If schooled children are anything like mine, they'll have really missed their evening activities over the school-imposed summer holiday.
For me, I've just lost track of all the driving around and forgotten how difficult it is to actually have a proper meal in between my taxiing!
Friday, 24 September 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Girlguiding and Scouting
Feeling not so happy tonight.
Yesterday, Madi went to her first ever Brownie Pack meeting. She has been looking forward to that day pretty much almost since she became a Rainbow! But although she turned 7 in July, nobody told us where to take her, and even after turning up to Rainbows last night where they were very quick to tell us she should now be at Brownies and would contact them "again" to make sure they expected us, 'Little Owl' was obviously clueless. In spite of that, she really enjoyed herself, and is looking forward to making her promise.
We also found out that one of her friends has joined Rainbows (completely different group) on the strength of her recommendation. That won't really mean anything to her at the moment, but I think she should be very proud.
And then tonight she has decided not to carry on with Beavers. She finds them immature and disrespectful. And yes, this is HER opinion- JK asked her too! I took her over to explain to the leaders and they commented on how many of that evening's quiz questions (about home safety and emergency aid) she had been able to answer and then grinned and said 'bye'. Madi had been unsure about Beavers for a while, and sadly I'd let my own positive feelings about Scouting influence her to give it another go.
Add to today Beth's experience of Scouting (a long story and not going to be blogged) and I'm a tad embarrassed to have been such a promoter.
Yesterday, Madi went to her first ever Brownie Pack meeting. She has been looking forward to that day pretty much almost since she became a Rainbow! But although she turned 7 in July, nobody told us where to take her, and even after turning up to Rainbows last night where they were very quick to tell us she should now be at Brownies and would contact them "again" to make sure they expected us, 'Little Owl' was obviously clueless. In spite of that, she really enjoyed herself, and is looking forward to making her promise.
We also found out that one of her friends has joined Rainbows (completely different group) on the strength of her recommendation. That won't really mean anything to her at the moment, but I think she should be very proud.
And then tonight she has decided not to carry on with Beavers. She finds them immature and disrespectful. And yes, this is HER opinion- JK asked her too! I took her over to explain to the leaders and they commented on how many of that evening's quiz questions (about home safety and emergency aid) she had been able to answer and then grinned and said 'bye'. Madi had been unsure about Beavers for a while, and sadly I'd let my own positive feelings about Scouting influence her to give it another go.
Add to today Beth's experience of Scouting (a long story and not going to be blogged) and I'm a tad embarrassed to have been such a promoter.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Growing and Baking
Anybody that knows me will know that my fingers are definitely not green! I've struggled as best I can with the various plants that I've been given, and tried even harder when my offspring have come back from Beavers or Rainbows with something they've planted. That said, both children's runner beans and blotting paper just turned mouldy in their plastic cups (and on both attempts!).
I am in complete admiration of those that do manage to feed themselves with their own crops, and even more so of those that have managed to reach the point where they can bottle or preserve and sell their produce.
We are unlikely ever to reach that point!
This year though, Madi's sunflower plant has flowered. Ok, it's not very big but we have a flower on the third year of trying!
Even more exciting, the seeds planted as part of the Victorian kitchen session we attended have produced courgettes! (A huge thank you to Katya and Hannah- I would never have believed this possible!)
Unfortunately none of us actually like courgettes, but most fortuitously there was a recipe in this week's First News for courgette cupcakes! I admit they don't exactly sound delicious, but Madi loves baking, and JK might not realise they have a vegetable in them if we put enough icing on!
Ingredients
1-2 courgettes (250g), grated
handful of sultanas
juice of one orange
2tbsp honey
3 eggs
sunflower oil (175ml)
brown sugar (200g)
self-raising flour (225g)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
handful of flaked almonds, toasted and chopped
2 limes, zested
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180oC and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
2. Grate the courgettes and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. Stick the sultanas in a pan with the orange juice and honey. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes until the raisins are plump and the liquid is mostly absorbed.
4. Crack the eggs in a bowl with the sunflower oil and sugar and whisk until creamy.
5. Sift over flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Fold in with the almonds, the grated courgettes, the sultanas and the grated zest of two limes.
7. Dollop into the muffin cases and bake them for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when stuck in the middle.
8. Leave the muffins to cool a bit in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack.
9. Beat the cream cheese with icing sugar and the juice of two limes until smooth and creamy.
10. Spread the icing over the cooled muffins and decorate with whatever takes your fancy.
I am in complete admiration of those that do manage to feed themselves with their own crops, and even more so of those that have managed to reach the point where they can bottle or preserve and sell their produce.
We are unlikely ever to reach that point!
This year though, Madi's sunflower plant has flowered. Ok, it's not very big but we have a flower on the third year of trying!
Even more exciting, the seeds planted as part of the Victorian kitchen session we attended have produced courgettes! (A huge thank you to Katya and Hannah- I would never have believed this possible!)
