Life..

I seem to be struggling to stay afloat in these long summer holidays. There is so much time to fill, but little of it to be filled with Me Stuff. I am on hold until September.

Anyway, it's okay, right? I am trying to make myself remember the 90/10 rule of childcare: They are good 90% of the time and hideous for 10% and I need to try and remember the 90 and forget the 10.

So, my posts until school starts will be snapshots of Good Stuff and not a lot of wordage. Normal service will be resumed when normal service is resumed!

The red arrows at Lowestoft airshow. Cool.

Busy times

Hello! I have a load of photos sitting in my email, but I can't download them for some reason, so a little substitution will henceforth occur:

It is the first Monday of the summer holidays. We have mislaid one of the Wii remotes, FHB and the Mouse have been fighting like mortal enemies for three days, the house is a filth pit from the depths of Hades, there are a lot of Hama beads underfoot making life a little uncomfortable without shoes and it is not quite pay day. Good start.

So today will herald a ferocious clean-up and the arrival of Papa and Toot this afternoon. Hallelujiah! Tomorrow we are all going to meet my Dad at the Science Museum to see the Apollo rocket. FHB is very excited.

In the mean time...

:: I apologise for writing crappy short phone blogs- I don't know where my time has gone, but the phone seems to be the way to continue blogging through busy times.

:: I have started three new crochet projects and finally finished all the large grannies needed for my blanket. Just 123 4-round squares to go. A crochet catch-up will follow at some point.

:: We have had some lovely afternoons on the beach- impromptu times, in school uniform, no towels, no way of drying off dingbat boys who insist in going in up tot heir shoulder fully clothed.

:: Fish n chips have also been consumed on the beach. W is working on the far side of London at the moment, which makes for a long commute and little time with the kids on week days. Whenhe can get away a little early we meet up on the shore for a picnicky tea and a run around in the fresh air. Last time, Custard sat in the ketchup.

:: My yarn habit is persisting. I have about 200 new balls of the stuff. Most of it is already earmarked and I am wondering if I could get away with going back for a third time.

:: FHB seems unable to sit down. Small boys should come fitted with restraining bolts like R2-D2.

:: The bears have discovered Home Alone. I am subjected to re-enactments of the aftershave scene about twenty times a day. It is very noisy.

:: I am tired already. You can't rest and regroup when you have four children- they need to go out every day and run around like puppies. I need a week somewhere sunny, flopped by a pool with a book, a hook and my husband only.

:: Then perhaps another week with the kids too.

x

Me and Miss T

Hello! Yesterday Miss T and I hopped on the bike and tootled off around town. First stop was the hospital occupational health department, where, much to my disgust I had to have the MMR jab. All my kids have had it and I have spent much time saying 'don't complain, it doesn't hurt, you're fine' etc etc to crying kids.

It does hurt.

I decided I had been a brave soldier and deserved a treat. Miss T suggested a pink lolly. We settled on a large coffee for me and a hot chocolate for her, with a pink lolly on the side.

Having made our way so near to the beach, I suggested we cycle home along the front. She said no. But, it looked very enticing from up on the top of the cliff, and she does LOVE going down a hill at full pelt, so she changed her mind.

We whizzed down the cliff at which point she shouts: ME CO-O-O-O-OLD! MAM, US GO UP HOME NOW.

I refused and started cycling. Past the cliff lift. Past the funicular lift. Just far enough, infact, to realise that Miss T was right, it was indeed co-o-o-o-old, and windy, and actually, cycling was damn hard work. Especially when being poked in the back by a small child's sticky lolly, accompanied my the words 'You go faster now Mummy'.

Grrr.

I found the first available road back up the cliff and got off and pushed. I have no shame.

I got home, hot, red-faced, sweaty and HUNGRY. That, folks, is the problem when you begin the day with good intentions, i.e. a small bowl of muesli rather than a great big pile of muesli and then some toast, and perhaps a biscuit or two.

Oh dear. Fail.

And as for Miss T...

Well, she fell asleep about the time I was pushing her up the flipping cliff. And she stayed asleep, in the bike seat, for a good hour and a half. Alright for some!

x

In which I am...

:: recovering from FHB's busy birthday. Now he is seven, FHB is suddenly very grown up (in his own mind at least). Bedtime is now eight pm; he owns an ipod shuffle (and knows how to use it- which is more than I do); he can three-point-turn a remote control car; he asked to go out to dinner for his birthday, rather than have a party; he has very cool hair.

:: astounded that FHB can really be seven.

:: a little bit teary because these childhood days are slipping by faster and faster. It is not just that my little boy is not quite so little anymore, but also that daytime nappies and baby booster seats have disappeared from our life. No babies in this House of Bears anymore.

:: quiet. I have laryngitis and am feeling Below Par. I think this is just a reflection of how hard I have been working recently- it all catches up with you at some point, doesn't it?

:: relieved, because, for the time being at least, I am back at home with the bears and W is going back out to earn the pennies. I have missed my children and my home SOOOO much.

:: worried, because actually I quite enjoyed being back at work and I feel a bit guilty because I think I am going to miss it. No pleasing some people!

:: stir crazy. I feel stodgy and porky and in dire need of excercise and sunshine. That is a direct result of being stuck in a theatre department rather than doing the school run and riding a bike along the beach. This will be rectified. Being at work also makes me eat WAAAY more carbs than I would normally- I need the oomph, but my waistline doesn't.

:: itching to get Making Things. Work doesn't half get in the way of being creative. When I get home in the evening I am good for absolutely nothing except collapsing on the sofa. I am looking forward to picking up my hook, getting my sewing machine out, unearthing the box of paper and card and getting crafty. Creating things is necessary to my mental wellbeing I think, and when I have not got something to get excited about I feel a bit adrift.

:: going to pick up a book. I read voraciously when I can, at the expense of all else. I am thinking that Miss T and I could cycle along the beach, pull out the blanket and sprawl on the sand with a large thermos, a book, some yarn and a bucket and spade. Bliss...

x

Orthopaedic interlude

10 am (ish)
Me, to my colleague: Ooh, my shoulder really hurts. It feels like there's something catching in there.

4pm (ish)
Surgeon, to me: What's wrong with your shoulder? Have you hurt it?

Me, waggling shoulder: Well, I don't know what I've done, but it really hurts.

Surgeon, grabbing arm: Let me have a look. (Holds arm up). Does that hurt?

Me: No.

Surgeon, moves arm: What about that?

Me: Ow. It sort of clicked then.

Surgeon: Well, you've clearly got something catching in there. (Departs stage left).

Thanks!!!

**********************************************************************

On a different note, I have just (literally just- my hook is still hot) finished the lion for my smallest of nephews. He's a very fine lion- photos to follow. I am very pleased!

x

Bad blogger

Wow, I'm not getting much blogging in at the moment am I? I need at least another three hours in the day. At least!

And then there's the camera situation...I suggested to W that I take my poor sandy camera into Jessops to be repaired but he reckons it is probably not worth it. So now I am angling for a smart phone with a decent camera on it (and sat nav). I think I may have quite a long wait. And it is a bit annoying because W's SLR is really waaaaay too big to cart around every day on the off chance of taking a quick snap of something interesting. And of course, I can't be trusted with it!

Anyway...hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly- in every aspect of life in this house of wild bears...x

Still...

...enjoying being back at work
...paradoxically, hoping my tenure will not be for too long
...trying to work out how you fit in work, kids, house, husband, a social life, a blog, a hobby...
...feeling tired
...consequently feeling like a bit of a flake
...got a cold
...have not got around to photographing my pea green cardi (which I LOVE!)
...making squares
...hooking a lion's mane (time is running out on this one)
...can't remember where I put my glasses
...haven't got around to recharging my Kindle, because I'm so knackered come the evenings that reading is way down there on the list of Things To Do. Which makes me Very Sad.
...enjoying browsing lovely houses we can't afford on Rightmove (with a Nice Cup of Tea)

Don't get me wrong folks, life is good- I'm just tired, sniffly and my feet are cold. Normal service will be resumed shortly!

