Christmas concerts

Both the kids had Christmas concerts, Cara with her year 1 friends and Jonah with the Schools orchestra:

Cara got pride of place, being the chef who mixes all the Chritmas ingredients into a big pot. She did soooooooo well.

Jonah's orchestra concert was really impressive and although we thought their conductor was ruling with a rod made with a little too much iron, it turns out that he's really quite nice - he just doesn't want to be left waiting around for everyone to turn up on a Saturday morning. Anyway, the results of their labours speak (or play) for themselves.

Wet, windy Winter

There really isn't much to do when it's howling outside and the nights have closed in. So things here have taken a turn for the TV and the DS.

Ahhhh, the unifying force of Nintendo:

Both Kids have been doing super well at school. Only a couple of weeks ago, Cara's literacy teacher stopped me at school and said "I just had to tell you that your daughter is a delight to teach". Can't say fairer than that. They are soooooo good.

On vaguely the same subject, Cara got to look after her teacher's teddy for the weekend. He's called Sunny. All the kids eventually get a go (if they're good) and seeing as most people stuck pictures in the book that came with him (as well as writing about what the kids did with him), it seemed rude not to push the boat out:

Aaaaaaaaaah!

In other news, it's coming close to Christmas and we'll be off to London, then we'll head back for New years before heading over to the Alps for a ski holiday.

Wining

Meriel's making lots of wine.

We'll never drink it - unless we're thirsty

It doesn't half bubble, mind:

Mini strobist

Cara's got into photography lately. She knows how to use more of the functions on the P&S than I do (which is saying something).

I also set her up with a strobe, brolly and DSLR and she got some pretty inspiring results for a five year old:

Although her assistant was awesome (and underpaid).

End of the hols, start of the term

The relentless march of the school calendar means alot less of this:

and much more of this:

Oh, no, hang on, that's not right. Oh well, at least she's wearing her uniform.

Cara's in year 1 and Jo's in year 4, which just goes to confirm the truth behind all the clichés dealing with the speed that children grow up.

I'll try to get a video of the kids cycling to school on their bikes before the weather turns and we're stuck in the car again. The only trouble will be getting past the health and safety problems associated with using a camera on a bicycle - I'm not talking about the law, it's just that if the kids see me do it, they'll bring me to book, which I guess is my fault in the end.

BOB

That'll be the Battle of Britain day, then.

Took the kids out of school over lunch so they could watch, although apart from watching the red arrows we might as well have taken them to the park. Still, they always impress (the red arrows - and I suppose I have to say the kids do, too).

And this year there was an F-16 (which was too loud for the ears of those who are of a certain age):

Lest we forget, the blades also repeated their practice session over the house just like last year. They even did the same "dive bomb our garden" routine - of which I will never tire. It's a good thing, mind, seeing as their display has such a small radius and we watch them from such a distance on the actual day, that the show over the house is much, much better than the event itself:

To the beach!

We've been to the beach mostly this summer (I know we posted already about this). WHenever Jonah has had a mate round we've headed for Petit Port or Marble Bay - Cara's mates are a little too small to take on a hike like that, but so saying Cara usually accompanies the boys.

And at Petit Port there were more waves - and bigger!

We also went down to Ladies bay to look for razor clams. No luck yet, but we'll try again some other time.

Cara's tooth

Cara lost her first tooth the other day.

She wanted to keep it, so she had to write a letter to the tooth fairy asking for the money, but also asking to get the tooth back.

In the morning, there was the tooth, and there was the money. That fairy's a soft touch!

Bake on!

Still baking

Still eating.

Sea side

One of the commonest threads linking most of the days of the summer holidays (for the children at least) is going to the beach. They're in the water every time we go down and most of the beaches have been right on the doorstep. Now that the water's really warm (by comparison) we're all swimming in the sea regularly.

Even if it's not too sunny, they've been playing in the waves and generally having an awesome time. These ones are taken from when we were at Petit Port with Jack & Harry:

And of course there's alot of jumping off the rocks (as you'd expect):

You can never miss with the beach. Always a winner.

I wocup

Cara and Jonah have been writing diaries over the summer hols, partly to keep a record that they can look back on in years gone by and partly to keep some vague link with the school work that they don't have over the break.
Jonah's writing some genuinely good stuff, really funny and engaging. Cara's drawings are completely awesome. Perhaps we'll get round to scanning in some of the entries before long.

Regatta '09

So we all went down to the Regatta and the weather was awful. Still. there was a decent crowd throughout the day and the kids joined in and even came 1st (equal) in the sandcastle competition (out of 2):

The kids went off with Grandma so that the parents could carry on helping out and doing the bay swim etc. All in all a good day, if a little cold and long.

(That last one is Lenny shortly before the swim)

Jethou

In an attempt to catch up with family blogging, here's a few images of our "recent" trip to Jethou. Grandma bought us a trip to the island when the National Trust were granted permission to go there with a group of visitors.

Much as you'd expect, it's a small island which takes an hour or so to walk around (even with small children). But it is relatively untouched and it's quite something to sit on top of an island that no one usually gets access to. Needless to say, it's beautiful there.

Accesorize and pamper

Ankle bracelets and hair straightening. What have we let ourselves in for?

Beads from Gran and Pampa.

Nice beads.

Happy 8th Jonah

Jonah was 8 last weekend. He had two mates around to play and got a skateboard and a chocolate fudge cake amongst other things - lucky boy:

On the road

And not too soon after learning we all go for an ice cream down the road:

If you look closely, you can still see the chocolate covering most of her face.

Cara's 5th Birthday

Cara is 5. Were it not a period of time that is rigorously defined as 365 days, we would say that it has taken an age for her to get here.

She got a scooter and a DS, for which she has been angling for a long time.

Happy? She's very happy.

And what kind of cake did she ask for? A chocolate cake with pink icing. Why not?

Bread and cakes

It's open season on wheat.

We've been struck by an addiction to flour-based cooking and the results, which have been consistently awesome, are now all gone. In fact, they tend to disappear within five to ten minutes.

Oh well, at least we're brimming with Omega-6.

Cyanotypes

Meriel' been making gorgeous cyanotype prints as a result of an inspirational visit from Helen

Many more to see here.

The evolution of a bike rider

So now it's Cara's turn to learn how to ride a bike. It's been a while since we posted anything here, so here's the sequence of her learning.

First we start with the "Parents run alongside the bike bending over to hold the rider upright" routine. Thankfully this doesn't last long, but my my, isn't it killer on the back:

Then we move on to the individual starting, which looks a bit wobbly and works without the benefit of good breaking, but at least the back doesn't ache any more:

Once that phase is over, it's pretty much plain sailing and she's off and running:

Bye Cara, don't forget to write when you get where you're going: