Fun and games

Unschooling changes everything, including celebrations. It encourages you to question everything. What does it matter if we eat all the advent chocolate on one day and go and buy another one (or two or three, as i remember for Plum last year)? What does it matter if someone opens a present early? Ehat does it matter if they don't sit at the table for a fullthree or four course meal and finish their plate full and eat all their vegetables? What does it matter if they open their presents all at one/ get engrossed playing with one and don't open the remainder/ play o ly with the boxes and wrapping? 

Christmas Eve and the children posted the neighbours Christmas cards and put presents under the tree, they decorated a cardboard box each with christmas wrapping paper, drawings and sparkly bits and they took their bikes to the play park with daddy whilst Pippin, 2,  slept and mummy began Christmas Day food prep.

Christmas Day and we had to wake Pumpkin, 7, and Plum, 4, by preagreement as they wanted to open some presents before going to church. After church we opened the rest of the presents and had Christmas lunch together. And then came the afternoon playing with new stuff, watching new dvds, daddy setting up the boys' new computer. Plum is stillsleeping on the boys' bedroom floor.

Boxing Day mummy's family came to our house. We exchanged presents, ate turkey curry, went to the green to kick a ball about, played our new games: pie face, poopyhead, tabletop pool. Mummy downloaded minecraft for Bean and we played together.

Tuesday. Daddy is on a staycation for a total of 11 days. We went to Nyman's Gardens today. It was sunny and cold and beautiful. Bean, 9, enjoyed ticking off the gingerbread charaters on the Gingerbread hunt in the rose garden. Pumpkin finally caught two Christmas Pikachu and a few other Pokemon plus Nyman's has a reasonable amount of Pokestops. Pippin received a bag for Christmas which came with a lead. She loves it. What she really likes is Plum walking her. She gives the handle to Plum and says "walk." I played 40 40 with the boys and hide and seek with Plum. Bean drew a map of the bamboo walk. Back home Pippin slept, Pumpkin played on his tablet, Plum  watched ballet on cbeebies, daddy decorated gingerbread shapes with each of the smalls, mummy downloaded terraria and the escapists and played them with Bean. We watched Angry Birds in the evening and played more escapists, drew pictures, watched more ballet, read stories and slept.

Jingle bells

So, pancakes are back on the breakfast mene. We began 2016 eating pancakes every morning from January until at least March possibly longer and then at some point it pittered out. Well now they are back to end our year the way we began.

Today Bean, 9, watched more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and we all played a lot of minecraft together. We defeated the ender dragon twice and began to build our homes on sky islands in the End. Bean was desperate to hatch an ender dragon egg on creative pe but after much research, that is googling and youtube watching, it appears that this is not something that is possible in this mode. We walked to the park around the corner this afternoon. B3an's bike wheels were so muddy that his brakes weren't working so he chose to walk. He walked beside Plum, 4, on her bike for a while to help her. Once at the park he invented a pirate game. The two play structures were boats. He was the captain of one and Pumpkin, 7, was his first mate. Plum was captain of the other and mummy was her first mate. They used the bikes as small raft boats to travel the sea inbetween the two ships and had to try and steal treasure from each other. He also took Pippin, 2, on the round about and helped Plum on the way home, when she had lost a race, by racing her again a d giving her a 5 second head start so that she won.

Pumpkin spent the morning on toca mini and skylanders imaginators app and clash royale. He rode his bike to the park. He spent a lot of time being spun fast on the round about. He put Mr Men on this afternoon and was keen to play wrestling, and harry potter, and hide and seek, and escapers, and murder in the dark. There is a myth that unlimited access to technology means that children's imaginations are stunted somehow or not encouraged. These games are all derived from and inspired by films and computers games that the children have watched and played, serving to ignite their imagination not surpress it. In the evening we played magic:the gathering together. He has been singing jingle bells all day.

Plum slept until 11am. She seemed to wake rested and happy but her reactions to things today were extreme in the first instance. She has been joining in the games with the boys but their level of play is often more challenging and more physical than she is happy with and whilst they are often accomodating, they do also want/need to play more challenging and physical games. It is our current conundrum. Plum rode her bike to the park, surprisingly finding the up hill parts the easiest.

Comfort and Joy

An almost At Home Day. Of course Plum, 4, was desperate to go out so when daddy arrived home from work early, mummy and Plum went to town to finish the last bits of present shopping and food shopping. She also went on a walk with daddy later to see the Christmas lights around and about.

We mostly wrapped presents the rest of the day. Each child wrapped their own presents at around 45 minutes each, that was a large portion of our day (about 2 1/2 hours total). Interspersed with food, colouring, rough play with Pippin, a Mr Men dvd, lots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wrestling, baths for Bean, Pippin, 2, and Pumpkin, 7, toca mini played by the big three, skylanders imaginators app played by Bean, 9, and Pumpkin.

It has been a very relaxed day, sometimes i wonder if we can be more relaxed, but maybe I mean peaceful.

Joy to the World

We met church friends today and went to the church to play. We made snowflakes, i made a 3d one, and christmas tree pictures. The children made a den under the tables and played doctors and nurses together, they put bean bags on the top and sat up there pretending they were beds. The three boys, Bean, 9, Pumpkin, 7, and R, 7, dressed up and played a game that they have played before which seemed to involve catching each other and freezing for 10 seconds. We all played Uno together and the three girls, Plum, 4, Pippin, 2, and T, 8, played horses together. They ended together with a game of hide the ribbon. We had lunch there and the children were sad to have to leave but Pippin was becoming tired so we headed home so that she could sleep.

Back home was very active for the remainder of the day, wrestling, harry potter magic game, hiding, running, chasing, hopping, bouncing. We settled in the evening with a SpongeBob dvd, stories with Pippin and Bean (seperately) and more Miranda with Pumpkin.

Travel afar

It shouldn't be a surprise but Pumpkin, 7, has discovered David Walliams and Miranda in the past few days and he loves them. He's always loved laughter and playing the joker. He likes Mr. Bean and Gigglebiz and Diddy tv, The Simpsons and You've Been Framed, expanding onto more comedians makes sense.

Monday: Bean, 9, and Pumpkin played Magic:the gathering in their bedroom this morning before we went to visit friends. We stopped on the way to buy food. Bean helped me choose a few things, he picked spring rolls and chicken goujons and frubes, i also bought individual pizzas. We haven't been to A and J house for a while. They have added to their collection of swings, hammocks, ladders and hanging seats. The boys enjoyed most of their time hanging and swinging and sitting in them. Plum, 4, enjoyed using the gym mats to tumble on in her new leotard (given to her by a friend at church, she didn't take it off for the first 48 hours) Bean, Pumpkin and A played on their tablets a little today. Terreria and minecraft being the focus. Bean got building wi5h magnetic shapes that held together. Pumpkin was tired after a later night to bed than usual and getting up early. He kept making himself feel dizzy/sick on the hammock and wanting to go home. Plum was busy with J. They played mummies upstairs, Plum was a real mummy and J was a mummy cat; they played dens together under the kitchen table; they painted plaster of paris. Plum was having such a fantastic time that she didn't want to leave, i tired everything that i could think of to tempt her to the car but it was the surprise gift from our friends mum that clinched it (great idea, saving it for our friends too) Pumpkin wasn't in the car and had gone to hide behind the garage. I decided to drive up to him and pick him up like a bus stop but he got upset because he thought i was going without him. We had a big long cuddle and he was going to move to sit next to me but then changed his mind. The remainder of the day involved wrestling, harry potter magic, colouring, roast pork, baths and stories.

Hark!

Friday: We took the bikes to Horsham Park today at Bean's, 9, request. I took a risk and took Bean's, Pumpkin's, 7, AND Plum's, 4. I wasn't sure that Plum would manage without a significant amount of help and that would be difficult with Pippin, 2, with us as well but she insisted that she could ride. And she could. We rode to the skate park and they played a games where they each had a house and they rode to each other's houses. We ate most of our picnic here too. We moved on when some older lads arrived on their bmx. We continued to cycle around the park, climbing trees, using the excercise equipment and catching pokemon along the way. We cut across the middle to catch water pokemon at the pond and spent a long time looking at the ducks and swans. We left in a bit of a panic as Bean opened the biscuits and the swan thought it was linch time. The children were not keen on the swan approaching. Next stop was the maze where the house game was picked up. The we completed the loop back to the car park and home. Pippin walked the entire way.