P.S. Despite all the above, I really enjoyed the Royal Wedding on Friday. I sat and watched it with my Mum, while the kids romped around outside. (FHB: Hmph, well I don't care about that stuff). I did care, and it made me very happy to see something nice happening in the world...x

Easter catch-up

Well hello! It is the Easter hols here and what with work, the bears home from school and general life (cleaning/gardening/boring chores) type stuff, it has been pretty hard to find any time to sit down and write a blog post. Come evening time I just curl up on the sofa- maybe with my hook, maybe not.

Anyway, this here is a bit of a catch up post. I have had my sister-in-law and her brood staying too these hols and before work one day managed to snatch an hour or so on the beach with everyone:

It HURT having to present myself in theatres at 12.30, that's for sure!

Then, later in the hols, this is a snap of our dining room table:

The bears have been entertaining themselves. FHB has been writing Star Wars magazines in which he stars as Luke and/or good Anakin and Custard stars as Bad Anakin and/or Darth Vader. (The timeline is a little nebulous in these things). There has also been a great deal of pirate/Harry Potter/Merlin action and Mouse, bless her, has been trying to potty train Miss T. She has had as little luck as W and I.

Mouse has also been learning to weave and has made a beach scene. This morning Custard ripped the whole lot off the loom and I couldn't face restringing it all, so we declared it to be finished. I spent breakfast time knotting all the ends and threading it onto a chopstick, while Mouse chose some shells and sealife to attach to the fabric. Then I had some fun with my hot glue gun...Ta-daaaah:

I love it! Mouse loves it! We are all happy. FHB has decided he would like to learn to weave so that he can make a dinosaur scene. I think I may need more glue.

Meanwhile, W has done a load of work in the garden; we have shuffled and sorted and recycled all sorts of Stuff and cleared some of the teetering piles of Stuff from around the house; I have added a few stitches to my lion (not many, sadly) and have stared longingly at my sewing machine. There are cushion covers to be made and every day they go on the bottom of my to-do list, never to be reached. Never mind, there's always tomorrow.

Actually, there's not. I'm going to the beach!  x

Coming Home

It is kind of enjoyable being back at work for a protracted stretch, but I do so very much prefer being at home. This week, these are a few of the sights that have greeted me upon my return:

I have also come home to:

:: small, hot, sticky children being gratifying pleased to see me and thus dispensing kisses with abandon
:: a clean bathroom (Yay!)
:: some proper good dinners
:: a husband who misses me
:: a HUMUNGOUS bottle of ketchup in the middle of the living room floor. (It's still there. I'm waiting to see how long it will be before W notices)
:: small lego and playmobil persons in unusual places
:: a crunchy sofa
:: crushing tiredness brought on by not having done full time hours since I went on my very first maternity leave seven years ago, coupled with a lowered threshold for tolerating leaky anaesthetic gases. SLEEPY! Oh yes! I reckon in about three weeks I'll have shouldered it all and Normal Service will be resumed.

Hope so anyway...x

Yesterday we took the bears for a day out to the country park.

20 yards from the car Miss T stood in dog poo. We discovered this 40 yards from the car when W lifted her onto his shoulders and wondered what the cheesy smell was.

Meanwhile, I am attempting to have my usual pre-day-out talk with the big ones, which goes like this: Don't run off, walk with us, don't go around any corners without us, if I can't see you, I don't know what's happening to you...

They run off.

100 yards from the car Custard gets stranded in the middle of a muddy boggy bit. Mouse sinks up to her ankles in it and starts sobbing. FHB goes at full speed to help his brother, slips, skids through the mud and ends up top to toe brown. W, who has now finished cleaning Miss T's shoes, strips FHB down to his pants and gives him his tracksuit top. FHB now looks like he is wearing a dress.

I am laughing so hard I think I may have a problem.

We decide to give up on the walk. W insists we have our picnic, so we sit on the nearest bench, kids on a blanket on the floor. We are then bothered by a large, off the lead labrador. Mouse screams and runs away.

Oh, she's fine says the owner, helpfully.

Your dog might be, but my daughter is clearly not, I say, irritated.

At this point, Miss T starts eating crisps off the blanket like a dog and we decide to go home.

What fun!

Blah

A tired Hello to you this evening. I have decided that W should go back to work and I should go back to being at home with my babies.

Gosh I miss them during the day. Especially Miss T. About four o'clock I get a bit maudlin without them all.

