In a minute......

SkyWatch Friday - new beginnings?

2012-01-27T17:33:00.000Z

Patch spotted these brave snowdrops on the way to school, along with a slither of blue sky. Fingers crossed that it means good things are coming, particularly as I had my first job interview for 11 years yesterday. If having a good old chat gets me the job then I'm a sure thing, if it is anything to do with content, not so sure!

Fly around the world and see if you can spot a shift of seasons anywhere else - SkyWatch Friday

SkyWatch Friday - Water water everywhere

2012-01-20T20:26:00.000Z

At the begining of the week it was crisp, cold and we were getting amazing sunsets like this one:

Great, I thought, should be a good SkyWatch Friday this week. But no, yesterday and today we had this through the window:

Through the window being the best place for it!

The restricted outdoor activity has given youngest son more chances (continuing from the theme of last week) for tough questions - the most taxing being "Why does Homer Simpson keep his shoes on inside when we have to take ours off" - Daddy tried to explain that it's a cartoon but he wasn't having any of it. This evening "Are the clouds made of mash potato?" there is no way that he would believe that they were made of water, he reason being that "water tastes of water and not cloud".

On a brighter note I hear that South California is having a winter heat wave - maybe going to SkyWatch to look at the views might bring a bit of it our way?

SkyWatch Friday - a tightrope?

2012-01-13T15:49:00.002Z

We've got to the difficult question stage with youngest child. This mornings was "why are there strings in the sky". Mmm clouds, no. Kites, no. Tightropes, no. Extra clue "I see them when we're driving along". A-ha...

When I tried to explain that they have telephone conversations and electricity in them. He look at me as though I was selling snake oil!

This afternoon's question "why do we all look different?". Go and see some different people at SkyWatch Friday.

SkyWatch Friday - Free as a bird

2011-12-23T15:29:00.000Z

Taken on the end of Brighton Pier just before warming over a drink or two in the pub. A childfree weekend with a very old University friend made me feel 20 years young. Fly over the world at SkyWatch .

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

2011-12-20T11:17:00.002Z

We've seen the big man in red - Anya asked for a Wii game, Bucks a new tie (strange child) and Euan a shooting gun for shooting people with (a worrying child!) - None of these things were on their original lists so Father Christmas will have to brave the shops once more!

We had a lovely visit to Clearwell Caves with a large chunk of my family - the oldest child is becoming secretly agnostic over Santa so a trip to the garden centre grotto no longer cuts the mustard. The caves had an amazing display set up based around a lovely story about a polar bear, the best thing for the big children was that Dr Who was filmed there. They ran ahead looking for the weeping angels, I think they must have been scared off by the noisy children.

Somebody please rescue these children from the 1980s!

Slightly less scared than last year but still not happy!

We've finished the show season, costumes not too challenging this year. Euan was a soldier (made by a friend) for his gym display and a BLACK (his choice and says everything!) sheep for the nativity. Patch was a shepherd and we just needed a christmasy headband for Anya's carol concert. Last day of school today, bring on the mince pies, chocolates and mulled wine.......

PS - trialling the photo editor thingy on my new phone can you tell?!

SkyWatch Friday - Chasing a new bug!

2011-12-01T19:38:00.000Z

The Overtiredfamily have been well and truly bitten by the geocaching bug. For those not in the know, it's like a modern treasure hunt using a GPS to find hiden caches (normally plastic containers with swaps and a log to sign). Geocaching has taken us to places we've never before visited and gives the kids a reason to go for a walk.

This cache was a bit of a driveby at the weekend (it was freezing - finally turned wintery) but it was exciting (yes I'm a bit of a geek now) as the cache was in a false bottomed stone so took a bit of finding!

I dragged the kids out again today to trial the Geocaching app on my shiny new iPhone (it's very fab - phone and app!) and we found it no problem.

To see more skies from less geeky people than me visit SkyWatch Friday

Tis the season of wishful thinking

2011-11-30T20:52:00.001Z

Three hopeful children made these lists in their best hand writing to send to Father Christmas.

The highlights of these list are:
Euan - A sonic screwdriver, a shooting gun and a sonic hedgehog costume.
Patch - Ties, Just Dance 3, roller skates and any kind of DS in any colour
Anya - A Villa Strip, Diary of wimpy kid books and an iPod Touch

I hope the man in red has deep pockets this year - who was it that said, as kids get older the Christmas parcels get smaller but more expensive? And we've just had to do new winter boots all round!

SkyWatch Friday - Welcome to the house of fun!

2011-11-17T20:28:00.001Z

While the big ones were having fun we pulled scary faces at them!

OK, the sky here's not so much a feature as a back drop - get more colour at SkyWatch

Skywatch Friday - Remembering 11.11.11

2011-11-11T09:33:00.001Z

Visit SkyWatch Friday
90 Years of poppies

Being 4 and more of life's big adventures

2011-09-29T19:55:00.002+01:00

"I don't need my mutties (muslin comfort blanket) any more, I'm four and I'm a grown-up". So ends the preschool era and here come some huge changes.

One week my baby was blowing four candles out and dressing up as batman (in Spanish 40 degree heat).

The next week he was dressed up as a school boy. We don't get much about school out of him other than, his favourite game is Poo Flood - the rules are quite simple someone shouts 'watch out there's a poo flood behind you' then you run away.

Being a grown-up has meant lots more commitments, big boy gymnastics (mum can now relax with a cuppa and just watch), swimming lessons (jumped straight in despite not being about to swim giving the teacher a bit of a scare), playing at friends houses alone - it's hard work being big. My happy, smiley, sunshine boy is making a big impact on the whole world.

PS - some strange and funny Euanisms:

Changing into a super hero every morning (including Spiderman, Freezer Batman, A zombie called Puncher or an alternative zombie called Rolly) - the hero of the hour is announced and that is the only name answered to.

Fish finger sandwiches are food of the moment.

Pretends to cry every morning to hold the teacher's hand to go into school

SkyWatch Friday - holding on to the sun

2011-09-23T16:57:00.001+01:00

Well, we're firmly back into the school, work, live for the weekend routine in ever shorter days. I've got a bad case of post holiday blues and feel in need to feel the sun for a little longer. Here's some warming photos from the Spain:

Most days ended with a drink on the beach - not sure what the locals called it but we knew it as Mojito Bay.

The walk back up Heart Attack Hill was a killer.

But the view of the sunsets from the top was worth it

Feral kids saying goodbye to the sun

Not strictly a SkyWatch but feel the heat of the sun.

I see from my cousin Sarah at catchingthemagic that the Southern hemisphere is budding and enjoying spring, so hop over to SkyWatch Friday to see some actual real life (not just remembered) sun.

SkyWatch Friday - Distracting relaxing skies

2011-09-08T18:32:00.000+01:00

This was my view for lots of the last two weeks.

Still have piles and piles of washing to do in my new washing machine (old one popped it's clogs the day before going away!), so I'll have to a very quick flight around the world at SkyWatch Friday to hold onto my holiday spirit for just a little bit longer!

SkyWatch Friday - The British Med

2011-08-11T20:27:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I posted a SkyWatch - I'm forever looking upwards but the trinity of there being a worthwhile sky, having my camera with me and having a chance to sit down and weave a post just hasn't happened. But this one is a humdinger trinity.....Husband dropped us off at a beach somewhere in Norfolk (or maybe Suffolk?) while he had to work, blazing sun, fully charged shiny new camera and now he's working late again and kids are in bed so quiet 10 minutes!

And we're off.....

We got there incredibly early so for the first couple of hours had the beach to ourselves. Wasn't like that later as in typical British fashion each family marked their spot with windbreaks, picnic mats and deck chairs (personally we travel light and I really understand needing a trailer to go to the beach!)

FInally - what family since the invention of the portable camera hasn't got a picture of the kids stood in a sand hole? Here's ours:

(for those that know us - Euan is wearing his PJ top as he doesn't want to take it off over the henna tattoo on his arm - still crusty after 24 hours - I finally managed to get it off in his sleep two days later!).

Go look at SkyWatch Friday for people who get their act together more often than I manage to!

Beware - the self absorbed post - best left unread!

2011-08-09T21:59:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I went to my first ever funeral - yes I've been lucky - It was the funeral of the man that gave me half of my DNA and from what I remember that was pretty much it (although I think the bad nose and big bum have something to do with him).

I would call him my 'Real Dad' but a real dad is the one who gives you hugs when you graze your knee when you're little, teaches you to ride a bike, plays Frisbee on the beach when he'd much rather be having a pint, ask's if you're hurt then instructs you to have a vodka when rung with news of a first car crash, walks you down the aisle and then provides a tear jerking speech about the love for his daughter on her wedding day, holds his first grandchild and looks at her with pride, is there what ever time of day. That wasn't the DNA donor, that was my REAL DAD.

Apparently, so I've been told, the DNA Donor loved me lots and I began my life as a doted on Daddy's Girl, but when I was 5 he left my Mum. When I was 7 he left me, according to him, it was too hard for both of us to be separated after every, fortnightly, weekend visit. Better to be separated forever (me, bitter, never). I'm assuming that the separation anxiety also went for his money as he never spent another penny on me after the age of 7. So the few memories and the photo albums of the two of us end about here (oh to have a tummy that flat still!):

My Mum hasn't really spoken about the break up much but I know that she felt very bitter about the Donor walking out of our life and seemingly replacing us with another wife and her three older girls almost immediately.

So 30 years pass, hearts are sewn together and the cracks covered over, then 8 weeks ago, the youngest replacement daughter rings me to let me know that the Donor is in a hospice and likely to die shortly. Now what? The stitches begin unravelling, I don't want to hurt my Real Dad, I thought I'd dealt with how I felt years ago, the pressure of only having a short time to decide what to do. Lots of tears and hugs later I'm going to go and see him.

But, haha - he literally has the last laugh, he doesn't want to see me. Selfish in life, why would he change now (OK I realise that he was dying and could do what he wants - but I regressed to an abandoned child once again!). After 8 weeks of progress reports given by the replacement daughter, I get the final call.

So back to the funeral - with the help of Tim's hand holding me down in my seat - a story of an unrecognisable life! If I could have worked out which door was the way out, I would have left after the vicar began the ramble about how god ensures that parents care for children and their grandchildren. Wife 5 (that I know of) of five years (good going for him), a devout Methodist, helped out the vicar with selected highlights of the Donor's life (I found out he was a keen cross country runner in his youth - that's where Anya gets it!). The vicar, with a sad sigh, wrapped up by pointing out that the Donor was a loving husband and father to youngest replacement daughter and 'Grandpappy' to her children.

So that was that then - written out of his life. Do I care, not sure yet. Am I angry, you bet. What can I do - go and get a big hug from my REAL MUM and DAD.

PS - Tim's just read this and thinks I shouldn't let the world read it and that it really wasn't as bad as I made out. I'm hoping that I can let go of my feelings and now that this particular door has shut I can turn my back on it. I am pleased that I've met some new/old family and that it's meant that I've re-appreciated the amazing family I HAVE got. I needed to write down somewhere how I felt and mission accomplished, I could just delete this whole post (I'll think about doing that). And one last thing - I'm not blaming the vicar, wife 5 or replacement daughter for how I feel or what was said. The problem was with what I personally heard (different to what anyone else heard), and I should have talked that through with the Donor years ago!

The view from here is just fine

2011-08-04T23:46:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely new pretty shiny camera for my birthday. It has a very clever self-timing-auto-shot-type-thingy and it takes lots of pictures very quickly - so here are a few of my favourites (ha ha few....)

They almost look as if they love each other!

This one was taken on my birthday, the bottle of wine was bought on our honeymoon in California, 17 (I think!) years ago, as you can see it went very well!

Anya came second in the regional young photographer competition - this has turned all 3 children into paparazzi, cameras hung from them at all times.

Not quite Monet.

Here's one of those self-timer-thingy-photos, we have more photos of me in the last month than in the last 5 years!

Family party. lovely sunny garden = many portraits.

