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