Top Pick of Our 2012 Year

2012 has been a good year in many aspects for Britain in general this year, with huge events such as The Jubilee and the Olympics and Paralympics.  In yet another year of economic recession, it was nice to have a lighter period.  A spell of not looking at what was wrong with our tiny little island, but actually getting behind those representing us - in a good way.  To watch and be a part of days and nights that will go down in history all around the world.

 

An example of this is 04.08.2012.  This was the night when Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all brought home those longed for Gold Medals for themselves and their country.  As London shook with the screams of encouragement from the lucky thousands in the stadium that night, I would hazard a guess that every street shook from those screaming at the TVs in their house. 

 

Whenever I see highlights from that night I will know that I sat with my two children, one either side of me, holding a hand each chanting 'Go Mo!' followed by three claps until he crossed that finish line when we whooped and cheered. 

 

2012 was a good year for our family in general.  We enjoyed participating in some old fashioned patriotism, but for us, one event makes 2012 a hugely memorable year.  My pick, for our best bit of the year must go to that wonderful day in may, when a Judge in our English Court of Law, banged her hammer signifying The Hubby had officially adopted J1.

 

We started the adoption process in October 2011, at our initial meeting we were told that an adoption case is an unknown quantity when it comes time frame.  We had read that it could take months, even years, depending on the complexity of the case.  What we hoped would go in our favour would be that it was a very straight-forward situation.

 

Of course we understood that what we believed to be clear cut, may not be to the professionals involved, but after our second meeting with our wonderful case worker, we breathed a sigh of relief when she said she agreed with us.  We were thrilled when in January 2012 we were informed we could make our application to the court.

 

We steeled ourselves for a long wait for the court date, but after a few more meetings we were given a first hearing in May.  A few weeks before this we were informed that it would be the only hearing required.  Our first court appearance would be our formal hearing and our celebration hearing.

 

We had a lovely day.  The court was happy to be carrying out a rare positive hearing and we were even allowed to take some photographs with the judge.  J1 officially took our family surname and we concluded our day doing J1's favourite thing - having a meal.

 

Fast forward a few months on and we now have the official paperwork.  J1 has always had a Daddy in The Hubby, day to day life hasn't changed, but now it is official, legal and binding.  J1 is The Hubby's son.  Fact.

 

There couldn't be any other event that would top that.

What Has Made Me Cheerful This Week?

This post is a little later than normal as it has been quite a busy week.  As usual with The Great British weather, I learnt from the reports our run of sunshine was to be short lived, so I decided I had to make the most of it and get outside to have fun with the kids, garden and exercise, thus the blog took a bit of a back seat.

Then of course, the chilly days and rain set in and in amongst trying to get the house a little straighter I have managed to start putting together a few posts to get out this week.  So no better time, with the grey skies putting a bit of a dampener on the (extra) long Diamond Jubilee weekend, to think happy thoughts and sum up 'What Has Made Me Cheerful This Week?'

* We got the business accounts done for this quarter, always a weight off of the shoulders and a reminder that we shouldn't leave so much to the last minute.

* What better reason to be cheerful than the fact we had, not only a long weekend, but an 'extra' long weekend with the wonderful, and unique celebration of the Queens Diamond Jubilee.  I was thinking about this earlier, this really was a once in a lifetime celebration.  We had bunting.  We had flags.  We had a 'Very Royal High Tea', including using all our super special Royal Albert China (this is rare because I can't put it in the dish washer...)

* The blog hit another new month view record.  I am so happy that the blog is slowly but surely growing.  Not only that but I am getting more pleasure and satisfaction from writing the longer and more frequently that I am doing it, rather than growing tired of it.

* It is half term - always a reason to smile.  Extra time with J1 to be had with lots of fun planned, including a session in the sensory room that J1 loved on his birthday.

* The Hubby and I had a 'surprise' night to ourselves this week.  It was amazing, we laughed, talked, ate, played pool and really reconnected.  Something we had both said earlier in the week we felt had been a little lacking of late.  We won't leave 'us' time so long next time.

* I have managed to fit some form of exercise in almost everyday for the last week and it has felt amazing.  Mixing runs with non impact exercise, like swimming and cycling has really made me inspired to keep this going and I am now seriously giving the Marathon in 2013 consideration. 

On that high note I urge you to be inspired by others positive thoughts over at Mummy from the Heart :