Whole family (minus Amelia, away with her dad for 'a day together?!' and partners - Tim was in bed with flu or as Eu told everyone "my dad has bad breathe") - Granny mostly hidden by the devil-like Patch.

Patch, two minutes later pleading for his picture to be taken - Devil-like I tell you!

Eu spent an hour on GG's knee listening to stories. I can remember hearing the same stories 35 years ago. Todays favourite was the 3 little pigs.

Two of my favourite cool people in one shot.

Best friends, more sunshine, ice-cream and a paddling pool make for a perfect three year old's day.

Yes, sunny again, more water and more fun.

We had a great day at the Cambridge Folk Festival (all wishing we could have been there for the whole weekend again), this photo of Manrun was taken by Anya, they were one of her favourite bands, the main attraction being the smiley face painted on the accordion.

Our own little space cadet.

We got front row seats for the secret facebook performance by the Spooky Men's Corale (another photo by Anya), Patch liked them almost as much as the Port Isaac Fisherman's Friends after they sang a version of ABBA's dancing queen to him.

Another photo of me (that I like) taken not by the clever thingy but by the clever Eu.

Ditto.

And that brings us to the end of the whistle stop tour of the overtired family life in pictures - July Episode!

Warning

2011-07-04T22:03:00.001+01:00

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

By Jenny Joseph

Happy Birthday to me....I may treat myself with a purple dress and a red hat

SkyWatch Friday - Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's.......

2011-06-29T20:47:00.001+01:00

SuperEu!

Happy Birthday my sunshine girl

2011-06-17T21:33:00.000+01:00

"I like her because she smiles at me and means it" ~ Anonymous

Today my smiley baby girl is 8 (yes you will always be my baby girl so stop protesting!). I have a feeling that this year the smile is going to be on the other side of the camera - winning photography competitions and getting your own camera will do this.

Have a fantastic birthday and you'll always be my favourite daughter in the whole world xo

Is it possible to live life without regrets?

2011-06-06T12:06:00.002+01:00

6 sixth birthday wishes..

2011-04-29T14:01:00.000+01:00

Guinea Pig (to be called Daphne, "the one with the nice golden hair from scooby doo")
An etch-a-sketch ("you have to shake it to get rid of the drawing")
A tweed flat cap
A watch
Another woggle for Beavers to replace the lost one!
A carrot cake

Amazingly varied wishes for an amazingly varied big little boy.
May all your wishes be so easy to grant and hope every wish comes true xo

It takes a long time to grow an old friend

2011-04-14T21:28:00.002+01:00

I've just being reading a thread about best friends. I've always had a best bestfriend. I had several as I moved around primary schools, another couple at secondary school, one at University, another in the early days at work, but since there's not been that special one.
It has bothered me in the past. When other people have being talking about experiences they've had with their best friend, "oh - I'll ask my best friend", "I can't do la-de-da as I'll be with my best friend". I thought it was me being insecure (yes - cut me in half and, like rock, I'll have 'insecure" and "jealous" written all through me!), I do have very close friends and people I confide in, but if you asked them who their best friend was, it isn't likely that they would say me.
Then I saw this post:
"He is the one who is there for me all the time, my soul mate, the one who 'gets' me, who loves me, who puts me first, who makes me laugh, who makes me feel safe, who would walk to the ends of the earth for me, who inspires me and who I have never felt so contented and happy to be myself with. In many ways he is also like the male version of me!"

Of course - slap in the face with a wet fish moment - for the last 16 years I've been living with my best friend. Doh!

In the beginning...

....look what happened to us, our love grew (ha ha pass the bucket!!)

Watch out world here they come or how we lost the stabilisers!

2011-04-12T19:36:00.001+01:00

We seem to have got more proficient at getting the children off four wheels and on to two:

Here's Anya - first solo cycle at 5 years and 11 months old.

Bucks - age 5 and 3 months (we thought that this was early!)

But today we threw away the stabilisers for good, with theEu being only 3 years and 6 months.......

The steering needs some work so if you see him coming jump out of the way!

SkyWatch Friday - bursting into life

2011-04-07T20:29:00.000+01:00

Whoop whoop - everything and everyone appears to be jumping into life - amazing what a bit of sun light can do. Last year our damson tree had four flowers on it and managed a whole two fruit (one of which was spat out by a child as they didn't like it!).

This year every bough of the little tree is covered in pretty white flowers, so may be I'll have enough for a crumble this year (the rhubarb is also unfolding so may be able to bulk it out with that?).

It's not just plants that have been springing to life - we've been out for our first ice-cream fuelled bike ride. Euan has got his balanced bike sussed and could be heard screeching at the top of his voice - "No - I should be at the front!". And by foot power alone he normally was!

I would like to take this opportunity to warn the good people of Staffordshire (if not the world in general!) - that there is now an appropriately sized peddle bike in the garage, that this weekend, theEu will be getting his hand on. Be afraid, be very afraid!

Zoom around the world and enjoy the skies there while you still can at Skywatch Friday

Spreading the 'word' 2011 style

2011-03-25T11:29:00.000Z

Every January Ali Edwards invites people to start listening, looking, and being open to the possibilities of a new word. You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads.

For 2011 this word is:

I realise it isn't January any more but I've really struggled to find a word to settle on. Today REFLECT just popped into my head. So here I am committing to it!

I will REFLECT on things in my head before they turn into actions
I will REFLECT on things that have turned into actions to learn lessons
I will REFLECT on all the good things in my life and try to move on from the nasty REFLECTions

SkyWatch Friday - The long and rambling one

2011-03-24T15:54:00.000Z

So, I spent a while trying to workout what shot I was going to use for my SkyWatch post this week. I didn't get to see much of the sky (a killer because it's been lovely and sunny and blue for days!) with work and taking part in a Sponsored Wii-danceathon, we raised over £1000 so it was worth missing the sunshine, even if there was a slightly manic look to us by the end.

I first of all decided to use a photo from a winter walk where a fiery sun had set the trees on fire.

Then, when I was downloading the danceathon photos I found a nice photo from when I'd had a 10 minute breather in the garden, and this was too pretty to just delete:

Finally, while I was pondering on the photo choices over a cup of tea in the kitchen I noticed how colourful the daffodils on the windowsill looked in the last bit of the day's sun. So here they are too:

I have to admit that this windowsill acts as a holding area for anything not to be forgotten and is currently crammed with Euan's Naturetot planting (the pea plants and courgettes are coming on well, still waiting for tomatoes and lettuce for those wondering). When I went to put the camera down I glanced out of the other kitchen window and saw this:

So, back to where I started, which one to choose? Answer - just stick them all in and in doing so learn that there is always a bit of sky around even if it's just fleeting!

Go and visit briefer skies from around the world at SkyWatch Friday.

SkyWatch Friday - Over the hills and far away

2011-03-18T10:54:00.001Z

Spring has most definitely sprung in this neck of the woods. The daffodils are out, the grass is threatening a mowing and we had a coat free walk (I say walk but mean off road trek - the kids DO NOT like walks!)

Anya's legs are at the back of the picture - she was sulking about this track being a bit tame!

We found this amazing swing at the very top of one of the hills. Anya took the shot of her brothers, ignoring the breathtaking views.

Going, going, gone......they did eventually come back!

From this point we could just about see our house.

OK - our skies were a bit dull and grey but at least it was warm! To see some colourful skies take a trip to SkyWatch Friday.

Doing something silly in leg warmers

2011-03-15T20:41:00.000Z

This week I'm going to mostly look like this:

as I'm in training for a 24 hour wii-danceathon with 5 friends. This seemed like a good idea to raise money for the Comic Relief charity. When I agreed I had just finished the true story of a Lost Boy of Southern Sudan (he'd been separated from his parents when he was 8 years old and had walked hundreds of miles looking for a safe place to live - a must read - What's the What by Dave Eggers) I was really enthused about saving the world, particularly when fuelled by a glass of wine. Now 24 hours of dancing seems a really long time! SO IF ANYONE IS OUT THERE PLEASE HELP RE-ENTHUSE ME AND SPONSOR ME AT - rednoseday.com

SkyWatch Friday - Urban adventure

2011-03-03T19:42:00.000Z

Setting suns can make any skyline look wonderful. This is particular skyline didn't look so wonderful in the February rain on the way to our Birmingham adventure.

But on the way home it encouraged tired feet to move more quickly to see what was around the next exotic seeming corner.

Even if it was just a building site! In England this is called the Black County from all the industry and coal that used to be found there. Most of the industry has gone but from the building work going on it looks like things are going to get better - the cranes are for a new library.

Have a look at proper exotic skylines at SkyWatch Friday

New year, new us?

2011-03-01T19:40:00.004Z

This week I experienced a horrid knot in the stomach, life swerving down the wrong path, being out of control feeling when Tim went missing while on a business trip. I wasn't able to get hold of him for hours and, while I was swinging from wanting to lynch him to hug him, I realised that I would quite miss him if he wasn't about. He turned up eventually with a rotten hangover and promises of staying clear of alcohol. Just in time for New Year Resolutions.........

As I was hit with swine flu on 31 December we moved it and had a New Year Mexican Fiesta in February. Much fun was had by all including a very smug and still sober Tim, looks like the belated new year's resolution is sticking.

Happy New Year xo

Quote of the week - "There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for granted relationship" ~ Iris Murdoch

Skywatch Friday - Tales of the unexpected

2011-02-24T21:39:00.001Z

The following photos were an amazing and welcome surprise today (although not particularly good photos!).
This week is half term and in typical fashion it has been either wet, foggy, freezing cold or all three (so lots of inside activities the highlight of which was shoe shopping - NOT!). But today has been nice enough to play outside without a coat, leave wellies at home and to finish off with glorious bursts of colours:

The next shock was that Euan almost has a hairstyle rather than just a haircut - he's still fighting the scissors but I have high hopes that by the time he's a teenager he may have a Justin Bieber - on second thoughts maybe he'd be better as a 70s throw-back?

That's a dinosaur flying in the fiery sky. Non-sky related but a final bit of excitement - today I was bobbed.

There's a meme about getting yourself in the photo every week, not my idea of fun. For a much less scary meme go fly over to SkyWatch Friday

Skywatch Friday - Ancient Skies

2011-02-17T21:45:00.000Z

Well not ancient but pretty old - just checked back and I haven't done a Skywatch for 5 months (OK haven't done much of anything since last summer). So to bring my world back to date, here's some skies from the last few months that I've been hoarding.....

Back in the Autumn we went for a training day at (according to Anya) the hallowed Villa Park, home of (according to Anya) the mighty Aston Villa.

Child misery after being told the footballers
were too far away to get autographs

Child happiness after
hurdling seats to get Ashley
Young to sign their tops

We went for plenty of walks before the cold set in....

This year was the first fireworks night without tears,
another undeniable sign of big kids!

November 27th was the start of the big freeze, the earliest snow that I can remember. It was -14 every morning for weeks. The frosts made tinsel from spider webs and branches, looked pretty but felt very very cold!

The snow very nearly made me miss out on a flying visit to see the German markets of Frankfurt and have a girlie shopping, glug drinking, childfree weekend.

We managed to fit in plenty of sledging (note for next year - avoid wire fences!)

The lighting made for great photos:

Washed out 'Vantage Photography' style shot

The boy and his sledge

Now that wasn't so bad - maybe I'll be back next week?! In the meantime wander over the Skywatch Friday to see lots more very modern skies....

Better together?

2010-11-15T14:15:00.002Z

Like all siblings my children have their spats, they rough and tumble, they have been known to have a bit of a kick out at each other and there is definitely some teasing and name calling going on. If they did this to other children I would be called into school on a regular basis, and rightly so, but is this wrong when it happens at home?

A study on family life by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex indicates the fewer siblings children have, the happier they are. The report says that one of the reasons only-children appear more confident and content is they do not have to deal with ‘sibling bullying’, with almost a third of those with siblings saying they are regularly hit or shoved by a brother or sister. Many children with siblings also complained of their belongings being stolen and being called ‘nasty names’ by a brother or sister.

