Danke Schoen

Sorry most posts seem to begin with the same words but... Today I'm thankful for.. my 2 year old having a fun morning out at a lovely park with my mum while I had a nice morning in school doing things such as chatting with 6 year olds about how confusing it is that 'blue' isn't spelt 'blew' or 'bloo', spinning and twirling with 4 and 5 year olds to some classical music and singing Away in a Manger getting faster and slower depending on where I held my hand :) The puppets didn't go down so well (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they went down too well..) so I moved on fairly speedily from them in the end! Also enjoyed extended playtime with reception as ever :) Thankful for all these things :)

For stealing a bit of book-time while 2 year old slept at lunchtime. For getting some housework in with him this afternoon. For a calm time at my parents' after school while 2 year old had a bath and 5 yr old played happily with his knights and castle (which we built there and I'm not sure how I'm going to transport it back to our house now becasue it's pretty sizeable..). For the yummy meatballs we had there and the fact there are enough left over for 5 yr old's lunch tomorrow :) For the children getting to sleep without it being unbearably stressful - I managed to keep my cool through the hyperactive slot (thank you God!) which seems to have appeared this week between teatime and bed..

I'm planning on introducing a quiet, concentration-requiring activity time in this slot because it seems to be needed to help them wind down rather than up. A friend this week suggested blue playdough with lavender essential oil in it - certainly sounds therapeutic to me :)

Merci!

Today I'm thankful for my mum coming round and cleaning for me while I was out!! And for the lovely time my 2yr old and I were having at our freind's house at the time. For her hospitality and child-friendly house :) For the children praying for each other in 'Bible Focus' (assembly) this morning - always like that - very touching :) For my 5 yr old having fun out at his friend's house for tea after school. It's the first time he's done that without me; I didn't even have to pick him up from school to take him there because the other mum took him! 2 yr old and I did join them later because we wanted some company too! Thankful for the playdough fun we had together in the meantime and for the tidying/sorting I got done this afternoon. For the children getting off to sleep quickly.

And that I get to do music with reception - lots of fun! Planning for it now - think we'll explore the sounds our voices can make, maybe using puppets, and respond to some classical music with our bodies :) Might write another little song with them as well; was fun last time we did that - they made one up to the tune of I'm a Little Tea Pot, but all about the toddler in the room who was with us! It's all about enjoying music and experimenting with our voices :)

Flippin' wee

Today I'm thankful for the warm bed I'm about to get into. I'm thankful for my parents helping with the kids this evening and feeding us some delicious food. For lovely sunny, crisp weather. For a fixed toilet flush. And for fresh bedding that I managed to get on amidst hyperactive activity. It got wee'd on as soon as I'd put it on but it had taken so much effort I don't care; it was only in the corner at the foot end anyway... Neeeed sleeeeeeeep...

The day before tomorrow

Thankful the lessons I was doing went well today. For Caroline looking after my 2 year old for the first hour. For my mum coming and getting keys cut for them so she can call in every so often and help with my cleaning when I'm out :) For Lorna having us round for play and tea after school, and our children really enjoying playing together pretending to be a little family on Christmas night/morning, putting the stockings out and opening them :)

Very tired now. Night night!

Liverpool

Had an action-packed day today! Thankful the kids slept relatively well last night so I had sufficient energy for it! Thankful for my parents' church as somewhere to take the children this morning early enough to provide entertainment for the slot in the day before heading off to Liverpool, which is what I was excited about yesterday :) Thankful 2 yr old slept on the way and 5 yr old happily listened to James and the Giant Peach!

Saw the new floor in the hall of our house there - very pleased with it - much better than all the cracked tiles that greeted visitors before! Thankful that it's done well and I like it :) Thankful for 5 yr old's friend's invite to his birthday party which is the main reason we went over - was lovely catching up with those friends, and nice that the kids happily played on the equipment while I chatted :) Thankful for lovely friends having us round for tea and a play afterwards, who live minutes away from the play centre we had been at for the party, which was with a different set of friends. The food and company were delightful as ever :) And thankful for a straight-forward journey home with one sleeping child and one listening to The Famous Five :) Finally, thankful bedtime was successful despite a few tired tears. Thank you God for all the good things in my life, and for being with me through the less so xxx

Thankfulness and kids work logisitics! (Yes they can go together!)

I went into the lounge earlier to deal with the inevitable carnage of an unsupervised playdough session only to find the playdough NOWHERE in sight. This was worrying! I then found where my 5 yr old had put it, thankfully all in one clump - sealed in an airtight container in the fridge! How sweet is that! That definitely made me feel thankful!

