Happy Birthday to Hermione...

Well, it's been one of those weeks. Battling the sicky bug, watching the rain, preparing for Hermione's birthday and party and generally been very busy doing nothing much.

On Thursday Craig took the morning off work and went swimming at Spennymoor Leisure Pool with Hermione. Apparently she over came her fear of the waves and was right in the thick of it. I'm really pleased about that. Her confidence in the water is growing all the time even though our swimming jaunts tend to be sporadic.

On Friday Hermione went to the shop on her own twice. The shop is two doors away and I watch her from the end of the drive. She finds it all extremely exciting and again it's another area in which her confidence is growing fast. In order to have a reason to go to the shop she set out on a mission to use as much sellotape as possible. She has been to the shop four times this week and each time for a roll of sellotape - odd. The lady in the shop had asked her what she was using all of the sellotape for and she explained - making bird houses of course!

With an abundance of bird houses she decided to put one out for the tooth fairy just in case she knew of any homeless birds. She made a note so we knew which one was for the fairy. Her writing is still quite large but really is improving.

Friday afternoon was the usual Modern Dance class at Ferryhill Station. Hermione really likes this one, much more so than Jazz I believe. It's very active - a bit like Fame the Musical I think.

Saturday was the big day. Hermione turned six! I can't believe how quickly the years are passing by. We bought her a Bratz sofa bed, a weekend case and a coat. My Mum bought her a duvet cover and Soo and Lily bought her a Girls Aloud cd as she had requested. There were other things too.

We had a really nice apple and cinnamon cake which I baked on Friday night and ate it whilst watching the JCB which had come to clear our back garden. We were all quite fascinated by the JCB. It's rare that you can get safely close up to one in operation but we had a ring side seat as it scraped away at the mounds of earth which has been dug out for the conservatory foundations. The garden is now relatively flat save for a huge mountain of soil and rubble at one end which is going to be removed this week.

We decided that instead of going out 'en masse' for her birthday meal it would be nice to go somewhere a little different just Hermione, Craig and myself. We went here http://www.theoldmill.uk.com/ . Hermione and I both had scampi and Craig chose a chicken dish. It was very nice.

Today was the day of the party. I have to say I was rather nervous about it. Miles has been demanding to say the least this week - partly due to not being well and partly due to being Miles. Thankfully it all went well in the end though.

The guests included Lily, Luke, Eleanor, Adam, Claire, Imogen, Ivan, Angelica, Cody, Joseph and Lionel. They played 'Bad Sweetie' which went down well when I finally remembered how to lay it, Pass the Pillow Case, Making Mummies and passed the orange from person to person under their chins. There was also a pinneata which I thought would never break but thankfully did in the end.

On a more 'formal' note we have had few phonics sessions over the past few days. The girls interest in phonics is growing as they learn more and slowly things begin to fit together. I have thought a lot of late about buying a curriculum. I have really mixed feelings as there is no way in which I want to become a slave to a curriculum - I would hate that - but at the same time I sometimes feel taken by surprise with the girls eagerness to learn and would always like to have a little something which is interesting, fun and exciting up my sleeve! The trouble is finding a pre packaged curriculum which is fun, educational, exciting and doesn't have strong religious or social messages which are at odds with my own. I know the ideal would be to have lots of stuff prepared in advance but I struggle with this at times. I just don't know were the time goes.