Bedlam at Build-a-Bear......

Who'd have thought that so many little people would be wanting to build a bear just 2 days after Christmas. Yes I know mine were some of them so I shouldn't be so surprised but I was still shocked at the amount of people all crammed in to that little store.  It had already taken us an hour to get there, 45 minutes to find somewhere to park the car (I think I would have wrestled anyone if they had tried to nick the space we found off us) and so by the time we'd disembarked the car and actually got in to the centre the kids were busting to go get themselves a bear each.

Even in its heaving state that shop is a wonderland of yumminess.  Ninja was really good he picked an inexpensive bear that he couldn't be persuaded out of for love nor money and so we offered to let him spend the rest of his voucher money on accessories.  Humf was another story all together, initially it was a pink bear and that was that but I think Daddy made some gentle suggestions for a  perhaps not so girlie bear and that got things totally confused.  Humf ended up crying in his in ability to decide, we had to pry several unstuffed teddies from tightly gripped fingers and the more choice we gave him the more upset he got.  In the end a cat got a smile out of his tear stained face so that was the one we went for.

In all the indecision and trauma I fell in love with a bear myself and decided I was going to build  my very own bear to take home as well. 13 year old thought I was mad and hubbie was just dumbfounded but, the bear reminded me so much of childhood teddies I just couldn't resist him.

Having then spent another 45 minutes waiting in the queue to get our bears stuffed (and yes I did have to do the routine and make a wish before they would hand over my bear) we were finally able to hit the accessories.  OMG those bears have better dress sense and far more stylish clothing then I will ever have.  I loved it all and as I watched people going to the till with 3 little outfits, shoes, hats, glasses and whatever else their new pet bear could want I was sooo jealous.  Ninja got unstuck with finding the perfect outfit for his bear which had now been named "Lightning" He went from a full Woody costume, to an Obi Wan Kanobi costume to a leather bikers jacket and blue denim jeans, Biker jacket and jeans won the day (a classic look that never goes out of style).  My bear got a pair of camouflage boxer shorts, so he's a bear in just his underwear. Humfs cat didn't need any accessories because cats are cool no matter what they look like.

So bears bought and paid for we made our way to our next port of call.  The "Game" shop another nightmare of a place, far to small for its demand and stuffed full of too many people.  I just couldn't face it so sent hubbie and Ninja in for a re-con and tried to find a toilet for humf and I to attend.  I never made it to the loo, I got so profoundly lost trying to find one I decided it wasn't worth it and followed the trail of breadcrumbs I'd left behind me to get back to the game shop only to discovered if only I'd turn right instead of left there was actually one right in front of us.  As it happens when I got back I had the other little one wiggling so now with two in toe we headed once more into the uncharted territory of the shopping city to find a place to relieve ourselves.

You know how you can sometimes be blissfully unaware of what is going on around you, well this wasn't one of those moments. No sooner had we stepped out of the shop than a security guard comes running out behind us bellowing "excuse me sir, have you got a receipt for that item"....Oh crap !!! I grip the kids hands as we watch in utter horror and fascination as the security guard who'd run out from behind us, rugby tackled this man to the ground and straddled him like something out of a really bad cop movies.  I was frozen to the spot and speechless, right until a little voice piped up "Mummy I think that man has been naughty, don't you?" You can imagine the conversation to the toilet being quiet a difficult one from that point forward with lots of "whys?" and "yeah, but's"

So the moral to this tale is this "always avoid doing the January sales, it just isn't worth it"

Is it still alright to eat chocolate for breakfast on boxing day?

I can't believe I managed to come down with a tummy bug on Christmas Day so while I could help make dinner I couldn't actually enjoy it.  That aside, Christmas day with 3 children is always an event and yesterday was no exception. I eventually got to bed at around the 1.30am mark on Christmas Eve which considering the last one down wasn't until 10pm wasn't too bad going (we do all the kids presents wrapping Christmas Eve, mad I know, but that's just the way we do it). I knew I was going to be a tired puppy when the morning roll call was made (Hubbie went to bed at 3am, the mad man still hadn't wrapped my pressies which I told him not to worry about but he wouldn't listen).

Funnily enough it wasn't the kids that woke up first it was me, they follow within seconds though.  Both the 6 year old and the 2 year old completely missed the large sacks of presents that had been left at the end of their beds and both ran in to Daddy saying "its Christmas".  This awoke the 4th member of the family and that left only one more to go.  The one none of us had the guts to approach but having now been shown the large sacks of pressies the boys were busting to start cracking in to them.  We sent in the bravest one of us, Ninja the 6 year old and he within in seconds of entering the room of doom he reappeared with a a cry of triumph "she's awake". Right member number 5 was with us and now we were all present and correct. The unwrapping could begin...............

I was determined this year to make the present unwrapping stretch beyond the first hour of Christmas day so the cries of I'm bored at 4pm could be quelled in an instant and failed miserably.  Eldest child was handed her admittedly small sack but still chocked full of expensive presents ( I mean a £25 itune voucher neither takes much wrapping or much space in the sack) and the look of "is that it" was completely apparent on her face, but she did her best to stem the flow of large present envy and participate in her younger brothers presents. The boys got to work and with in minutes things weren't going well at all. What is it about "wanting what someone else has got" the pair of them were like dogs fighting over two bones and no matter how many presents they got the same or how they'd just opened something they really really wanted they still wanted what the other one had just unwrapped.  I think I had to walk out the room at least twice and we stopped filming the scene for fear we might have to put an age appropriate rating on it to view it again. So carnage ensued and I kept my hands over my eyes until the last of ripping paper was heard. What greeted me upon opening them were three grumpy looking kids, lots of bits of paper, some damaged (and obviously fought over) boxes and I swore once again to myself that next year things would be different.

We decided to do dinner early as the thought of waiting until the evening to start preparing, cooking and clearing up didn't really appeal to either of us and the fact we were just the 5 of us we had no one to answer to and no one to go out to (bliss).  We did a fabulous job on our turkey, making it tasty and moist and managed to only forget one element to the meal (the stuffing) but I just started feeling gradually more and more rough as the cooking progress went on till eventually when it got to the table at 2pm I could barely hold my fork.  It looked so gorgeous and it tasted wonderful to I just couldn't eat it. How depressing is that then !!

So most of the rest of the day I spent with hubbie clearing up the dinner I wanted but couldn't eat and then lying on the sofa dosing and feeling sick.  Oh in between sorting out WW3 disputes between the reds, having an argument with 13 year old because she threw a tantrum that she didn't get exactly what she wanted and trying to make sure hubbie had as good a Christmas as possible.

Possibly the lowest point of the day came when hubbie turned to me and said "its not all its cracked up to be,is it? this Christmas lark" and the funniest came when Ninja said "my psp was my favourite present" and I rather smartly replied "that Santa is a clever one isn't he" and Ninja came back with "I think you and daddy bought me it and all my other presents, Santa's not really real, oh never mind". Which left me and daddy speechless, and amused that once again you can't pull the wool over that child's eyes.

I also just want to say a quick congratulations to my very good friend who informed me she was preggers...!! Love you loads girlie xx

Top ten countdown of things you might do that will annoy your teenage daughter

10. Try to sing along to have favourite song of the moment (well you have heard sooo many times coming through the bedroom door)

9. Tell her, her skirt is too short and she needs thicker tights.

8. Not notice she's had her hair cut with Nanny.

7. Not notice she's just dyed her hair again.

6. Not notice her hair.

5. Tell her your not sure how to do geometry anymore as it was quite a long time ago that you did it at school.

4. Ask her to make you a cup of tea.

And the top three are................

3. Ask her to tidy up her room.

2. Post a comment under her status on facebook.

1. Walk in to the bathroom, while she's having a shower and say "Ooo I love that bum"

I'm going to get in to trouble for posting this aren't I? Oh well I'm sure I'll be adding more to the list anyway ;0)

Mother vs Grandmother

Within hours of breaking up from school, my daughter was hankering to get down to London to stay with her Nan.  While I suppose I could take offence to the fact she couldn't wait to get away from me, I have to admit that at 13 the chance to get out of any household chores and having access to Nanny's time (and money) is probably too tempting to resist.

Nanny lives in Hampstead one of the cooler parts of town, where there are plenty of top rate fashion shops and a good chance of some star spotting.  Their normal day together consists of breakfast out in one of the classy cafes, a stroll up the high street and into office, gap, jane norman and a few exclusive independents and then a hairdressing appointment at the excellent and charming Japanese hairdressers where daughter is treated to 2 hours worth of pampering.  A normal day at home usually consists of me moaning at her about her room, doing he homework or hovering downstairs for me. Seriously how can I compete ??

Normally I take her desire to be away from me as soon as any school holidays starts with a pinch of salt.  But for some reason this time when she told me she's only planning to be home for Christmas and then she was going back down again, it hurt alittle.  Even with that I have let it go with good grace right up until the point she sent me a picture of the new shoes my mum has just bought her.  Yes they are lace ups and look quiet sturdy but they have a 4" high heel.  No way are they shoes suitable for my 13 year old especially as she wants to wear them "all the time" and the thing that annoys me most is that my mother would never have bought me those kind of shoes at her age so why the hell does she think its acceptable to buy them for my daughter.

I haven't really spoken to either of them about how strongly I feel as falling out with both of them isn't something I would want on my agenda. But I would very much like to ask my Mum why did she do it?

Putting that to one side for the moment this weekend has been one of not doing very much, which I am enjoying immensely, hopefully while I know next weekend will be busy I am hoping it will have the same relaxing feel to it that this one has.

Its the last few days now and I am hoping everyone is feeling stress free and looking forward to Saturday. xxx

Just realised its been a year

Wow, been at it a year and had a quick look back at 2009 posts and nothing has changed. LOL Though I would like to think the quality of my blogging has improved slightly. Happy Anniversary Day to day living in the nut house !!

Down to single digits

Just over a week to go, we have 1 works do and 2 birthday parties to attend and I still haven’t bought any food yet. 

Every year without exception I get to this point and of the “season” and suddenly realise I haven’t got hubbie his “big present”.  Why is it he can appeal to me in the “help me” kind of way to steer him in the direction of what would be a good thing to get me and I’d something I'd really like and I am always left to fumble in the dark as to what I think he might want. 

So far this year we’ve been shopping together once and he was so stressed through most of that trying to get me to like stuff that we came home with a few bits for the kids, some shampoo (it is on my mental Christmas list, Tony & Guy and smells divine !! mental as in, on my mind, not totally crazy) and still no clue what to get each other. 

Now I reckon most couples at this point would probably admit defeat and recognise that we are no longer individuals that have our own desires and tastes and just buy something pretty for the house or something.  But for some reason we cling on to this belief that we need to treat each other. Some might say romantic, others would probably say delusional. So unable to bare his despondent face after this shopping trip I offer up the solace of, I’ll do an Amazon wish list and you can choose something from there. 

Amazon, massive website, lots of things, I find 3 that I want, he’s not amused.  In the meantime I still have no clue what to buy him.  Normally I will get little hints and tips in passing comments made or suggestions from eldest child, this year NOTHING !! its like he purposely holding it all in.  I can only surmise that there is some ulterior motive that may mean money being spent in the New Year.  Well at least I hope there is otherwise I will be spending the next 12 months trying to make up for it.   

In the meantime any helpful suggestions would be gratefully appreciated as the kids will probably think it very odd that Santa “forgot” daddy this year.

My 2nd Favourite Thing About Christmas

Its funny but this year I have come to realise that while my favourite things about Christmas is the traditional family time and Christmas morning, but I also really love talking to my friends at Christmas. 

I know us women all get a buzz out of buying new things but I think at Christmas it is most apparent.  All we can talk about is present buying it consumes our thoughts and shows in the sparkle in our eyes. Its one of the few times of year we are allowed to gloat (I found the most amazing bargain) we are allowed to give unasked for opinions (Ooooo not sure she’d like that one) We are allowed to demand things (No they definitely want Power Rangers) and no one bats an eyelid.

For most women while there is pleasure in Christmas day it self, for most of us there is a lot of hard work, moments of guilt and panic as well and this means there is an almost greater pleasure in spotting the perfect present £5.00 cheaper than in the other store.

I love it, this run up, where we can stand at the school gate and discuss our latest acquisitions, gasp at the vast quantities of money that is being spent and console one another because the shop has just sold out of that one really important present that will ruin Christmas if its not under the tree.

So ladies (and gents if you’re with me) lets celebrate pre Christmas and I hope you are all having a lovely time. xx   

Plans for 2011......

Recover from Christmas: Not always an easy task and always takes longer than anticipated

Go on a diet: Don't even know why I bothered writing this down, oh yes I do because I am exercising my fingers and surely this burn off some calories (please)

Ignore my birthday: I'm starting to forget which birthday it is coming up which can't be a good sign so its probably best if I just ignore the whole thing.

Read more to the children: Keeping them still and interested long enough for more than just a chapter should be marked as accomplishment if I can actually manage to do it.

Stop worrying: I may as well try and stop breathing.

Learn something: Well actually passing my AAT exams would just be great, I can't quiet believe how much harder this year is as opposed to last year.

Go on holiday: Now this I have to achieve, don't how, what, when or where but I will get on a plane with my family at some point this year. Especially as eldest is going on a school holiday I mean educational trip to the south of France and I am totally jealous.

Catch up with old friends: Again another don't know, how, when or where but I can see a bbq and some cheap booze in the future.

Moisturize: My skin is becoming like parchment, but I seem unable to remember to moisturise it for more than 2 days on the trot. Really how much time does it take to rub your hands together its not like I am apply special effects makeup.

Make more time for me: As above..!!

Get off the antidepressants: That's the biggy....!!

Watch out 2011 I have plans for you.

Maybe this is why Kanga a single mum.

To say my emotions are on a constant roller coaster would probably be the understatement of the century. I feel like I am in a state of alert all the time. Every time there is a knock on the door my heart starts pounding..Oh god is that another parcel how am I going to get this one past the kids and into the garage before they start asking questions. We put the tree up at the weekend its really lovely this year, we changed the lounge around and the whole family agree it is all perfect now. I just couldn't help being left with the sense of the impending doom of, too many toys, wrapping paper everywhere and the fact of having to cook a "perfect" Christmas dinner.

Being 36 I am feeling like I have been a slave to my hormones for long enough now. While I don't feel ready for "the change" just yet I don't think I really want anymore babies and the fact my body still sees fit to put me through the mill every month, just in case, is starting to wear thin alittle. Why do I always end up like a sulky moody teenager just before I am due covered in spots and uncontrollably miserable. Eldest having had hers for a year is pretty understanding but the two boys are always surprised by it. 6 year old, bless, the other day just said "mummy why are you in a bad mood?" at which point I just burst in to tears. Hubbie is convinced its natures way of making sure the male of the species actually gets off his bum to go and hunt for food, good time to keep out the way and that.

Everything is feeling like a mountain to climb and I could probably moan about the sun, the sky and green grass, oh goodness sake Caroline snap out of it !!!

Whenever I am in this sort of mood it always reminds me of the classic line from Steel Magnolias "I'm not unhappy, I've just been in a bad mood for the last 40 years"

Warp factor 7 Mr Sulu and don't take your foot off the pedal

Soooo stuck as to what to get the kids its not funny and I know time is ticking by so darn quickly. Went to the school Christmas fair on Friday it was ridiculously busy I think there was every parent of the school there and a few parents from other schools there too. The reindeer "food" stand was packed and I had a secret whoop whoop when my kids finally got to the front and there was still some left for them to buy. Apparently the teachers in reception ration it so there is never quiet enough. This annoys the PTA immensely as they could probably ignore having the Christmas fair, just sell the reindeer "food" and still make the same money. Ninja, for £2.00 a go,also got to choose and wrap a present for mummy and daddy. I think this was a really good idea and he was very pleased to be doing it and then giving it to us, though I am slightly nervous as to what he might have picked out for us lol.

So now the Christmas fair in out the way it's the Christmas play and the Christmas parties next. Ninja this year is a servant to the king. He's so not happy about this and is regularly coming home from school complaining he hadn't actually meant to put his hand up to volunteer for this role and he still can't believe he got picked for it and he'd really wanted to be an animal instead. This is getting the same response from me every time we go through the conversation of "oh well next year you'll get to be something else and at least you're not just a narrator" You can guarantee that next year he'll get the narrator role and will be inconsolable.

All that Christmas trauma aside Humf's skin has broken out in a terrible bout of eczema. The whole of the top of his legs are red raw and its spreading up his torso as well. The only thing we can figure out that's changed is we started giving him decaffeinated tea, so I am pretty convinced that has been the trigger. Though I have never heard of that being a problem before.

Asking a two year old not to scratching is not easy, especially as he's even scratching in his sleep. I am just hoping that putting him back on normal tea has done the trick and he's skin will be feeling allot more comfortable very quickly.

Well that's probably enough for now as I still need to doing tons of Christmas shopping :0)

Getting down and dirty.........

It was a strange weekend this last one. We didn't really "do" anything but it all went too quickly anyway. Saturday was a traditional pyjama day, I don't think I got round to brushing my teeth until after lunch.

Then at around 4pm we suddenly realised that we had nothing in for dinner and I managed to persuade hubbie to leave the sofa for a family trip to the co-op and he was cooking. Now you maybe wondering how the hell did manage that and what was the cost but you'll have to be a really good friend before I'll let you in on that little secret. So dinner was had, x-factor disappointing and Gillian McKeith just got on my last nerve.

Sunday, hubbie decided it was gardening day, windy, cold miserable gardening day. Fine, ok, you feel you need to spend the morning freezing to death in the garden be my guest. OOoooo daddy is in garden guess who wants to get involved, so both boys (still in their pj's) pulled on wellies and their coats and joined daddy "to be helpful". "Sigh" from me, damn and drat my flimsy excuse for staying in the warm just went in to the garden with daddy.

Right, well, there is no way I was going out there cold so I got dressed (go me !!) put on my brand new furry lined boots, hat, gloves and scarf and ventured out into the once was warm and sunny garden but now is just bbrrrr. The boys were pleased to see me, they immediately disrobed me and I lost hat, gloves, scarf in one foul swoop then had to fight them off me to keep my coat.

I was truly expecting to play just a supporting role in this scenario, cheer leader type, moral guidance and such like but no, hubbie had other plans. So he set me to work, sweeping leaves and moving stuff to the compost. With in 2 minutes freshly washed coat and brand new boots where ruined, not impressed, and while I am working the boys have gone back inside because its cold and taken all my woolie stuff with them !! Hubbie on the other hand had stripped to his t-shit and had sweat pouring and I do mean pouring off his brow. He offered me a go of the digging to help me warm up a bit but I politely declined.

At this point an excellent idea popped in to my head "hunny would you like a cup of tea?" my excuse to go back inside and get warmed up, hatched planned and implemented. This was where the real fun began, as I walked in through the back door I was confronted with the trail of mud, which when followed went through the kitchen into the hallway and then onto the lounge. OMG !! there was mud everywhere and there were the two boys happily sitting on the sofa both still covered in mud and both with their wellie boots STILL on. All I can say is thank goodness for leather and tiles. I made other half's tea and then told him I wouldn't be back out. He came to look. "Oh" was all he could muster when he saw the state of the place and quickly retreated back in to the garden.

It took me a good hour and half to clean it all up and then we had to tackle the children as well. So I am pretty glad the garden is ready for winter now and the kids are banned from going out there until it snows or its summer I haven't decided which yet.

Breakin' Soundtrack-Ollie & Jerry-There's No Stopping Us

Some daughters do have them.......

Mum came to stay with me for a week. I was expecting her to come up for a night but for some reason she decided that, no, she was staying longer to "help" me with the kids and housework. While a little perturbed that she hadn't mentioned this plan on the phone when she told me she was coming to see me, I was still grateful for the extra pair of hands that was winging its way to me forthwith.

I swear its like having another demanding teenager in the house when she visits and a fairly bossy one at that. I love my mum to pieces but she drives me up the friggin wall. Its all the niggly things that the kids do that I have learnt to accept and ignore (well they are my children) she moans about and then she does something equally annoying niggly. For instance she'll moan that the kids have left their cups of juice where they might get spilt and then leaves her teacups on my bookshelf or on the mantel piece for me to take to the sink and wash up. She'll reorganise my washing trying to be helpful and mix up my pile of non-ironing and ironing. She likes the living room curtains open, hubbie likes them closed. The childrens tv should go off at bedtime, the kids go to sleep with them on. ( i secretly agree with her on that one, but would never admit it to her).

As the family situation stands I would have her live with us in a heartbeat as she gets treated very badly by her husband and she deserves so much better than him, though I think I would need constant therapy to get through the weeks.

I know there are so many benefits to having the older generation around you and the kids. My kids love her and would love to have her around more often and its also lovely for me to be able to talk to her about anything and everything and know she can't help but see things from my point of view. She's a brave loving woman who gets a little bit het up over the small things in life but I suppose I wouldn't have her any other way......

Feeling mean and still a little green

So the last couple of weeks have been murder. The entire house is one constant round of sickness as soon as one of us is better another one of us is going down again. This has led to some unpleasantness for us all and is teaching us to love each other in new and different ways (giving someone a kiss and cuddle after they have just been sick is hard even if its your brother). Lets not even go in to how much the washing machine has suffered over this time of illness. But I am wondering how much more it, it can take.

So its gone something like this..first one that goes down is hubbie, not a soul does he tell, so staunch in his stiff upper lip mentality that none of us are even aware that his bowls are giving him the utmost grief. (OH how I wish I'd have know as I wouldn't have gone near him with a barge pole) anyway next is me...I'm not joking I was totally wiped out by it. It was half term, the kids weren't getting dressed, they are running around causing havoc and the house was a tip..I was either in the loo or groaning on the sofa. 5 days of hell before I am feeling even vaguely well enough to put a piece of toast past my lips. Next is eldest child, being 13, this making her exceptionally fragile "coughs" she is crying, bed ridden and wanting to be taken up to the emergency doctors every five minutes. She would not have it that she had just got the same bug as the rest of us. Hers was much worse, much more serious and totally in a different realm of illness to what I had just been through. Ooo to have the luxury again of being able to care so much about oneself and also to have the time to do it. Next came youngest probably the truly the most fragile out of us all. He is the one who gets the most poorly and always gets whatever is going round the hardest. So when he woke one morning with a runny nappy and then proceeded to be violently sick having just drank his morning cup of tea I was not a happy chappy. Of all the things to bring back up I have to say large amounts of milk has got to be in the top 3 for the worst of them. He needed to be showered, I needed to showered, the walls, ceiling, sofa, blankets and both of our pjs needed to washed or in some cases burnt. It was horrendous, in fact it was so bad that eldest made a very quick recovery and decided she'd rather be a school for the day. So once everyone and everything was cleaned up I spent the rest of the day trying to get him to drink something at the very least for worry of dehydration. (I ended up have to syringe 10mls of juice in to his mouth every hour or so). By the evening he was eating a little and by the next morning he seemed fully recovered...yippee !!! (though slightly disgruntled that I didn't recover quiet so quickly when I had it)

So that leaves middle one, the ox of the family, the energetic bouncy never ill one. His contribution to this whole event was quiet spectacular in the fact that last night just before he fell asleep he said "erm mummy my tummy doesn't feel quiet right" an hour later hubbie and I hear a strange noise ran upstairs to finding him sitting up in bed whimpering covered from head to toe but still basically asleep......! I strip the bed completely, hubbie showers him, wraps him in a towel brings him downstairs. I come down, he mumbles "is my name QTH?" and is still asleep. I give him calpol take him back in to our bed, his is a disastor zone and there he stays for the rest of the night. This morning he wakes up and moans about having to go to the childminder. "You're not going to the childminder honey you are not well enough to go to school" "oh yeah...am I ?" "Son don't you remember being sick everywhere last night and getting in the shower and then sleeping in mummy and daddy's bed" "err no well sort of" and this is how the day has proceeded nothing wrong with him at all. In fact he is driving me mad being hungry all the time.....!

Now tell me something..... Why couldn't I be ill like that !!!

"Your name's not down, you're not coming in"

Was very excited earlier this week when Ninja come out from school with a little note saying he was going to given a commendation at the school assembly on Friday. Proud mummy moment and Ninja was really chuffed.

