A debate is raging in our house this morning! Well, erm, we had a quick discussion anyway.
It turns out that not only did the bush cricket survive being doused in killer spray, but its actually set up home in the basil plant. Its still there this morning?! Its an official overnight resident in the basil! So what do we do?
Liam said we have to take it off - he said that's the reality of agriculture - he told the kids how farmers kill rabbits and foxes to protect their livelyhood and we can't humour this cricket. He said this was an important lesson to teach the kids if we are going to take growing vegetables seriously.
Megan and Sam were horrified! "How would we feel if a big giant came along and flicked us out of our house?" said Megan, "Its just mean!"
Leah said "KILL IT!!"??!! Should we be worried about her?
So the vote is 2 : 2 at the moment - that leaves me with the deciding vote - should he stay or should he go? I've told them I need time to consider this important decision. At the moment I'm leaning towards him staying??! The cricket reminds me a bit of the characters in James and the Giant Peach! I don't want to be like the cruel aunts!
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Family Speckled Bush Cricket Debate
Posted by The Hastings Family at 09:18 1 comments
Friday, 27 June 2008
I've nearly had enough of being a plant mummy!
Since March, my kitchen windowsill has been a production line of seeds to plantlets before they got moved out to the green house.
Actually, with all the spray I sprayed, I don't think the basil will be fit for our food anyway!
I'm hoping when the tomatoes start producing fruit I'll feel more affection for them.
I promise I am talking about my tomatoes and not my children!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 23:40 0 comments
The Emperor and the Nightingale
Sam has been excited ALL week because of his school play - The Emperor and the Nightingale. When he told me he was a frog, and he and Cameron had to hop to the middle of the stage, ribbit, and hop off again I thought he'd been given one of those made up roles to make everyone feel included! But it turns out that he was one of only a handful of the three year 2/1 classes to have a costume! It was a real role! Most of the children just wore chinese hats and sang so I was really pleased for Sam that he got to dress up because he's SO enthusiatic!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 22:51 1 comments
Work Ethic
On Tuesday night I (eventually - I lost my keys and so we were 30 minutes late!) went to help Sam L with her Faith in God group. I was keen to help - she's 8 months pregnant and was having six 8-11 year olds (including Megan) over to her house to dig up her garden! Surely that's not right! When we arrived, they were in full swing and there were gloves and trowels all over!
I was really impressed with their hard work. My Sam's never been to F.I.G. before - obviously he's only 6, but he saw how the others were working and got straight in there - learning by their example. He didn't quesion why we were weeding someone elses garden - I wasn't sure if he'd rather be inside playing with the toys, but he was pleased to be involved.
Sam L also taught them how to plant their own seeds and sent them all home with a pot of lettuce seeds to look after.
I'm thrilled that my kids can have experiences like this, with kids like this and leaders like this. A simple night, but great for our family.
Posted by The Hastings Family at 00:16 0 comments
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Birthday Parcels
Leah's had a birthmonth rather than a birthday - mainly because she had a party with Sam 2 weeks before her actual birthday! It seems to have lasted forever! She slept over at Grandmas the night before her birthday (and had McDonalds at 11.15pm apparently!) and then on her birthday morning, they went shopping for birthday shoes (she's a brave Grandma!).
We missed a parcel from Great Grandma on Saturday, so went to collect it from the post office on Monday. Leah clutched the little receipt on the way to pick up Sam and Megan from school and then stood on her tiptoes at the post office to exchange it for the parcel.
I thought she would want to open it there and then, but she tucked it under her arm and marched home!
She was thrilled to find loads of little bits and bobs - stickers, colouring, stamping, hair clips - all the things Great Grandma knows she loves.
Sam definitely had parcel envy! Explaining to a six year old that he had his day last month doesn't really help! Life's tough! I think he managed to negotiate a few stickers from her - enough to pacify!
She got a parcel from Auntie Barbara too - a beautiful dress - Leah told me she's saving it for the weekend so there's no sneaky peaks! She loves her clothes!Posted by The Hastings Family at 22:17 0 comments
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Lizard Release
Posted by The Hastings Family at 23:43 0 comments
Trip over the water
Richard and Liam recently enjoyed a little trip to their roots - they visited Grennan and Uncle George in Ireland.
I've heard a lot about Grennan, so its nice to finally see photos.
Liam's Grandad used to live there, and we've heard the stories of the fish he used to catch from the river Nore which runs right next to the house. I know Liam was really looking forward to following in his footsteps (any excuse - fishing in the name of heritage??! How can I question that!)
There's been a lot of talk lately about boats in our house, especially of a Saturday night when Richard and Nicola come over for a takeaway! Richard's even had a poor sales woman get a boat down from the ceiling of the sales room for him to ogle! So imagine their thrill to find a boat right next to the river for their useage!
