Sunday 14/12/2014 – Elf Wrapping

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2014, christmas, elf on the shelf, family, party, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday, rugby

At home – Bobby the elf continues to cause chaos…

Off to watch Dx play rugby this morning while the others enjoyed a lie in at Matt’s. Dx wasnt sure he WANTED to play rugby this morning but brightened up when he heard they were going to start doing some contact rugby and they got a chance to push each other over. I am amazed for a little boy who is a bit of a wimp about a lot of thing – that he seems more keen on contact rugby at present than tag rugby. We will see if it lasts!!

In the evening he went to his rugby Christmas party. Matt dropped him off and I went to pick him up two hours later – only to discover the organisers had been trying to ring me for an hour and a half to say Dx was really upset. It turned out Matt had told him I would “be there shortly” which he had taken literally – and then got himself into a state when I didn’t arrive.

It really upset me – that he had been there worried and sad for so long AND that it could of course been so much worse and been an even more important message might have got lost. When I got home after reading the older boys the riot act it turned out the volume had been turned down on my phone for them to play on it. My password has now been changed and they are banned from using my phone as it is too too important for me to be contactable.

Sunday 15/12/2013 – The Christmas Birthday Party

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2013, 365, children, family, gym, parachute, party, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday

Because Lx and Dx have birthdays which fall in the summer holidays, having birthday parties can be tricky as so many people (us included) are often away. In the past this has sometimes meant them having parties two months later by the time the hoidays are over and we invite people, get RSVPs back and have the party.

So this year we thought we would have a “Christmas Party” instead. Tinsel on the table, santa tablecloths and a couple of wrapped presents in place of party bags and we had an instant alternative to a late birthday party.

It was held int he local gym – with some free play, some hide and seek and some play with the parachute before hot sweaty and red faced they galloped upstairs for birthday…er I mean “Christmas”… tea

Sunday 15/12/2013 – Tree Dressing

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2013, 365, christmas, party, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday, tree

We decorated our main tree last Sunday but today the children decorated the mini trees for their rooms.

In other news Sx was away for rugby this morning (Matt took him) then rushed home for a quick shower before a swimming party. Gx also had a party – a laser quest party. THen we all dashed off for Dx and Lx’s party at the local children’s gym. All went well – but I have to say there is one child who WON’T be getting an invite next year!! Forget Santa – I was making my own “Naughty/Nice” lists 😀

Saturday 16/11/2013 – Football and More Football

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2013, childhood, children, family, football, party, phone, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday

Gx had football this morning – so the other children came down with me to “watch”. Of course I was the only one who watched!

Lx amused herself on my phone.

Dx and Sx practised rugby skills (roping Lx in where necessary) – and got completely filthy!!

Then at lunchtime we headed home for some showers, some clean clothes, some hot chocolate and a quick snack before we set off for Gx’s belated birthday party – a football party. I soon discovered the light indoors was far too bad for any sports shots so decided to go with the flow and aim for motion blur instead…

   

Monday 26/8/2013 – Pool, Picturesque Villages and Partying!

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365, architevcture, children, family, France, holiday, market, meal, medievil, party, photoaday, photography, pool, postaday, summer, UK, underwater, village

Today dawned overcast again – where HAS the sun gone??? It was warm enough in the afternoon for a dip in the pool and a chance to take some underwater photos – although not long after I got in, the children got out declaring it “the coldest the pool has been all holiday”!
 

In the evening we headed into the local village Segur le Chateau. We drove down intending to drive home later but then discovered just how BIG the party that evening was and Matt took the car home again so we could drink and walk home at the end of the evening.

The village is incredibly pretty with lots of medieval houses everywhere you look.

 

We had gone into town for the last big evening market of the season which is really like a big party. In the main square there are hundreds of chairs laid out for people to sit and eat.

There are stalls selling bread, salad, meat (which is then BBQ-ed for you) crepes, candy floss, cheese, wine – everything you need for a fantastic meal. We took our seats and ordered meat and chips to eat with the bread and wine we had brought with us – and then had crepes and candy floss for dessert. The children enjoyed the bouncy castle, the dancing to a singer – and making friends with a French boy which gave them a chance to try out their pidgin French!

Saturday 15/6/2013 – Mixed Feelings

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2013, 365, childhood, children, family, holiday, home, party, photoaday, photography, postaday, UK

Some days are too hard to put into words on here.

My Dad was 80. We hired a big house for the weekend for the extended family to celebrate – including those I rarely see. He loves BBQs so we had a cowboy theme. Including a moustache competition.

My Dad had invited Matt too – even though he moved out in February.

