Happy Birthday LMD

LMD is 4 today:)

She was very good and waited until 7 to get up. It was on the dot of 7 though, and I had gone out last night....

She's very pleased with her birthday so far - she ripped open all her presents in double quick time (with a little help from LMB), barely stopping to allow me to tell her who they were from, and certainly not long enough to actually listen!

Now she's wandering around the house taking photo's of anything & everything!

Off shopping to spend her birthday money once the big ones are at school.

As Time goes by

Eight years seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye.

Then again, so much has happened since 13 August 2000 that i can't believe it's only been eight years!

how does that work?
13 August 2000

You can't see how tiny he was here - but look at those socks - they are size 0 and came up to his thighs:) I could cradle his head in the palm of my hand and his feet would just about tickle my elbow...

year by year he grew........

In no time at all he was average size for his age, enjoying life as a doted upon only child.

But even when a sister arrived, he stayed cheerful:)

and by the time a second sister arrived, he relished the role of "big brother"

Last year I suddenly realised he had become one of the biggest in his class at school, despite being the youngest!

And now, our family has been trough so many changes in eight years, that I can't even start to list them all! And my perfect little baby has turned into my unique Aspie boy.......

Happy Birthday Mstr A - 8 years old today.

I wonder what the next eight years will bring?

Happy Birthday LMD

3 today!

Three years ago today I was thinking "I can't do this again" while reminding myself that it was possibly a bit late to think that:-)

i did manage it. Although she nearly turned up on the side of the motorway! And I'm so gald I igored all the sage advice from my friends and famly and have my LMD to dote over.

Half life

I'm 35 today. half way through my traditional lifespan. Thinking about all the things that have happened in my first half life, I wonder what the next 35 years will bring?*

happy birthday to me.



*I'm hoping for instantaneous transportation and downloaded learning:-) Oh, and replicator technology lie in Star Trek!

Beowulf birthday

I went off to see Beowulf last night at a preview showing for SleepyPete's birthday. It was pretty empty considering it was apreview - on the night that all the christmas stuff opened too, so the place was heaving with people when i arrived, all looking at the grotto & skateing on the fake ice\ or throwing fake snow balls at each other. I don't know why - if they'd waited a couple of hours everyone was scraping the ice from their windscreens:-)

anyway, we had been intending to catch up with everyone after they had eaten but in time to see the film, but when I got home from work Aggie was not feeling up to going out and offered to babysit the whole evening, so I got to join the gang for pizza first too, which was nice. The poor waitress must have been terribly disappointed though. She would have been rubbing her hands at the thought of a birthday group to serve. then when she took the first drinks order, it must have occured to her that we are, perhaos, the most boring birthday party in the world. "diet coke for me, I'm driving" I said, "and me", "me too" "same here" "same for me" then, just to be exotic, there was one "coffe please". We`all had a little pizza and a garlic bread, then all had exactly the same dessert too:-) Oh well, I expect there were more flamboyant people in later:-)

Then the film. I was pretty worried about it tbh. All i had heard`about it was that it was animated, and mostly advertised by pictures of Angelina Jolie in the nude! (That sentance should get me some hits:-)!) I'm not a great Beowulf fanatic. I have read it, many years ago, in a fairly poor translation (My linguistic skills do not stretch to anglo-saxon unfortunately), but I can't claim any great affinity for it. But all the same, it is the oldest written epic in English history. It deserves some respect, and Hollywood is not known for it's ability to respect original works!

But actually i was pleasantly surprised. The animation was fantastic. Each time I see a new animated film I am amazed at how much better it is. This was close to film quality. except the horse. They couldn't do that very well for some reason - the dog was brilliant, and the other animals good, but not the horse. Or the mail which didn't move right. But I think that was because they were copying the crappy knitted mail Hollywood is so keen on using for it's actors, rather than the riveted metal rings that weigh 4-6 stone that real soldiers wore.

