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Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas 2010

So the big man has been for another year. Boxes, the odd bit of wrapping paper and this highly irritating silver coloured ties used to secure toys into boxes adorn the living room showing the signs of three happy children. The Tv is on but no-one is watching it. Noise indicates they are playing with their new toys and the constant question;

'can you open this?' is repeated as they move from one new toy to another eager to explore their new things. They were fairly restrained getting up at 630 is not uncommon. They had their stockings and then the special golden boxes Santa had left for them. These had been provided by a special friend and the kids were enchanted, not only were their names embossed on the boxes but on the silver train inside along with the dare we had travelled on the Santa special. The ticket with believe on made the image complete as they rang the bells to show they did believe. that moment captured what it was about, the magic and innocence of childhood, the ability to believe in a fantastic story and allow yourself to be carried away by it.

As we sat down to dinner and surveyed the toy shop our living room had become it struck me how lucky we are. The children had been lucky enough to receive a vast array of gifts from friends and family, they have no idea that some children would give anything to receive just a fraction of what they had. A lot of people we know have not had such a good year and it made me think about how lucky we are to have three healthy children, friends and family around us and with luck a new home in the new year. Without doubt for me has to be the best Christmas present if them all.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Strictly Santa snowy special

Yesterday we had a real treat, we went to Colne Valley Railway to visit Santa on his steam train special. The children were very excited as they had (thanks to Aunty Nicky) received special invites with golden tickets in beforehand. I had a little trepidation as I knew that snow was on the way and by the time we left the first flakes had started to fall.

We got there with no problems at all and met up with our fellow travellers. The kids were actually listening to some extent and soon it was time to board the train. We were in the royal carriage and it really was luxurious, huge wing back trains and tables where the kids could colour in the pictures and mazes that Aunty Nicky had brought with her.

We were soon joined by a jolly elf who warmed the kids up and got them shouting for him to appear, and he soon did. He spent a fair amount of time chatting with the children and making them feel really special and you could sense the excitement as the children were allowed to open their presents early. Matthew was enthralled with the steam train itself and Lucy enjoyed the attention from all the people, baby Henry loved the decorations the carriage was kitted out with.



When we got back to the station we had been told that snow was rapidly approaching so we made a fairly hasty retreat. The journey back was two hours and averaged ten miles an hour and we saw lots of spins and accidents so were grateful to be home safely.

The evening brought the final of Strictly Come Dancing. We allowed Heather to stay up and watch it as she had followed the whole series and supported Kara throughout. She was delighted when she won. Whilst we were waiting for the results the other celebrities performed a number sung by Adele. This caused a number of questions. Heather wanted to know who the singer was as she had been talking when she was announced. She initially thought she was Duffy but we assured her three times that she was called Adele.
'Did she make my computer then?' Heather piped up.
I managed to squeak out a no before joining James in laughing until I cried to which she asked;
'Are you laughing at me?'

Monday, December 13, 2010

Nativity -aah

Last week the children were in their school play. It was the first time they had both been taking part in the same play. It was interesting how they cam to have their parts. Matthew had been given the choice of being a star or an animal and had decided that he wanted to be a sheep and volunteered and was indeed a sheep. Thank goodness as black tracksuit bottoms and a white t-shirt made for an easy costume. Heather, on the other hand had dithered about and not volunteered but was instead allocated to the musician role. This meant that she had to master a range of percussion instruments as well as the song words, and perhaps most annoyingly Jingle Bells on the recorder.

Lucy had to accompany me to the play and I was quite nervous as littlies are not really meant to be there and the last time she saw Heather doing something she spent the entire time shouting her name until taken out, however this time she was really good, perhaps helped by the raisins and sweets I had stashed in my bag to prevent any tantrums.

All of the children were wonderful, the lines were delivered clearly even if the shepherds towels were trying to escape from their heads or the keyboard kept cutting out and the children had to sing without accompaniment, isn't that all part of the fun? Matthew was concentrating very hard on his sheep dance and I have to admit to having a lump in my throat when Heather delivered her line in the rap all by herself, she was looking right at me and I was very proud, even the Jingle Bells rendition was impressive. It is lovely to see them taking part in something and taking pride in it and it was well supported which gave the children even more pride. A lovely afternoon and well done kids!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Snow Joke

As most people in the UK will tell you last week wasn't much fun. In our corner of England it snowed heavily on Monday night but our school was proclaiming itself open. Mr T kindly went and dug us a hole so we could get down the driveway and swept the snow off of the top of the car. Off we went as a cool 5mph on the silent and eerie roads. Well silent until we got a few years down the road and encountered kids having a snowball fight having been turned away from their school which had decided to close.

Our road which is lane leads out onto a hill, we are at the top and could see lots of queueing traffic, probably due to the school closing, as a result we decided to take the side roads to come out away from the school. Everywhere we went we saw cars stuck in the drifts being pushed or dug out,by the time we finally got to the main road we found cars slipping and sliding up and down the hill as it hadn't been gritted. I was grateful to be in the 4x4, however loathed they may be.

By the time we were halfway to school we received a call to say everyone was being turned away and the school was closing so we made our way home. The kids weren't too disappointed and one snowman later they were pleased to be in the warm house. The next few days resulted in more snow and ice and more school closures so Mr T was able to get into work using the car.

By the time school reopened on Friday I was ready to take them, stuck in for most of the time due to their reluctance to go and get cold they had spent much of the time bickering and moaning, even the distraction of putting a Christmas tree up and decorating their rooms had failed to stop the moaning. Friday wasn't too bad and I was relieved to see the kids go in. They were excited as they didn't have to wear uniform and the school looked rather different with its white blanket. My biggest regret is that I have still failed to get a sledge and everywhere is now sold out, I am determined to try and procure one before the New Year as if we do get any more snow I want to be prepared!

Christmas preparations are now in full swing, cards have been written and posted, presents wrapped and tagged and the school play takes place on Wednesday! It is kind of nice as you drive or walk around and see the twinkling Christmas lights on the houses and the snow adds to the wintery picture but all in all I'd rather it went away now, at least until the end of term!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Tooth Fairy

On Friday of last week one of the rites of childhood occurred in our house. Heather lost her first tooth. It had been wobbly for about ten days and she had gone through the whole gamut of emotions. Initially she was excited as she had been waiting for such a long time to have a wobbly tooth and she had seen lots of people at her school with wobbly teeth.

Then she realised that the tooth would actually have to come out and the worry set in, would it bleed lots? Would it hurt? Where would it come out and what if she lost it? I think she remembered when one of the children lost their very first tooth at swimming, it had actually fallen down the toilet. One plucky mum had donned rubber gloves and rescued it, above and beyond the call of changing room duty.

As it happened Heather was in a very good mood having had her friend round to play that evening, we had been watching Children in Need and were having a tickling game. She wriggled and scraped against the top of the sofa.
'Oh' she said and I noticed that her mouth was bleeding. She opened up and indeed there was a gap where the tooth had been. We grabbed a tissue to swab her mouth and moved the cushion to find the tooth. As it hadn't hurt and didn't bleed too much and looked interesting now it was out Heather was over the moon.

