I can’t believe that it’s already July!!

As seems to be the norm just now, we have been busy, busy, busy!  The highlights (and lowlight) of the past week or so have been:-

• Martha’s 3rd Birthday and Beach Party.
• Peter’s work syndicate winning a fortune on the National Lottery!
• Lauren becoming even more settled during her “Come and Play” sessions at her future school.
• Progress being made in clearing upstairs ready for Phase II.
• Me losing 4 lbs since getting Wii Fit!
• One of my closest friend’s left during the week to return the US permanently.  I will miss her and the family greatly.

and finally…

• For what feels like a long time, the four of us fighting fit!

Martha’s 3rd birthday seemed quite a surreal experience for a number of reasons.  Primarily where has the time gone, we feel like our life has whizzed by during the “now over” horrid period.  I think I am still coming to terms that this time next year she will be approaching her time for starting school.  The weather was fantastic which meant that we could have her party outdoors (her other two have been rained indoors!) and, finally on the party front, it was such an easy theme to cater for that I didn’t feel I had to work as hard as usual!

Lauren is really looking forward to starting school now and is confident enough to leave me at school, allowing me to return home.  The last session incorporated the School Sports Day which I did stay around for as I think the slight change threw Lauren a bit so needed a bit more support.

Our joiner starts on Tuesday to begin our upstairs – I cannot wait!  I have been planning this since expecting Martha (see bullet point 1!!).  I really believe it will make a difference to our daily family life just by having more room to spread our activities about.  We’ve decided to continue having the girls share a room for the time being – this allows us to have a playroom which for my own selfish mental health will be great.  I cannot relax in the evening when I feel surrounded by toys etc.  I don’t expect the room to be tidy at all times, nor the toys to remain in their at all times but at least I can chuck them in, close the door and switch off!

Now, my Wii Fit!  I apologise for going on and on and on about this but I really am enjoying it and it seems to work for me. I simply do not have the time to go running, to the gym, swimming during the day or evening plus I simply don’t want to have to drive 20 minutes to get to one!  I can do the Wii at any time really as I can do as many minutes as I have available (2 mins to 1hr!).  After Martha’s party, two of my friends had a go and enjoyed it, so we’re thinking of maybe having a regular get together where we can get fit and spur each other on!

The lowlight of the past week is my very, very good friend Heidi and her family left to return to Texas having lived here for a number of years.  I really will miss her friendship as she is one of these people whom simply being around, made me feel like a better person and encouraged me in every aspect.  I don’t know how that aspect will continue over the internet, Skype, pen/paper etc but I really hope it can.

The upcoming week is going to be another busy one with the building works finally getting underway and on Tuesday a full concrete wagon will be arriving to complete our base for our fantastic new posh shed!  Oh what an exciting life I lead, cement wagons and sheds!!  If you take a look at my updated June photo album, you’ll see another dumper unloading a few tons of hardcore for the base – whoopee!!

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Happy Father’s Day!!

The girls and I woke early to get things ready for Peter’s special day of indulgence!

On Friday, we made him a little matchbook (where the front flap folds over) full of Father’s Day Coupons from cleaning his car to head rubs from the girls.  He loved it and I got the chance to use my Lidl cutter perforator tool which just makes it brilliant as each coupon actually tears off really easily and neatly!  We served him a full English breakfast in bed complete with home-made message toast which he loved!  The girls presented him with his cards and present (a power ballad 6 CD compilation, which is slightly different from his usual hard dance ones but he loved it!!).

After breakfast, Peter went on his motorbike to Fewston Village Hall where Lauren’s school were raising funds serving tea, coffee and cakes, and we followed in the car.  We drove past the Sun Inn, where we saw Peter standing talking to a family friend so we stopped and chatted for a while too which was lovely.  When we got to the hall, it was lovely to see familiar faces all in jovial spirits.  We were really pleased when Julie, Andrew, Emma and Phoebe arrived with Julie’s mum and her dog.  We spent a bit longer sitting and talking whilst the girls all played happily – it was so relaxed (even with a barbed wire fence which the girls gravitated towards!).  Afterwards we all drove/rode to Martin’s house to wish him a Happy father’s day as Susan and the girls are currently in Canada for a family wedding.  The girls played nicely together although it felt odd not having Chloe and Macey around!