It is not helped by the fact that W has everything at home merrily in hand with ease, including broadening the bear's diet ten-fold and going for jolly nice jaunts along the beach. And making fabulous bread.

I feel a bit out of kilter.

Hummmm.

x

What can I say about Wednesdays?

Today has held some lovely moments: Custard telling me that 'Daddy has tongle-itis'; Miss T telling me 'Lub oo'; getting the supermarket shopping done wothout any shouting, climbing or escapees; taking a quiet hour to finish the top I was making (more of that another day).

But, and here's the rub, today has also held some classic Wednesdayisms: Custard kicking Miss T in the face; Custard telling me I am an idiot (an old favourite, making a welcome return); Custard having a tantrum on the street; Mouse hating everyone (loudly); Custard disappearing for five minutes during the busy school run (wearing a brown jacket so he was pretty much camouflaged); Miss T telling me: 'not fred more' (You are not my friend anymore) at least a thousand times; the discovery that we need a not-unexpected-but-rather-more-immediate-than-we-thought MOT tomorrow, which has completely ruined my plans for the day. And then. of course, there was Swimming. Grr.

I am sitting in my living room listening to my children in the kitchen. They are drinking hot chocolate and squabbling about nothing at all, very loudly. My ears hurt. I want a glass of wine Right Now.

Close eyes, press fingers to temples, deep breath.

Let's look at a photo from the weekend shall we? This is FHB and his cousin, my Niece-who-has-no-plan. She was four and we had fireworks:

Look- FHB has magic coming out of his fingers!

x

Today I am mostly...

Cleaning:: reluctantly
Smiling:: at Miss T and Custard actually playing together!
Laughing:: at Miss T's pulling my hair across my face under my nose and telling me I have got a 'stosh' (mustache)
Drinking:: ginger tea
Wishing:: my tea was more gingery.
Eating:: a chocolate mannequin pis, leftover from Christmas, still good

Reading:: (accidentally) a series of Very Bad romance novels on my Kindle (having down loaded them and begun reading, I thought I may as well finish) and
Having the mickey taken out of me:: by my husband, who thinks it is hilarious
Planning:: on giving the bears dusters and getting them to clean their own rooms after school
Feeling excited:: about FHB having fencing lessons at school
Feeling glad:: to have my dear boy back again and not the angry horror we have lived with for a few months
Dreading:: the nit combing session that awaits at bath time
Worrying:: about what the next few months hold for my family and I
Trying:: really hard to be thankful for what we have
Realising:: that my Niece Who Has No Plan will be four in two weeks and I need to make her a gift
Looking forward:: to a quiet weekend of finishing projects, starting new ones and strolling along the beach
Forgetting:: that I still have to go to work tomorrow first
Enjoying:: my happy bunch of daffs, plonked in a jug

Thinking:: that I might not clean for the next hour, but may wander through Rightmove for a bit in order to do some...
Dreaming:: of where I would like us to be.

Have a lovely day...x

In which I experience another grim Wednesday...

...which is happily followed by a more pleasant Thursday.

Yesterday I was going to write a post saying Gosh what a lovely day we are having here, all is well in the world. But then...[insert screeching brakes noise here]...the school run. Forty minutes to walk 600 metres; two small boys being truly hateful; one small boy quivering with rage; the smaller boy shouting until he was purple that 'Mummy, you are a big fat idiot' (nothing unusual there); a contretemps in the co-op over who gets to Carry The Basket; a fairly loud discussion about why I was not prepared to buy chocolate...and then...SWIMMING.

My regular Wednesday personal hell, made even more enjoyable yesterday by the fact that someone Small-but-old-enough-to-know-better chose not to use the toilet when advised to at home, but instead decided to wee himself in the car, meaning that I had to sit next to a small, smelly, slightly steaming nearly-four year old in the spectators gallery for half an hour. Yuck.

Then Miss T chose to throw the mother of all tantrums. Twenty minutes of full-blast two year old rage. She went puce. I had to strap her into one of the handily provided baby seats in the changing rooms to prevent her clawing my face.