This is just so sad - The family is a loud, mad place to live. Siblings relationships are really special - you can hate each other one minute but unite against the world the next. I know that I might tease my little sisters (and often ~~did~~ do) but no-one else dare be nasty to them - or else!

Households with a single child now outnumber those with two by more than half a million in the UK, making up 46 per cent of all families. It will be interesting to see how all these children grow up. Yes - they can be monsters but my children bump along alright, they understand about compromise, other people's feelings and taking turns (although the negotiations may be loud and furious). In some ways the teasing and fighting at home is a safe dress rehearsal for real life. But it's probably up to me to balance the relationships so that the home doesn't turn into a war zone.
:

Shhh - it's a secret

2010-11-09T11:27:00.000Z

Kids self portraits for a surprise in about 6ish weeks. Love Euan's happy face - I think he's given himself cheeks?

Attempt two - note Euan's ears. Patch took a bit of cut and pasting after a nasty nose disaster.

Dragging myself into the present tense

2010-11-08T21:23:00.000Z

I've been clicking in and out of this post for weeks - I'm really struggling to put down anything about my life, it's not so much that there aren't funny, happy, positive things to write (although daily life does seem to have been grinding me down recently - the unending groundhog-dayness of school/work/tea/household chores/bed cycle) more that I don't really know why I do this blogthing and who reads it?

I started it so that the grandparents (both sets live too far away to be a daily part of life) could get a flavour of what we're all up to, but I'm pretty sure than neither set has clicked onto here for a very long time (may be I'll be surprised and they'll leave a comment - no prompting ba bags!).

I had a little wobble over wanting to get as many followers as possible for a bit and got upset when people disappeared. I took part in a few memes to up my visitor stats - I put one of those ticker things on the bottom to track who read my mutterings - it became a popularity contest that I could do without. I'm long since over the wobble and although it's nice to notice that someone has spent a minute of their life being here, it isn't an obsession.

So what is the point? I found that this blogthing is a fantastic way of recording family history, pretty pictures, funny things, who's doing what and silly little everyday type details that will disappear down the back of the sofa if not stored somewhere special. It's nice to time travel and see where the Overtiredfamily were at any point in the history of here. So it hit me that really I'm just doing this for me, but may be one day the smaller members might like to time travel themselves (leave me a comment if you've come back from the future - and if I didn't tell you today "I love you more xo!")

So after a mammoth wittering I need a mega catch as I haven't really done any packing away of memories for ages - I have far too many photos on my camera to down load and sort so that's a job for the next post (apart from the clever one above - see what I did there?) but for a wordy type catch-up:

we went to the Cambridge Festival via Suffolk in a campervan
GG came to stay and Patch went on two wheels while she was here (made both their days)
we had another damp cold summer relieved by an amazing
10 days in Cambrils, Spain with hot days, balmy nights, great company, happy children, lushious limes from the tree and too much gin
we celebrated the baby Jacob's christening
Tim coped better than I did while I went on a four day course in Bristol
we went to Aston Villa and Anya got her shirt signed by Ashley Young
saw our first 3D film (since the days of one blue lens, on red lens)
have lived with a toy story obsessed growing boy (in the words of the other two - not again!)
coped with two lots of fireworks with out anyone (including dog) crying - a major development.
Tim got a camera for his birthday and has become the new family photographer
lots of other fabulous stuff that will come to me once I press the publish post button....

And so to the old regular bits...Quotes of the summer - in the car after Tim had a moan at us. Patch - "I think you should find a new husband and take me with you", me - "What about Anya and Euan?", Patch - "Anya can come but leave Euan because he's a pain". Have been on the look out for a new model, I'm wondering if this young man is free - think I must be getting old as I'm not normally a gorper but just look at that tummy. To give him a name he's True Blood's Alcide Herveaux played by Joe Manganiello.

Patrick has worked out that if he feels ill he gets let off school. Two attempts so far - "I had too many sweets, I feel sick", "Shall we go to the doctors?", was dressed in his uniform in the blink of an eye. Second attempt - called by school as he told the dinner lady he was ill. When I got to school he was doing PE and quite happy. I asked what was wrong, answer "I felt pale".

Thought of the summer - "If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" ~ Stephen Levine

Euanisms

2010-10-21T13:39:00.000+01:00

I have been incredibly lax on the blogging front and completely missed the 2007 model's birthday post - so a bit of a summary of the world from a 3 year and 2 month year old.

Euan's world is Toy Story shaped, it is mainly blue (an early convert to the pink is for girls religion) and every thing is to the power of three (holding 3 fingers up - I am 3 so I need 3 biscuits....). The Sun (along with the rest of the universe) circles around Euan's world - and we all seem to have been swept up with this new world order. Anya gives up her toast for him, Patrick accepts that car is Euans, we all huddle up in bed so the smallest family member can have half of it and all the covers!

Euanisms are common place - It's freezing and cold, I'm soaking and wet. Look at my hairbrows (above the eyes). I need a tissue for my funny nose.

Food in Euan world is quite scarce, preferences come in crinkly packages, deep fried or sugar coated (note to self - this must be addressed this year!!).

Activities are varied there are loves of books, jigsaws, bikes, bouncy castles, gymnastics, colouring and lego. Although the ritual watching of Toy Story must be carried out daily.

'You're my favourite deputy' and your world rocks xo

Plug in and forget

2010-09-15T21:13:00.000+01:00

Wet play time when I was at primary school, a gazillion eons ago, meant fighting over the 6 available chess sets (bit geeky but fun), making up funny rhymes, tiddlywinks competitions, colouring in wallpaper squares and manufacturing fortune tellers by the dozen (weirdly at one school I went to these were called frogs - why?! and I really must revive these on a wet weekend). Apparently these past-times are too dull for the children of today - Anya has reached the grand old age of 7 and is now deemed old enough to be allowed to take a Nintendo DS to school for wet play.

Forgive me because now I rant......you what!! Someone once said to me that the DS is brilliant, it keeps the kids quiet for hours. So that's how the Victorians did it then. I thought the days where children should be seen but not heard had long gone, maybe it's me that's behind the times?

Obviously lots of the other class parents think that this is a good idea because plenty of the children were asking Anya where hers was. To me allowing such an expensive toy in school is just inviting bullying, but according to the head teacher they aren't that expensive but are very educational....mmmm? The children will all be spending their play times on brain training games and the shoot'em ups will be left at home.

Amongst my out of school friends I'm also Luddite-mum, not allowing my little bundles of joy to have a handheld plastic packet of fun. We have had a talk about it today and they've decided that they would prefer new bikes rather than a DS and I like to see more than the tops of their heads - we're all happy. Childhood lasts such a short time that I want them to enjoy every minute of it being proper children, even the ones where I'm bellowing at them to keep the noise down.

Nintendo DS are toys of the devil - or should the overtiredfamily just get with it?

Skywatch Friday - Bonjour Spain

2010-09-09T19:48:00.000+01:00

An amazingly warm, relaxing and lazy 10 days in Spain have provided a plethora of sunny sky photos to pick from (can't whittle them down much as they are helping me remember the good times) so here's a selection.

Flying into the setting sun.....

The only taxing thing about the holiday was the language, my one line of Spanish wasn't much use. Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan - I am not a sailor, I'm the Captain, couldn't be slipped into conversations without causing much confusion. We all found that we kept lapsing into French, but like typical British abroad we found speaking English loudly, slowly and with a slightly foreign accent was the best way to communicate.

Fly around the world without having to cope with speaking the lingo at SkyWatch Friday

The baby Jacob gets dunked

2010-09-09T12:02:00.001+01:00

SkyWatch Friday - Chasing the dragon

2010-08-19T10:28:00.005+01:00

'chasing the dragon but never catching it (like "chasing after the wind [a wild wind])' ~ Wikipedia

All the 'on trend' tents (and camper vans) at the Cambridge Festival had poles with kites adorning them. The 2007 model loved the dragon kites but never managed to get his hands on one.

I have been very lax with my blogging of late (despite ba bags reminders) so I've got a back log of SkyWatch photos that I've had problems whittling down, bear with me as here are some others from the same campervan get away (full report later - promise bags x)

See the tiny dots that aren't pebbles? That's us having a picnic after having a swim on the Suffolk coast.

Shortly after the beach - British summers?!

Go and see some real summer skies from somewhere else around the world at SkyWatch Friday

Stop growing up so darn fast

2010-08-10T18:01:00.000+01:00

The father reading to his girl
some little tale they always read
is unaware that this may be
the last one that she'll ever need
she's grown past stories softly read
by daddy sitting on the bed.

The mother with her muddy son

kicking a football in the park

cannot sense as they wander home

through chilly, soft approaching dark

this was the last time they'd come out

to kick that happy ball about.

How secret sneaky-soft they come
those last times when we'll kiss it better
hold their hand across the road

or lift them up to post a letter

they pass unmarked, unnoticed for

we're not so needed anymore.

So the abandoned fairy tales and

nursery rhymes that mummy sings

leave behind soft toys and us

and put away their childish things

a loss so small, our loss the greater

un-missed, un-mourned until years later.

Lucy Berry

Skywatch Friday - happy third birthday

2010-07-15T19:29:00.003+01:00

Three years ago I was as as round as a bubble and about to pop with baby number 3, meanwhile the clever people over at SkyWatch were giving birth to the first ever SkyWatch Friday. To celebrate they have launched a lovely new website and are inviting everyone to share their favourite sky type photo.

After lots of looking back here's mine - fire fairy.

Here's to a fair few more birthdays and even cricks in the neck from looking upwards xo

This weeks favourite is from the big kids first ever riding lesson - I have been dying for them to have lessons but have left it to make sure that they really wanted them and it wasn't me pushing them to like horses. Well the first lesson went brilliantly - it must be in the blood!

SkyWatch Friday - The Birthday Date

2010-07-08T19:48:00.000+01:00

Sunday was my birthday - in the try something new effort we're on at the moment - Tim bought me tickets to see Shakespeare at Stafford Castle. I've never really got Shakespeare, to many Foresothes for my liking! But the setting, the weather, the yummy picnic, the strawberries and pink (fake) champagne persuaded me that this time would be worth the foresothing.

The first half hour I had to keep asking what was going on, not being familiar with the storyline of the Merry Wives of Windsor, and I could have thought of better ways of spending my birthday. But the actors were great (they were proper famous too!), the costumes (1950s) fantastic and the stage really well done, so I soon forgot about the foreign English and began to enjoy it!

As Dr Pepper says "try it you might like it". Visit Skywatch Friday to see something else you may like (better quality photos guaranteed - I forgot my camera so had to use my phone, shiny and new but no match to an SLR)

Sorry to sneak two things in one post - but it's my birthday week so there!

SkyWatch Friday - Wings and Things

2010-07-01T20:02:00.001+01:00

We had a picnic under an air display - the planes were nice and all that but the clouds were pretty and much quieter!

Go and see so beautiful skies from all over the world at SkyWatch Friday

First date numbers 16, 17 and 18 - variable standards!

2010-06-29T20:21:00.000+01:00

We're still hanging in there but have got a bit iffy on the timings of our date nights and, like the rest of my blogging, I'm being very lax at recording the dates (blame it on the sunny evenings but more of that in a sec).

So what have we been up to?

Date 16 was completely fab and pushed our never-done-before-not-sure-if-we-want-to-try limits. We went to a Murder Mystery Dinner at the local stately home. It was a beautiful evening so we walked over and were welcomed with drinks in the garden before the 'fun' started. Tim and I were probably the youngest there by a few decades and most of the other diners had come with friends. We ended up sitting on quite a boozy table (so suited us fine) and watch the story of a murder on a yacht unfold. After being fed a duff clue by the lady sat next to me, I had no idea who-dunnit, but I would say neither did 90% of the others there. We had even more fun trying to find our way home in the pitch black across a narrow bridge. The moral of that one - don't knock anything until you've tried it.

