Brrrrr

… the temperature’s dropped here in the south of the uk and coincidentally we have just had the roof removed from the whole of the house.

When it was time to think about joining the roof of the new extension to that of the old house it became apparent that the whole house needed a new roof!  Decisions, decisions – do we forego the kitchen and get the roof or wait and do a little patching until we have saved some more.  In the end we went with the sensible, though not exciting option, of a new roof and the kitchen will have to wait awhile.

So up with more scaffolding at the front of the house as well as the back.

Off with the old slates and on with the new felt and batons.

Next week we should see the new slates over the whole roof but until then we have to turn up the heating and hope the snow holds off.

hello february

I am rather pleased to see February.  It isn't the weather so much that bothers me - which is a good thing as this week is going to be a chilly one. No, it's the light. I struggle to get out of bed in a morning whilst it is still dark and dread the fact that we barely get home from school pick up and it's dark again. There just isn't enough time to do everything!

The lack of light doesn't seem to have effected the productivity of our chickens we have had a steady of eggs throughout the winter. 

With the arrival of February I feel we are getting towards lighter months again and the month is a short one (though a leap year this time).  

Of course February also brings half term so I need to get thinking of some fun activities for the week - any ideas?

a new job

with the start of the new year I also started a new job as an outreach worker on the Thomas Project.  The job is turning out to be just my thing - not only do I provide information and support to families and pre-schools, but I have to buy and more frequently make the resources myself.  I am allowed full reign with the making as others on the team are not quite so excited by this aspect of the job.

On thursday I made a choice board for a 3 year old boy.  This board is quite specific to his interests and will be used as a starting point to perhaps move on to a timetable or schedule.  Such choice boards can be used at home with any child struggling to communicate but are a particularly useful tool for those working in pre-schools or within a pre-school language group.

The objects or symbols need to be relevant and meaningful to the child. They are a visual representation of the choices available and avoid the need to simultaneously think about possible options, whilst also trying to make a choice. In this instance the 3 year old already associates nursery rhymes with these small soft toys and so these can be used as symbols.

First I cut out an irregular shape from an A4 plain piece of card and laminate the card to make it longer lasting.  Then I stick pieces of velcro to the card ensuring there is enough space between each for the symbolic objects.

 

Next I stick the corresponding soft side of velcro to the toys.  I found that the velcro did not always stay on the fabric and so further secured this with a stitch or two. The glue on velcro is extremely sticky so after several attempts and gunky sewing needles I managed a few stitches along the edge of the velcro.

The toys now stick to the board and can be chosen and pulled off by the child thus communicating his choice of song without the use of language.

This choice board was quick and easy to make but now of course I have to put it to use and see whether the creation is successful.

looking back

Looking through my photos, deciding which ones to use on the blog made me realise that we spent an exceedingly chilled out family Christmas.  As we are well and truly into 2012 I decided I needed to record the family moments before they slipped from all our minds.  Here are the much belated photo snippets of our family Christmas.

Christmas Eve always entails our family walk around New Alresford.  We even remembered bread for the ducks this year. The route we follow is very short but it is a walk we began when the children were toddlers and have maintained every year since. 

We stop off at Caracoli for hot chocolate, coffee and snacks.  The coffee shop has such a festive feel. It was a warm Christmas Eve - just look at those tables set outside.

The nativity scene close to the Christmas tree in the square is always made by children from the local primary school.

As dusk begins to fall it is time for the follies to make our way home.



Christmas Eve continued with a meal and charades and then it was time to put out the stockings, milk and mince pie for Santa - not forgetting the carrot for Rudolf.  Even though the youngest Folly is now 9 there is never any suggestion that we omit such traditions.  I have to admit that now the Follies are getting older the chance to stay in bed until 7.30am is very welcome, but even teenagers cannot contain their excitement longer than this.

The holidays seemed to roll on smoothly with lots of family time and leisurely activities.

It all seems such a long time ago now and already there seems to be spring in the air as Folly 4 and I noticed the snowdrops out on our walk.

