Updated December 2009
When we set up this web page I had the idea of updating it every couple of months or so, so that our friends all over the country and all over the world could see what was going on in our lives, if they cared to look. So much for ideals - I seem to get round to doing this about once a year; just before the Christmas cards go out, and usually in a total rush! It then kind of ends up being a "review of the year" - but anyway, here goes...
Nothing much has happened.
Well, that's not exactly true. But after 12 frantic years of constant change as we added more children to our family, saw them develop through their baby and toddler years, and also started home educating, the last year has been largely the same as the one before - which has been very pleasant indeed.
We are now firmly out of the baby & toddler phase, and I have really enjoyed spending a year with no buggy or nappies, and being able to pursue activities as a family such as cycling, walking and swimming with relative ease and freedom. I really noticed it this Christmas, when the children were decorating their bedrooms. What in previous years had involved Jason being around so that I could leave the children to go and rummage in the attic, and then the painstaking setting up of little Christmas trees, lights and strands of tinsel for them - this year was done entirely by the children themselves with no help needed (or wanted for that matter!).
So I am enjoying life, and I hope the rest of the family are too. Home education continues to be a very positive choice for us, and although it means I "lose" many of my evenings to preparing work, I also thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to share so much of our lives together. Toby would have been doing his applications for Secondary schools this year, and Joel would have started in Year 7 (first year of secondary education) - but neither is remotely interested in school at the moment, although they know that the option is always available to them if they want it.
Kirsten and Elsa also enjoy our time together, and Elsa (who would have just started in Reception) is increasingly joining in with the learning that we do. I have put a lot more about our home education in a separate page on this web site, so if you are interested do read more there.
So to my highlights of the year. Many of them are to do with the new-found freedom of having all the children old enough to join in with things (and as yet, none too old so that they don't want to join in).
Having spent years vowing that we would never camp, we purchased a tent this summer and had two fantastic trips , one to Dartmoor and one to the Corfe Castle area of Dorset. We will never be "serious" campers - none of us can see the fun of camping if it's wet, so the tent is more of a fair-weather weekend bolt-hole - a means of escaping the city, and sometimes even getting to the sea. (I still wonder why we live in Birmingham when we all love the sea so much.)
Another highlight for me was our time spent kayaking. At the back end of last year we bought two second-hand kayaks very cheaply on ebay, and this year we really had chance to enjoy using them. The three older children are confident after having had quite a few kayaking lessons with our home ed group, and even Elsa managed to paddle around a bit, although we kept her firmly roped to an adult on the shore! We also found some great cycle routes, especially in the Ashby/Coalville area of the midlands, where many old pits have been changed into forest areas and quiet cycleways.
Holidays too are always one of my favourite times, and as well as camping we managed a week in the Cotswolds (in February), one in Northumberland in June and then visited Scarborough with my Mum and Dad and all my sister's family for a week in September. Finally we had a week in York with our friends the Mackins. This photo was taken on a deserted beach in Northumberland on my birthday. It was bitterly cold, about 11 oC, but still great fun. Shortly after the photo all 4 kids ended up in the sea - although they were wearing wetsuits. I wore 3 jumpers and watched from behind the windbreak!
Of course, not everything in life is plain sailing, and we have had the usual ups and downs of family life through the year, with a smattering of illnesses, arguments and falling-outs in amongst the good times. However on the whole I feel that this has been a very important year for us as a family, re-charging our batteries and really enjoying being together - kind of an oasis before whatever the next big change is and whenever it comes. I am well aware that our older children are growing into teenagers, and that our parents are now close to their eighties and that things won't stay like this forever. But while they do - we are absolutely making the most of it!!
Have a great Christmas (assuming that you aren't reading this in June!), and maybe this year I will manage to update this a little more frequently...
Sally