When we get home I discover that one FHB has been hiding books under his mattress in order to continue reading late into the night. This despite us having removed all the books from his bedroom in order for him to get some sleep. A discussion ensued. FHB sobbed. I pointed out that really, nobody can help him if he is going to steal his sister's books in order to stay up late. 'Your body needs sleep,' says I, 'if you don't sleep, you get grumpy and angry and rude. And I can't help you if I know it's because you WON'T GO TO SLEEP.'

FHB wrote me a note to say sorry:

To translate: Me being an idiot. Quite.

Mouse remained very good and quite smug throughout the afternoon's proceedings.

Anyway- I managed to clean the house yesterday, top to bottom, and I feel like I have cleared my mind too. I do get very bogged down when the house is filthy. Oh, and it really was filthy. Embarrassingly so. When I cleaned the kitchen I couldn't bring myself to take down the labels on the cupboards. FHB and Mouse made them the other day. I love the way Papa (on the 'plats' cupboard) is saying 'Disco!'

 So today has been a much better day. Everyone is being pleasant (so far- it is only 11am), I have no jobs to do- Yay! I have nearly finished my first sleeve (despite Someone removing and hiding my hook. Luckily I have a spare stash); I have been out with Miss T so she can spend her birthday money: a t-shirt and a small knickerless Chelsea doll with a 'CAT! MAM, LOOK! A CAT! EEEOW!' She is happily nesting on the sofa (having already lost the cat) and I am enjoying a vanilla latte.

Simple pleasures...x

Bleurgh!

It is bleurgh outside today, the kind of day where you just want to hole up infront of the fire and stay put. In addition, Mouse, Custard and I are all fighting off the dreaded winter snorkiness and shivers. I was going to let them stay at home today, then I realised I would have to entertain them, and really, they weren't properly ill, so off they have all gone to school. Is that bad? I feel slightly guilty.

I have stocked up on ready meals- unusual in our house, but frankly, anything that makes life a bit easier today is welcome. And I also bought these:

Ah, that's better! I do not often buy flowers, I like them best in the ground, but today I needed a little burst of colour in the grey light of the living room. They are contrasting beautifully with the grey pallor of my skin- I do look shocking! I think tonight will involve an exfoliating mitt, twenty minutes with some Casting Creme, Lemsip and quite possibly some chocolate. Purely for medicinal reasons.

x

Another Joyous Monday

Today I am apparently 'a big fat ugly idiot who is also mean and selfish and rude.' This at full blast walking up our road on The School Run. Honestly, these four times daily journeys are becoming things of true horror for me.

At any rate, Custard and I have sorted out our differences. I find a stretch of ignoring, followed by sending him on a guilt trip does wonders.

In other hugely exciting Monday news...it has taken me THREE DAYS to clean two thirds of the house and now here I am sitting in a room that has clearly just been burgled. This is depressing. As I have worked my way around the house I have been mentally compiling a list of Stuff That Needs To Be Done. It is quite a long list and there is no chance of ever working my way through all the things on it.

So why make the list?

I CAN'T HELP IT!!!!!!!! It is a bad habit I really need to break though, because I just end up feeling depressed when I fail to manage everything.

Distraction is needed...Now where's my hook?

x

Oh, and also... my younger daughter appears to have been eating only gravel over the weekend, judging by today's nappies. And FHB also informs me that I am a rude and mean Mummy and he hates me. So that's nice. I have just lost my temper in a quite spectacular way. I don't know whether I should ashamed- it certainly seems to have had a rather cathartic effect. 

Resolutions

Well hello and happy new year!

I have been thinking long and hard about what I want to do in 2011, but it turns out that my list is really a simple one:

::Use less stuff, use what we have, use it better, fix it or adapt it when it inevitably gets broken.
::Shout less. (A hard one I think!) Count to ten, think about it, react in a calmer, quieter way.
::Make time- for me, for W, for each bear together and individually.
::Relax- Walk on the beach. Read. Have a hot coffee in silence. Listen to music.

This year, for our family, is all about the small pleasures, the thrifty alternatives, making, mending, not spending. Being content with what we have and where we are.

And also, if I could just lose a stone I would be a very happy person.

x

Christmas catch up

Well hello! Hope you had a wonderful, warm, merry, cozy Christmas. In this house of Bears it was a hectic, noisy affair, but lots of fun and with much good cheer.