***************SPOILER ALERT***************SPOILER ALERT***********************

There were some bits I didn't like. I was not at all keen on zombie Grendel. In the poem he is quite decidely a man, if a "monster" of a man, and outcast from the village he terrorises and descended from Cain, and I thought the zombie look rather detracted form the "monstrous man" image. I wasn't overly keen on the whole undermining of the hero thing really. It's all very well adding in fantasy so you can have Angelina Jolie in the buff, but for the hero of a heroic epic to be unheroic in both battle and morality is a bit off imho.

but then again there were some bits I loved. It was beautifully and skillfully shot (if that can be said about an animated film). It was set in the right place at the right time, with a good attempt at giving a flavour of the people then rather having modern people living then. I liked the old English Grendel and his mother spoke, and loved the reading of the "original" Beowulf in the background during the feast scene. The fight with the dragon was fantastic. Shame it was the only proper fight!

Over all, I give it four stars, which is pretty good for me:-)

Money & fun

We've been sorting stuff out this week. Today we sucessfully sold LMB's old bed (well, it wasn't that old...), and Aggies cross trainer (ha ha, had it for two years, used it two times - well worth it!). This has made a little more room in the house (not alot, but it's a start) and put enough money into our getting rid of stuff fund to buy Mstr A his own tent for next season, which will be nice for him, and us:-) Now we just have to find one we like for the right price!

It's been a very sucessful morning all reound really. More space should mean Aggie will be able to get on with the bedroom walls again (yeah right). The kids and I all made a nice banana cake which kept them occupied and means we have yummy cake to eat:-) Now they are`all fired up to cook all the time. Aggie and I have both made some bread - I made a loaf first thing this morning when I woke up, promised the kids toast for breakfast, then discovered we didn't have any bread in the house. Oops. When he saw it he decided that he would ahve to make his own loaf to see whose was best! I ask you. MEN!

Later this afternoon Nanny is coming over to babysit the kids while we go off partying for CQ's birthday. We're going bowling, then for a meal, then for drinking and dvd's:-) Aggie is designated driver as he can't drink anyway due to antibiotics for the plueresy, so i may well have a tipple or two.

tomorrow is the company archery tourney. I am reasonably confident that I will come last anyway, having hardly touched the bow all season, but it should be fun. Plus it will be a good time to discuss our plans for next year - I know they are not too happy with the idea of dual grouping, so i'd rather get everything out in the open and explain our reasons nice and early. Looking at the other groups nevent list (ours isn't finalised yet) I think we will only attend a couple of tem anyway - too many are too far away, and the whole point of dual grouping is to not make long journeys!

The kids are `all being rather sweet still. I don't know how or why! At the moment Mstr A is glued to the computer, and the girls are running round and round in circles in the front room talking on their phones. Aggie asked why they had to run round in circles to talk on th phone. "becasue we want to talk fast"

Obviously dad! :-)

non-linear history

It's the office junior's 18th birthday on Monday. Our office is quite big on birthday's, and this is a big birthday so we've been gearing up on and off all day.

I feel very old:-0

At college on Wednesday we mentioned old money. I was the only one there who was born pre-decimalisation (apart from the tutor). Many of them didn't even KNOW that decimilisation had occured in the UK.

Also, my colleague had the indecency to show me all her holiday pictures today. She went to Israel and Jordan. To Petra. I've always wanted to go to Petra, and the chances of actually getting there are becomming more remote with each passing day. But I did spend most of a happy year in Isreal and Egypt. When I was 18. I've just looked out all my old photo's.

I remember doing all the things, and all the places, and all the people shown in the photo's. I don't really remember being the person in those pictures.

I don't have anything in common with the person in those pictures.

I have no idea how that person became this person! Surely SOME of our maturation should be conscious? I mean, I can trace each event/decision that resulted in the changes, and many of them were made deliberately after much thought. But I am still a bit unsure how come I started at A, and am now at *fgby+, rather than B, or even Z:-) I wonder who I will be in another 18 years?

