Where has she gone?

Nala the cat has left. She has been gone for seven hours, which may be nothing for many cats, but for Nala, who does not really like to go out at all without us, it is ages. We were in the garden with her in the morning, then she vomited (she often does this), so when I went in I closed the patio door so that she would not come back in and vomit again inside. We were only in the room with the patio window, so she could see us if she stayed there, and I opened the door again after about 45 minutes. But at some point she left, and has not come back. I think that may be it

Cricket

The boys have enjoyed another cricket session out in the sunshine and breezes today. They had a county player as a guest coach. The girls and I passed the hours in the play area again. I took a note book and Ia did some drawings of some of the wildflowers that we saw. Then she drew the playground equipment too. Still not many players turning up. The coach blames the people of the local area for not caring.
Last week the boys played their first cricket match. H took them along and to his surprise found himself umpiring. The coach spent the whole of their batting innings in the changing room helping the boys put on the pads etc. It was a quick succession of costume changes, as the wickets rapidly fell. R had a turn at batting first. J was to come out next, but getting the protective gear on took time, so he was delayed getting out of the pavilion. When he finally managed to waddle onto the pitch, Michelin man style, the opposing team cried foul, complaining that the same player had been sent out for a second time. Twins. The boys team was utterly thrashed, by boys mostly twice their size. But the memories live on as legends.
We’ve started a compost bin, which is home to lots of slugs and woodlice now. Of course the boys have exploited this opportunity to terrify their little sisters by carrying them down the garden and threatening to put them in the composter with the slugs. We really don’t mean to disturb the evening calm of the neighbourhood with high pitched screams, especially as the other nearby family of girly shriekers appears to have gone on holiday.
Nala is still being intimidated by the neighbour’s cats. They come up close and wait there until she shrinks, cowering away.
I’ve also been decorating. The boys tastefully chose ivory coloured paint for their room, after pre-moving ideas about black, car wallpaper etc, they were surprisingly sensible. So one room looks fresh and neat, in contrast to everywhere else. It is better to go out in the garden. So I did.

Photos

Some garden treasures.

Ia's work.

Outline of a castle, with surrounding villages.

Family of bugs.

Two little men with large hats.

Obviously.

Doing whatever

Have spent the morning pulling up the bedroom carpets, two of which disintegrated as I did so, making clouds of dust. With (reluctant) help from the boys I cleared most of the stuff and got the carpets outside the front door. Now I’m waiting for the replacements to turn up.
With no timetable today the boys have gone into the living room (which is full of all the bedroom stuff), to write a film script, on this beautiful sunny day. Ia drew a story, U scribbled, tore up the paper and annoyed Ia until she gave up drawing. Now they are playing with the plastic animals. If I go into the garden to continue its tidy up maybe some of them will follow me.
We went to cricket practice yesterday. The boys are the shortest there, and although they have been trained to bat and bowl from a young age H hasn’t done any catching or throwing practice with them, and it shows! It is the wild, almost star jump, into the air as the ball heads towards them, which gives it away, even more than the drop. And you know how it is when huge effort goes into a throw that travels almost nowhere. Anyway, they enjoy it, and don’t mind being the young ones. I still think it is an unusual set up, and a real assortment of players. Unconventional, but enthusiastic.
LATER
They came and carpeted two rooms, but hadn’t enough for the girls room, so they’ll have to come back another day.
Meanwhile the film script has been shelved after the boys realised their computer graphics skills at their present non-existent level were not going to get them the required pixar style result they were hoping for. They are planning to ask their cousin if he knows how to make a successful animated movie, with no budget and make a profit. He doesn’t usually let them down.
Ia was very helpful clearing up the hedge clippings. Then she and U did some painting on the patio. After J joined them some paint went on the ground, and they all decided to scrub the whole patio with pan scourers!
The boxes of books have come home! The boys have excitedly unpacked theirs. U wants to unpack everything at once. I don’t think so. U loves “reading” Topsy and Tim books to herself. She sticks to the theme of the story but her improvisations are funny. Topsy and Tim are waiting at the dentist, reading comics. In the real story the dentist calls them in and T&T comply. In U’s version they say, in stubborn tones “No way, we readin’ here!”
Concerning washing up U has made some interesting observations. “Mummy, where are you?”
“In the kitchen.”
“Are you washing up?”
“No”
“Why?”
On hearing a neighbour mowing a lawn, then stopping, "They washin' up now.
And the baby want food.”

