What have we been up to?

Quite a sociable, busy couple of weeks - visiting old friends for a weekend, and catching up with lots of other friends we haven't seen for a while.

Also...

Having our hair dyed:



Doing some henna tattoos:

Going to see the new twilight film - far too soppy for my liking, but A really enjoyed it

And A has been updating her new blog .

Positivity

Anyone who follows this blog will know that I have regular maths-related anxiety attacks. Don't know why its maths in particular that gets me this way, might be partly to do with A's own feelings about the subject, but anyway, I have been known to lie awake at night worrying myself half to death about whether I am failing my daughter, and will she turn around in ten years time and say "I never learnt my times tables properly because you didn't make me, and because of that my life is now ruined". Not sure why her life would be ruined by this, but my catastrophising generally doesn't need reason.

I decided to do a general review last week, just for myself really, and go through all the 'work' A has been doing this year (by work I mean any interests/activities, not just written stuff). Looking at it as objectively as possible I don't have any concerns - I think she's got a great, and full 'curriculum', which covers a broad range of 'subjects' (I know I'm putting all this in schoolish terminology, which doesn't really apply to the way we do things, but I suppose I do use what she would be doing at school as some kind of comparison when I'm assessing things). She's a bright girl, with clear strengths and weaknesses, but no particular problems with what she's learning (Oh God, this is starting to sound like a school report!)

But I knew all that anyway. What I was really pleased about - from an assessing point of view rather than being involved in the learning process - was how she's progressing with maths. Looking at what she's covered, through the online site we're using and the other material relevant to each theme that I've brought in, made me feel really positive about it all. Sometimes I just need to step back a bit and be a bit more objective, instead of getting all caught up in the parental fear/anxiety/guilt about what she should be doing, because actually she's doing fine. In fact, she's doing brilliantly, and she's happy.

Took a visiting friend to Cawdor yesterday, just for a walk around the gardens and the woods, here are some pictures:

In character

The walled garden

Sculpture made from flint

Bee on a thistle

View from a bridge

Had a lovely girly night last night - make-overs and chocolate facepacks; home made pizza; DVDs; painted toenails - a very late night and a lie-in this morning. Perfect.

pictures

A beautiful evening sky outside our (dirty) top window:


A lot of skipping has been going on lately, with both of us trying to keep in shape:

New T-shirt and a new blog

This arrived in the post today, bought from these lovely people.

The new blog is not mine, but A's, and can be found here:
http://puppy-musicandmayhem.blogspot.com/

Hopefully she'll post a bit more often than with her last blog!

Seagulls

I'm not a great fan of seagulls, I hate the way they dive bomb at you when they've got babies to protect. I know they're just being good parents, but they bloody terrify me. However, spotted these guys out of our top window this morning, and have to admit they are very cute looking.

If they start squawking at 3 o'clock in the morning I may change my mind.

A dramatic week

Because A took part in the performance of 'Island Dream' (a take on A Midsummer Nights Dream) with her drama group. She played 'Bottom', a good role for her - lots of very funny lines. She had a little contingent of fans in the audience - grandparents and friends - and did extremely well. More importantly she really enjoyed the whole experience, not just performing but the teamwork involved with the group. She's going up to the older group after the summer, which she's a bit sad about as she'll be leaving some of her friends behind, but it will be an opportunity to make new ones and maybe for more challenges.

A's friend came over last night for a sleepover, and they have gone off this morning with Granny to the Quaker group's barbecue, its glorious sunshine and they will be by the beach so I'm sure they'll have a great time. Later on they are going off to a dress-up/singalong showing of Mama Mia (are they insane??), so I wont see them for a while. A chance for me to get on with some work, a bit sad when its such a lovely day. I now have an 'office' in our spare room, which is much better than working in the corner of the living room, and am on a mission to create an even more effective work space. I need a desk, and a proper chair for sitting at the computer (one which supports my knackered old back).
I have another piece in the current issue of mumsense magazine, not really an article - more of a list: '101 summer fun ideas', something I was asked to do, and created back when we were snowed in, which was a little weird! I have a couple of other pieces I'm working on, but feel I need a big push to get some more work out there. It feels difficult at the moment as there's so much going on through the summer - various visitors coming up, and then we're away again for a couple of weeks - but then there's always 'stuff' to distract me, I just need to get on with it.

MMmmmmmarshmallows

We had a go at making these on Friday, the pack had been lying in our cupboard since Christmas, when it appeared in A's stocking.


Had to go out and buy a cooking thermometer to monitor the sugar/water/starch mixture

Mixed it at high speed with the other water/starch mixture, adding a bit of vanilla extract and a little pink food colouring

Then left it to set

Chopped it up and dusted with icing sugar

Plenty to go round :o)

They weren't as light and fluffy as they should have been, probably due to our impatience at the mixing process - I reckon if we'd mixed a bit longer they would have fluffed up more - but they do taste delicious.

We had some with strawberries and melted chocolate last night, and are going to try toasting some tonight.