Much needed rest...

Over the past few months, we've been doing lots of renovations in the house.

Including decorating the very purple bedroom.

Which has resulted in us feeling very tied.

So we headed off to Norfolk for a much needed break.

We spent four days, walking, cycling, canoeing, chilling and drinking tea

A bicycle made for one!

The girls went canoeing in the double canoe,
it's not easy to control, but they did a good job.

Setting off on an adventure to Pirate's Island.

'Can we go swimming?'
Jemima testing the temperature of the lake, desperate for a swim.

'Immy's baby'

Snettisham RSPB reserve has featured on Spring/Autumn watch.

It's famous for it's high tide spectaculars,

which we once got up very early to see.

I love the ever changing big skies.

Bluebells and Comfrey in front of 'The Wash house'.

'Lady in Red' is probably never going to dance again.

And this friendly duck came in and cleaned the floor for us, luckily she left before she dirtied it again!

Sunshine at last...

Did it ever stop raining in April?

If you can't beat it, enjoy it!

And the rain inspired Jemima to do this piece of artwork. First she wet the paper with rain, than painted a rain scene and finally placed the paper in the rain once again, to add depth to the painting, 'like the rain was going on and on'.

Today we woke to bright blue skies and sunshine, so off we went to Seckar woods.
A nature reserve and site of scientific special interest.

Picnicking by the old swimming pool.

A constant power battle between Reuben and Rosanna to 'be the leader'.

Despite the blue skies and warm weather, there were still deep muddy patches!

Years fly by...

On the 25th April 2007, our third child Reuben was born.

Just after he was born, Imogen and Jemima arrived at the hospital and came into the delivery room. We hadn't quite started home educating yet, but already wanting a real life education for our children.
We had an amazing student midwife, who let the girls get involved and hands on.

We always felt that the girls didn't have enough time to play,

or enough time to experiment with jay cloths!

Imogen proudly wore this waistcoat she had made on a trip to the doctors.

I've still got it somewhere.

And so began our journey into the unknown world of home education.

Lots of time to bond with Reuben.

We've done some amazing things, visited extraordinary places

and met interesting people along the way.

The girls have had so much to play, Bratz, polly pocket, Barbie, playmobil, lego to name a few!

But most importantly we have had lots of time together as a family.

Two years and four months into home educating, our family was completed with the arrival of Rosanna Ernestine.

Looking back I now wonder, how did I manage to home educate through morning sickness with a toddler too? In the early days of home educating with four children it was the negative comments that kept me going. How are you going to cope with a baby and a toddler and educate the girls? I had to prove to everyone that I could do it.

So really we've got to the easy stage!! No one in nappies, no more breast feeding. Got to be so easy now!
I still find it hard to think I've got to start at the beginning again with Reuben and Rosanna. Will I find it interesting and exciting doing the science experiments, painting pictures or pond dipping?

But then again do I want to miss out on more of this?

It's not always easy home educating, but it's very rewarding.
This time of year brings back strong memories as we wrestled with the decision to home educate, and bring about our life changes.

Jemima recently tried to make me promise that I'd never send her back to school. Of course, I can't ever promise that, what if I was ill. Jemima response, if you were ill I'd be at home looking after you.