Date 17 was a Date Day - we both had the day off for Anya's birthday party prep - did very little prep but lots of dog walking, beer garden lunching, a wander through a sculpture garden at above mentioned posh house and a little shopping. The weather was with us, we reminisced about "this time 7 years ago..." and even Tim's ruddy Blackberry remained happily silent. A really perfect birthday date (and it wasn't even mine - Tim you have a week to plan that one!)

Date 18 was a bit impromptu and I'm not sure we even agreed it was a date before it started. The sun was beaming, we got the kids to bed early and had tea with a bottle of wine in the garden. We only moved inside once it went dark (and the final Big Brother had started - but less mentioned about that the better it makes me look!).

Cross my heart - will attempt to be more with it for next week!

SkyWatch Friday - Come on England

2010-06-25T22:34:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday the whole of England ground to a stand still at 3pm to watch the football team struggle to stay in the World cup - thankfully the 23 over paid men managed to beat the smallest footballing nation in the competition to get through to the next round. The one off JCB above was on their stand at a Quarrying Expo under a huge screen to show the match live.

Fly(ing tackle) around the world at Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday - flying not falling

2010-06-17T19:58:00.000+01:00

I've been rather lax with my photos recently - this was from the centre ring at the Staffordshire Agricultural Show - I wouldn't like to do the Risk Assessment for this activity.

The big kids couldn't take their eyes off the show.

Euan wasn't as impressed - he was far more interested in the quieter tractors.

Go and see why the rest of the world are looking up at Skywatch Friday

Now you are 7

2010-06-17T07:50:00.004+01:00

You've got all grown up, you....

... must watch all episodes of Come dine with me and Saturday kitchen.
... still love Aston Villa but you don't want anyone to know (peer pressure has become a big motivator in your life).
... recognise nervous (it makes your tummy bubble, gives you a lump in your throat and makes you go quiet) but you know not to be scared.
... have discovered the joy of books - under the covers, shouting at brothers to leave you alone.
... become a music obsessive - keyboard practice daily, try to work out the instruments playing in every tune, know loads of bands.
... live by the clock after learning to tell the time - (gosh it's 10 o'clock already, where has the day gone)
... love Dr Who (the monsters aren't real you know - it's pathetic to be scared!) but cry at reality TV (talent shows when people have to go home are unbearable)

keep growing up but not too quickly xo

Ten years of moving - things i need.....

2010-06-13T15:54:00.001+01:00

1. An iPod sports arm-band. I have just discovered a podcast to take me over 9 weeks from the Couch to running (supposedly non-stop- yeah right!) 5K. There's up beat music with a nice American man telling me when to walk and when to stumble forward slightly faster. Very good idea but carrying the MP3 player cramped my style, I tried to make an ingenious knicker pouch pocket for it but it kept falling down my trouser leg so I resorted to sticking it in my bra and hoping that no-one I knew would see me (not that I would know as don't wear glasses out and with my pumping music I could hear no-one else).

2. To remember to close my mouth when running through swarm of midgy fly things - added protein but can catch on the tonsils - doesn't make for a good energy boosting snack.

But feel that I'm making progress, after my third run I could still walk the following day.

UPDATE:

I have t got back from another run and need to add that -

3. To remember to run with my mouth closed even when it's raining as big fat juicy flies seem to favour that weather!

4. To leave the sun loving dog at home when it's raining - dragging her behind me slowed me down!

Woe is me

2010-06-10T20:15:00.000+01:00

Today I'm going through the five stages of grief.

Denial - I can't have lost all my photos from my lap-top while trying to sort them into some type of order. They must just be hiding

Anger - Stupid computer what have you done with them, ruddy Tim what have you done with them, flipping Picasa thinks it's clever than me

Bargaining - Just let me find a few of the nice ones, how about a couple of Bucks birthday party so he'll believe that he had one when he's 20.

Depression - I'm currently wiping the tears from my keyboard so must be on my way to.....

Acceptance - Yes they really have gone - but I have got lots backed-up on a hard-drive so it's just a big chunk of this year that never happened in picture form. I cross my heart that from now on I will be more organised, back-up and do paper copies of the nice shots!

Feel better now that's off my chest, although feel I could slip back to stage 4.....

PS If you have any nice photos of my family this year please send them to me!

First date numbers 14 and 15 - doubling up dates

2010-06-01T22:01:00.001+01:00

Tim's been globetrotting again (think it was New Jersey last week, Paris this week) - so we missed a date night. We both planned a night over the weekend without telling the other, so we did them both (how spontaneous are we!). Tim's date was on Friday - we had a posh wine and cheese night. We blind tasted various nice wines and ranked them (with some very interesting comments - not sure these would make it into a published wine guide - "tastes like hangover", "warm porridge", "jelly").

The favourites were me - La Chasse du Pape Sauvignon Grenache 2008, described as displaying exotic and white flowers notes, I thought it had a damp smell (then trying to get more artsy), like rain on rocks. Tim's favourite was Gavi Cortese 2009 which is described as having a lemon palate and a nutty finish, he thought it was like boiled sweets. I was put off because it smelt like rolling tobacco?! The best cheese was Blue Stilton - yum!

Saturday night was my turn - we'd had a beautiful week so my plan was to go for a romantic evening walk along the canal - unfortunately it hammered down all day and night, so with a babysitter booked I had to find a quick alternative. The alternative was a night down the village pubs - not the most romantic of evenings but lots of talking went on and if we won a million pounds right now we know what we would do with it!

Ten years of moving - conquering the fear

2010-05-29T10:37:00.000+01:00

The last time I went for 'a run' I was 15 and it was the annual hell of school cross-country. Even then I hated running, I'm just not built for it and what's the need when walking gets you to the same place slightly later? My 15 year old self cleverly avoided the whole hour hell of the cross-county by bribing the route monitor (the class fat girl who happened to have a sick note) to let me duck through a hedge a few minutes into the race. I hung around until the race leaders ran past then tagged onto the end of them. I didn't have the 6 inches of mud stuck forming a heavy clay heel on the bottom of my trainers from crossing the newly ploughed field (we were very rural!) so managed to sprint well up the school field to the finishing line - I was very pleased with myself coming third and getting all the wow you came out of no-wheres, I did let them go to my head!

It was later announced that the first three runners would be representing the school in the County cross-country trials. Shear panic - a vow of never running again - over 20 years later I have just broken that vow.

Thanks to my pledge to get moving over the next ten years, I thought it would be important to get those feet going a bit more quickly. In fact a few friends have set me various milestones a 10km run next year, a half marathon the year after and (laughingly) the London Marathon (remember - I have ten years, if I start now I may finish in 2020!).

So I have now completed two 45 minute runs (well I was out of the house for that long). I set off at 7am so I wouldn't see anyone I knew, I left my glasses at home so I wouldn't see anyone I knew. The first time the sky was blue, the birds were singing, it was almost nice to be out. The second time it started raining sideways - not so good and I discovered that my new trainers aren't waterproof. I tried the run two minutes, walk two minutes method of training. I managed to stumble forward for nearly two minutes, stumble forward less quickly wishing for an oxygen tank for just over two minutes.

Apparently this exercise is good for you - the week after my first running attempt I'm not sure my legs agreed with that statement, hoping for just a few days of protesting this time.

London Marathon hahahahah - I'll take the London Snickers instead.

PS teenage me did have weird fashion sense and yes did wear odd shoes.

Skywatch Friday - A swallows and amazons weekend

2010-05-27T19:01:00.001+01:00

Click over to Skywatch Friday to see what other lovely people have been gazing up at all week.

Ten years of moving

2010-05-27T09:44:00.001+01:00

My little sister has recently set up a new blog (over here) to chart her progress in a ten year goal of 'being a grown up'. The challenge was set by the comedian Mark Watson in February, the basic idea is to nominate something which, over the next ten years, you would like to accomplish in your life. It could be an aspect of your personality you would like to change. Or it could be something quite specific, like learning to drive. Or it could be something really stupid. But you have to genuinely want to do it. Not wanting to be left out and doing pretty well in ENJOYing 2010 (see this post for full explanation) I got drawn in.

TYSIC (Ten Year Self Improvement Challenge) officially started on March 4th (yes, as usual I'm slow on the up take but may be my challenge will take care of that and what's a couple of months in 10 years? ). Every week – or month, depends how well it goes – or year, if I do really badly - progress is summed up via comments on Marks blog (he's planning on publishing a newsletter of the most interesting/bizarre/heroically failed/perverse/illegal achievements. Prizes may even be available - recognition is always good!). And the project will end on March 4th 2020. Apparently on the 5th we will all go on holiday together.

So here goes -

I will put one foot in front of the other and repeat

What does this mean? Mainly get off my seat and do something less boring instead, go places I've never been and meet new people. I won't stop with the feet moving even if it's a bit scary or tiring. Hopefully it will get easier and much quicker with practice!

I've got a new pair of trainers and now it's time to start using them xo

A bunch of happy campers

2010-05-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

Last week saw me rummaging through the house/garage/shed collecting together a host of items that had been collecting dust for the last 4 years, so that we could spend two nights in a field under a large piece of fabric. Some people call this a camping trip, I call it madness. I have a phobia of communal showers (have conquered the loo one since kids), would prefer a real bed and have a biological need of a fridge for the cider.
However, the weekend near Carsington Water in the Peak District was a great big success. The sun shone constantly, the 15 (yes count them, 15) children had a blast and the grown ups stayed up late under the stars (in puffa jackets) drinking tepid wine.

We had water fights

Went boating

Had a pub tea and played out late

And tried to keep cool!

Quotes of the weekend - "I am never ever ever again sleeping on a *@$!!ing airbed!" ~ me, the air bed slowly went down throughout the first night leaving feet and head in mid-air and hips on the cold hard ground.

"Next time can we bring a tv?" ~ Anya was worried about missing the Over the rainbow final and Dr Who.

Thought of the week - "Camping: nature's way of promoting the motel industry" ~ Dave Barry

Skywatch Friday Date 13 - tiptoe through the bluebells and a whole lot of other bumpf

2010-05-20T19:01:00.002+01:00

For years and years and years (get the idea?) I have been meaning to visit the famous (well around here famous) Yoxall bluebell woods. So this year because Spring came so late (postponing the blooming for a week) I got the family into action and we finally made it there.

It was completely beautiful and slightly educational - did you know the Spanish Bluebell has been slowly invading the countryside (for the last few hundred years) and intermixing with the cute, shy, well mannered British Bluebell and so gradually wiping it out - drat you the Spanish. Yoxall is a happy oasis of only English accents no hot blooded Spanish there (also there was plenty of yummy homemade cake!).

For more Skywatching pictures from all around the world go and see Skywatch Friday, thanks for anyone visiting from that link - you are likely to get a bit bored now as here comes the rest of the weekly bumpf I've not had a chance to catch up with. Project 52 people - stay with me I'll be there in a minute (realise this is breaking a whole load of rules for memes but have very limited time this week - visit next week to find out why - what a cliff hanger!!)

Here's the family photos - don't feel under any obligation to look unless there's some genetic connection there (and even then try not to lean on the keyboard too hard as you fall asleep). 'Daddy's friend Dave' came to stay for the weekend - I have a feeling he may not pay a return visit for a while, it made me realise quite how loud and shouty our house is!

Next - date night, we had a very lazy one this week. The sun was finally shining and we had the first warm-enough-to-sit-outside-evening, it would have been a shame to waste it, so we grabbed a drink and some crisps and had a relaxing chat in the garden. It was the first time we've had a chance to talk on our own for ages - as they say "it's good to talk". You've made it to the end - well done - megapost over xo

Skywatch Friday - fairies on fire

2010-05-13T18:26:00.000+01:00

From these photo it's hard to tell that just a bit further north it has been snowing - It's May for goodness sake! Next weekend we are due to go camping, I'm thinking it may be sleeping bags in the living room.

Fly around the world and visit some real burning skies at Skywatch Friday

First date numbers 11 and 12 - The catch-up dates

2010-05-11T22:06:00.000+01:00

As Tim's been globetrotting forever (see last few posts for the full moans) we've had to squeeze in dates where we can. Over the last couple of weeks we've had a movie night - I think movie nights are a bit of a cheat, not much more than sitting watching tv, but I don't think either of us had the energy to sort out anything more and neither of us was in pyjamas.

