Spring Half Term Time Off

First of all , sorry for the late update .
​So this past week has been very quiet in respect of learning, the spring half term meant we had a full week to relax a little and enjoy some chill time.
It felt really hard to not give them work to do but I know I need to give them time of and to be fare we all needed some recovery time .

The good thing about this week though was the fact we could  concentrate on celebrating our oldest son's and third youngest son's party.
Their dad was at work unfortunately for the day but it was organised and so we just waited until he came home before we decided to enjoy the party itself.

The boys had ordered themselves a cake form the local cake shop and we were over the moon with the cookie monster theme and the cake was delicious , we're still trying to get through it , it was so big.

The boys decided to choose everything for their party themselves, they made their own table decorations and even designed their own banner from Twinkl.co.uk as well as other things.
They made food flags for their party menu and made their very own crisp cones. We blew hundreds of balloons up and decided to also make our own masks to help stay in the theme of comic heroes . 
Although the boys decided on a cookie monster cake they still wanted a different theme and who says it all has to be the same?
​They all looked awesome .

We spent the whole evening having balloon wars with lightsabers in the sitting room and playing on Just Dance that the day went great, they were worn out .

We have also been busy trying to get the house decorated , when we moved in the other year, you may remember that we decided to do the garden first due to having three very large German Shepherd dogs and it being muddy and grassed area? 
Well we totally converted our garden into my husband making a very large wooden play park built by himself from scratch and also added a dog area and hot tub area with decking for the adults, we found ourselves in a state of comfort knowing the dogs were separated from ourselves in the summer.

We then found out we were pregnant with Joshua and my husband then had to rip the wet room out and replace it with a fully functioning bathroom with a bath that I could actually lie in and relax , we had to tile the whole room and as soon as it was finished , I pretty much went into labour within 24 hours lol.

My daughter , got admitted to hospital for an infection and dehydration, my husband then had an accident in his van and due to the injuries causing him pain later on. We put everything on hold and decided to take a little break and went on a couple of holidays to find the much missed family time we so desperately needed. We then ended up giving up the family Valeting business which he owned and he started a new job so we have had a busy year trying to get organised back into a routine and the house got put on hold.
Well up until I told him I wished to get it all sorted and so we decided in January to start decorating at the same time we also decided to start home schooling.
I never do things in halves me .

The sitting room had to have a fire and surround ripped out and of course the workmen previously had not plastered behind the surround so we have had to get those little details sorted before we can proceed.
Having three quarters of a sitting room wallpapered now and promised that it will be finished by the end of this month , I then decided to pop into Carpet Right and get some carpets sorted.
Joshua has been walking for a while now but still finds himself unsteady at times. I'm not really comfortable with putting hard souled shoes on children , I know there's some good brands out there but for us we like to let them find their feet for a while first .  We decided it was a perfect time for getting him his very first pair of shoes.
I checked out the cute boots , smart but casual yet Joshua and his daddy had other ideas and I was outvoted when Spiderman beat my vote.
We let him run riot in his first pair of shoes in Carpet Right while we organised for full house flooring to be organised.
The kids got to choose their own carpets so the younger boys opted for a car play flooring and the others a Star Wars themed floor, luckily for me , I got to choose the rest of the rooms and so I am very excited to get it done .
Just waiting on fitting dates .

I've spent my week of from teaching catching up on some review posts and client work and let the children enjoy some play time.
During the week I got tagged on my facebook page by a relative that brought back some awesome memories.
17 years ago this was me, holding my baby cousin in my arms , hard to believe that since then I've held four of my own and mothered another 4. 
Now mum to 8 it seems just like yesterday  to me still.

The week ended with me taking a rather nasty fall too.
It was only Christmas when I fell and left my Hip and rib black and blue after falling through the stair gate and yet again my fate was sealed .
My husband was daft enough to leave a full tub of gloss near the door which he had left ajar and so with storm Doris causing mayhem it opened and nearly knocked the tub over.
In my state of concern, I leant over the stair gate (which was not fitted correctly as the gloss was wet on the door frames) and it flipped up and became loose. I ended up tangled in a mess on the floor , legs wrapped around the stair gate like a climbing vine to a fence and groaning in pain. I felt myself screach in pain but then found the funny side and laughed at my pride been broken by falling in front of the kids.
Of course my husband rushed immediately to ensure I was OK but then followed his concern with that stare of ''I can't believe you've just done that'' and then the smirk or starting laughter.
I've woken up a little sore this morning but luckily its just a few bumps and bruises and even more lucky it was not one of the little ones. After removing our old carpet , preparing for our new one to go down in a few weeks and getting ready to gloss the hallway , we did uncover this very retro old one hidden underneath. 
Wow , I was just waiting on a dreadlock male jumping out with a pipe in his mouth shouting ''Peace''!
I will definitely be glad to see this go .

We tried a few firsts this week in the kitchen also.
My daughter enjoyed the homemade breakfast muffins I've made her before so when she asked me to make her some I merely told her to make them herself while I was there to supervise.
​She made a good job and they turned out beautiful.

We also decided to attempt making our own hash browns too after my husband decided he fancied a large gut buster fry up breakfast (post in nutrition to follow).
​I have to say we enjoyed them and the husband has said they were so much better than the bought ones from the shop .

Of course he could not finish it so I felt my challenge was completed.

We also took our weekly visit to the local library where I found myself very excited at the fact I finally got my hands on a book I had ordered from Michael Cooper  'Mini and Me''.
Instantly hooked .
It is very rare I actually want to read something as bad as I have wanted with this one . There is another book I'm desperately trying to get hold of but I can not regarding the Fritzl story . I like true survival books as you might have guessed.

Like I said , it's been a rather relaxed week bar falling over and humiliating myself but we're now ready for a week back into home schooling, Fully replenished and ready to learn. I've missed it to be fare.
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