As we had left in the morning Pumpkin had located a Pikachu with a Christmas hat on but it took us so long to tether devices, engage gps and log in that it had disappeared before we left. We drove by that way just in case it reappeared but we saw no more signs of it all day. We will of course try again.

Saturday: A day of unplanned events. Plum was so excited to have rode her bike yesterday that she wanted to show daddy so he went back to the park with her. Me and Bean and Pumpkin snuggled on the sofa a watched together. Bean went upstairs and recorded more game play on his tablet. In the evening daddy and Bean went to see Star Wars: Rogue One. I watched Nativity with the others after they had play wii together.

Sunday: Church Day twice today. The search for a Christmas Pikqchu continued. Bean caught one but after locating the today Pumpkin remains unsuccesful Carols by candle light this evening followed by a very late dinner and a late wrestling game which we had to pause because we realised the neighbours children were probably in bed. So, Harry Potter dualling ensued in the living room. Bean and Pumpkin had baths. And Pumpkin went to bed much later than he has been in recent days.

Room for everyone

Pippin, 2, was busy this morning playing board games and other family games from the shelf. She got out dotty dinosaurs, dinosaur races and pop up pirate. Plum, 4, has been devising and perfecting a game with the building blocks similar to Jenga. Pumpkin, 7, has been playing with the pokemonGo update, and Bean, 9, has been working on his gaming rexording and fixing the problem with the sound recording.

Pippin and Plum played 'babies' together upstairs and then moved downstairs to get the play dough out and play cafes. They made pizza with toppings and then we sliced it up, this was followed by tea and cake. Plum told me all about her birthday party and what was going to happen there (i wrote it all down) Then we got out the old Christmas cards and they both cut up pictures and made hanging decorations for the tree and Christmas pictures.

We attempted to go out and meet friends but we couldn't find the car keys. After half an hour of searching we discovered that daddy had them at work. Playdate was postponed. By this time Pippin was tired so she went for a sleep. Plum came and sat with us , watching on her tablet with headphones on. The boys were doing their own thing downstairs. We rested for an hour.

The, now, usual wrestling game occured whilst i prepared food and we watched Elf together whilst we ate. I managed to redirect Pumpkin upstairs for a bath and then Plum and Pippin followed,and next was Bean. All clean.

Come a long way

A day without the car usually enforces a well needed At Home Day however the sun was shining and Bean, Plum and Pippin were keen to go the play park around the corner. Pumpkin was persuaded with the idea of playing PokemonGo and simultaneously not wanting to stay at home on his own.

It had been Pumpkin's, 7, idea to bake biscuits in the morning to take with us to the play park. Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, rolled and cut the dough with me. Pumpkin spent the morning watching Dan TDM (trying not to laugh) and You've been Framed amongst other things.

Bean, 9, has been playing a lot of minecraft again. He found and downloaded an app to record his game play on PE and then spent most of the morning recording in his bedroom.

Plum, 4, played doll's house and babies and watched on her tablet on her bed.

We went to the play park for an hour or so. We swung on the swings, span fast on the roundabout, raced down the slides, rode the see saw, played hide and seek, and played hide Peppa pig, and ate biscuits. Pippin fell asleep on the way home with Bean and Plum singing made up lullabies to her.

When we were home Bean went and watched on his tablet in his bed, Pippin watched on the computer and Plum sat on the sofa with headphones on. I sat in the reltive quiet and drank tea, uninterrupted.

I was reminded today how things have changed for us as a family, how the passing of time, children growing older and me not being pregnant and feeling a little more rested and having more time (because i'm not breast feeding every few hours day and night) allows us to manage things differently and more satisfactorily. The passing of time has also enabled us to see that all the worrying we did about qhether we were doing the right thing and were the boys doing enough was wasted. They are fine, happy, engaged, motivated, enquisitive, all the things we would hope them to be.