She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and put her tooth in a little pot next to her bed. In the morning Matthew and Lucy, who had already been put to bed the previous night, were surprised to see their sister with a gap but excited for her when she revealed the shiny coin the tooth fairy had left for her. I think we'll be having a repeat performance very soon as the tooth next to the gap is working itself loose now as well...

Monday, November 22, 2010

Food culture

This weekend we were lucky enough to enjoy a family takeaway. The children were interested in the different types of food we were eating, this despite the fact that they had had chinese food before.

We discussed which country the food came from and explained that most countries had traditional dishes. We established that Fajitas were Mexican, Fish and Chips were from England.

'Which country does Pizza come from?'
'Dominos' Matthew answered.
Oh dear!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Christmas is coming

Whisper it, the word that strikes fear into the hearts of many of us is less than 50 sleeps away. The shops are gearing up with displays of gifts and toys galore and it won't be long before you everywhere you go has sparkly tinsel and twinkling lights and Christmas songs plague our ears. I am not against Christmas at all but I am already fed up with the 'can we add this to our list?' question.

So I suppose I thought to myself a week or so ago I ought to start the pre festivities diet or I won't be able to fit into this dress or that skirt. This year though I have decided not to bother, I have decided that losing a few pounds just so that I can pile them back on again at all the parties and kids events and work dos that are already filling my diary is pointless. Neither am I going to make the New Year resolution to get back down to pre-kids weight as by the end of January not much has changed and I get cross myself with failing yet again.

Maybe it is just that I have come to accept that pre-kids not just the weight was different, I could have a hot drink while it was still hot, I didn't know who Hannah Montana was and the kids package on the SKY box was never activated. Nowadays the presents under the tree spill out further and further and the bills go in the wrong direction. This year I will not be going out at the last minute to get more presents because they have changed their mind about what they simply cannot live without. The main presents are bought, not wrapped just yet and so just a few stocking fillers to get.

The house saga rumbles on, we have had plenty of viewings and even a couple of decent offers, the issue being that the offering people have yet to sell, the winter being upon us means that there are less people trying to move house so in general I think we'll be stuck here for the next few months at least. Still at least I know where to pitch the Christmas tree!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Roll on Monday

We are now thankfully coming to the end of two, yes two weeks of half term. Usually I look forward to the holidays, no real ties and can do nice things with the kids. This half term was no exception. We had to do some necessary but boring things like haircuts but we also managed to do some more exciting ones.

The first important thing we had to do was keep Bertie Bear, one of the schools travelling bears entertained. We took him to Disney On Ice at the 02 which was brilliant. Lucy, even at the age of 2 1/2 was enthralled from start to finish and Matthew only asked when it was going to be finished a couple of times. It was a good all round show for big and little people and it got a big paws up from the bear as well.

We then had a couple of days or running about and errands and then an exciting day for Heather as she went to a day at her stables. She loved finding out about how much horses eat, where and how they sleep and how to groom them, as well as having an extra couple of lessons. She enjoyed having a packed lunch and even made a new friend.

Lucy continued to go to nursery as she was having visits to the big girls room and I didn't want to disrupt her and the big two were excited to have an indoor picnic as well as making Halloween art on the Thursday. Friday I have to admit was all about Take That and as I emerged finally victorious after my battle with Ticketmaster I did feel slightly bad that a few hours had passed in a volley of reloads and Disney Channel. Still when the 1st of July comes I will be hanging from the rafters of Wembley Stadium and listening to the concert even if the performers are a way away, it's all about being there, (I hope!)

The kids dressed up for Halloween and we made some big decorations, we also made Bertie Bear a costume and he became a vampire for the day, as did Pooh bear as Lucy insisted that he dress up as well.

Mr T had a few days off at the beginning of the second week and clubs restarted so we had the usual tennis, the violin teacher came and did an extra lesson and Mr T enjoyed building lego with them and generally messing about. Thursday was another visit to friends and Friday was Lucy's last day as a caterpillar in nursery as next week she will become a butterfly. We were all able to go for the party tea and I have to admit it was bittersweet. As much as I want the kids to progress I also want them to stay little, and time seems to be speeding past at the moment.

The main issue this half term has been the constant bickering between the children, I seem to have spent most of my time putting one or another of them in time out, finding them activities they can do on their own or trying to play referee. Yesterday I finally flipped, Santa has been called upon to help. He is now watching us and if they cannot get on they won't be on the nice list, I know it's bribery but if it buys me a few days of good behaviour I will be grateful. As much as they fight however, there is also evidence to say they love one another. We got Lucy a new car seat and obviously the box it arrived in had to be put to use, so into it Heather was put, not altogether happily at first, her protestations caused Matthew to leap to her defence against Daddy and once she was the right way up all three of them enjoyed the new racing car - until it broke down anyway!

Tonight we are off to a fireworks party and then a quiet Sunday before school on Monday, not that I'm counting or anything...

Thursday, October 21, 2010

4x4

This week I have done something I thought I would never do, taken possession of a 4x4 car. The last few weeks have been eventful. I had my first ever car accident and it proved to be traumatic. I won't go into details but suffice to say that my car ended up as a write off, I lost my confidence and the kids had a very bad experience.

Matthew bounced back really quickly and once Lucy was reunited with her beloved Pooh bear she was fine too, Heather took a few days but is now OK and luckily no-one was injured. Having never made an insurance claim everything became a steep learning curve but on the whole the experience was a positive one as they guided me through the process and have helped me through it. After a week we found out that the car was a write off and I had the upsetting task of emptying our remaining possessions.

We also had to find an alternative car, I was given a hire car for a fortnight so had to try and get a new car within the week to prevent having to pay a fortune in hire fees and insurance. As Mr T had a great experience with BMW we went back to the garage there and looked at the X5, we also visited a 4x4 specialist who had lots of different SUV's so we could compare them but we settled on the X5 as it had seven seats allowing my three to travel with friends as well.

I think I probably recorded the slowest time in history for a test drive as at the time I was still struggling with the idea of getting behind the wheel, but Mr T had encouraged me to drive the day after the accident. Even so sitting in a car that was brand new was nerve-wracking. The sales lady was great and once we confirmed that we wanted to proceed with the purchase she managed to locate one in stock that could be delivered within the time limit. It had a few extras to what we needed but we went for it anyway.

Yesterday we picked up the new car, having dropped the hire car back to the company. The new car is great, high driving position, built in satnav and heated seats but best of all it gives me a feeling of safety. This is the most important thing for me as for the last two weeks I have felt very unsafe, it is not just that the car is big but it has a good engine and prevents you from rolling back. I also have a parking camera which takes a bit of getting used to be allows me to see around the car as well. All in all for my three kids useful in size and gadgets and comfort.