Here's a picture of the three William's - aka Billy, George and Liam! How can NONE of them use their correct name?? I hate to say it, but they are Irish!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 22:35 0 comments
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Old News
I realise that I'm not exactly keeping up with current affairs, but this story is new to me! Hester sent me this on Facebook today and its my new favorite clip!
So it started in 1969 with two men from Chelsea buying a lioncub from Harrods! How things have changed! They called him Christian and he lived with them for 1 year - travelling in the car, even swimming in the English Channel!
When he grew from 35lbs to more than 9 stone in that year, they realised they couldn't keep him any more and he was released in Africa.
Four years later, even though Christian hadn't been seen for 9 months, the two men travelled to Africa to see where he had been released. The night before they arrived, Christian was seen outside the camp - like he was waiting for them. This is the clip of them meeting the lion. How wierd and wonderful is this?
Posted by The Hastings Family at 23:45 0 comments
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Keeping up with...
Sam's on a mission. And who can blame him. Not only does he have a mum who's been on the BBC (have I mentioned that I was on the radio last week? Apart from to everyone I know?!), he also has a sister who's photo is in this month's "Danbury Journal" - Megan was on the school council last term and the Danbury Journal took a picture of their cake sale! She's thrilled!
So with our little brushes with the media - how can my 6 year old fail to be influenced by such dizzy heights!
Now in our family in June, we've covered magazines, and radio, so he's on a mission to get on tellie! And his plan is, obviously...You've Been Framed!So Sunday afternoon at Grandma's he spent about an hour rehearsing a fake stumble, planning how to swing so high on the garden swing that it would flip backwards, and toppling from the top of the slide!
On the way home, Leah had some Ice Pop left and Sam was trying to persuade her to share it with with him... without success! So he tried luring her - if she gave him her Ice Pop, he would give her 1000 sweets!
"You haven't got 1000 sweets!" Megan was quick to point out "Don't make false promises!"
Sam knew what he was doing though - "I haven't got them now, but I'm going on You've Been Framed soon - you get £250 for that so then I'll have 1000 sweets!"
Its so straight forward for a 6 year old:
Getting on TV = You've been Framed = 1000 sweets!
He's so keen to make a winning video, but his acting skills aren't that great, so I'm wondering if its wrong to get him to stand under the bedroom window and drop a bucket of water on his head? It might make him cry, but we'd get a good clip! Isn't it okay if its for his own good - mother love and all that!
Of course I'm also trying to prepare him for disappointment - I tell him that not everyone can mix with producers and presenters like his mum did. We can't all be tracked down like his mum was! Life's hard sometimes!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 23:24 0 comments
Friday, 13 June 2008
Who'd Have Thought...
Yesterday, I'm washing socks, today I'm the star of local radio! Okay, so I'm not a star, but that's the way I'm telling it, and I did get to go into a radio station for the first time!
Travis from BBC Essex left a comment on our blog yesterday, asking me to ring him about a possible story...then my neighbour came round with a note - he had phoned her too.
It turns out they had come across our blog and it got them interested in Essex bloggers! So they asked me to go in to talk to them for 10 minutes. Well they said I could either go in, or talk to them over the phone. When I started the blog, it did cross my mind that I wouldn't have anything interesting to write about so if some one offers me the chance to go and sit in a radio station, I'm not gonna turn that down!
So with Becks and Eden in tow for moral support (she's the proper blogger - taught me all I know!), we trooped to the radio station.
Get me, having my 10 minutes on the radio! They were all REALLY friendly and made us feel very welcome. And they very cool and collected - I need everything planned out and checked, but they just shipped me in and there we were, live on the radio! How did they know I wouldn't just slobber into the microphone?!
They even accommodated my little groupies - I need groupies - I've been on the radio after all! (Update: I've just corrected my spelling of accommodate - realised I missed out an m - please feel free to tell me spelling mistakes - its a learning curve!)
So who'd have thought it! My Mum and Dad listened on the internet in Sheffield, Lorraine managed to catch it, but Delores missed it - it sounds like she was ready to throw the radio through the window 'cause she couldn't tune it in to the right station! I'm sure she'll be able to listen on the internet - its there until Monday morning - I might just listen one more time...or two!
One of my kids favourite programmes is Hider in the House. They tell one of the parents that they're in a kids TV show (that doesn't exist) as a distraction and then hide a celebrity in the house. At the end of the programme, they find out the TV show they've been filming isn't real and they've been tricked!
It was such a surreal day, I'm still expecting a bouncy kids TV presenter to jump out of my cupboard and tell me that I fell for the prank, and how stupid am I to believe that a radio station would want to talk to me about our blog! Ha Ha - I'm watching out for you Fern Cotton!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 12:28 1 comments
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Time to Say Bye to Nanny
We've had her for nearly a week, but on Monday it was time for Nanny to catch her £1 Megabus home! I know two little girls that are going to miss her!
Posted by The Hastings Family at 22:10 0 comments