Anyone for a cuppa

After 3 months the whole Folly family has become used to having the company of builders.  I have had to increase the milk delivery to cope with the number of cups of tea and 'builders biscuits' are regularly on the shopping list.  How handy too, for so many people to be around to take in the parcels and I can't begin to tell you how useful I find the skip on the driveway.

The rhythm of the day for Folly 4 has taken quite a different turn. When she wakes the first thing she asks is 'how many builders?'  Then, downstairs she makes the required amount of drinks.  After school the first thing she does is put the kettle on and again goes out to house how many cups of tea are needed. 

A change in rhythm has been forced upon Folly 1 and 3 as they have had to move out of their bedroom due to the removal of one wall.  Folly 3 has moved in with the parents and Folly 1 is now downstairs on the sofa bed. Both girls have adapted really well to the 'squash and squeeze' and the fact that their special belongings have been shared around all rooms of the house.

Of course the building works are not on schedule and we are not even halfway there yet so we await to see how long the spirit of adventure lasts!

Are you ready yet?

This is the question I hear whenever I venture out at this time of year.  And as I am an extremely disorganised person I am never ready, so I give a vague mumbly answer about 'IT' arriving whether or not we're ready. Then, I listen to the super organised person who asked the question tell me how they have been ready since the end of October, and you can guess how that makes me feel.

Yet the reason I delay is that I take pleasure in getting ready for Christmas in December. I like shopping as the nights draw in and the lights in the shops seem cheery and inviting. I enjoy meandering around the Christmas displays choosing presents and being so delighted when I spy just the thing.  Sometimes I make the posting deadlines and sometimes I don't, but either way friends near and far get a Christmas or at worse a New Years greeting.  We always put the tree up late, after the December birthday is out of the way and the birthday cards have been moved from the mantlepiece.

The advent calendar made at brownies.  Each numbered envelope contained a sweet and when turned over there was a letter to make up a famous Christmas saying.

The young Follies have been a great help this year and I have been able to delegate Christmas cake decoration and mince pie making.  They have enjoyed making paperchains and decorations in the weeks holiday from school.  We have an artificial Christmas tree due to allergies and asthma amongst many of the Follies, but this year there is not the space to put it up.  Yet it didn't feel right without the tree. So, yesterday 4 Follies and a Folly Friend made a dash to the DIY store where we found a blue tinsel tree and decorations all reduced. What fun choosing and colourmatching we had! 

The Christmas cake iced and decorated by Folly 3. It is the best decorated cake we have ever had!

And yes, the day before, the day before Christmas I am ready - and I think it is the earliest ever!
 

Local mistletoe bought just today from 2 young boys selling this from their garden in the village.



Room with a view

Or not as the case may be!

Four weeks into our 17 week project and the foundations have been laid, drainage dug and refilled and the ground floor walls built. So far no major hiccups but I probably shouldn't speak too soon on that one.  With progresss as swift as this it was time for the scaffolding to go up.  And so it did last week.

Now although the 4 Miss Follies had managed to play on the digger and dumper I found that these machines had disappeared off site before I got my turn and I was adamant this would not happen with the scaffolding.  So Saturday afternoon found me shimmying up the scaffold ladder (actually it was more of a painful easing with Mr Folly standing guard at the bottom of the ladder as I have quite a fear of heights).  It was fantastic seeing our garden and the fields beyond from such a vantage point and we positioned ourselves strategically to get a feel of the view from the bedroom windows.

not bad

quite pretty

oh dear

This will be the view from the side bedroom window - imagine when this lilac is in leaf!  We hadn't thought about this at all when planning the positioning of windows and there isn't really anything we can do apart from a little pruning I suppose.  Fortunately this room will be double aspect and so will have a view across the playing fields too and so there will be plenty of light.

I think scaffold climbing will now be curtailed as Mr Folly goes off on his work travels for the next few weeks and I don't want to encourage 4 Follies up to the heights.