What Has Made Me Cheerful This Week?

The time of the week for thinking about Reasons to be Cheerful with Mummy from the Heart is once again with us.  I am still minus my own laptop but thankfully have managed to procure a loaner for a couple of days so that is an instant #R2BC!

It has been surprising at how much not being able to write has frustrated me.  Not in the lack of time, I am used to that and know that as the children get older time will become available, but in the event I would have been able to sit down at the laptop and not being able to.

Anyway, I do have the power to 'power up' right now so am getting as much writing done as possible.  I am putting together posts in the hope of being able to get them scheduled to publish.  So on with my :

Reasons to be Cheerful.

* I got to spend quality time with my 18 month old nephew and then had a family filled Saturday.  Even my older nephew came to visit with his 'girlfriend' - this makes me feel very old, but she was lovely and what was even more lovely - he didn't change one single bit around her.

* On Saturday night, The Hubby, The Kids and I all got dressed up for Halloween and went to our friends party.  I was so pleased with all of our costumes and I forgot how much fun it was to get dressed up all silly for a night out.  Plus I loved my wig!

* On Sunday we asked J1 what he would like to do as a birthday treat and he picked Ten Pin Bowling.  This is an activity that we can all enjoy so it was lovely to make an afternoon of it. 

* On Monday my mum babysat J2 so that I could go and see to of my beautiful pregnant girlfriends whom I used to work with.  It has been far to long since our last catch up and they both looked stunning.

* On Tuesday we celebrated J1 turning nine years old.  He was unfortunately a little under the weather so couldn't go to school but we spent the day at home snuggling and reading his new books. 

* I am hoping to be able to go and visit one of my friends that has recently had their baby on Friday.  I am a little wary that as the boys have been poorly I might be due a dose, but fingers crossed I will be well enough.

* I am also hoping the same thing for Saturday because I am off to Mumsnet Blogfest I am super excited about this having enjoyed Britmums Live earlier this year.  I am really looking forward to seeing the fabulous girls and fellow bloggers I met in June that are also attending; Older Mum in a Muddle; Single, Older Mum and Mush Brain Ramblings.

With the conclusion of my positives for the week please head over and check out other cheery souls at Mummy from the Heart.

Dear Boys - Letter of Life 2 (Family Friday)

Dear Boys

October / November 2011


These last few weeks have been very hectic and your normal, calm, perfect (I know, I joke) routine has been knocked out of kilter quite dramatically.


It all started when we were excitedly watching Aunty Marina on TV - Yes!  TV.  Aunty Marina was on best form when she was trying to win money for a fabulous charity called Bullies Out (and let's hope and pray that by the time you are grown up and reading this you will never have had to use them) on a game show called Holding Out For a Hero.  J1, my dear sweet boy, this made you happier than if Father Christmas had appeared himself at our door and we have watched it every day since it has been on!


However it was at this very moment that poor Daddy was very unwell and we had to take him to hospital.  Daddy had gone and got himself a strangulated hernia and had to have an operation on his belly and a stay in hospital.  This meant, J2, that you had to have frequent visits to Nanny and Granddad's (yes Nanny is much stricter than Mummy) which in turn made you extremely clingy (but still very cute) and J1, you got to stay at Nanny and Granddad's like a holiday visit, and you loved it.

Another exciting thing for your boys to have happened over the last few weeks is that we had our very first Halloween Party.  J1, you were 'Chair Charging Dracula' a great idea for you as the cape went right over your whole wheelchair and did not make you too hot (my little sweaty betty) and J2, I told everyone you were going as a little devil, for which I did have a costume, but then I found an even better one and we surprised everyone at the last minute...

Yes dear baby boy, to my unashamed pleasure I got photographs of you in this for the sole purpose that they will be gracing your 18th birthday board in 2028!

