I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. It's just I joined Instagram a few months ago and they say a picture tells a thousand words and....well, it's quicker to post a photo and run. I'm here if you want to find me and admire my wonderful photography...and eclectic choice of views of our crazy life.
I've picked a few photos out to post here. Firstly, Spring *finally* arrived in the UK. The cherry blossom came out and the many ferns in my garden started to unfurl....
.jpg)
Last weekend we made the most of the sunny weather, dusted the bikes off and went out in the sun. Mr Nicsknots showed off, Lou followed Daddy and ended up in a big heap. Do we think she has learnt the important 'Never follow Daddy' lesson? Er no!
We have started a positivity book. J still struggles with his writing and the older he gets, the more I panic. He has the ideas but, by his own admission, he hates writing and finds it boring. No matter how many times I tell him that it doesn't matter how boring he finds it, the quicker he gets on with things, the quicker it is over, he still sits at the table, frustrated and annoyed for much longer than it takes him to write the work.
I love reading a couple of blogs (Keep It Simple and I Can See The Trees.), where they post five positive things a day and I wondered if I could get J practicing his writing while helping him see that all of the good things that happen in his day don't revolve around an electrical device. We've been doing it for a fortnight now and it is getting better. Last week I was feeling like I was doing everything wrong as a parent; we would have a fab family day, do lots of things I thought would make an appearance in the book and he would sit for ten minutes complaining that nothing positive had happened in his day then write 'I played Minecraft for ten minutes' but we carried on and I haven't ever complained about his choice of subject and now it is becoming routine and he is finding it easier to find positive things as well as improving his writing. Fingers crossed it works!!
This was the first day and this comment made it all worth doing because he had wanted to give up on his violin lessons but then he went to orchestra and they played music out of Harry Potter and he now loves it!!
I have been doing some Spring inspired photo-shoots. I love this print. I bought it for a custom order a while back but I think I will be adding it to my current range. It makes me dream of summer days, ice cream and flowers in the garden.
My sister and her family have moved to Italy! I'm so jealous of the warm weather and their adventures. Her husband is in the Navy so they will be based there for two years before coming home.
I'm still trying to switch off from work at the weekends. It is so hard to switch off when working from home, especially when my 'office' is in the corner of our lounge but I am learning. I even sat and read for a couple of hours in the daytime yesterday while everyone else went to a model railway exhibition. I need to read a bit more if I am ever going to get my 52 books read this year though!
So. I think that is me up to date. This week *is* going to be a good one and I shall be back tomorrow with something really exciting.
Just before I go, this week is Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week. My lovely friend gave birth to an amazing, fab little boy in March who has a bilateral cleft and palate. Before she found out, at her 20 week scan, I hadn't really heard much, even though it is the most common congenital anomaly in the UK, affecting approximately 1 in every seven hundred babies born in the UK. The work that CLAPA does to support family and friends and the information they provide is so valuable and I wanted to do my little bit to support them so I'll be baking some cakes for a coffee morning later in the week and I will be donating 15% of sales this week from my Phoenix Cards to the association.
You can order directly from the the website, from anywhere in the UK or even further afield and the cards are sent straight to you within 3 days so if you keep meaning to get organised and get some beautiful cards, designed and printed in the UK, do it this week while supporting a really worthwhile and sometimes overlooked cause. If you just want to donate, click here to get through to the website.
I'll be back tomorrow with some fab news!!
4 comments:
Thank you for the mention!! Its so lovely to hear the five positive things thing has been a benefit to you too!! :))
Have a lovely Monday! :D
xx
What a great idea to do the five positive things list. My brother is dyslexic and had to do lots of writing practice, I think he would have really preferred doing something like this, rather than sitting and simply copying random sentences out.
The print on that bag is lovely. Very tempting...... Oh and the photos is great too. I really like it displayed like that.
The teachers always tell him to copy random sentences or lines of letters and I think the same; I would find it boring so surely he would feel the same. Just hoping it works because this year his writing at school almost looks like it has gone backwards :(
Thank you for the blog mention, it's a great idea using positive thoughts to practice writing! Can you talk to his teacher about ways to engage his interests eg minecraft in lessons? I know it helped with my little L and his issues. We have had no computer working at home for 3 weeks now too and that's made improvements in household too. Xxx
Post a Comment