Yay Me!

You know what? I'm going to have a bloody big Yay Me moment!

I've mentioned over the past couple of months (once or fifty times!) about my big assignment that I slaved over all summer. Well, the marks are in and I got....

80%

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My tutor had some really good comments on there too and gave me lots of praise. I'm a teacher's pet and blooming proud of it!

I'm just hoping I can do a repeat performance on the dreaded exam! Eeek!

Beep! Beep!

I love the whole pass it on thing that I have going with a lot of my friends. I was one of the first to have a child with Emily and have happily passed on various girly stuff to those friends with younger girls. Now, with Xander, I have a couple of friends with older boys who are providing us with some great stuff!

Yesterday, my friend Kay and her son Scott came over for Sunday lunch, and to bring Xander this...

It used to be Scott's but, at nearly 6, he's far too grown up for it now, so he's kindly passed it on to his little buddy! So, off we trotted for a bit of a practise run up and down the street...

Helping him uphill was hard work...

But much easier when there were 2 pushing...

Beep beep! Out of my way!!

After Dinner Theatre!

I just had to post this, especially for all those crafty blog readers!

My girl makes me so proud sometimes. Last night, she sat down to do some homework and the project was to create a puppet show about a story they'd read at school - Not Now Bernard. I just love what she came up with; here's her theatre (called Emily's Theatre of course!):


And here's the puppets she made: Bernard, his mum, his dad and the Monster (which she is doing an impression of):

After tea last night, we sat down to a showing of Not Now Bernard ("introducing your narrator, Emily Gillard!")...and then a second showing...then a third...

Me thinks I have a little creative goddess in the making here!

And...Relax!!!

***WARNING: This post contains some pictures of Lou and Rob in swimwear, which some viewers may find disturbing! ***

Blimey, like buses these posts today: don't post for a week then 2 come along at once!

The reason for the gap? Well, after Xander's birthday we went away to Center Parcs for a long weekend for some very much needed R&R (now in the old days, that would have stood for rock n roll, but now we need the much more sedate rest n relaxation!!).

We got to stay in the middle of the forest:

And get one of these going in the evening:

Which Emily loved but Xander kept trying to blow out!!

We spent every day either by or in the pool, it was getting the kids out that was the problem!Afterwards, we went out for some family fun, including a nice game of bowling (which I won, yay!!)And of course, there was the obligatory eating ourselves silly all weekend:...and drinking ("wow, that's one mean orange juice!"):

It was such a lovely weekend, I want to go back there right now! And, as Rob is going to be telling everyone he sees for the next 3 years, I may aswell announce on here that yes, I did end up face down in a ditch after falling off my bike...while it was stationary! I am now hobbling around with 2 very bruised kneecaps and Rob is ecstatic that he has an amusing tale to tell!

Birthday Boy!!

Just a few pics from Xander's birthday last week. A big thank you to everyone for all the cards and presents; as you can see he loved opening them:

He got lots of really cool boy stuff, which have gone down well with mummy, daddy and big sis too!

No big parties this year, too much else going on around that time to arrange one and Xander didn't care anyway! Instead, we just invited a few of his toddler frineds round for a tea party. Obviously, there was birthday cake:


A quick round of pass the parcel:

Which Emily got very excited about:

Evie put in her request for her 2nd birthday present (which is in a couple of weeks), she wants baby Abi:

Poppy just loved the chocolate buns:

But Emily wasn't quite sure whether, at nearly 7, Hattie should have the same amount of bun round her mouth as Poppy:

Anyway, all partied out now; on with playing with the trucks!!

Happy Birthday Xander!!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful little man in the world! Can't believe I've had the pleasure of being his mummy for a whole 2 years already! Mummy loves you little dude!

Yes Miss!

Today, I became a working woman again for the first time in nearly 2 1/2 years! OK, so when I say working, it's volunteering, but it still meant turning up on time and working! I started at one of the local schools helping out with the Year 2 class. I need to get lots of practical experience in schools to get on a good teacher training course; I worked with Year 5s at Emily's school when I was expecting Xander, so decided to try out Key Stage 1 at a different school this time to get a broader range.