I did not finish the last of the elf-made gifts until the 23rd, leaving me not much time to do the many other jobs I had on my list before my home was filled up with another 10 people. Thankfully, I have wonderful relatives who pitched in merrily and we got there in the end. And then you reach the other side of Christmas and wonder what you were worrying about anyway!

So here is a short photo diary of our festive season:

Mouse was an angel in her school's not-quite-a-nativity-play:

At my Mum and Dad's for our early mini-Christmas we had two inches of pretty snow. Enough for snowballs and snow angels, but not enough to prevent us from getting home. Just right!

W bought me some Amaryllis (?) stems. Very pretty on my table:

The seven small bears in our house on Christmas Eve left Father Christmas a heaving tray of goodies. Whisky, with an umbrella and monkey stirrer (Mouse was just prevented from putting some sliced cucumber in it, much to Santa's relief), clementines, carrots, mince pies, a banana and a bowl of sprinkles. FHB was most insistent about the sprinkles (I assume he thought Santa might do a little cake decorating while he was here):

Our cat looked fairly glum, much put out, as cats are, by the uproar in the house:

Papa and Toot made a Harry Potter kit for the bears, which was a complete hit. They have not stopped playing with it for a moment:

Boxing day held a walk on the beach. Here I am with Mouse and my Niece-who-has-no-plan. It was cold but so lovely to be on the shore, even just for a little while:

My alcove. We gave up on the advent calendar when FHB began exploding with excitement (about December 10th) and Miss T pulled all the tags off the ornaments. The little reindeer stared sadly at me from a charity shop window the other day and I HAD to bring her home. She needs a little remedial attention to her hooves but I love her already:

Our tree, seen through a sophisticated glass of my brother-in-law's homemade sloe and vanilla gin, served with a little lemonade. The tree is pretty, the gin was excellent, though not a lot remains, as my waistband and headache will testify:



So there you go- Christmas in a nutshell. All is now peaceful and calm. We have a pile of brand new books and board games to entertain us, and a kitchen heaving with food. The bears are slowly investigating all the things they were lucky enough to receive and W and I are enjoying the quiet days here between Christmas and New Year, no time constraints, no commitments...it's great!

I am looking forward to a royal telling off from my Wii fit when I get going on that again in two days time- I think I must have put a stone on over the festive and crafting season. In the mean time I am enjoying a large glass of Baileys.

Good night! x

Christmas swan song

We seem to be caught up in the pre-Christmas whirlwind, so there has been a lot of making things, a lot of school related Christmas activities that require fancy dress/party clothes/tray loads of food, much wrapping, not enough card writing, a disproportionate amount of washing up and far too much cleaning. Consequently, not much time to blog, and not a lot to blog about (until I can post pics of our elf-made gifts anyway).

Add to this the fact that the bears have attained a level of excitement bordering on levitation, W is spending a fair bit of time looking harrassed and I feel like I am bailing out the ship again (but, as ever, not quite fast enough).

So, this is my Merry Christmas To You, may your festive season be full of happiness, joy and a lot of sparkly things.

.

I shall leave you with a photo of Miss T shuffling the decorations about on my tree. I am making myself not go 'Grrrr' here. Note to self: It's all about the kids, so it really doesn't matter.

x

Catching up

In a rare and most appreciated event, I have had a weekend away. Toot took myself and my sisters-in-law to Brussels to the Christmas markets to celebrate her birthday. What a star!

We stayed up by the EU and my bedroom overlooked parliament, which I thought was quite exciting:

It was about -6degrees and towards the end of Saturday it snowed enormous great pretty snowflakes. I was
far more excited by this than by the inconvenient snow at home. The lights were lovely:

I managed to do a few bits of Christmas shopping:

We had a go on the big wheel:

Really good views, but bitterly cold.

We had a couple of good meals, two slap-up hotel breakfasts, two exceptionally good nights sleep, a little Belgian beer and a lot of Gluhwein with Amaretto:

This should be Wrong, but turned out to be Oh-So-Right. Especially when consumed in copious quantities and atmospheric surroundings. (That's snow on the top, by the way).