We watched Seven Pounds with Will Smith. This was a beautiful 'love' story with a heart breaking twist in it's tail. I can't say much more about it without spoiling the film for anyone that might watch it. If you haven't seen it, do - it was so good I stayed awake right until the end!

Our next date was via Facebook, Tim was (and still is) in Algeria so no physical date but we were both very there in spirit and (not sure about Tim) I was fully dressed! We had over an hour of chatting while playing Wordtwist. I had a small glass of wine, so while I started strongly, Tim came through and thrashed me (not that we are a competitive couple).

All I can say is after the few weeks I've had that TIM IT'S YOUR TURN TO ORGANISE.

All's well that ends well

2010-05-11T21:42:00.000+01:00

Haven't done a proper post for ages so this is a bit of a catch-up one. Firstly I must have a proper moan about Patrick's Party (followed by lovely photos of a happy boy - and that's what matters!).

As has been said a few times - I HATE BIRTHDAY PARTIES! But I have found that what I hate more is arranging them. Trying to get Bucks to chose where he wanted it, trying to get Tim to agree that it wasn't boring or overpriced, trying to get said place to answer phone calls, trying to get Bucks to limit guest list to 20, trying not to explode when school Mum announces that classmates party is same time and day, trying not to worry when Tim flies away to USA to return morning of the party (leaky volcano allowing), trying to not get annoyed when half the RSVPs aren't RSVPed, trying to eliminate the throw-straight-in-the-bin-plastic tat in the party bag, trying not to go into full blown panic when the weather forecast gives thunder and lightening. I could go on but it all worked out in the end and doesn't have to be repeated (well not until Anya's birthday in 6 weeks).

So, all our good friends came, Tim got back in time, the weather held out and a good time was had by all - here are the photos to prove it:

Party number 2 was a big family affair (minus working Auntie Jax) down at Granny's house. Our family has a birthday week, not just one day and feel hard done by if they have less than three cakes.

I'm trying hard to remember anything else interesting, exciting or witty to write about but I'm really struggling - Tim has been away forever and every day seems to have past by in a whirl of getting everyone to where they need to be. Euan has become very loud and opinionated, so the children are all acting as a tag-team of hard work. We've got a few fun things planned for the next weekend so hoping that they buck up my spirits - moan over.....

Quotes of the week- "There you go, Mr have-what-ever-you-want" ~ Anya to Euan while throwing some plastic tat at him. Think I may need to re-address the balance of power in the house?

When talking to Bucks about someone -
B - "Is she the fat one?"
Me - "It's not nice to call someone fat"
B - "Is she the bigger one?"
Me - "You shouldn't really say that either"
B - "Well, how can I explain her then?"
Trying to explain social niceties - tough!

Thought of the week - "You won't remember what someone does for you, you won't remember everything someone says to you. But you will remember how they make you feel" ~ some bloke on Radio 2. Stayed with me for a while - go and make someone feel special xo

Gone in a second (or 1 minute 31 seconds)

2010-05-08T20:23:00.004+01:00

Today I have been a shouty nasty Mum. It has rained all day, Tim is in Algeria and after a couple of hours of Lego building (which was knocked down as fast as I was constructing it) I felt like I need a bit of childfree time. I've spent most of the afternoon counting down until bedtime. But now seeing this advert that speeds through the life of a baby I promise that tomorrow I'll try really hard to give cuddles, turn my back on housework and be a fun mum.

Pass the tissues - I realise the advertisers are playing on cheesy emotions but it works with me! Life is beautiful, even in the rain xo

Skywatch Friday - kings of the castle

2010-04-29T19:26:00.001+01:00

This has been a week of birthdays - today my big boy is five (I'm stressing over the amount of people that are going to get wet at his party on Saturday if the forecast is right!). Last weekend there was a party at Stafford Castle, we took the chance to get out in the sun while it went on, have a picnic and let the boys run wild. Spot the pillaging son number 1 in the photo below!

OK the last one is not strictly a skywatch but there is natural light going on in there! To see some real(ly) beautiful skies visit Skywatch Friday.

Five years of unconventional thinking

2010-04-29T07:17:00.004+01:00

"Second children frequently are less concerned with following rules. They prefer to go against the grain and to challenge conventional thinking. Your second-born child may push your rules to the limits."

You are a child of incredible highs and frustrating lows, there is never a dull moment when you are about. I'm not sure I recognise your public face though; school talk about a calm, hardworking, sociable little boy, "the best behaved in the class". You make me so proud that you push my rules to the limit but not the real world ones. Even at five you can tell what matters.

But stay being you and continue to ignore some real world conventional thinking rules - hoard mountains of elastic bands, hold onto the dark 'pink/purple secret', chose to wear checks with stripes, always take time to still notice the little things.

Love you to past space Bucksy xo

I've just found something about what it means to be five - these bits made me laugh. they are so true xo So here's Quote of the Birthday - "He is likely to run around a lot and play games in which he swings, dodges, stops and twirls round suddenly. He may enjoy skipping and cycling (still may not be able to do two wheels) and gymnastics, such as the dreaded hanging upside down from bars in the playground, which is terrifying "(I hold my breath every time).

"He will be able to understand humour such as slapstick on television and get verbal jokes, after they've been explained in mind-numbing detail. He may then repeat them and expect you to laugh like a drain. And then tell it again. He will also make jokes up himself although he has no idea what makes a joke so it won't even be close to being funny. Still, you're his mum, so you have to smile."

"This is the age of the sunny disposition, where he is keen to enjoy life and see the best in people."

Skywatch Friday - A week of volcanic sunsets

2010-04-22T19:28:00.000+01:00

The Icelandic volcano has continued to spew ash into the sky, two great side effects - a husband at home and some amazing sunsets. The fly ban has been lifted completely now but hoping we get a few more red hot sunsets.

You don't need to find a plane to fly around the world to see what the ash has done elsewhere in the world - just visit Skywatch Friday

First date number 10 - Playlist of our life

2010-04-20T20:52:00.000+01:00

We took a trip down memory lane last night. While eating a very healthy snack (carrots and caramelised onion houmous and coke - get us, a dry date!) we took it in turns to chose a song to listen to that would make up the ultimate compilation tape of our life. The result was:

Me: The Cardigans - Erase/Rewind. This reminds me of our honeymoon driving through the Mojave Desert in a car with no engine coolant.
He: red hot chili peppers - californication. The song of the next holiday driving in a convertible car down the Atlantic Highway
Me: Portishead - Glorybox. The song of being loved up.
He: Tim Deluxe - It won't do. The loved up song from when we thought that Patrick might be a good idea
Me: Van Morrison - Brown eyed girl. This is Anya's song
He: Anya Marina - Clean and sober. No - this is Anya's song
Me: Jack Johnson - Better together. This song made me go very mushy just after Patrick was born - so I think of it as his song.
He: Corinne Bailey Rae - Just Like a star. Good times in the new garden at Hixon
Me: Bellowhead - London Town. The kids first festival Cambridge 2009 - driving home in pink skies.
He: The She - Tom Pains Bones. First band seen at Cambridge
Me: Stevie Wonder - Living for the city. The song I wouldn't have liked unless I met him (ironically he doesn't really like it!)
He: Elastica - Vaseline. Punky Christof
Me: Pulp - Common people. Vodka dancing at the union
He: Foo fighters - Learning to fly. Our first house/ Commonside Close song
Me: Paolo Nutini - Pencil full of lead. Dancing around the kitchen song
He: Blind Melon - No rain. The one song he brought to the relationship which I liked!
Joint last one! Alison Krauss - You're the lucky one. We realised that Euan didn't have a 'his song' - This is it xo

I know this is a mamoth playlist but we love our music and could have gone on for hours. Hope someone out there in cyberspace finds a song, new to them, to weave into their life.

Skywatch Friday - We're going on a deer hunt

2010-04-15T18:45:00.002+01:00

We're going to catch a big one.

It's a beautiful day

We're not scare (well may be a little)

The day was the first coatless day of summer - very bright but hazy, making for nice silhouettes but very dull skies. Thanks the Warrens for a fun day and an even better night! On the way home we had this sky for company (took the mind off the hangover) - far more interesting and giving hope for more picnic weather days.

Fly around the world (in cyberspace - you won't be going anywhere in a plane locally here as thanks to an Icelandic volcano all flights are grounded - Tim is somewhere in Italy trying to get home by train, have a feeling we may never see him again!) and see lots of skies at Skywatch Friday.

Update - I'm wondering if the ash in the sky has helped with this sunset, taken a couple of minutes ago. Also had a travel update from Tim, he's now in France. Ferry booked for the morning, but Sea France don't allow foot passengers so he's going to have to get himself a push bike from somewhere!

Out with the old

2010-04-14T21:08:00.000+01:00

and in with new shoes and haircuts all round

And, big drum roll, the haircut - first proper one for over a year. Hoping he'll allow a style next time!

First date number 9 - well that depends.....

2010-04-13T22:23:00.001+01:00

We spent the weekend with friends having a lovely time. They asked if we were having a double 'date night' - this lead to a discussion on what a date is. We decided that although we had a brilliant night catching up, that it probably didn't count as a date.

It left me wondering exactly a date is. Back to good old google - The Oxford English Dictionary says a date is 'a social or romantic appointment'. Ah-ha - so the fun weekend was a social date, leaving us short of a romantic date night date.

Tim is once again jet setting (Genoa this week) - so we squeezed in a quick game of Would you rather (thanks to Tiffany for providing a simple and fun date). The idea is to pick two things to do and choose between them. For example would you rather eat a pound of chocolate or jump off a speeding bus - not all were as simple as this. The one that has us debating was:

We decided that even though our loos are a bit slovenly (apparently I don't clean them often enough - but that's a whole other debate) that in general the licking beats the eating. However, if it was our own personal loo then that would be OK. Tim was also coming around to the idea of chocolate coated insects (I was happy to use the vegetarian card!). Sorry for TMI but it was good to talk!

After a few lazy dates - will pimp the date for next week!

Skywatch Friday - Lording it

2010-04-08T19:29:00.003+01:00

I can tell that it's April - one minute the sky is stone grey with sheeting rain the next it is vibrant blue. The lesson to be learnt this season - always layer when going out! This photo was taken at Warwick Castle - the princess and knight layers came in particularly handy.

Fly all around the world at Skywatch Friday and don't forget those layers.

Out on the hunt

2010-04-07T22:46:00.000+01:00

We've hunted down every chocolate egg within grabbing distance. The egg business started with having to decorate one for school - my plan was to give them a boiled egg each and some paints. I should have been quicker off the mark as they had seen the massive creations (most that no child had ever been near) arriving at school and so they had higher expectations. I managed to pull together enough bits to do Anya's ladybird and Patrick's daffodil. They didn't win a prize but were happy taking their eggs in. (Bonnets next year - trying not to be drawn into the One-up parent thing but on the other hand I have a year to plan a stunner!)

We spent a very wet Good Friday at Warwick Castle - highlights were holding a real sword, dressing up as knights, losing Patrick (followed by Euan) at the top of a turret - returned by a nice Aussie lady, both very upset not because they were stuck but because the nice Aussie lady spoke to them, having the biggest ice-cream in the world in the 20 minutes of pure blue sky before we left.

We went to a friend's farm for their annual egg hunt - would be nice to return the favour but their gardens are just amazing. We stroked newborn lambs, had a sit on a pony, found piles of chocolate, ran egg races and gorged on homemade cakes. The perfect Easter.

Quote of the week - "We've got the weekend off because Jesus has gone back to heaven" ~ Patrick - see it's not all about the chocolate.