For dinner, I made roast pork with Peter’s favourite, Yorkshire Puddings and loads of yummy veg – the girls wolfed it all too which was lovely.

It was the best Father’s Day we’ve spent!

I have also treated the family to a Wii and Wii Fit, from eBay I can’t justify the new prices although the used are still pretty high!  We’re all looking forward to it arriving and I can’t wait to see if it helps me lose weight and increase fitness.

So much has been happening recently, mostly all positive which is wonderful!

The biggest event over the last couple of weeks is the end of our near 4 year battle following our run in (literally) with a very drunk driver in 2005.  I’m so relieved that I do not have to go to court as to be honest I think I would have struggled going over it for the umpteenth time and coupled with the fact that my mother in law was to be there as a witness for us – too stressful!  It means that I can now move on and leave the past in the past.

Lauren attended her first “come and play” session at school on Friday.  She was understandably clingy to start with as we (and all the other newbies) walked into the Reception/Yr 1 class to excited (and familiar, friendly) faces.  She relaxed completely when her “buddy” Steven arrived to look after her, so much so that she actually told me that I could go home as she was “ok now Steven’s here”!  It’s such a relief that she’s now looking forward to starting school.

The joiner has been around and we’ve discussed our next phase of house building which involves the long anticipated move upstairs!  I am so very excited and the first two weeks of July cannot come soon enough!  Each time I drive past the workshop where our stairs are being made I get excited – sad I know!

The not so good stuff is that for some reason the girls are going through a very destructive and rebellious stage.  They seem intent on undoing any work I do to try to get the house in a reasonable state and it feels like everywhere I walk, I have two Tasmanian Devils behind me chattering, giggling and destroying!!  It feels awful to say and think but I am looking forward to Lauren starting school and Martha being in playgroup more mornings a week from September.  I think that Peter and the girls seem to cope with living in chaos but it really does affect my mental well-being when things are not in order – no amount of reward charts or threats seem to turn them back into helpful girls.

Back to the positive end of my blog - we’ve had one of the best weekends we’ve had for a long, long time.  On Saturday afternoon, we attended our God-daughters’ 4th birthday party which everyone really enjoyed and the sun was shining!  Peter has got himself a motorbike so he went out on Saturday evening for a ride and he’s really enjoying being back in the saddle so to speak – his mood has lifted considerably!  On Sunday afternoon, we attended the leaving party for my very good friend Heidi, her husband Patrick and lovely daughters Hannah and Camille.   They are leaving to return back home to Texas at the end of the month having been here for around 4 years.  I will really miss Heidi’s friendship and hope that Skype will help us keep in touch although it certainly will not be the same.  Again, the sun shone the whole time and the children loved bouncing on a cake bouncy castle whilst everyone enjoyed the Ceilidh, Lauren and Martha very much so, although Peter didn’t join in!

We’ve a busy week ahead with work being done outside in preparation for some hardstanding for a shed to put our precious items in for storage whilst inside work gets underway.  We have a lunch date on Tuesday with a hopefully new friend for me and a new classmate of Lauren’s, there are preparations for Martha’s beach/bbq birthday party to finalise and buy for, and finally another “come and play” session for Lauren, after which I’ll be looking after my God-daughter for a while – it’s so nice that they will be in the same class as each other!

It’s been a sobering day today – we had one of our advisers around to write our wills.  I know that we’re doing the responsible thing but it is so emotive obviously.  The scary thing is that if we don’t do it, and if something happened to both Peter and I that the girls wouldn’t automatically be cared for by family, they become wards of the state, it’s worth doing it for that comfort alone.

Anyway, brighter things, the weather has been wonderful hasn’t it?!  Lauren has developed freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks just like me and it really suits her.  A friend pointed out that Lauren’s eyes are exactly the same colour as her hair and they are!  They really are blossoming into pretty little things, although Martha’s curls aren’t just as tight as they were but I doubt she’ll have straight hair though!

