Lessons Learned - Feel free!

The title of todays post comes from a funny moment at my daughter's "end of Primary School" party at our house last week.

• I had just warned our 4 year old that it was almost his bedtime, then invited the girls to "feel free to help yourself to more food". My 4 year old asked for more food too but as he was just recovering from a vomiting bug I suggested that maybe that would not be a good idea and it was now his bedtime. He wailed, at the top of his voice "But I want to FEEL FREE TOO!"
  

• When you get a new laptop it is amazing how quickly everything works! It won't take long before I bog it down with photos and digital scrapbooking goodies, but right now it works like a dream.

• Handmade gifts are always appreciated by teachers, and I quite enjoyed using my glue gun again to make the pencil vases.

• Next lesson - remember to wear sun glasses when surrounded by lots of emotional 11 year old girls saying goodbye on their last day of school - it helps hide some of your own emotion. I had no sunglasses, so I kept my camera in front of my face a lot!

• New family games/traditions can be created when you least expect it. We were exploring the "wee shell beach" as we call it, near our holiday cottage, and were clambering over the rocks. Our eldest daughter climbed down to the edge of a large rock pool and my husband could not resist throwing a stone to land near her, causing a big enough splash to catch her. Soon the whole family joined in with the "Stone our sister" game - it probably lasted half an hour, and she took it all in good humour, declining to move away.

Every day since there has been requests to return to the "scene of the crime" and throw stones at/near her again!

• Those UV sunsuits are STILL brilliant - all my kids have had them, and with this current unusually warm and sunny weather, it is great not having to cover quite as much of my son's skin with high-factor sun screen. He has a typically irish complexion with red hair, pale skin and freckles and burns very easily. Personally though I recommend the two-piece variety as opposed to the all-in-one. Makes life easier for all concerned :)
  

• When you take the kids to the beach on a lovely warm summer's evening for icecream, it is pointless trying to stop them getting too wet.... I gave up and let them get on with it!

• If you take your camera with you everywhere, and take lots of photos, eventually you will get a half-decent photo of the family.

For more great lessons, visit Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife. Lots of lovely bloggers take part, sharing their lessons each week.


Until the next time, take care.