What a weekend

It was LMB's birthday on Friday. So obviously, we were up pretty early, and she was fairly excited! We bought her a little CD player/radio and a couple of CD's. Which she has had on and danced to cnstatntly since. i thought that three CD's full of music would see her through for a while, but I was absolutely bored to tears of Barbie Girl by half way through the weekend and Aggie had to burn off another few CD's for her!

It also means that Cousin G came for the weeken, along with sister S and my mother - who invited herself along with sister S - much to sister S's charign:-) The journey didn't go well! Fortunately, my mother ahd been persuaded to stay in a B&B overnight rather than in the house which meant that we had a couple of hours peace in the evenings and she got a full night's sleep.

Which is more than I managed! LMD chose Friday night to be sick. She couldn't just be ill during the day, or even whe n she went to bed! Oh no, she had to start throwing up at midnight. Just as I had fallen asleep. So up I get, change her, calm her down, strip her bedding, find the febreeze and clean the mattress, turn the mattress, make the bed, settle her back to sleep and fall back into bed. the whole thing takes about an hour. I then lie awake for another 30 minutes listening for her before finally dropping back off to sleep about 2pm. At 2.30, she does it again. I change her, shower her, strip the bed, febreeze the mattress, make the bed, put her back into bed, settle her back to sleep, stay cuddling her for a while, whereupon she throws up once more all over the bed, me and herself. Lovely. clean her, clean me, put the washing on again, give up on her bed, bring her into bed with me. Where I fail to sleep at all for the rest of the night. Fortunately in a way as it means I was able to catch her each time she started cramping again and avoid vomit in our bed!

So Saturday m orning I was not at my best! Sadly that was irelevant as I still had to play hostess (badly) to my sister and niece, and remai civil to my mother, and prpare for LMB's party. We'd invited about a dozen of her friends, and only three had replied - 2 yes's and one no. I even gave out reminders asking them to let me know, but to no avail *sigh* so i ahd no idea if I was catering for 6 or 20! In the end, 3 came along, which with the 4 already here was fine. And the weather stayed dry, if not sunny, so they mostly stayed out in the garden. but it was still hard work - just arranging food, games and care for 7 three and four year olds is exhaisting. the nafterwards my mother decided that we ought to take the kids out for a walk (as they ahdn't had any excersise or fresh air by running around the garden all orning!) and walked us miles around town! I was knackered by the end of the day!

Then another night of broken sleep - LMD was OK, but I woke at every sound or movement:-(

They all left fairly early this morning, so we decided to take the kids off to the new local attraction: Puxton Park. there was a big fuss when it finally got planning permission and was set to open for this summer, then everything went quiet. i had seen somewhere that it had opened on time, but had not seen any advertising/marketing about it since so i was unsure what it would be like. Actually, it was quite nice. only 10 mins drive away for us, it had good parking, was clean, airy and fun for the kids. It's basically a good size soft play/ball park type place, with a few farm animals. Apparently there was spposed to be lots of animals - but then just as it was due to open Foot and Mouth hit the UK. All animal transport was banned, so they decided to postpone. Which is obviously why the marketing never happened too. And why it is still quite cheap to get in. We brought an annual pass - before they put the prices up next month:-) so it will be a good place to take the kids whenever they need somewhere to go!

And now, they're just about going to bed, and I would be delighted to join them - even if it is just 7pm! But perhaps I'll just slob here and watch LOTR on the telly and learn how to use this stupid facebook thing that i've been persuaded to sign up to!

Hacks & birthdays

Well, the media frenzy died down as quickly as it blew up. I'm not suprised. I expect it was partly due to the fact that most of the feedback received probably said that I was an awful mother for allowing my children to do anything unsupervised! Although I know I didn't help by refusing to lumbast the school, and stating that I was very happy with their general attitudes and actions in every interview. I went to see the head teacher on Monday afternoon to explain what was going on, and to apologise that the school had been named - I never gave them the name or permission to use it. Bloody hacks!

