Three down, three to go

And with that I mean the weeks of the summer holidays. I cannot believe that we are halfway there. There are always lots of mums moaning at the start of the holidays saying that six weeks is too long: they all find it a drag and kids get bored. I absolutely love it! So does girl monkey although boy monkey loves school so much that he misses it. The solution is a bit of home schooling to give him structure in the day and we are all happy.

So far it's been a "staycation" but with an international feel. The six weeks started of so nice with plenty of sunshine, the Manchester Mela, a visit to Roman Chester and lunches at Cafe Rouge. We've packed in plenty of picnics in the park and especially the dinner time ones had a calming effect on all of us. The days when the sun wasn't out we had plenty to do inside; the monkeys love making up things so we had a home cinema and French cafe to name a few. The hospital one was a good one although I was really not well and in bed but it gave the kids an excuse to do something different. We always like home cinema: curtains drawn, drinks in bottles and a big bag of home made popcorn all go down well. To fill the time the monkeys made tickets for the film, arranged the seats in the lounge and put stickers on, created a counter to sell sweets and crisps and it all made for a fun time. A lot cheaper than going to the cinema and a good way for them to practice a bit of maths and earn a few pennies as I wasn't allowed in without buying a ticket and sweets!

I have always liked the idea of home schooling as I do not always agree with the standard state school education but at the same time I wouldn't like to take the little ones away from their social life at school which I believe gives them a good grounding for secondary school. However the summer holidays are always a good opportunity to do more at home and the monkeys came up with a brilliant idea: "French Cafe". We had a cook, a waiter and a very smart guest. We prepared a french style lunch with pate, cheeses, baguette, salad, jus d'orange and salade de fruits. It was a great way to learn about home economics, table settings, geography, to practice french words and maths.

In the holidays I don't really have the time to do any crafts but I started on a quilt for girl monkey.

Both monkeys are a bit too young to get involved although they helped me choose the fabrics. The theme really is Dutch fabrics and turquoise. I've sewn the squares on and am now hand quilting with apple green, I think it is going to be very nice.

I am writing this as I am still in bed (oh the joys of summer holidays!) before going to Oulton Park race course to see Mr G. do a crash course in skidding. If any of you are looking for something different to do in the South Manchester/Cheshire area, there is a lovely place called Coffee au Clay where we went yesterday. This is a lovely light and bright cafe with good coffees and cakes and nice pottery items to paint. The monkeys had a ball choosing items and colours and it is so well organised and presented that it made for a very relaxing experience (most mums do not associate paint with relaxation) and I even thought I should have brought a book.

Apart from pottery painting they also do letter decorating with fancy papers that you are able to take on the same day so I have a feeling that that is what we will be doing next week. For now enjoy the summer holidays!

School's Out!!

Yoohoo the holidays have started! I have just composed and printed off the script for the next 6 weeks. This sounds rather rigorous but it isn't. Over the last few weeks I have gathered leaflets from local museums, libraries and other nearby venues that organise activities for free or for a minimal charge. I have put this information in a calendar and added various parties and commitments that we already made and hey presto a nearly full calendar. I am in the process of making a lucky dip pot for those moments that we might be bored. We've got theme days(various nationalities, colours), home cinema, park, baking, painting, crafting. Of course if we don't feel like doing the available activities then obviously we won't and might resort to a lazy day with books on the sofa or in the garden, but at least I do not need to worry about not having anything to do. 

I am glad that yesterday was the last day of term, I just love having the monkeys at home but I was also getting very embarrassed taking my girl monkey to school in the last couple of weeks because of her shoes. They didn't last very long at all, i.e. a month and they were plastered on the inside with all her good behaviour stickers. Is this a common thing to do nowadays? It doesn't help hygiene and if she'd keep them on it would be fine but she is ever so happy showing her stickers off to anyone!

I don't think I will achieve a lot on the craft front in the next few weeks but here's a little project for the next few nights. Mr Betsy came home the other day with a very practical but rather dull conference bag. I managed to find a piece of fabric with a flower that just covers the logo on it that I ironed on today with bondaweb. I will embellish it in the next few days and hope to use it lots as it has quite a few pockets on the inside. I'd like to have an organised bag for a change!

Also I am making lots more Suffolk puffs (had enough of these yet?) to liven up a dull skirt. I am going for small ones this time rather than the big ones that I used on everything last summer.

One thing I do need to do is come up with an idea for a circus cake. Girl monkey is having a Circusology party at the end of the summer and would like a circus cake, layered if possible. I haven't looked into it yet but if anyone happens to have a great idea and would like to share it, I would be more than grateful!