Now at any given point in the school year the school has no qualms to ask parents to provide money, materials or blood in order to improve the school or raise some money for something important. I do my best to oblige to their constant demands and would hope I could be considered a supportive parent in my child's education and school. I also understand the need for rules and regulations to maintain peace and harmony for the children.

But my younger son has been banned from the commendations assembly (school regularly refuses to allow preschool children in to spectate things) which normally wouldn't be a problem he is at nursery most days and so would be with carers. Unfortunately he's not been well this week and so nursery are refusing to have him back till he's 48 hours clear of sickness. So no nursery this Friday. I have no other childcare as I live away from family and all my friends are connected with school and will either be there themselves or working.

So for that reason l will take the withering looks from non rule breaking parents, I'll accept their tuts of annoyance, I will even be gracious and apologetic but I will not miss this assembly. I may have to gag little one with very chewing sticky sweets to keep him quiet and lots of chocolate but I am not going to miss this assembly. They will have to evict me forcibly from the premises to get me to leave. For if I don't attend I will be letting down one of the most important people in the universe and that aint going to happen !!

So wish me luck with the assembly police tomorrow !!

What would you do??

So 2011 is a massive year for this family and as we are hurtling towards it, I suppose I better get some decisions made and plans actioned. Hubbie turns the big 4.0. in July and in September we celebrate 10 years of marriage, and to be fair it is for better or worse and for richer or poorer. My significant other has been wanting to show me Las Vegas from the moment he got back, just before we got together those many moons ago. So i thought this coming year would be the time to do Vegas and do it in style. I've been imagining wedding vows being renewed with Elvis present, getting to see Celine Dion live and maybe catching the tiger guys. The thing is, what about the kids...? I live and breath my children, I never go out and any event the family does it does it all together. I can't imagine leaving them behind....but then again once in a lifetime holiday just the two of us sounds good too (we never got a honeymoon). I can't book until I decide whether they are coming with us or not and I really can't decide. Hubbie is of the opinion that on our own would be good but doesn't mind the kids coming. It would save loads of money with just the two of us but I know that my missing and worrying about them would ruin my holiday anyway. I am so confused and I can see me not doing anything therefore not having to make the decision. It is a big year but do I really want to celebrate it without the reasons I get up in the morning? Or should I just bite the bullet and let my hair down for a week and enjoy being a consenting adult. What would you do.....???

Just call me "The Grinch" and a "Bah Humbug" to you

Is it possible to be sick of Christmas already....I feel like the build up started back in July when I received my first Studio Christmas catalogue and one of my good friends started counting down in days.

Don't get me wrong I love the time of year its truly my favourite, apart from springtime blossom or long hot summer days anyway you get my drift. Its just that as I am getting older the time is flying by at warp speed anyway and having all the marketeers trying to rush through to the next big thing is just making it worse. The kids birthdays are in October and they barely get through to the end of the day before they are asking for some toy been advertised on CartoonNetwork for Christmas.

When I was little, the summer holidays finished it was harvest festival time, something the school made us sing alot about and I never really understood it. Then came Guy Fawkes, November the 5th. Fireworks night was massive in the calendar, every year the school made us do some kind of project on Mr Fawkes history. I was consumed with worry as to what my guy was going to be stuffed with and whose clothes I could "borrow" to make it with. Christmas was a distant event in the far future and there were much more immediate and pressing concerns to think about, like how many pairs of gloves to be worn on the NIGHT and should I stay at home or go to a display. The advertisers seem to have knocked the wind out of these events consuming our minds with the 25th of December. Even poor Halloween making a brave attempted to bring Autumn back its own festivals is struggling against the onslaught of the mighty Christmas promotions.

So this year, I'm going to try and not mention the C word until at least the last week November and we are going to enjoy our Halloween party and our local town fireworks display, Christmas can just get back into its proper Winter place.

Feeling all Gloria Gaynor “I survived” !!

I did it, I pulled the party off, with a little help from family and friends. Everyone said they had a lovely time and that the party was brilliant, and quiet frankly I don’t care if they are all lying. Mooki loved every minute of it, she looked gorgeous even if I do say so myself and she was an excellent hostess. I managed to embarrass her only once and she was horrible to me only once so that was pretty good going too. I spent most of the time with my head down trying not to be too visible, while her brothers spent as much time in the limelight as possible and her dad just continually poured out cups of squash. 9 ltrs of coke and 9 ltrs of lemonade went with in the first 45 minutes. The DJ was an arse who turned up late and started playing the music late which really peed me and her dad off, but mooki didn’t seem to mind, he has since sent me a customer satisfaction questionnaire which I refuse to fill out because I will probably write something defamatory that he’ll then sue me for.

Went for low key understated dressing for the party with a pair of skinny jeans and a pretty but not showy top and no one batted an eyelid. I was planning on wearing this really cool “vampire” dressing up outfit I’d picked up from Tesco for £15 and while I ignored her protests of “mum you can’t wear that !!” when 6 year old looked at me and said “mummy its not dressing up party and please don’t wear that” I relented and decided not to. Since the party I have added fake black nails and extra long lashes to go with my Vamp dress for trick or treating next Sunday (can’t wait :) ). My mother on the other hand, yes grandmother to birthday girl, decided she would pull out all the stops and where the sparkliest, shiniest and quiet possibly loudest thing in her wardrobe. It did raise an eyebrow on my face when I saw it and I wanted to ask her what the hell did she think she was playing at when I realised that I was being just like my kids and does it really matter.

Sunday we all crashed a burned. I was so tired and still so wired it wasn’t true. None of us felt like doing anything and we were all pretty grumpy. We had to wake the birthday girl up to open her presents, we’d all been sitting downstairs for 2 hours waiting for her and we were starting to get annoyed. So that started things off being tetchy. It took her 21/2 hours to open all her presents and her 74 birthday cards. At the end of this the boys were climbing up the walls with boredom and had started playing with her new makeup and bath stuff. You can imagine that didn’t go down to well. So when the in-laws arrived it was a relief to go out for Sunday dinner and not have to cook. The rest of Sunday was spent trying not to shout at each other and it was mostly successful.

We’re a week on and I am still recovering, except we have Ninja’s birthday at Kids Play tomorrow so that’ll be fun, 15 5 & 6 year olds running around that I don’t actually know, but I am sure it will feel a lot easier than last weeks event !!

Neat freak or Stig of the Dump

I'd like to say I'm both but my beloved would argue Stig all the way. I just can't seem to keep things tidy for more than 2 minutes, I think its heredity though my mother would kill me for saying that. I don't think it makes me a bad person just a messy one. Speaking of which I am in a real pickle.....

Mooki's 13th big birthday bash is coming up very soon and I am extremely conscience of not "showing her up". So I plan to keep as low a profile for the evening as possible, having said that I still need an outfit. I am torn, do I dress up or down? smart or casual? Jeans ok or do I need a dress. What to do what to do? Maybe I pose the question on facebook and see what other people think.

This week at college made my brain actually melted and the annoying tutor that had offended us all last week managed to upset me once again this week. He's very productive comment to me all lesson being "Caroline, you are looking very vacant but you seem to be getting everything right" I mean how bloody rude !!! He'd look sodding vacant dealing with 3 kids and one of them not having been very well.

I had eldest and middle one describe to me the conversations they have been having with their friends, it was a real eye opener. From Mooki forming a friendship with a friends boyfriend ( I am sure this will only lead to trouble) and Ninja telling me he's been discussing seeing me naked with his little school buds and that I shouldn't be mad at him.

I have so much to get organised over the next couple of weeks its almost impossible to try and fathom it. I have both the kids birthdays to organise, try and get myself back in to the swing of working and find time to get some home studying done and to top this all off my tumble dryer has packed up.!

Oh want is a girl to do.....

One week on....

I really wished someone had calmly sat me down and explained exactly what the ramifications of Humf getting his tonsils done would actually be. I don't think I thought once of all the implications which has left me very unprepared and more than a little startled.

Firstly I should have spent more time explaining to the kids what was happening and why. They just woke up Wednesday morning to Humf going to the hospital with mum and dad and them going off to school. I did manage to arrange childcare for them for school collecting time but didn't plan for dinner or putting to bed or even the possibility of Hubbie needing to stay with me. I burned bridges with my mum because she upset me with what seemed to be a lack of empathy for what was happening so was expecting no support from her..

