Poorly babes, yummy things, cool new games and happy music!

Since we got back to England last week the kids have picked up some nasty viral bugs that have been doing the rounds... Bleh! So there's been a lot of fever and vomiting going on and even a meningitis scare. Indie was rocketingly hot all day yesterday and complaining of a violent headache, whilst being sick over and over... when he said he felt dizzy and like he was sinking into the floor I properly panicked so we had a trip to hospital with him. The doctor confirmed it was an airborne virus but not meningitis - he said the way you can tell is that with meningitis a child won't be able to raise their chin and neck backwards or look up... good to know this kind of thing, it's useful for future reference. Poppy and Herb are now ill, Herb has been puking all day, Poppy seems to just have the high temperature but no sick. She's been glued to me a lot this week and I can barely so much as go for a wee without her. It's been an intense week, I tell ya!

So there's the worst of it, but what happy things have we been up to?

We've been rediscovering the joys of baking - Herb obtained his granny's recipe for flapjack, which is THE best recipe in the world, and made a batch on his own. I helped Indie and Alf to make cakes to sell at home ed group (before the kids got ill) and we spent time doing the maths to work out how to price them. Indie and his friend Rosina made a chocolate fudge cake with icing which was delicious.

Herb played chess at home ed group and beat everyone he played against. I played chess against Indie (9) and had a mini internal debate as to whether I ought to go easy on him and do a few 'oopsy silly me!' type moves to give him a chance, but decided no, I will fight him properly because it's patronising and won't help him get better at playing. And then he actually beat me!!!

Finn has been working on a board game that has been gestating in his mind for some time, and gotten into Skyping his friends and playing online role-playing games with them.

Alfie has been loving an app I downloaded on the iPad called Thomas was Alone.

It's a simple concept but so so brilliant. I am amazed at how good he is at working it all out, what goes on in that mind! What's particularly cool about this game is that the characters in the story need to work together so they can all complete their mission. Pretty true of life, huh?

Poppy has been nursing lots and extra cuddly since she came down with the virus and really enjoyed a session when we watched a whole bunch of Caspar Babypants on YouTube. We hadn't seen this one of his before... I think it'll be stuck in your head and you'll be humming it in no time. Check out his other vids too. We love CB!
Enjoy!