S.O.S. day 2014

 Today is S.O.S. day the RNLI's official fundraising day.
 Rebe, Benny and Joa are huge fans of the lifeboat and have been ever since we moved to Courtmacsherry. Rebe and Benny are both members of Stormforce, the junior RNLI supporters club, through which they receive a quarterly magazine. It was through the magazine that we first heard about S.O.S. day and 2 years ago made and sold biscuits in the village to raise money to support the RNLI (that post is here). This year we did things a little bigger and organised a fundraising event at the children's school.
It was great fun and a huge success.

Several member of the Courtmacsherry Lifeboat crew came down to talk to the kids.

 They brought with them some of their gear (demonstrated here by my fabulous and gorgeous Garry)

 and explained how it all worked.

 They showed us how the life jackets inflate (making Garry look like a penguin according to one of the pupils)

 and they set off a flare and told us lots of information about being a crew member, the lifeboat and rescues. 

Then the kids had a chance to try on the gear...

Benny wearing full lifeboat gear

Some of the older kids had a race, getting fully dressed...

 and running all the way around the school.

While the kids were waiting their turn to try on the gear Rebe and Benny set up the other 2 games we had organised:

Life-ring hoola hoop:

and Wellie throwing:

Once everyone had a chance to try everything (and run about wildly with an RNLI helmet on) we shared the cake that the kids and I had baked for the occasion.

After we thanked the crew for their time and their very generous gifts of pencils and key rings for the kids, we decorated a big card to say 'Thank you' to all of the crew of the Courtmacsherry Lifeboat for everything that they do.

 Each child in the school had the chance to stick some coloured paper onto the drawing of the lifeboat,

 and sign their name to it.

 We don't know how much we managed to raise yet, we'll be collecting the funds and the card (that is currently drying) from the school and bringing them to the station on Monday. Over all it was a brilliant morning, enjoyed by everyone :-)
And the S.O.S. fun doesn't end here, this evening Garry has organised a table quiz in aid of the RNLI at his work which I and some friends are going along to (I hope there are questions about Downton Abbey and knitting...I might get a bit stuck otherwise!)

mostly...

we've been poorly, for what seems like weeks now. Some horrible sore throat, coughing, headache, temperature, sore tummy type business. First Benny, then Joa and now Rebe and I. That's been about it. We missed all our groups and singing and visits, we stayed home and rested and slept.

I took it easy this morning while Rebe made soup in the kitchen. It was actually fairly nice, although erm... interesting. If you'd like to try it yourself she told me she put in: 1 onion, half a swede, 2 sweet potatoes, a small cup of red lentils, 2 stock cubes, half a teaspoon of chili powder, half of ground ginger and half of all spice, bring to boil (she kept checking with me to ensure she was recognizing the boiling aspect: 'it's got loads of tiny bubbles and is sort of grumbling' : not boiling yet, wait another few minutes... 'ok now it has big bubbles that are pushing each other around and the steam is all whooshing up') ...so let it do that for a few moments then turn it down ti simmer for half an hour then whizz up and eat with plenty of bread and butter.

We have done a little bit of crafting too. It is S.O.S. day, the RNLI's big fundraising day, on Friday and the kids (as proud Stormforce members) are holding a fundraising day at school with games and crafts and we have asked some of the crew of the Courtmacsherry lifeboat to come along for a question and answer session.
One of the games we are doing is life-saver hoola hoops.
We made poor people-in-distress from old plastic bottles, weighted with pebbles and covered in crepe paper,

 they will be hoola-hooped with these life rings made from newspaper, masking tape and a little too much red paint:

 We're really excited about Friday and I'll take my camera and share it with you here :-)
 Aside from that:

Benny discovered he can write! He sounded out 'Macs' (Max) for his friend's birthday card and was so proud he asked me to share it here.

And with all this staying in I have been doing lots of doll making:

 I also filled all of the places on my workshop for next month which I am so, so excited about and feel I have pretty much got my head around it all. I am being aware of how much prep time I will need for it and not over stretching my custom work that month, although it's always difficult not getting carried away because I do so love making these dolls.

I hope we'll all be well again soon and back to normal life, perhaps I will even get around to taking some more pictures too!

waldorf doll workshop

moments from our day...

 early morning orange juice squeezing

playing our new favourite game together 'Man the Lifeboat' that Santa brought and we've now got the hang of

 Rebe's services rendered

 proud Benny with his services rendered

 a custom 16 inch doll I finished last night

 playmobil play

(very cute) ninja play

gingerbread men baked

and decorated as lifeboat men in yellow oilskins 

 and what with all the orange juice squeezing, gingerbread men baking, soup cooking and general snacking I felt like I spent a good 30% of my day like this: washing up at the sink with one little person or another chatting to me while another (blond curly one) sits on the worktop taking pictures slyly on my camera.

I also fitted in a little house work, a little knitting, a little run, a little watching of 'shows', a little clearing up of lego, a little reading and loads of cuddles. Now the kids are with their dad for the weekend and Garry and I have plans of good food, wine, a fire...
Ah the bliss of Saturdays.
Hope yours was equally as good x

Buddies ~ fishing

**In September 2011 6 families got together and started Buddies Home School. Each week we meet in each other's home and follow a simple rhythm: movement and music, craft/ baking, snack time, free play and story time. Each part of the session is led by a different family. We are sharing this week's session with you here...***

 As usual we began our Buddies session this week with a wee bit of a sing song. Little M requested Incy Wincy Spider straight away as he had brought along his beastie viewer and had caught a spider in it. I think the spider was very pleased we sang for him!

 There was of course the usual off the wall version of 'Old MacDonald', who had an odd assortment of things on his farm; cars etc. and we ended with a '1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive' to go with our fishy theme for the day.

 Flo organised a brilliant craft for us this week that I can't recommend enough!

 She had brought with her some bright coloured paper fish shapes that the Buddies decorated with crayons.

 Then using sellotape the mummies helped fasten an opened-into-a-triangle paper clip to the tip of their nose...

 like this.
Then we tied a length of string onto a stick and attached another paper clip to the other end. This one with only 1 side bent out to act as a hook.

 Then Flo spread a blue throw on the floor as a pond and we placed all the fish into it and the Buddies all stood around fishing, careful not to get their feet wet.

 It was so great, the wee ones concentrated so hard (or really cheated... aherm Joa) hooking their fish and the pride and delight on their faces when they had caught one was so sweet!

 As you can see from the background there was much cheering and whooping and celebrating when a fish was caught.

While the Buddies were having their snack of fresh baked bread and fruit Susan gave us a kefir demonstration. It was really interesting especially when we could stop laughing at Beth's observation that it looked like the inside of a nappy! 

For our story this week little A had brought a book along with her (her mama says she carries it everywhere with her at the moment)....

After reading a few extracts we decided we'd rather read something with pictures after all so we read Katie Morag's Tiresome Ted as well.

It was so much fun and if you have wee ones the fishing game is a great one to try out!