On a more positive note yesterday was parents evening and the children both got good reports. I was so relieved to find that Matthew has settled well into the reception class and is keen to learn and do new things. Heather seems to have made a great start to the year as well and seems a lot more confident in herself. Phew!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Dentist

Just the title of this post is enough to strike fear into the heart of many, including me! I have no rational reason for this fear but I know that when the letter comes every six months proclaiming that I am now due for my 20,000 smile check-up I feel a little nervous. If I'm honest I often read and recycle without even picking up the phone to make the appointment. That changed once the children became old enough to need a regular check-up.

Now I do attend every check-up as instructed and any follow up treatment. I have to admit that despite being nervous of the dentist and feeling apprehensive throughout appointments, as demonstrated by my rigid non-moving form on the chair. Recently I had to have my wisdom teeth filled, as they have come through with cavities, typical of me really, looks like everything is in perfect condition but there are holes in the middle!

as a result two weeks and two consecutive appointments. You know how it goes, dentist makes small talk and then uses a disgusting tasting local anaesthetic in. My dentist then uses an injection to numb everything, the oddest thing is that despite both of us knowing he has an enormous needle he hides it behind his back, at this point it's not as if I'm about to do a runner.

So with lip, teeth, and so on numb the work begins and although there's no pain there are odd sensations. The drill and the suction, then the odd picking at the teeth to make sure everything is filled. The dryer which ensures that your new filling doesn't fall out as soon as you leave and the funky orange visor they put over your eyes to protect them from the rays. Finally there is the bite plate to make sure that the tooth is level and so on.

What strikes me the most though as I sit looking at the new where's wally? poster and trying to avoid making contact with the man drilling into my tooth is how helpless I feel. It is this I think, that gives me the phobia, not the fear of pain, three kids and a toothache aren't really in the same league, but the fact that I am sitting in a position which renders me without a defence. I don't know exactly what it is I expect to happen... still in six months time they'll be another card through the door and off we'll go, open wide and hope that my teeth stand up to the scrutiny.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Tired out

Matthew has now completed about two weeks in reception. He seems immensely proud of his hat, blazer and book-bag and definitely feels like a big boy now he is at school all day. He is bursting to tell me who he has played with, what he has eaten and what he has been doing at school when I pick him up, this has had the great effect of eliciting more information from Heather about her day as well.

He is just beginning the journey to reading and writing and this week when we were doing his homework he took great delight in showing me that he could write all the numbers up to ten himself. He enjoys reading us his reading books and today he bought one home that was made up of his sight words. As soon as he sat in the car, knowing we had to wait for Heather he announced that he could read his book and did I want him to show me. Of course I agreed and so he duly read all 12 words or so to me, pointing to all the words as he went and looking very proud of himself. As soon as we were all home he was eager to show Heather that he could read his book as well. He loves impressing her and despite their love/hate relationship looks up to her so that when he wins her approval it means something to him. She was great with him and gave him lots of encouragement and he puffed up with pride.

At bedtime he recapped some of the things he had enjoyed doing and I asked if he was enjoying reception;
'Yes I like my friends and seeing Heather and Miss ***'
'That's great and do you like doing all your work.'
'Yes but it is a bit hard, if we finish we can play but then I am tired out. Playtime is hard too as I run about all the time and I'm all tired now.'

I am really pleased he is enjoying school and hope it continues for a long time.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My first week of freedom

Last Thursday, the kids went back to school. For two days between the hours of 9 and 3 I had complete freedom as Lucy was at nursery and the other two were at school. Monday to Wednesday I had Lucy, but in general, she is amenable to going out and about, so what did I do with all this time? The answer is not a lot.

There was the usual housework that took up some time each day, Thursday just felt wrong, the house was tidy, quiet and empty. It seemed as if all the life that had filled it over the previous two months had been stolen away. I have to admit the TV went on for a bit of background noise and Facebook was a good way to while away the hours. It was very odd, I had been looking forward to this day for a few weeks, especially since the weather had turned and the kids had been fighting.

I did eventually settle to some writing, but in some ways it was a relief when the clock rolled around to picking up time. Friday was better, I did more writing and spent less time watching the clock worrying about what they would be having for dinner and if they would be have a friend to play with and even if they liked their new teachers.

Monday came and after a school gate chat we had the excitement of the grocery delivery, imagine the excitement as you open the bags to discover exactly what you ordered, as this proved to be the highlight of the day, other then Heather's first piano lesson I decided I had to get out more. So I did, on Tuesday Lucy and I went shopping. Lucy enjoyed choosing things with various characters on and I failed to choose a new handbag, and then after school was the mad dash over to horse riding!

Today Lucy and I enjoyed a coffee with some friends after running some errands and then spent some time filling in a magazine she insisted on having with stickers and colouring.

Tomorrow then is my next proper day of freedom and what will I be doing? Well there is the road safety walk which Heather is going on first thing and then a trip to a riding school to see if they have any weekend availability as fitting everything in the evenings is proving tricky and Matthew is desperate to do tennis which clashes at the moment. Indeed I dread Lucy going to school and deciding which after school activities she would like as every night other then Friday is booked up at the moment and I think top of my Christmas list at the moment is a set of juggling plates and spinning plates! Don't even get me started on the homework...

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Friends

It's back to school time and that means in equal measure tears, tantrums and triumphs. Most parents find it difficult to consign their children to full time school, it is when you begin to lose a little bit of control, now they must fend for themselves. Their teacher becomes the fountain of all knowledge and you get used to hearing Mr or Mrs so and so says...

Then there is the difficult issue of friends, for many children they make these as they progress through the infant and junior school and add to this as they continue. How do we make friends though and how do we make them in the first place, this is the conundrum I have been presented with by Heather. She is an adult relater and given the choice would much rather spend her time talking to adults than children of her own age, she is perfectly capable of getting on with children her own age but hasn't to date had what you would call a best friend - she is more of a butterfly flitting from group to group or playing by herself.

It got me thinking about my own friends and I guess you could group them, there are the people that you know well enough to say hello to, usually mums at the school gate, then there are those that are a little closer that your children spend time with so you get to know them a bit better, then there are your best friends. These are the people that you are comfortable with, share your secrets with and spend more time with. I am lucky enough to have friends like this who I have met both a long time ago from college and university and more recent ones who I have met at the school. These are the people that even when you haven't seen them for awhile you can pick up the phone and you know each other well enough to carry on as before. When Heather asked me how you make best friends I was at a loss to explain it though.

In the end I told her that the best thing you can do is be nice, listen to what they have to say and help them out wherever possible and make sure that you have some similar interests. I still don't know how she'll get on Matthew and Lucy seem to make friends naturally and easily but I did remind her that friendship is a two way street, you have to show them respect and talk to one another, share and work at it. I also told her that sometimes you'll fall out and disagree but the best friends are the ones that stay with you through the ups and downs, that forgive you when you make a mistake and give you a shoulder when you need to cry.

Monday, August 30, 2010

The Final Countdown

I have just now finished the labelling of the school uniforms, putting PE kits into bags and making sure that the new book bags have names on. The only slight bugbear is that the new name labels haven't arrived yet as they are great for sticking onto cups and bags and inside shoes. The last few days of holiday have begun and they are jam packed as usual, the only thing that has let us down is the weather.

