Mini update!

Life has been busy.  #1 child turns 7 on Tuesday.  Blimey, time has flown.

Yesterday was fairly stressful, as I'd been awake since 4:00am due to the weather and a poorly hubby.  I didn't go to bed until 12:30. Ended up getting up at about 5:30 to try and get ahead of the day.

Family were due to arrive at 11:30 so massive tidying needed doing, the shopping needed doing, food needed preparing, and the cupcakes for Sam's party (later on Saturday) needed picking up.

I managed to get to the shops for 7 in the morning, and ticked that box. Frantic 'headless Chicken' running around managed to at least get the house presentable, and a poorly hubby managed to drive us to pick up the cakes, which then needed to be topped off with a Moshi Monster pushed into the lovely vanilla buttercream icing, put into a cellophane bag and put into the party bags.  With that done, the family arrived.

*reading through - I'm not being grateful, so am going to take a different tack for the rest of this post*

I have wonderful family, who are all so individual, but I love all of them so much.  Am very lucky to have such a wonderful network. My parents and immediate family created me, my husband and his family welcomed me so warmly, and my children are loving and wonderful.

My son chose good friends for his party, and had a whale of a time.  The party went well, and he got amazing presents, with the favourite being the Moshi Monsters gold collection.

Sunday was more relaxed, but we did manage a bike ride for the kids in some brief sunshine - Edie chortled as she was allowed to ride through muddy puddles for the first time.

One week left of school and nursery, and then it's a wet and rainy summer holiday to look forward too!!  I'm going to be pushing my creativity I think!!!

Time Flies

My little girl had her first morning at school today - 5 years ago she was still in my tummy, and we lived in London.  Now she's getting ready to start school.  Both of us are ready for it, but I know that when I see her in her uniform, on that first proper day, my heart will be breaking slightly.  This morning, she was so keen to get started, she pulled me through the throng of other parents and kids to get as close to the front as she could - I ended up stepping on a little boys foot!

We left her drawing and went for a coffee and a mingle with the other parents.  When we went back to pick her up, she was sat as close to the teachers knee as possible, drinking in every word of the story.  I know that she can't wait to go again next week, and to start full time in September.

Her drawing from this morning made me smile too, so I thought I'd share it;

Bless her!


Can't wait to see what she's going to put in her Gratitude Diary tonight!

I'm recognising a theme . . .

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day - today is less so, but this blog is about being positive so . . .

As rain was predicted for the rest of the week, I got out there and mowed the lawns.  Some good exercise, and the most delightful thing was having a little robin follow me around, at times within 3ft of the mower, to see what tasty morsels had been kicked up.

Had some luck for the school Fayre too - the Fire Brigade got back to me, after I'd stopped hoping, and they will be there with an Engine & Crew.  The kids (and plenty of mums!) will be very excited!!

The kids have done their offering for today already - only one apiece this time, and here they are;

Edie who is feeling very . . . . . . abstract:

Thank you Ethan for being my friend - Theme #1
Picture - Worms having a cuddle! (the Black one is Ethan, the Pink one is Edie)

Sam, with Theme #2:

Thank you mumy for letting as buy Kinder egg's.
Picture is them sitting on the side, while I pay the cashier with coins - the boxes are their eggs!

Still, day three and they're both still willing to take part so I'm just going to go with the flow and see how this develops.

So, Day Two!!

It's funny, that when I started thinking about it, I have so much to be grateful for, that I had to stop myself over-enthusing!

I am glad I've started this though - it does shift perspective.  Yesterday I had a dink in the car, as the front wing got caught on a kerb when parking - didn't notice at the time, but when I pulled away there was a horrible creaking/tearing noise.  I got out and looked at the drivers side - couldn't see anything, even when ducked down, but as I drove I could hear scraping noises, and the car felt wrong.

Took the car to a local garage, where I know the chaps from previous servicing and repair work they've done over the years.  Getting out of the car I saw, with my heart sinking, the passenger side of the front wing was hanging down over the wheel.  The guys agreed to have a quick look, and took the car round the back. Had the kids with me, with their fish and chips after swimming, and we waited for the result.  Much quicker than expected, a repair had been made - not one that may last forever, but it'll do.  And it cost under £18.  I LOVE those guys - probably saved my marriage!!

Other things I felt grateful for include having wonderful loving and supportive friends; beautiful kids; and a husband who had been to the Oval to watch cricket all day, and then watched England vs Ukraine in the evening, yet still managed to make it home.

For today - we had friends kids over, who I often look after on Wednesdays, but for the last few weeks they've been going home early, so haven't seen my kids.  Tonight they got to play until way past bedtime as the Mums had a proper catch up over a much needed glass of wine in the garden.

So, tonight, Edie chose two things to be happy about:

Thank you Poppy for being my friend again

Happy that Alex & Sam came to play (from largest to smallest, Alex, Sam, Sam, & Edie)

Sam only had energy for one tonight:

thank you Alex and Sam for having a nerf battle

They really enjoyed doing them tonight - will definitely be keeping this up!

mmmm - so where to begin?

Inspired by my guilty daytime pleasure of watching 'Extreme Makeover, Home Edition', I went out today and made some purchases.

The episode that inspired me so much was the Gomez family (http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/2011/10/02/extreme-makeover-home-edition-gomez-family/)

The Mum has a routine every day where each member of the family fills in their 'Gratitude Book'.  Basically, despite all the battles she and the family have faced, she has always felt that there is much to be thankful for, and so they sit down each day and write something positive about the day.

I thought that was a fab idea, and duly went out and got some nice notebooks from WHSmiths.  I explained the idea to the kids, and they went along with it quite happily.

So, this is what we have for our first entries tonight.

From Edie, age 4 (not at school yet, so she gave up on the writing and drew the picture to show what she wanted to say)

'Thank you for making Sylvia my swimming teacher' 

Sam, who's nearly 7, wanted to say Thank you for more than one thing:

'Thank you Matthew f letting me be your freind'

'Thank you Mumy for letting as eat kinder egg's'
(in the background is our fireplace, and the tv with Tom & Jerry on)

I'm going to wait until later to do mine, which I may or may not share, but one thing I will be putting up is how lucky I am to have my lovely kiddies!