Blessed

We took a planned trip to town, returning library books and getting some new ones, buying candy canes for the tree, getting kinder surprise eggs. The library has a pokemonGo display currently and Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, enjoyed showing pippin, 2, all the differentokemon and her repeating them when they told her their names. Bean chose another graphic novel to bring home, this time he found a lego ninjago story. Plum, 4, moved the mats left in the children's area from rhyme time and put them all together in a line, she then went tumbling along them, cartwheels and forward rolls, run, skip, and jump. It reminded me to contact the local gymnastics class to see if they have space for her. We bought four boxes of candy canes, each with twelve in them, it was Pumpkin's idea that they can eat one a day until Christmas, although Pippin has already eaten four. Our trip to Sainsbury's for kinder eggs (and shopping for mummy) also ment we bought helium balloons for Pumpkin (darth vader), Plum (frozen), Pippin (peppa pig) and a Harry Potter sticker collectors books for Bean. We dropped the book on the way home, Pumpkin said he remembered that it had fallen out in the alley way down the road, so Bean set off on his own to look for it, fortunately with success.

The remainder of the day Bean and Plum were busy getting a Christmas package together for our friends. Bean made a story book and Plum drew pictures and made cards. We watched Disney's Robin Hood, there were baths and wrestling games and a game of babies. There has been a lot of sibling harmony today and it reminded me that we are blessed to have so much time together to nurture relationships and they really do enjoy each others company and find games that they are able to all play together. Plum and Pippin played doll's house together and sat on Plum's bed and watched cbeebies on the tablet.

On daddy's return home he was joined by a reporter who recorded his entrance into the house. I deliberatly hadn't said anything to the children and we had discussed that the reporter would have to take us as he finds us (i.e. it might be great but we can't guarentee what the children will be doing at that exact moment) but it was a good welcome home, as most of them are. And then the reporter interviewed mummy (he had already interviewed daddy) about the psycological effects of disrupted commuting by train on the commuter and all the time the children watched their film and showed daddy the books they had made and played happily together. It reminded me how much things have changed for us in the last 12 months. We are blessed.

Joy to the World

Monday with a twist today. Plum, 4, dressed up as an angel (a pink one) and Pippin, 2, dressed up as a donkey (with a bright green cardigan and no ears but a beautiful painted black nose) and we all went to Little Verse to join in the Christmas Special: Nativity. Bean, 9, took his tablet with him and he had downloaded a few programmes to watch. Pumpkin, 7, was fidgetty and poking his siblings so we redirected him to another room to go and play, Bean went with him. The adults at the group read the Christmas story and the children went to the front and joined the nativity scene when the part they had dressed as was in the story/whenever they wanted. Plum took Pippin to the front to join the stable animals and they both sat with SGG for the rest of the story. Plum also inteoduced me to some of the children that she plays with regularly.

The rest of the day was spent wrestling in mummy's bedroom; playing 'run away from Pippin'; watching Pokemon, DanTDM, The Simpsons; Plum is loving the Christmas Tree and has made herself a cosy nook just below it; Bean requested a bath; we all played minecraft together; Pippin enjoyed her usual round of stories (current favourites Brown Bear, Brown Bear, We're going on a bear hunt, dinosaur roar); Pippin jumping everywhere and giggling; Plum and Pippin drawing at the kitchen table whilst i prepared food, Plum drawing her family below a rainbow with flowers and drawing a picture to put in a bottle for her friend who lives far away, bedtime stories for the boys (continuing Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Bean has been playing with words a lot today. He came to ask me why we had the word 'yoj' on the tree, he was teasing me. And why do we have the word 'leon' hanging up? And the sudden realisation why DanTDM is called DanTDM, it never even occured to me that they wouldn't know but he does now.

Silent Night

Friday was Fisher's Farm day this week. The taste of fresh air the previous day spured most of us out the door. I had to agree with Pumpkin, 7, that it would only be for two hours and we could play Pokemon whilst we were there.

Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, enjoyed the outdoor play area today, the carousel and ski jump rides, beacons nest and the ride on tractors. Plum can now peddle one independently. Plum also had a pony ride today.

