A lovely Easter holiday

Well I think we can safely say we were lucky these past few weeks.  The first week of the Easter holidays we hung out, took it gently due to Ben being knackered and a fair few friends being away, but then headed down to Cornwall in the second week and lucked out with then weather!  It was wall to wall sunshine, and we had an absolute blast staying with the Price's at their (incredibly hospitable) in-laws, building sandcastles and damns on the beach, eating ice-creams and all sorts of other things you just wouldn't expect to do on an Easter break.

Easter holidays

We have limped our way to the Easter holidays and have begun them with a poorly boy.  he came home from school on Friday and effectively flopped.  He's not really 'ill' 'ill', but has had a high temperature at night and has been in our bed ( very unusual unlike Becca who has come into our bed every night since about Xmas!).  He's very up and down and has complained about earache.
Anyway, yesterday wasn't particularly adventurous, and today we simply headed to the cinema to watch the Penguins of Madagascar - which was surprisingly funny,  There were parts Paul and I were completely wetting ourselves laughing!  Kids seemed to enjoy it too....!

Tomorrow we are planning on going to Oxford with my mum but we may have to see how he gets on tonight, I could do with a night without 4 of us in a King size bed.

On a more positive front, we have had lots of fun with craft stuff, and have hung our little wooden eggs/flowers on an Easter branch.  Rebecca was a bit less random on her 'egg hanging' with all of them on the same branch,  Paul told me to leave them but there are some things that do bring out an element of 'control freak mother' in me and I had to re-hang them once she was in bed.

the kids have made more Easter baskets that they will ever need, and they requested a countdown calendar like the advent one I made with lots of  surprises in it, such as days out, craft activities and (of course) chocolates.  This evening we painted the bottom half of some old yellow plastic eggs I found a blue colour so we can try and turn them into minions tomorrow... Ha ha, who needs phonics anyway!!!  (Good job my kids are pretty academic as I ignore all that extra learning stuff and go straight for the fun things at home!!)

Well I don't think today will go down as a memorably impressive achievement-filled one.   Ben had Forest school, which basically involves a long coach journey to a field and some trees, to run about a bit in the rain, climb a few trees, cook marshmallows and then a long journey back covered in mud.  All very good for a kiddo who lives in the inner city with no access to the countryside, but we are 5 minutes walk from a lovely wood and hill, plus we have the pleasure of camping at every opportunity - so not really world changing for him.  Still, it beats phonics I guess!

Becca and I attempted a 'Mum and Becca day out' but didn't really manage much bonding time.  We headed to the farm park in the knowledge that it would be quiet due to the weather and it is free as we have passes.  But on the way there we passed a bad car accident which had obviously only just happened.  I went past, but then had a change of heart and turned round to see if I could help.  It's a tough decision as obviously I had Becca in the car, but it isn't a particularly busy road so I felt I had to at least offer.  In fact I was of some use, as I spoke to the emergency services and then stayed with the lady in one of the cars until the paramedics arrived.  But obviously having Becca there meant I had to keep an eye on her too and she got upset so I had to take her out of the car and I think she got a bit cold, so was pretty grumpy by the time we eventually made it to the Farm Park.  Becca doesn't do cold very well (which doesn't bode well for scout camps!).

We managed to watch some lambing and hold a baby chicken but only really lasted about and hour and a half at the farm park before heading back, and she slept on the way home which is very unusual these days so I guess she is a bit under the weather.

The rest of the day was taken up with Frozen viewing, until it was time to collect Ben, who seemed to have brought the best part of the forest back with him on his trousers.

2 years on...

and so much has happened!  Today Ben lost his first tooth.  A big deal.

Yes this blog saw me through relationship cock ups, finally meeting 'the one', marriage, pregnancies and the world of the little toddler.  Then Facebook took over and I moved onto snappy one liners to update my life on a daily basis.  Some days I miss putting down a bit more detail so, although it may be a temporary reprise, I'd like to try and record a little more.

Ben was beside himself with excitement on losing the tooth, which he has been wiggling for days.  I have to admit I am a little gutted about the loss of his lovely looks to one with a wierd gap in his gnashers, but his excitement was infectious and he leapt upstairs at the sign of bath/bedtime in his enthusiasm to get to sleep to allow for the tooth fairy's visit.
I had intended to place 50p under the pillow which seemed reasonable but Paul had already shined up a nice £1 coin so who am I to deprive the boy from more spending power.  I have a horrible feeling the morning will come even earlier than 5.59am start I had today.
On which note, Rebecca has spent the last 2 months coming into out bed anytime between midnight and 3am, something which we keep meaning to get around to resolving but never quite managing to get the strength or determination to see through.  We are the epitome of slack parents.

So I am three months into the job, - but who's counting??? (me!!!).  the job itself is mainly fine, I actually managed to settle into the team ok and get on with people fine, although I find it a very negative position given that I constantly have to deal with disciplines and grievances, and the list of people who I have pissed off is growing longer by the day.  I hate leaving the kids when they are ill - which has happened this month with Ben being poorly a few weeks ago and Rebecca ill today.  But I realise this is something every working parent has to deal with.
I'm hoping that at the end of this job I can have a bit of time to reassess the finances and perhaps not work regularly again for a little while.  I just need to stop spending money......

Well I made it through the first week of work, although I only JUST made it, and had to leave early on Thursday with a migraine, which was pretty disappointing as I didn't want to come across as a slacker.  Hey ho, I think the stress of the week got to me, whilst we had a lovely time away for the weekend before, adding that to Ben's party and then all the organising of the kids etc, it was probably a bit much for me.  I return to the office tomorrow and I'm not too down about it, I think the job won't be brilliant, but it will be generally OK.  I am capable of the technical stuff, whilst it will take me a while to get to know the key ones I think I can work with the managers.  I just hope I manage to settle into the department OK.  I think it is only now that I am mourning the redundancy from the old job, as I realise how hard it is to leave a place when you don't really choose to.  Starting a new job is easier when you chose to leave the last one, because you aren't looking back with rose tinted glasses.

I have definitely enjoyed my time with the kids more, and today they were absolutely gorgeous.  It's full on getting them up and out of the house in the morning - and I know Paul finds it hard getting them home and sorted, but they seemed fine with things last week, Ben loved his extra time at nursery -helped by the fact that they went Christmas mad, so he was helping with decorating the place!  becca seemed fine too and was in the best mood she's been in.  So we just have to hope that continues.

Ah well, 2 weeks till Christmas break :-)

Time has flown past and the end is nigh.  Well not the end, more the beginning, but part of me also feels like it is the end.  Having been made redundant when I was pregnant with Ben I was relieved of that "returning to work from maternity leave" feeling.  Despite a brief foray into the world of work with a local posh hairdressing chain and the consultancy work, I've not really had to deal with the proper challenge of juggling a job and kids.  This all changes next week as I return to the coal face and start to attempt to juggle a 3 day a week job with 2 kids.  I've got mixed feelings if I'm honest.  I'm sad that I will be leaving my kids in childcare 3 days a week, until late when it's dark.  I'm terrified of having to get them up, fed, dressed and out of the house with a deadline, and I have NO IDEA how I will manage the house stuff without a bit of time to myself in the week to get things sorted.  That said, I am looking forward to having a mental challenge, adult company without the constant interruptions, not having to sweep under and clean the dinner table 3 times a day, and being able to listen to my choice of music in the car for 1 hour a day as I travel to and from work.
I'm lucky in that I only have 3 weeks of work before I get the Christmas break so hopefully it will be a gentler introduction.  We'll see,  wish me luck.....