Unfortunately none of us actually like courgettes, but most fortuitously there was a recipe in this week's First News for courgette cupcakes! I admit they don't exactly sound delicious, but Madi loves baking, and JK might not realise they have a vegetable in them if we put enough icing on!
Ingredients
1-2 courgettes (250g), grated
handful of sultanas
juice of one orange
2tbsp honey
3 eggs
sunflower oil (175ml)
brown sugar (200g)
self-raising flour (225g)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
handful of flaked almonds, toasted and chopped
2 limes, zested
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180oC and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
2. Grate the courgettes and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. Stick the sultanas in a pan with the orange juice and honey. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes until the raisins are plump and the liquid is mostly absorbed.
4. Crack the eggs in a bowl with the sunflower oil and sugar and whisk until creamy.
5. Sift over flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Fold in with the almonds, the grated courgettes, the sultanas and the grated zest of two limes.
7. Dollop into the muffin cases and bake them for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when stuck in the middle.
8. Leave the muffins to cool a bit in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack.
9. Beat the cream cheese with icing sugar and the juice of two limes until smooth and creamy.
10. Spread the icing over the cooled muffins and decorate with whatever takes your fancy.
Starship Discovery
This week Madi has been attending a Holiday Club at the Methodist Church, aiming to provide 'a fun, informative and action packed bible based programme of events'.
I was not brought up with any religion myself, and as parents we were agreed that we would not enforce our own (differing) beliefs on our children, but allow them to explore faith and spirituality and reach their own decisions.
Before we moved house, JK was a chorister at our local Church, and attended a maintained Church of England school. He therefore has experience of many Christian customs and practices, what to expect to see and do in a Church, and some knowledge of the Bible. It has occurred to me recently that although we have made visits to learn more about Buddhism, Islam and Judaism over the past year, and followed these up with reading, talking and more, it has not really occurred to me to look at Christianity with Madi.
The Starship Discovery Holiday Club seemed to provide an ideal opportunity for this. Through singing and dancing, puppetry, stories and crafts, Madi has learnt a number Bible stories over the week, including memorising several verses, and particularly more about what it means to be a Christian. Each day she has come home with a worksheet with puzzles, games and colouring and has sat herself down (I wanted to say 'religiously' here!) every afternoon to enthusiastically complete what she describes as her 'homework'.
On Friday, after we had dropped off her friend, she was quiet, so I asked her if anything was wrong. She explained that they had been asked if they wanted to be Christians, and that she was worried they would think she was ungrateful or a bad person because she hadn't said yes. She went on that she had really enjoyed the week, but that she didn't know enough about it yet, or about 'all the other religions' to make a decision! A very proud parent moment for me!
We talked about what she had said, and agreed that she would make a proper 'Thank You' card for them to make sure the leaders knew that she really appreciated them giving up their time and that she had enjoyed herself very much and had learnt a lot and would like to learn more. We also agreed that she didn't have to make this decision yet, or ever, if she didn't want to.
Space Hop!
Madi has joined the library's summer reading challenge again this year. The idea of the scheme is to encourage chidlren to read 6 books borrowed from the library over the school summer holiday, for which they are rewarded with stickers and other rewards, and a medal and certificate on successful completion. Whilst finding it slightly alarming that it should be necessary to try and bribe children to read in this way, Madi (like JK when he was younger) does enjoy collecting the rewards. The theme this year is 'Space Hop'. 
Her first choice was 'Gargoylz go to a Party' by Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler. Hmmm, not a great hit. Each book in the series comes with a rubber gargoyle toy, which I'm sure is very appealing to children, and with a code hidden in the story to activate a new game on the Gargoylz website. More attempts to bribe children to read! Of course, the library copy does not have the toy attached, and Madi wasn't really very impressed with either the game on the website or the story itself. She had chosen it as she thought the cover looked fun and exciting, but unfortunately the cover was as interesting as it got. 
The fourth title in Sue Limb's Ruby Rogers series- 'Get a Life!' was her second choice, and was much more like the stories Madi usually chooses, and unsurprisingly was much more popular, although it still didn't reach the standard of her old favourites Horrid Henry, Clarice Bean and Daisy. Still, she will look out for more of these. 
On our next visit, Madi chose 'Bill's New Frock' by Anne Fine and 'Bacillus and the Beastly Bath' by Ann Jungman.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Summer School at Eastwood Comprehensive
Just a couple of weeks after putting on Bugsy Malone in a week, JK is off for more performing arts, this time at a local comprehensive's summer school, and with his friend Jack from ice hockey. It isn't always easy to find out what JK has been doing, but I know he has enjoyed the chance to work with music technology, and they have been doing a lot of filming, another new opportunity for him. A particular highlight was a trip to the National Media Museum in Bradford, where they also watched Shrek 3 on the IMAX. And his Facebook account would suggest he made a lot of new friends too!
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