Half term and Halloweeeeeeeen crafts and Dr Strange.

I personally face this time of year with dread. The school holidays and Halloween all at once, can mean the excitement and sensory overload. 

So I start the week quietly...well as quietly as the children ever allow. They are both fighting a cold, which means extra care is needed when handling their moods.

We do some maths and then I give them so quiet time before their friends call round to play.

Sam does his maths solo, whilst I exercise.

Owen and I do his together.

The boys played out all afternoon with the local children. It's still a bit tricky at times, so on two occasions I had to mediate due to misunderstandings. There appears to be a certain length of time where the children can cope, after which, they easily become overwhelmed. I have been trying to get them to self regulate but it's proving too hard for them, so I will make time limits next. 

We all get up full of colds and feeling decidedly lack lustre. Tempers are twanging easily. The boys are keen to do some pumkin carving. I manage to wrestle the large kitchen knife off Owen , who is waving it around dangerously, whilst assuring me, he knows 'exactly what to do'. I am all for consequences but draw the line at bodily harm. 'No knives without one on one supervision !' ..he pouts at me.

Li remind him he needs to cut a lid out first and draw him a guideline.

He finds using the melon baller a good tool for circles..and my heart rate lower.

Sam is struggling with the smell and sliminess of the pumpkin, but is still keen to day as much as he can.

He holds his breath....

Look mum..I am in Minecraft!

Sam is obviously feeling low today and struggles to stay focused on his maths problems. I often forget how a bug can really throw him off kilter. He manages his session but his mood is down today and he beats himself up. I spend a long reassuring him.

Owen flies through his sessions but he too is a donkey on the edge..we get through the morning by the skin of our teeth. It's free play this afternoon but I am not sure if they will venture outside, or if it is wise for them to do so! *the suspense*

We are all relieved to hear Ju jitsu class is cancelled today, I don't think either child or Blokey is up to going out. We do have a little visit from our friend with her saxophone and her Newfoundland PAT dog. 

We all have a run through on the sax and then Shadow and Gem go for a walk together.

The next morning Sam is up at 6 am, he's not sleeping well again due to his cold. He sits quietly ( so I know he's not well!) and plays solitaire whilst I do my exercises. Now both boys have chesty coughs and bright red cheeks, neither are up for doing the Halloween crafts I had planned and say they would prefer to just focus on their maths today. Sam decides to listen to music and enjoys working hard alone doing more sessions than usual with RM Maths. He's really powering through this section of work.

Owen manages to complete his work but is still finding it hard to focus. I examine it would be better if we abandoned activities today and just had quiet time and rested. Nearly everyone we know has this bug and our normal activity for this afternoon is cancelled..long that I was fit to drive the children today anyway. Things like colds tend to exacerbate my neuro pain, so I am just managing to function and feel like I could just sleep all day.

We finished our maths this month ring then did some Halloween activities.

We made bats with googly eyes.

Scissors are still a bit tricksy but skills are improving...

Cobwebs ...

A bit of self decoration with the googly eyes..like you do..

 We also made googly ghosts, then stuck it all on the windows.

It was now lunch time, so afterwards the boys called for their friends and went to the park to play football and basketball.

Blokey had told them, as I was having a 'day off' with Nanny , he would take them to see a movie they wanted at the IMAX in Chester. We showed them how big the screen was and they could barely sleep for excitement.

As expected they were up early the next day raring to go and Blokey added he would take them to a Mexican restaurant for breakfast before the film...more excitement.

They dropped me off in Chester where I was meeting my Mum ..they definitely thought they were getting the best part of the deal lol.

Autumn crafts, Maths, Pizza, science and Mexico

Monday morning we were up and out the house bright and early. Today we visited Nanny and Grandad  but first Blokey had to have a check up at the dentist. He dropped myself and the children off at a park near where his appointment was, and we had a chat and ran around till he was finished.

We spent the morning at my parents, Sam chatted away but Owen wanted to sit quietly with his iPad , he joined in now and again.

On the way home we suggested a Mexican restaurant to the boys. Despite their initial anxiety about 'going somewhere new', somewhere they weren't familiar with the menu, they both decided to give it a  try.

It was really cheery inside and we all liked the sombreros . Owen ordered a 'mocktail' and was delighted with it! Sam had a milkshake and we spent time explaining the menu. When our waitress came they boys enjoyed ordering  their own food.

