Start again!

Ok - so lets ignore the four month gap in posting - not sure what happened there!
Since it is now  September and the schools are back (and we aren't)  it seemed like a good time to get stuck back in. Matilda at the ripe old age of 4 and three quarters, would have started school a couple of weeks ago, so you could say we are 'properly' home educating now. It kinda feels a bit naughty. I can't say I've had any second thoughts however, particularly when I've seen how small some of the kids look in their uniforms. 
The past few months have seen so many new developments from the girls. Tilda is now reading most things she comes across. She obviously still gets stuck on some bits, with a silly language like English, how could she not, but it amazes me what she does know - words that we haven't taught her and didn't even know she'd heard. Nothing is safe anymore - no age-inappropriate reading material is to be left around any longer!
Winnie took her first 'proper' unaided steps yesterday, has mastered clapping today, added Mama to her vocabulary (Dada and Idda) being the other words. She is signing like a pro having now gotten milk, enough, bird and nappy. She also drinks quite happily out of a cup. Soooo different from Tilda!
We've just gotten back from our holiday to stay with my Grandma in Scotland. We stopped in Dunbarton on the way up, travelling up the side of Loch Lomond, then up the A9 through the Cairngorms. We spent three nights with my Grandma, then four nights in a caravan down the road in Findochty. The weather wasn't up to much and we didn't really have any 'big days out' when we were there - just a bit of pottering around really. We went to Culloden and to Clava Cairns which is a bit of a special place. We collected shells (and a eeny-weeny baby crab which was hiding in one of them and spent a night in my handbag! We went to our usual haunts, which weren't quite as good without the usual allergicky-laden foodstuffs, but I only put on a pound, so not as bad as it normally would be. We were instead stuffed full of Aberdeen Angus by Grandma, which wasn't entirely unappreciated and was bloomin lovely!
We've seen lots of lovely crafted items and have taken away lots of inspiration for future projects.
Also this summer, we've been to Denise and Chris' wedding which was lovely. The reception was at a hotel in a little sheltered gully where the children could happily run riot until it was dark.

Well - that's the start of the catch up - I'll do a photo-bomb post tomorrow!