Daily Whitterings

Halloween 2011

2011-11-05T10:03:00.004Z

Just a few photographs from this year's Halloween. As per the last couple of years, what went from "you can each have a few friends to go trick or treating" turned into a proper party, but it was all great fun.

The 8 girls came back here straight after school, got into their costumes, did their make-up/face painting, had something to eat and then we trick or treated all the way round to school where they had a school disco. I picked them up again at 7.30pm and we trick or treated on the way home and then did duck apple before they were collected at 8.30pm.

The 4 boys turned up from school, had no idea at all what they were wearing, concocted the weirdest outfits and off they went on their own to do trick or treating just around these side roads. They were back in time to come to the school with me to pick up the girls so they didn't miss out on duck apple.

Having seen how much wet make-up and bitten off bits of apple were floating in those bowls by the end, I think I'll knock duck apple on the head next year - ewwww!! Maybe bob apple will be better instead from now on.

A Busy Old Week

2011-07-22T10:17:00.005+01:00

The week before last was crazily busy but really good fun as well.
On the Thursday, the kids were at a local sports college for the day so it was a different drop off and pick up time from normal school. During the day, Dave's sister, Judith, and her family called here so that we could put together a collage of photographs of everyone to give to Dave's parents in the evening as it was their 50th wedding anniversary. Sophie had come up with the brilliant idea and the end result was fantastic.

I collected the kids from the college and we had an early tea before they both went to the last full school disco of the year. They came out of there all hot and happy and we headed, with Dave who was now home from work, to a friend's house to see her 8 springer spaniel pups for the last time before half of them were due to be given away the following day. They were absolutely adorable and so loving - all trying to lie down and put their heads on our feet, or enjoying being held and snuggled. I could have stayed all night but we needed to get to Dot and Ken's.

We got their around 8.30pm and had a lovely couple of hours. Between us we bought them a set of garden furniture, some flowers, balloons and some champagne and then Sophie gave them her masterpiece which they loved.

On the Friday straight from school, Judith took all the kids to see the latest Harry Potter film and then the kids all came back here for the night.

On the Saturday morning, my friend, Cathy, who was in Liverpool for the weekend, came here for a few hours (she was off to our old senior school, which is being pulled down as they've rebuilt a new one, for a Demolition Disco - nothing could have dragged me back into that place!). We could have done with having a whole day but we had planned on going to Jungle Parc in the afternoon to do the tree top rope walk...thing. I have no idea how to describe it! Dave and I were meant to do it as well but Dave was in a car accident a few weeks ago and his back wasn't feeling great and I didn't want to pull my neck and end up ill with a bad head the following day, as we were due to fly out to Amsterdam.

So it was just the four kids and Dave Mc who were brave enough to do it. They all seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and, at least from the ground, it looked great fun. They did really well getting across some of the more difficult crossings, even despite Sophie's cries of "I cannae do it!!!!" - so funny, Soph!

After a good couple of hours there, we headed back home to prepare for a BBQ for everyone. It had been pouring down earlier in the morning, then dried and brightened up for the afternoon at Jungle Parc and looked as thought it would stay dry for the evening so we went ahead and ate outside. Just after we'd more or less finished, the heavens opened and it started again. We sat under the gazebo for all of 10mins, Eleanor even sitting with a brolly over her head, but gave up and went inside after a bit.

The following day, Sunday, Dave and I were headed to Amsterdam as we were going to see Take That on the Monday evening over there. Eleanor had to be up and out early for the last Brownies Church Parade of the year so I dropped her off, came home to finish packing my bag and then whizzed back for her, just in time to say goodbye to everyone and jump in a taxi to the airport.

We were only staying 2 nights but it was lovely to have a break and the concert was absolutely brilliant.

Mum and Dad very kindly stayed here while we were away as the kids were in school so it was easier to have everything close by.

We got back on the Tuesday and on the Wednesday it was Ben's leavers' assembly in school. I was an emotional wreck thinking about it and hoping I'd manage to keep it together during the assembly. However, I shouldn't have worried too much as once it had got going, it was deadly boring and all I could think of was how much longer! How many awards can a school give out??

That evening was the leavers' disco for just their year. Some of the kids arrived in limos, having been driven round for an hour previously, but as our limo had boys and girls in it, we didn't think there would be enough time for the girls to get ready and have the hour in the limo before the 6pm start of the disco, so we opted to have them picked up in the limo after. It was definitely the right choice and loads of other kids went in limos afterwards as well. The kids had a fantastic night and Eleanor even managed to bunk in on the limo!

Their final day at school was the Friday and when they broke up at lunchtime, there were hardly any dry eyes from the Year 6 kids - apart from Ben who didn't seem a bit bothered, although I secretly think he is sad to leave. These photos aren't in any particular order as they've come from two different cameras.

A huge thanks from me to Booker Avenue for all they've done for Ben in the last 7 years. He's gone from such a shy and worried little boy to, well, a cocky little so and so!!!

My little girl is...9!!!!

2011-06-28T21:32:00.004+01:00

Her birthday fell on a Tuesday when she was in school so I took the pair of them straight to the cinema after school to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Rodrick Rules and then we had a Chinese take-away for dinner. Eleanor wanted chicken and sweetcorn soup and chicken chow mein. Fortunately we know her really well and knew she wouldn't eat much of either so Dave ate that and she had some of my meal instead.

The following Friday, we brought 9 of her friends back from school for a party in the house. It was 3 hours of chaos but the kids seemed to have a good time. The house looked as though a bomb had hit it by the time they had gone. I never learn about not cleaning the house before a kids' party.

Two of the girls then stayed for a sleepover. Dave was out in town with some friends he used to work with and so I pottered around all evening clearing up. The girls had been watching a DVD and when they came out of the living room to go upstairs, I realised it was nearly midnight!!

We all went to bed, or so I thought, but I woke at 3.10am and could hear them still laughing and chatting. I staggered in, absolutely done in and half asleep, to find them playing school, with Sophie sitting on a chair on top of Eleanor's bed being the teacher. Fortunately after me telling them again to get to sleep, they did so and we even managed a lie in the following morning.

I love doing parties for the kids but I've realised that as they get older, they tend to split off into twos or threes and don't all want to play games any more so it's hard to keep them all entertained the way you've planned to.

Next year can be a trip to the cinema with a couple of friends and a sleepover...with an early night.

Street Party

2011-04-30T13:43:00.006+01:00

Our road had a little street party yesterday for the Royal Wedding.

Lots of organising had gone into it by my next-door-neighbour, Jill, and she was happy to open up her house in case it rained. As it turned out, the weather was beautiful, if a little on the breezy side, and we had an absolutely brilliant afternoon. We would have had the tables in the middle of the road itself but not everyone could make it and some people needed to get their cars in and out of the road during the afternoon, plus we needed to set them up across Jill's path so she could keep her 2 year old twins and some other toddlers on that side while they were eating.

After the food, I had organised a few games for the children. We had "pin the jewel on the crown", Mum very kindly did a great treasure hunt for us, with clues that made the kids run up and down the road and the letters on each clue eventually spelling out Royal Wedding, and I asked some of the neighbours for photos of themselves from years ago so we had a "Name the Neighbour" game which went down very well. The only game I couldn't do for the kids was Royal Bingo because it was too windy for the little pieces of paper to stay on the cards to cover up the pictures. One of the other women did a Royal themed quiz which Dave and I were sadly really good at, but we were beaten by one point at the end. We were out there for a good 6 or 7 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This had everyone in hysterics when Brian appeared in his wife's wedding dress!

Even the elderly neighbours in the road (some of whom are in their 80s) came over and stayed for a good few hours which was lovely.

The afternoon/early evening ended with the obligatory water fight between the kids. They were drenched but when the sun is shining, that's just what they do.

It's lovely when all the neighbours actually get time to sit and chat to each other rather than just a quick hello - roll on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012!!

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T22:55:00.002+01:00

Felt very proud to be British today.

Mother's Day

2011-04-03T16:30:00.003+01:00

"A mum is a small portion of God's love in action. She looks with her heart and feels with her eyes. A mum is the bank where her children deposit all their worries and hurt. A mum is the cement that keeps her family together and her love lasts a lifetime."

Happy Mother's Day, Our Mutti! The above was sent to me on a text this morning and it really is just you.

Love you lots,
Karen
xxx

School Egg Display Week 2011

2011-03-27T22:26:00.003+01:00

This coming week is the annual egg display week at school. Eleanor knew weeks ago what she wanted to do and yet here we were again, the day before they are due in, working away at it all day. We never learn! Anyway, the finished product is pretty good and Eleanor spent absolutely ages finding, cutting out and colouring in Nemo characters to add to this. We're pretty impressed with the finished effect.

Ben didn't want to do one this year but as I'd boiled two eggs and there was a spare one sitting on the table which he decided to vandalise, this was his 2 second effort:

Red Nose Day 2011

2011-03-18T10:26:00.001Z

We don't like to leave Henry out of the fun!

World Book Day 2011

2011-03-04T10:56:00.004Z

Eleanor as Lauren the Puppy Fairy:

Ben as a Zombie (yes, he does have a book on zombies):

Apart from her wings not standing out properly, Eleanor came out of school saying she'd had the best day ever. Ben came out moaning as usual about his horrible teacher.

Poles apart, the pair of them!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T08:57:00.003Z

Last year on Valentine's Day, Eleanor and I baked some heart shaped biscuits, iced them and she gave them out to her friends in school. It's not the done thing over here and so it went down really well. This year I bought some heart shaped chocolates, we put a few in each bag and added a heart-shaped tag on which Eleanor wrote "Love Eleanor".

A few days before she was going to give them out, she mentioned it to one of her friends who was playing with another girl who doesn't particularly like Eleanor. That kid made fun of her, making Eleanor feel like crying (although she told me she kept it in) and so she wouldn't take any of the little gifts in. Kids are mean and it meant most of her friends missed out, but it did then mean that she gave them to the people she loves the most and who really appreciated receiving them, her family.

We also had a crafty afternoon making melted crayon hearts that I saw on one of my favourite blogs, Nie Nie Dialogues. They turned out brilliantly and are hanging across Eleanor's bedroom window. Mind you, she then told me the colours should be turquoise and not pinks and reds to match the room. Might have to make some more...

Deep in Thought

2011-02-11T10:04:00.002Z

This Was My Tea Last Night.....

2011-02-11T10:02:00.003Z

Yes, that is mould on the top of my corned beef. I hardly ever eat it but was so looking forward to corned beef, chips and peas last night. This has now put me off it forever. I've contacted the company and emailed them this picture and am waiting to see what they have to say about it.

Valentine's Disco

2011-02-11T09:52:00.003Z

It was the school Valentine's disco last night. A boy in Eleanor's class, Joss, asked her weeks ago if she would go with him to the disco - they're 8!! She let him down gently and said she wouldn't go with him but would be there anyway with her friends. Off they went to the disco and had a great time. She told me that Joss came up to her no less than five times over the hour and a half, and each time he gave her a love heart sweet. I think she must be keeping them as they are in her room. Awwww!!

Ben, on the other hand, is fed up with one particular girl "flirting" with him all the time. Apparently the "flirting" consists of her always hanging around him and his friends and occasionally elbowing him in the ribs. That's not flirting in my books but what do I know?

No pictures of Ben who was too busy with his friend, Jack, on the PS3 but here's the one who loves to get dressed up:

Chinese New Year

2011-02-02T19:38:00.003Z

Despite me having to leave work at 12 noon today, get the bus to the school and pick up Eleanor who had been sitting in the office all morning not feeling well, she made a remarkable recovery within 10 minutes of being home, ate all her packed lunch and then wanted to take Henry for his walk to Calderstones instead of just around the block...so she could go on her skates! Maybe I should just be glad it was just a tummy ache and nothing more serious.

Anyway, she was definitely well enough to attend Brownies tonight which is just as well because we'd spent ages last night practising Chinese make-up as it's Chinese New Year. Brownies are having a Chinese-themed party and a prize is to be given for the best make-up. Here's my effort (after searching in the loft for our Halloween face paints):

It was funny dropping her off and seeing all the different variations of the same Googled image!

Rock'n'Roll Panto

2011-01-06T09:49:00.004Z

Last night Eleanor and I went with her Brownies to see the pantomime Sleeping Beauty at The Everyman Theatre. I was asked to help so got in for free but I would have quite happily paid for a ticket, it was that good.

The scenery was bright and sparkly, the costumes were amazing and the whole performance was hilarious. I was on a row behind Eleanor and her friends and she sat through the whole show without clapping (until near the end) or booing or hissing or cheering....or anything, basically. When we came out, however, she announced that she's going to be an actor and be in a show like that! I now think maybe she was just completely mesmerised by it.

Already looking forward to next year's show!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-30T20:02:00.002Z

With Christmas having been a bit of a let down (lots of sickness going around so not been able to do everything we'd planned), we asked Dave's sister if we could go up to their's in Scotland for New Year. We're off tomorrow for a couple of nights and cannot wait.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year for 2011.

Love Karen, Dave, Ben and Eleanor
xxxx

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T21:01:00.005Z

Everything is done. We've been out for our dinner, the kids are bathed and the reindeer have delivered their new pyjamas (Ben being really good and playing along brilliantly, bless him), the house is clean and the table is set and ready for tomorrow's dinner. I'm off to sit down for a change.

For those of you whose cards I wrote, left lying on the floor in my bedroom for days on end and then completely missed the overseas post, have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Be Careful What You Wish For

2010-12-18T07:23:00.005Z

With practically the whole country covered in snow a couple of weeks ago, I was completely miffed, to say the least, that we remained snow free. We had a tiny smattering but it was hardly worth a mention. However, last night we got about 5 or 6 inches in less than 2 hours - pretty unusual for this part of the country. Everywhere looked absolutely beautiful so quickly.

[Taken from bedroom window before we'd ventured out into it]

Judith came down from Scotland (where she thought she'd left the snow behind) and despite being in a 4x4, they had to take it really slowly getting here. When they arrived at her Mum's, I drove up to Childwall with the kids to collect Laura and Sophie who are staying here for the weekend. I was a little bit scared, to say the least, not helped by the fact that the car in front of me most of the way was skidding all over the place. I don't think I got out of second gear all the way but at least we didn't skid at all. I came back the long way so we didn't hit any inclines! We didn't get home until about 10pm but the kids went straight out in the road for a bit, Ben and Sophie not coming in for over an hour. I took Henry for a quick walk and he was so excited and jumping around like a puppy again!

Now the downside of all this is that Dave went on his work's night out in Ruthin Castle last night for a medieval banquet. Ruthin Castle is, he told me, in the middle of nowhere in north Wales!! He's also in our smaller car which has me really worried. I can't see this knight getting home any time today:

He's going to kill me for putting this on here! That "chainmail" hood had me crying laughing, especially as it stuck up a little bit at the front and from the side he looked like a smurf.

Right, off to take Henry for another play in the snow and then I think I'll be walking to Tesco to stock up on food.

Snowmen

2010-12-11T08:10:00.003Z

Eleanor and Lillie (who recently joined) went to their Brownies' Christmas party last Wednesday. They were to dress as anything Christmassy so I suggested going as a snowman. I made the costume. Yes, I repeat, I made the costume!! I asked Lillie if she wanted to be the same as I had enough materials so Jill made her costume. They turned out brilliantly:

Dooglepip

2010-12-11T08:08:00.002Z

One dog and his teddy!

Autumn in Calderstones

2010-12-11T08:02:00.003Z

I LOVE this park! Henry has a wonderful time hunting for squirrels and chasing them. He still looks puzzled when they run up a tree and he doesn't realise where they've suddenly gone!

We had some absolutely beautiful autumn days and I took my camera just before we had some high winds and all the remaining leaves fell off the trees.

Ben Turned 11!!

2010-12-11T07:47:00.003Z

It seems like ages ago already but Ben was 11 on 27th October. On his actual birthday, just myself and the kids went to Gulliver's World for the afternoon, after a lot of indecision over going to a Halloween themed farm. Some of them seemed a bit babyish and some of them seemed far too scary, so we opted for safe Gulliver's instead (although I think that's the very last time I want to go there).

A couple of days later, Ben had some of his friends for a sleepover. One of his friends was ill and couldn't make it so there were four of them. They all slept in the living room where we put the PS3 and we pretty much left them to it. I think they finally went to sleep around 6am. I think I finally got to sleep around 6am. They were extremely noisy but they weren't running around the house or in and out of the kitchen cupboards which I thought they would be but I think it's just because my bedroom is above the living room and I could hear them talking and laughing all.night.long.

I played musical beds with Eleanor because she felt left out so came in with us. Henry was also in with us as I didn't think it fair for him to be shut in the kitchen if the boys were in the living room. As I then had no room, I went in her bed, then back again, then back in her bed....oh, it went on and on. I finally got to sleep in her bed, only to be woken by Dave saying "Karen, do you know what time it is?" I sat up thinking it must be lunchtime and I'd said I'd have them home around 12ish, for Dave to then say "It's 9.15"!!! Thanks, David, you obviously slept through it better than me.

On the Sunday it was Halloween. Ben had wanted the sleepover rather than a Halloween party but we still said if any of their friends wanted to come trick or treating with us, they were welcome to. I still decorated the house and we had about 8 kids to take round. Dave went off with the boys and myself and my friend, Myria, took a few girls around. It was rubbish. I've never known so many people to be out, or maybe just not answering the door. It was also really chilly so we didn't stay out more than an hour.

The photos of Eleanor in her outfit are on Dave's camera but she wore a black and white wig and looked so different - I'll have to post a picture when I finally get hold of one.

Some of our pumpkins - a complete rush job this year but Dave created his own Everton one:

Camping

2010-12-11T07:17:00.004Z

Again because we'd had our week in Spain earlier in the year, we wanted to break up the summer holiday for the kids. We decided to try camping and bought a lovely tent and just the basic equipment to make sure we liked it first. The weather hadn't been too good over the summer (surprise, surprise) but we finally had a weekend where it wasn't too bad and headed off to a site near Ullswater in the Lake District where you could take dogs so we could take Henry.

We made mistake number 1 by pitching the tent right next to a gate where you could go through to a field and then the lake where you could let dogs off the lead. Every dog on the site seemed to come past our tent and Henry could not and would not relax. We ended up tying his lead to the car wheel because he'd practically pulled out both Dave's and my arm sockets! Even that first evening inside the tent, we couldn't get go of his lead in case he darted, as he'd already worked out that there was a little gap by the zip that he could get his nose through!

We bought a dinghy and wetsuits and the kids and Henry had a whale of a time on the lake. If it had been warmer weather, it would have been ideal but as it was, nothing would dry so they could only do that the once.

We went on a few long walks but we spent most of the time just trying to tire Henry out so he'd sleep for a bit! By the third day, he was starting to chill and relax which was much more enjoyable. I think next time we go, we'll pitch our tent in a better place....and leave Henry behind!!

Getting back to London.....

2010-12-11T06:13:00.010Z

I'm still waiting to be shown how to upload photos from our new camera but as I've been awake since 5am and can't get back to sleep, I may as well use the time wisely and get some blogging done.

Ben has always wanted to go to London but it was something I didn't really fancy. I've only ever been to London a few times and each time it has seemed far too frantic for my liking. I don't like crowds of people, queueing up or horrendously busy roads so it was somewhere I was trying to avoid. However, we had had our week in Spain earlier in May/June and the kids had their 6 weeks summer holiday with nothing planned, so Dave thought it might be a good idea to go. Having now been, it wasn't half as bad as I remembered. Yes, there are crowds everywhere but the because of the congestion charge in London, the roads are much quieter and it was a pleasure to walk around.

Dave is BRILLIANT at getting good deals and so the first thing he did was get us into the brand new Crowne Plaza hotel in Docklands, which had a lovely swimming pool, for a fraction of the normal price. He then managed to get us train tickets for about £30.00 return for the four of us - I do not know how he managed that!

We set off on the Saturday morning, after leaving our little Henry behind in the safe hands of Mum and Dad, and arrived two hours later at Euston. We put our case into storage there and headed straight to Mme Tussaud's. The queue was 4 hours long but Super Dave had already purchased our fastrack tickets on line so it took us about 5 minutes to get in.

It was packed inside and, well, let's just say that certain nationalities have no idea how to wait or queue when it's your children's turn to have a photo taken with a waxwork!!! Oooh, I was getting frustrated with them! Not only would they push in for their photo, they would then stand in everyone's way checking their camera. It was at this point I was already thinking "and this is why I hate London"! However, the further through the place we went, the less crowded it got and the kids had a great time spotting famous "people".

Towards the end of tour round, you get put into little mini Hackney cab type cars which take you through a quick tour of "London through the years". It went quite fast and I was too busy taking it all in to take any photos.

Our tickets had included entry into a Superhero 4D movie at the end. I don't like anything to do with superheroes but I was curious to see what a 4D movie was so we went and, wow, were we glad we did. Not only was the film really funny, the 3D and 4D effects were amazing, with wind blowing in our faces, "rain" hitting us, "blades" coming through the backs of our seats and we even thought creatures were scurrying around our feet. Very, very clever.

We headed straight to the London Eye after Mme Tussaud's. Dave had all our tube lines worked out so we knew exactly where to go and that made everything so much quicker. We arrived at the London Eye and again we bypassed the huge queue to our little fastrack queue to get our tickets! The only queue we had to join was the one to actually get on the Eye itself. We got right to the front when Ben decided he needed a wee!! The only place with toilets was right back over in the main ticket building so we had to leave the queue and re-join it after he'd relieved himself (for the umpteenth time that day!).

I thought I'd be nervous on the Eye but it moves so slowly and the pods are huge so you can walk around and I didn't even notice going up or being right at the top. Because you can see so many landmarks, the half hour passed really quickly and we were down again before I knew it.

After a quick bite to eat, we had to head back to Euston to collect our case and then all the way down to Docklands, finally arriving at the hotel at 10pm!! I just wanted to crash and sleep but Eleanor decided to play hotel receptionist until we finally fell out!

Up and out early the following day, we headed straight to the Tower of London where we got in for the grand sum of £3.00 (thanks to Tesco Clubcard vouchers). I thought we'd be there for about an hour but we were there for over 3 and still hadn't seen everything, but we needed to go if we were going to do the other things we'd planned.

We absolutely loved seeing the crown jewels so went round twice to see them. Eleanor and I were fascinated with Queen Victoria's tiny crown - it was stunning but so tiny, it must have looked comical on top of her head. No photos are allowed to be taken in that section.

We came out of the Tower of London straight to my favourite sight in London - Tower Bridge. I think it's absolutely beautiful.

A quick lunch and it was off to Buckingham Palace. Ben had really wanted to go in but it was too expensive and because we've been to lots of National Trust homes over the years, I told him once you've been in one posh mansion, you've been in them all! I think he bought it.

Next we walked up through Horseguards Parade towards Downing Street, the Cenotaph and on to the Houses of Parliament.

I don't think we could have asked the kids to do any more after that as we'd notched up some miles over London and they were definitely starting to flag (me, too!). We had tickets for Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Leicester Square so that's where we headed to next and then we finally got back to the hotel at around 8pm. Ben wanted to have a swim so he went off with Dave while Eleanor and I ordered room service. Our dinners finally turned up at 10.40pm, by which time Eleanor and I were over our hunger and just wanted to sleep. Dave managed to polish off what we'd left!

We didn't have to leave until 10am the following day so got up early, all had a swim and then headed off back to Euston. Unfortunately, it took that little bit longer to get there than we'd anticipated and we had a real rush on our hands. We made it to the train with about 5 minutes to spare but Eleanor had been really worried on the way, and then there were no seat reservations on the train due to a computer error, so there were people in our seats. We all managed to sit close by, the kids being next to each other, but Eleanor was as white as a sheet by the time we all sat down and I had visions of her being sick everywhere. The two of us ended up spending most of the 2 hour journey home sitting on the floor in between carriages with her head in a bag! Happy memories!!

Guess Where We Went...

2010-08-26T15:05:00.004+01:00

More to come on this soon when I have time to sift through and upload the photos - I would seriously blog more often if photos uploaded more quickly.

The Golden Couple

2010-08-26T12:02:00.005+01:00

50 whole years ago, Mum and Dad got married. We were away in Spain for the actual anniversary (11th June) so Lesley suggested that when we were back, we had a day out somewhere and a nice family picnic to mark the occasion. We decided on Loggerheads near Mold in North Wales so on 18th June, we all met up there around lunchtime (well, we were over an hour late but the less said about that the better). We went for a little wander along the side of the river first of all and then headed back to the picnic area to enjoy a delicious spread that Lesley had put together.

After the picnic, topped off with strawberries and cream, we went for a longer walk, up the side of the cliff and along the top through the woods. We'd had some wet and miserable weather beforehand and fortunately it stayed dry all day and the sun even came out for a bit.