Bean, 9, and Pumpkin went on the squirrel scramble and the taboggan slide, they took in turns to ride with Pippin, and the beacons nest. They rode the motorbikes and bounced on the bouncy pillows. After all this we went inside to the large soft play area. Pumpkin was keen to leave by now so we sat and snacked and had a drink whilst the others played.

Bean spent the remainder of his pocket money in the shop on a second ty dog, a pug this time.

Saturday was the long awaited Christmas Movie day. Bean had compiled  all Christmas Films and ordered them ready to watch with daddy in a movie marathon. The Snowman, Father Christmas, Elf, Polar Express, Gruffalo, Muppets Christmas Carol, The Star of Christmas. Mummy went Christmas shopping.

Sunday. Bean andumpkin stayed at home with mummy. Bean had a super long bath. Plum and Pippin went to church with daddy. We put up the decorations. It did not go well. We have revised that next year we will put them up in the night whilst the children are sleeping for a nice Christmas surprise.

After a brief period of time where i thought sleep patterns were improving things are all change again. Bean has been struggling to settle to sleep, dispite choosing when he goes to bed and being visibly tired, he is taking an hour or more to go to sleep. However he is still getting up at the same time in the morning and is therefore currently very tired and tearful.

Pumpkin is surprisingly the most settled of all. He has consistently been in bed before 10pm for a while now, with the occasional later time, and getting up at a similar time to the rest of us.

Plum is continuing to sleep in her top bunk but needs hand holding most nights at some point in the night. Unlike when she slept next to me i can't hold her hand and go back to sleep, now i have to stand with her for between five and 10 minutes.

Pumpkin is restless. She has a cold. She is sleeping less in the day which is upsetting her sleep patterns and she tosses and turns most nights often on top of me or in search of me, sometimes she needs breastmilk, often it's a cuddle but i.am.tired.

Peace on Earth

A new game formed this morning. Bean, 9, discovered a gun app where you can load and fire various guns of your choice. Pumpkin, 7, downloaded it too and Plum, 4, pretended she had it on her toy phone. They each made a base in the living room and proceeded to shot each other. Over the course of the morning they established rules (like 'reloading') and introduced how to use the mines and bombs. Slowly the game expanded over the house.

Pippin, 2, was feeling full of cold and attached herself to me. We took refuge from the war game in the bedroom and read books and watched Bing and then watched Bing and read books. She also had lots of breastmilk which is unusual and an indication of her not feeling well.

The Big Three ended up in the boy's bedroom playing lego:pirates of the carribean on the wii. Bean and Pumpkin both made multiple avatars for themselves. Bean had made a cosy nook for Plum using beanbags and duvets and pillows on the floor.

In the afternoon we met friends, A, J and H, at the dinosaur park. The older four played time travelling, and hide and seek, and capture the flag, and war games. Plum and H sat on the dinosuars and played see-saw, and slides and built fairy worlds and volcanoes in the sand. Pippin went on the swings A LOT. (And we missed out friend Cindy and her boys.)

The evening was full of baths and The Simpsons, Pokemon, DanTDM, plans to play monopoly, bedtime stories, toast and chocolate mousse (does it have real mousse it it, mummy?)

Did you know?

At Home Day:

Bean, 9, played a lot of minecraft PE today, i played with him for about an hour we created two new worlds, one specifically to make cake on. He has started a new series of Pokemon and is continuing to enjoy The Simpsons. He had his hair cut whilst Pippin was sleeping. We played Hide and seek in the afternoon and there was wrestling. He asked to play with me on the wii repeatedly but we didn't get around to it today. He watched Star wars: The Clone Wars in the evening.

Pumpkin, 7, played Lego:Batman and we played mariocart on the wii together. We played several games of Chess this morning, i tried looking at our Chess book for some instruction but it was really confusing. He has been enjoying creating characters Tocomini.

Plum, 4, watched on her tablet curled up in a onsie on the sofa all morning. Her friend V came to play in the afternoon. There was duplo and minecraft, play dough, blindfold drawing, hide and seek, cafes, puzzles, and Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland.

Pippin, 2, worked out how to say the word Topsy today.