This week we had to cancel a picnic we were looking forward to, thanks to two solid days of rain and showers we decided that soggy sandwiches were not the order of the day. We had what has become our habitual bug throw a spanner in the works as well, at least it was a mild one and didn't last more than 24 hours but even so it meant Heather missing her riding lesson and a pony day that she had been looking forward to.

We have managed to watch Marmaduke, Owen Wilson voices the Great Dane through his adventures to be part of the cool gang after a move to California and yesterday I took Heather to see Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, a nice message about helping friends and spending time with one another. We completed the library reading quest and the children were delighted to receive their shiny golden medals and are looking forward to receiving their certificates in assembly.

We collected the pottery as well and I was amazed at how well they had come out, Heather is very proud of her Ariel and Matthew couldn't believe how shiny his Mickey Mouse was now and they have pride of place on the mantlepiece, and we are hoping to go back soon and do some more.

Still with summer nearly over, that is if it ever got here I can't help thinking of the school year ahead, Heather's last in the infant and Matthews first full time and how life will be different, as it once more become a dash from home to school, to after school activity to home again with a little bit of homework and dinner along the way. I am hoping in the two whole days that I will have free when Lucy is at nursery to pick up the time spent writing again, expand my repertoire on the piano before Heather takes me over and with luck move house before the end of the year, but with chaperoning violin and swimming and helping out at the library the first few 'free' days already seem to be filling up. Oh well, maybe when Lucy goes next year...

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sweet Niblets!

Those of you who have children of a certain age will almost certainly identify with he above title. For those of you who have outgrown the phase or not yet entered it this is the catchphrase of the character Miley Stewart in the Hannah Montana series. It seems appropriate as I seem to have spent much of my recent days watching this or equivalent shows on the Disney channel. We have been out and about as much as possible but the lack of summer is making that difficult! There are only so many times you can visit the indoor playgrounds or go and paint clay, I am running out of shelf space!

The Hannah Montana take over has now reached new heights! Heather was lucky enough to receive money for her birthday and after discussion she decided she would like something to go in her bedroom which she could dock her ipod with and play cd's. Coupled with that we made the mistake of buying her the Disney Summer Rocks CD which since the arrival of the CD player has been going at a high volume fairly non-stop! I suppose I should be pleased that she now knows all the words to her favourite theme tunes but I have to admit that on the twentieth rendition of 'you get the limo out front...' I was horrified to hear myself mutter 'sweet niblets.' Takeover complete. Roll on school before I start saying dang this and that and calling the children Lily, Oliver and Hannah!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Holidays

Well I can't believe it has been a whole month since I posted on here, I can feel the tumbleweeds blowing through. I do have a good excuse though, two weeks in Florida, a week of day trips with the children on holidays and Heather's 6th birthday.

Florida with three young children was hard work but rewarding at the same time. We were able to book meals with many of the character which meant that we didn't have to chase them around the parks and stand in a long queue for hours on end. We did however have to queue for those with whom we couldn't eat, this was mainly the newer toy story 3 characters, although in the main we were lucky, catching them before the queues were too bad.

Whilst we were soaking up the sun, Heather had her 6th birthday, she loved wearing a badge that meant everyone said Happy Birthday to her as they passed. As a special surprise we booked her into the bibbidi bobbidi boutique. It is a girly girls dream come true. We had booked the top package so Heather had the works her face was priceless when she realised what she was going to be doing. First of all she chose the dress she wanted and after a few minutes she was shown into a dressing room. Laid out for her were the dress, shoes, tiara, wand with glowing blue bits and gloves and handbag. She dressed with only a minimum of moaning about how itchy the dress was. The next job was having her hair done, she chose a style she liked and even had her nails pained and make-up. A stick on flower was placed on her cheek and finally before her new look was revealed she had to close her eyes, make a wish and whilst this was going on green pixie dust was liberally applied to her head, this got everywhere over the course of the day.



All of this was followed by a photo shoot where Heather who now had a badge declaring she was a princess and a beauty bag with all the bits and bobs in was able to try out a variety of poses. Lunch was hosted by the princesses in Cinderella's castle and she was given a cupcake as a present and a card signed by the princesses. She did miss having her birthday at home, and on our return was delighted to be able to open all the bits we hadn't taken with us but she did enjoy being a princess.

In the evening she was taken back to Magic Kingdom by Mr T so that she could watch the fireworks and electrical parade. We did have a magical time, our most successful days were those that we pre-planned what we were going to do, the kids would happily have disappeared in different directions and as there are so many shows, parades and rides to fit in we found it helpful to only attempt a few rides each day.

The holidays seem to have flown by but with only two full weeks left before school resumes we are starting to wind down a little. The children have joined the library summer reading scheme and have been doing the homework they were given, we still have a few trips planned but not such a hectic schedule as before. I am looking forward to finally getting some writing done again as they have other things to occupy them.

The house seems to be finally getting somewhere as we had an offer on ours, this in itself makes you think more about the tasks ahead but until everything is signed I am trying not to think about what lies ahead! Still I guess it'll all be worth it in the end.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Holiday Shopping

This weekend I decided I needed to finish off the holiday shopping, I hate leaving things to the last minute, with the kids things tend to crop up out of thin air if I do. So with a fortnight to go I was starting to get jittery, especially as the remaining days are filling up with appointments, yes I am actually braving a visit to the dentist tomorrow with the kids!

So on Sunday after taking the kids swimming and running home, no I wasn't left behind I am madly running every week at the moment, Heather and I jumped into the car to the Lakeside. We had to brave the M25 for just one junction, and sure enough as we got within two miles of the junction traffic ground to a halt. Unfortunately the car behind me didn't stop so promptly. Apart from a loud bang there was no damage but it did shake Heather up, it is the first time she has experienced anything like that and she was very worried we would get into trouble despite the fact that the other car had bumped into us!

We arrived without any further incident and we both had fun trying things on and messing about. Heather had another first, an eye test, she was a little unsure about it but did complete the test and luckily not anything to worry about, despite the fact that she regularly reads at all hours in low light! We did manage to get most of the things we went for and I then hit the internet to get the things we hadn't been able to get.

So now I am itching to get the suitcases out and deprive the kids of most of their wardrobes so that I can pack up but I am going to wait, until next week at least!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

School holidays are here

How quickly has July come around this year? The kids have now broken up from school and before us stretches two, yes TWO whole months!

It took a whole hour for the children to start arguing over toys, who was going in the garden and who was having what book. Before the weekend was over Lucy was running a temperature and on Monday Heather was complaining that her ear was hurting. Great start!

We have only three weeks until our holiday, the nappy battle is continuing, Lucy knows what to do, how to go to the toilet and so on but she refuses to do so unless we take her nappy away, and even then she'll take her opportunity to make a mess of herself. She is just so stubborn, can't think where she gets that from!

In other news we have had quite a few people come and look at the house, and even a couple who want to come and have a second look, and even more exciting had an offer accepted on a property that we really like. The problem is now, that if we don't manage to sell our house quickly we will probably lose the house we want to buy and be back at square one. Still never mind, all fun and games.

