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930 stitches in secret cross stitch project completed. Only 91,470 stitches to go.

It is a drop in the ocean really, so far it is taking me a 4 full days of stitching to make that much progress.

However I’m really enjoying the breaks to stitch on Jungle Kitty and she is zooming along.  I can’t wait to get the camera back and take some pictures to show you.

Instead I’m going to write about Annie’s holiday homework that got sent home from school.

The 12 Golden Words.

These words are 12 of the most common words found in the books the children read at school.

So what are the 12 Golden Words?

• a
• and
• be
• I
• in
• is
• it
• of
• that
• the
• to
• was

I’ve made flash cards by hand and a set of snap cards also made by hand. The hardest part was writing in the Victoria Cursive Font which the children learn at school.

When your child can successfully read these words in any order to their teacher, they will receive a certificate at assembly to celebrate their success.  Then they start to learn the next group of words.

Annie is doing very well with 10 of the Golden Words words but she struggles with the and that which she continually reads as this.

If I ask Annie to spell the, that or this she can do out loud perfectly each time but when she looks at the words on paper 90% of the time she reads them as this.

We’ve spoken about how all three words start with TH but end differently and that it is important to read the letters on the end as well but she still struggles. It has only been two weeks so I’m not worried but frustrated because Annie is not understanding the way I explain the words. Any suggestions?

Here is Heidi hunting for eggs last year.

From Easter 2008

A couple of months ago I purchased some plastic egg shells that you can unscrew and fill with whatever treats you wish. That way I can make sure Heidi is getting nut and dairy free eggs and also keep our budget down by not purchasing the Easter stuff in the stores

We’ve been invited to a scavenger hunt with my nephews tomorrow and need to bring a little something along for the children to find in the scavenger hunt. Today Annie and I made little baskets and I will fill them with some home made chocolate chip biscuits.

I used a basket Annie had made at school as a template for our baskets, but changed the chick to a cross:

From April 2009

Annie cut up a toy catalog and used the pictures to decorate the baskets:

From April 2009

Ta-da finished product:

From April 2009

I had originally planned to get the girls to decorate some brown paper bags to put the biscuits in but Annie decided to make them into hand puppets to add to our Easter gifts for her cousins, which is great thrifty handmade gifting on her part

From April 2009

I managed to sneak in a few computer breaks when they went to the toilet but for most of the day I was forced to work on my cross stitch – oh the horror

I got my super secret stitching project onto the scroll frame.

From April 2009

Then I worked on it for most of the day (with all the usual children interruptions and stopping to make lunch and dinner), it was not an auspicious start because on the very first bit of thread I stitched the frog visited – remind me to triple check my counting next time. But I’m happy with the results of my labour.

From April 2009

The 18 count fabric is hard work stitching in our not very good light, I can see this being a daytime project for me when I can sit near a window in the sunlight. Also I forgot to print out the chart key so I’m having to keep checking on my computer to work out which colour matches what symbol.

Once hubby was around again the super stitching project had to be put away and this evening I have been working some more on Jungle Kitty.

From April 2009

Annie took a break from the computer games after dinner to make a Palm Sunday puppet theater. I’m not sure where the little Jesus is that she made but trust me he looks very cool. Tomorrow I need to help her make palm tree’s and buy a new feather duster to replace mine that got decapitated to make the palm leaves.

From April 2009

A very lovely lady from our Church let us stay at her holiday house near the beach and it was a most welcome respite from our daily life.

(photo’s are mostly thumbnails but you can click on them to see larger images)

Annie and Heidi were very excited to have TV again

From April 2009

I was very excited to see actual chairs in the lounge room, we have a treadmill, trampoline, hammock and lots of toys in our loungeroom at home but no chairs.

You can tell that the lady who owns this house is a keen stitcher because she had a lovely stitching chair set up with a great light, footrest and coffee table:

From April 2009

Heidi did very well staying in a ‘different home’ although my use of the word home to refer to the house we were staying it did cause great confusion to start with. We all quickly learnt to call it ‘the house with the blue door’

From April 2009

On the first day I worked at gridding out my secret stitching project:

From April 2009

I might not have stayed up to midnight stitching if I’d known the girls were going to wake at 4am the next day… although the giant spiders I’d been killing throughout the evening kind of helped put off any desire for sleep.