(Photo emailed to me from Lesley hence smaller size)

As we were nearing the end of the hilltop walk and heading back down, we realised the three boys and the dog weren't with us. We called their names and there was no answer, nor did Henry turn up. We knew they were definitely all ahead of us but as you come part way down the side, the path comes to a crossroads and we weren't sure which route they would have taken or if they were all even together. Lesley and Darren know Loggerheads like the back of their hands and were pretty certain her boys would have gone straight ahead and would be back at the car park, but inside I was already thinking we'd be on the news that evening over three missing kids in the dark. Lesley said if we got back to the car park and they weren't there, she and Darren would run round again in different directions to find them.

Fortunately the drama (in my head!) ended shortly after when we asked another family if they had seen three boys and a black dog and, after having a good think, they said they had seen the dog (identified by his blue bone tag) in the direction we were walking. We caught up with them and they were absolutely fine and completely oblivious to the fact that they'd gone so far ahead of us.

After ice-creams all round, we all headed off home in different directions. It had been a lovely afternoon, good fun, the kids had all been really well behaved and, most importantly, Mum and Dad loved it.

Congratulations on your Golden Anniversary, Mum and Dad/Grandma and Grandad - we love you!!!

Race for Life 2010

2010-07-18T22:08:00.004+01:00

Eleanor today took part in the Cancer Research Race for Life around Sefton Park. As with the Sports Relief Mile a few months ago, she took part with Jill and Lillie from next door and some of their friends. I had already decided that Eleanor would dedicate her run to Penny and then some of the girls in work decided to do the race also in memory of Penny and another colleague, Linda, who died a couple of months after Penny of the same cancer.

Everyone looked amazing at the race - it was a sea of pink - and some of the messages on the women's backs were very touching. It's quite an emotional event to witness. At the end, I overheard one of the marshalls say to a few women walking past "Will you be doing it again next year, girls?" to which one of them quietly replied "Hope so". She had a massive scar down her arm.

Eleanor and the other little girls probably weren't aware of any of that side of it and just had a really great time and will raise money for a very good cause. They also did really well getting around the 5k in 45mins. I may even join in myself next year.....

Disco Diva, Dog and Dirty Porch Floor

2010-07-18T22:02:00.004+01:00

Eleanor on her way to the school disco. Henry hovering in the porch in the vain hope that he's coming out with us. Ben was supposed to be going to the disco with his friend but had to miss it because he had an allergic reaction to his friend's rabbits and looked as though he'd been punched in the eye (wish I'd taken a photo of that!).

Eleanor's 8th Birthday

2010-07-01T10:40:00.006+01:00

Eleanor turned 8 on 14th June, which was a Monday and the first day back at school and work after our holiday. I didn't want to do anything on the actual day because it's normally a homework night and so I said we'd just go to Pizza Hut that evening for a meal and then she could have a small birthday tea on the Friday with a few friends.

Opening her presents:-

On the following Friday, I picked her up from school with six of her friends, and Ben had one friend as well, and we all walked home. The girls played outside on the trampoline while I quickly cooked some pizza and packed a picnic and we then wandered over to a local park to eat. It worked out really well as Henry stayed behind so he wasn't a pain while they were eating. Although it had been dry all day, it had been really cloudy and threatening rain but it completely cleared up by the time we got there and it was sunny and warm - absolutely perfect. I took bats and balls and Eleanor took her bike over. I heard one little girl say "This is the best party EVER!" which was nice to hear, although I'm under no illusion that she probably says that wherever she goes!

(The reason most of them are wearing red and white is because England had been playing in the World Cup that day - no more to be said on that topic, though - and the school allowed them to dress in red and white for the day).

After about an hour and a half, we packed up and headed back home where I had nail varnishes and make-up waiting. We put on some music, they did the limbo and a few other dances, I then realised I needed to light the candles on the cake and sing Happy Birthday, then I had to quickly cut the cake for the party bags, then one of the kids was spraying silly string at them all and got it in someone's hair so I had to get that out, then I remembered I had a party cannon to fire (brilliant things - I love them), then I thought I'd better get the pinata out of the way as all their party bag sweets were coming from that, then we quickly did some tattoos.......and before I knew it the parents were at the door, it was time for them to go and I hadn't managed to paint a single nail or do any make-up! It was all a bit chaotic at the end and that's when I should realise I can't actually do a whole party on my own but it wasn't really meant to be a full on party......they just always seem to turn out that way!

Eleanor loved it which is what it's all about.

Spain - June 2010

2010-06-30T05:45:00.005+01:00

During the kids' half term holiday, we had a week's holiday in Costa del Sol, southern Spain. I swore after going to Benalmadena two years ago that I never wanted to go to that area of Spain again (it's a dump) but this company, Club La Costa, contacted us back in December with an offer of a week in their luxury resort for less than £100 for the four of us. It was an offer Dave couldn't refuse and even with the flights (and knowing we would have to attend a meeting while they tried to get us to become members), it was a bargain for a week's holiday so I agreed to go.

The resort itself was amazing but it was huge and only had one small mini-market right over the other side which we had to take a little noddy train to get to. Apart from several restaurants (which did have entertainment on at night), there was nothing to do and nowhere to go unless you risked your life walking along the edge of what seemed like a motorway to get to a bus stop. The nearby beach was horrible and you had to go under a smelly underpass to get to it, so we just stayed by the pool all week long. The kids made lots of friends and had a whale of a time, despite the water being absolutely freezing. I ventured in once at the beginning of the week and that was it! Our apartment was fantastic; loads of space, two separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, huge balcony, full sized kitchen including dishwasher and washing machine. If we could have picked up the complex and placed it in Majorca where the beaches are beautiful, I would have been extremely happy!

Since the last time......

2010-06-03T09:30:00.010+01:00

...we did get Ben's egg display made and into school. Instead of the "Keggnya" that I had got everything ready for, he decided on "Modern Warfegg" so I had to rethink everything. Turned out OK, though:

Over the last couple of months, we've also celebrated Dave's birthday by having a quiet meal out, just the four of us, on the actual day:

Ben and Eleanor begged for a kids' cocktail but thought weren't a bit impressed when they got them. I think they just liked the look of a fancy drink.

Henry had a very important operation at the end of March and no longer has nasty dangly bits! He was as good as gold at the vets, slept all afternoon and evening when I got him home and then was wide awake and raring to play from 3-5am!!

This is him in his recovery position:

The collar they gave to Henry to stop him from getting at his stitches was so huge that it weighed his neck down (plus he was bashing into everything) so Ben decided to wear it instead:

The camellia plant that I had been growing for 6 or 7 years (and which only flowered a bit last year for the first time) came out in full bloom this year and was absolutely beautiful:

Unfortunately, that four legged black thing we have living here has chewed the whole plant to bits and there is now just a 2 foot stump in the ground. Oooh, sometimes Henry.........

Judith, Dave and the girls came down from Scotland for a weekend which always puts a smile on the faces of Ben and Eleanor:-

Eleanor had a party night in Brownies where the theme was anything to do with the sea. We were going to go for a mermaid but I am useless at making costumes and have you seen the price of fancy dress costumes to buy?? So a girly pirate it was:

And finally this little Doogie has had us up the wall with a horrible skin condition that he's suffering at the moment. The vet thinks it could be a contact irritation but Dave thinks it may be that he's allergic to wheat and cereals so we have cut all that out and are waiting to see if there's an improvement. Meanwhile, he has cost us a small fortune in medication and special shampoo. I have to take him back today as we need more allergy tablets to stop the itching. He's adorable, though, and we love him to bits.

Bit of a Difference!

2010-05-06T08:16:00.002+01:00

Eleanor has just said to me, "You know the Nile? No, not the Nile...what is it...oh, yes, you know the Albert Dock?"!!

School Egg Display

2010-03-21T22:49:00.003Z

Each year just before Easter the children can make up a display, the theme of which has to involve an egg. Last year we did "Eleggtrical Eggecution" which was okay but a bit rushed because we (I) did it the day before it was due in. This year I thought we'd be organised but here we are again the day before they are due in and although I have got Eleanor's done, Ben's isn't even half done and will not be going to school with him tomorrow.

I came up with the idea of Eggypt for Eleanor and so this is what we've done (and yes, she did help me with this):

Ben's display was going to be Keggnya and I had printed off some pictures of animals to paste in the background and was planning on having the little eggs on safari in a jeep, but he decided last minute he wanted to do Modern Warfegg (Modern Warfare) and despite painting the inside of the box and drawing the outline of a building, he's not come up with any other ideas of what he wants in it, so I'm completely stumped (and grumpy and tired because I just want to finish it and clear up the mess of paper, cardboard, paints, glue, etc. in the kitchen and dining room). IF we get it done tomorrow evening, I'll post a picture....but don't hold your breath.

Sports Relief Run

2010-03-21T22:32:00.005Z

Today my little 7 year old ran 1 mile in aid of Sports Relief and I felt so proud of her. Jill next door asked her a while back if she would like to do it with her and Lillie and Eleanor jumped at the chance. The weather was perfect as it had been cold, wet and windy yesterday and luckily this morning was warm with a beautiful blue sky.

Sitting around waiting for their time slot (and feeling slightly anxious):

Getting ready at the starting line:

Such a happy face at the finish:

A shiny new medal that she can't wait to take into school to show them tomorrow:

Well done, Smell Bell......now get training for the 3 mile Race for Life that you've also signed up for in July!

Richard's 2nd Birthday

2010-03-21T22:24:00.002Z

This kid is seriously cute. It was his second birthday last Sunday, which was also Mother's Day. As I don't normally see my Mum on Mother's Day, I decided to have Mum and Dad and Jeanette's family over for a meal on the Saturday evening. There were 13 of us altogether as Eleanor had had a friend during the day who I said could stay as well. 6 adults, 7 kids and 1 mad dog made it pretty chaotic but it was good fun and the kids especially had a great evening, mainly dancing to Just Dance on the Wii.

World Book Day 2010

2010-03-21T22:13:00.004Z

4th March was World Book Day and this year we were organised with what the kids wanted to be. Eleanor has some of the Rainbow Fairies series of books where all the characters are different types of fairies. We chose one where we already had all the clothes and just had the wings to buy.

Ben doesn't enjoy dressing up and so he chose to go as the boy from his books "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". This boy is practically a stick character so all we did was draw arms and hands down Ben's arms and he was done!

Wintry Memories

2010-01-14T14:11:00.007Z

I know I'm harping on about the snow a lot but it seriously doesn't happen enough round here and it's been amazing. It's now all starting to thaw and look very messy but in the park where I walk Henry, it still looks wonderful and white.

Henry desperate to join in:

Henry making the worst Husky ever:

By the time Ben and James got back up the hill with the sledge, we were all frozen solid:

Who stole the green stuff?:

Our little garden looks so much nicer all white:

My faceless snow family - after 90mins I was beginning to lose interest in providing them with features:

A beautiful view from the front door:

I'm hoping that's not the last of it for this winter but the reality is it could be the last of it for a good few years. It's always worth the wait.

I Take It All Back

2010-01-07T17:43:00.002Z

The snow got worse - a lot worse. Tons of the lovely white stuff came down thick and fast all Tuesday afternoon. Work "monitored" it from noon. They monitored for so long that by the time they said we could leave at 2.45pm, most public transport had stopped, the roads were gridlocked and cars couldn't get up even the smallest of inclines. I got to the bus station to find hundreds of people but not one bus. They wouldn't have moved anywhere anyway.

I phoned Dave and told him I would start walking and in which direction and that when he had collected the kids from school, he could drive along to meet me. We kept in touch every 10 or 15mins and there was no way he was going to get to me. I was about three quarters of the way home before the roads emptied out but cars were still almost burning their tyres out trying to set off from traffic lights.

I finally got to the hill near to our house. I had thoroughly enjoyed trampling through the snow for nearly an hour and a half and was all warm and toasty. I met up with Dave, the kids and Henry sledging away (Henry wasn't sledging - just chasing another dog twice his size). I stood there for 10 minutes when the cold wind hit me and I needed to get home.

After dinner, I got up and had practically seized up - pretty painful in certain areas! However, we still had a snowman to build so out we went in the dark to build a small snow family.

I found out on Facebook that one of the fee earners who offered me a lift home from work (which I refused because it meant going quite a bit out of her way) took 4 hours to get home. A crazy day in Liverpool.