I have also had lots of appointment to arrange, we are all paying a visit to the dentist next week as well as the hairdresser and Heather is hopefully going to have her very first opticians appointment as well as trying to get the holiday shopping done.

Still things can only get better, the sun is still shining and hopefully we can get out and do a few things once the kids perk up of course.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Alas, poor blog and moving

I have to apologise (again). I have been busy, very busy and as a result the posts here have been far and few between but here are just a few of the reasons why I have been run so ragged;

We have taken the plunge and decided to sell our house in the hope of finding a bigger one. This is not without risk and has meant a lot of soul searching and thought. We love our house, we have pretty much made it all our own and it is in a lovely location. But it is just too small for all of us now and we need somewhere bigger. Having accepted this we had to decide on a budget which is in part determined by what er can get for our own house and thus the hand wringing began. Eventually we found an agent we liked, with a good valuation and thus we are now on right move etc.

Now we have started viewing which is great but tiring, especially with the kids whose sole idea of viewing a house is to see how many times they can race around whilst we bellow at them, hmmm... Then the whole shall we live near the school debate began. Originally we wanted to be near the school, within walking distance and then I realised that with all the after school clubs and activities the kids do this may not be as practical as we first thought, plus the kids need a break when they came out of the school. Plus they have so much holiday that although the journey can be a pain it isn't for that much of the time.

So now we wait for an offer whilst we consider making one.

School is winding up for the summer we have had reports, Heather and Matthew have both done well and I was really proud of them both. This was quickly followed by parent consultations and again pretty good. Matthew has had a school trip and as it involved trains he was happy, Heather's is coming up. They have met their new teachers and we have had the summer sports event, a dancing show and Matthew has his first chance to experience school dinners on Tuesday. Not to mention that Matthew has a teddy bears picnic on Thursday, his last day in nursery class, hard to believe that he will be at school all day from September like Heather!

Anyway summer approaches, I am trying to watch as much of Wimbledon as possible as it is my last tennis hit until the hard court season begins. The Florida countdown begins now as we are off for a fortnight soon.

Think I might need another holiday for a rest!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Trying new things

Half term is upon us, we are lucky this time around as Mr T is on holidays from work but the week is slowly working itself towards the pinnacle of Matthew's birthday.

Monday resulted in a trip to the shops as we thought we ought to get him a few presents, Heather helped me to choose and then we had to get provisions for his party which takes place on Saturday.

Tuesday was more about crowd control as the day was grey and wet, miserable in fact. The children wanted to run around and have fun but the limited space offered by the house prevented this. As a result we did have a game of piggy in the middle in the hallway. Not something I am likely to repeat but then we did try.

Wednesday provided some relief as the weather was drier and after Mr T had given the grass a haircut it was dry enough for the kids to do their worse. Heather has trampolining which she loved. I then took the plunge, I had my eyebrows waxed for the very first time, this has followed quickly on my very first facial which I had on a spa day last week. The initial terror of someone coming towards my face, indeed my eyes with hot wax quickly abated. It resumed with the words 'Are you ready?' which I knew meant it was ripping off time. I have to admit although there was an ouch moment it went away rapidly and afterwards I have to say it was worth it!

Today I took Heather on a hack, a whole hour in the sunshine on horseback, it was peaceful and warm and a little slice of paradise, now for a peaceful hour or two while I get my haircut and prepare myself for the onslaught of birthday mania!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Bedtime Wars

Apologies I have been neglecting this poor blog.

We are finally experiencing some good weather in the UK, great for the kids as with hats and sunscreen on they are free to race around the garden and get rid of all their energy.

Lucy has had a breakthrough and realised that going to the toilet isn't as bad as she first thought, she is by no means consistent but I can finally begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully an end to buying nappies money sink!

It has become apparent however that Matthew and Lucy are both very competitive in every way. They want the same toy, to sit in the same space and be the first to do everything and anything. This has resulted in some very physical fights which inevitably end in tears, usually for both as one is relegated to the trauma of time out and the other is left demonstrating their injuries to me!

This is also true at bedtime, we aim for a staggered bed time so that disturbance is kept to a minimum. Lucy goes first, then about ten-fifteen minutes later Matthew and about an hour after that Lucy, the problem at the moment is that Lucy is often still awake and yelling when Heather goes to bed, part of this will be resolved when we move and they are no longer sharing a room! The reason seems to be that if Lucy has a nap she simply isn't ready to go to bed! It seems anything over twenty minutes and trouble results.

In an attempt to curtail some of the bad behaviour we had a discussion at dinner time yesterday. We explained that we weren't happy and that it amounted to bullying, and so I said to make sure the children understood;

'Matthew can you explain what a bully is?'
His reply 'It goes baa'
Apparently it is some kind of sheep and so at that point we gave up.

Still tomorrow I have a day off and I can't wait, I am off to a spa for a day of relaxation and pampering and maybe some writing, I have been trying to set out my writing goals for the summer to myself. Running seems to be going well at the moment, the next step is to increase the frequency of runs.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Starving

It has come to my attention that Matthew must be starving. For a long time he has made it his mission in life to grab food at every possible opportunity. As soon as breakfast is finished he is worrying about lunch and then dinner and, of course, the snacks along the way. He has devised a number of ways to climb up to the fruit bowl and empty it of its contents. If there are any stray sweets, drinks or biscuits hidden in the car, it is his duty to search and destroy!

In fact I think the dog has started to copy his swoop and run tactics as she too has started sidling up to see what she can grab and then run off as fast as she can. We had to laugh at the weekend. Matthew came racing in with what looked like food in his hand.
'What's that?'
'Nothing,' he said still munching.
He had only gone beheaded an Aurora eraser, so eager was he to eat he had grabbed it off the side, thinking it was something tasty and bitten it before he had registered what it was!

In other news Lucy is driving us all mad singing Twinkle Twinkle at the top of her voice, only she has changed the words somewhat;
Winkle winkle, ittle star,
How I wonder how are you
Up above the sky high
like a how are you?

Some work to do there methinks!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Training

This week we have mostly been focussing on training.

Firstly we are trying to train Lucy to use the potty. She knows what to do but refuses to do it. On Sunday I sat on the floor while she sat on the potty. I encouraged her, even tried bribery all to no avail, in the end I gave up and put her in a nappy, within seconds it was full! She is quite happy to sit on the toilet or the potty but even so she refuses to 'perform.' I am hoping that when she does manage to go, the fuss that we will make will encourage her to continue to go, we just need that first breakthrough.

Secondly I have decided to train myself. It has been an ambition of mine for sometime to run the London marathon. I have applied twice but failed to get in, I am hoping that it will be third time lucky and that in 2011 I will be running. The last two times I applied I admit I was fairly casual about the whole thing. This year I have accepted that as I won't find out if I have got into run then until October I had better start training, just in case. So on Sunday after we took the kids swimming I ran back home, 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. I am paying for it ever so slightly today as my legs are still a little stiff but I am sure that if I do it often enough it'll get easier.

