Friday 12 December 2014

Playstation and Homeschool Group

I had a very early morning yesterday, was awake at 4 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and sent a few emails, organised a few things that had been on my to do list for a while. By the time the kids were up I was feeling quite tired, and LiAM wanted to play Toy Story 3 on the Playstation with me, so I happily stayed lying on the couch and played with him for an hour or more. We've been playing quite a lot lately and I'm enjoying it - and I'm improving! When I first played a few weeks ago, Amelie said she liked watching me play because I was much worse than her at it - I could never figure out which way I was facing or how to run in the direction I wanted to go, I couldn't jump or fire at a target, and I constantly forgot which buttons on the controller to press to do anything. LiAM has been quite patient with me, and I'm slowly improving. I can now navigate and jump and fire and run, and I usually remember what buttons to press, even if my reaction time is still a bit slow. The part of Toy Story 3 we usually play (Woody's Roundup) has a lot going on in it, and we've pretty much divided up the tasks and can each go about our business, and help each other out on the harder bits. The girls (and even Tony) sometimes sit and watch and comment so it can be an activity that the whole family is involved in, and I'm really enjoying the time doing something specific with LiAM. It's also been a handy reminder to me of how social and bonding playing a video game with someone can be, and how much the players can learn. And it's not sedentary either, we jump around a fair bit, and we talk and laugh about all sorts of things while we play.

After a while yesterday I left him to the game and got us all ready to go to Homeschool Group in Yarra Glen. We left a bit early because I hadn't yet bought all the equipment we needed for our activities. We went and got those then opened up the hall. We had 8 families come along, a couple with kids from other homeschooling families in tow, so there was a big group of kids. Most of them played outside, and at one point one of the mums saw ALL of them, from the 4 year old up to the 15 year old, on the roundabout together in the park. The kids came in and out throughout the afternoon and some of them made decorations when they were inside - we did snow globes in glass jars, and decorated oranges with cloves.

After Homeschool Group we hung around in the park and/or library for a short while, then headed home. I was exhausted and didn't feel well so the kids put a Barbie movie on and I lay on my bed with the iPad and recharged a bit. Amelie came in and played with me for a while, then Tony brought home fish and chips for tea. Caitlin and LiAM skyped and played Minecraft with a friend and I read my book (The Railway Man) until I was ready to go to sleep.

Sunday 7 December 2014

Wedding anniversary and finishing activities

I have finished writing about our trip to Sydney, at travellingandexploringourworld.blogspot.com.au I still haven't added any photos for the first few days because they are on Dad's computer, not mine - hopefully I will get to that soon.

We've been fairly relaxed since we got back. Caitlin had her final acting performance for the year which was a pleasure to watch, and beforehand we had dinner on Lygon St with Mum and Dad and my sister and her family. The girls had their Guides Christmas Party and Caitlin had her last acting class for the year - both of which she was able to take her friend S along to, and both girls enjoyed being there together and sharing the experience. All our activities are finished for the year now except for one or 2 more homeschool gatherings, and Caitlin has a day and half more of school (next Friday and the one after).

This weekend was Tony and my 12th wedding anniversary. The kids went for a sleepover at a friend's house (all together) and Tony and I had some time alone at home, went out for dinner to the Thai restaurant in Yarra Glen - delicious food! - and then to the movies to use a voucher we received last christmas (thanks Mum). We saw 'Interstellar' which I knew NOTHING about going in, always a bit weird and also an enjoyable kind of anticipation. It was LONG although flowed pretty well, covered a lot of ground, and was interesting and thought provoking. Enjoyed Matthew McConaghy and Anne Hathaway - hadn't seen her in a role like that before. The only downside for me was that the music score kept the suspense level VERY high for nearly the entire movie - and although there were some shocks there was nothing terribly scary and nothing gross - so I spent nearly three hours all tensed up wondering what terrible things were going to happen. Could watch it again much more calmly, although don't know if I would bother. We did enjoy it though and talked a lot afterwards about the plot twists. We got home very late and had a bit of a sleep in this morning and a good chat about a lot of things. A very enjoyable anniversary celebration.

As promised here's some photos of Caitlin
Ready to go to dance concert



Dressed for Tap Dancing performance

In the School Play