I managed to get into work again yesterday on the train. The roads and pavements are like thick ice now (thanks to the lack of gritting by the Council) and walking through town to the office was terrifying. But I made it - unlike another member of staff who doesn't live far from me and who was "totally stranded at home" and couldn't get in?? The kids' school has been closed yesterday and today but they are back in tomorrow.

I know it's all turned icy and we have had sub-zero temperatures which are very rare in this country but We really don't know how to cope with snow.

But I'm loving every minute of it.

What's The Problem??

2010-01-05T13:46:00.003Z

The bus skidded a couple of times.

The traffic was queued up in every direction and moved at a snail's pace.

I watched an old man wipe the snow from the roof of his car with a total look of distaste.

I didn't arrive in work until 10.45am.

Many schools and offices are closed.

It was an inch of snow!!!

New Year - New Decade

2009-12-31T17:01:00.003Z

Y2K seems like yesterday. This time 10 years ago I had a two month old baby and Dave was away on our Millennium skiing trip with some friends. Typical of him not to miss out just because we'd had a baby!

I spent the week at Mum and Dad's as Ben fed ALL.THE.TIME. and it was extremely tiring. At New Year I went over the road to Jeanette's parents' house for the evening. It was a lovely, quiet evening and one that I will always remember. Jeanette's Mum was going through chemo at the time and it was a huge effort for her to come downstairs, all dressed up as she loved to be and manage to stay awake until midnight. I think that's one of the best New Year's Eve I've ever had.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Christmas Day/Boxing Day

2009-12-31T08:12:00.012Z

This last week has passed by in a blur, it's been the busiest but best Christmas I can remember in a long while.

Dave's sister, Judith, and her family came down from Scotland the day before Christmas Eve. They left behind 6 inches of snow but fortunately it was actually snowing and sticking when they got to Liverpool (not that we got anything like 6 inches - more like 6mm). Dave took the kids up to his Mum's to see them while I took Henry out for one of the best walks we've had so far. I wandered around looking at beautifully lit up houses with snow on the ground and snow falling quite heavily and it was just gorgeous.

Christmas Eve morning was spent frantically trying to clean a house that hadn't been cleaned for over a week and it was a mammoth task. I finally got done in time to get to the cinema where Judith dropped the girls off and we went to see Alvin & The Chipmunks 2. I was so tired that fortunately I slept through most of it (very irritating voices on those chipmunks). We then went to a pub at Otterspool and met up with Judith, Dave, Dot and Ken for a meal. It's Judith and Dave's wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve so it was lovely to all be out together having a nice meal. Eleanor was really funny with the waiter and in the end was "helping" him. She wore his Santa hat and was giving out clean cutlery to us all after our starters, wearing the tea towel over her shoulder and everything. He was extremely patient with her.

Eleanor had a bath the minute we got home as she was so excited about the reindeer bringing her new pyjamas while she was in it. We both heard those reindeer bells ring and sure enough, there they were in her bedroom when she got out of the bath.

I got Eleanor to bed and then had to go out "somewhere" to collect "something". I got back in after 10pm to find Dave lying on the settee watching a film and Ben in the kitchen peeling sprouts!! I know Ben will do absolutely anything to stay up late but that's taking the biscuit a little bit, David.

Christmas Day started not too early. Ben received a Playstation 3 and Eleanor got a new bike. She's only today been able to have a go on it outside because it's been so icy. Mum, Dad, Lesley, Darren, Jack and Tom came over around lunchtime and we were due to eat about 2pm. I have absolutely no idea what time it was by the time we finally did manage to eat but so many things seemed to be going wrong with the dinner and the time kept getting put back. Of course I got the blame for everything. Fortunately it wasn't too bad by the time it was all finally ready.

After everyone had been fed and we'd had karaoke and the Wii on, they all went home and we headed over to Dot's for the evening. We had another present opening session with Dave's family and then played on Sophie's Guitar Hero/DJ Hero/Beatles Hero or whatever it's called. I'm worse than useless at it.

My two had asked if they could stay over there so Dave and I headed home around 11pm on our own. Knowing I was going to have an uninterrupted night's sleep was the best Christmas present I could have asked for! Unfortunately the dog still doesn't understand sleeping through and had us awake around 2.45am. I'll forgive him because he's been completely out of sorts with so many people around.

On Boxing Day we had Dave's family round for a meal so again there were 10 of us. I couldn't face another roast dinner so made chilli and rice, lasagne, jacket potatoes and some buffet type food. Eleanor was the entertainment at the table (again). We had a lovely evening and then the girls stayed over here that night and the following night.

The following day, after a very lazy morning, we headed into town to get Eleanor a Build A Bear as she'd been given a voucher in her stocking. Town was heaving and we queued for ages but she was very happy with the cute dog she got in the end. We then went on the Liverpool Wheel. I had a feeling I would chicken out but the queue moved so fast that I didn't have chance to think about it and before I knew it we were up near the top. I was fine for most of it (apart from being right at the very top) but I'm not sure I'd go on one again. The kids were all laughing and saying funny things which took my mind off dangling in mid-air.

Judith had work on Tuesday so they had to head back to Scotland on Monday. The kids all looked so sad but I think partly because they were shattered with hardly any sleep the previous three nights. That night, I'd gone to bed really early as I was also in work Tuesday. I was just dozing off into a lovely sleep when Ben came flying in and landed on me sobbing his heart out. I could just about make out "I miss Sophie". I gave him as much of a hug as I could muster in my half-sleep and sent him back to bed.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T09:22:00.002Z

I missed the post to send cards overseas and I spent ages looking for a suitable e-card to send but they all the good ones needed photos uploading into them and I didn't have any that were quite right, so I'm just wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love Karen, Dave, Ben, Eleanor, Henry and Nibbles
xxxxxx

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let it Snow!

2009-12-22T09:28:00.002Z

I realise that compared to the rest of the Northern Hemisphere it's not exactly blizzard conditions out there but it's good enough for us. We won't say no to more, though, so we can get the sledge out that's been sitting unused in the shed for years.

Why Don't They Work??

2009-12-14T19:09:00.001Z

After changing the background to my blog a long time ago, I have often attempted to paste in another background to suit the season or time of year but it just doesn't seem to work anymore. Very frustrating and I'm stuck with one I really don't actually like now!

Christmas in Pictures

2009-12-10T11:25:00.004Z

You wouldn't know but I have toned it down this year!

Penguins

2009-12-10T11:17:00.004Z

After the Superlambananas last year, Liverpool now has hundreds of colourful penguins dotted around the city centre. I recently took the kids into town to go round them all, not realising just how cold and wet it was until we got there. We managed to see about 20 of them before we all agreed to head back to the car and get home and thaw out.

We also have a temporary Liverpool Wheel which I walk past on my way to the bus stop every night. I am definitely going on it before it goes in January, I'll be terrified but I'm determined to do it.

The Doog

2009-12-10T10:56:00.003Z

Henry Hound is now almost 6 months old and about 4 times as heavy (if not more) than when I first picked him up to bring him home. I know - I've just had to lift him into the car to get him to the vets to be microchipped, out of the car at the vets, onto the table in the vets and back in the car again. That's some weight you have, Doogie.

I promised his breeder I would send a photograph of him when he is 6 months old but trying to get him to stay still is impossible. Even if I hold a treat up for him and get a perfect profile, the minute the camera clicks, his face shoots round to look at me and it's just a blur. I will also be sending the breeder some photos of the chewed up shoes, skirting board, kitchen chairs, and half-eaten Christmas ornaments.

We wouldn't be without him, though.

Remembering Penny

2009-12-04T15:09:00.005Z

Today I went to a very sad funeral of one of my friends, Penny. She was only 43. Penny was diagnosed with breast cancer about 4 years ago and had all kinds of different treatment and medication which in itself made her very ill. We were in work the day she told me she needed to see a doctor. I told her it would be something and nothing. She said "Karen, I was born under a black cloud and I know this will be serious". It was devastating when she had it confirmed that it was an aggressive form of cancer.

She fought long and hard, eating the worst looking concoctions and taking medication that wasn't yet properly passed. In other words, she was prepared to be a guinea pig if something could cure her or prolong her life. And she never complained. Not once.

Penny leaves behind her husband, George, and two children, Jack who is 12 and Alice-May who is 7. She will be so sadly missed.

He Knows

2009-11-23T22:55:00.002Z

Ben told us the other day that he knows Father Christmas isn't real; everyone in school says so. There was no point trying to pretend as it wasn't the first time he's questioned it. I asked him how he felt about it and he said "I feel really sad".

He then went to walk away, turned round and asked "Will the reindeer still leave my new pyjamas on Christmas Eve?". I could have cried.

Pooped

2009-11-15T17:41:00.002Z

Kate after school on Friday - 5 hours

George and Greg Saturday afternoon - 7 hours

Victoria today - 5 hours

I think I've done my stint of the kids having friends over for a little while...I say it's someone else's turn to have mine........PLEASE!!!!!!

September/October...where did they go?

2009-11-02T22:15:00.010Z

Time definitely travels faster the older you get. I can't believe we are already in November as the last couple of months have flown by.

Since I last had chance to blog, the kids started Years 5 and 3 in school and have just gone back after half term holiday, Eleanor started Brownies, the computer has crashed umpteen times thanks to upgrading our PC Guard and causing no end of problems, and poor Dave has spent hours trying to get things back and fix other applications, work has gone crazily busy, Dave's Mum has been ill in hospital for the second time in a few months, this time with a blood clot in her leg that had to be removed instantly (she's doing really well now but was taken ill over in Harrogate which complicated things a bit more than had she been here in Liverpool), Ben turned 10 (which I seriously can't believe), Henry is now 4 months old and has doubled in size and we've just had our annual Halloween party.

On the up side, we've had some gorgeous weather recently which has made walking Henry really enjoyable. However, it's turned cold, wet and windy this week and he literally needs a shove to get him out of the door in the mornings.

A quick summary in pictures:

Eleanor had been on the list to join Brownies for about 10 months but we had to wait until she turned 7 and then for a place to be free for her. Finally we got the call to say she could go...and then she didn't want to!!! I made her go the first week, taking her in crying her eyes out but I stayed with her the whole time and by the end she was absolutely fine. I wouldn't mind but her two best friends are both there! Since then, she just loves it and they have done some great things - she had an afternoon at a local sports centre with all the Guides, Brownies and Rainbows groups in the area to celebrate 100 years of Girl Guiding, they went to the cinema to see "Up" (which she came home and SOBBED over), they've had a Halloween party but weren't allowed to wear anything scary, hence the pink and black outfit above which is scary enough, and this week they are having a firework party. The other weeks, they've done crafts and after Christmas they are off to a Rock'n'Roll pantomime. I'd like to join myself!

My little boy turned 10 last Tuesday. He's actually not so little anymore and getting very tall. I'd told him the previous year that he was getting too big for parties now (and they were both having a small Halloween party) so we took his friend, Jonathan the nutter, and Eleanor's friend, Aaliyah, and went to Gulliver's World for the day. The weather was perfect and we all had a great time and went on plenty of rides. I had to go on a rollercoaster with the girls because they were just under the permitted height to ride without an adult, and good grief do I regret it. The next morning I felt as though I had whiplash, the pain up my back, into my neck and up through my head was excruciating so I will never be rattled around again on any fairground ride. The funniest thing was watching the kids go into the haunted house. I told them I'd stay and wait with the bags and coats but really it's because I get scared easily! You go halfway through and then come out onto an upstairs balcony before going back into the house to get out again. All four of them went in and within seconds Jonathan was back out of the entrance, then Ben and then Aaliyah. I was just asking where Eleanor was when she appeared on the balcony. When she saw the others standing next to me she burst into tears and looked terrified (I seriously would have been) so I ended up going in to rescue her. The others then followed me so I had to be very brave and pretend it was fine but my heart was seriously pounding and I couldn't wait to get out. Later on, we were eating our lunch near to the house and the girls asked if they could go back in. I said it was fine but they both came out looking white as sheets and absolutely terrified - with it being the half term holidays, it was Halloween week there and they had some of the staff running through the house all dressed up at certain times of the day. Apparently the girls had been chased by some ghoul, were screaming and crying and so a skeleton came and rescued them and led them back out again! Poor little things - it took them a good while to calm down from that.

I brought the kids back here for a couple of hours after Gulliver's so they could have a birthday tea and cake for Ben. They had a fabulous day.

Dave's Mum's birthday was on 8th October:

Richard was Christened and was so adorable all day, even when he threw up on someone later on in the afternoon, poor little sausage.

