Happy New Year

I raise a glass in the sincere hope that 2011 brings you all health, happiness and peace. Also, anything else you need and deserve.

For me, that would be happiness for some of my family who’ve had a tough time this year and a cure for peanut allergy. Not much to ask for?

Happy Christmas

Once again someone has stolen my year and it’s Christmas already.

I’m sure that time didn’t go so fast before we had children.  They are tiny Time Lords manipulating my days, weeks and months to their own nefarious ends so that the years just fly by.

I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy, happy peaceful Christmas.

With lots of cake.

The Fairies are Back

They often go away for months at a time so it’s nice when they show up again, always unexpectedly.

How on Earth

Did we get from this

to this

in only five years?

How can that possibly work?

Happy Birthday the girl.  I love you.  You are amazing.

Snowed In

We were due to go to the West Country today.  We were going to spend a few days, including the girl’s birthday, with my family.  Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, and the boy sporting a temperature of not less than 39.5 for the past 48 hours, we are stuck at home.

If we were on our way, we wouldn’t have seen this chap in the garden.

I’m not usually a fan of foxes.  They dig big holes in the grass and poo everywhere.  He is quite a handsome specimen though.

Sunday Snippets #2

Thank goodness for the lovely Marylin and her Sunday Snippets.  Once again, she is there for me with a brilliant excuse for posting the last few days in one fell swoop.

Last weekend, the boy finally submitted to the clippers and allowed us to cut his hair.  About time too as it was getting pretty long.

This week the school had their Nativity play.  We have been practising songs for oh so long.  It was nice to finally hear them sung at the correct speed and tempo.  The girl performed brilliantly on the first day but on the second day, the day that I took the camera, she had a severe case of the sads.

It was also the school Christmas fair/fayre (the spelling changed depending on who you asked) and, as the newest member of the PTA, I was put in charge of the “Hook a Festive Duck” game.

First make your ducks festive.

The husband and I took this very seriously.  Here are our first prototype santa hats.

Once we’d got the shape right the husband, bless him, sat and made all seven hats for me to decorate with cotton wool as per the one done in the picture.

You know how I keep telling you how fab my husband is?  As I ran out of time and got increasingly flappy about all the things that I’d over-committed to (it was the Rainbows Christmas party this week as well but no pics of that I’m afraid) he quietly, without being asked or requiring thanks, finished all the ducks off for me.

Finally, today, we had an early birthday lunch for the girl with her Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty D and Uncle P over.

D and P very thoughtfully bought the boy a magazine so that he wouldn’t be upset when the girl opened presents.  It had a free toy phone on the front of it.  He and Uncle P put the world to rights over the phone.

And the girl got her first barbie dolls.

I’ve managed to hold out for quite a long time but as you can see, she’s more than a little pleased to have them.

The Girl

is beautiful. That is all.

Bananalicious

Every now and then, when I’m having a bad day, I’ll be in sainsburys (usually being grumpy about having to do the shopping) and something will really make me smile.

It might be something nut related – like unexpected nut-free sugar paste that I can use for cake decorating. Or, it could be the kindness of a stranger – someone picking up something I’ve dropped, for example. Perhaps seeing someone monologue when they’re shopping – just like I do.

Both of my children like bananas and ketchup (although not together – only because I haven’t let them. Yet) but I think that they would think that all their christmases and birthdays had come at once if I put a bottle of this on the table.

This was my smile for today.

She Won

I have an iPhone.  I swore I would never let my children anywhere near my iPhone when I first had it, but I just can’t resist the lure of technology – on my children’s behalf.

I found a phonics app for the girl.  She has to trace letters, copy sounds and then make words by tapping the sounds that the phone makes at her.

I’m glad I caved in.  Her joy every time she got a round of applause for drawing the letter correctly was absolute and infectious.

This is Why

I love the husb so much.  Well, one of the reasons anyway.

This is our bed.  Those are my pyjamas.

Every night, at bed time, the husb comes upstairs first.  He turns on the electric blanket (mmmm), sets the kids’ clocks so they don’t come up to us unfeasibly early, cleans his teeth and then comes downstairs to let me know he’s done.  I go up, clean my teeth and retrieve my pyjamas from under the duvet where he’s thoughtfully put them to warm up.

Love is a pair of warm pyjamas.