The next morning Sam was up at 6am and really trying to rush me through everything at break neck speed. I had already been sick due to the severity of my neuro pain and was desperately trying to organise what we needed for our activities. ..needless to say, getting him focused took some time.

He wanted me to photograph the white board ..he was practicing his ticks.

Sam did maths ..once more he worked solo. *blinks*. He asked for help and I explained something he was stuck on and what he was meant to do, then he said 'right go away now mum'. 

I knew the craft activity would challenge Sam's sensory issues, and he did worry initially, but then really started to get into it more. Here he is using glue...yes glue..he also enjoyed ripping up the tissue paper that he's using to make his lantern. Whilst we are working, I talk about Diwali , which is celebrated on the 30th of October and Halloween.

Orbiting the Death Star light...

After Owen has finished his maths, I give him the same choices offered to Sam for his craft activity. He decides to make a couple of Hama bead designs, he is keen to try the glow in the dark beads.

First he does a skull, then he tries a couple of other designs, that sadly, don't work out how he wanted. I am not allowed to photograph those. 

Next he decided to make a penguin, with a glow in the dark tummy.

Whilst this is going on I make some bread dough, because Owen would like to try building his own pizza later.

Pizza making commenced at lunch time.

Owen chose 2 types of cheese, pepperoni , oregano, tomato and ham. I managed to dissuade him from pouring a good glug of chilli oil over the whole thing...I suggested he pour some in a dish and dipped his pizza once it was cooked...*phew*

Sam opted for the two cheeses, tomato, garlic butter and oregano.

'We are starving !'

10 mins later, their masterpieces are ready...they hop about excitedly.

In another 15 mins it's all been completely demolished and there are requests for doing something similar again 'very soon'. I tried this a while back but they didn't run with the concept..it's really lovely to see them get so much out of the activity this time.

In the afternoon the boys played together and Sam somehow managed to lock himself out of his PC. I couldn't sort it out , so they trundled off to jujitsu.

Wednesday morning and Sam is climbing the walls again with his ADHD. I manage stretch his breakfast out, to give his meds time to kick in. This way he is usually able to concentrate on his activities. He decides to start with maths.

Then he wants to look at the UK geography game we have. He likes reading out the destination details on the cards because they give interesting information about the places he's 'travelled' to.

Owen comes down and after his breakfast, he starts his maths program.

We then all play UNO together.

Then look up Mexico in the atlas.

And its capital.

After lunch I spend an inordinate length of time trying to unlock Sam's PC....he bounces up and down shouting random things at me...which helps when I need to concentrate....NOT. I am still unable to get it unlocked..and both boys decide to play against each other on their iPads.

Two very giddy boys again today, but at least they slept long enough to allow me finish my workout. Sam and I made pancakes first, then he worked on his maths whilst Owen polished off all the extra pancakes.

Owen was finding it incredibly hard to concentrate on his work and kept getting side tracked and making daft errors. We got through it 'eventually'. 

The boys then looked at the science book to decide which experiments they wanted to do. I couldn't do one because I need some supplies. So we looked at making rainbows.

 

Afterwards Owen checked on Orel the snail, whilst Sam set up a board game and brought the dustbins back into the garden.

They still very much enjoy Wildcraft, even so , Owen is all over the place and a bit manic.

There a are lots of 'Jazz Hands' ...

Maths first thing again today...we are aiming to do some every morning, as it appears to be helping them retain certain information better. I have found with certain subjects the children can easily for get or lose skills, so I am hoping this approach will help form those all important neural pathways.

Then Owen decided to make a list of jobs he wanted to do, then 'demand avoidanced' himself out of each of them. It was a loooooong hour and a half. 

In the afternoon we visited friends and played at the park.

The next day I wasn't feeling very well, so didn't get a heck of a lot done. I did however manage to cook and not kill anyone. We had a pizza making 'event' and the boys decided to list all the great things they liked about this: 

It's much cheaper than a takeout one.

We don't have to wait.

It tastes better.

We have fun doing it together.

We can put loads of toppings on.

There's not loads of packaging and no one has to drive here using fuel.

Sadly, despite the pizzas being epic, I forgot to get pictures.

The next morning we set out early to go swimming. Then did some shopping and dropped the boys off at the park for a quick play before lunch. Blokey set to work on the camper van and I caught up with some house work and gardening. 

After lunch the children played football and basketball with their friends, Blokey worked hard on the campervan and I cooked and cleaned.