Mum and Dad very kindly took the kids and I to Blackpool last Thursday to see the Illuminations. My two had never been (and it's only an hour or so up the road) and I felt they were missing out. It's something I remember doing every year as a child and I recalled feeling really excited watching these amazing flashing lights as we drove along the main road, and then having the nicest fish and chips at the end before heading home. Well it's not like that now!!! Honestly, I've never wanted to get out of a place so fast and I know Mum felt the same. And talk about a rip off for fish and chips - crazy. I'm glad we went, though, and I can now say the kids have been and we never need to do it again!

The kids actually really enjoyed it and Eleanor had a donkey ride on the beach.

And finally to round off October, we had a small(ish) Halloween party. The last few years we have had at least 16 children here in this house for Halloween and it has been, quite frankly, a nightmare to keep them all in check. This year we agreed they could have three friends each to go trick or treating and do duck apple. I still spent two days decorating the house and organising a treasure hunt (for which Mum kindly provided the clever rhyming clues) but it was so worth it as the party went swimmingly for a change.

Sunflowers

2009-09-03T19:11:00.004+01:00

Earlier in the summer I quickly threw a load of sunflower seeds into a long, shallow tray. I got what soil I could out of the compost bin but it didn't even half fill the tray. I wasn't too worried because I assumed the seedlings would be replanted into the borders. The seeds grew quicker than expected and I was looking for places to replant them but our borders are really awful and messy and there's very little space or good soil to put them. I ended up leaving them in the tray thinking they would just wither away and die.

Pathetic attempt:

But look....

And every single stalk has a bud opening, even the bent one that's half lying on the floor! They might be miniature in size but they are still beautiful.

Just Henry

2009-09-03T16:30:00.002+01:00

Dave's Selling Techniques

2009-08-31T09:58:00.002+01:00

At the car booty we did yesterday:

Woman: How much is that shirt?

Dave: 50p or £1 for two!

Woman: 20p?

Dave: No, 50p.

Woman: 30p?

Dave: 50p and if you ask again it will be 60.

I almost choked on my sandwich laughing at that point but she paid up.

Henry Hound of Erylmore

2009-08-23T22:04:00.003+01:00

I finally got what I have always wanted...a black labrador puppy. He is GORGEOUS but has piddled and pooed his way around the house all afternoon and won't stay still long enough to get a decent photo. Dave is off again this week so I expect a fully trained dog by the time I'm next off on Thursday.

We already know he likes to rip up newspaper and shred it around the place, he makes terrible smells and can piddle for England but he's now curled up fast asleep in the living room (after having been chased around the house for hours by Eleanor) and I could eat him. No doubt I'll be seeing him some time during the night!

Summer Holiday Days Out

2009-08-23T21:33:00.010+01:00

We had to cancel a holiday to Cornwall last week but the kids have still had a lovely summer playing with cousins and friends and having days out.

Martin Mere with Grandma, Jack, Tom and Lillie:

There was a Viking village where the kids were shown how people lived in mud huts and the girls 'knitted' bracelets around a wooden spool:

We went to Knowsley Safari Park, taking Lily J and Jonathan:

We went as a family to Trentham Gardens in Stoke:

Ben and Eleanor doing the Barfus (barefoot walk) where all along the trail through the woods they walk on and through different textures:

That's as well as cinema trips, going to the Maize Maze, bowling, days at other friends' houses, having friends here, a Fiesta evening at Mum's church and so on. I don't want to hear either of them say they've had a boring summer.

Beautiful

2009-08-10T21:51:00.002+01:00

Growing Up

2009-07-30T06:48:00.006+01:00

Eleanor has finished Infant school, sob, sob! Last Friday was her last day there and in September she moves over to Juniors. Juniors is on the same school site but a different building and completely separately run so it's quite a big deal when they move up at the age of 7.

Eleanor's first day of school:

They had a leavers' assembly on the Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Dave, Mum and I went to see it on the Thursday and I honestly wasn't sure how I would get through it. I kept thinking of the last 5 years that I've been going to drop both Ben and Eleanor off and pick them up outside various classrooms with colourful displays of the children's work, the fact that they'd both been really lucky with wonderful teachers, the lovely headteacher, Mrs Gibson, who obviously adores all the children, the support staff in the office (who quite often had to deal with my 8.30am telephone calls asking them to confirm that it is a dress down day or whatever because Eleanor wouldn't believe me, even though I'd show her the school letter saying it was), Mrs Langley, the Welfare Assistant, who would clean up and sprinkle her magic dust over their cuts and grazes, and finally Olive, the amazing lollipop lady (who we will still see every day) who knows the name of every child in that school - Infants and Juniors - who also works as a Dinner Lady and gives out stickers that the children proudly wear on their cardigans.

All that gets left behind in Juniors where they have to grow up a lot more and have much more responsibility. They are suddenly expected to remember everything they are told, ie. homework assignments - they don't write down what they are to do and then us mums spends ages phoning round each other trying to find out exactly what it is - rather than being sent home with letters (Eleanor's NEVER going to believe me when I tell her it's a dress down day now, is she?). I know she'll be fine but her first week there is going to be nervewracking, especially as they shuffle the children around a bit so she won't be with all the same classmates.

Anyway, back to the leavers' assembly. The three classes were doing songs from the 70s. Eleanor's class danced to Mamma Mia!, another class danced to Surfin' USA and the last class danced to that song from Grease that goes We'll Always Be Together (not sure of the actual name). The show was brilliant - 90 little 7 year olds bopping away and looking great in their outfits. They ended with singing Hello, Goodbye by The Beatles, then that one that starts We Don't Need No Education, but they changed some of the words and it ended with "Hey, Teachers, Booker is the best. All in all we think that us Year 2s are the best". The last song was Schools Out For Summer and they all wore cardboard graduation hats that the teachers had spent hours making for each child.

Eleanor always looks totally embarrassed doing anything like this!

Cute Pink Ladies!

I did take more photos but these were the only two where you could see Eleanor clearly (we were definitely sitting on the wrong side of the hall to see her properly). Dave videoed the whole show, though, so we've got that to look back on.

I wish it could have lasted longer than it did. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful school.

Early Bird

2009-07-30T06:46:00.001+01:00

I finished work yesterday and am off now for 11 whole days. I got all my typing done last night. There's no school. So why did I wake up ABSOLUTELY WIDE EYED AT 5.30AM THIS MORNING???

Trampoline Buddies & Patient Cousins

2009-07-30T06:22:00.006+01:00

Dave's sister, Judith, and family were down a few weeks ago just for the weekend before jetting off on a two week holiday (lucky things). Eleanor was more than happy to see them, especially as they enjoyed going on the trampoline with her (I went on it with her for about 10 minutes one evening and spent the whole of the next day in bed because it had triggered whatever it is inside my neck that causes me terrible headaches).

This series of photos makes me laugh, though:

The girls had been on there for ages but first Laura disappeared, then Sophie got off and it was a little while before she realised they weren't getting back on. So glad Lillie next door LOVES the trampoline and will spend hours on it with her.

Laura then helped Eleanor with a craft kit which involved glueing the tiniest beads onto a photo frame (we still haven't finished it, Laura!). I'm still brushing up beads from the kitchen floor weeks later.

Laura has the patience of a saint with Eleanor who sticks to Laura like glue whenever we see them. Ben is the same with Sophie but they are a bit closer in age and have lots of interests in common. I could actually do with Laura here every day to keep madam occupied!

She Should Have Been Asleep

2009-07-30T06:10:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I thought Eleanor was asleep, or almost asleep. It was getting quite late for a school night and I was busy working upstairs. Next thing, she appeared on the landing to show me a couple of things she'd written down (on tissues of all things):

I know the 70s one will be because for their leavers' assembly her class were dancing to Mamma Mia and they have been talking about the type of clothes they wore but the "Jermens" one! Honestly, I don't know where she gets it from, and why Homer Simpson at the bottom?!

80s Nostaligia

2009-07-02T10:46:00.002+01:00

Don't laugh. We don't normally go out dressed like this.

Actually you can laugh at Dave. I almost wet myself laughing when he put that 'wedge' wig on. What was he thinking when he bought it? He was meant to look like Wham but he just looked fairly normal until he stuck that mop on his head. Such a good night.

Hollie - DOB 14.06.09

2009-06-18T16:33:00.002+01:00

...and this is Hollie, born 14th June 2009 at approximately 3.30pm. Cute as a button but it's shoving her poor paws in these shoes that cracks me up every time!

Birthday Girl...continued

2009-06-18T14:48:00.004+01:00

I haven't got the energy for blogging at the moment which is why this is coming in dribs and drabs. I think I was up to Eleanor's actual birthday.

We got up early and Eleanor opened her presents. The trampoline (shared with Ben) and Girls Aloud concert were her main presents so she just had a few small ones to open, ie. nothing exciting! We then got ready quickly to go and pick up three of her friends to get them all over to Warrington for another party.

See the state of her hair? In her own mind, it still looked as beautiful as the day before so she wouldn't let me do anything with it before going to the next party!

This party was held in a place called Splash Zone. It's not a pool but an indoor play ground on soft spongey flooring with water fountains all over it. The kids had a whale of a time, so much so that I may take my two and a friend each this weekend.

We got home around 2ish, I had a quite bite to eat and we set off for town to go to Build-A-Bear. Eleanor has been so desperate to go since it opened about October last year so this was a really big thing for her. She chose a very cute bear, a cute outfit and some little sandals - £31!!!! Good job she'd been given loads of birthday money. Some of the outfits were absolutely ridiculous - bikinis and the like. She registered "Hollie" (named after one of the twins next door) and got a birth certificate, so they now both have the same birthday.

After that, there was just time to call in at Dave's parents before getting home for a late dinner, bath, homework and bed. We were all pretty exhausted but it had been a good, fun filled weekend, the type I like.

Happy 7th Birthday to my sweet little Smell Bell xx

Birthday Girl

2009-06-14T23:03:00.003+01:00

Today is Eleanor's 7th birthday. Where does the time go? We've had such a busy weekend as yesterday was her party and then today she went to another girl's party and then we took her to Build-A-Bear this afternoon.

Yesterday's party was held here in the house...again. I am putting it on record that I am doing NO MORE PARTIES!!! From now on it will be a couple of friends and we will take them somewhere as I was up before 7am yesterday and finally finished clearing up about 10.45pm last night when the actual party ended at 5!

The party was supposed to be in that beauty salon where Eleanor was once given the pink look but they don't do parties at this time of year as they're so busy, so they said I could have a girl come to the house to do the make-up and nails here. That would take up the first hour, then it would be food and then I set the dining room up to do a disco. We'd also bought one of those huge trampolines last week which I knew would go down well. What I did wrong was tell Ben he could have a couple of friends over (plus my nephew, Jack, was here) and it became a stand-off between the boys and girls in the garden. The boys had weapons, of course - water pistols - and the girls were screaming because their make-up was getting wet. Once we'd sorted that out and got the boys to calm down, we did a few party games and then had some food. The boys came into the dining room, filled their plates full and sat in the garden to eat. I'd put black material up at the window of the dining room to make the room nice and dark for the disco and the table of food was by the doors to the garden which were open because it was so warm. There I was sitting on the floor chatting to the girls as they were eating when I noticed a plate disappearing under the black cloth. The boys were sneaking up one by one and pinching plates of cakes or biscuits. Dave and I actually found it quite funny but some of Eleanor's friends who don't have brothers weren't very impressed!

The girls' make-up was beautiful - much, much nicer than when she had it done at that last party - and it all matched what each girl was wearing.

Eleanor was the only one who got her hair done but they only had time to braid it and stick some tiny gems all over it. It was really pretty but started falling out once she went on the trampoline.

Two of Eleanor's friends (and Lillie next door) were staying until 7pm so I'd said Ben's friends could as well. Once most of the girls had gone, the rest of them played brilliantly and had a great time. George's Mum came for him at 7pm and stayed chatting until nearly 9.30pm. It was actually really nice to just sit and chill with her but when she'd gone, I looked round at the tip and just had to clear everywhere up before hitting the sack. I had to be up early again today as the party Eleanor was going to this morning was over in Warrington and I had to pick up 3 of her friends before heading over there.

To be continued...

Girls Aloud

2009-06-14T22:55:00.005+01:00

Part of Eleanor's birthday present this year were tickets to see Girls Aloud - just the two of us. It was her first concert and I knew it could be a bit daunting and loud but she really loves them and I didn't want her to miss out.