Thirdly we have been trying to teach the children to walk on the path rather than on the newly laid turf. It seems that instead they would rather trample the good grass into mush than walk a few extra steps. I am thankful for the warm weather however as it is providing the children with an opportunity to play outside, get plenty of fresh air and learn new skills without dragging half of the garden back in with them on the bottom of their shoes!

Heather has finally had one of her dreams come true, she has been horse riding, she has been in love with horses for as long as I can remember, she had a little ride on a horse on her third birthday but to get proper lessons most schools demand the age of six. I have however been able to secure lessons for her at a local school which takes children from the age of four. We had to get some boots before she could ride and when we visited the vast shop nearby to get them we were also greeted with an Olympic rider who was doing a signing. When we got to the stables and Heather was put on the pony and shown how to trot I marvelled at how confident she looked, and the smile never left her face for the entire lesson. All of us seem to be embarking on new phases, Matthew is learning tennis and football and so I guess now we'll see who managed to stick with their training their longest, and hopefully reach a goal.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Guest Writer

I don't often feature guest writers in the blog but today I am making an exception.
Yesterday without any prompting Heather sat and wrote without being asked and without any help (hence a few errors in spelling and so on) the following;
The Rabbit and the Dragon

Once there was a rabbit called Amalie. One day she went for a stroll through the wood. Now let me tell you about Amalie. She had black hair and a lilac dress and she had a pet bird. It was beautiful it was a bluebird called buttercup. On Tuesday she had some gardening to do so she did it. She went for a stroll in the wood on Saturday 1st August. She was going to the park to have a picnic and she brought it in a basket. There was cake, biscuits, an apple two bananas a lollypop grapes strawberries and raspberries, a few cherrys some ham and butter rolls, a gingerbread man a packet of smarties plums and a drink of orange juice. She found some flowers. She picked dandelions buttercups poppys roses primroses bluebells and sunflowers. She picked them all. She put them in her basket and set off. Along the way she met a dragon. The dragon blew some hot fire and said ‘little bunny solve this puzzle to go through if you don’t you will get eaten. What is 100+100?’ She thought and she thought but she could not answer and you know what that means she was eaten. A prince rabbit saw all this and with his sowd cut the dragons chest.
It fell to the ground it was dead. Amalies head popped out and they instantly fell in love they were marryed next day and lived happily ever after.
Written by Heather Louise Trevelyan on Monday 12th April 2010 aged 5 and 8 months.

Spring Summer Autumn Winter
All about Spring
S is for the sun shining in the sky
P is for poppy pink and waking up
R is for rows of roses
I like cherry blossom all nice and pink
N is for nightingales singing in the trees
G is for people playing in the garden
That is what spring in about

All about Summer
S is for sunflowers growing in the sun
U is for us injoying the weather
M is for me watching the sun
M is for Matthew playing in the garden
E is for eating outside together
R is for going riding on our bikes.
Thats what Summer is all about

All about Autumn
A is for animals eating leaves
U is for umbrellas in the rain
T is for trees losing leaves
U is for umbrellas going up and down
M is for many leaves falling off trees
N is for navy blue raindrops
Thats what Autumn is all about

All about Winter
W is for wooly clothes to keep you warm
I is for iscicles everywhere
N is for night time coming early
T is for trees covered with snow
E is for everybody playing in the snow
R is for roads being closed because of the snow
Thats what winter is all about

Proud, me, yes!

Monday, April 12, 2010

House Hunting

Next year we are hoping to move house, maybe even sooner if the market picks up. We have had the house valued and know we have a bit of work to do before it is market ready, we've set our budget and even started looking to see what is about.

We went to see the first house on Saturday, we had the kids with us and if you think moving is stressful, how about just looking! We had warned the children they weren't to touch and that they had to remember that this was where somebody lived, even reminding them that at some point people would be looking at our house and they wouldn't want their things messed about with.

The house was lovely, although not right for us. The children loved the big bedrooms and Heather, having found a pink one declared it would be hers! It took an absolute age to look around as most of the time our attention was diverted by one of the littlies looking as if they may do something.

It occurred to me over lunch that although we had talked to the children about moving we hadn't actually asked them what they wanted from a new house, after all they are going to be living there! So I asked! Heather was quite straightforward, she wanted a big pink bedroom, a big garden and a playroom and a toilet. Think we should be able to manage that. Matthew was more complicated;
Lightening McQueen bedroom Check
Playroom with a table to put railway track on check
Big garden with swing and slide check
orange tunnel so he can get to his bedroom, hmm slight problem there. Maybe we have been visiting one too many play centres, still the estate agent did say they like a challenge...

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Half way there

Easter holidays here are now well under way and we couldn't have had a worse start. The children were ill, again! Lucy started and then of course Heather and Matthew just had to join in, all my dreams of trips to the zoo or the park were displaced by buckets and lots and lots of washing! Luckily they had all made a good recovery by the Easter weekend and we were able to attend an Easter egg hunt we were all looking forward to. The weather has even improved over the last few days, and that strange yellowy thing has appeared in the sky! The garden is still mud strewn and playing out there is likely to result in children sinking into the mud or becoming covered in it!

As a result of the weather and the sickness lots of things had to be moved, even Mr T's birthday which is tomorrow has been put off until Saturday as he is attending a business course. My birthday however was celebrated yesterday, and it was lovely. I had a wonderful, peaceful lie-in managing not only to drink a hot cup of tea but also read several chapters of my book uninterrupted. I had help opening my cards and presents from three willing helpers and what a lovely array of goodies there were. My Mum was able to come over and as a group we went ten pin bowling, it was the first time we had all played together as the last few times the kids had been attending parties. I knew it was too good to be true when my firs bowl secured me a strike, the first and last of the afternoon!

Pizza finished the day for the kids as well as several verses and variations of Happy Birthday with the cake. Watching a film with Mr T saw the day end on a relatively peaceful note.

The rest of the holidays are fairly well planned, Heather is going trampolining tomorrow, Lucy will be at nursery, and then on Thursday we are hoping to go swimming and on Friday we have another play date. The children return to school on Wednesday next week and I am hoping that this summer term will be the one where I can motor on with my novel. I have been scribbling away, but there is not much consistency at the moment as the children always seem to interrupt just as I get into my stride.

Finally, there is an election coming, you may have missed the already blanket coverage, but on 6th May the country will go to the polls. Or will they? Will there be a winner? My plea, please do go to the polls, whoever it may be that you wish to support but don't let the opportunity pass you by and waste the gift of democracy that we have in this country!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Easter holidays are upon us

Yes it's that time of year, Easter, filled with chocolate heaven and sugar driven hell for parents. Already the children seem to have amassed enough chocolate to scale a mountain and the children have been recounting in all its gory detail the Easter story. Now the holidays have begun and checking the weather forecast is proving depressing. Rain, rain and then for a change, a little bit more rain!