Thought of the week - "All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt" ~ Charles M. Schulz

First date number 8 - Getting on down

2010-04-06T20:36:00.000+01:00

Date night this week happened by accident - we hadn't planned it but aren't the best nights always those that take you by surprise? I had Just Dance for the Wii in place of a great big Easter egg (although I admit to sneaking lots of the kids chocolate, so no need to worry about me going without). Tim suggested trying it out and two hours later we were still going (when I say we, some were still going, others kept having a breather)

This is a brilliant game, the music is very retro and brought back some really good memories. It even had 'our song' on (Girls & Boys - Blur, note once again what a romantic couple we are, none of that slow soppy stuff). The only bad thing about the date was an inability to move my arms the next day.

Unfortunately we were so into doing our date that the photo part got forgotten again. I know one of the rules is no kids/no child photos, but rather than a boring wordy post, I thought I could re-enact the evening. As Tim is currently in Norway I used Patch as a miniTim and Anya was photographer (but give her a camera and she always sneaks photos of herself in). So here are the X-rated photos for a feel of the date.....

Skywatch Friday - Nearly reaching the sky

2010-04-01T19:30:00.003+01:00

This was taken (my posh new camera died and rubbish old camera turned itself black and white but you get the idea!) on our first outing of the year to Alton Towers Theme Park. Anya has had a good grow in the past year and is now big enough to go on lots of the big people rides! I have no problem going on them myself but my baby, that's a whole other story! The most scary moment for me was taking her on the Sonic ride below - she was screaming "I'm scared, I'm scared" all the way round - the moment it stopped she asked if she could queue to ride again!

Lots of other people all around the world have poked their cameras upward - go and see the results at Skywatch Friday

PS Ba Bags more photos to come - just need to sort them xo

Update - here they are

My big boy wishing he was slightly bigger

Mostly looking the right way!

HEEELLPPPP!!!

First date number 7 - The cop out date

2010-03-30T20:34:00.000+01:00

This a bit of a poor excuse of a date - although it was a very fun night. Since Friday I've had a stinking, feeling sorry for myself, big red nose, blurry eyed, rotten cold. Being a true woman and not liking to moan (really!) I've carried on and we've still had action packed days but by 9pm (even though the clocks went forward) I've just wanted to go to bed. Well there's my excuse for the cop out date - so onto the date.....

My sister, the lovely Ba Bags, visited for the weekend. I managed to book a babysitter and we hit the heady heights of the pub at the end of the road - a good 100 metre walk! The pub has just reopenned after a re-furb, by re-furb I'm meaning it's been painted. However - through the bottom of several pints of cider it looked perfect (for those of you from the USA - this isn't just apple juice, but apple juice that makes everything seem good).

The night included sending drunken texts, tears, a bevvy of bar snacks, kisses and very loud laughing - generally acting like teenagers on a first night out, so probably with a sister dragged along, a proper first date then! Next week it will be dry (maybe?).

You're a hit and you know you are (or something like that)

2010-03-26T09:30:00.008Z

Anya went to her first football match with her Dad, Ja Jax and bestfriend - she was so excited she could talk about nothing else for days. She had every detail planned, snacks every 15 minutes, paper towel to dry the seats incase they were wet, two hats if it rained, hand warmers, hot chocolate to warm her up at the end and a hotdog at full time. Unfortunately Aston Villa scored an own goal so the score against Wolves was 2:2. Tim was happy with this as it meant that Spurs stayed above Villa (competitive dad?!). Most of these photos were taken by Anya - they got to their seats an hour early so there were lots of chances!

While they were at the football the boys and me went to Snibston Discovery Centre. It was brilliant with loads of interactive (mainly science) displays - they ran from one to the next pressing every button they could see. My camera died after a couple of photos - ruddy technology!

Sunday brought sunshine so the perfect excuse for a bike ride to get an icecream (yippeeeeee - nearly summer!)

Quote of the week - "When I grow up I'm going to be Saint Patrick" ~ Patrick - he may be (very occassionally) Mummy's little angel but not sure if this is a realistic one - still it's good for a boy to have ambition.

Mummy guilt of the week - The following conversations left me feeling like the worst mum ever:
Me: Can Anya's friend come and play after school on friday?
Friends mum: No he's at the theatre thing that everyone's performing at in Town
Me: Oh I didn't know about it.
Friends mum: The whole class have been practising for it for ages.

Me: Anya, why aren't you doing the theatre thing?
Anya: Because you didn't send the letter back.
Me: What have you been doing when everyone else practises?
Anya: Me and one other girl with rubbish parents practise our spellings.

I so can't remember getting a letter, Bucks is going to play at a friends on Friday - I will be trying to make up to Anya for being an incompetent parent.

Thought for the week - "Guilt is anger directed at ourselves" ~ Peter McWilliams

Skywatch Friday - a host of golden daffodils

2010-03-25T19:31:00.000Z

Spring brings amorous ducks out from where-ever it is they hide themselves over winter. They seem to take over our village, last night a pair were nosing around our patio. However, they are normally to be found wandering backwards and forwards across the busiest road in the village (without stop/look/listening), in a few weeks with a brood following. This sign appeared at the end of our street recently - I hope the ducks pay attention to it!

My daff hunt this week was very successful - the warm(ish), wet week with hints of sun has brought them out everywhere. Spring is sprung. I also spotted my first bee of the season.

The photos above were taken in a church yard in a tiny village I was driving through for work today. Behind the church was this amazingly spooky tower (ravens and all).

A quick google search shows that it is Hamstall Hall watch tower, which was a place from which the lord of the manor could survey his estate and the lands beyond. It is said that four counties can be seen from the top. It was built in the late 15th or early 16th century. What ever did I do before t'interweb?

A bit of a rambling post again - feeling a bit tired and fed up therefore not brief. To see some beautiful succinct skies from everywhere possible go and visit Skywatch Friday

First date number 6 - Candlelit dinner for two

2010-03-23T20:25:00.002Z

Everything looks good by candle light and our old fashioned romantic evening was a perfect one. Tim spent the week in Eygpt so wasn't in the mood for anything too hardwork. So we spent three hours putting the world to rights, while munching on smoked salmon and crusty bread. Still yet to manage a dry date - we had plenty of wine.

As we were both pretty beat we were only going to put in a token hour date but this dating thing really is fun. For one night a week we seem to have reconnected - sometimes this even spills over into other nights of the week.

Almost forgot that the twist in the romantic evening tale was the music selected by my lovely husband. Tim put a 'genius selection' on the ipod - good selection but there were several of (to quote Tim) "your shouty sweary music" tracks - I seem to remember Rage against the machine playing. Didn't spoil the mood - I just thought he was sweet for picking music I liked (yes it was an accident).

Skywatch Friday - shedding the coat weather

2010-03-18T19:32:00.001Z

The clear blue skies have gone but have made way for warm and almost dry days. This is the start of spring proper - the kids played outside all weekend (on our newly constructed enormous bounceoline) and we even managed to make it to the park after work/school. This photo was taken at hometime immediately before the cries of "just a little longer". Another couple of weeks and we'll be able to do picnic teas in the park.

Have a look to see if the rest of the world got to see wide open spaces at Skywatch friday.

First date number 5 - having a cracking time

2010-03-16T21:35:00.001Z

I can pretty much guarantee that this weeks date is a one-off. It was Tim's turn to organise, I was given a bit of notice because it required some thought and pre-planning. The concept was egg night. Everything was egg based we had Snowballs to drink (NB for future reference these are very filling and give killer headaches the next morning), egg pasta and Cadbury creme eggs.

But the main event was the egg throwing competition. We each had £1 to buy equipment to protect a regular chickens egg so that it wouldn't crack when thrown out of our bedroom window.

So the results (we had three chances each) were one cracked, two whole to Tim. Two cracked, one whole to me. However, I have to say that my sponge design was amazing and the egg would never ever break, ever! As strange dates go this was a fun one xo

Today's flower - making mums day

2010-03-14T20:20:00.002Z

My lovely children woke me up this morning with these roses - it's mother's day in the UK and I have been really spoilt. Bucks made me cheese and pickle sandwich for breakfast in bed (it's his favourite and he wanted me to have it - not my normal choice for first thing in the morning but I could get used to it). Anya brought me up a bottle of wine (it worries me that she knows me so well).

A knock on the door later brought these unexplained flowers. They were from my Mother-in-law as a thank you for her grandchildren. Completely not needed but a lovely thought - I now need to think of an equally thoughtfully lovely thing in return (any hints gratefully received!).

While taking these photos I looked out of the window and noticed that the trees had catkins on - aren't these tree flowers? Another sign that spring's here (YIPPEE). I have enjoyed my trio of flowers (I so promised myself I wasn't going to get sucked into another meme - I already have neckstrain from looking up and am fed up of spending so much time with my husband, due to Skywatch and Date night. But thanks to Arija I will now be obsessed with flowers), now go and smell the worldwide blooms at Today's flower.

While on the subject of Mothers - Euan has this week stop calling me Mummy and has started with 'Mum' - everyday he's discarding his babyhood and becoming a real big boy, a huge part of me is sad but there is a bit of me that can't wait to lose the nappy bag!

Skywatch Friday - my field of dreams

2010-03-11T19:30:00.000Z

This terribly twee photo is the 'cow field' at the back of my Parents house. When I was 13 I tended to come here and mope, normal teenagers experiment with boys and alcohol - I was a bit of a geek and just took our dog for long walks. I was a late bloomer and it took until University to rebel - luckily that was 100 miles from home, so I never did get in too much trouble with my parents. Any way after that ramble, this week has seen lots more lovely crisp blue skies.

This was on our trip back home - Gloucester is the closest city to my Parents house, from this distance it looks quite pretty.

Go and see some lovely skies from around the world (most without the personal histories) at Skywatch Friday.

The view from up here

2010-03-11T19:01:00.001Z

We loaded a car with excited children and headed south for the weekend. Its the first time for ages that the complete set of Aunties were together, GG was looking really well and on good form. The new boyfriend, Bill got bombarded with the whole force of the family (I don't think that his family is quite as full on - I hope he hasn't been to put off a return visit). The baby Jacob has got huge already, we all managed to grab cuddles and were loathed to pass him on.

Mean while GG got excited about easter and handed out the eggs early - Euan got his first whole egg and wasn't quite sure what to do with it - he went for the all in the mouth at once technique. He did eventually work it out and shared it with Beeba.

I need to put in this photo too - a good nearly whole family shot, Euan was asleep in the car, may cut and paste him into the photo!

Having children really makes me examine my own beliefs. This weeks examination was on religion. Tim's view is not to rock the boat and to let the children follow what they've been taught at their Catholic Primary School (which they happen to go to because it's the closest and I'm innately lazy!). I'm not so sure and think that they shouldn't blindly accept everything they are told without question.

And so after that pre-amble, Anya was talking about a new topic started at school. They had to name famous people, Anya said Roald Dahl (my little book lover!), she said others had thought of David Beckham, Jesus and was laughing because someone had said Robin Hood. Her direct quote "fancy saying Robin Hood, he's just out of a book". Well, now this is the bit that made me think - without rocking the boat - to me Robin Hood and Jesus are both characters from legends, both of them seem like they would be nice people, but the scientist in me needs more proof than is available to bring them to life.

So, we had a conversation about there not being photos of either Jesus or Robin and that some people aren't sure about either of them being a famous person, oh and to ask Grandad about it (the cowards way out!)

Thought of the Month - "March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice" ~ Hal Borland (this quote reminds me of my own tomboy - maybe she should have been born a bit earlier?)

This is Miss March modelling her new coat - apparently this is how models stand?

First date number 4 - Doing the funky Steamchicken

2010-03-09T20:40:00.000Z

This weeks date was the best so far, it was not at all romantic and was a whole family affair (no kids so we stuck to the rules). The source of all the excitement was a ceilidh with the fantastic Steamchicken playing. It was our first ceilidh so a lot of the fun was trying to work out the steps to the dances. The room was pretty split with those that could dance and those trying - those that could were very kind.

Our favourite steps were:

heel, toe, heel, toe - this was nice and easy, does as it says on the tin.
circlely thing - there were various sizes but all involved holding hands with other people and going around in a circle
galloppy, galloppy, galloppy - this was really good - hold hands with your partner/a partner and run in a horse style down the middle of the other dancers
gypsy - we were instructed that this was an intensely romantic move, our interpretation was wiggling hands in the air while shrieking gypsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

It may have been our first but won't be our last! Thanks must also go to my lovely Mum and sisters who were willing to dance with me while Tim went to the bar for a breather (next week we will have to try a dry date?).

