Come on, come on, come on, Take That.....and party!!!

Sincere apologies for my absence from the computer, but it's been a busy few weeks. Actually, it's been more of a painful week and then a very exciting weekend. My lack of blogging must primarily be blamed on the toothache which completely imcapacitated me for almost a week. Who knew how important lack of pain in your lower jaw was to your physical and mental wellbeing? Seriously, it was the worst pain I've ever had in my life, including labour. Perhaps if the dental service provided gas and air for pain relief it might only have been on a par with labour, but since all I had was co-codamol and ibuprofen the memory of it will live on.

The only thing that kept me going through the tooth trauma was knowing that at the weekend I was going with my sister and some of my top chums to see the fabulous Take That. Lesley had bought me a ticket and flight to Glasgow as my Christmas present, which makes her the best present giver ever - if she doesn't already buy presents for you, you should get on her wait list 'cause her presents rock! We flew to Glasgow on Saturday morning, pottered a bit, watched the Lions match, bought fabulous new shoes (well I did, and it was nothing compared to what others bought!) and then ate nibbles and drank pre-concert cocktails in a very Sex and the City fashion before heading to the stadium. Look what we saw when we were there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty cool, I think! I could rant all night about how amazing the show was, and how loudly we sang but I fear I'm on the brink of losing friends already having done this for the past 2 days, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Love those boys! The only thing missing was one fabulous friend - next time, bud x

Every home should have some of these

In the midst of organising my study post-decoration I came across something which made me roar with laughter instantly. I have had said item for many years, bought on holiday in one of those fabulous pokey European souvenir shops that is a veritable treasure trove. The first time I ever saw them they were being sported by a young boy in Royal Avenue in Belfast, and it's nothing short of a miracle that I wasn't killed by a Citybus I was laughing so hard as I crossed the road! Never has one item reduced me to such a heap of mirth in such a short space of time. So in my humble opinion every home should have a pair of glasses with cardboard eyes.

 

 

See? I told you so! Go on, get some! You won't regret it!!

The tale of a tooth

Teeth have played a pretty big part in our lives for the past 6 years, as is most likely the case for anyone with small children. Practically from the moment our babies are born there is a wise, older friend of the family (most likely female) who will tell us they are teething! Unexplained crying - teething. Fist in the mouth - teething. Unsettled at night - teething. Generally grumpy - teething. If this was indeed the truth then Conor should have an extraordinary number of teeth by now as he can display 3 out of those 4 on any given day!

But there is no doubt that the arrival of the first tooth is much anticipated by all, and many conversations will take place on the age your child was when this milestone was achieved. This is the only photograph I can find of Patrick that clearly shows his first baby teeth. (I know, what a chubster! And this was in the pre-dslr days and probably even has some red eye if you look closely enough!)

 

Fast forward five and a half years and a whole new conversation is occurring. The one he starts every day - "When is my wobbly tooth going to fall out?" This is a question we have heard for months. At first, I must confess, I was quite sad at the prospect of my baby losing a tooth, especially after all the hard work and sleepless nights we put in making sure it arrived with as little trauma and pain as possible. And now here the baby was, on the verge of tears because nearly all his friends have lost their first teeth and his were all present and correct, if slightly wobbly if you really tried hard to move it. It reached the point a few weeks ago that the desire for it to fall out so he could share in the delight of his friends began to outweigh the sentimentality of it all. The tooth wobbled for a good 2 months. Until yesterday.

After a bite into a traybake from the local church cake sale yesterday after school. the tooth became a whole lot more wobbly. In fact, it was looking precarious. So much so that the entire afternoon was taken up with wiggling it, twisting it, a LOT of examining it and looking for any trace of blood on tissues. We even googled 'how to pull out a baby tooth out'. Oh, it was a lengthy process! But he was brave and determined, and eventually, with a little help from mummy, it was finally extracted and held aloft with much glee, pride and a rather toothy grin!

Making me smile

Crazy boys running themselves silly and having the best fun before stuffing themselves with hotdogs and crispie buns!

 

 

The amazing newness of Miss E, daughter number 2 of my equally amazing friend. Her big sister's newborn shots can be seen here - they look so alike in these.

Big sister kisses from Miss C to tiny Miss E - oh, there will be many of these 2 in the months to come!

 

My beautiful new study. Note it is only shown from the most attractive angles and do not show the boxes of stuff I took out of the room before the decorating which now have no place in my oasis of creativity!

 

 

And although I have no photo to go with it, the fact that I am off timetable in school tomorrow is making me smile a lot! Happy, happy, happy!