As it happens Humf didn't go in for his operation till around 2pm. Having to hold him as they inserted the cannula and then watch as they pumped drugs in to him to make him sleep was indescribably horrible. As he all of a sudden stop crying and his eyes rolled in to the back of his head I just totally fell apart. They grabbed him off me and put him on the trolley as I nearly collapsed to the floor, then they whisked me out the room trying to calm me. As soon as I was out the room I wanted to run back and make them wake him up, it was terrible. I really had to control myself not to run back in there screaming "no don't do it, just wake him, we can go home".

The wait for him to come back was surreal, I don't think I was consciences of anything else but waiting for him to come back. Paul had left his phone on the ward so he ran back to get it and within what seems like a few minutes of him being gone I heard a child crying. I sat there in the waiting room sitting on the edge of my seat listening to this child crying, thinking that's my child, God I am so happy I can hear my child crying. I waited and no one came for me and still I heard this child crying, at this point I was starting to doubt my conviction that it was Humf so I decided to stand outside the room even though they had specifically told us to wait in there. Standing at the door frame listening to him screaming and still no one coming to get me I decided I wasn't prepared to wait any longer. My baby was in major distress and I was going to find him. Just at this point Paul came back in to the surgery room and together we walked in to the recovery room to see Humf still asleep, blood pouring down his face screaming at the top of his voice (he'd just had his tonsils removed for goodness sake) trying to get out of the arms of this nurse...I've never been so happy and so upset at the same time ever.

Looking back I can feel a bit sorry for the nurse, she was trying to do her best to calm him down. But he has both his parents fiery blood in him and he just wanted a parent not a stranger holding him while he was feeling so vunerable and scared. Paul held him, stroked his hair, rubbed his back and soothed him and he relaxed enough for them to take all the tubes off and check his blood pressure and heart rate. It took him a good two hours to come round properly and by about 4 hours after the surgery he'd managed a drink and a bit of sausage. But all he wanted to do was come home.

Much to my relief my mum had ignored my childishness and traveled up to be with my other two this allowed Paul to stay with us and support me through that first night and being in the hospital. Its been a week now and while I can't say he is totally over it he is getting better everyday. His hearing is so much improved and his breathing while he is sleeping is quieter and much more regular. So feeling positive it will all be worth it.

Roll on October and eldest 13th birthday and Ninja 6th its party time for the Hill family.

48 hours down and no homework done

Started back at college on Tuesday. It was nice to see familiar faces, though I was surprised at who was there and more importantly who wasn't. Some people are very good at hiding what's really going on with their lives. The two most diligent, teachers pet types from last year didn't go on to this year. If I'd been having a bet who was going to continue I would have put both these down as being a sure thing. Not sure how many of the newbies will last. One lady who seems quiet unassuming sure knows her stuff and wasn't fazed by the first lesson at all. Of the 3 others I can't see the professional poker player staying the course. It seems a far stretch to imagine someone who spends nights playing poker for big money suddenly wanting to work in an accounts office but you never know.

We have the pleasure of 2 tutors this year which is fine. Our Finance tutor is a big hulk of a man who knows he is big but doesn't seem to know what to do about it. He made it quiet clear we should call him Stephen not Steve and went in to a long winded explanation as to why it annoys him so much. This annoyed me somewhat especially as when we asked him what books will we need for the year he didn't have a clue. In the afternoon we have "dragon lady" erm I mean Victoria (not Vicky!!) who seems to be an extremely uptight woman who could probably do with letting her hair down alittle and feeling the "love" though I did get the impression that she may have a bit bigger than soft spot for our old tutor Mike. Hhmm I wonder if he knows?? To be fair though she was alot more organised than our morning tutor and at least she did in fact manage to teach us something and set us some homework. Which in case you are wondering no I haven't got round to doing yet.

It would have been a pleasant day at college if I wasn't constantly thinking about what was planned for Wednesday. One of the worst days of my life..!!

He had the operation. Watching him go under anesthetic was horrendous I never want to watch one of my kids go through that again unless they have to of course. The hospital was lovely and clean and they tried to make us comfortable but he hated it. From the moment he came round he wanted to go home and it was very stressful being there. Not helped by 15 year old boy in the bed next door moaning about him crying all the time. I think I will have to wait until I can get my head round what happened a bit better before I can blog about it properly but it really was awful in so many ways.

I'm just hoping it that its just onwards and upwards for this family as we certainly deserve it. :0)

Enough already !!

Seriously I don’t know where to start. Friday we took humf to get a 2nd opinion on whether he still need grommets for his ears or whether we could put it off for the time being.  We’ve ended up coming out from seeing the doctor with not only his grommets being done but also his tonsil and adenoids being taken out as well. In what can only be described as the NHS “kicking arse” as its being done this Wednesday !! I really wasn’t expecting that. I was pretty convinced that we would be able to wait to have the whole thing done maybe after Christmas, apparently not though.

I am shitting myself and I can’t think of anything else. Everything that's happened since Friday feels a bit surreal. 

Saturday I think I only left the house to go to Tesco’s, in which I wandered around not entirely sure why I was there.

Yesterday we did manage to go out to town and went in to Marks and Spencer's to look for a pair of trousers for hubbie. Of course in my capacity for being a considerate person I took the kids with me to the kids clothes, so as their father could look for a pair of trousers in peace without being distracted by nagging sons (see, loving wife). Honestly I could have spent a fortune !! why is it when ever you haven’t any money you see loads of things you want to buy. I think I picked up 5 things and that was with great restraint knowing that as soon as I took them back to hubbie I would get the raised eyebrows and the familiar speech of “why have you got that stuff then?”. If only he knew how hard it was just to choose those 5 things out of the 100 or so I could easily buy for them. They had toy story t-shirts, Thomas the tank t-shirts, pyjamas, fluffy slippers, trendy shirts and ties.  I could have literally gone mad.  So I took the 5 vaguely sensible items to him to see what he thought. He liked none of them !! I was gutted, he was annoyed because he couldn’t find any trousers so we ended up with some pj’s for Cody’s over night stay and some bra’s that I’ve got to take back.

To make up for a bit of a disappointing afternoon we decide to visit our favourite restaurant for some “all you can eat” Chinese buffet. Its not bad food, and they are very tolerate of the kids in fact they make a real fuss of them. I love the buffet for one big reason, plate of chicken, bowl of ice-cream, plate of chicken, bowl of ice-cream. This is how 5 year olds meal goes. Its hysterical I don’t understand how its doesn’t curdle in his tummy, he eats loads so I’m not going to worry. Now the 2 year old has also cotton on to the fact that you don’t have to eat all your savoury before you can have your pudding as well. So the table got covered in ice-cream and jelly before we’d even finished our starters.  It was a nice evening and the kids where very well behaved along as there was ice-cream in front of them so all in all not too bad a day.

 

I’m hoping the rest of the week goes by without to much of a hitch, and just really not looking forward to Wednesday.

Do you really think she needs that stuff now?

I’ve just sent back the permission slip to the school for them to administer the HPV vaccine to my 12 year old daughter. Does she really need it now, this year? Maybe I am being a little naive but she’s not ready for a boyfriend, let alone a sexual relationship.  I just think that if society and government think they need to vaccinate girls at the age of 12 from sexually transmitted diseases what hope do we stand in stopping them from thinking its “ok” to have underage sex because they have been “protected”. I just think its sending contradicting messages to youngsters, here’s a jab for protecting you from a disease which you should even come in to contact with legally till you are 16 but just in case you can have it at 12. I am no prude, I just worry that my already growing up too fast daughter will see this as an excuse to grow up even faster.  They are funny though. Listening to her and her mates discussing it is hilarious.  Apparently the needle is 6’ long, 3 girls have passed out while having it done and your arm practically drops off as soon as the needle goes in.  In her ranting to me at how incredibly painful this injection will be and how its absolutely worse than anything I, as her mother have ever experienced. I quietly pointed out to her that it will be no more painful than getting her eyebrows threaded (don’t ask !) and she’s had that done twice now voluntarily. We’ve discussed the issues surrounding the jab and why its a positive thing to happen to her. But it still raises concerns in my mind, if not for her but for her peers that don’t have that stronger a relationship with a parent. In the meantime I have thoroughly distracted her thoughts away from all that stuff by starting to plan her 13th birthday party. I really hope that her baby brothers don’t want the same treatment for their 13th’s as I don’t think I could cope with the pressure again. Well they do say as the kids get older the worries get bigger and does seem to be turning out that way. I would just like to know how I managed to be worrying about my kids at both ends of the scale. I mean, worrying when one is going to be out of nappies, one is fighting in the playground and panicking about when one might get in to dodgy situations because she 13 and her friends think it might be funny to get her drunk.. OMG !! 