And the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Venezuelan chocolate with just a little chili. Warmed your cockles from the inside out, that did:

Lots of fun, thanks Toot xxxx

Since returning I have:

*overslept by an hour and a half (and the bears still got to school on time)
*witnessed a reenactment of a High School Musical/Harry Potter mash-up, featuring Troy Voldemort singing 'The Boys Are Bad' while Harry Pottimer tried to wallop him with a wand made from a garden cane.
*admired Miss T's impressive black eye (now a boggy green with yellow stripes)
*FINISHED TWO CARDIGANS!!!!!!!!
*attempted making god's eyes with FHB. Not successful.
*finished my Christmas shopping.
*made a depressingly long list of things I need to get done before Christmas Eve.
*enjoyed secretly watching Custard dancing. He is still young enough to dance like a baby, arms outstretched, bum out, bobbing up and down.
*made marrons glace.
*been a little startled by the sheer amount of yarn I have.
*noticed that Somebody (small, blonde, female, not Miss T) has written all over my bookshelves. Must point out to vandal that writing one's own name when doing graffiti is not the most sensible idea.
*spent Some Time retracing our steps in order to find Custard's new hat. That he has had for a week.
*lost my temper with three bears who Will Not tread carefully on the icy pavements, near the icy roads.

And there goes another busy week...x

In which the biggest bear discovers irony

Hello!

I was going to do a post full of photos of what we have been up to, but the pics are all horrible- no decent light due to constant snow. I'll do a photo heavy post at another date- lots of stuff has been made...

Yesterday school closed early, and today it did not even open, so I have a house full of bored bears. In the last 24 hours we have:

*made brandy butter (Miss T really enjoyed that)
*stuck gold and silver stars all over the house
*made spangly bunting
*made Christmas booklets (FHB, with an illicit stapler)
*made some sort of Christmas dangling thing (Mouse, with illicit glue)
*made snowflakes
*made paper chain angels
*finished the body of one cardi, the back of another and almost all of another (have now had to give up because I cannot see. Truly, energy saving saving lightbulbs are not great for crochet)
*finished an embroidery
*drawn all over an armchair (Mouse, with an illicit purple pen. She then enjoyed a hour in her room)
*made soup
*made Toot's Bucket and Chuck it cake
*done some Christmas present cooking
*done some secret Santa crafting
*had a snowball fight
*covered the living room in shells
*done seven loads of laundry
*chopped up some T-shirts to add to my rug
*watched 4 films.

I hope school is open tomorrow!

Meanwhile, FHB seems to be having anger management issues once more. I think he is tired and cold and needs to sleep for a week- but he won't. Instead he waits until the most inopportune moment, makes an outrageous demand then harrumphs when he is refused:

FHB: Can I play DS?

Me: No it's bed time.

FHB (on the verge of tears): Well thanks, you're the best Mummy ever. Humph! (Stomps off).

Or:

FHB: Can I go in the garden?

Me: No, it's five minutes until tea time. You should have gone earlier with everyone else. It's too cold now.

FHB (on the verge of tears): Well you're just the greatest Mummy. Thanks. (Strops off and slams door).

Or (my favourite):

FHB: Can I read The Beano?

W: No, it's bedtime.

FHB (on the verge of tears [see the pattern here?]): Well aren't you just the best Daddy ever? Thank you sooooo much. Cos I really wanted to go to bed now. (Slams door).

W's face was a complete picture and I shall cherish it. Sometimes, when you are having just the most frustrating time with your children, the funniest moments happen!

x

Update:: We have also:

*had one baby/door interface (resulting in one very tiny swollen wonky nose and a split lip, plus a disproportionate blood spatter)
*one Mouse refusing to eat her dinner (resulting in me being the most hated person in the house and Mouse having a very early bed time. Not her best day)
*one 'let's raucously flood the bathroom and spray water everywhere while Mummy is with the baby' incident (resulting in two small boys having a very early bedtime and me being the triple most hated person in the house)
*one quiet cry in the kitchen while everyone upstairs told each other how much they hated Mummy
*one tired, miserable parent collapsing on the sofa waiting for her husband to get home so that she won't feel guilty about having (quite a large) glass of wine (or two).

And there's no school tomorrow. Boo.