Improvisation

Today, the children abandoned modern games consules and resorted to good old fashioned 'play', by building bunkers and dens in the lounge.  Safely hidden in their trenches they then bombed each other with the plastic balls from the old ball pit Andy dug out from the garage during a weekend tidy out.

Pillows became sand bags, teddy bears were guards on duty and boxes formed walls.

My only role in all this was to randomly shout out 'gas attack', whereby the children dived under blankets to escape the effect of the fumes.

The standard of PPE wasn't enough for Bombardier Eleanor who then deserted her post, went AWOL and came back with five flannels, a box of pegs and a request for a gas-mask to be made.  Clearly she understands the troops dire need for better equipment in the line of duty.

We Didn't Get Much Sleep - Over

Joshua's birthday sleepover went off really well.  After assuring many bemused parents in the reception area of the local pool, that yes, we really could manage 13 kids swimming at the local pool and 12 overnight at our place, we thanked them for their concern, urged them to enjoy their evening of freedom and allowed the madness to commence.  Sleeping bags, pillows and overnight kits were dumped in our car, presents tucked under the bags and lots of noise and commotion sorting out regular members, non-members, free swim members .......

Two hours of swimming and a walk home later the children all settled into their various zones in the house and hours of gaming, giggling, eating and having fun followed.

Papa Johns, who deliver the best pizzas in the area did good by delivering a leaflet offering buy one get one free on any size pizza the day before the party - yay!!!  We'll have TWO XXL large ones then please! 


Followed by a large slice of Dad's expertly baked chocolate fudge cake.  Previous years traditions have seen this covered in Smarties, Flakes and Maltesers.  This year was the turn of the Rolo.

Lilos were inflated and beds made up around 10.30pm ready for late night DVDs and midnight feast.

At 1.00am the final request to go to sleep was issued (although we found out the following morning they finally settled at 2.30am!)

Weary souls fuelled on just under five hours sleep, copious amounts of pizza, nuggets, chips, chocolate fudge cake and midnght goodies still managed to dive into the mammoth breakfast fry-up.

At 10.30am parents arrived, friends left and we flopped!

Birthday Gaming

Joshua's 11th birthday arrived quite early yesterday morning.  After teasing him mercilessly that his much wanted and long awaited PS3 was out of stock in town (only partly true as Game truly had run out, but we 'forgot' to mention HMV had them in), we managed to convince him we'd arranged a special courier delivery service to have it at the house by 9.00am.  This was our feeble and very wishful attempt at not being woken at some unearthly hour by a boy who for the last two weeks has established a 5.30am waking habit because he's so excited about the big day.  He didn't need to know the 'courier' was Dad, delivering it from the wardrobe in our bedroom.

At 7.30am it was plugged in and ready to go.  He was plugged in and ready to go two weeks ago when he found out that Grandparents hadn't bought him presents as they had contributed to it too.

But in addition to being the Birthday Boy and really rather special for the day he was also tagged with the label of Most Awesome Big Brother by Eleanor and Sam who have now inherited 'free of charge' his now redundant PS2.  Sam's already picked up some pretty nifty moves with the Ratchet and Clank games and is now teaching Eleanor how to work through the levels. 

So, a quiet, but happy gaming day for him, followed by a chocolate birthday cake and Chinese delivery.  We still can't get us all in one car so a trip to a local restaurant was out of the question. But not being ones to let a thing like that get us down, we decided a bit of the restaurant would come to us instead.

So yesterday, Andy and I were the best parents ever. I'm going to remind him later today that we still are - it doesn't hurt a kid to be reminded of basic facts like that :-)

The real party is tomorrow night.  Six of his friends meeting him at the swimming pool for a couple of hours swimming, back to ours for gaming, pizza, DVD, midnight feast and sleepover.

The girls have friends over too. Lilos have been brought down from the loft, extra pillows have been plumped up, stocks of goodies stashed in the kitchen, another birthday cake baked by Dad and the Sega Game Gear dug out for the retro gaming corner.

It's gonna be a fun one!

It was so much fun we went out again!

After the children's friends had been collected by their Dad, we donned our wellies and headed out again. Walking through the Close to the back of the house we could hear the fun and very soon we were knee deep in the field with other families enjoying their day at home and making the most of sledging, snowballing and having fun.