The wheels are turning just not sure of their direction

A year of nagging and I finally decide 4 weeks before her birthday that I need to sort out her party. This year being the big 13 she wants a massive one. Silly me has agreed. Fine, I've booked the hall today, found her an "intouch" DJ and have set the wheels in motion for her big event. As she came out of school feeling really down yesterday I was really looking forward to telling her my news about her party when she got home. She was really pleased, except the date was wrong, why couldn't I pay for her to have her hair done as well and was she getting the limo she'd asked for. Excuse me while I go and slit my wrists...!!! I shall keep you in formed of my progress as we go.

The dreaded toy store

Maybe should have stayed in bed this morning, but as 5 year old was so successful in getting people to hand over money to him yesterday at work with daddy, it felt mean to let it burn a hole in his pocket. He managed to bring home £12 in small change without even having to busk for it (don't ask me how he manages it, it must be the poor urchin face he pulls whenever he sees someone with a purse). It was decided that the best place to go to spend his hard earned (ill gotten) gains was the dreaded Toys r Us store. I hate that place. Back in the day when we were a single child family toys r us was a simple place to visit, when went it was to the girl aisle and there we stayed for an hour while daughter dearest tried to decide which barbie to get this time. Nowadays and two further children later its horrid. Nothing proves more that we are individuals than that place, its a mine field and its so confusing. Daughter dearest just gets the hump if we have to go there at all now, 5 year old seriously can not make his mind up, as he is a sporty, arts and crafty, gun loving kind of person and 2 year old just wanders around aimlessly pointing at things. We enviably end up needing to split up as 2 year old may think he's capable of playing 5 year old boys games he's actually not. So off Daddy and eldest boy trot off to try to decide if today is a gun, football or playdoh sort of day. I am left with toddler and the fireman Sam aisle. Which is fine, except today when were scared out of our wits. There we were happily checking out the new Dora doll (he likes Dora) when we heard a miaow. Thinking this was slightly strange considering we were in a toyshop not pet shop we turned round to found where the noise was coming from. As we turn 3 boxed up, glassy eyed pussy cats all winked at us and miaowed again. I don't know who screamed the loudest me or him. In animate furry things are not suppose to just come to life (granted they do in Toy Story but that is in America). He clung to me and I clung to him as we went over to them to investigate. Turns out the were FurReal cats £50 a cat and they respond to touch and sound, very clever toys that I suppose would be a lot easier to deal with when "I want a kitten" child does get bored of the idea of actually owning a real pet. They still freaked the hell out of me, I don't think I could sleep properly with it in the house knowing it could go off unexpectedly at any moment. So I don't think Santa will be bringing one home this Christmas. Eldest in the end decided on Plasticine and having been playing with it for the last 10 minutes I have much respect to the Creature Comfort people (my hands are killing me)..!!

Whose feeling whose feet right now !!

As the end of the holidays approach and I have to mentally prepare myself for the onslaught on a new school year, I thought I'd take some time to reflect on the changes that have taken place in this "mad" house over the summer. The boys have started fighting, something that hadn't happened before. Whether it had been the fact the Humf had been too young or the fact that Ninja wasn't really effected by what he was doing I don't know. But they are at it far to often for my liking. It leaves me feeling rather powerless as while my instincts go to protect the littlest one, my head knows darn well sometimes he really deserves it. When daddy is home the issues seem to melt away to a large extent. It really is an alpha male situation, crazy that we fundamentally still rely on basic natures and its never more apparent than in two brothers fighting for dominance. I am assuming with the impending school return, Ninja will be expending so much energy dealing with the outside world that his focus will be transferred from his baby brother. In the meantime Humf is constantly setting to challenge his older brother in every which way he can. Don't get me wrong their love for each other is just as apparent they miss each other terribly and wouldn't want to be parted in anyway. Ninja is incredibly caring and attentive to his baby brother, he's also extremely proud of him, introducing him to everyone he meets and involving him in games. Humf worships the ground his brother walks on, there isn't a time place or action that he doesn't want to follow his big brother in to doing. He looks on at him for guidance and inspiration (not always a positive thing I tell you). In this way I feel so lucky and it gives me faith that they will be good friends when they get older. So yes they may be feeling their feet alittle to much but they are to doing it with the safest people they can, their family.

The Picnic

And no its not a new horror movie, though in some ways it could have been. At the beginning of the summer holidays a leaflet popped through the door, advertising a free picnic on the green near our house fun and games for the kids. Oh lovely I thought, that will be a welcome treat until I realised it was the local Churches organising it and that my kind would probably not be welcomed, (being a non practising Jew lol). So I put it in the bin and thought nothing of it. Saturday came and Paul and Ninja went off to do some bike riding practise. He has managed to come off the stabilizers over this holiday. They weren't gone long when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to see a very excited little face "Mum they are doing a funfair thingy on the green, can we go?" "Erm, ok we'll go see what its all about". So they put the bikes away and we went back to the green. There they were the God people looking a bit forlorn and down hearted. We were spotted and they began frantically waving at us to come over. I was frozen solid to the pavement and couldn't move, indecisive as to how to get out of this situation and if my prayers (haha) were answered the heavens opened and the rain came crashing down. At which point I bent over to Ninja and said "maybe we should go home as it pouring with rain". We ran home, "please mum, can we get our coats and go back" SH*T !! "oh ok we can" So we doned our coats and grabbed an umbrella. As we walked on to the green the look of relief on these poor bedraggled people was plain. "Please help yourself to food, here come and stand under the gazebo, sorry about the weather" as if it was their fault. I mumbled gratitude and told them not to be silly and then politely nodded to their questions on was I ok and was the food alright. At last the rain stopped and a few more people with children had turned up. Ninja was completely getting stuck in with all the games they could muster and when they ran out of ideas for races he started giving them ideas for new ones. He was loud and excited and within about 1/2 hour everyone knew his name, his baby brothers name and what his favourite colour, food, tv program is. They were ever so patient and welcoming and they really worked hard trying to keep the kids busy and entertained. Humf didn't stop eating and kept asking for a lolly every 5 minutes, he even lost he's temper at one point and ran off with all the beanbags for one game. We ended up having a really lovely afternoon and God wasn't mentioned once (which I was quiet grateful for). I'm really glad Ninja persuaded me to go and I would defiantly go again, and not just for the free ham rolls. It only goes to show that I shouldn't be so ready to dismiss something just because it goes out of my usual comfort zone.

Verging on the side of mental

4 weeks of the summer holidays done, cabin fever has well and truly set in. Just glad hubbie has been home for this last week to help stem the madness. The kids are as usual totally inspirational in their thinking. From Ninja deciding his daddy was a stream train, to Mooki being pretty sure that the bunch of ladybirds on a bush would be a bit peeved that they were all wearing the same outfit to the bugball. We've defiantly managed to get some things done, the front garden looks so much better and the house is starting to resemble a home not a pigsty. It all just goes to reinforce my belief that this family would be much better off with Hubbie working alot closer to home. I have total respect for those families that deal with one parent or the other spending a good portion of the week away from their family working. I just think this family doesn't cope well with that. Don't get me wrong, the kids are fed and watered and they get to school on time clean and ironed. Its just that I think they need the balance of mum and dad in their lives. I'm the first one to admit my desire for an easy life over rules many of the tougher decisions I should take. Crisps and chocolate for breakfast happens more often than is probably good. I am also pretty disorganised most of the time leaving me with many school trip money and pe kit moments. But more important than any of that, is my family desire to discuss and enquire. All my children are very inquisitive wanting to discuss and analysis many different aspects of their lives and to be honest their dad is amazing at doing this with them. He has the most patience and the biggest desire to help them through their tumbling thoughts (mine too for that matter). He always stops whatever he is doing to pay them attention, even when it annoys him, and makes them feel important and valued. He is level headed and allows me to have my "moments" without exposing the children to it. He is clear thinking and hard working and is such a positive influence that I have no doubt that when he goes back to working 14 hours a day again there will be a gaping hole in our lives. So my plan of action has to be, above all else, finding away to keep him from having to do work those long hours and getting him to be able to spend more time at home.