The school is lovely; it's very new and so they started off with their first ever Year 6 assembly (as there'd never been a Yaer 6 before!). I then went to my class, did some playtime monitoring, then was straight off on a school trip to the local church. It's quite an odd dynamic in the class as there's 21 boys to 9 girls, so I was in charge of five 6 year old boys on the trip, yup, chuck me in at the deep end why don't you!

I spent lunchtime in the staffroom chatting to some of the teachers, who all seem really nice and very willing to give me advise. Then, this afternoon I've watched the PE lesson whilst cutting out and laminating aliens (don't ask), then listened to a classroom of 30 kids attempt 'music'! I wonder if the Government give you an allowance for paracetamol and earplugs!!

Anyway, I've really enjoyed today. Good job really as I'm not sure if Rob would be too happy if I suddenly announced I'd changed my career plans again!

Surrendering To Winter!

That's it! I've finally given up on seeing a Summer this year and have spent the morning putting all the summer clothes away (most of them unworn!). I think it was the sight of the Xmas puddings in Asda the other day that did it; even though they come out earlier and earlier every year, you never get to BBQ one; so I took that as a sign that what was our summer is definately over!

On the plus side, I've found some fab cuddly Winter clothes lurking for Emily and am now off to see what I will be snuggling my son in this Winter! I love new clothes day (even though they're never for me!!)

Happy Birthday Bobbins!!

Yup, the old ball and chain has notched up another year today! Happy Birthday Rob!

He woke up (far too early thanks to Billy Jim!) to cards and pressies and then went into work late as we got to go watch Emily get her golden balloon in Sharing Assembly. She didn't half waffle on to the headmaster when it came to her turn, telling him all about what she'd done (something about her being loving and kind - errrmmmm...!).

Next it was off to the first Socatots lesson of the term, where Xander's now one of the oldest and so was showing off all his footballing skills to the new whipper snappers!! He did start to get a bit tired so I hotfooted it home to get him down for a nap...to one problem...

...when you leave house with hubby, and hubby locks up, then hubby goes off to work: how do you get back in the house?! Hmmmmm! So, there I am with tired grumpy toddler in a football kit, and no way to get in. I phone Rob, his network's having problems; I phone my mum (who has a spare key), she's at work with her phone switched off. I look up and down the street: Jill - out; Margaret - on holiday; Lauren - curtains still drawn, must have had a bad night with Abi, better not knock! Sam - oh pants, she's moved, aha but only round the corner, I'll walk to Sam's! I walk round the corner, Sam's not in! I try Rob again, phone still not working; mum, phone still not on! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

I could ring Rob at work...oh hang on, I have no idea what his work number is! I phone 118 118 and finally get through to him, but he has a presentation to do and can't drive home with the keys! I can't drive anywhere, my car keys are in the house! I can't phone anyone to come and get me, they have no carseat for Xander (who by this stage has started kicking me, and who can blame him!). So, I ring Rob to get me mum's work's number off his computer (can't do it myself, my computers in the house!) and I ring her. Start telling some random woman who answers the phone my woes before i realise it's actually not my mother on the other end! Anyway, I arrange to find a bus to her shop to pick up the spare keys.

So, there I am, toddler kicking off and not really having the energy to walk into town for the bus (after not eating for 2 days) sat on the doorstep about to cry! When, my mum phone's back and says she's coming out of work to bring me the keys, and Lauren phones demanding I get my bum down there for a coffee! Hurrahh!!

The moral of the story? You've got me! Someone up there ain't liking me this week!

Anyway, we're going out for tea with the kids, then have a couple of friends coming round tonight to celebrate Rob's big day! Well, if they can get in that is.....

What A Week!

This cartoon made me laugh, it's what I would like to be most in the world right now!!

It's been one heck of a week round here! The good news: the assignment is finished!!! Woohooo!! I thought it would never get done but it is and I'm so glad.

