Ben's birthday part 2....

My mum had a singing dinosaur balloon delivered to our door for Ben this morning, and although I wasn't there to see it arrive (had to go to work), I know that he absolutely LOVES getting mail, so a special delivery must've sent him into orbit! As the balloon was weighted, he could pull it along by the string like a dog on a lead, and he walked around all day with it trailing behind him - the music eventually ran out too having been pressed non-stop. I finished work at 12pm and changed roles with Nick who then had to go to work for the afternoon. My family came to join us and we all went out for a lovely lunch at the Holly Bush (one of Ben's birthday requests), then went into the town centre so Ben could choose something from Waterstone's as a present from uncle Clint.

When Nick got home in the evening, we ordered chinese and turned our living room into a cinema to watch Open Season 2 ( Ben's last birthday request!) I think he is a very lucky boy - he practically celebrated his birthday for a whole week!

Ben's 6th birthday part 1.......

Our plan A was to go to the Cotswolds Wildlife Park - Me, Nick, Ben, Jas, Ben's best friend Ehren, Emile, Theo and Granddad Allen. But the weather had other ideas.....Heavy rain was forcasted and rain it did. The dya kinda went: light shower, then a bit of sun. Then a heavier shower, followed by a little more sun. Then the heavens opened..... So luckily we had a plan B. We all went to the cinema to watch Ice Age 3 in 3D. The kids loved it - and we adults quite enjoyed it too! Afterwards we went back home and the kids had pizza, fizzy lime jelly and birthday cake. After that Ben was allowed to open his presents (there'll be more from the rest of the family on his actual birth-day so we figured it wouldn't hurt to open a few now), and then Ehren was taken home. What followed was 4 solid hours of screaming, shouting, running and jumping about, party blower blowing and balloon popping. To say we three adults were left exhausted would only be half telling it!!! I, for one, and EXHAUSTED!!! And there's still part two.....

On the way to the cinema

Lovin' the Oreos!

I've not met a child yet that can contort their mouth like Jasmine!!! It's her default funny face!

Best Buds!

Funny Face time (again!)

Last day of term

Last night I stayed up late baking lemon shortbread and handmaking cards for all of Jasmine's nursery teachers and Ben's teacher. Hours later, after falling in bed exhausted Nick said I should have just bought one card for all the staff at the nursery and one for Ben's teacher and bought a box of biscuits to share. In my exhausted state I actually thought 'Oh yeah, that'd have been so much easier!' But in actual fact, the finished product was so pretty it was more than worth the effort.

One of the cards I made

The shortbread all wrapped up and ready to go

Sports day - Ben

Later in the day we went to watch Ben take part in his Sports day - Nick had managed to take a half day off. Ben was so excited to see us!

The whole school makes a mad dash for cover!

Sports Day - Jasmine

Ben was supposed to have Sports day yesterday, but heavy rain was forecasted so the school postponed it until today. As a result, it meant that both kids had their sports day on the same day (should have planned it that way in the first place anyway!). Nick had taken the day off yesterday so he could watch Ben, but feeling guilty that he would now miss both Sports day performances, he decided to treat Jas and Ben to a new sports kit. Well, to say they were pleased would be a rather big understatement - Jasmine slept in her sweatband and t-shirt ("so I don't have to remember to put it on in the morning", she told me!) and couldn't sleep because she was so excited. In fact, she got up late in the night and decided that it made sense to also put her shorts on too!

Getting phsyched up!

Waiting for her first race

On your marks.....

GO!

refuelling :-)

with her best friends Eleanor (left) and Annabella (right)

What a star!!!! I was sooooo proud. She won the first race by a mile and crossed the finish line to chants of 'Jasmine, Jasmine!', and little Eleanor jumped up and gave her a hug - so sweet!

The effort took it right out of her though. She fell fast asleep way before dinner!

Totally random memory....

I was just having a giggle to myself, sat here at my computer at work, over a memory of Jasmine....last weekend I had gone over to a friend's for a girly night in. The next morning, the worse for wear having drunk several large glasses of red wine and a few cocktails (made with unknown quantities of vodka), I slept in rather late. When I eventually arose from my deeeep slumber I staggered into the bathroom and peered at myself in the mirror. I noticed that my lips were sparkly with a slight purple sheen, but dismissed it, putting it down to a trick of the light or maybe that my eyes weren't yet working. Later on that day Jasmine came up to me and said, rather pleased with herself I might add, 'I put some lipgloss on you when you were sleeping!' Suddenly I had vague recollections of Jasmine standing very close to me as I hung off the edge of the bed in my semi sleep/hangover induced state. I had to laugh because how many of us have done something similar to someone unfortunate enough to fall asleep during a house party......I know I have that's for sure!

We went to Church this morning and after the service, I was having a coffee and a chat when Ben came up to me and gave me a little card. I realised that he had taken it from the display which were for sale and told him we'd have to open it and put it back. His little face crumpleld and he told me that he'd already written in it. And sure enough he had....he'd wrote 'Dear Mum, thank you for loocking (sic) after us so well, love from Ben xxx'. He also said that he'd looked through all the cards to find one that had the right words. This one said 'Especially for you' on the front. Ahhhhhh, he's so sweet! Feeling a bit awful for having initially gone to tell him off, I hastily put the required amount in the tin and gave him a big hug and kiss. Later on in the car, he looked at the card again...'Oh, it also says 'Happy Birthday' inside' he said....'everyone's gonna think it's your Birthday!' Times like this make you really appreciate being a mum. Your kids love you just because and that's it :-)

Goodbye to a true legend

I've just finished watching the amazing Michael Jackson memorial and I cried like a baby. Ever since that awful day I get so choked up just talking about him or his music......I've been digging out Nick's vinyl copies of 'Bad', 'Thriller' and 'Off the Wall' and playing them (without the slipmat to Nick's horror!) at top volume, reading the lyrics and singing along.....it all brings back memories of me as a child tryin to copy the moonwalk or the smooth criminal 'lean'. I also remember putting our tape player right up close to the TV screen and pressing the record and play buttons at the same time, so I could tape his songs from the 'Moonwalker' movie. I then played the (terrible quality!) tape over and over......I feel like we have lost one of the last true 'greats'. Sure, we have very talented musicians/artists out there right now, but Michael pioneered modern, urban music, dance and music videos as we know them. RIP Michael. x

Our MJ vinyl collection (excluding 'Got to be there' album - couldn't find it at the time)

Gotcha!!!

Despite trying some eco-friendly anti slug measures to stop my lettuces, courgette plants and chilli plants from being munched to nothing, I had to finally resort to the dreaded slug pellets. I know, bad for the environment and cruel to the slugs, but I had to do something! Everything was being eaten before it even had a chance of becoming anything edible.

Exhibit A: Chilli Plants

Exhibit B: Courgette Plants

So, I put the pellets down and lo and behold.....the next morning I found the culprits. And it wasn't the slugs at all! It was SNAILS. Since then we have removed 5 or 6 every morning from the plants! At last, my plants have a chance and we may even get to eat some of their bounty :-)

Exhibit C: the Perps

Hard at work