It Still rains in Blighty..

Today was interesting...

One Boy woke up and his first words were, "Gangan, I like sleeping at Granny Wendy's. What do you think about us staying here for Christmas?"

I think One Boy is having too much of a good time!

He then refused to come with me to meet Auntie Sarah preferring to stay home with Granny Wendy and Grandad Brian. Was my nose put out of joint? Duh!

Anyhow, Auntie Sarah, Eoin, and Granny had a lovely morning. Coffee at the George Hotel, and then a wander round the shops.

On our return, we found that One Boy and his granny Wendy had taken a stroll down to the park. Not to be left out I followed them.

This was not a good idea!

The minute we met the heavens opened. Not just a little shower, but a real heavy downpour. Within seconds we looked like three drowned rats.

Oh well, that's life.

Way Too Much Food

What a wonderful Sunday....

But to the menu.....Auntie Sarah really provided us with a feast.....

Roast lamb and mint sauce
Roast potatoes
Roast parsnips
Carrots
Cauliflower Cheese
Brocolli
Carrots mashed with swede (Rudebaga)
Gravy

Pineapple upside down Pudding (with fresh pineapple)
Cream

Coffee

And for those that do, a choice of red or white wine.

Fantastic...

One Boy had a blast with Keelynn and Granny got to bath baby Eoin.

Back to Blighty

One Boy and His Granny are now settled at Granny Wendy's house in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.

The flight over was interesting, due to an enormous amount of turbulance, but non the less we arrived safely and ready for our UK adventure.

One Boy has had great fun playing with his cousin Keelynn. Keelynn is a tad different to One Boy. She is adventurous and fearless. The hope of all onlooking adults, is that they turn out to be a good influnece on each other!!!! OK, so we can hope.

Auntie Sarah, Uncle Mick and baby Eoin, took One Boy and myself out for lunch yesterday. We went to the Hartford Marina and had a great time.

On the wall was hanging a picture of a statue of Oliver Cromwell. One Boy looked at it, and then said, " I would love to see that statue."

No sooner said than done. That particular statue stands in the middle of St. Ives, a mere five minutes away.

One Boy's face was a picture when he saw his statue in real life. Of course, a quick history lesson followed. I am never sure whether to be proud or horrified that Oliver Cromwell is a local. Was he in fact a hero or villain? The debate goes on.

Today, we are all going for Sunday Dinner at Auntie Sarah's house. A true family Sunday with the family.

What has happened to One Boy?......

It has been a few months, since I posted anything about One Boy.....

Does that mean that our lives have been stagnant? NO.....

One Boy has been extremely busy. He can now read and write, and is doing so well with his studies. Being a free spirit, means that the little chap finds structure a wee bit tiresome! So, our homeschooling fits well with his character.

He is now 4 years and 2 days old.....

He had a fantastic birthday party, featuring a magician and a bouncy castle, or in our case a moonwalker.

Having mentioned that our little free spirit struggles with structure does not mean that we think that is totally ok. To be a useful family member and citizen does, require a certain amount of self-discipline, and control, and on occasions conformity.

With all this in mind I, as Granny and teacher, enrolled him into a Gymnastics Club Summer School, at the Three Rivers Gymnasium, in Wahpeton, North Dakota. This could indeed be what was needed.

Twice a week for four weeks. One Boy had a blast. Not so sure about his coaches.....I was told he was a character, and I chose to take this as a compliment..!

Summer School ended and One Boy was enrolled into Summer Gym Camp. Three afternoons of intense training, games and craft work. Again, he had a blast.

But, with a mere five weeks of gym under his belt, there has been a change in One Boy. Small but definitely there.

He will now take gym lessons once a week. It is something he enjoys and looks forward to.

We are now counting down the days to our next adventure to England. One Boy now has two cousins to visit. His Auntie Sarah and Uncle Mick became the proud parents of a little Boy, Eoin George.

It is not my belief that this trip will be restful......what with a new baby, and One Boy and Miss Keelynn getting up to mischief!

What I do know is that it is going to be great fun............

As One Boy Eats His Breakfast Let's Catch Up

A few words whilst One Boy eats his breakfast.........a fresh fruit medley, croissants and orange juice.

One Boy is enjoying life except with a few exceptions.....

Last week we had to watch his heartbreak as he thought that the love of his life had dumped him for another younger guy.......

Unfortunately it happened on the day we were taking his mummy out for her birthday dinner.

On being asked what he wanted from the menu our poor little fella looked at us with tears running down his face and sobbed, "I can't think about food."

We ordered for him and he refused to even take a bite...was it worth all the anguish?

NO

The next day he and his princess were back to declaring their love for each other....

On to his kindergarten courses........One Boy loves learning but cannot see the point of having to learn letters and numbers first.......that said he is. But only with the bribe of more exciting things to come....

At the moment out of all of his courses his favorite so far is Animal Science.

Haven't had the heart to tell him but his first course work this morning is Word Building....he has mastered A and M and today we move on to S.

I am finding that practising with textured letters and numbers really helps him to form them correctly.

plus, sky writing..........what fun.

One Boy is Enrolled in Kindergarten

Well, what a busy few weeks..........

After finding out that Lucas would not officially start school until after his 6th birthday it has been decided that we will home school him.

Decision made, where do we begin?

After much fiddling around and research a decision was agreed upon.

Granny would be his home-school supervisor and we would enroll him in the American Academy National Home School.

Before he could begin any work he was required to pass a test at 80% or more which he did with flying colors.

The test was to decide if he should be enrolled in pre-school or kindergarten. Well, One Boy did so well he is now working on kindergarten courses.

Of course his concentration lapses, after all he is only 3 but today he passed his first word building skills test.

He writes upper and lower case A's. He knows the difference between the three A sounds.

To be honest getting him to practice writing is like pulling teeth and just as painful....he finds it 'boring'. But then didn't we all? I know I did.

He just loves Animal Science.......

This week we introduce the letter M and meet Milton the Mule.........But the fun stuff will begin and we will be putting the letter sounds together to make words. So we will set out to conquer am, ma, mama.

Going back to my big beef the writing practice......in his book he fiddles around but then after school finishes he rushes round writing A's and a's shouting "Look Gangan" and laughing. What a 'rotten' sense of humor One Boy has but you gotta love him.

Oh, and silly me followed the course to the letter and he was taught the saying and the meaning of 'Waste makes haste'.

Big mistake......

Now, whenever I am trying to hurry him up regardless of what it is I need doing he turns and tells me very firmly, "Haste makes Waste".

Oh well....at least he is listening.

Lucas Gets Stuck

Another windy snowy day in North Dakota.................

I wasn't too thrilled with the weather when at 7am I was scraping snow off the steps of daycare but never gave it much thought the rest of the day.

Home time and Lucas decided to come home with his Gangan. No problem or was it?

The wind had blown snow all over our driveway something which had past the attention of Grandad who had spent the day baking goodies for our daycare snacks. If he had seen what was going on he would have been out there, like the hero he is, blowing the snow from the drive.

Lucas and I arrive and me being in a hurry as it was blooming cold was leading the way at super pace.

I arrive at the front door to hear a vocie in the distance calling, "Gangan, I need help."

Looking back from whence I had come there was One Boy stuck in the snow with the snow gently filling his boots....oops....

Now, do  I go back and rescue him or go in get warm and leave him to sort himself out?

Well, of course I traipsed back down the drive and hauled him from the snow and carried him to the house.

Bless his heart he was only stuck for a few minutes but his little feet were frozen.

Sometimes it is still difficult getting used to North Dakotan winters....roll on spring.