Working Together

I played chess this morning with Bean, 9, then Pumpkin, 7, and finally Plum, 4. Pippin got paper and pens out again and found dolly to play with. Bean resurrected his love of The Escapers and watched DanTDM play the soon to be released Christmas update. And then i had to watch it with him, and then Pumpkin had to watch it and then i had to watch it with Pumpkin.

We meet with our CHEF this afternoon, just three families this week. We tried a slightly different format which worked well and had the story of Joseph. A colaborative building project ensued with straws and connectors and Bean, Pumpkin and friends built a castle as tall as themselves. There was duplo and painting and wrestling and face painting and group games to end with.

Back home the children relaxed and watched their own things on their own tablets. We watched The Simpsons Movie. It was paused for an hour long wrestling match. We ate. Daddy came home and then went out again. Plum and Pippin and me mixed angel delight together and i watched more DanTDM with Bean and Pumpkin. Lydia went to bed and I read stories with Bean and Plum. Bean has requested a hair cut tomorrow. Plum slept in her top bunk again.

Pumpkin went to bed with me about 10.30pm

Like Monday Morning

Monday: Plum, 4, is out with SGG and SGS at Little Verse. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 7, put on Pirates of the Carribean: Dead man's Chest. It seems to me that they like epic trilogy good vs evil type films.

We mostly eat all morning and then ate more when Plum gets home before we go to lego club.

We set up Lego Club last year as Bean was wanting to have more friends. We wanted to make connections with others who had similar interests. It has become a great place for children of all ages to come together and share their knowledge and love of lego. Sometimes it's busy and noisy and vibrant, sometimes it's just a few families and everyone is engaged in the same game or build together, and sometimes, like today, it was just us. And we had a great time together playing games that the children had made up, building duplo with Pippin, 2, doing Build Battle together.

Back home we watched Ice Age and ate chicken. Pumpkin bathed whilst i got food together, Bean  bathed four hours later. Plum, having slept 5 nights in her top bunk, slept with mummy again as the previous night she had had lots of nightmares.

Problem Solving

Friday: we met friends at Fisher's Farm today. For the first time ever the boys weren't keen on going so we packed all the tablets and agreed that we'd be two hours. Plum was meeting her friend and was very excited. We watched Cars together when we got home.

Saturday: After the boys having a difficult day yesterday we had no plans today so stayed home. All four played hide and seek, and chase, and stuck in the mud all around the house for an hour this morning. Plum and Pippin did some drawing, Bean and Pumpkin played lego together, we watched Pokemon and played plants vs zombies. Bean and I went to the cinema and watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them, we loved it.

Sunday: Church day. Pumpkin has been reluctant to go to church so we arrange to go and then sit upstairs with him for the first part of the service. Today Bean and Pumpkin v mummy playing squares. Pumpkin was also saying that he didn't want to go to CousinC's birthday party. daddy and i were trying to work out how to make this possible. Bean then said that he wanted to go the the Christingle Service this afternoon. We proposed that mummy take Plum and Pippin to the birthday party and daddy, bean and pumpkin ride bikes to the Christingle. Everyone was happy. Mummy took Plum and Pippin to CousinC's birthday party at a soft play venue and then back to theirs for dinner before driving home.

Sometimes problem solving around how to meet everyone's needs can be challenging, difficult, time consuming but it is better for us to work through how we can respect each other than force each other to do things we don't want to do, there are enough times in life when this is unavoidable. It's not always easy when the children are small but as their understanding of time and their ability to wait and problem solve themselves and join in the discussion happens, it does become easier. Today Pippin wanted to watch Bing instead of leaving for the party, we were already running late and what she really needed was to fall asleep. She was crying. I was trying to get Plum's shoes on. And along came Bean and downloaded an episode of Bing on the tablet for Pippin. Problem solved. Pippin is happily in the car and watching Bing.

Motivation

We spend our days doing the things that we love. You can tell when the Bean and Pumpkin are truely engaged or excited in an activity that we have planned as they get themselves dressed and without prompting or help. Today was one of those days. We had plans for in the afternoon to see out friend T. I like it too. It is one of the few places we go where all four children are happy and engaged simultaneously. i get to drink tea uninterupted.