It truly is a beautiful area and just spectacular in the snow. The lake next to it was previously frozen over and is now covered in a smooth layer of smush but still breathtaking all the same.

The snow was hard going for Sam.  Every ten minutes or so we had to stop, take his wellies off and empty them as the snow was so high on him it was going over the top.  The two pairs of socks we put on to keep his feet warm eventually surrendered and after an hour and a half we headed home - he did really well to keep going for that long.
    

But even though the children were starting to get wet, weary and cold, it still didn't dampen their enthusiasm to have fun.  On the way home they made faceprints in the snow and we caught snowflakes in our mouths.

However, the last little stretch home was just too much for Sam.  Completely wiped out and unable to take another step further he hitched a lift on Daddy's shoulders.

School is shut again tomorrow and I'm unsure whether the trains are running, so whether I get to stay home from work another day is a mystery.  I have accounts here to do when the kids are asleep.  Our children have two working parents and it's not often we have spontaneous days where we're thrown together and able to have so much fun.  In fact, it's not often that any family gets to spend a day like this.  I can imagine there were lots of Dads at home really enjoying an extra day with their kids and lots of Mums and wives who are usually working hard at home really cherishing the time too.  News reports are already forecasting what it costs the economy - but to young families a price can't be put on this kind of day.

And the snow came tumbling down

With yesterday's weather warning indicating we were in for another session of major snow Andy took the precaution to come to work slightly earlier to pick me up. What a Godsend that was, as had we been delayed by half hour or more then we would have been stuck in the awful traffic build up that so many poor commuters have had to endure.

So, last night, safely ensconsed in our lovely warm home we watched the snowfall arrive.  All the children, apart from Maddie wanted school shut.  She had a school trip today which has surprisingly been cancelled!  But the woe didn't last long as this morning was heralded with whoops of delight at the overnight accumulation.

We never made it out of the Close.  Plans were afoot to join a large gathering in the park, but the children were happy playing near the house.  With Joshua scooting round the corner to pick up his friend and his little sister, the creation of Hercules the Giant Snowman commenced.  I considered it a triumph when the snowball was so heavy even I couldn't push it and we had to call on the services of Dave opposite to push it onto the front lawn.  Our stranded location was smack bang in the middle of the road and I didn't fancy being responsible for the damage our structure would cause an unsuspecting car hotfooting it round the corner when the road had cleared but our snowball was still intact!

The children are all inside now nice and warm watching a DVD together, enjoying hot chocolate and popcorn.  What a wonderful day!

Brussels

For years parents have always been encouraged to engage children with food.  Allow them to help prepare the food and they'll more likely eat it.  In most cases this is true, especially where cakes and biscuits are concerned.  With my children, the theory also tends to work with most main meals.

Today, the children helped prep the veg for dinner tomorrow.  They happily chopped carrots, topped and tailed French beans, peeled potatoes and parsnips, floretted the cauliflower and thoroughly enjoyed spending time together getting things ready.  

But, how come nobody in the world has mastered the art of convincing a child that the preparation of Brussels Sprouts will have them eating them willingly on Christmas Day?

Busy getting ready for Christmas

Love in a box

Around this time each year I have a huge clear out of my children's bedrooms.  I go through old clothes to see if they still fit, put some in a charity bag, throw out broken toys and put battered books into the paper recycling.  Maddie's outgrown clothes go into Eleanor's side of the wardrobe, items Joshua hasn't worn out go in a box for Sam or get passed to friends.  DVDs and CDs they've matured from are given away and generally loads of clutter is binned.

I do it to create room for the new wave of presents that are coming next month. 

But, you see, a clean tidy room, that holds a lovely comfy bed with a soft warm pillow and cosy duvet upon which sit various cuddly toys and under which there are more toys, situated next to a set of drawers containing far more clothes than the need, makes me more than aware of just how rich my children are.

Not just in the material sense, but because of the great provision our God has given us as a family.  Andy and I are always panicking around this time of month whether our money will make it through to pay day and miraculously it does and miraculously we are constantly blessed with food, clothes and all the general trappings of having a pretty good life.  All because He loves us.

So this year, I wanted the children to appreciate just how much they have. 

