mamma mia, here i go again...

i 'fess i have never done this before: it's the third-week-in-a-row mamma mia fest. yep, have been to the cheapie tuesday viewing of mamma mia *three times*. rather excessive, but my my, how can i resist ya?
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Voulez-vous (would yas like to...)

i know i've pretty much done mamma mia to a near-excruciating death this year - mamma mia, here i go again - i've seen it four times at the cinema - my, my, how can i resist ya? cos Woozie even bought the soundtrack and we've been singing - honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey - and singing it - you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life - but this month's dvd release certainly called for a Girls' Weekend on our very own Greek Island!!!

here we are at Pukehina Beach -

People everywhere,

a sense of expectation hanging in the air

Giving out a spark,

across the room your eyes
are glowing in the dark

And here we go again,
we know the start,
we know the end -
Masters of the scene

We've done it all before
and now we're back to get some more
You know what I mean

Voulez-vous (ah-ha)
Take it now or leave it (ah-ha)

Now it's all we get (ah-ha)
Nothing promised, no regrets
Voulez-vous (ah-ha)

and then Margot produced her wig stash -

Tonight the Super Trouper

lights are gonna find me

Shining like the sun,

Smiling,

having fun,

Feeling like a number one!!!

OH YES, "we danced on the beach, and we kissed on the beach, and DOT - DOT - DOT!!!!"
(guess the movie line - absolutely no clues needed for this one - oh and just jokes about the kissing lol)

honey honey

for some reason, i've always felt rather wobbly about the *teaching my children to write* part of home education. oh i'm ohk with the handwriting/spelling/grammar/capitalisation parts of it, but the scary fairy creative writing/haiku/prose stuff fair freaks me out. maybe it's cos writing seems to be the thing that peeps *measure* our "education" by? i remember teaching six year olds and their regular production was "i went to the zoo. i saw a lion and it said rawr..."
inspired? me neither.

of course i repliKATEd the classroom when i first started home educating. so we got blood out of a stone with "i went to the zoo. i saw a lion and it said rawr..." but blow me down, when Danny was about eight i fortuitously (love that word) came across a loidy called Charlotte Mason, who had this fabulous idea that we don't bovver with any formal written language until the child is around ten to thirteen, when after years of being immersed in wonderful literature, the child's lights will come on and fabulous prose will just flow out of them in the style of all the wonderful authors that they've been reading for all their infant years.

i'll buy that for a dollar.

so we left the formal written language stuff for a few years and just concentrated on reading beautiful books, classical books, rich in history and language. we talked about books, we lived and breathed books.

and guess what? Charlotte is right.

Woozie has been at school for nearly three years now. she had half a day off yesterday. well most of a day off. she'd been given a history project by this fabulous teacher and it has really captivated her - so much so that she sat at the pooter for four hours and finished her epic 7300 word linen-bound diary of a girl moving from Ireland to New Zealand during 1881, playing various Mamma Mia songs and creating prose in the style of Jane Austin, one of her favourite authors. her diary has a cleverly-woven plot with lovely little intricacies of learning to embroider, making dolls, and there's even a bread recipe! Woozie has aged the pages by soaking them in tea, and sewed them together at the spine. it looks real. i feel like i really know Francesca Barclay, a fifteen year old girl who was just a name that Woozie lifted from a passenger list on The Lady Jocelyn, the emigrating ship.

it made my heart sing to hear her beautiful alto as she poured her heart onto the the pages, cos i wondered if i'd sold the big kids short by not being so teachery.

it seems so obvious: fill and fill and fill these children up and one day *splash!* their cups shall runneth over...

(so i'm hoping that my little lads' sense of creativity won't be squashed by being in a classroom next year. i hope their teachers give them room to breathe and move and be boys. cos we've been practising our handwriting, but Mouse is still at the "i went to the zoo. i saw a lion and it said rawr..." phase (although he uses capitals) and Sam prefers to dictate his ideas and i write 'em down. which is fine if there is one mummy and a coupla kids...
uh, no prob's with Charlie - his dam has already burst.)

having the time of our lives

*****turn the sound up*****

when you're obfusKATE-ing the clean out by sewing a speshal handbag to match a gorgeous dress created by your daughter for a skool project absolutely drowning in the latest Hurricane Katie manoeuvre (love that "o") and gorgeous peeps phone at nearly-lunchtime to see if you'd like to celebrate the Blue Skies And Sunshine by a game of Beach Cricket for an hour or two, followed my an icecream with a flake in it, what do ya say?
ya say, "i'll just change outta my pyjamas we'll have a quick early lunch and beat ya meet ya there." and ya leap in The Tardis and zoom-zoom-zoom baby. and when ya get there, everyone miraculously stops squabbling ya spread out into The Big Wide Open Spaces and have a fabulous cricket game and even take the latest Mamma Mia self portrait series:

cos we really do repliKATE Tanya'n'Donna'n'Rosie

don'tcha think?

Mamma Mia!

I had no expectations going into this film, but... my, my, how can I resist ya? I think it helps that my lovely life resembles a musical - someone says or does something which triggers a spontaneous song. As the director would have it, I found myself in the cinema side by side with two girlfriends, and instantly we became the Dynamos: I was Donna - with the blonde tresses and ditzy tanties, Deb was Rosie - with the spiked 'do and funky dance moves, and Nush was Tanya - the trim, toned siren. And magic was all around. The whole theatre was abuzz with laughter and song and silly grins plastered on nostalgic faces as we skipped and swam all over that idyllic Greek island. Sure, it was predictably sweet and cheesey, but there were a few delicious surprises - and at the risk of spoiling it for all you glitter-tassled ABBA fans out there: prime your vocal chords, sing Fernando before ya go (cos it ain't there), and let "the happiest flick eva" light the fire within your soul... just one look and you will hear the bell ring... one more look and you'll forget everything... oh-oh-oh-ooohh!!!