Day 2 we visited the beach

From April 2009

From April 2009

From April 2009

From April 2009

From April 2009

From April 2009

That was interesting, we got out of the car and Heidi asked straight away to go back to the house with the blue door. I pushed her to walk for a little with Annie and I, to start with Heidi enjoyed herself but she got very distressed about where the ocean finished. Hmmmmm. We went back to the house with the blue door and didn’t go back out again other than for groceries.

Annie had a great time, she loves exploring new places and she made the most out of staying at the house.

From April 2009

It was really nice just to spend time together without having to rush off anywhere or do anything, no phones ringing or emails to answer or playdates to go to. We just spent time with each other talking, playing and being.

End of day two and I got all the grid work finished on my secret stitching project:

From April 2009

I even got a little anal retentive and counted out the grid, although I did get Annie to help so that could count as a math lesson.
Width:

From April 2009

Length:

From April 2009

I stayed up late again and did some work on Heidi’s Jungle Kitty, once again giant spider killing had left me a little too nervous to sleep.

From April 2009

Day 3 – girls up at 4am again. After my late nights I was starting to feel a little like Heidi in this picture, ready to curl up and fall asleep at the breakfast table

From April 2009

Except that the giant spiders would probably attack while I was asleep. So I decided to pack up and come home in the morning instead of waiting until the afternoon.

We really did have a very enjoyable time, even the giant spiders were not so bad because I was brave and dealt with them all by myself.

Last time I was alone in a house with a giant spider I rang up Ralph and asked him to marry me because I needed someone to kill the spiders for me – he said NO! Thankfully a couple of years later when I asked again he did say yes, but now I know that I can kill the giant spiders all by mineself, go me Think it has something to do with my children being in the room and that Mama tiger protecting her cubs thing.

It was a lovely couple of days away, so peaceful and quiet and the girls have certainly been much happier the last couple of days. Thank you Mrs S from Church for your wonderful generosity.

Thank you Kelley.

From September 08

Father in law with Annie visiting the Collingwood Town Hall in April this year.

No stitching to report at this stage.  For your stitching fix may I recommend Chiloe’s Cross Stitch Galleries from Around the World blog.

My nephew is coming over on Wednesday afternoon and we are throwing a little birthday party for him. So the girls and I have been busy working out what games we can play (with 3 children) and searching through the internets for ideas and stuff to print off. Nephew turned 5 on Sunday but that was also the day FIL took a turn for the worse so poor kid has missed out a bit on birthday festivities.  It is only a little party, my two girls and my nephew but I want to make it as fun as possible for him.

Heidi keeps talking about how M is ‘coming over to-yesterday’. I think she is getting her yesterdays and tomorrows mixed up .

I listened to the Banana Phone song just ONCE over at Kelleys blog and Heidi has picked up on it and keeps singing the Banana Phone song.   So finally I gave in and we listened to various versions on YouTube. Heidi particularly liked this version:

So I thought she might like the Badger Badger Badger song.

That. Was. A. Mistake.

Its toadstool.  Not mushroom silly. TOADSTOOL.

That was all I heard about for several hours. Which would be my Screw Up for Tuesday.

My other screw up would be totally loosing track of my days of the week and not doing Tuesday Screw Ups, Thursdays Hot Hunks and Smiles on Saturday.

I’m forgiving Kelley for the Banana Phone link because her little boy super heroes have inspired me with ideas for my nephews party on Wednesday.

From Nov 2008

Close up view of the angel and Mary:

From Nov 2008

This star is officially the halfway point and I got a little cocky today and thought I’d be able to finish it all in one go, at which point the girls turned feral and I have not touched my stitching since:

From Nov 2008

George the Bear is visiting us for the week, he is from Heidi’s PreSchool and has been to visit each of the childrens homes this year, Heidi is the lucky last to get a visit from George. He got to have lunch with S&J on Saturday (and this picture illustrates the problems of telling a child to look up when taking a photo)

From Nov 2008

George has also been helping Heidi with the very important job of watering our veggie garden:

From Nov 2008

For her birthday in May Annie got a huge colouring in set which is too large to use inside. Today the girls set it up outside on the table and had a ball creating an art show for me

From Nov 2008

I tried to sit outside and stitch whilst they played but couldn’t find a comfy spot (you can see my stitching there on the blue chair).

From Nov 2008

And in our first step of Christmas preparation we have put up the tent for Heidi to hide in from any sensory over stimulation.

From Nov 2008

And now back to my stitching.