I'm so amazed I actually got it done as Xander and I have been ill with a sickness bug this week, so yesterday I sat and read the 89 pages of my project through a sickness haze (and not very well, judging by my mother's spellcheck on it today!!). Xander's much better but I'm still a bit queasy and not eating much other than toast.

I'm really hoping I feel better tomorrow as it's Rob's birthday and we're going out at teatime. I won't divulge how old he is but let's just say it's a slippery slope down to the big 4-0 now!! We have Steve, Ally and Elise round on Saturday for a pizza and a few drinks (again, lurgy permitting; I may be having toast while they troff a large pepperoni with extra cheese!). On Sunday we have Rob's mum and Grandad over for Sunday lunch (or Sunday toast?! :P), then Emily is going tabogganing (sp?) for our neighbour's birthday.

Speaking of Emily, she's had a good week. First of all she won the golden balloon so Rob gets to go and see her get that for his birthday in the morning! When I asked why she'd won it, she told me that Miss Clark had said that, when she gets up in a grumpy mood on a morning and doesn't want to go to work, Emily's smile always cheers her up when she walks in! How sweet?! I'm starting to like Miss Clark (yes, I'm easily swayed!).

She also was complaining of something sharp on her gum earlier and when I looked, she's getting her first adult molars! Sniff! Yet another sign that my little girl's all grown up!

So, this has been a hectic week but I'm hoping for a nice weekend and praying that the posty gets my assignment to my tutor safe and sound!

My Brain Needs A Holiday!!

So finally, the end is in sight with this huge assignmnet I've got on the go. I'm planning on posting it off on Friday, so that means that next weekend I'll actually have a weekend (well, before the exam revision starts anyway!!).

I've never known mental exhaustion like it! Obviously dealing with a (nearly) 2 year old and those lovely tantrums can be quite tiring; plus the teenage 6 year old and her hormones! Then there's thinking about the shopping, bills, who needs what birthday present buying, what do we have for tea tonight - add onto that the complexities of English grammar and my poor brain is pretty wiped out!

So, I think a little holiday for the poor thing is in order; which hopefully will entail me sleeping for a full 24 hours then all my brain has to do is dream about Brad Pitt!

The Case For Being A Rubbish Housewife!

I knew if I carried on being a rubbish housewife for long enough I'd find a justification, and now I have!

OK, I do do housework but I ain't no Anthea Turner/Bree Van der Kamp type! I'll clean the bathrooms, have a quick whizz round with the hoover but my domestic goddessness doesn't stretch to cleaning skirting boards, scrubbing loos with toothbrushes (well, unless Rob's really annoyed me that is!) etc.

Well, am I glad I don't!! A couple of months ago I lost one of my favourite earrings; Emily bought them for me one Mother's Day and I absolutely love them. The other day I was scrambling under Xander's bed looking for a catapulted dummy, when what did i find nestled up against the skirting board? Yup, my lost earring! Now, if I had been a better housewife, that underbed skirting board would have been vacuumed on a weekly basis and the earring would be long gone and my broken heart never healed!

Ha! You see, housework is just unnecessary and can cause considerable heartache at the same time!

September Is The Month For...

...EVERYTHING it would seem!

I'm guessing it's going to be a busy month! Looking at the calendar for September I have:

1 - Hubby's birthday next week

2 - Xander's birthday the week after (sniff, my baby's all grown up!)

3 - A weekend at Center Parcs

4 - My main HUGE assignment to complete and hand in

5 - Revision to start for the HUGE exam I have next month (aarrrggghhh!!!)

6 - 12 other birthdays (which also equats to 5 birthday parties (so far!)

7 - Gymnastics starting

8 - Socatots starting

9 - Xander starting 'big' class at nursery

10 - Starting volunteering at school

Hmmm, not sure about eating and sleeping this month, though as they're my 2 favourite hobbies I'm hoping to fit at least one in! Oooh, just remembered:

11 - New season of Prison Break, must make time to watch!!

Now, if anyone hears me moaning that I'm bored, you know what to do.... :P