Monday - We went to a new (to us) Home Ed group - as mentioned on Green House By The Sea and on Where The Days Go . A really good venue for a group with a nice large room with seating at one end and a low table for crafty stuff and a kitchen and breakfast bar at the other end, a large sports hall room for ball games and some outside space too. There was air drying clay, drawing and colouring on offer, plenty of other children to run around with, science experiments of getting electricity from an apple and some cooking of spelt flour rock buns. Monster and Teeny managed to participate in it all with particular mention to the air drying clay which was used to make creations left to dry ready for painting with acrylic paints next week and the running around yelling with other children. 
We left there and had a quiet couple of hours at home watching a film before A came home. Monster and I went off to Badgers where they made telephones from cups and string. When I went in to collect him at the end all of the other Badgers were lined up facing the three adults doing a song and dance about zombies. Monster was stood off to one side watching and smiling at them all. I asked him why he hadn’t joined in and he said it ‘was a bit mad really!’. Apparently the adults had performed the song and then said ‘who wants to learn how to do it?’ to which all the other children had shouted ‘yes!!!’ and joined in, but Monster had declined the offer and stood to watch instead. I really love that he was happy to stand out and not join in rather than follow the crowd.
I then took him off to McDonalds where he went up to the counter and ordered his own Happy Meal, he put the penny change in the charity box and we talked a bit about charities generally and the McDonalds one specifically.
Tuesday A quiet day with some X boxing, some watching a film which arrived from Tescos dvd rental - Laura’s Star, which I didn’t watch but seemed to go down well with Monster and Teeny. We walked to the post office with some parcels and as they were clearly full of energy I tasked them with finding all the letters in Monster’s name and all the letters in Gromit. They did too. Using road names, drain cover letters, those on telegraph poles and lampposts, car registration plates etc. Monster constantly recognised the word ‘water’ it was written so often so I think he’ll remember that one when he sees it again too.
Wednesday We went to some local woods with SIL, J & M, Lucy, R & R, Lucy’s friend Sam and her son A and SIL’s Mum and boyfriend - so quite a crowd! We went there loads last Autumn / Winter but have not been for quite a while. It is a smallish area of NT woodland with a large duckpond, loads of trees and fallen trunks etc to explore and a lovely safe envrionment for them to go off ahead in their games and adventures. We had a walk and then headed back to the carpark for picnic lunches, Sam and A left us and the rest of us headed back into the woods again. We found an area where very long branches had been used to create a teepee sort of structure so the children played for ages in that, bringing over sticks and branches of their own to add and weave into it. Then we followed the children (well Monster really) as they went off in front and ended up taking a very very long detour. The children did really well actually but it was rather too long and most of them needed a carry or a piggy back at some point along the way. R and R and Teeny all fell asleep on the way home in the car despite feeding them chocolate to raise their blood sugar levels and give them some energy back. A lovely day though .
A friend we used to work with in Manchester was staying locally for work so he came over in the evening, bringing many well received gifts for the children and stayed the night.
Thursday Over to Lucy’s for the day. A really nice day with lots of playing and chat. We had a brief walk down to the park on the beach where the children split into various combinations of the four of them with lots of imaginative and role playing games - and ran off loads of energy in the rather blustery and drizzling weather.
In the morning Monster had managed to storm through 3 levels of an X box game he has been battling with and suddenly mastered while Teeny wrote me lots of ‘notes’ in her banana paper notebook which was one of the pressies from our visitor.
Friday A surprise text from Helen of Petits Haricots on Wednesday to say they were camping near us for a couple of nights meant we had a lovely visit from them today. Lucy, R & R also came over, having met The Beans at Kessingland and 3/4 of them again at Monster’s birthday party. Monster gets on very well with SB so the two of them disappeared together straight away and appeared to fall back into whatever game they had left off the last time they saw each other, which was lovely. Teeny and BB joined in as and when with a mammoth dressing up and coming in to pose fest throughout the afternoon.
Chris popped out for non-meat food to add to our carnivores dinner and they stayed for the evening too, which was really lovely. A gave the children some glow sticks to play with which kept them happily occupied as we changed from tea to wine and enjoyed our meal and further chatting. They left with moments to spare to get back to their campsite before locking up time would have meant a trek across the field rather than parking next to their tent. And made it!
Saturday A lazy morning from me, seeing off the last dregs of a cold which had laid me a bit low all week and basking in a lovely hot bath for ages. A did some gardening and the children were fairly low key. Around lunchtime we headed off to stay with Layla & Si for a lovely night out for me and a lovely night in for A. We had a couple of drinks and a relax before heading round to Chris and Alison’s for a while. We went back to L&S’s so Layla and I could prepare ourselves before going back round to Alison’s to meet Alison, Ros and Sarah to go out for a meal. We had a very nice evening although the end of my cold and tiredness from a busy week had me a bit quieter and reserved than my reputation normally dictates 
. Monster and Teeny meanwhile were having a lovely time with C being looked after by Si and A.
Sunday A lazy start to the day with a starter of breakfast at L&S’s while looking at their wedding photos as the children X boxed and drew pictures, then we all headed back round to Chris and Alison’s for brunch. We left around midday to get home in time for me to go food shopping. A quiet afternoon and an early night all round.