Six

It seems to be true. There is no way to stop time. And so 5 year olds turn into 6 year olds. And mothers are left in shock because yesterday the 6 year old was a baby.

Not any more. No more babies.

 

The day had been much anticipated (almost as much as the day the wobbly tooth finally falls out!) with the obligatory sleeps countdown and a lot of speculation over the presents which might be received. Needless to say that given the amount of Lego which has newly arrived in our house, there was no room for disappointment!

 

 

 

Lego and cake - perfect when you're six!

 

Without boring you with the hour by hour details of the day (you can only mention building Lego so many times in one post, you know) let me assure you that it was busy, full of all the people we love, and resulted in at least one very tired and happy little boy. Who isn't quite so little any more.

 

As an aside to those of you who get bored on a daily basis because of my irregular posting, can I just say thank you for sticking with me - I really do mean to post more often but so many things take priority. But I have very cute photos to come in the next few days along with some delectable pics of my A-MAZ-ING new study (it should really be a studio but no one around here is buying that name!) If I haven't posted them by the end of the weekend you may leave as many rude comments as you like!

I have a feeling that might have been the summer

There's an amazing phenomenon that occurs round these parts at the first hint of a sunny day, and it comprises many varying aspects. This past weekend brought a healthy dose of sunshine and so I was lucky enough to encounter a few of them. The first is that perennial favourite, the 'Sunday Driver'. This occurs when every elderly person with a car piles their entire family and a few friends into said car for a "run along the coast". To complete this fun adventure it is essential to pack a flask of tea and a packet of Digestive biscuits to enjoy in a carpark, or indeed the car if it's too blowy for getting out. The downside to this jolly activity is the delay which results for every driver with an actual reason to be driving along the coast (say to collect your child and a friend from a BB fun day), and the obvious road rage that builds with the painful 25mph journey!

Another aspect of the sunshine phenomenon is the need to wear one's most summery clothes, whether the sun is accompanied by warmth or not. This is best observed at a local shopping centre or in the town, where you can spot many a happy young man in full football kit, accessorised with shades and flip flops - .preferably of the variety he can't quite walk in without sliding his feet along the ground in a rather slovenly fashion. The young ladies can be seen sporting a strappy top and mini skirt or shorts with fabulous high heeled sandals and the obligatory shades. No doubt sales of suncream soar with such drastic skin exposure! Alas, I find that gradually exposing one body part at a time is more than ample to be getting on with, and while the sun did shine, it was a tad chilly for my liking. The body part of choice for me this past weekend was my feet (those of you with objections to photos of feet should look away now.)

 

My favourite aspect of the sunny day phenomenon is the bbq. Nothing shouts "Summer is here!" like the smell of every bbq in the neighbourhood being fired up for the first time. Excitement abounds as dads around the country dust off their giant bbq accessories and get the flames going amidst cries of "What do you want done first?" as mums bring out plates with enough uncooked meat to feed a small nation! And then we proceed to eat approximately twice what we would eat at a normal teatime, just because it's bbq food and it really does taste so much nicer.

Anyway, wittering aside, we found ourselves partaking of a few fun garden activities, like water balloons, our new Jungle Gym and 'trains in the garden' (the outside version of 'trains'). See evidence below.

(It's hard to actually make it out but that is the water balloon bursting over daddy.)

 

 

 

So how was the sunshine for you?

Good Friday? I think so :)

Surely it's not the Easter holidays if you don't pack in a few hearty family activities, and so that's what we did today. In a dramatic about turn, the weather changed from storms and downpours to calm and sunny - perfect for a spot of (v amateur) bird watching at Castle Espie. It's only a short jaunt from our house and the boys have been hankering after a trip there for a while, and since we're total pushovers with them anyway, off we went. It's been a long while since either Michael or I have been there, and if I'm being truthful, I don't really get the whole bird thing - the Young Ornithologist Club wasn't one I was a member of at primary school. Now I'm sure I've already offended one or two of you with that statement so if anyone feels they could enlighten me I'd be much obliged! Anyway, the birds were indeed plentiful and lovely.

 

And I have new love for my camera and felt it needed a workout today as I had a photo session postponed at the last minute. So I let it do what it wanted. And it worked out pretty well. There were some really interesting outlooks and objects just begging to be photographed. Lots of lovely springtime textures as well. I felt altogether artistic (and just a little bit cool!) snapping random shots. Like this upturned boat. It would have made a perfect spot for a family portrait if it hadn't been for the half dozen diggers and miles of muck directly behind it, so it shall remain a random shot of a boat!

