You can’t get the staff these days! (by alaric)

We've got houseguests over, and we left them at home while we went for a walk in the countryside.

However, when I got home, I found they'd decided to go to Tesco many hours previously, and had gone off leaving:

• Jean's rabbit outside in his run
• The shed unlocked
• The front door of the house wide open

When asked why, they said "Oh, Barbara (the next door neighbour, my aunt) was around"...

Had it not occurred to them that Barbara might decide to go out herself, and is not supposed to be responsible for locking up our home? Or that Barbara might not actually take it upon herself to guard our open doors from passing opportunists, and sit watching, but might have her own things to do?

sigh

Last Day of Reception Class (by sarah)

Jean has had a busy week at school full of end of term activities and now it is the last day! It seems amazing that she is at school let alone finishing her first year!

We got her ready this morning with her thankyou cards for the teachers and some oreo cookies and jelly babies (they where going to have home made banoffe cupcakes but the power didn't come on until late yesterday so that was a no go!).

Then this afternoon was the end of year celebration assembly in the village hall - it was sweet watching the years sixes (about to leave and go to big school) go over the highlights of the year and it reminded me just what a lot of stuff they had packed in!

But then came the Prize Givings and the first person called for the Ray Tortenese Competition was Jean! So we now have a shiny trophy cup (for Class One) sitting on the bookshelf next to a citificate and she got lots of other goodies too like a gardening book with an inscription to her in and lots of run recyclables like purses made from old juice cartons!

Jean didn't realise what was supposed to happen though so had to be encouraged to go up on the stage! Then she is so small and the prizes relatively big to her that she looked a bit swamped until help came along in the form of one of the year sixes!

She didn't know what it was about until it was explained to her and she stood on stage looking all wide eyed and bewildered - however since it was explained she hasn't stopped talking about it and how she didn't know she was going to win!

So yes I'm being a gushy parent and probably too proud especially when I think she wont be five until the end of next month!

A large rabbit run (by alaric)

Today, I made a run for Jean's rabbit, Blacky. He has a hutch, but rabbit hutches are far too small for rabbits to spend all day in; we'd been letting him run around the house (which requires constant watching, so can only happen for an hour or so), or letting him enjoy the slightly larger possibilities of a large cage with the bottom removed pegged down on the lawn, but we knew it wasn't nearly enough for him; he was always wanting to get out, and when he's in the house, he enthusiastically runs the entire length of downstairs.

So, I built him a run, with some help from Jean (he's her rabbit, after all, but there's only so much use a four-year-old is in this kind of project). Two metres and ten centimetres long, a metre and five centimetres wide, and fifty centimetres high; made out of a wooden frame with rabbit mesh, and a liftable solid door at one end, which also provides some fixed shade.

I relish the chance to do something with my hands, as I usually don't get time to, and end up spending all of my time at a computer. And Blacky certainly seemed happy; he was running around it at high speed, occasionally bounding into the air and spinning round, which is what rabbits do when they're happy. Note the motion blur:

That's not all, though; we've also bought him a lead, so we'll be able to safely take him for walks along the drive.

A stroll in the countryside (by alaric)

On Sunday, I was looking after Jean as Sarah was in Cheltenham to run a writing workshop thing.

So I suggested that we might go for a walk, and Jean liked the idea - however, she decided she wanted a LONG walk! So after some discussion, we set off for the furthest of the three pubs in the Parish, which is about three miles away, with a packed lunch and lots of water, and Jean's teddy bear, who she decided should come with us.

To my delight, Jean didn't tire and demand to come home; we made frequent stops to drink water, and sat down in some shade in the woods to eat our cheese and biscuits, but we pressed on cheerily, past some lambs:

Eventually we reached the Fostons Ash for some lemonade and crisps.

Then Sarah rang as she was on the bus home, which stopped off by the Royal William, the pub nearest our home - so we decided to walk straight there to meet Sarah, taking a different route, where we got a little closer to some of the lambs:

At the Royal William we ate a filling dinner of chips (not so unhealthy if you've been walking all day!), and came home.

Jean was still enthusiastic at the end, despite having now walked about six miles from 2pm to 8pm!

The best thing was, I recorded about two hours of it on my concealed camera. It's mainly shaky footage of bushes and sky, but it offers the context for the audio track, which records all the awesome conversations Jean and I had.

Harry Potter is Jesus (by sarah)

(Because I got told off here is an added Spoiler warning - I do mention the end of book four and the whole Harry Potter series)

As some of you know and disapprove of! I am reading Jean the Harry Potter books, we are on book four which I had some trepidation about reading to her due to the ending but she is really into the story. I try and pace it so that we start the reading session with a scary/intense bit and end in a low key moment (so not generally at chapter endings!).

It was getting to the bit where Cedric dies and though there is a death at the beginning of the book this is the first one of someone you are emotionally attatched too/and or Harry is. So I thought I'd make things clear to Jean, 'Jean we are getting to the really sad and scary bit now, worse than the giant snake, we can change to another book?'

'No Mummy I've seen this one on telly.'

'Oh yes you have haven't you? But Jean I think the Harry Potter story gets very scary now.'

'It's ok Mummy because Harry is going to die and come back to life again because he's Jesus.'

I stare and think - how did she know the ending of the series - I ask her.

'I saw it in a film in my head when I slept.'

'Oh ok'

The I thought about it and you know she's right - Harry dies sacrificially to save the other wizards, because he chooses to die to save them his sacrifice protects them and he rises from the dead!

Story wise Jean didn't react to the scene where Diggory dies but this turned out to be because the discription ment she missed the fact he was killed and it was only when they go back to Hogwarts and Harry is cuddling the dead body that Jean went wide eyed and sad.

She still wants the rest of the story :/