Sunshine and exercise

Been getting out and about in our new location, covering plenty of miles on foot. Yesterday I took the boys to a cricket coaching session. Bit of an odd experience really. The coaching team consists of a man (coach), his partner, (collecting subs) and partner’s son. On first sight they seem like an unlikely sports family, but they seem very dedicated and friendly. At first we were the only ones there and I thought we might be asked to go home, but apparently they’ll play whatever and soon a couple of other youngsters turned up, they said there are usually more, we will see! Of course I stayed nearby, what else could I do, it is so far from home. The boys loved it.
Something different about this place is the spaciousness of the park areas. It feels very luxurious, people on the other side of the parks are like tiny dots. Today the girls and I climbed up a hill in another park, up to some woods, from where we tried to see what far away things we could spot. At first U was reluctant to go as she was afraid of monkeys in the trees, especially their tails. I realised this was because of another tree we had seen earlier, which was one of those with branches like the tails of monkeys, I forget the name. She must have thought I meant real monkeys and all trees.
Boys spent today in a sports centre, playing various sports with one other kid and two staff. Why is nobody else turning up for things? Still the boys enjoyed themselves again. I took the girls to a fun day organised by some local sisters. Ia had been building this outing up since hearing about it until she was saying that she would be going to “fun world”. Alhamdulillah it lived up to her expectations, she made a paper plate duck, a lantern, a card and decorated a cup cake. She also saw a friend who had come for the day. Really fun world.
The boys are planning to do a project on castles. They chose books from the library. Ia wanted to do a project, she chose a book called…can you guess?....”I can cut out and stick”. That’s an ongoing project, currently fuelled by a purchase of pink and purple craft bits.
Where have all the photos gone? They are stuck in the camera and I can’t get them out.

Thoughts of a 2 year old

On seeing a snail in the garden:
“A snailul, get it!” (me: I don’t want to get it)
“No, we don’t need it in our garden. Nala got legs, she get it.”
On seeing another snail:
“Get it, vacuum cleaner it”
Ia was crying about something. U “Do you love me?”
Me “Yes, do you think I love Ia?” (or do you think I just told her off)
U “Yes, and you like that clock” (???)

Refresh

Time to change the template again, just fed up of the other one.
At the end of last week we were confined to the bedroom all day for two days while the plumbers pulled up the floorboards downstairs, fitting the new heating system. We were all getting fed up, kids were bored by everything, I was getting a headache. Eating chicken and chips due to the kitchen being so disrupted did not do much for our sense of well being either.
Even when the job was done the kids kept on with the fed up feeling, “we’ve no friends here” etc. I think they just need diversion, and friends nearby of course, but at least being busy would keep their mind off it a bit. So yesterday we all went out to a kids fun park place, not for long but enough to revive them, so that when we got home they were back into imaginary play again. Just being cooped up dulls it all right out of them. Got some plans for this week, see how it works out insh’Allah, with the weather as well.
The girls are not taking it as badly. Ia can be kept happy for hour (really hours) with coloured papers, glue sticks and scissors. U sits with her and tries.
Anyway, new boiler, but now no airing cupboard, so where can I leave the bread to rise? Yesterday’s loaves are bumpy on top, not the usual smooth, air bubble filled ones I am used to. The texture gets too dense too. I put them on a shelf above the fridge, which is good for ripening fruit, but the heat given off is not consistent I think. Have to think about this.