PS - I had to add this at the end as I was so amazed by it. I still am, can you tell I don't get out much? This is a pop-up urinal in the middle of the town, next to the taxi rank. During the day it goes back into the path, where I must have walked over it without ever noticing. The things they have now-a-days.

99 things for 99 posts

2010-03-08T15:13:00.001Z

I'm celebrating my 99th post! ~~Stolen from~~ Influenced by Skirts and Wellies. Here's a list of 99 things. Bold the ones you have done and post on your blog! =)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
I think that's about 41, some of the answers might be stretching a point. Some of the answers made me remember too.
No.5 - We watched a meteorite shower about 7 and a half years ago in our back garden. Tim and I both made wishes (as in wish on a shooting star) - about nine months later when Anya was born we both admitted to making the same wish which worked quicker than we thought it would. Maybe we should have called her star!
No 12 - we visited Paris last August by mistake when the Satnav got us lost, we had a crash, spent 5 hours in a manky garage and I can say that I'm not in a hurry to return.
No. 41 - I have only ever sung karaoke once - it happened to be the entertainment at our wedding reception. The first song (instead of first dance) was Wham! - Wake me up before you go-go (selected by Tim - always the romantic!)

Skywatch Friday - spring has (maybe, hopefully, possibly) sprung

2010-03-04T19:32:00.000Z

In the UK spring officially began on Monday - the weather appears to have noted the date on the calendar. We've had lovely crisp blue days.

The spring flowers have started popping out - stopping the kids picking them has become a challenge. Our neighbour very nearly lost his whole crop of crocus. Until I took these photos I didn't realise how yummy snowdrops smelt.

And finally - I really wasn't going to put a black bridge photo in this week but the sun rays through the trees were just beautiful so.....

Spot seasons changing all around the world by visiting Skywatch Friday

First date number 3 - turning back time

2010-03-02T22:13:00.001Z

Date night this week was a blast from the past - Trivial Pursuit 1980s edition. We both agreed that this was a great way to spend an evening because we could chat while playing. I have to admit that there were loads of witty stories I was going to write about but they've all gone a bit hazy (we had the odd glass of wine while chatting - seems to be a common theme to our dates, nothing has changed in 16 years!).

Despite a good amount of cheating by Tim, I emerged victorious! (and I should have got that ponk piece of cake for the John Cleese answer too!). We topped off the night with a fab Indian take-away (yummy but not so good for the fighters of the fat).

A very important thing to remember for future nights is to ensure that all telephones are turned off (by all telephones read Tim's mobile) - we had two conversations about hire cars (SiHo - leave us alone!!) and a call from Tim's sister who got the hump when we said we were on a date and hung up (oops).

Thanks again to Tiffany xo

Chocolate in the post = good day

2010-03-02T20:40:00.000Z

I recently won my first ever blog giveaway run by Linnykins. Today my YELLOW chocolate arrived.

It took the New Zealand designers 9 months to produce the taste of YELLOW (spot YELLOW flavour in the ingredients?!). So what does YELLOW taste like?

Anya says like our lemon cake (that would be lemon drizzle cake to the rest of the world).

Euan was to suspicious to try any.

I thought it tasted like pineapple.

Patrick thought red.

Thanks Linnykins - it made our whole day better xo

Shiney glasses

2010-03-01T21:33:00.000Z

This week life feels good - my rose tinted glasses have been given a polish while I spent the weekend at a posh spa hotel near Chester. I have to mention Bec, Nina, Sarah, Beth and Mrs Nic as I drunkenly admitted to this blog (not many real-life people know about it, I feel a bit weird telling people about it. Although have no problem someone on the other side of the world I've never meet reading it!) - any way I think that they wanted a 'shout out' (I'm sure they will have all forgotten about it though).

Oh - and Rolf Harris was as surprised to see me in Chester as I was to see him!

Meanwhile at home:

Euan was turning two and a whole half!

Tim was moving the 14ft bounceline (others may call it a trampoline) from the drive into the back garden - note when someone offers you a large trampoline make sure that it fits around the side of the house!

Anya and Patch were making dough balls and watching Alvin & the Chipmunks.

Basically not missing me as much as I was missing them!

Skywatch Friday - Look what's turned up.....

2010-02-25T18:19:00.000Z

Finally we've had a little sunshine! (that's yet another canal bridge)

Yes, there was snow but ignore that look up and note the blue sky!

Everyone got very excited (no not by the black bridge of many previous posts - keep looking up)

A happy worn out family (the coats all came off just after this) - looking forward to being able to do this all the time once the fantastic summer we're going to get starts (a little bit of wishful thinking doesn't hurt!)

Fly all over the world to see hundreds of slices of sky at Skywatch Friday.

It's a good job I'm a modern wife!

2010-02-24T17:32:00.002Z

This American “marital rating scale” was used by marriage counsellors in 1939 to assess the performance of wives. The test was answered either by husbands or their wives themselves, and was meant to provide couples with feedback on the quality of their marriage, and point out where they might be going wrong.

Well I have various areas to work on, might start with the warming of feet one (the best reason to be married in my opinion). With much cheating (I don't wear hoses, I thought they were for watering the garden) I scored -7, this means that I'm worse than a failure. There must be a worse wife than me out there? Please? Anyone?

First date number 2

2010-02-23T17:59:00.000Z

This weekend we've had a bit of a life (friends for tea and a night out for me!) so our date night was pushed back to Sunday. We had a Wii night, not just for children it's very good fun for grown ups too. I lost at almost everything, I blame it on a newly healed fractured wrist, being unbalanced (read clutz who falls over too often) and being plied by strong GnTs!

Anyway, despite the losing, it was a fun night and I'm looking forward to next week. Talking of which:

What next? Thanks to Linnykins for her signpost to galadarling's list of 50 alternative date ideas to try. Some of them were very USAified and so couldn't do in a very English village, some of them would require a full time babysitter (not on hand I'm afraid) and some just wouldn't work (dye each other's hair? I like my house and want Tim to be able to keep paying the mortgage) - so with those stripped out, here is the list I'm planning to work from (TIM - if you're reading feel free to pinch some of these).

1. Wake up at 4am & watch the sunrise together
What could be better than sitting close on a rooftop somewhere, talking & laughing & watching the sun come up? Take a flask of hot coffee for extra points. More of a summer one - currently in for a long wait if getting up at 4am!
2. Go to an art gallery on a Saturday afternoon
You’ll learn a lot about the person you’re standing next to if you go & check out art together. Plus it gives you something so much more stimulating to talk about than the last episode of Lost. (Sorry, Lost fans…) Mmm - childcare issues with this one but I like the idea so it stays!
3. Mix CD trade
Are mix CDs antiquated? Maybe you could just make one another a playlist on your iPod or something… Either way, sharing & discussing music is one of the world’s great, little-known aphrodisiacs. Truth. (Unless all they listen to is Richard Marx. Damn.) AHHH - we used to do this eons ago.
4. Do something neither of you have done before
Pottery class? Swing dancing lessons? Hire a moped & drive out into the country? Who knows, but it’s nice to share an experience that is new to both of you! Research needed for this one - there are not rich pickings locally!
5. Random restaurant date
Flip open the yellow pages to ‘R’ for ‘Restaurants’, close your eyes & pick a place to eat at. You never know how it’ll go — it could be a hidden treasure or a total health hazard, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?! Love this one - how exciting!
6. Hot air ballooning
Not the cheapest date idea, I’ll admit, but certain to score you points & to impress your lover-to-be. Maybe if you’re dating an heiress? OK this one blows the 52 weeks budget but always wanted to do it (TIM this one can be your week!)
7. The Sunday New York Times crossword date
Bonus: intellectual stimulation, nerd points & you get to find out how clever they really are, all in one fell swoop. & wouldn’t it be great if you looked at them across the table, sunlight falling across their face, & they smiled at you & you thought, ‘I would like to spend every Sunday this way’? Yes. Yes it would. Well, obviously it would be impossible to get the actual Sunday New York Times but could make it more local - Staffordshire Newsletter crossword date?
8. Take a dog for a walk
They’re adorable &; fun & will give you something to talk about if you get stuck. Plus, people will come up to you & say, “Cute dog”, & you can beam at each other like proud parents. Another good summer one - getting a babysitter for a wet winter dark walk doesn't sound too much fun!
9. Collaborative art date
Get a canvas or even just a big piece of paper, some paint, pencils or pastels, & go nuts. Not sure but might be fun (think Ghost pottery here?)
10. Take cameras & explore an abandoned place
An excellent opportunity to be artsy-fartsy, or if you like to be on the other side of the camera, get them to take photos of you pulling your most beautifulest faces. Abandoned like a messy playroom or back garden?
11. “First date” night
This one works best if it’s not your actual first date. Like, for example, you’ve been together for 3 years & live in the same house. Get dressed separately, meet somewhere strange & a bit awkward, & pretend you don’t know one another. Start from scratch. Ask all those banal questions you’re supposed to ask (“So, what do you do?”). Then at the end of the night, rejoice that you’re in a relationship & not dating any more! Could be fun, could be corny. Frequently done on bad tv shows!
12. The generational date
Pretend you’re an age that you’re not, then act accordingly. A senior citizens date might involve going lawn bowling, making apple sauce & watching The Price Is Right. A teenager date might involve roller-skating, making out in public & drinking vodka in an alley-way. You get the idea. Think this would be very funny - would love to see grumpy husband dressed as a teenager on roller blades!
13. The silent date
In a loud, noisy, overstimulating world, it can be nice to unplug & escape. But it can be nice to do that with your new favourite person, too. Hold hands & read books on a wharf & occasionally look adoringly at one another. Cool. Silence is golden and unheard of in our house!
14. Make cupcakes together
You know you want to. That's the food sorted too!
15. Travel without going anywhere
The premise is simple. Have a normal date but speak with an accent. You both have to do it, by the way, or it doesn’t count. Choose something difficult for extra hilarity points, like Scottish or South African. Och aye! Completely can't do accents but would be very funny!
16. Jump on a trampoline
The hardest part will be finding one, but I have faith in you! A-ha this lady obviously doesn't have kids - one for the summer (but the kids are told one at a time - can I break my own rules?)

Half time

2010-02-22T21:59:00.000Z

The week off from nagging and shouting to get out on time in the mornings has been enjoyed by everyone. The weather has meant that we've been stuck inside quite a lot (the kids have got to the point where they look out of the window in the morning and mutter "oh-more snow") but we did catch up with lots of friends and had a visit from Auntie Jax.

Euan managed yet another trip to the hairdressers without having a single hair cut. We are regularly getting the 'little girl' comments from various people and he is struggling to see through his fringe - but it can't be said that he doesn't know his own mind.

Well I got my own back on Euan by making him dress like this (I had to provide photos for future 18th birthdays and weddings!):

Quote of the week - "A long time ago forward" ~ Patrick talking about what he wants to do in the future.

Song of the week - "Just let the sunrise in dreamland, up in the sky. Please let the sun rise because I can't see." ~ Anya - romantic yet practical!

what I've learnt from the interweb

2010-02-22T10:19:00.003Z

Chickens are very popular.
There are more people in the world that want to say nice things than be nasty (this is the best thing I've learnt), and in the land of blog people tend to click out rather than be nasty.
Americans are far more religious than British people (a fact that has managed to pass me by before reading blogs) - very few bloggers from UK mention religion, very few from USA don't.
Lots of people do crafts in private.
Cupcakes have more pages dedicated to them than they really deserve - yes cake is good, but really!
On facebook everyone in the world has Jonathan King as a friend.
Everybody is worried that no-one likes them or cares what they say.
The quietest people in real-life have the most to say.
Just like real life the people with the most clingers on (also known as facebook friends or blogger followers) are often dull.
There are really amazing photos of birds out there - I have developed bird photo envy, never even knew I liked birds!
I want to have another baby just so I can blog photos of a newborn - they are so cute!
Beagles are the same worldwide.
Computer time goes approximately 7 times faster than off-computer time. I've just spent 3 hours writing this post when I should be interacting with either my children or husband.