So let’s just put some photos up that show the good side of the day. And be glad for cameras that can keep you busy – capturing those moments that would otherwise be lost.

   

End of an era? – 18/5/2013

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365, childhood, children, family, football, home, party, photoaday, photography, postaday, UK, weekend

Today was Sx’s belated 11th birthday party. We were organised this year and booked it for the weekend before his birthday – but that was in March when we had a school residential trip, a school play, a big trip to Florida, a school concert to contend with and we decided there was too much going on and Sx agreed to postpone it.

So on Saturday he had a football party for 18 friends (and him and Gx). He has been having parties at the same place every year since his 5th birthday party – although now all the children concentrate more on the football and less on comparing their shoes, twiddling their hair and sitting down for a chat half way through!

He will be off to secondary school in September though so I don’t know if he will want different parties from now on…

31/12/2012 – New Year’s Eve

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2012, children, family, home, hospital, party, photoaday, photography

   365 Photo a Day project photo

“Happy New Year”

The rambling part…

(Apologies for photo quality – today was a day of experimenting with my new iphone – the first time I have had a phone with a camera on it!)

Dx still no better this morning – standing on tiptoes and walking like a drunk 😦 We rang the hospital who wanted us to go in at 3pm to get him checked.

We had been invited to friends’ for New Years Even to celebrate with them and stay over so it was going to be last minute whether Dx and I were able to join the rest of the family or not. Matt was unable to come with us to drop us at the hospital as he was cooking a pasta dish to take in the evening so I had to struggle carrying Dx (full of Christmas chocolate and cake and weighing a ton!) through the car park, down the stairs to the reception where luckily I intercepted a porter with an empty wheelchair and he kindly agreed to wheel Dx to the ward.

Luckily they deemed him fit enough to go home again – we have been given an “open door” pass should he get any worse but otherwise we just need to go back on 8th Jan to get his blood checked again (which he is quite excited about as it means he gets another cool plaster!)

So off to friends – for food drink and some silly board games (I do like silly board games! Especially when they are mixed with food, drink and friends).

(Gx’s fondness for salad always makes me smile – he will happily eat a plateful!)

Even Lx had some chicken nuggets without making a fuss.

There were 12 children in the house and they all played so well together – the house was littered with foam Nerf gun bullets afterwards but there were no rows and nothing broken! Lx made friends with the other girls – and they created their own little “club” with rules and everything.

We counted down to the New Year with the children and a glass of Harrods champagne – and watched some of the fireworks on TV (Dx thought us doing Auld Langs Syne was hilarious).

We all managed to keep going till about 2am before we had enough and all collapsed on various couches, mattresses and roll mats round the house.

23/12/2012 – The rest of the day…

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2012, 365, bowling, childhood, children, christmas, family, football, holiday, home, meal, party, photoaday, photography, postaday, UK, weekend, winter

365 Photo a Day Project Photo

“Watching”

The rambling bit…
Gx and I went into town for our “mother and son” shopping outing.There was a great steel band in the town centre.

We went to the Original Burger Company – he was proud to take me there for my first time after he enjoyed it with Matt a few weeks ago.

  The river was incredibly swollen and had flooded the sides of the seating area of the shopping mall.

On the way home, we popped over to get some craft punches to take some “shaped bokeh” photos later. We couldn’t resist a quick detour via the penguin in the same road!Sx had his football team Christmas party at the bowling lanes.

6/12/2012 – Part Two – Back at the hotel…

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2012, 365, childhood, children, christmas, family, finland, holiday, home, lapland, meal, party, photoaday, photography, postaday, santa

365 Photo a Day Project Photo
“His cheeks ached from all the smiling”

The rambling part…
Dx slept all the way back in the coach, and all the way back getting carried by his Daddy. But as we took off his thermal suit he suddenly sprang to life having remembered that he hadn’t opened his present from Santa yes (he had asked him to wait till later). He found some energy from somewhere to open it before he and Lx fell asleep for another couple of hours!

(you can see from his expression how tired he still was!)

When they woke  up it was time to get ready for the “Gala Evening” (I just had to take a photo of Dx in his cute thermal “long johns” before he got ready!!)

The Gala dinner was held in a special r0om in the hotel – very dark and rustic looking with Christmas lights, specially decorated tables and a random number of crackers per table 🙂

We had brought some santa hats with us to wear – and the children had a great time joining in the games, doing some colouring and sneaking up to help themselves to sweets from the buffet!

Meanwhile the grown ups relaxed with a glass or two of fizz!

Dx even managed to find a couple more hearts for me to show he loves me – one was a pencil sharpener which came out of a cracker – the other was the little “diamond” on Lx’s dress (“Mummy I love you as much as all the trees in Lapland”)