Busy but nice

Where the days have gone since I last blogged:
visit from old friends who walked all the way over from Brighton - F and their youngest, Emmie, who is 1 yr older than her, did that thing of not really playing together until the last half hour when they got on really well and F took a minor role in helping Emmie build a sand village. It was really nice to see our old friends - would love to see more of them but it's hard to find weekends free for all of us. C is just finishing a PGCE so this year has been very busy for them.

visit from Grandma Julia - went very well, she brought one of those Tesco science kits, so we had a lot of fun with a balloon helicopter and some conversations about gravity, of the sort where the 3 adults in the room try to piece together what they know/remember/can work out logically. I love all that, I'm sure it's very good for children to hear adults stumbling along in that process, it's the opposite of the 'teacher is omniscient and infallible' approach. Grandma Julia has an operation coming up next Monday, so J might go over to hers to help out.
visit from my mum, resulting in the ridiculous red-plate mystery, which some people reading this will be aware of and I can only blush and apologize for! With my mum, F made a book of a story she had made up with her in the garden. It was a lovely day, so they spent a lot of time out there, I attended a particularly lovely tea-party with Dozy Mog as a fellow-guest and sand-cake served beautifully.
Other things F has been doing:
tons of storytelling - almost whatever she is doing there is a story to be told as she does it, with characters having their own voices etc. I am going to buy a digital voice recorder thingy and start recording some of them, they are great.
sand - it's everywhere
being 'dry at night' for about a month now I think, with only 2 accidents
watching CBBC, Dr Who, Alice in Wonderland and Barbie Mermaidia
entertaining herself while I worked yesterday - we had a lovely day, she pootled around doing all sorts while I slogged away on the laptop, intermittently chatting together, stopping for cuddles, singing made-up songs, etc.
gears, Leapster, drawing, etc.

I finished a job just as the sun was coming up this morning and had to turn down £350 worth of work yesterday, which was a hard thing to do, but if I had taken it I would be working a lot of the weekend instead of only part of it. Freelancers' dilemma. Time is worth a lot. I have a deadline for Wednesday but don't want to take on too much more as J has 3 weeks off after tomorrow, which will be soooo nice.
Today we have a visit from the Green House, which we're looking forward to, so I need to get moving now and make the house slightly more presentable.