After explaining to them that millions of children around the world wouldn't actually have a Christmas like them, I asked whether they wanted to do a shoebox.  I asked them how they would feel if on Christmas morning they only had a shoebox to open.  What would they want to find in there? What would make them really happy?  So, armed with the list of gift ideas suggested, the children were determined to put in items they knew a child their age would enjoy.  They didn't automatically choose rubbish or just chuck something in the basket because it was cheap.  They took time and care to select things.  Eleanor sniffed soaps to see which one smelt the nicest.  Maddie chose the cutest little beanie toys she could find.  Joshua made efforts to find a writing pad that wasn't girlie and a beanie toy that wasn't cute, but slightly boyish.  Samuel didn't come shopping but he did express an insistence that sweets should be included.

I'm proud of them.  Not once did they ask for anything for themselves and not once did they moan it wasn't fair that somebody else was getting something and not them. 

Our only sadness was that it was restricted to a shoebox.  But mulling this over I was struck with a thought.  Do you recall years ago your parents would put all the family photographs in a shoebox?  Their cherished and most precious memories all packed up in a little cardboard box.

And this is exactly the vessel that's been chosen to light up a child's life next month.

It's wonderful the love you can pack in a box.

Pint sized devotions

I popped into Quench yesterday during my lunch break. I love it in there. Ever since it was taken over and the art shop at the front entrance was 'relocated', it is evident from the front window it's a Christian bookshop.

And so it should be evident. If John Lewis, Waitrose, Monsoon and all the other retail outlets can stick a huge great big sign above their door, why can't a Christian Bookshop? And changing the name from St. Andrew's Bookshop to Quench was a smart move too. More modern and 'with it'.

Anyway, I digress. My initial purpose was to buy myself my next round of study guides. Bought with a renewed vigor and intent to actually knuckle down and do them. Finding time for daily devotions is hard for me, I get distracted, side-tracked, bogged down with day to day life and before I know it, it's 11.00pm and I'm done in. Andy wants to study with me too, so my dilemma was then at a fork in the road - do I buy just one study for us to do together, or two, one for me to do solitary as it's MY time with God as well. I opted for the latter.

Then I felt the children needed something, so into the basket goes Discover and Jesus and Me. Thinking they could share copies I only bought one of each. I got home and there was moaning, so out today to buy more. I was tempted to photocopy them, but I was prodded with the copyright conscience.

I desperately want my children to get into the habit of reading their Bibles and enjoying them, but I know they also need me there to guide them. With working, having the house to run, meals to cook ......... and homework assignments to assist with, I'm getting stretched thinner and thinner and I fear my elastic band is about to break. But this is important, so please pray for me that I find the time and patience to sit with them and help them with this.

Baking Days

When you're stuck at work, totally bogged under with accounts, feeling a bit cheesed off at having to work a few long days during half term, it's nice to get pictures e-mailed of what the children have been doing.

Today, they're home with Andy. It's not often he gets a day alone with them, so time together, having fun, is the order of the day.

Fun today = baking.

The Channel Divide - Day 4

The chocolate theme carried on last night for Maddie, but this time with Andy. Hot chocolate fudge sauce cake with lashings of fresh cream, and for Eleanor a big chocolate muffin.

Yesterday the girls finally admitted to missing Joshua with Eleanor declaring she'd give him a big hug when he got back and Maddie echoing the sentiment. His last full day in France was yesterday and as I write, he'll have probably just arrived back in England after what looks to have been an absolutely fantastic trip. I know he'll be worn out, tired and hungry, but full of information about his time away. I can't wait for him to get back.

Here's yesterday's events.

Thursday 15th October 10.45pm

Today started off with a visit to Dieppe where we were immersed in the French language, identifying French shop signs, before going to a Creperie where we had to order, eat and pay for a delicious crepe (all in French of course!!)

We then had a quick lunch stop back at the Chateau before heading off to the Neufchatel cheese farm. We all learnt about the cheese making process (all in French!!) before having the opportunity to taste some freshly made cheese and buy some to bring home (let's hope that the coach doesn't smell too much on the way home!)

Our first evening activity was either fencing or the climbing wall which everyone enjoyed a lot.

Now onto dinner......yes, Thursday night is snails and frogs legs night! Needless to say, there was plenty left over after the tasting! We then had a main course of pasta bolognaise followed by a cheese plate and chocolate eclairs.

