An interview with my children

Shamelessly stolen from another blog:

Patrick's answers
What makes your mummy happy?
Sun
(very insightful and so true!)

What makes your mummy sad?
When Euan pulls your hair
(can't recall him ever having done this but could be true)

What is your mummy good at?
Work, when we go to nursery and school
(mmm, I'm alright at going to work, not sure of the quality when I'm there)

What is your mummy not good at?
Going to sleep
(I'm not sure about this one - would be good to test the theory without interruptions)

What's your mummy's job?
Working at work
(Sometimes true often chatting at work!)

How tall is your mummy?
A little bit tall
(Yes)

What does your mummy always say?
Nothing
(I had lost him by this point - thought he did well staying with me for as long as he did!)

Anya's answers
What makes your mummy happy?Me being nice
(again very insightful and so true!)

What makes your mummy sad?Everybody shouting
(wouldn't say sad more like mad)

What is your mummy good at?Putting us to bed
(If that means getting everyone to be quiet from 7pm onwards so I get an evening that is very true!)

What is your mummy not good at?Maths
(So wise)
What's your mummy's job?Everything, apart from breakfast sometimes because daddy does it

How tall is your mummy?I don't know - 6?
(I must be 6 on some scale)

What does your mummy always say?Eat your lunch otherwise you won't have pudding
(I must try hard to get more important messages across - I was hoping for an 'I love you')
I'm sure that a psychologist would be able read all sorts of things into these answers.

The begining of the long hot summer (please!)

The weekend started with 16 very loud ladies coming around for a Pampered Chef party (a nice lady comes to your house cooks lovely food and trys to flog nice but pricey cooking equipment) - It was a very late night for everyone and Saturday was a very early start. I blame the pox-ridden Warren family who stayed over (now waiting for Euan to break out in spots - have booked the week off in my head so will be hard if I have to drag myself into work).

We had a hot and sunny barefoot walk (or bear hunt walk at Patch called it) on Sunday before Tim flew off to Egypt for the week. We went down to stay with Granny and Grandad so we weren't on our own for the Bank holiday. Was very hot and sunny so spent most of the day in the park and in Granny's 'pool' in the garden.

Tuesday wasn't looking as good but the sun stayed out long enough to run around Prinknash Abbey bird park with Auntie Kim. Poor Ba Bags had to go to work and couldn't come but hoping she feels better with knowing that the best bit (the fish pond) was a bit manky! We stopped for lunch before heading home.

Today started with haircuts all round - some had more off than others - the poor hairdresser spent 20 minutes chasing Euan around the shop trying to get near his hair. The result is marginally less hair than he had when he went in! The boys then went to nursery and Anya and I went shopping and for lunch (she's a bad influence!) - this is likely to be the last day ever of school holidays without Patch so needed to make the most of being girly!

Thought of the week - "The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you" ~ Kendall Hailey, The Day I Became an Autodidact

Dog walking

I took the dog for a walk and took my camera with me - I have absolutely no use for any of these photos and will probably never look at them again. But before they are put into the dusty area of the hard-drive I wanted to show how lovely the English countryside is in the throws of spring - I love it and can't think of anywhere else I would rather live.

Does the tooth fairy have a cheque book?

A surprise gappy smile has found the tooth fairy a bit short!

And this too will pass.

It seems to have rained everyday for ages, the new turf is looking great but I feel like I'm wilting. I've taken to opening the back door between the down pours and getting the children to do laps of the garden so they run off some of the energy they are using to bicker!

We did get an hour of sun on Saturday so we had to go and do more cycling - there is no stopping Anya now.

For Patrick the highlight of this week was finding a dead baby crow. He has told everyone he knows about it and he was very disappointed that I wouldn't let him stroke it. Every bird he has since since he has asked "Is that the mother? Is she sad?".

Euan has got his golf balls back and was superglued to my side all weekend. He is also teething so sleep has been quite rare. He's got another bottle of banana medicine now and has been much happier today.

Quote of the week - Patrick fell off the bench and hurt himself, he was screaming that he had hurt his ankle but was holding onto his boy bits. After a bit of confusion I managed to work out that his ankle was situated behind his willy. Anya thought this was very funny and continued to laugh at him until bedtime (true sister love).

Thought of the week - “One thing a mother must always save for a rainy day is patience” ~ unknown.

Look no tears!

I thought that first steps were a big thing but I had a huge proud Mum moment when Anya rode her bike with out stabilisers for the first time. I think it was because she was so pleased with herself - she rode around the whole time with a huge smug look at me grin on her face. After the 4 or 5 times we have previously tried to go to two wheels which ended up with much screaming and tears (screaming from Anya tears from us!) this was so easy. We moved the stabilisers up gradually so that they were miles from the ground and she was riding on two wheels without even realising it, taking them off made no difference.

We went to a birthday party on Saturday where the children made party hats - Anya made a blue pirate hat, Bucks made a pink jewelled crown, the photo below shows their choice of food. Never stick to stereotypes!

Euan's first shower, although could be forgiven for thinking that this is a photo from the Safari park.

Pretty flowers (that smelt lovely) just because.

Deep thought of the week - "Did you know that even when it's raining the sun's out behind the clouds" ~ Anya

I would have put the quote of the week from Patrick's party (with birthday cake number 4!) at the Chinese but I am still cringing to think about it! Those there will remember forever - oh dear.

New shoots.

After promising Bucks that he could have a birthday party I managed to get my act together enough to invite a few friends over for a barby. It was all very last minute after deciding that the weather was going to hold so I didn't have a herd of excited children rampaging through the house (although they did rampage over the newly turfed lawn edges). I had originally said I was going to do a proper (soft play/party game/lots of children) party, but I really don't think he cared - he had a cake, everyone sang happy birthday and he got to go around say to everyone that he could do what he wanted as it was his party!

All that's left to do is write the thank you cards!

In one of his presents.

On May Day we went to the Safari Park as a birthday surprise. Patrick liked the cheetahs, Anya liked the tigers and Euan loved the other cars!

Exciting things are happening in the garden - veggies are beginning to shoot - so far we have carrots, beetroot and potatoes through.

Thought of the week - 'Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened' ~ Dr Seuss