A weekend of reunions

Saturday we drove to Leicester, where, we spent time with my grandparents from Canada - it was the first time they had seen the kids since Benjamin was just under 2 years old and Jasmine just 18 months or so. They also came along the next day to......

...... a special service at my old church to say goodbye (or rather au revoir et bonne chance!) to our dear friend Jacqui as she prepares to leave for her 2 year secondment in Montpellier, France.  Though remember you read it here first when I say that after she woos those frenchmen, I don't think she'll be back to these shores for more than a visit.  One of them is bound to sweep her off her feet and whisk her away to his chateau.....anyway, I digress!  It was really good to see all the old faces - some of whom had also moved to other parts of the country, and there more than a few who I hadn't seen in 12 years or so.....We had a wonderful time, and there were so many people there to wish Jacqui all the best and testify to her amazing generosity of heart, her ability to always see the best in a person or situation, her sense of fun and fairness and her love of life and God.  I will miss you dearly Jacqui!  But we will be over in Montpellier before you know it to introduce you to your 3rd Allen Godchild :-)

me, Jacqui, my sister

Practicing for number 3

....and it was both a joy and a reminder of just how tiring a toddler can be!  How I managed with two under 2 I can no longer remember :-)  I was looking after my friend's little boy for the morning and he arrived bright and chipper at 7am.

He is such a clever, happy little boy, but being a bit under the weather and not yet over the exhaustion of early pregnancy, I did find it tiring to have to keep up with his demands to go upstairs, downstairs - especially when that covers 3 floors!

Here is a pic of the 3 children enjoying a breakfast of rice crispies, toast, fruit and juice......

With love, from the Tooth Fairy

So, now it was bedtime and Jasmine has been asking me all day when she's allowed to put her tooth under her pillow. And finally the time arrived.  As I was really tired, I went to bed at the same time as the kids and we all piled into my King-sized bed.  We therefore decided that we would put the tooth under the pillow I was sharing with Jasmine.  I duly set my mobile phone alarm so that I'd remember to get up and exchange the tooth for some money, and then we all settled in for a story.  I told them a story (I made up) about a young tooth fairy in training called Tatiana.  She was on her very first mission to collect a tooth from a little girl called Isabella.  The Queen of the Tooth Fairies gave her special instructions, as this tooth was one of the most valuable of all as it was the first tooth that had fallen out and they were extra special.  Tatiana was very excited to be on her first ever assignment and she was very careful to put the tooth in her pouch and leave a shiny gold coin.  She then hurried back to the Land of the Tooth Fairies, eager to show the Queen how well she'd done.  But, to her horror, when she got back and opened her pouch, the tooth was gone!  She then noticed a small hole in the bottom of the pouch......Anyway, to cut a longish story short, whilst flying over the Valley she decided to take a rest under  daisy, and lo and behold, she spotted the missing tooth.... (ok, so I'm not the world's best storyteller, but I did try!) They kept asking me if it was true, but I just said that no-one really knows.

We all then fell asleep, and I was woken a few hours later to carry out my Tooth Fairy duties.  I put the tooth in a special little box I have, just for first teeth, then found a scrap of white paper that I sometimes use in Cardmaking which looks like it is woven out of silky cobwebs.  I wrote a little note to Jasmine in tiny fairy-like handwriting thanking her for her special tooth and signing it off 'with love, Tatiana x'

I put the note under Jasmine's pillow this time, along with a pound coin, and moved the kids to their own beds.

And in the morning........The first thing she did was to look under her pillow.  And the look of utter awe was sooo cute.  Ben read her the letter and then ran off into our room shouting to Nick "It's true, it's really true!"

Memory Lane

I was going through some old pictures today so I could send some to someone who asked for some particular ones (vague I know, but there is a good reason for that!), and came across this one of Jasmine.  It was taken at a her Godmother's (and one of my very best friends) 40th birthday a few years back.  It brought back memories of that night with Ben and Jas performing for all the delighted guests. I didn't seem to take one of Ben singing, but found this one of Jasmine.....

Then I came across pictures of Ben's first haircut.  Prior to this momentous occasion, his hair was long enough to do lovely styles like this:

but, as he was due to start school part-time after the summer, I decided it was time to make it easier to maintain.  So off we went to my aunts salon......

He looked so small in that big chair.....

but was obviously very comfortable because before long, he fell fast asleep!

*yes, rubbish quality photos...I apologise for my old cheap, freebie camera!

Happy Easter!

Easter was a busy one for us....with so many family to see in various cities, and all in the space of one bank holiday weekend....

First off was Leicester, where we got to meet my cousin's baby for the first time......

a newly shaved Ben

Then it was on to Nottingham, where the next morning, Easter Sunday, the kids got to do an egg hunt courtesy of Pippi......

