Introducing, Bibo!!

This is Bibo, Isabella's new pet hamster. As part of her 9th birthday, we decided to allow her to have her very own pet to care for. Of course, we already have three cats, one crazy labrador and a tropical tank to look after, but Bibo is really just for Isabella. He has a super-dooper 21st century housing unit which he is totally happy with. It's a Habitrail Ovo suite and we bought a few extra rooms like the den, the mini-maze, a handful of tunnels and two transportation units which can also be fixed to the main unit and used as "rooms". Bibo is a Syrian hamster and Isabella chose him herself from Pets at Home. She was so excited!!! It was a great day and, one month later, Bibo is quite happy and well cared for. We clean his house out once a week, which is pretty easy actually - a lot easier than the fish tank, that's for sure - and he has plenty in there to keep him busy. He's not remotely bothered by the cats although Aslan still doesn't think it's quite right, keeping a rodent for a pet!

Great Fire of London

Here is a little project that we did as part of our "Great Fire of London" study unit. It was a lot of fun to do but did take a few days. It's quite large (A3 size) and involved a lot of drawing, cutting, pasting, colouring etc - Isabella had a great time putting it all together. On the reverse is a little summary that she wrote about the Great Fire. We're lucky because we live in East London so St Pauls and that entire area is only a quick tube journey for us. We absolutely love the Museum of London and we're really looking forward to going there in a few weeks to see all the new exhibits/make-over!! It's my favourite museum so I can't wait to see what they've done with it - hope they have kept the little Victorian "town" as that was my favourite. They do a brilliant Great Fire of London exhibit, so we'll be taking her to see that too!

Easter Bonnet

This is Isabella proudly modelling her bespoke "Easter Bonnet"! Her grandmother provided that hat and gave her a little kit to decorate it with. I think it looks pretty impressive! Having been a teenager who was constantly wearing hats (in the 1980's when it was fashionable to do so!) and doing all sorts of interesting things to jazz them up, I think Isabella is well on her way to becoming a millinery artist!

Update

Well, I haven't been able to keep this blog updated of late due to my beloved laptop having to undergo some pretty serious and intense surgery!! After taking years of abuse from my constant speed typing and everything else that I demand of it, it finally "died" once and for all. The monitor screen kept falling forwards and backwards, quite often wouldn't even come on even though the machine itself was running - finally that stopped too. Luckily for me, I am married to an IT God who was able to rebuild it - he has the technology. It did take a while though, as we had to buy a new screen, new motherboard and various other bits and pieces. Of course, we have other PCs that I can use, but I'm not able to upload photographs - I can only do it on my laptop. So, anyway, here we are! These recent pics are of Isabella and her cousin on a trip to Valentines Mansion yet again! I need to go back too, because there were a few things in there that I want to get for myself from the gift shop!!

Valentines Mansion

Yesterday, we braved the cold and rainy weather to pay a visit to Valentines Mansion in East London.

The last time I was here, they were about to start the renovations and had opened the mansion for a single day. It was in a shocking state of disrepair and I just couldn't believe that any council worth their weight would allow such a gem to rot and ruin. Absolutely shocking. But anyway, over the past few years, they've worked, in partnership with English Heritage, to put things right. The newly landscaped gardens near the mansion are absolutely gorgeous no matter what the season - my only complaint would be that quite often, the beautiful wooden gates which lead to this little sanctuary appear to be locked. I also know I am not the only one to notice this either. The cafe is a welcome addition (although someone needs to teach them how to make tea and coffee properly) although fairly costly for a basic cup of tea. The mansion however, is really stunning. Okay, it's not the most luxurious mansion I've ever been in, for example the beautiful Tudor Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich or the stunning Kenwood House in Hampstead, but it is most definitely a huge improvement and a real boost for the local area, which has been so badly neglected over the years.

Although sparse in terms of furnishings, the kitchen, scullery, dairy and other adjoining rooms are absolutely amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this area of the house and I was particularly impressed at the restoration of the old cast iron range. What a difference to how it looked a few years ago!

The hallway is light and airy with helpful staff and there is a brilliant children's room, where Isabella spent a good half an hour playing with the children's wooden range, reading books and trying on some of the costumes that they had on offer. Afterwards, I left her in the care of some really lovely volunteers from the local library who were helping children to make Mother's Day cards. This was such a nice activity and they were really nice ladies - Isabella had a great time with them and, apparently, showed them a few crafting ideas of her own!

Throughout the mansion, there are interactive screens where you can get even more information - unfortunately, although I tried to do this whilst I was waiting for Isabella, I was stopped by a very nice lady who had earlier over-heard me talking to Isabella in the kitchens. She had assumed I was a teacher, and wanted to have a chat with me about some of the history. LOL! I did put her straight, that I wasn't a teacher, although I did have a degree in History, and a particular interest in the Victorian age hence my perceived knowledge. Anyway, I ended up having a nice long chat with her and by the time I managed to try and explore some other rooms on my own, Isabella had finished her card. I can't wait to see it!

There are also some "spooky" shadowy figures displayed throughout the mansion via some very clever lighting technology located on the ceilings. This, along with some great sound effects such as horses galloping, people talking, pots and pans clanking added an extra dimension to the experience. So what it lacked in rich furnishings and luxurious rooms, it more than made up for in atmosphere.

We will definitely be going back in the very near future as there was much more that we could have done. The gift shop made a nice tidy sum out of us - although I did buy a really nice Victorian slate which we used this morning during a Maths lesson. Isabella used the slate (we do have two other slates, but they are worn out now) while I used the main chalkboard.

Anyway, she had a really great time - I think I can feel a Valentines Mansion project coming on!

World Wide!

One of our particular interests here at Tibby Toes School of Excellence is Astronomy and, here, Isabella is busily creating the "Earth" for our super-dooper Solar System! Although slightly faster than the original version, which took 4.6 billion years to create, it is still nevertheless a somewhat time consuming project, but when it's finished, I reckon even Patrick Moore himself would be impressed!

What we're using are Styrofoam balls, which I purchased at my local Hobbycraft - I can't remember how much they cost, but it wasn't a vast sum - about a few quid I think for the larger ones. For the Earth, we're simply using a few different colours of tissue paper which is cut into small cubes and then simply scrunched (that's a technical term you understand) into small balls which are then stuck onto the globe. Before we started, I drew a rough outline of the various continents as a guide and then we simply use a small paintbrush which is dipped into PVA glue. We then paint the glue in small areas on to the globe before sticking on the land/ocean etc. It should look very effective when we've finished. For the sun, we're going to use different materials, but I'll let you know about that later.

Buxton the cat is also very interested in Astronomy, as you can see here from the picture - I think he's hoping we're going to make the moon out of cheese...