I'm also thankful for the amazing wooden castle with kngiht figures that my friend gave us today, and that my parents helped build it (it had lots of pieces to assemble)! I'd been thinking the kids would like one but haven't had the money to spend on one. My 5 yr old loves it! My 2 yr old's quite excited too :) Hopefully we won't end up in the same situation as its previous owners who fell out over it all the time, hence it being passed on..

I'm thankful that my 2 yr old had an early nap which meant we were able to call the Crucible theatre last minute and get tickets for today's final showing of The Hare and The Tortoise which was on at what would otherwise have been his naptime :) I'm thankful too, that my mum paid for it and the parking! It was good fun and really intimate, in the 'Studio'. Just two actors in it, one of them a talented musician and the other extraudinarily talented at being animated - I was awe-struck by her facial expressions! She was the tortoise. As we entered the theatre there was a bundle in the middle of the set, which we were sitting around, and it turned out to be her! My 5 yr old loved it! Thankful for that :) My 2 yr old was relatively engaged as well; I'm thankful he sat quietly content the whole time, and that we had healthy snacks which helped!

I'm thankful that we're in such a child-embracing church! I took the kids to an informal family prayer activity gathering this afternoon, and am going to make a family prayer appointment for us all where the hope is that the kids in church will receive words of affirmation and hope for their future from their heavenly Father, and the parents will be helped to see their kids through God’s eyes and be able to see the big picture for their children's lives :) Also love the whole no-pressure ethos re parent rota's for covering the children's groups on Sunday mornings :) - to quote the email from the children's groups co-ordinator, "..if there is any reason why you are unable to help in the groups, or if you do not regularly attend here, just let me know and I’ll take you off the rota. Similarly if there are particular weeks that you are unable to do, ..then let me know and I’ll take that into account when putting the rota together." This air of grace helps me want to help and also to feel valued as a person not just as a need-filler :) I would like to think that it won't negatively affect others on the rota too much if some parents stand down for a term or more (meaning others may have to step up more than they otherwise would) because in another season of life we will no doubt have different ones of us helping the others out as situations change for the better or worse in each of our lives. It's a big church with a lot of children and every week seems to be different so I'm really impressed that they manage to remain so flexible and gracious - especially in this area :)

Finally I'm thankful that Josh got his train no probs this am and that I got the kids to bed successfully by myself :) Oh, and that I have an exciting day to look forward to tomorrow!

I hope and pray that anyone reading this (which may well be no-one!), is able to think of things they feel thankful for xxx

Lovely weather

My 5 yr old dictated a thank you letter to me today on one of his new pirate notelets :) It was to one of his friends at school who I'll call Bob. He was thanking Bob for various things; primarily the fact that Bob 'lets' him play in his car after school most days, but also for the things Bob sometimes makes for him in school and the present Bob gave him for his birthday. Bob had a bit of a meltdown yesterday when we had to leave prior to any car interior action...

We added to our wall of gratitude today. My 2 yr old had thanked me for a Stringy Cheese earlier so I put that for him (who was asleep when we were doing it anyway). Josh's thankfulness today was for a car to drive to work in, me tidying the house and his work email now working on his mobile (to me that doesn't sound good but it will be useful for him when he's away on business!), and my 5 yr old said a few such as the programme about the sea that he watched with Josh the other day, the craft box he got for Christmas (he LOVES making things! Today it was shields and decorative boomerangs..). He was also thankful for hot chocolate and chocolate (who isn't?!) :)

I'm thankful today for a relativey calm playdough-making session with my 2 yr old which he, later joined by his brother, had creative fun with :) 5 yr old made it into "worm and slug pie" and spent ages decorating it. It's now in an airtight container in the fridge. Hopefully this'll last longer than yesterday's.. I'm thankful for the new batch of biscuits I made today, this time with currants in (much better!), and for the ridiculously simple recipe I make them from which I got on a cooking course for 2 yr olds that I went on with my now 5 yr old with my now 2 yr old crawling around us :) I'm thankful that my 5 yr old enjoyed his first Friday in school (spent mainly playing, cutting and sticking, and also being introduced to the fun world of computers..) and that Fridays there are half days. For the lovely mild afternoon that we spent in the sunny park across the road from school with some of the other familes :) And for my 2 yr old's early nap that he had today that allowed me to tidy the house with plenty of time left to spend with him once he woke (which did include hoovering and washing up!) :) I'm also thankful for an amazing builder friend in Liverpool who's been replacing our hall floor over the last couple of days and I know he will have done an excellent job in our absence. For getting my bridesmaid dress in the post for April and having a lovely phonecall with the bride-to-be who lives in Liverpool (I got to try the dress on while 2 yr old was asleep this am!). For Rauld Dahl books enjoyed by adults and children alike :) For affectionately lively children and for a much needed prolongued and meaningful hug with a mum at school :)

2 yr old didn't eat tea today (omlette); I really hope he sleeps...