Skywatch Friday - The rare Stuffus Duckus

2010-02-18T19:37:00.001Z

Today I was very lucky to catch the very rare and shy Stuffus Duckus on camera. I had to be very quick but managed to get it in full flight. Not a very interesting sky behind but I don't think it matters on this occasion.

OK - caught me out. This is an exhibit at the Potteries Museum (not very convincing either!). We had planned to go to Alton Towers Theme Park but it's been snowing on and off again all day and didn't think it would be as much fun in the freezing cold. We hoped to see the Staffordshire Hoard of gold recently found but didn't fancy the 3 hours of queueing (Prince Charles is going tomorrow - he's getting a private viewing, not fair I think!). After this winter everyone is wishing for a great summer. Just so I'm not kicked out of SkyWatch here's the sky outside our back door 10 minutes ago.

Go to SkyWatch Friday to see some real skies from all around the world.

Love multiplied

2010-02-17T11:49:00.001Z

Once again I'm a lady with two hands! My old blue friend has been cut away and I have been able to return to long soaks in the bath and effective cleaning of loos and kitchens. I've been left with a funny numb thumb thing, hoping this goes away as it is interfering with my mouse moving! Before it went I let the kids loose - they have been wanting to decorate it from the start.

I do feel like I should have my own labelled seat at the doctors as I seem to be there all the time. I'm definitely going to be marked as weird on my notes, as this week, I took Euan because he's sleeping too much. He is most people's idea of a dream child but he's not my idea of Euan. He's been sleeping loads since Christmas (Saturday's record was an hour in the afternoon followed by 5.15pm until 8am - that's just not right), he's also gone really quiet - as I said a dream child but not mine! I got the "nonspecific-virus" line but have been referred to the hospital just in case.

Valentines Day was not very romantic (although I did get a quick kiss and a cuddle - Anya's suggested surprise present from Tim). Anya and Patrick got swimming certificates - both were very proud of themselves. Then we went to see Noddy at the Theatre, it was shockingly bad but the kids loved it!

The arrival of a new member of the Aspinall clan (they will take over the world) has made me very very clucky. My lovely cousin Sarah welcomed Alice Rose into her brood. I really don't want any more children, I'm normally found balancing on the edge of controlling the one's I've got. But there's this chunk of my heart that feels really sad that we'll never again play spot the grainy scan baby, never disagree on names, never laugh about epidurals (?) and being a wuss, never spend hours just staring at a new familiar face, never watch the little bundle of snuffles unfurl into a person. Then I see this photo, realise that I just couldn't cope with this reality and regain my sanity (until the next baby comes near).

Quotes of the week - "Can I got to pajama club?" ~ Patrick, after careful questioning about what people do at this club (running around and shouting it seems), I worked out it was drama club. He wasn't so interested in going to drama club!
"When I grow up I want to be an archaeologist because the get weekends off and it's important to have a break at the weekend" ~ the ever practical Anya
"I'll take you for lunch but have you got long sleeves?" ~ the always romantic, Tim after I'd had my plaster cast taken off (my arm was quite manky, but still!)

Valentines thought of the week - "Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart" ~ Jack Johnson

Taking the pledge or 52 first dates

2010-02-16T19:41:00.001Z

Last week I was avoiding housework by having a nose around the interworld. At Secretmomthoughts were photos of her second 'first' date with her husband. Ahhhh - what a lovely idea I thought, we really should do something like that, as we tend to slump in front of Come Dine With Me and veg most nights. While this is very relaxing, it really isn't that good for finding out about what's currently making us tick and sometimes we can lose touch with each other. I can remember my Mum and Dad sending us up stairs and having a steak night every Saturday when I lived at home, again nice but a bit predictable too.

Reading down I found that once again nothing in the world of blog is original and the cupid and saviour of marriages is simplymodernmom. She's drawn up a pledge for couples to sign:
•Agree a date night (at least one hour, one night a week)
•The dates can be at home so don’t always need babysitters.
•Rotate being in charge of date nights.
•Can’t do the same thing twice in one month.
•No children allowed.
•Must create a date-like atmosphere. No frumpy clothes or pajamas. Make it a special event. Mind the details. But most of all, keep it simple.

I told Tim about this pledge, thinking he would laugh, but he agreed that it sounded like a good thing (he just thought I was sad for blogging about it! - but I see writing about it as a kick up the bum to do something and get us out of our TV-rut, it did work with getting a smaller sized bum of which to kick).

So here I am writing about our first date. We did cheat a bit as this was organised ages ago, but so what! On Friday we went to see comedian Stewart Lee (he was supported by Simon Munnery - who I'd never heard of before but was brilliant - one of his quotes "A million monkeys were given a million typewriters. It's called the internet"), we were sat on the front row in the middle (bad move for a comedy show!). Stewart started the show by asking the lady next to me what her favourite coffee shop was. This sent me into a panic for the next while and I lost the first 20 minutes (I don't like coffee and couldn't think of anywhere that sold it!) - after it became clear that he wasn't going to ask me anything, I really enjoyed myself. The end came when he asked Tim what the time was (again a good move not going for me as I didn't have a watch on!).

It was so nice to be out that we drove back and managed to get last orders in the local pub. I accidentally drank too much wine (they were big glasses and I'm a cheap date!) so the walking home bit is slightly hazy, just like our real first date!

Looking forward to repeating the experience at least another 51 times, thanks simplymodernmom for creating the spark, and thanks for pointing us in the right direction Secretmom xo

Skywatch Friday - off-white sky with blue highlights

2010-02-11T19:30:00.003Z

So, to continue my tour of farmyard animals of Great Britain - this week I've found a pony. Although Euan wouldn't have any of it, telling me that it was a sheep. It was short, round and woolly so I can see where he was coming from.

Have to play spot the sky (or reflection in some of these shots). We went duck feeding, I think they were hungry as they got out of the water and chased us for the bread, the gulls try to steal some too. These are normally overfed and turn their ~~noses~~ beaks up at all but the best crusts, the weather must have kept people inside. The box on the old tree is a bat box - not sure batman would be prepared to move out of the batcave!

After last week's rain, anything is an improvement, we've had another scattering of snow but mostly it's just been really cold and icy. I've taken to walking in a strange bottom out manner to prevent slips (a bit like a duck really) - I had my wrist out of it's cast today so I think I can be forgiven for being an ice wuss!

To avoid the ice and fly to somewhere warmer go and visit the lovely people at SkyWatch Friday.

Another dull week...

2010-02-08T22:45:00.002Z

The highlight of this week was taking the boys to get their swine flu jabs (yes I realise that the whole thing has supposedly gone away and was never that bad in the first place but you never can tell!), it really has been a slow news week!

I'm very glad that when they invented February that they only put 28 days in it - it definitely feels like the longest month, you get a taster of longer days, the green shoots look like they are just dying to explode out, there is an odd corner of blue sky BUT.....then yet more snow is predicted, there's fog, it's still too cold to kick the kids out into the garden to play and if they did go out they would be up to their knees in mud! February is a tease.

Well on a positive note it's given me a chance to fiddle with Picasa (I love it! - Photoshop for Dummies), so here are some nice fiddled with photos and a collage of all my favourite family photos from 2009 (it's the front cover for our calendar for this year - normally a Christmas present but very belated this year!).

And this explains why the bird food disappears so quickly!

Thought of the week - "It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine" ~ Eeyore

Skywatch Friday - nice weather for ducks

2010-02-04T19:30:00.002Z

It was tricky to get shots of the sky, everytime I looked up the camera lens filled with water! Most of the photos were taken from underneath the black bridge. I ended up cutting my walk short as my coat had soaked through and I was worried I have to go to A&E to get my wrist re-set. Really grim weather but as my Mum says "it's why Britain is so green".

Virtually fly around the world to see some cloud free skies by clicking the button below.

No longer sleeping like a baby

2010-02-02T20:50:00.000Z

Its been a week of firsts and some proud Mummy times. It started with Euan sleeping in a big boy bed for a whole night (6.30pm until 8.00am - so slightly more than a whole night, what a dream child!). He is very pleased with himself and has since been asking to go to bed at all opportunities. What can't be seen in the photo are his big boy pants worn over the top of his PJs and nappy (that's the next nut to crack - yippee!).

The next excitement was Sunday morning - Anya and Patrick had their first swimming lessons (Yes - I have eaten my words and given in to peer pressure, nagging children and the prospect of hanging around in a pool on my weekends). Anya has been dying to have lessons and jumped straight in - she used a float for the first couple of widths but was keen to show off her abilities and was soon going backwards and forwards under her own steam. Patrick was a different story - he used the this isn't happening strategy (the same one he used on the first day of school). I managed to strip him and get him on the side of the pool and after 15 minutes of refusing to go in, I was about to give up when he suddenly announced that he would go in but wouldn't wear arm bands. As the pool was 2m deep this wasn't an option, but he again quickly gave in and jumped into the pool, started swimming and looking over giving us a smug smile.

Sunday afternoon (after yet another sprinkling of snow in the morning), brought the first sun we've seen for ages. We managed to get the bikes out for the first time this year - note Bucks new helmet, he has a huge head and has grown out of the children's ones, this one is an adult helmet.

Quote of the week - "Incey Wincey spider climbed up the spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out, ROARRRRR" ~ Euan's take on the popular nursery rhyme.

Thought of the week - "A good mother is a teacher, not a servant" ~ Anorak

Skywatch Friday - As I went a wandering

2010-01-28T19:30:00.009Z

Lots more off white skies this week (I keep reminding myself that behind the clouds there is blue sky). On my numerous getting-out-of-the-house hikes I've taken loads of photos and can't chose between them so here's a bit of a mixed bag.....

Another shot of the cloud factory.

Visit SkyWatch Friday to see some real life blue skies from all around the world.

Just call me Forrest Grump

2010-01-28T15:58:00.004Z

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself, the cast has lost it's novelty (for me and everyone else), the January doldrums have hit everyone hard and all this has been topped up with a lovely dose of hormones. So I'm trying to walk it off. I have dusted off my walking boots and pedometer and hit the tow paths, farm tracks and forest trails. It seems to be working - I've hardly shouted at all for the last couple of days!

I never thought I would ever say this but I'm looking forward to going back to work. My job can be really stressful but being at home everyday is a different type of stress. I like having people ask my opinion on things, I like talking to different people everyday, I like not feeling guilty that the house is a tip (I'm at work don't you know!). I took Euan to a local toddler group last week - I first went to it when Anya was a toddler. It was really nice to catch up with everyone but after the first half hour, it was just like Groundhog Day (how many old films can I get in!), in 6 years nothing had changed apart from a few faces. That's how I've been feeling the whole time I've been off. So, I think the best thing about work is how it makes me appreciate my time off.

We finally got to meet the new family member - baby Jacob just about survived his first encounter with his big cousins, I'm not sure if who was more scared, him or me. Euan chanted "very gentle" as he poked him all over.

Here's another collage of the edible Jacob - is it possible to tell that I've discovered a new gadget (thanks Meeks at Juggling Motherhood) - I have managed to waste hours playing on Picasa!

Quote of the week - "Granny, are you going to be a princess when you grow up?" "Why aren't there any houses or grass on the Motorway?" ~ Patrick was on good form this week!

Thought of the week - "Babies are such a nice way to start people" ~ Don Herrold

Off-white-Sky-watch Friday

2010-01-21T19:30:00.000Z

This week the sky has been various shades of white - not even interesting grey. That's when I could see it through mist, rain and yet more snow! The photo below was taken when I escaped the house for a long hike and demonstrates the off whiteness of the sky nicely.

This photo of a couple of visitors to our garden was taken last month - it's a reminder that blue skies are possible even in midwinter! Try flying around the world and spotting a sky you like by clicking on the button below.