My vegetables and fruits are growing wonderfully in the combination of rain and heat we’ve had recently.  I’m really pleased that my potatoes are growing strongly as my friend who has the same soil has been struggling with hers so I wonder if the wind/sun makes a difference here.  We have two strawberries starting to turn red and one cherry tomato, I say cherry but actually it’s more double the size of a cherry tomato!  We’ll be fighting over who gets the first taste of our home-grown food.

I’m a bit disappointed with the seed mats I bought.  The photo shows wonderful blooms however mine haven’t all come through and are probably about 20% of what I expected, obviously I’ve no flowers yet so it might change.

We’re accompanying Peter to Northumberland tonight as he’s got an early start (0600) job in Alnwick tomorrow, we’re really looking forward to it.

Enough blogging for now, I’m off out with the girls to enjoy the sunshine and hopefully get some colour!

We had a lovely day today at the girls friend Livi’s birthday party.  We all went to Hesketh Farm Park where my friend (Livi’s mum) had supplied a feast for everyone.  The girls love going there and spent time feeding lambs, handling guinea pigs, holding newborn chicks, admiring tiny piglets, taking a ride on a tractor trailer, playing in a massive sandpit, getting lost several times in a haybale maze, riding pedal tractors, playing in the playgrounds, drooling over the horses and donkeys, and looking at newborn calves (one was born on my birthday!!).

The day got us talking about the girls forthcoming birthday parties and what they would like to do.  Lauren is very certain over hers, Princesses (“and Princes if I have to have boys there”), Martha thought for a very long time, and about an hour later decided that she’d like a BBQ party – eek!  We’ve moved on slightly from there and after asking about her favourite things to do, we’re now planning a beach/bbq party – fingers crossed that we get good weather, although we have had a bbq on Guy Fawkes in a gazebo so it should work even if the children have to be indoors.

Sarah directed me to a good party supply store www.partypieces.co.uk I can get a foil 8ft palm tree for £4.25 and lots of other palm tree, beach paraphernalia!

Don’t forget Organised Mum Diaries are out soon!  I’ve just starting using their Party Planner and have to say it’s really handy already.

I’ve finally remembered to take the camera out and have also let Lauren loose with it so the May album is here!!

We’ve spent the last week accompanying Peter to Scotland.  We expected to be away for 3 nights however were away for 4 when he got an out-of-hours call to Newcastle on the Thursday.  It seemed craziness to drive past for 1.5 hours, drop us off, then drive back up again!

Our first night was spent in the Glasgow South Premier Inn.  The location was great for Peter’s work (2 mins away) however it wasn’t somewhere where I would have felt comfortable walking with the girls.  In our short stay there I saw a man staggering down the street dripping with blood, 3 very, very drunk people and too many boy-racers to mention! The hotel was really good and the staff were really helpful at the meals with the girls.  On our way north, we stopped for walk along the beach at St Cyrus which is a nature reserve – it was stunning and we all enjoyed our time there.  They have a lovely unmanned visitors centre with remote control cams so you can look around.  One thing that did both surprise and amuse me was a professional information board advising you about a type of bird you might spot – the line read “if you listen carefully you can here the birds call" or something to that effect!  They actually used the word “here” instead of “hear” – amazing how these things slip through the net!

Our second night was spent just south of Aberdeen and was the first place we’d been to where there was a Wacky Warehouse type thing in the restaurant – it was fantastic!  The girls didn’t get grumpy waiting for their dinner and Peter and I managed to have a starter whilst they played – it just felt that we didn’t need to rush.  The next morning we got up early and drove to a small place just south of Banff to a private customer on a farm.  The girls enjoyed seeing some brand new lambs and admiring the working dogs.  Afterwards, we spent some time admiring the view at Pennan on the advice of the farmer – it was very much appreciated as we wouldn’t have known to go there otherwise.

Our third night was spent in Dundee at a different one to usual.  This one was next to Camperdown Park and I thought that we might have had time to go for a walk or ice-skating but that wasn’t to be.  They also had an indoor playcentre which the girls again loved.  I always feel very homesick when we go for a few days – the scenery is stunning as it is at “home” however I really do believe it’s the sea that tugs at my emotions every time.  We spent some time at Silver Sands beach at Aberdour on our way southward and enjoyed a picnic on the beautiful sandy beach as well as a paddle – the weather was stunning.