After dinner it was time to party on down at the disco! There were lots of impressive moves on the dance floor (which we have photographic evidence of!) and also some not quite impressive moves (again, photographic evidence available....!!)

We are going to miss the Chateau (and France!) when we leave tomorrow but we are also looking forward to coming home to see everyone.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

We will be catching a slightly later Eurostar train tomorrow (to give us a bit longer at the market in the morning) and we estimate that we will arrive back at *********** at approximately 4pm.

See you tomorrow!! Au revoir!

The Channel Divide - Day 3

Wednesday night was declared 'Hot Chocolate' night. I didn't realise until a friend pointed out to me that this week was Chocolate Week. Had I known that I'd have started this all on Monday and got maximum mileage out of the celebration!

So, supplies were gathered in for the ultimate hot chocolate sensation. Squirty cream, mini marshmallows, hundreds and thousands, chocolate chips and toffee sauce. This was going to be goooood!!!

Pour in the hot chocolate, load on the toppings, be careful not to let it topple!

A quick lick of the lips, wring of the hands and we're ready to dive in!

YUM YUM YUM!

Meanwhile, across the Channel, Joshua had also been busy.....

Wednesday 14th October 8.50pm

Today we went to Rouen which involved lots of walking but also lots of exciting sightseeing! We explored and learnt about the Notre Dame Cathedral (not the Paris one!!), learnt the story of Joan of Arc and saw where she had been burnt at the stake, ate lunch in the park and went shopping!

When we got back to the Chateau, we had some free time. Some of us played football and made some French friends whilst others had some chill out time in the dorms (well maybe not quite so chilled out....!). Then it was time for our group activities which were either archery or climbing wall.

Food tonight was mixed cold vegetables to start followed by fish and rice. We then had a cheese plate and an apple pastry for dessert. Evening activity tonight is team tech which involves lots of thinking (oh dear!!!!!!).

We think the late nights and long days may be beginning to catch up with us, however we are determined to carry on having lots of fun and new adventures!!

The Channel Divide - Day 2

Eagerly logging on Tuesday night to find out what Joshua had been up to I was pleased to see the teachers had taken time out of their really busy day to update us Mums and Dads on what the children had been doing. Sounds like they're having a great time.

At this point I wasn't missing him too much. I knew he'd arrived safely and I knew he was having fun with his friends. I could relax.

Having one less at home does afford the opportunity to spend a little more time with the other children. This week, Maddie and I have declared that each evening we should have a girlie treat, of the chocolate variety, before she goes to bed.

Tonight was chocolate fondue night. I usually avoid doing this kind of messy stuff before bed, but with the cunning use of a tealight, metal pie dish and a peg, we mustered up our own mini-fondue and tucked into melted chocolate, maderia cake cubes, marshmallows and apple chunks.

We're going to introduce Joshua to this when he's back - he'd love it. And whilst we were enjoying this little luxury here's what he got up to on day 2.

Tuesday 13th October 9pm

Another busy day in France! Breakfast was at 7.45 this morning after what turned out to be a late night with 28 excited children deciding that they didn't actually want to go to sleep (quote 'we stopped talking at 3.20am....!!). We have had a great day out visiting the WW1 underground tunnels at Arras followed by walking through the German and Allied trenches at Vimy Ridge. We then went to a very impressive memorial monument, also at Vimy Ridge.

When we arrived back at the Chateau we headed straight down to the beach with some frisbees, giant jenga, a basketball and a rugby ball. These were surplus to requirements though as the children just wanted to build stone trenches!! At least they have been inspired!

Dinner tonight was carrot salad for starters followed by pork meatloaf and beans. Dessert was a cheese plate and yoghurt and after all of that we even managed to save some room for Will's birthday cake!

The final activity for today is either archery or fencing. Hopefully bedtime tonight will be earlier than last night as we have a full day out tomorrow exploring Rouen!

The Channel Divide - Day 1

Joshua's in France this week and I'm missing him. But the pangs of separation are being dampered by the fact the teachers are putting a daily update on the school web page to keep parents informed of the day to day activities the children are undertaking. It will be great to see the pictures he has taken to accompany the round up of each day's events. I last saw him 8.30am Monday morning. By evening this is what he'd done.