It was Aggie's birthday yesterday, so we're having a BBQ this afternoon. Well, we are if it ever stops raining. Nature is getting her own back for such a lovely spring by flooding the country! The rain has also meant we have not had a chance to mow the lawn, weed the veg patch or tidy up very much:-( Oh well, most of our friends know us by now:-)

I've been pretty knackered this week. Well, exhausted might be a better desription to be honest. LMD has taken to waking up each night at about 3am yelling for me. I've stopped going in to her now, because it's just manipulation, but I still wake up! Add in that work has pretty much doubled at work because one of the ther girls has changed roles and is now out of the office most of the time, so I have acquired all her typing work, and it's all been a bit much. Hopefully I'll get used to it. At least I've caught up now, so next week should start to settle into a routine.

It will be nice to spend a weekend at home for once.

How rude!

LMD's birthday party went well. NONE of the eight nursery children came, and NONE of them bothered to let me know *frown*. Fortunately two out of the three playgroup children did turn up (and let me know they were doing so in advance) so with them, LMD, LMB Mstr A and Cousin G there were enough kids:-). LMD had fun, and ate an awful lot of sweet stuff and chocolate cake:-)

Mstr A was a bit out of place. I think next year I'll have to find somewhere to send him during the girls parties.

UPDATE 1pm: One parent from nursey just turned up with present in hand apologising that her daughter was ill yeterday. It was nice of her to pop round & let me know, but I'm still confused why she couldn't phone at any time over the past two weeks!

Missed opportunities.

I hope I made the right decision about the job. I turned down two interviews yesterday - one to work in a school, which is what I will need to do if I want to go off and do my teacher training (which I think is age discrimination as kids of 21, straight out of uni don't have to go work in a school for a year or two first!), and one to manage a local leisure centre. That one was hard - the money was fairly good, and the job one & could do easily. But I did promise Aggie no more shift work. And tbh, our lifestyle now is not suited for that job. It's not only the shifts but being on call 24/7, working Christmas day etc. Still, it's hard to say no to what could be a fantastic opportunity:-)

It's LMD's birthday party tomorrow. I've still not heard from any of the nursery parents so I hope some of them turn up. Sister S is visiting with cousin G for the weekend, so we should get a good goosip/whinge tonight:-) But it means I don't see when I'm going to get much studying done this week. Again:-(

Birthday baby

It's LMD's 2nd birthday today. Where did my little baby go? How come I have this stroppy, tantrum machine? :-)

Actually, she is just gorgeous - happy & smily & giggly most of the time. Except when she is tired. Or doesn't want to do whatever it is we want her to:-)

Anyway, I managed to cobble together a present for her last night - a book and some soft balls. She has so much stuff she really doesn't need more! And at 2 years old doesn't realise that I've told most people not to bother getting her anything;-) She also got a fantastic musical instrument set from my sister, which she & the other two adore. And my head is less keen on!

She babbled about "pressies"all the way to nursery, but refused to talk to them when we arrived! oh well. Aggie met me for lunch today which was really nice, then he went off to buy a cake. He did a fantastic job, buying a swiss roll & some choccy fingers, then making a wonderful caterpillar cake with Mstr A and LMB:-) We forgot to take photo's, so he is under instructions to do it again for the party on Saturday:-)

I've no idea how many kids are turning up to the party. None from the nursery have answered *frown* But i expect it'll be a few. Now I just need to get myself organised for it!

Birthday blues

I'm going to London today to "celebrate" my brothers birthday. He would have been 30 today, had he not died at 25! All the siblings will be there, which isn't that common nowaday's as we're fairly spread out geographically. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but it's something Sister S really wants to do, and perhaps it will be a useful ritual.

I am going by coach:-( Slow & uncomfortable, but cheap! We were all going to go up for the weekend, as Aggie knew my brother for 9 years too, and I would've liked his support there. The immediate family are having a meal this evening, so he was going to babysit with Sister S's boy-friend, but now they have split up, it seems an unecessary expense and effort to traipse us all across the country.

I'll be back tomorrow evening.