Yesterday we took the girls to see the Milkshake Live show in Harrogate – they had a fantastic time although I was disappointed that our seats had to be changed due to them bringing a different sized stage which meant our original 5 rows from the from seats had move to top of the middle section seats – oh well it was only Peter & I that noticed!  It was really nice afterwards to walk around town as a family.  It’s not often I like shopping, however it was nice just looking around and being together.  After tea we popped down to our friends house.  They have two very small pigs, 2 mad sheep, 3 goats, umpteen hens (thank you for the eggs!), 3 ferrets, 2 rabbits, at least 3 cats, a dog and a beautiful hare.  The girls were thrilled to be able to help feed them all although Martha got a bit nervous when one sheep became very interested in her!  They’re getting some miniature ponies in the next couple of days so we’ll be back down again!  We left far, far later than expected but were all so relaxed we lost track of time!

Today we’ve spent most of the day outdoors and enjoyed a bbq for dinner.  I have spent some time weeding my raised beds which are coming along brilliantly and laying some straw around my ever growing strawberries.  I extended our outside table tonight so that it fits 8 around which finally allows me to get my parasol up and my bargain £ shop LED parasol light ring- I just have to wait for darkness now to see it in it’s full glory!

I'm trying to set up a free site for the girls playgroup.  There is one currently but the username/password don't work and it doesn't appear that anyone is manning the "helpdesk" so I'm kind of stuck!  The only problem is, that when you type in the playgroups name, it directs you to the outdated site rather than the new, trial one.  I'd really appreciate any help in getting traffic visiting the site to try to boost it up Google's ranking so please feel free to click, point to, re-direct it however you see fit!

Thank you!!

http://dacrebankspreschool.spaces.live.com

Talking of playgroup, Lauren was awful when I collected both her and Martha today.  She started kicking, dragging Martha by the hair, it was horrible (not least for Martha), but for everyone who witnessed it.  Having now settled her early to bed, I suspect that tiredness may have been a key factor, or at least I hope it was.  They were really in good spirits this morning, we baked Easter themed cookies this morning (before 0800!) for them to take in to share with their friends at cafe time.  They were all taken and by all accounts enjoyed.  I've ordered some Shredded Wheat and Mini Eggs in tomorrow's shopping to make some Easter nests to take in on Friday as they are so easy for the girls to make and I've also got an abundance of pretty Springlike pastel cases leftover from the baptism to use up.  I tried out two of my loaf cake packs from Tesco whilst the oven was on (gingerbread and fruited loaf).  Sadly I managed to drop the fruited loaf onto the oven door so it had to get eaten for pudding tonight but it tasted delicious and was so simple yet homemade in both appearance and taste - I had a little try of the gingerbread one as a bit got stuck on the card ovenproof loaf tin that it came in, it too was scrummy!  Great for if like me you like baking but are a bit lazy or inconsistent with results!

Happy Mothering Sunday!

We accompanied Peter to Scotland last week and had a great time, although Lauren and Martha developed a tummy bug which I got last night and today and Peter is coming down with!

We went to a few Morrison's stores and sadly at each one I picked up more and more gardening products from their fantastic Spring range!  I am really impressed with the pre-seeded hanging basket/container mats and the seed boxes (bee and butterfly attracting and scented selection).  I can't wait to put them in!

Before we left for home, we visited my sister Jan and saw two of my three nieces which was lovely.  The girls all had a great time playing outside, it's nice to see they all enjoy each others' company and I'm sure that the more frequent visits we've been able to make has helped.

On Saturday, Peter made my raised beds and we've started filling them with soil, although after 3 tractor bucket loads it's half full and we got a bit tired, so will continue again this week.

I was very excited on Saturday when I was browsing Google Maps Street View, I spotted my sister Laura waiting for her bus outside of work!  Big Brother IS watching!!  I must admit that I really like it, I can see why some people are a tad nervous but it's interesting to see, especially if you're trying to remember a shop, pub etc that you passed, but you can't recall the name, now you just re-trace your steps in the comfort of your own home!

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