J1, what I am learning about you mostly at the moment is that you have so much character and are really quite cheeky, but all in a fabulously good way.  Your ability to drop a one liner and have us in stitches is becoming a common occurrence and for this my heart swells with pride, it is not something I thought would ever happen, let alone at age 7.  You amaze me everyday.  What I would really like you to try and learn for mummy now is to blow your nose into a hanky and not your hand as it really is gross.

J2, your development has me in wonderment, as every milestone you reach on 'normal' time is a great sense of relief and again achievement.  Your little mind is working overtime at the moment, and you are trying (and mostly succeeding) in saying new words everyday.  Your most used one at the moment (as it has just been Halloween) is 'Pooky' [spooky].  You are learning Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at nursery which is lovely, especially when you wake me up singing it in the morning and kissing my eyelids.  I am just not so keen on when my eyes don't immediately open you try and stick your fingers in them and force them apart, we need to work on that...

With J1's 8th birthday approaching fast (Sunday) we have lots of fun activities and eating to look forward too and then it will be full steam ahead for Christmas, which as you are both getting older is just getting better and better.

Until the next time my dear boys.

I <3 you.

Mummy.xxx

Halloween Party Virgin No More

Happy Halloween, ok a day late but I started this yesterday to no avail!  Sunday we hosted our first ever Halloween Party.  Now as any parent knows, fitting party planning and preparation into an already full schedule of entertaining, looking after, feeding, bathing and generally making sure children are safe is no easy task.  So instead of intense planning and shopping for a week like I used to do pre-children, any event requires much notice so that this can be done over at least a span of a month.

On various daily walks we swung by the shops with the decorations, sweets and non perishable items and purchased a few each day (whatever could be fitted on the buggy and generally length of time in shops is determined by mood of J2 so usually visits are short and not-so-sweet).  The food list was written and revised several times over (as numbers attending swelled) and undertaken in two 'big' shops whilst J2 was at his nursery afternoon.  It bugs me to have to use the small amount of non-child free time I have to attack the shops but it was a needs must, either that or my visitors would have been offered dust bunnies as an entree.

As Hubby is still pretty much out of the equation due to recent surgery on the child care front, my mother stepped into save the day when the looming tasks of decorating the house, sorting the kids Halloween costumes, cooking food, displaying food and organising kids entertainment started to make me hyperventilate.  She undertook the 'scary in itself' task of looking after J2 (who I am not sure if it has just been this Halloween themed week that he has been adhering too but has pretty much become the incarnation of a little devil for 75% of every day - a.k.a approaching the terrible two's...) for a couple of consecutive afternoons and the morning of the do. 

All I can say 'In her we Thank'.  And my goodness I never knew Pumpkin Carving could be so therapeutic, I was quite pleased with my first attempts, however, having seen some friends 'creations' over the last few days on facebook, I have to say they made mine look like J2 had done them, but hey, I now know to raise my game next year!

Although at times I doubted myself, my relentless organising, list making, task arranging (which fanaticism when I get started on something can be annoying to others but essential to me) did come into their own and I got everything done, phew!  My family gathering certainly gathered the family from all over and everyone talked at 500 miles an hour to ensure all stories, rants and updates were given.  As the hostess I don't think you ever really get to catch up with people, you are too busy filling cups, whisking dirty plates away, restocking depleted crisps bowls, stopping the kids from getting tooooo over excited as their sugar intake hits new highs, but it was lovely to see my older relatives get to see the whole brood. 

The only part that made my stress levels hit screechy voice stakes was when 'our' (i.e.  'The Hubby's) 'surprise' of lighting wish lanterns for the kids nearly saw us setting fire to next door's brand new shed.  An abrupt halt was called on those.  My advice, take them to a beach when the wind is blowing out to sea. 

So in short, an exhausting but successful first Halloween Party, I can see why they are becoming more and more popular over here.  And top dibs to the kids that attended, they outdid themselves in the costume department!  But I have to be biased, my favourite was J2...

My very own little real life Pumpkin, and a cracking photo to keep for the 18th Birthday Board...WAHHHAAA HHHAAAAA HAAAAAAAA...