Bean, 9, has continued watching the second series of Pokemon today, he is up to episode 400. There is a part in each episode where you have to choose which Pokemon you think Ash should use in the Pokemon Battle he is in. He pauses the programme and we have to discuss the elements of each Pokeon and choose one each, there is another similar part where we have to guess what the Pokemon will evolve into. We also put together Christmas lists ready to give to famipy members: nerf, lego and films feature heavily.

Pumpkin, 7, has spent time on his Skylanders imaginator character creator again. He also made a Christmas list: Skylanders, nerf and Simpsons lego being dominant themes.

Plum, 4, watched on her tablet again in her top bunk. last night she slept the first half of the night sleeping in it too. Her Christmas list consists of Hello Kitty, playdough, peppa pig playsets, dressing up princess outfits.

Pippin, 2, looked at books and books and books, dinsosaur roar and Penguin are her current favourites. She played with the duplo and dollies too. and took a morning nap.

After pizza for lunch, that Bean prepared for us with garlic bread, we went to our friend T to play. All the children were involved in an extended game of lego (almost two hours) The three boys were the most involved but the girls dipped in aand out continously. Plum had packed and taken a bag with a few items in it, shopkins, books, duplo, doctor set stuff, which they girls played with for a while too. Just before we left there was an epic wrestling match between all five children and me.

Back home the evening consisted of Advent calendar opening (they were all waiting for daddy to come home but he got stuck in London) We had got both the boys lego advent calendars but they had a conversation in the car a few days ago where they decided to have a lego one and a chocolate one so they could share like last year so daddy was on a mission today to find a chocolate calendar for Pumpkin (and we have a lego calendar for next year) We watched Scooby doo movie, Pumpkin took a bath, we burnt day one of the advent calendar, and the big three played a dice board game together. As well as bedtime stories for Bean, Plum and Pippin, and some quiet time with Pumpkin before saying goodnight.

Explore and Play

Hibernation has only taken a few weeks to set in but it is well and truely here. Today was beautiful outside though, beautiful and freezing, morning temperatures were at -6. Blankets and pillows now occupy our living room space, Pumpkin is wearing vests under his pyjamas, Bean is wearing full pyjama sets, Plum has set up a nest of duvet and pillows and toys on the top bunk.

Bean, 9, spent his morning watching Pokemon and walkthroughs on the updated minecraft. Our computer is no longer able to run the game and he was a bit upset but comforted a little knowing that we have ordered them a new computer.

Pumpkin, 7, spent his morning creating Skylanders and playing lego games on his tablet. He downloaded a new plants vs zombies game, hatched eggs on dragon city and watched Dan TDM.

Plum, 4, was up three hours earlier than normal after having a very disturbed night (for no reason that i can fathom.) Consequently she lay on her top bunk and watched cbeebies and played cbeebies games all morning. I was surprised that she didn't fall back asleep.

Pippin, 2, swept floors, looked at books, played dollies, watched Bing, drew pictures, played with the kitchen set and was generally very busy.

This afternoon we went to Explore and Play. There was only us and one other family. This is the way that Pumpkin likes it. And Bean was happy too. The boys played outside almost the whole time. They created their own games akin to Capture the Flag. They did also try to make dens and hide outs but it became cramped with everyone trying to squeeze in. The soft stuff was popular too and this is what began the idea of others trying to take what they had. The one on the soft stuff had to protect it and the others had to steal it without being caught. This evolved into the enduring game outside.

The girls mostly got busy with playdough and painting and colouring and enjoying the big pile of soft stuff. Plum painted a rainbow and made cakes and lollypops from play dough.

There was also duplo and lego and junk modelling and autumn craft available.

The smalls all jumped around on the bed for over an hour when we got home giving me time to prepare food. Plum disappeared to watch on her bed again after she had eaten and unsurprisingly fell asleep.

Bean, Pumpkin and Pippin all had a bath, Pumpkin and Pippin together, having a great time splashing each other. Pippin had piles of stories and Bean his usual bedtime read with daddy. They have recently finished a Pokemon novel and now continuing with Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The last Straw.