Course series. They are pitched just right for short attention spans, so they happily watch a lot of these.

The next day we had a hellish journey up the M6 to Manchester. We sat at a stand still for over and hour. 

Blokey took the boys to the Natural History Museum and I had my hair cut. 

We then had a walk round the city centre and decided to try a Brazillian restaurant. You help yourself to  the extensive buffet of salads and nibbles first.

Then you have a little green and red disk. If you have the green side showing , waiters bring and carve, different types of meat on skewers at your table. It was awesome.

Owen pretending to be grumpy, but he absolutely loved this style of eating and tried lots of new cuts and flavours of meat.

Even Blokey was stuffed.

For dessert, we took the boys to the French patisserie a few streets away. Over whelmed by the choice, Owen chose a packet of crisps. Sam had a huge chocolate cake but decided to eat it when we got home later, as he was still full from his lunch.

Here he is back home enjoying his cake, the profiterole on the top defeated him though and he had to leave that.

The next day the boys jujitsu club were doing at display at the summer fete of their last school. Sam was very nervous. I wasn't sure if he would want to go and was a tad apprehensive myself at the thought of seeing people who saw the children at their most vulnerable time.

We were all fine and I talked to some of the parents I used to know. Not that anyone recognised me at all, I am so different to 5 years ago and the children's and my confidence has grown immensely. Despite worrying previously I found it a nice life affirming experience.

The boys did really well in their display and it was good to see them over coming their nerves and putting on a great show,

The next day was spent with T he boys playing with their local friends both at our house and at the park. Blokey and I worked on the camper van as we are hoping to go away again soon.