It's all about Autumn and anything Autumnal here! The air each morning is crisp, and it's a bit chilly on the school run. Not chilly enough for a coat, but not warm enough for just jumpers. This annoys The Big Boy, who would like it to be summer forever and just be in shorts/t-shirt.
We've been busying ourselves with the business of autumn: new term at school and settling in to the routine of trying to get to the park on the way home but having enough time to do reading and spellings; after school clubs, Beavers and weekend swimming lessons; trying to find a daytime routine which gets the jobs done but is also fun for me and Little Bear and just generally being back in the school term time groove of juggling so many things.
Speaking of the little one... the Mountain Goat phase has commenced!
As has the 'look at me I can take my trousers and nappy off by myself' phase! Hence the dungarees. He hasn't figured out there are poppers on the legs, yet! It will only be a matter of time, I'm sure!
The children are happier than I expected them to be now they are back at school. We had an amazing summer and neither was looking forward to going back, nor did I really want them to. They have settled in well though. My lovely Big Girl is happy to be in the squirrels group in her class, as Big Brother was a squirrel too it has made her super happy. She also came home with her first ever reading book last night, so we're super proud of her. Not everyone has one yet, and I didn't expect her to be in the first phase of children to be introduced to reading books, as she is one of the youngest children in the year. The Big Boy has settled amazingly well with a new teacher, and has also started Beavers. I'm doing lots of watching and bidding on ebay to try to get him the uniform as it's quite pricey! A wise friend also recommended buying a jumper size too big, so that he will grow into it next year, then out of it a little during his last Beaver year (but not so much that its really small), that way you'll never have to unstitch and re-sew the badges. Sounds like a top tip to me!
It's all about chutney this week. A lovely mummy at school left these next to my car the other day. She had briefly asked would I like some fruit from her trees. I was expecting 3 or 4 apples so was chuffed to bits with 2 boxes of cooking apples, discovery apples, pink apples, conference pears and some damsons. I shall be making this with the damsons and some of the apples:
I'll be searching for an apples and pear chutney recipe too, and have some blackberries in the freezer from a trip to the woods last week, so blackberry and apple jam and chutney will be bubbling away too.
The schools grounds are full of fruit trees... we have spotted pear, apple, quince and walnut. Its very tempting to pick them!
Sorry, a bit of a random post, but an autumnal one nonetheless. I think we shall spend the weekend collecting autumn treasures and doing autumn crafts, around swimming and dancing lessons!
Happy Autumn!
