Swimming progress

As you can guess, we have spent some time in the schoolroom over the weekend, doing some final touches. I covered over the two craft tables I will be using with white paper, so that it doesn’t matter if paint or wax crayon gets on the tables. Nick brought in our wheelbarrow, pitchfork, spade and some watering cans, so those are in front of the barn scene, which is the main assembly area. He also mowed the lawn and cleaned up the yard and swept, to make it nice for the activities. We had a bit of a music practice with Steve before Good News Club, but didn’t cover much ground. We are going to have to have daily practices (he is playing the violin, Nick is on banjo and I am the guitarist). The three instruments blend very well together, particularly for the country/farm feel we have going! It was so hot yesterday, and especially after being in the schoolroom, where the temperature must be at least 30 deg inside, so we went for a swim. We haven’t been swimming together since the boys were sick, so it was nice to be back in the pool.

Yesterday we took a drive to the radio station by St Paul’s to see if we could borrow a mic stand (very last minute), but there was only one person there and she was in the studio, so for tomorrow we will have to come up with a plan, and then see if we can borrow one for the rest of the week. It’s just that we’re teaching them some new songs, and it’s very difficult to sing loud enough for them to hear, above the instruments. If we can get Nick amplified, it will make things very much easier.

This morning we did a bit of Sunday School, then the boys played while I made a batch of crunchie-style biscuits with a Smartie on top of each one. They turned out very well, but already most of the batch has been eaten! After lunch, we all did our own thing while Aaron was supposed to be sleeping, and I did the songs for the HBC for the week, putting them onto overhead transparencies or typing out the chords etc. Those are now all organized.

We went swimming again today, and Caleb swam without his armbands for a little while, and didn’t do too badly. He wants us to teach him how to swim properly now, so despite begging us to put them back on (I’m not sure why we want him to swim without them at this point, but anyway), he will be begging us NOT to put them on in future. Aaron, not to be outdone, took one of his own armbands off and went down like a lead pipe. Fortunately Nick and I were both quite close, but I don’t think he’ll be doing that again too soon!