 

Also loved the look of this pile of logs. But cross an artistic shot with 2 boys who have been housebound for 3 days and you get this!

 

When we stumbled across this massive tractor tyre there was really only one option for taking a picture. If you know Conor in person you will recognise that this shot speaks volumes about his life. Wheels. It's all about the wheels. And the bigger, the better! We might need this enlarged and framed.

 

So how do you top that? Well, with giant buns, of course!

 

 

Family adventuring was swiftly followed up by the delivery of a few eggs from the Easter Bunny (now there's a topic you could do a whole post about! I mean, really, a bunny? With presents? You're kidding me!) along with a note explaining that Mummy and Daddy had cut a deal to be able to give an Easter present themselves for once! And so ensued a game of hot and cold (just the most fun on any day if you ask Patrick) which resulted in a lot of building for the rest of the day. Jo, can you spot the similarities?!

 

They are now all complete and sitting on the boys' dressing table in the hopes that we might steal an extra half hour of sleep in the morning while they play happily. See, if you believe it will happen, it might just happen! And we need the rest as we have a big family bbq tomorrow for my uncle who is visiting for a few days. So the family busyness will continue, and the camera will have lots to capture. I hope you have a lovely weekend too, whatever you have planned:)

A little bit of girl time

Q. What do you get when you cross 3 over-tired mums with a heap of scrapbook stash and a trip to London?

A. A perfect 48 hours.

Admittedly Sheila and I should have had a smidge more than 48 hours for our whirlwind visit to see Jo, but the 7.05am flight to Southhampton (which required an alarm call at 4.15am!) didn't actually take off until 12.10pm. Not an ideal start - I mean, who actually wants to spend 4 and a half hours in Costa Coffee in George Best Belfast City Airport? Although, if you're ever delayed and need some cheering up on your way to somewhere lovely can I suggest you phone Sheila and invite her over to spend the time with you! I can think of no one who would help put the time in quicker, and to be honest, it went very quickly and the £7.50 food vouchers did aid our caffeine high nicely! See below for details of time and the gigantic bowl of cappucino!

 

When we did finally make it to Jo's we embarked on a splendid weekend of coffee, buns (clearly Sheila and I had a head start on that!) scrapbook loveliness and shopping, topped off with a trip to see Hairspray in the West End. Amazing fun all round. Sheila and Jo are fab fun and Sheila's alter ego, 'Brave Sheila' provided some controversial entertainment along the way! I amazed all and sundry with my unwavering self-control over my wallet (firmly trained by Martin Lewis - he would have been so proud) and came home with enough money to allow a brief online shop for some new stash for all the layouts in my head. A wonderful time all round.

 

 

 

I thoroughly recommend creating a bit of girl time on a regular basis - it's working for me!

I shall leave you with a photo of Patrick in full concentration on the marching (a term we use loosely when associated with the Anchor Boys!) at the display a few weeks ago. I doubt that a child has ever practised singing the marching tune as avidly as Patrick did in the run up to the display - it was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean and we had to download it and make him a cd of it so he could master it perfectly. I suspect this may how he travels through life - totally prepared and dissatisfied with anything short of perfection. Please pray for us as we deal with this!!

Today

...we played monster trucks, thought we spied a bit of spring in the garden, found a lot of spider webs in the fog, scooted, bounced, hung washing, rediscovered the joy of taking photographs, listened to good tunes and relaxed. I liked it a lot. And the dust in the lounge wasn't even noticed. It might even go unnoticed again tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of us also spent a lot of time making his mummy feel bad for almost wanting to give him away last week by doing this face a lot and giving her kisses. His mummy is a pushover! Seriously, who wouldn't be?

Doing something funny for money

The camera has been having a lovely winter rest for the past few months. And I get the feeling that all the people I live with have been pretty relieved not to be having their every move documented for once. I've even rather enjoyed it myself, not feeling the need to capture everything for posterity and then spend ages wondering whether or not the pictures were worthy of a scrapbook layout! But the brighter weather is a-coming and my hands have been gradually forming their camera-shaped grip and today we did this.

 

Oh the comedy value of the Red Nose! We are very much looking forward to a day of laughs tomorrow, particularly Patrick who has carried his red nose with him since he got it and gets to wear it and something red to school tomorrow. I am especially looking forward to Conor laughing again - apparently his laugh fell out of his nose along with the excess mucus of his itty bitty cold this week. Today he was definitely not funny! Here's hoping. Enjoy your laughs :)