Finally got Small to bed…

but boy did it take some doing. I think my next project for the year is going to have to be sorting out his sleeping patterns – I’ve just spent two nights away from home, and I didn’t get any evening time without children to talk with adults. Hohum. Apart from that, the weekend was marvellous, thanks for asking 😉

Saturday afternoon was parents and a sister. We were a bit late going over as Small fell asleep on the living room floor (he can do that easily enough 🙁 ) Always bizarre to discover how little I have in common with someone I grew up with – the children were a bit confused as well. Not nearly as confused as my sister when Small handed me his bowl with some chocolate left in it!

Saturday evening we went up to see Jan and Jonathan. They live at the end of a nice long bridle path, so I was fairly sure it would be a safe place to avoid trick or treaters. Plus, their eldest and Big get on fantastically well, and I hadn’t managed to chat with Jan for ages, so all in all, a good weekend in store.

We managed to chat, and I even got to drink a small amount of wine (hic!), and I do find it restful that there’s no tv there (makes me seriously consider (again) getting shot of ours – the kids don’t seem to miss it there, but the second they walk through the door here they both want it on…)

Sunday morning, we went to church. Bit weird, the bloke who takes the service knows my parents from way back when they lived in the village Jan lives in now. Last time we were there he didn’t clock who I was, but this time he did. Something about not having realised my “august parentage”. Hohum, not quite out of my parents shadow yet then, I guess.

Small loved church – they kept playing music. Big hadn’t realised it was about God, which was probably just as well, given that her reaction to any mention of God is to say “well *I* don’t believe in God” with a terribly teenage sneer in her voice. We ended up having an extremely bizarre discussion of that while I was sorting out Small in the bath that night – she went from not believing, to believing to not believing so fast that all that became apparent was that she doesn’t really know what it means to say you believe in God. Which isn’t surprising given that she’s 4, but gives me a starting place for further discussions.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Jan did us a full Sunday dinner, which was extremely enjoyable. I used to hate sit down dinners – reminded me far too much of rows when I was growing up. I didn’t even think of that when sat down at Jan’s, which says something incredibly positive about the atmosphere there I think.

After dinner, her girls had a party to go to, so I bundled my two up and we went to visit yet another of my sisters, who now lives just over the hill from Jan. Small obviously managed to fall asleep in the car, which was annoying. We went to help Kierston get the horses in (she has one, but takes it in turns with the other two at the stables to look after theirs as well). Discovered that Small takes after me in more than looks – he likes animals, and isn’t a bit scared of them. Kierston offered Big a sit on her horse, but Big didn’t want to know. Small thought about it for a moment, then nodded very seriously, and boy did he look cute up on the horse. So wish I’d had a camera with me.

He isn’t scared of Kierston’s dog either, which is something Big had to learn. Quite nice to have one of my children take after me a little 😉 Highly amusing to watch him eating marmite sandwiches while walking in a circle in the dining room, and stopping every so often to examine the dog (who just rolls on her back when he looks at her – wants her tummy tickled!)

Then we went back to Jan’s, with Big mumbling on throughout about *not* being scared of trick or treaters, but it isn’t a nice thing to do, and anyway they are only children dressed up…sigh.

Which brings us back to the time of the believing conversation above, and all the way up to Sunday night. Took Small up to bed and fell asleep with him, so that wiped out Sunday evening 🙁

Monday We started this morning with a leisurely breakfast, and then did some house excavation. Jan did Milly Molly Mandy school with the two girls while I did washing with Small and M pottered. Big thoroughly enjoyed working with C, which gave me more food for thought about the whole education process.

Late (huge!) lunch, and then more chance to chat while the children bounced around. Then we rounded them up and walked down the lane to feed the ducks. Big managed to stretch her length and remove the top layer of her knee (again! must be about the fourth time this year) which made the whole walk considerably noisier, but still quite pleasant. We found some more ponies for Small – it would appear he likes horses. He was a bit surprised when the pony tried to lick his head though 🙂

Sauntered back to the house for first aid for Big and a cup of tea for me, then finally time to round up our kit and come home. Got here in time for tea, bath and bed, although it took ages to persuade Small to sleep again. I really need to get that sorted – I need some adult time *before* I have to prop open my eyelids with matchsticks!

So there you go, the ins and outs of my weekend, in pretty much full gory detail. I’m pondering a lot on education, what it means and how best to achieve it while retaining my fragile grasp on sanity, so you can expect some more ramblings on that in the near future. 😉