Still I am sure we will be able to find something to do. Lucy will still be attending nursery two afternoons a week, that means I should be able to do some more grown up things with the older two. Current ideas include arts and crafts, ten pin bowling, a trip to the local country park, cinema and cooking. I have vetoed a couple on the basis that Lucy can join in but we'll see which of the others we can fit in.

More worrying mine and Mr T both have out birthdays approaching, sadly Mr T is away on his birthday, so we will have to try and celebrate it the previous day! It is the days when Lucy is not at nursery and there are all three to entertain that I am more worried about. Mr T will be here over the Easter weekend but that is about it! We have a couple of events lines up and a few activities we can all do but I fear I may be turning to CBeebies, Disney and the DVD player for help if all else fails! Here's hoping the sun shines and the children, and I can enjoy the garden!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Lucy has her first day at nursery!

This week we have mostly been celebrating Lucy. She turned two at the weekend and she had a lovely time! We went to an indoor play centre in the morning, Mr T and I spent much of our time there climbing stairs and going down slides!

The afternoon was filled with friends and family, pizza and cake and two siblings who were probably more excited than their sister whose birthday it actually was. Turning two heralded the advent of something else, her start, proper at nursery.

Today, at 1pm precisely Lucy arrived at nursery, Peppa Pig rucksack filled with nappies and changes of clothes and the ever present Pooh bear. Having had her four settling in visits she strode in confidently, shook off her coat and gave me a kiss and disappeared into the quiet room to look at the books. The home link book gave me lots of details about what she did so I felt like I had something to talk about with her. It was very odd driving the car with no children to look at, and very quiet, will definitely be taking a CD with me tomorrow as might actually get to hear the words of the songs.

When I went to collect her, having rounded up Heather and Matthew from school the children were playing outside. Lucy was happily bumbling about in the play area, when she spotted me I was relieved that she called out Mummy and came for a cuddle, however, she did go off again, obviously having fun. There were no tears and I cannot believe she has been so good. I worry that in a few days, when she realises that this will be a regular event we may get a wobble but until then I am riding the happy wave!

I am looking forward to getting some writing done as the ideas notebook is overflowing whereas the drafts one is ominously empty!

Heather is turning into quite the little mummy, tonight after the bath was running and I had called Matthew for the third time she very seriously said to me;
'Mummy, can I bath the kids tonight?'
I was quite surprised and said to her,
'If they're kids what are you?'
'Well I'm a kid too, but I'm the biggest, you can have a rest!.'
As lovely as her offer was I had to put safety first and allow her to help, besides if her attempt to do the dusting, which resulted in more dust being spread around the house than cleaned is anything to go by the decision was a wise one! She has asked to help with dinner tomorrow, as well as offering to throw me a birthday party, wonder how long it will last.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Happy Book Day


Today is world book day and the children have to dress as a book character for school.
Heather in the end after some persuasion settled for Snow White, I was fearful that the lovely pink dress that cost a fortune, the replaceable and much cheaper Snow White outfit was a much better idea.
Matthew is modelling his Elmer costume, he did the mask and I did the clothes.
Lucy, never one to be left our is wearing her Upsy Daisy costume.
That's it for another year...

Monday, March 1, 2010

Matthew's first football match and book week


Saturday marked a rite of passage for Matthew and his Daddy, he went to his very first football match at the Walkers stadium. I'm not sure who was more excited, Matthew or Mr T. I will admit I was a little worried, it was a big game and would be loud, there would be large numbers of people and Matthew has this tendency to wander off whenever it takes his fancy. But not only did Leicester win but Matthew stayed in his seat cuddling his uncle Chris and seemed to really enjoy himself.


In case you didn't know it's book day on Thursday. The kids school, like many others, are celebrating with a whole host of events. The pinnacle of which occurs on Thursday with dressing up as a character day, an event which sends some of us cowering into a corner. Heather was relatively easy, she decided she was going to be Mia the bridesmaid fairy. We looked through her wardrobe to see if we had what we needed;
pink sparkly shoes, check,
pink dress, check,
pink fairy wings and wand, check,
pink flower for hair, check,
so far so good.

Me to Matthew 'who would you like to dress up as Matthew?'
'Elmer the elephant'
Me after a short sit down, 'are you sure you wouldn't rather be buzz lightyear or woody from Toy story?'
He was adamant, so Elmer he is, I managed to get some cheap material in the right colours, and several hundred sewn squares later he has a passable multicoloured costume. We are awaiting the delivery of a mask which he can decorate in Elmer colours and then he'll be ready. I hope he chooses something a little easier next year!

So Heather didn't feel left out I wrote her a story for book week, it involved lots of fairy tale characters, magic and school buildings turning into castles, she loved it and drew lots of pictures for me. Luckily Mr T has scanned them into the computer, put them in the right place and made it into a booklet for her, she has proudly taken into school today.

We have also booked out holiday, we are going back to Florida this year and have managed to secure a coveted table at Cinderella's castle for the date of Heather's 6th birthday, only a few months to wait!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Half term yuk!

I was looking forward to half term, Mr T was having a few days off and we were going to do lots of exciting things with the children and decorate Heather's room.
It started well enough, on Monday we headed off to an indoor play centre and the kids raced around for a couple of hours with some friends and had a great time. Tuesday was taken up with Lucy's very first visit to nursery, she seemed to like it and had fun pulling all the puzzles out. Heather and Matthew enjoyed nosing around as well and seeing where their sister would be spending some of her time from March. Then we headed to the hairdressers to get them all shorn, so far so good, the rain had even called a temporary halt and something not often sighted had appeared in the sky!

For Wednesday I had booked tickets for myself and Heather to go and see The princess and the frog I was looking forward to some quality time with Heather, but Lucy upon waking was promptly ill.
We did make it to the cinema, Lucy was left to the care of Mr T, we even got to BandQ to get paint for Heather's room as we had promised to freshen it up. In the days that followed Lucy continued to be ill, Heather was on Friday, hence MR T taking just Matthew to the transport museum in London instead of the family day we had planned.

Still Heather's room is now pink, she now has Disney Princess accessories and the only thing that remains is for me to do a couple of cross stitch kits featuring the princesses and the delivery of a clock with her name on and all the lovely ladies! She is very pleased with it and it is much more Heather than the yellow that preceded it! London we hope and the history museum can wait until the Easter holidays!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Fairy School, Strictly and Valentine ball

We have had a very busy weekend.
It began with a visit for Heather to fairy school and if you have a little girl in the right age bracket that loves fairies I can highly recommend it. You arrive and are ushered into a room with lots of other excited little girls until a fairy comes to collect them. Then they are taken off and dressed as fairies. They learn a special fairy dance, have a tea party, have their photos taken and then decorate a picture frame to bring their picture home. They learn what different colours mean in fairyland and that fairy snow is blue! Finally they adopt a baby fairy and have a piece of cloud so she can come and visit as well as a special glowing stone to show you when your fairy is visiting. Parents can stay and help themselves to the tea, coffee and biscuits provided or sneak of for two hours of peace and quiet. At the end we all went and watched the fairy dance they had been learning and the sea of smiling faces was quite something! Heather has already asked if she can go again, and a bargain as I got of with my nectar points (also available through virgin!)