We got there just after 7.30pm but GA didn't get on stage until just gone 9pm. By that time Eleanor was bored and tired, despite having been in and out of our seats to queue for drinks and snacks and toilet trips. When they came on stage, everyone stood and never sat down again so she ended up standing on her seat. She lasted like that for about 45mins and then she was shattered and sat down so I perched on the top of my seat so I was nearer to her but could still see. The show was absolutely amazing and although we were halfway down the arena, during one song the girls came out on a moving platform, right across everyone's heads, to halfway down the arena, so were right by us. They stayed there for a couple of numbers and then went back to the main stage. It was just brilliant.

I could see Eleanor's eyes going at one point (how do you almost fall asleep with noise like that going on?!) but it was near the end and we left pretty sharpish. As we walked to the car to meet Dave, she looked up at me and said "I'm a really big fan of theirs now, aren't I?". Ah, bless her.

Now, I believe Miley Cyrus is coming to Manchester in December.....

The Blue Room

2009-06-14T22:38:00.003+01:00

After repainting and changing the living room (must have been around end February/beginning of March), I decided the next project had to be Eleanor's bedroom. Her bed was one of those mid-height beds with a bookshelf and chest of drawers underneath so it was quite practical but the squeakiest bed you've ever come across. It drove me mad listening to it and it was also a pain to get in and out of myself if I wanted to have a snuggle or read with her. It was also written on all over by a certain young lady who always tried to deny it had been her. One time I went into her room and noticed she'd written "Karen Atlay" on the ladder - was she hoping I'd take the rap for that??!

As soon as I mentioned she could have a new bed, Eleanor knew exactly which one she wanted as she's admired this particular one from Next for quite some time. I also knew that I HAD to get rid of all the pink in her room and we agreed on a really pale bluey/green. It took hours to paint over a whole week because her built-in wardrobes all needed re-glossing but the finished effect is really lovely, the new carpet is lipstick/nail varnish free, and the bed is just her. Before ordering it, I told her that the frame was metal and not wooden and was she OK with that? Her reply: Yes, that's fine. I can't write on metal, can I?

Scotland

2009-06-14T21:46:00.006+01:00

The kids recently had a 2 week half term holiday (actually 2 whole weeks and one extra day for teacher training - so annoying). Dave spoke to his sister, Judith, to see if it was OK for us to go up to stay with them in Scotland for the first weekend. That was fine and we were so looking forward to it.

The day before, I came home from picking the kids up from school to a phone message from Dave's Mum saying his Dad had taken ill in Tesco and to call her. I didn't have her mobile number so spent the next 20 minutes trying to get hold of Dave to get it, then it was off when I rang and then I spent ages trying to get through to the actual store I thought they were in. When I finally spoke to Dot, an ambulance was there and they were taking him to the Royal as his heart rate was slow. I arranged for the kids to be looked after and got there as soon as I could. He was all hooked up having his heart monitored and they were taking blood and asking all sorts of questions. By the time the blood results came back an hour or so later, Dave had just arrived and they knew Ken hadn't had a stroke or heart attack, so that was good. They were concerned about his heart rate, though, so kept him in overnight.

Going to Scotland was looking highly unlikely but the next morning Ken was told by the doctor there was absolutely nothing wrong and he could go home. I picked him up around lunchtime and he looked quite pleased with his little adventure! He told us we were to go as he'd been given the all clear. We picked the kids up from school and called in again to make sure he looked OK and off we went for a lovely weekend.

Dave started driving and I was just settling back after passing out sweets and various other things to the kids to keep them entertained when we got about as far as Preston (not even there, I don't think) and he said he was desperately tired and I'd have to drive!! I took over and the next time he opened his eyes, we were just before Glasgow and I'd driven for nearly 3 hours. What I want to know is how come I never get left alone for that long to have a kip in the car???

The weekend was bliss as far as I'm concerned. Judith and Dave make us very at home and the kids enjoy being together so it's very chilled, and we also spent time up at the stables as they have two ponies at the moment. Ben is normally a bag of nerves up there, though, because they have a Westie, Mac, and he's terrified of dogs. This time, he was stroking him and held Mac's lead while we were up at the stables and (almost) forgot his fears. That was such an achievement for Ben and I was very proud of him.

(Can you believe Ben was terrified of this little cutie?)

On the Sunday afternoon, we went with the girls and their Dad, Dave, to get Sophie a couple of guinea pigs. She's not into the horses anywhere near as much as Laura so these were just for her. Oh my goodness....I never knew guinea pigs were so gorgeous! I seriously want one but Dave doesn't want Nibbles' tiny nose pushed out of joint.

Meet Toffee and Fudge (and according to Ben, if we do ever get some, they are going to be called Coffee and Smudge!):

School Stuff

2009-06-14T21:25:00.004+01:00

We attended our last Infants' Spring Fair last month. Can't say I'll miss them as the weather is always rubbish and they have the same awful Irish band playing every year but I like to support any school events. The Year 2 children have the honour of doing the maypole dance. As I understand it, the ribbons are meant to plait together down the pole as they dance around but it wasn't happening at all. The kids just skipped about this way and that with big smiley faces and it was really cute to watch.

Ben's class had to do a class assembly (where the parents of the children in that class can attend) on Sikhism. They all had several parts to read out and had put tons of effort into it.

(Ben's at the centre bottom of this photo if you would like to fetch a magnifying glass to spot him)

Ben with his friend, Greg.

Both kids have worked really hard in school recently so it's nice that they get to do fun stuff too. Between the Easter holidays and the half term holiday they've just had, they had their SATs. Eleanor's results will determine which sets she will be in for Maths, Literacy and Science when she moves up to Juniors in September, so very important for her.

Kenith's Birthday

2009-04-30T17:13:00.003+01:00

Two other important birthdays in April - Lesley's was on the 17th and Dave's Dad's was on the 21st. I didn't get to see Lesley on the day as she was too busy out spending her birthday spondoolies and then out in the evening with Darren and friends.

Dave's Dad's was on a Tuesday and we only managed to whizz up there for an hour after work and after picking the kids up from Mum's but he was made up to see us and we had a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.

I love the way Eleanor addressed his envelope:

The Not Such a Surprise 70th Birthday Party

2009-04-30T11:42:00.008+01:00

A few weeks before Mum's little birthday party that I'd been furtively planning, I overheard Eleanor saying to Mum, "Grandma, you know your surprise party..."!! Oh, well. Mum did then say she had an idea we might do something like we did when Dad was 70.

We had a lovely time on Saturday afternoon. When Mum arrived she saw that I had decorated some of the downstairs doors with photos of her and our family from over the years.

There were about 20 of us altogether, including kids. The weather was beautiful first thing and then poured down mid morning and I was imagining utter chaos with the kids running around the house and not being able to go outside. Fortunately, by the time everyone was here around 3pm, it had warmed up, the sun was beginning to shine again and everyone could go outside if they wanted to. We gave Mum her presents before eating - Lesley, myself and Jeanette all chipped in to pay for National Trust membership for a year for Mum, Dad and any grandchildren under the age of 18. Haha! We'll be looking forward to them taking our kids for long days out! Dad had bought Mum a bike and she's already been on several bike rides. As a joke, Lesley got her a bell and a bike wing mirror. She got flowers and plants for the garden and I am also taking her to the theatre but it's not for a while yet.

I did a lasagne and chilli and some buffet food which I hope went down well - I should have done twice as much lasagne actually as that was definitely the favourite.

I have to say the kids were all SO good. Give them some water and water guns and they are happy for hours!

It was a lovely afternoon and I'm glad to say Mum enjoyed every second - you're definitely worth it, our Mutti.

Easter - Better Late Than Never

2009-04-30T11:21:00.004+01:00

I finally had time to download photos from the camera this week and there were pictures on there from the end of March that I haven't blogged about yet.

In Ben's school, they do an annual egg display the week before Easter. This means they use an egg to create a model (anything at all) and they all go on display in the school for a week. Considering it's not a competition and there's no winner, the effort put in is amazing. This year Ben wanted to do "Eleggtrical Eggsecution". We leave everything to the last minute and it always takes longer to do than you think, so we had to keep it fairly simply, despite Ben's ideas of having people viewing the execution and a doctor and policeman standing in the corner smiling!

Of course, after all Ben's bright ideas, all he managed to do was paint the "floor" - muggins here did all the rest!

The following week (I think), my eldest cousin, Tania, was over from New York with her daughter, Rebekah. I haven't seen Tania since Rebekah was a young baby (she's now 16) so it was lovely to catch up. The kids were really taken with Rebekah and are still in awe of the way she just put her hand into Nibbles' cage and got him out. We're convinced he can smell our fear so only hold him in his exercise ball!

The weather over Easter weekend was beautiful so on Easter Sunday we went to Speke Hall for an Easter egg hunt and a picnic.

As we were going round the grounds looking for clues, we saw these people dressed up:

Eleanor had to have a photo taken with them:

Their costumes were beautiful close-up but it spoilt it a little when I heard them chatting to each other with such strong Scouse accents!

We then headed home around 4ish as Dave's Mum and Dad were coming round for our Easter dinner of duck roast (yum!).

Happy Birthday, Our Mutti!

2009-04-24T09:49:00.006+01:00

Today is Mum's 70th birthday. 70. And I just can't believe it when I look at her. She sometimes says she doesn't have the energy she used to have, but when she was younger she must have had tons more energy than most people. Her days are full, mainly of helping family and other people. And yet, despite what she manages to do for others, I sometimes hear her saying she wished she could do more. It's in her nature and it's a lovely way to be.

Mum adores her family - all her family - and I have a sneaky feeling we all adore her back.

Lesley and I are very blessed to have our Mum (and Dad). We had the best times when we were kids. We lived in a road where there were loads of children and it was non-stop fun for us, but probably a nightmare for Mum with us running in and out of the house all day long. We went on wonderful holidays to Conway in Wales (still my favourite place ever) or Exmouth in Devon, nearly always in a caravan which made it even more exciting.

Mum's favourite photo of all time

Mum didn't go to work full-time until I was 11 so she was always around, and always there waiting at the end of a school day. One particularly happy memory is getting the bus home on the last day of school for the summer when I was about 7 or 8. It was a stinking hot day and I ran down our road from the bus stop. Mum had the garage door ajar watching for us, hiding behind it because she was in her swimming costume (she'd obviously had a very lazy day sunning herself). I just remember her smile for some reason and flopping myself down on the blanket in the garden all relieved we had 6 whole weeks of no school ahead of us. I loved being home. She then smothered us in her homemade suntan lotion mix of olive oil and vinegar - "You'll be as brown as a berry with this"!! That smell was delicious. Happy days.

Of course, there were moments when she completely lost it with us, like when she tipped Lesley's dinner over her head because she wouldn't eat it for the umpteenth time in a row. And when she banged our heads together because we'd been fighting all day (I'm scarred for life over that episode). Now here I am with two bickering kids of my own and, oooooh, it's so tempting!!

A couple of things Mum cannot possibly be forgiven for:

1. We once had a rabbit, Woffles. A neighbour had found him in his garden and Lesley and I went round all the neighbours asking if they'd lost him. No-one had so we were allowed to keep him. Dad built a hutch and a run from which Woffles had no trouble escaping. Mum spent many a happy day chasing the escapee round the garden with a broom and wearing rubber gloves. We realised after a good while that he was actually a wild rabbit and, Mum being Mum (and probably secretly glad of the chance to get rid of him) she said we had to let him go in the countryside. It was a sad day taking Woffles in the car to a field and letting him go. I envisaged him all sad and lonely as we drove away from him and I was pretty devastated. For dinner that evening, Mum served up RABBIT - something we'd never, ever eaten before but she obviously decided that that particular day would be a good one to try it!

2. Making some of our clothes. Yes it was the early 70s and most mums stayed at home and there wasn't much money, blah, blah, blah, but really our matching "mock denim" trouser and jacket suits were not good!

Mum - hope you enjoyed your little party yesterday with people you love and who love you back. Have a wonderful birthday and here's to many more to come.

Karen xxx

Center Parcs

2009-03-28T22:34:00.011Z

Mum celebrates a rather big birthday next month and decided she wanted to do something for all the family. It didn't take long for the decision to be made for us all to go to Center Parcs for a weekend. Mum, Dad and Lesley and her family had been before but we hadn't, although I'd always wanted to. We went in March because that's when the deals ended!