If I hear I’m bored one more time

I really don’t know who suffers more through the summer holidays the parents or the kids lol. I suppose if you have loads of spare cash washing about and plenty of non working relatives that live in wonderful old cottages that are perched by the side of beautiful woods and creaks. The summer holidays could be filled with lots of healthy outdoor adventure. But if you are like me, and don’t have any of that, 6 weeks is a bloody long time.  My kids are going stir crazy, to say the very least.  I have done 2 indoor playgrounds, 1 trip to legoland, a blockbusters trip and numerous trips to the park and with all of that.  Sky, playstation, pc they are within minutes telling me they are bored. I am at my wits end, I need to work. I don’t know what to do. I am so feeling like the worst mother in the world right now.  I can’t be though can I? I love my children and they love me I just think 6 weeks is to darn long. !

Won't be doing that again in a hurry

Seriously disappointed. Ninja has been watching the adverts (that are on incessantly) for Legoland and has been busting to go. So week 3 in to the holidays we decided to take them. To start with it was a 2 hour journey that become 3, given that extra hour thanks to me doggedly following the stupid satnav. Fine, the kids were perfectly behaved and all the traffic queues were moderate, so we managed to get there for 11am (opens at 10). Lots of excited anticipation coming from the kids, got to the kiosk 2 adults and 2 children (one under 3 so free haha !!) £105 yes you read it right £105. I'm sure if we were prepared to cause a scene hubbie and I would have just asked for our money back there and then and gone home. As we didn't we both went pale, felt sick and continued in to the park. Word of warning there is almost nothing, really nothing for a toddler there !! Humf and I spent the next 8 hours basically waiting for hubbie and ninja to go on to rides and then queue up again and go on another. The most exciting parts of the day for humf were watching the trains go round the model village and playing with some lego for an hour while the other 2 queued for one ride. Being 2cm's under the required height restrictions, which was applied ridiculously to every ride in the park (even the toddler train !!) we just spent the day watching rather than participating and by the end of it I had been hit, bitten and kicked in shear frustration as humf watched his big brother do things that really and truly he could have as well. All things considered, the extreme long waiting times and general bad organisation of everything Ninja was well behaved but it wasn't until after 4pm that he got to enjoy himself. He went on more things and had more fun in the last hour of the park being open than he had in the whole day. I think the most fun he had was on the bungee trampoline (which cost us an extra £5). He went sooo god damn high, the man set it to as high as possible and still Ninja was loving it, he must have been jumping 30-40 ft in the air and every time the man bounced him my stomach landed in my mouth. All in all I would not reccommend Legoland on any counts, and I shall be trying to persuade hubbie to take us to Drayton Manor (Thomas Land) for the little one before the end of the summer hols. DON'T GO, Thorpe Park is much better !!

The Housewives Lament

Oh ironing oh ironing
You really are a chore
You promised some excitement
But you're really just a bore

Oh washing up oh washing up
The dishes are never done
When we started out together
You said that you'd be fun

Oh hoovering oh hoovering
You do make my arms ache
You're noisy and you're cumbersome
And forever you do take

Oh polishing oh polishing
At least you smell quiet nice
Apparently if I inhale to hard
You can become a vice

Oh housework oh housework
Forever shall we meet
But never with a smile from me
As from you I'm always beat

And they call me weird

Well possibly they might be right.  Can’t believe how crap the weather has been so far this summer holiday.  The kids are going bonkers with boredom and to be honest so am I.  I think I need some contingency planning for the rest of the summer if the weather is going to continue to behave in this awful manner.  The difficulty in keeping 2, 5 and 12 entertained at the same time is immense.  Maybe I am just not being as committed to the problem as I should be but they are arguing incessantly and what ever I suggest one of them will either whine loudly about it or in the case of the 2 year old just not understand it at all.  Getting them out of the house but keeping them sheltered from the weather is extremely expensive.  I took the two littlest ones to an indoor climbing frame the other day, just me and them and that ended up costing me about £40 we were only there an hour and a half !!  Trip to the cinema is easily £60 by the time you’ve bought 3 hotdogs and lets not even mention the “S” word as I think I would have a riot on my hands.  So this weekend I am going to Google things to do and make a plan for next week. Well I will try to anyway, lol 

The age of the Dinosaurs is alive and well..!!

I can not believe that. I am so shocked, I shall explain. Humf h as just brought me in the post. In his excitement for job well done, he has managed to rip open one of the envelopes that came through the door. It was addressed to Hubbie, and as it was pretty much open I pulled the rest of it out.

Now correct me if I am wrong and being sexist but for the most part anything to do with the families health normally comes under the woman’s remit. We are the ones that make the appointments, get the repeat prescriptions and phone for results. So when I realised this letter to hubbie was from the doctor’s surgery I got slightly concerned. It was nothing, just a letter explain, that the surgery will be moving and we should be aware. All fine you say until I read how the letter is addressed. Now remember it had hubbies name on the front “To the head of the household” in capital and bold !! lol. Really, I mean really, I’m jut wondering how many of the crotchy horribly rude receptionists that think they are a medical encyclopaedia and can diagnose you by just the sound of your voice would feel about receiving a letter addressed like that.

Should I be too offended, no I don’t think so. Should I hide it so hubbie can’t use it as proof of what he is always trying to tell me, that it is actually him that wears the trousers even though he leaves me to make all the decisions, no. I shall show him and give him the satisfaction of knowing the creepy women at the surgery think he is head of the household. Do I think it was the Porsche driving misogynistic doctor , who winked at my 12 year old daughter and said “I’ll see you soon”, to which I replied “not without me !!” who decided it would be a good idea to send them out addressed like that, yes I bloody well do. Will I say something to the creepy women behind the counter next time I am down there for a blocked up nose or bright red rash, no probably not, I’d have to get permission from the head to do that ;0)

I’ve just been called a social networking freak

And that was by my 12 year old daughter so it must be true.  What’s happened, I know I’ve always been a fairly social person, open and friendly and willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.  It just as I am fast approaching my 1000 tweet (I have only been tweeting for about 3 weeks) I realise there seems to be a wealth of unspoken words trapped in my brain.  Is this what it feels like to be a writer do you think, having a constant flow of thoughts that they need to express. Just so you know, I am happy, in fact I love it.  I think I could waffle on talking at and too people all day long.  Is it normal though..? My son is the same, he does not stop talking.  In fact the worst punishment to give him is to tell him to be quiet.  He finds it incredibly difficult.  He vocalizes all his concerns and fears and likes to rationalise and discuss them with me and his dad, he gets so excited when he has a new thought, or an amazing piece of information he wishes to share. He loves words and speaking, he will talk to anyone who will listen and he is convinced that everything he has to say needs to be heard. I remember feeling much the same way and was very hurt by my grown ups when they told me to be quiet at the same age.  I do try not to stifle his verbalisation as I think its when I stopped talking that I began to internalise my thoughts and feelings and this has led me to high levels of depression throughout my life. Sometimes though he won’t let you get a word in edgeways and he has also has that I am school now attitude, so I know everything.  I plan to always have an ear for listening to my son, I just hope the world doesn’t mind having an ear for listening to me. :0) 

Totally unprepared for summer

How did that happen, one minute I was buying his first pair of school shoes and panicking that he would never settle in, the next we here and his first year at "Big" school is finished. Have I really been asleep for an entire year. Oh well we're here now so must deal with current situation. AAAhhh, you know when I thought now would be a good time to go back to work because he'd started school. Well that panned out well and we certainly needed the extra money but what am I suppose to do with him now. Nursery stays open so that's fine for little one, but 5 and I'm bored just aint gonna hack 6 weeks cooped up in 240sq feet of office everyday. Sheeet ! When I lived in London and I had this same predicament with my eldest (who will no doubt be entertaining herself over the summer head buried in pc) we had day camps. They do have them up here but they are like a 40 minute journey away which kind of defeats the object a bit and they are bloody expensive. Now you may feel that I should have been alot more organised and sorted this all out sooner, well its not like I didn't know it was coming. I honestly have tried (alittle) but they defiantly seems to be a severe lack on holiday entertainment around here for school children and baring in mind we hold the local primary and middle school in the town and therefore have at least 1000 children attending school here, it seems someone is missing an opportunity. If only I was more enterprising. !!!