First she hid the eggs in the front garden (the back was still too soggy)

The off the kids went

 

As a child, we never did egg hunts, in fact, the first and only time I did one was on my first visit to Germany aged 18.  The family I stayed with had two girls and they hid little eggs and sweets around my room, then stood by excitedly as I hunted for them.  It was lovely and a wonderful surprise.

After a couple nights in Nottingham, where we sadly had to leave the kids, we drove on to Birmingham to visit Nick's grandmother.  Cue, lots of food....yum!

And at every stop we got to share the good news.

Gappy Happy

you can see the big tooth waiting directly behind the gap

Jasmine banged her wobbly tooth on the way home from an after school play group the kids go to on a wednesday.  Once she saw the blood she cried and cried and cried some more.  When we got home I held her whilst she let it all out, then inspected the damage.  The little tooth was barely hanging in there and sort of potruded upwards.  So Jasmine gained a new nickname....'Nanny McPhee'!!!  And she quite liked it too.  The this morning, whilst eating her bowl of coco pops, said tooth came out.  She just disappeared from the table and returned crying and holding a wad of bloody tissue to her mouth (she gets hysterical when she sees her blood).  In her hand she clutched her little tooth as tightly as possible.  I held her once again whilst she cried, all the while telling her how fantastic it really is because now she is a big girl (sob!) and how lucky she is that the tooth fairy is going to be visiting her tonight and leaving her some money under her pillow.  After the tears were dried I saw the first glimmer of a smile as she ran to Ben, gurning at him to show off her new gap.  I overheard her telling him how she was chewing her coco pops and her tooth came out and she was chewing it too thinking it was her cereal.  They were colouring together, but she ran back to say that Ben said he doesn't want to colour anymore because of her tooth.  I said he is probably a little jealous because his tooth hasn't fallen out.  Ben called down that he isn't jealous, just sad that he doesn't have a wobbly tooth too. ahhh.  Thing is, Ben doesn't have any wobbly teeth or big teeth in waiting.  Jasmine has 5 new teeth.  one each on each side, top and bottom, and one waiting to move into the new gap.  But I remember when each of them was teething it wasn't all that different then either.  Ben's teeth came in much more slowly, whereas with Jasmine, it seemed that every time she opened her mouth I saw a new tooth in there. 

Since this morning, Jasmine has kept a close eye on her tooth and keeps telling me she can't wait for her money (!) because she wants to buy some clothes.  "Clothes!"  I exclaimed.  "The tooth fairy doesn't give you enough money for clothes!".  But apparently Tilly in her class at school got a whole £3 from the tooth fairy.  Well, well.  In my day you got 20p - 50p if you were really lucky.  Nanny McPhee doesn't fit anymore, so Nick told her her new name is Gappy. Jasmine thought about it, but decided on 'Gappy Happy'.

My sister reminded me, when I told her about Jas' tooth, of when one of her teeth fell out and broke in two.  We each put half under our own pillow in the hopes of getting double the money.  Yes, we tried to hustle the tooth fairy.  My dad didn't put any money under either of our pillows and told us that it was because we tried to be greedy and cheat the tooth fairy.  Oh well, was worth a try - and shows we had entrepreneurial skill even at such a young age ;-)

Funny of the day

Ben and Jas were getting ready to go out to the park with Nick. 

Ben: "why does it always take so long to get out of this house?  It's always, 'Oh, I forgot my jumper, oh I forgot my shoes, oh I forgot this....". 
Jasmine: "yeah, it's always, oh, where are my keys, oh where is my hat, oh I just need to go to Sainsburys, oh I just need to go upstairs and have a nap first!". 
Me: "Are you talking about us?"
Ben: "No, just that's what some people say"
Me: "Some people like who?"
Ben: "I don't know any people that do it, I just know that they do"
Me: "So if you don't know anyone that does, how do you know that some people do it?"
Ben: "Because that's life! Some people do it to trick you because they don't really want to go out and that's just the way life is!" 

I just so know they are talking about me........shows you can't fool even a 5 and 6 year old.  At least not mine anyway.  Nothing gets past them.

National Book Week

For National Book Week the school put on a number of special activities for the children.  There were book swaps, book sales and an author visited and did writing workshops with them (and Ben was noted as a child with exceptional creative writing skills!).  On top of this, one the Tuesday all the children got to go to school dressed as their favourite book character.  So out came the kids' favourite costumes.....

And on Wednesday, they got the extra special treat of going back to school in their pyjamas, with a teddy/blanket/pillow, to have a bedtime story with some hot chocolate and a biscuit.  Exciting! They never did fun things like that when I was at school.