The evening was a rare night out for myself and Mr T, ON OUR OWN! Well with lots of our friends as we went to a valentines ball, it was great fun, there was a tribute to Michael Jackson, great food, the thrill of table bingo, wine, an auction and dancing, and oh yes wine! I didn't drive instead I was chauffeured by Mr T. Luckily when we did arrive home at about 1am I was still standing, even in my heels that had a rare outing.

Sunday dawned and with it the trip to the 02 for the Strictly matinee accompanied by Heather and Grandma. With the absence of any trains travelling to Stratford I drove and was amazed how well I found it. Only one little mishap when I took a short cut through a bus lane but nevertheless there in one piece. The show was wonderful, full of the excitement and flair of the telly but up close! It is amazing how quickly the dancers move. The highlight for Heather though was at the end, all the dancer wave to the audience and as we were on the end of the row, and everyone was standing Heather couldn't see so we let her stand in the aisle. Chris Hollins waved to her, she didn't wave back until he pointed her and waved again, when she realised he was waving at her the biggest smile came across her face, he is one of her favourites and he made a little girl very happy.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Bloody Idiot

I realised the other day how much I must moan when I'm driving. During a slow crawl on the strangely named school run I was muttering away to myself about the ineptitude of other drivers.
'Bloody idiot' I complained bitterly as a driver who had right of way over one of those bridges where only one car can pass at a time, stopped to let over what seemed an endless stream of cars. I thought no more of it, dropped the kids off at school and all too soon was beginning the reverse journey.

I pick up Matthew first, as we drove along the roads, he pointed to a car in front of us;
'Is that the idiot Mummy?'
I asked him to repeat himself, which he did, and I realised that he now presumed all other drivers were idiots, oops!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Another trip to accident and emergncy

Until very recently the only person in the house who had been to accident and emergency was me, when Matthew had managed to graze my cornea mid tantrum. That all changed in December when Lucy fell off a chair breaking her leg in the process. She has now managed to double her tally having lost her second fight with a chair.

It was lunchtime on Friday, I had finished my lunch and Matthew and Lucy were finishing off theirs. Tumble Tots was looming so I went to gather shoes and visit the toilet so we could make a swift exit. As I came back into the room Lucy and Matthew were chasing around the table, Lucy had a hovis digestive in her hand and Matthew seemed to be trying to relieve her of the burden. I yelled at them to stop, but it was too late.

It is not clear if Lucy stopped and Matthew bumped into her or if he pushed her or she just fell. The end result was lots of screaming, very loud screaming, lots of blood and a hole in Lucy's face. I knew from the look of it that she would need stitches but I checked with my neighbour who used to be a nurse and she agreed so off we went to minor injuries. I waited, a bit in shock, and Mr T arrived. We were ushered into a treatment room and Lucy was examined,
'It will need stitching,' the nurse explained 'but under a general anaesthetic. At that point I cried, I don't normally cry in public but this time I did, a lot.
It turned out that as the cut went through Lucy's lip and into her face it would need to be stitched by an expert, so we had to go to A and E where we were met by the same people who had seen us when Lucy broker her leg.

She was admitted but as they had several emergencies we were allowed to come home overnight as they couldn't operate. We returned at 730 on Saturday morning and she eventually has her op which lasted only a few minutes at about 130. She was allowed to leave at just after 530, and although it was horrible I did feel a little bit lucky as some of the other children who were in the ward were struggling with worse injuries than Lucy.

It just goes to show that you never can tell what will happen. I didn't dream that she would be having an operation or having another accident involving a chair, nor that they could become so dangerous. It seems that it was contributed to by her cast, as it is over her knee she couldn't break her fall so rather than steady herself by bending her knees she fell forwards and bashed her face, nine more sleeps until the cast is removed and hopefully the stitches will have dissolved by then as well and maybe I will be able to look at Lucy without feeling guilty.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Snow

Before I start, according to the statistics this is the 100th post, a milestone!

Well, in case you hadn't noticed it has been snowing of late. Living in the depths of Essex we were bracing ourselves as weather warning followed warning but no snow came, well some did, just not very much. As the news showed us images of everyone else getting stuck and so on I sympathised but couldn't empathise and so I sulked a bit! The kids school was open all week, only closing early (230 and 2) when the forecast was at its worse but was one of the few schools in the area to open. Admittedly other parts of Essex were hard hit but today not there is very little in the way of snow and ice in the locality the schools (not ours which is running as per) are opening late and closing early.

We have been out and built a snowman although it has to be said Matthew mostly trundled around with his toys as usual and wanted to go down the slide, which we vetoed on account that he would look like a walking snowman if he did. They two big ones made snow angels and then we came in for a cuppa and a biscuit. Lucy, unable to participate in the fun fully due to her leg watched us with a bemused expression.

Lucy however is managing with her leg, by the third day she was crawling or bum shuffling to get about and over the weekend she the last few days she has adapted her walking to fit her leg, so unaided she can now walk about and looks very pleased with herself for doing so. I have urged her to reconsider, begged her to sit down and pleaded with her to at least accept some support all to no avail. I cannot wait for the 27th to be rid of the cast have her back to normal.

Hope you are all coping with the snow and staying warm.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year

Here it is, all shiny and new 2010!
No-one knows what lies ahead but still I can't help feeling optimistic at the start of a new year, clean slate and opportunity to change and all that - even though I could, if I chose do this at any time we all seem to select Jan 1st as the time to make these changes.

So here goes,
My writing has suffered over the past year, the novel which I was three chapters through in February has not progressed much further and all those short stories I was going to write have remained but ideas in the notebook. So this year I am going to attempt to actually write every day, read every day other than holidays and sick days like a proper working person!

Having said that I am going to do more with my kids, I have got quite good at the arts and crafts but now they are getting bigger I want to actually take them places, play games and open up their minds to new experiences.

I want to actually learn a new skill, I keep playing with the piano but this year I am determined to progress so I can at least keep ahead of the kids if they choose to learn it.

I have learnt that life is what you make it, all the forward planning in the world cannot always come to fruition as events out of our own control trip us up. I am not going to get to riled when Mr T has to travel for his work, or work late, after all it's his job. Even though it often messes up my plans I have learnt that is life, I am still hoping we can move soon but even if we can't I have learnt to appreciate that I am lucky, I have food to eat, family and friends around me and a warm place to sleep.

Watching Lucy over the last fortnight has shown me how we should cope with adversity, best foot forward, in her case quite literally. Despite her cast she has learnt to get about the house, causing all sorts of mayhem and consternation as she attempts to do things she really shouldn't with a broken leg. Her sunny disposition remains in place and despite the leg she is getting on with life. Having said that I am counting down to Jan 27th when the cast comes off and we will no longer have to contort ourselves into odd positions to bath her without wetting her plaster, have bruises on our knees where she has whacked us with the cast or have to prevent her from trying to stand up!

Happy New Year to you all and hope 2010 brings you happiness.