Mud, mud, glorious mud!

Catch up of the things we have been up to.  More playground fun! 

Caden's artwork is getting back into full flow again after a few dry months. Here are a few pieces he did. The top one is a map. I think I have photographed it upside down actually (!)    It has (had) trees, an animal and the grass is below the trees. There was an attempt at fire. He used three shades to create a fiery look, with yellow, orange and red and he used brown for the base, which I guess is wood. I like how he is demonstrating an understanding of fire. We have talked about the fire triangle lately, on another post. The other two the bottom right and bottom centre are Milesy scribbles. 

Caden has also been experimenting with drawing faces. I LOVED the day he drew all these different faces for me. Look at the experimenting with different eyes. There are eyes on stalks, set into the head and odder things. Really awesome work! 

They have had a lot of playtime in the glorious sun, on their own and with friends. Here they are running with their friends at Stockgrove. 

Caden climbing the tree. 

Running in the bluebells! 

Caden and Arthur talking like old chums! I love these photos! They are having a proper conversation here! 

Movie night! They watched Tarzan together!

Playtime at Rushmere with other friends. They had a huge push on this hammock swing! 

Miles is testing the slide for whizzability!

Knocking on the faery doors!

More tree climbing!

Occupying the giant's chair! While he was away, obviously!

MIles and Meg reading The Big Bardic Book!

They are sooo cute together! 

The wobbly bridge! 

And yes... lots of mud! 

Caden chose a book called 'Make friends and play' to read to me. He learned a couple of new words that I have now forgotten and pretty much read the book cover to cover. 

Visits from other friends drawing together. Caden drew a pirate ship for Harlow on this occasion. 

They have acquired a drum kit! They really, really love it! Caden tends to lead the percussion, giving Miles instructions which are loosely followed. It has been lots of fun! I am hoping to get them lessons soon! 

More rainy woods time!  I like to call this Cadeydendrons!

Running about from one deep, muddy puddle to the next!.... 

Look at that mud!

Still no giant.... 

and collecting sticks and floating leaves in the last muddy puddle before home. 

We have done a bit more reading eggs. It is half term so I am laying off the maths program with Caden. 

In other news... Caden and I have had conversations and researched a little bit about WWII this week, talked more about time travel, looked at a historical timeline showing everything from pre-history to the modern day (which is one reason we looked up WWII) also we had a look at Viking facts. We looked at a map of Africa and Caden looked at all the different countries and told me the smallest one was Gambia. He learned that we call it The Gambia and that it is the smallest mainland country. We looked at pictures of The Gambia and after seeing the holiday brochure photos that came up on |Google images Caden declared he would like to visit (yep, me too). He was less keen after seeing the more slum-like photos, though I have heard it is a stunning country in many ways. We also looked at the work of Claude Monet together and read about his life briefly and also about Leonardo Da Vinci and his amazing inventions and art. We are still reading the BFG, it is tense, there are two chapters left and Caden is so excited about the finale tomorrow. It has been great reading it to him.  I think he would like a story about a boy in a time machine next... please comment if you know of one. I am sure there must be something.