I loved every second of being there. We had a horrible journey up there; what should have taken less than 2 hours took 4 because a section of the motorway had been closed earlier in the day due to a serious accident and the traffic was almost at a standstill. We came off and went up the A road which was wasn't much faster. When we finally got back on the motorway, Dave noticed that the ties on our bike rack were flapping away so we pulled over at the next junction to check them. The bikes were literally hanging off the rack and I'm pretty sure were only still hanging on because they had lodged into each other! Good job Dave noticed as who knows what would have happened if they'd fallen off. While we were sorting it out, the kids were hysterical in the car as we'd just stopped and got out telling them not to move. If we'd said the bikes were hanging off, they'd have been even worse! The motorway police pulled up behind us and we explained what we were doing. They said we'd done the right thing to pull off the motorway and one of them chatted to the kids and had them laughing while we disentangled the bikes.

We finally got there and found our lodge. It was MASSIVE with one double and one twin bedroom downstairs and the same upstairs, with full bathrooms each AND a separate downstairs loo! So much bigger than I anticipated. Mum and Dad had a smaller lodge but even they had two double bedrooms and two huge bathrooms. They were brilliant.

On the Saturday we headed to the pool. You could stay in the pool area all day, taking a picnic or buying food from the cafe. There were comfortable chairs and tables and it was lovely and warm in there. They had a wave machine, a lazy river with a strong current that drags you round (so funny and really hard to get out of again!) and loads of slides. There was also an outdoor pool which was warm when in the water but getting from the building to the outdoor pool was FREEZING!! There was lots of screaming going on getting in and out of that pool.

After a few hours at the pool, we went on a family bike ride. Mum always says she's not good on a bike and was very nervous about it, but look:

How good is that?!! AND she went all round the whole park which is more than Eleanor and I did because Eleanor had backache after swimming and as we passed our lodge, she said she couldn't go any further.

After dinner on the Saturday, we went bowling and took Dad as he likes to bowl. The bowling alley was quite dark but with luminous decorations on the wall and luminous bowling balls.

On the Sunday, Lesley and Darren took Tom for a soccer skills session so Jack came with us and we decided to get a pedaloe out on the lake. It was a really windy day and pretty perishing standing on the side of the lake, but when on the pedaloe it didn't seem too bad. Mum and Eleanor decided not to join in so we just got the one.

Sunday was also Mother's Day and Dave's birthday. I didn't get one decent picture of Mum with the grandchildren but these are the best I could get:

And the Birthday Boy himself:

I give up on ever having brilliant photos on my blog!

We were so lucky with the weather as it stayed dry for us the whole weekend. I can't wait to go back again some time. Thanks, Mum and Dad, for treating us all to a fabulous weekend!

Richard Turned 1!

2009-03-28T22:30:00.003Z

As soon as we got home from Quarry Bank, we dropped Dave off so he could start cooking dinner(!) and whizzed over to Bromborough to say Happy Birthday to Richard and give him his presents. He's such a little cutie but very serious while we were there, possibly because (a) we'd interrupted his dinner and that's just not on and (b) everyone started playing with his new toys and he wasn't getting a look in.

Quarry Bank Mill

2009-03-28T22:21:00.002Z

A couple of weeks ago we woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning and decided to get out of the house and go somewhere for the day. Quarry Bank Mill near Manchester had been mentioned to me a few times so off we went. It's an old cotton mill set is beautiful grounds and we had a really lovely, relaxed day. We went round the main mill where some machines still work so you can see (and hear) how it would have been when it was a fully working mill, but it was extremely busy there that day and the Apprentice House was fully booked, so we'll go again to see what that's like.

World Book Day 09

2009-03-13T14:01:00.004Z

5th March is World Book Day every.single.year. I have got to remember that for next year because once again I raced last minute round the shops trying to find something suitable for the kids to wear. Eleanor will wear anything as long as it's pretty and girly but Ben, despite being a character from Primeval (which I know is a TV show but he does have a book on it!) who wears normal clothes, chose someone who wears a shirt, waistcoat, fingerless gloves and a skinny scarf. I whizzed through every shop on my way from work to the station a couple of days before the day itself and bought just about everything I could see that was suitable in the hope he'd like something enough to wear. Fortunately he actually liked the cheapest shirt and waistcoat and decided against the scarf in the end so most of it went back.

We went to Asda for Eleanor's, having seen a Goldilocks outfit on their website. Walking up to them, I saw there was just one left and a load of Little Red Riding Hood outfits next to it. As we were just debating which she would prefer, the Goldilocks one was taken from right in front of us. I should have said something to the woman but you never know whether they're going to give you a mouthful so I managed to persuade Eleanor the red outfit was the better one anyway.

No need to explain who this cool cat was - Jill did an amazing job making this outfit for Lillie:

Meet Nibbles

2009-03-13T12:43:00.003Z

We've got a hamster. Against my better judgment. However, Dave was as keen to have him as the kids so at least if the kids don't clean out the cage, I can tell Dave it's his job!

He is adorable, though. These pictures aren't very clear because we didn't have a proper cage to start with (have you seen the price of cages in pet shops?!!)and he was put in my plastic recycling bin (and also Ben was the photographer). Now he has his spooky castle cage with different rooms but he's in and out of each room so fast, or spends hours inside a toilet roll, that it's hard to get good pictures of him.

Red Nose Day 09

2009-03-13T12:39:00.002Z

Here's hoping millions are raised today for such a worthwhile cause.

Knitting Club

2009-03-13T12:33:00.004Z

Eleanor recently completed five weeks of after school knitting club and when she brought her little rectanglar masterpiece home, she told me it was a coat for her panda:

She's now doing cookery club and has made some delicious looking stuff but it doesn't quite have the same appeal by the time it's been shoved in a box to bring home and is cold.

Beatles Week

2009-03-13T12:10:00.006Z

Year 2 children recently had an artist working with them for a week. Their topic was John Lennon, which then turned into all The Beatles, then the whole 60s/70s era, culminating with a 60s and 70s disco on the Friday. Parents were invited into the school a bit earlier on the Friday afternoon to watch the children present the artist with a present and thank him for his help over the week. We also saw exactly what they had made:

Pretty impressive! Eleanor's class had done Ringo Starr. There were other things on display in the hall but it was so busy that I couldn't get a decent photo of anything.

She also came home with her clay Yellow Submarine (so cute):

The children had been asked to bring in any photos of famous Beatles places in Liverpool so on the Sunday evening we'd driven round here quickly taking a few pictures:

(Aunt Mimi's house where John Lennon grew up)

(The gates at Strawberry Fields)

(The sign on the gateposts - what's with all the graffiti from so called "fans"?)

(Self-explanatory!)

The kids were able to dress up in 60s or 70s gear on the Friday for their disco. Eleanor's little grey dress was perfect with black tights and her boots and despite spending ages backcombing her hair only for it to fall flat again, she really looked the part:

...and so did her teacher, Mr Carmichael:

A great week for the kids.

Half Term Shenanigans

2009-02-23T18:38:00.009Z

It was half term holiday last week for my two. It worked out brilliantly that Dave's sister, Judith, and her family were coming down from Scotland on the Friday evening as the kids all get along so well.

Laura and Sophie stayed with us on the Friday night and they all played here on the Wii or their DS's on Saturday morning. We went to see Hotel for Dogs in the afternoon which was so cute (we 'aahhhed' through most of it!) and then Judith did a buffet style meal for us all in the evening over at Dave's parents' house. We didn't stay too late and brought the girls back here again for Saturday night.

Sophie and her stalker (he seriously won't leave her side when we see them):

Laura:

On the Sunday, Ben went into town with Judith and the girls whilst Dave and I had to take Eleanor to the opticians. She had told me on the Friday evening that she was seeing double!! All sorts of things were going through my mind and I needed to get her seen by someone quickly. The optician said her eyesight is near perfect but he is referring us to an opthamologist because one of the muscles in her right eye has 'broken down'. That did nothing to stop me worrying! He asked if she'd had a virus that could have attacked it but I can't think of anything. Anyway, he is hopeful that it will be resolved with exercise or possibly glasses but we need to wait for the hospital appointment to come through.

Sunday evening was so peaceful as all the kids stayed over at Dot's house for the night as they were looking after them the following day. I thought they were going bowling on the Monday but when I called from work in the morning to make sure they'd behaved and gone to sleep early(ish), Ben told me they were off to the zoo - fantastic! They had a great time, so thanks to Aunty Judith and Uncle David for that treat.

Dave collected the kids from his Mum's on the Monday evening after work and Ben came home looking really miserable. The girls were going back home the following morning but they'd actually had the nerve to go out for a meal with friends that evening and had already left when Dave got there. Ben was none too pleased with the thought of them still being in Liverpool but he couldn't be with them!

On the Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids were with my Mum. She took them into town on the Tuesday and bowling on the Wednesday. They love playing in her house most of all and make shops or kitchens or whatever and have EVERYTHING out. I'd be tearing my hair out but Mum never seems to mind (or never shows it anyway).

On the Thursday I made arrangements to meet up with Jeanette and her kids over at Tatton Park near Altrincham. It's a huge estate with deer roaming the fields, a mansion, a great play area, farm and beautiful gardens. They were having a scarecrow festival and it was recommended by one of the mums from school (who we actually bumped into while we were there). The day had started out fairly sunny so we met up around 12noon and had our picnic first. As soon as we started to eat, it started to drizzle with rain - typical! We didn't let that bother us, though, and the kids then played for a good couple of hours in the play area.

We then went through into the gardens to do the scarecrow trail. The place was so big we found ourselves walking round in circles and managed to completely miss certain areas, including the maze that the kids really wanted to go in. We could only stay until 4pm as Jeanette needed to get back to get Matthew to football but we could certainly have stayed a lot longer, and will definitely go back in the summer. You could have hours of fun there.

Richard - such a cutie:

Friday was a day I wanted to catch up on housework and typing but I said the kids to have a friend each just for the afternoon. They were so good and I was able to work without interruption. In the evening my friend, Cathy, was over from Sheffield with her daughter, Rosie, to attend an open day at a local university, so we met up for a meal in the evening. Another old school friend came along as well so it was lovely to all catch up.

We rounded off the week by going to see Bolt in 3D on Saturday. It was more me that wanted to see it as I'd never seen a 3D film before and it was so worth it. It's funny how everyone ducks out of the way as something appears to come towards you! Can't wait for the next 3D film to come out.

So that was the half term week. Busy, busy, busy but lots of fun. I just hope I haven't set a precedent and they don't expect every school holiday to be that full!

Holiday Photos

2009-02-12T14:12:00.006Z

In no particular order ('cos I can't be bothered re-arranging them):

This little church stood on top of the hill where the nursery slopes were. On our last day when we had 6 hours to kill waiting for our coach to the airport, Dave decided we would climb up to it. He went ahead and we were ages after him because the snow was thick. I wondered why he wasn't going any higher but as we got near him he was holding on to a tree with his feet going ten to the dozen (like a Scooby Doo character) on the ice! It was hilarious. Of course we turned round there and then and left him to get down on his own.

That run between the trees in the background is that first horrible run I did. Looks lovely from a distance!

Ben:

The kids' ski school group:

The funicular which took you up rapidly to the top of the Hartkeiser mountain:

The kids proudly showing their medals. Ben wouldn't remove his helmet because his hair was squashed flat underneath:

Presentation of medals - Ilona, their Dutch instructor, is on the left. She was really lovely with them all:

Me in action. You wouldn't think I'd been skiing about 7 times:

Ben coming down the "waves" (where they did little jumps on the top):

Eleanor on the "waves":

One of the beautiful, old restaurants where Dave and I ate the one night the hotel didn't do an evening meal. We were heading for the pizza restaurant with the kids until they said they were happy with a sandwich and to get to kids club, so we got another free evening:

Log store:

This is from the area at the top of the mountain when you get off the funicular. You can't see but the slopes go off in all directions from up here and you could have skied for absolutely miles over the Ski-Weld:

Toboganning:

This is again from the top of the mountain:

Oh, I want to go back.

Three Guesses Where We've Been

2009-02-12T12:18:00.005Z

No, that picture wasn't taken in the front drive, despite the fact that Liverpool had it's first decent snowfall in years while we were away!! We've just had the best week in Ellmau, Austria where we took the kids skiing for the first time. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a holiday so much; it was a beatiful place, there was tons of snow even though we didn't see a single snowflake fall, it was sunny and warm during the day and I HARDLY SAW THE KIDS!!! They have never been happy to join in on kids clubs before and this holiday they couldn't wait to get down to the club room every morning.

Dave is a really good skier and after the first day when he stayed with me (we haven't been for 10 years and I needed him around in case I was rubbish - I was) and I screamed the whole way down a terrifyingly steep run, I told him to go off on his own most days and leave me to potter on slopes I was happy on. Because we were staying in a hotel which was very social, he had plenty of people to ski with every day so it worked out really well.