Monday 12th October 9.30pm

We are here!! As you can probably tell from the delay in updating this page, we have had a very busy start to our trip! The journey went well with lots of excitement whilst travelling through the tunnel and even more excitement when we realised we had reached France (quote 'I love France now' and 'I can even smell France!')

We had a great stop off at Nausicaa Sea Centre, touching stingrays, seeing the sharks close up, watching the penguins being fed and laughing at the sealions playing!

The journey on to the Chateau seemed very long (quote 'are we there yet' and 'how long until we get there' over and over and over and over......!!)

We finally arrived at the Chateau at about 6.30pm and after the initial excitment of seeing the dorms and playing some field games it was dinner time. On the menu tonight was cheese pie for starter, sausage with cabbage and potato for the main course followed by yoghurt and fruit for dessert.

The final end to the day has been mini olympics in the sports hall.

Everyone is very tired but still excited and looking forward to what tomorrow may bring!

Crazy Vet

Eleanor had a day home from school yesterday. Feeling very lethargic and unwell she managed to convince me that a day at home to rest and a recover was in order. I get days like that too. Not ill or unwell, but just drained and out of energy and in need of a day of nothing. I understood where she was coming from. She was hard to wake, tearful and lacking motivation to do anything, whereas usually she's up and bustling around, eager to get to school and see her friends.

But as soon as she's down, she's up again. Within 3 hours of being home, around lunchtime, she mustered up enough energy to eat her numberetti (spaghetti hoops made with numbers - I'm moving on from hoops as I deem numbers more fun). But not only was numberetti cheering Eleanor up, it turned out to be a great cure for Monkey.

Monkey is Sam's cuddly toy bought from Monkey World on holiday this year. I enquired as to why Monkey was on the table covered in toilet roll, only to discover that Eleanor was his vet and Sam, the very concerned owner, had brought him to her for an operation. Further investigations led to finding out that Monkey had suffered a very severe heart attack earlier that day and only had two hours to live. But no matter how critical Monkey's condition was, he was well enough to hold on to the last portion of his life, while vet and owner stopped for numberetti.

Toilet paper turned out to be bandages. At this point I'm trying so hard to stifle the laughter and show genuine concern for Monkey's plight only to nearly bust a gut holding in my giggles when the answer to my question, 'Why does Monkey have a hairband round his mouth?', was met with the very dry tutted response from Eleanor of, 'It will stop him screaming when I put the injection in'.

Monkey's op was successful. He went to bed last night with a headache. It think that's the least of his worries.

The Whirlwind of Summer

I must admit to opening up this site a few times over the Summer Holidays, only to close it down again as I've had no desire to post.

I've got masses of pictures of days on the beach, birthdays, crafts etc that the children have taken part in, but at the end of an exhausting day out with them, or an exhausting day in, the desire to post left me.

I felt a little guilty at one point for neglecting my site, but then that guilt turned to satisfaction as I realised that my time was spent with my children doing the fun stuff.

So, over the next few days I will post about what we got up to and load in some pictures. It will be a nice way for me to recap the six weeks the children have been home and to remind myself what a great little bunch of people I share my life with and the fun we can have together.

When The Scales Balance

You ring the tax office to declare that you're no longer living as a single parent.

Your tax credits reduce DRASTICALLY.

You worry momentarily and wonder how on earth you'll meet the bills.

You realise the second income is back.

You worry as prices are increasing.

You open your mortgage letter.

You pray a prayer of thanks when the variable interest rates work in your favour.

You open the chocolate cake you saved for pudding for the children to eat right away as it's good for them to have a nice surprise too.

Small Gestures - Big Impact

My Mum has, after many years of groaning, finally persuaded my Dad to clear out his loft. He's not the sort of person that keeps absolutely everything, but there is a lot of stuff up there that needs to go and he's recognised this.

He called me this week to ask if I had use of some kilner jars. I haven't really if I'm totally truthful, but they evoked many happy memories. I can still picture him sitting in the kitchen surrounded by piles of pickling onions spending hours peeling them and pickling them in the giant glass jars. I think he used to get them from the local sweet shop - the proper solid glass ones with the roses chocolates lids. I couldn't bear the thought of them being dumped somewhere so I've taken them off his hands and decided to use two of them straightaway. One to fill with 5p pieces and one for coppers.