Definant shades of Alpha Mummy

Ultimatley sports days have, for me, always been a day to dread in the school calender year. This year I planned to make it totally different. Firstly I gave darling hubbie 3 weeks notice for him to take the day off work, as having him there for moral support is always a good thing. I went shopping for my outfit 2 weeks ago and had my hair cut in the morning. I was prepared..! Arrival was the normal affair of polite nods to some and general hellos to others. It started off very civillised activities for all the children to play with and enjoy, lunch and joys of bees, wasp and ants and chitchat for all the mums. Then after lunch the serious business of racing began. I can not believe how competitive I have become since having a child that is actually quiet sporty. OMG he is only 5 I am standing at the edge of the lanes screaming his name at the top of my voice, not giving a sh*t what other people are thinking or the fact I am quiet probably embarressing myself. I'd like to think my total support was what aided him to victory but I have a feeling its just his ability. I'm just shocked at what a pushy alpha mummy I have become, you would never know to talk to me,I really come across as normal. I'm dreading doing the school run on Monday I just know everyone is going to be looking at me with distain. But its worth it he's very proud of himself and so am I...

Sloping off and vitamins

Just thought I’d have a ten minute walk down to the chemist to get the ever needed painkillers.  While in there I spotted a new brand of chewy vitamins for kids.  Great !! Humf is so ill so much surely he could do with some.  Unfortunately on closer inspection I discover it was only suitable for children 3 years plus.  When I start looking I find all the chewy ones are for 3 years plus.  Someone please explain !! my child is more than capable of chewing he has most of his teeth and tucks in to a piece of steak without any worries.  Why then do the vitamin manufactures feel that children are unable to chew until they are 3, persuading him to have the drops (which is far more medicine like) than mummy giving him a special sweetie would probably be far to stressful.  So I didn’t buy any, and let feeling a little frustrated and a lot patronized..!

Sheesh has been that long !

I have to say its been a rough few months and to be honest its not much better at the moment. I seem to be on the biggest pendulum swinging from happy to sad regularly daily. I am going to try to keep my blog up again though, starting later today.

Leaking Nappies and Alarm Clocks

Well last nights sleep can be put in to the almost non existent catergory. Started off with good intentions bed by 9.30pm tele off and book down. Do you think I could drift off, oh no and in my efforts to get to sleep I had to start talking to hubbie. It had been a hard but fruitful and fulfilling day and I was still buzzing with the excitement of it. No I hadn't jumped out of an aeroplane or climbed a mountain, I had learnt a new process on the computer...!!! Yes I really am that sad. Anyway so by 11.05pm having had nearly an hour and a half of my enthusiastic jabbering hubbie decides he quiet fancies some icecream. I am up and out of bed like a shot oh yes icecream seems like a good idea and what about egg on toast aswell. For goodness sake I was suppose to be going to sleep...!! Anyway go downstairs and casually mention "I wonder if we could book a grocery delivery for tomorrow now" yes my life is all about those daring plans and decisions...Cue laptop and Tescos website sitting in front of me...Dare I check when the next available slot is, could I really get all my much needed shopping tomorrow when it was 11pm already today. ??? OMG !! delivery between 10-12pm was free, I clicked on it and booked it without a seconds thought. Right, now I have a delivery coming I suppose I had better order some groceries, soft subtle groan escapes hubbies mouth, "I only wanted some icecream now we're going shopping". Spend the next hour going through next weeks dinner plans and the buy one get one free offers spend £145 on goodness knows what and feel quietly satisfied that technology is the most wonderful thing on the planet..Drag my eyes off the computer screen to find hubbie slumped over his now empty bowl of icecream gently snoring. Ok time for bed for real this time. Manage to drag us both back to bed to be woken about an hour later by the baby...He has leaked everywhere, great !! when did he suddenly grow out of size 5 nappies he is only the height of a 30cm ruler what the hell is going on. I think pampers should have a refund policy that if baby grows out of a size mid pack you can take the remainder back and swap them for the larger size. What I am going to do with half a pack of nappies that are too small for him now ??. Get him changed and comfy put him in bed with us and approximately 30 seconds later the alarm goes off..He wakes and so do I....Just try to roll over and go back to sleep...HAH not happening but everytime the alarms goes off again I have the sense of defiance that I shall not heed its nagging call and I'll stay in bed...by the 5th time I give up and that is why I am blogging at 7.30am this morning having already been up for and hour and half and only having had 5 hours sleep...I am sure I will make it through the day somehow :-( !!

School's not boring its sweaty

Was my sons reply this morning when his sister posed the question of "are you looking forward to going back to school?". I was slightly taken aback by this but he then went on to explain that sitting around the classroom waiting to go on to the next activity made him feel hot. Being an extremely active child I suppose the effort of sitting still for any period of time would be an exertion for him thus making him hot. Strange but in a way makes perfect sense. I was pleasantly surprised by my organisational skills this morning for the first day back for all us students (myself included) after the half term break. Uniform was ironed (see miracles do happen) lunch money available and most importantly homework was done and alphabet was learnt. We spent almost all of Sunday morning going through the Alphabet song to help little one grasp it, with the promise of shopping for new toy as reward for getting it right. He worked so hard and kept practising it was a joy to behold when he went through the song without forgetting a single letter. While some may say that we bribed him to learn it with the promise of the toy or that we shouldn't buy him things just for doing alittle bit of learning. I disagree, his pride at finally being able to do it was not diminished by the fact we'd promised him a reward he was still as over the moon. But it did give him the incentive to work hard at it in the first place and I defy anyone who suggested human beings didn't work better when they knew there would be reward for their endeavours.

Shoelaces and Patience

Oh my goodness, I only wanted to pop to the shops to drop the DVDs back and get some bread with my three. It was like we were setting off for a polar expedition. Firstly arguing with the 12 year old that yes, she did have to come with, yes, I know she wasn't dressed, no, no I don't care that her hair was messy we are only going round the corner. After ten minutes of this she finally agreed to put a t-shirt and trousers on. The other two on the hand where more willing to get ready to go, it was just how they wanted to get ready. Cue shoe laces. I do appreciate fostering independence is extremely important in children as its part of their path to adulthood, but why oh why did he decide that this moment was the exactly right time to learn to tie his shoelaces. The tears of frustration that followed where a sight to behold and that was just coming from me. Being a lefthander I am extremely rubbish at trying to teach my right handed children anything that requires finger dexterity. In the end we compromised with several knots and long laces left hanging...That's a Daddy teach when time and patience are on side !!. Hurdle 2 conquered, that left me with the fast approaching terrible two..This one decided he didn't like his socks, then he didn't like his shoes, then he wanted no shoes at all. All through this I am trying to explain to him that we are going out and if he is good sweeties might come his way but he must have shoes on as its been snowing outside !! Do you think a word of that got through all the screaming. Time for mummy to walk away take a deep breath and count. 12 year old brightly shouted from inside the cupboard what about wellies, we can just shove them on..So compromise was reached, wellies, no socks and we were ready to go phew !! I only wanted to pop to the shops !!!!

This is why mum's can't get ill !

I admit defeat I can barely lift my head of the sofa..The boys are doing their best not to drive me to mad but I am on my own with them and I am struggling. HELP !! I am spending this whole time feeling gruesome also feeling guilty. Piles of washing up and dirty floors are floating round and round in my head. I feel like I am letting the entire family down by being ill. How do these women who do nothing for their families and children cope with the guilt or they just as heartless as they come across. I hate having to think about me, just spoke to mum and she's have you done this have you taken that and the boys will be alright stop worrying. Because she is seeing it from her mum point of view. Her baby is not feeling well, never mind the fact her baby has 3 babies of her own that need me to be fit and healthy. I think all mothers should be issued HazChem suits for looking after their children so they always stay bug free no matter what horrible things their children bring home from school or nursery and to top it all off I think my brain has melted with watching too much Tigger and Pooh.