And potter I did. I would maybe do an hour or so and then head back to the hotel to drop off the skis and boots, maybe have a little nap and then head back out to sit on a bench in the warm sunshine and watch the kids on the nursery slopes. Pure bliss. I didn't even ski at all for two days!!

Ben did have one drama to tell. I was sitting on the Monday afternoon watching the group of kids I thought included Ben and Eleanor quite a way up the slopes, but they weren't actually doing anything. I wasn't 100% sure it was them because I couldn't see Ben and he was the tallest in their group. I was reading a magazine and just kept glancing up and not really thinking anything of it but then a little while later I got a phone call from the holiday rep to say that Ben was at the doctors having had a really bad nose bleed. I ran along the road to meet her where she told me to and she and Ben came out of a nearby building, Ben looking as though he'd been in a fight he was covered in that much blood. He was absolutely fine and it was only a nosebleed but that was why the group hadn't been doing anything on the mountain, and the reason I couldn't see Ben was because the two instructors were standing in front of him. He was skidooed off the slopes and met by ambulance to be taken to the doctor's and I didn't see any of that, poor kid. He told me he'd been crying his eyes out because there was that much blood in the snow, it looked worse than it must have been. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't see it!

The kids got medals at the end of the week which made their holiday. I was so proud of them to have stuck it for the first couple of days when they were really nervous.

Let's hope we can afford to go again next year.

The view from our window:

Blogger isn't letting me add any more photos at the moment so I'll do another post later just with photos.

Ashes to Ashes, Bumper to Bumper

2009-01-29T13:31:00.003Z

This little car has been "driven" by Eleanor since she was really small right up until last weekend when it's two back wheels had finally had enough and fell off. She has loved it and it was actually quite sad to see it go, but it is meant for a toddler. She's definitely had good use of it for the last five or six years.

Bye bye little car that scratched my floors and made a lot of noise as you drove up and down the patio. We'll all miss you.

A New Look

2009-01-25T12:13:00.004Z

I've finally worked out how to get a cute (and free) background to my blog. I've searched the internet and looked at hundreds of lovely designs (and lots of tacky ones, too) that you had to pay for, and then I noticed a little advert on the corner of my cousin, Corinne's, blog. I'm so happy and will probably change it more than I blog!

In the meantime, while I've been working out how to actually get it on to my blog page, I've been munching away at Eleanor's chocolate snowman which was sitting here. I've just realised I've eaten over half of it and she is not going to be pleased. Yikes!!!

Eleanor Funnies

2009-01-14T13:31:00.007Z

Sorry this is slightly disgusting but a couple of mornings ago Eleanor informed me that when cleaning her teeth she had coughed up some 'violin'. I've heard it being called 'guitar' before but never violin.

Then that evening, I went next door to bring her home for bed. Ian said her and Lillie had been very artistic all evening and had done beautiful drawings that they had copied from a picture done by Van Gogh. I didn't see the actual Van Gogh picture but this is Eleanor's version (and Lillie's was almost identical. I was very impressed. Note Eleanor's writing on the picture......Bangof Artest!

Prity Scery Stories

2009-01-11T14:51:00.004Z

Eleanor recently brought these pieces of work home with her. All the children had done similar stories a while back and Mr Carmichael, their teacher, had typed them up as spelt and put them on the wall outside their classroom. I just love the way kids spell words at this age.

A New Year

2009-01-04T20:35:00.006Z

The kids go back to school tomorrow after a sixteen and a half day holiday. I've been counting the seconds these last few days until they are back. They've been pretty good but are so noisy all the time, and I need me some peace and quiet every day.

Christmas was busy but really good. December went by so fast that we didn't get half the things done I wanted to, such as our annual visit to the grotto in Delamere. The weather had been so cold and frosty that it would be have lovely to go but we had so much else on. Despite missing that, they both still saw Father Christmas at the school fair, at a new grotto in Liverpool One and at my office kids' Christmas party, and I went with Eleanor's class to see him at a local stables and he also came to her school Christmas party. Good job they know it's not the real Santa!

The Liverpool One grotto:

The grotto I set up for work's party:

In Juniors, they don't do a Christmas play but have a Christmas Service held at a local church. Lots of children played their musical instruments and Ben and a few others from his year played the recorder to two pieces of music which sounded absolutely beautiful. The church was packed with parents and grandparents and we were standing right at the back but he looked confident and happy and it was just lovely.

Eleanor did her very last Christmas Play. I feel sad that in 6 years of nursery, pre-school and infants, she's never been an angel and that was her very last play. This year the theme was 'Getting Prepared for Christmas' and her class were mums and dads doing the Christmas shopping. She danced her little socks off, staring at me the whole time. I was so proud of her as this time last year she was really worried about this Christmas being in Year 2 and having to do a dance routine. This was the only photograph I got of her during the finale as I was busy videoing her during the dance routine.

Christmas Eve we (I) got the house cleaned and ready and headed out for a pub meal at teatime. We drove through town on the way back to see the lights, got the kids home and in the bath and when they got out, the reindeer had delivered their new pyjamas. I managed to get them to bed for 9pm and Eleanor went straight to sleep, but by 11pm Ben was in tears because he couldn't get to sleep and was getting himself worked up. We put him in our bed and he was asleep fairly quickly. I finally managed to get you know what out and arranged and then got to bed myself around midnight. Dave slept in Ben's bed.

At 5.55am Ben woke up with a start because someone was downstairs. I said it was just Dad - Dave had apparently been awake half the night with a headache because Ben's room was stuffy and he was getting some tablets. Eleanor then came in and that was it, we were up.

We got downstairs and they saw their sacks with their main presents in front and they worked quickly through the pile, creating a mountain of presents and ripped wrapping paper as they went. I won't talk about Eleanor's strop over not having got her Secret Journal (which was actually still in the sack she was only halfway through) and the fact that she was sent to her room at 7.10am.

Mum and Dad called in during the morning before going to Lesley's and then Dave's Mum and Dad came over just after lunchtime as they were with us for the rest of the day. After a delicious meal, we watched Mamma Mia and then got Eleanor's new karaoke machine out and sang very badly for the rest of the evening. I thought it was OK as next door were out, but the next day Lillie came in and said they heard us singing!!! They'd come home early as Ian's brother had shingles and they weren't sure if he was still contagious and didn't want to chance anything with the twins. I still feel myself go red at the thought of it!

Boxing Day we had Jeanette, Neil and their four kids over for a meal. That was good fun as we played on Ben's Wii Fit and had a really good time.

On the Saturday, we took Lillie with us for a walk around Greenbank Park. It was a bright, sunny day but freezing cold. The kids had a play in the play area and then we walked around the lake. It was good to have some fresh air. Later that afternoon we had Mum, Dad, Lesley, Jack and Tom over. We played on the Wii Fit AND the karaoke this time and again everyone had a great time.

I was shattered by the Sunday (more from all the cleaning than the cooking) but it was our turn to have a meal cooked for us at Dave's Mum's. It was lovely to relax for an afternoon before I was back in work the next day.

I was in the office Monday to Wednesday and managed to finish a massive project I've been working on since mid-October...a day early!! I just know that the partner over it, being the eagle eyed fusspot he is, will have found things to moan about and I'll spend the next month changing stuff, but I feel happy I met the target!

We had a really quiet New Year's Eve, just the four of us watching A Bridge to Terabithia. It was pretty boring really compared to our mad party last year and I think we'll go for the mad party again next year. On New Year's Day, we went to my friend, Myria's, house for a meal. That was really lovely and relaxing and Ben and Tinny actually allowed Eleanor to play with them the whole time without leaving her out. It was bliss!

The decorations are all down and away, the house cleaned (again) and Ben and I have spent most of the weekend doing a project on Kenya he has to have in tomorrow.

I absolutely love Christmas but it is nice to be back to normal.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T15:04:00.002Z

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas...and wishing myself a bit of peace from two squabbling kids.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2008-12-13T19:52:00.000Z

Deck the halls....

....and the living room

(Isn't that the nicest Nativity scene? I've wanted one for years but they were all too cute or too religious looking, if you know what I mean. I wanted something in between and I found it for the bargain price of £6 in Tesco!)

....and the kitchen

....and the dining room

....and the outside

Oh, it took HOURS!!

Gingerbread House

2008-12-11T10:01:00.003Z

I've always fancied doing one of these but had never found a kit until this year. I had a feeling it would be one of those 'more difficult that it looks' kind of thing but it was nimps. The kids and I had great fun a couple of evenings ago (while Dave snored on the settee) and we're pretty impressed with the results.

Geisha Girl

2008-12-11T09:53:00.003Z

The kids had a bit of a run of parties in November, all of which were "brilliant - best one ever". The last one Eleanor went to was a hair and make-up party in a beauty salon not too far away. When I dropped her off, there were 8 really excited, pretty, fresh faced girls waiting to be beautified.

When I picked her up later on, there were 8 of these:

Good grief. Their hair was gorgeous but what's with the face? Eleanor thought it was the best party EVER! So I guess we'll be having her party there next summer...but I will be asking them to go easy on the pink.

The Twins Have Arrived!!

2008-12-04T13:46:00.002Z

Jill next door had her babies last night, as planned at 37 weeks but she managed a natural birth which is really good going considering she's so small and slim.

The boy was born first, weighing in at 4lb 7oz and is called Tom. The little girl came 1hr 1min later, weighing in at 5lb 2oz and is called Holly.

The Atlays (especially adopted big sister Eleanor) can't wait to meet our new little neighbours.

Echo & The Bunnymen

2008-11-28T09:41:00.002Z

Dave and I went to see the fantastic Liverpool band, Echo & The Bunnymen, at Liverpool Arena last night. We nearly didn't get there as we'd bought these tickets back in June on the spur of the moment as we were passing the Arena and saw that they were playing, and I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd put them. After turning the house upside down Wednesday evening, I had a good think and then remembered I'd put them in the back of my purse "for safe-keeping". Hmmm. Maybe I should have had that good think first. Will have to come up with a more obvious 'safe' place next time.

We absolutely loved it. They were Dave's favourite band back in the 80s and we've seen them before but not on such a big scale and certainly not with a full orchestra behind them. They've been around for 30 years (and you could certainly tell by the age and balding heads in the audience!) and Ian McCulloch's voice gets better and better. An amazing night.

And even better, Mum very kindly babysat for us and after we came home and she'd left, I saw that she'd done all my ironing! Fantastic!! Thanks, Mum. I'm just going to work out a reason why I need you to babysit every few days now.

Mein Farter

2008-11-22T21:41:00.003Z

From September to the end of November it's birthday, birthday, birthday, mainly in Dave's side of the family and for lots of the kids' friends.

Over the last couple of weeks it has been our niece, Laura's, 13th birthday - can't believe she's a teenager already - and Dave's sister, Judith's, birthday. They were down from Scotland the weekend of Halloween so it was lovely to see them then.

Friday was one of my best friend's birthdays. I've known Cathy since we started senior school and were in the same class all the way through the 6 years I was there (Cathy stayed on to complete her A levels - she's brainier than me!). We've been great friends ever since, despite her moving to Sheffield to go to Uni when she was 18 and then settling there. Her eldest daughter turned 18 last week; it's scary how time flies when you have kids.

The main birthday I have to mention was my Dad's yesterday. Dad was working until 4ish so I decided to take the kids after school so we could sing Happy Birthday and have a piece of birthday cake. Eleanor had Lily Johnson back for tea so she came with us. We were a bit later arriving than I'd told Mum and she was trying to cook a lovely meal of steak and roast potatoes when we landed on them - sorry, Mum!

We didn't stay too long but long enough for Lily to take a million photos of just about everything and long enough for my two and Lily to wreak havoc in what was a very tidy house before we arrived - sorry again, Mum!

Anyway - here are a few photos of the Birthday Boy:

Dad - you have always been so helpful to anyone who has needed a hand with something (especially to Lesley and I) and lots of your friends really appreciate that. However, the last 18 months you have excelled yourself in just how much you will put yourself out for someone. What you have done for them is unbelievable and I know how grateful they are and how they couldn't have done this without you. It's taken so much longer than anyone would have thought and yet you still go over whenever you can and put in hours of work. You're not doing too badly for an old man, are you?!

Happy Birthday, Dad - we all love you very much. xxxx

P.S. I just had to add this photo of Mum and her new headgear in the hope that she'll realise how horrendous it is and will NEVER EVER WEAR IT AGAIN!!!