When Andy and I showed the children the jars I casually mentioned to them that I was going to try my best to fill the coppers jar up by Christmas. A kind of mini challenge. I gave myself to Christmas as the size of the jar means an awful lot of 2p and 1p pieces going in there.

So I was really touched when they all announced that they had lots of coppers in their piggy banks and that they wanted to put them in the jar. Within minutes Eleanor and Sam were both heaving their full up piggy banks down the stairs and willingly volunteering all the contents. They didn't hesitate to sort out their silver and brown coins and cheerfully enjoyed the clink clink of the coins falling in. Joshua put in the few that he had in his wallet and Maddie even put in a few she could find.

I'm now looking at a jar that is nearly three quarters full. We're going away for a week in August and while it won't hold a fortune, I've decided that whatever is in the jar when we go away will be banked up and used for a small treat, even if it's just enough for us all to have an ice-cream on the beach.

It's times like this I'm really proud of my children. Really proud that they enjoy being part of a family and working together to achieve a small goal. To be selfless in what they do, knowing it's helping somebody else complete something they've set out to do. It was a big thing for them to hand back the endless small coins I've handed them each week and it was even bigger for them to do it with absolutely no knowledge that they're going to benefit. In the great scheme of things it wasn't a huge gesture, but the sentiment behind it is my point.

It makes me hopeful about the future of this world. Not all children are selfish and insular. Sometimes we don't give our children credit for their credible actions. And sometimes, we have to admit, their attitudes put us adults to shame.

Complacent Budgeting

I have been reminded quite often lately of the good provision that is given to me and my family and I have been struck at just how easy it is to become complacent about what you've got and how simple it is to become flippant with money and how it's spent.

The past year, having probably been my most unhappy emotionally, has been steadily improving financially. But for four or so years prior to that, money was incredibly tight. Tight to the point of sometimes having to rely on my mother to buy groceries as I just couldn't seem to get through the last week of the month to put food on the table. Dire, dire times. Times that were out of mine and Andy's control and no fault of either of us.

But tight budgeting became a challenge for me. I'd meticulously look at our incomings, work out the tax credits and child benefit dates of payment, match them to Direct Debits and Standing Orders going out, to ensure that enough money was in the account at various times of the month to meet our financial obligations and then set myself a weekly budget for food and petrol.

As food and petrol prices increased, my disposal income for these decreased in real terms and I found myself becoming more and more thrifty and almost adopting the mantra of the 1950s housewife and slowly turned into the Mrs Beeton of Lower Earley.

And in a warped kind of way, I found myself actually enjoying the challenge of walking around the supermarket with my calculator being determined to get all the things on my list within my budget. I abandoned using my debit card, withdrew cash and boldly paced the aisles knowing that if I didn't get my calculations right, I was on my way to looking a complete dork at the checkout if I had to put items back.

I look back now and I see that all through these times we were carried. At times I'd be in tears wondering how on earth I was going to provide packed lunches for the children, how I was going to give them hot meals at night with barely anything in the cupboard and at times Andy would withdraw completely from the problem. I understand now that it wasn't due to uncaring, it was panic and worry. Worry that his family were suffering. But through it all, I'd constantly tell him that I believed we were being looked after, that something would always come along and get us out of the mire we were in. I knew what I was talking about, but I never had the boldness to actively say that I believed God was looking after us.

But I find myself now in a position where financially we're a little better off. Not a lot. We can afford our bills, petrol and food. That's it. We don't have money left over for luxuries. I struggle to send children on school trips, I feel guilty at buying things I don't really need and I feel totally frivolous that a new sofa has been ordered, despite the fact the one we have is uncomfortable and falling apart.

However, it's easy to fall back into the trap of complacency. It's easy to sit back and just take it for granted that you're in a secure job and the pay cheques will follow one after another. It's easy to nonchalantly put things in the shopping trolley because you've just been paid and it's easy to get carried away when you pop into town for one item and come back with three bags full of things you want, but don't really need.

So, I've realised lately I need to get back to budgeting. I need to sit in the study, pull up the accounts and set my priorities straight in the money department. Not because we're struggling, but because I've been stirred by something I heard at church. The money has been given to me to use wisely. It's not really mine and abusing it is abusing the one who has given it to me so generously. It's only right that I pay due respect and honour by responsibly allocating it.

The Bashing of the Eggs