Reasons to be Cheerful Week 30 The Sneezing edition #R2BC

Having spent much of the last week with a stinking cold (thanks kids!) its harder to be cheerful but I have managed to find a few rays of sunshine:

1) Sunny Sunday in the Park

Having been house bound and mostly horizontal on Saturday it was fabulous to be out and about on Sunday. After church the lovely sunshine lured us to spend a few hours down at Abbott Hall park. Whilst the children played I soaked up the sun and enjoyed the local paper with a coffee:

Then we took the longer route home along the canal path and river bank:

2) Last of the sunflowers

It's fellow flowers are now just food for birds and homes for spiders:

3) Picnic teas in the park

There won't be many more of these but whilst they last we are making the most of them:

And yesterday's one by Windermere was wonderful too.

4) Fabulous Roses

Spotted a wonderful bush full of roses whilst walking into town yesterday. Just so beautiful:

5) Moving Up

My daughter is in year 5 so our first chance to start looking at secondary schools! Scary to think she is nearly at that secondary age but we started by looking around the school I work at on its Open Evening. We all loved the musical performances that were put on. Each department had also put out hands on stuff for students to try. Wish we had had more time to see it all (will have to wait for next year!). It was good to see our historical reenacting kit being used in the history department:

And in the PE department my daughter made the most of a mini trampolining lesson:

Flowery Friday

How many more of these will I manage with autumn heading in... Oh well here are this week's flower photographs:

The Educational Value of TV

It is amazing what my children have picked up from watching certain programmes on the TV. Yes some of what they watch appears to have no educational value whatsoever but they have learnt an amazing amount about history and art. 

Like many families we love Horrible Histories my children have been brought up from an early age to have a keen interest in history and the way this show is presented is perfect for them. They love singing along to the show especially the Kings and Queens song:

Such a fun and catchy way to learn English monarchs. Its a show I don't mind them watching over and over again.

Amazingly The Sarah Jane Adventures introduced them to the Mona Lisa:

And the show Leonardo is a fictual account of Leornado da Vinci's teenage years with amazing inventions and art.

Then there was an episode of Dr Who that introduced them to Vincent van Gogh:

They can now recognise some of his paintings such as sunflowers:

We are going to be visiting Paris in the summer and the children at age 9 & 6 are really excited about the thought of going to the art gallery that they saw on the television to see van Gogh's paintings. They also want to go and see the Mona Lisa (hope they aren't as disappointed as I was by her size!

What have your children learned from watching television?

#TheGallery: Colour

 

This week's challenge from Tara is perfect for the change of seasons with colour. With some of the super sunflowers in my garden I am going to have to choose the colour yellow:

Our first sunflower 

Over the fence

Early morning sunflower

Yesterday still going even though almost on lawn!

I'll stop now to give you a chance to go visit the rest! Just click on the links at the top.

Reasons to be Cheerful XXIV (#R2BC)

Always a good way to spend my Thursday counting my blessings so thanks once again Michelle. Now its going to be an easy place to start this week:
1) Summer's finally here
OK well its strictly Autumn but we didn't get much of a summer up here in Cumbria. We were teased by a fabulous Easter and then some hot weather in May but the main summer holidays weren't fantastic! I am so glad I hadn't got around to packing away my summer clothes and I'm making the most of the sun whilst it lasts (though remembering to apply sun tan cream is a good idea!).

Sunflowers still going strong

2) The house
It may seem like a silly thing but the fact that the laundry isn't hanging around for days drying is making the house a lot less crowded. By doing a load a day (or even 3 yesterday!) and getting them on the line and getting them away the same day it seems a lot more manageable. The space now in the kitchen means that I've been able to get to the under stairs cupboard enough to sort out and can now shut the door!
3) My children
They both still seem happy in their new classes at school. My son is still keen on getting in to class in the morning. I had a lovely afternoon volunteering in his class when they go to Forest School. They go up to the top of the school grounds and have lots of fun in the little woodland and the open spaces. I'm looking forward to doing this every week. My daughter seems to be doing especially well in science and history (her favourite subjects!) and is looking forward to her first overnight school trip next week. She has planned her birthday sleep over for the following week down to the finest detail!
4) Kendal Passion Play
Last night I went with the children to the launch of A Passion For Kendal by Kendal Community Theatre. This is an exciting project that I am running the social media campaign for. My daughter was impressed on meeting his Worship the Mayor of Kendal:

Wordless Wednesday: How does my garden grow..