Day 13.

Happy Hallowe'en :)

(I like this one - very spooky: camera on Auto, but no flash)

Day 12.

Ooh, getting further and further behind with my hubs.  But at least I have plans for topics for each day now, so writing them should be fine once I get on with it.  Couldn't manage it tonight, too tired.  Starting tomorrow with proper effort.

Me and Thomas had a lovely morning.  James did in the end.  Football on Saturday mornings at the moment, of course.  (Kev didn't come to watch this morning as he has a bad back, and standing about in the cold probably wouldn't have been the best thing for it.)  Well, James was exhausted from having a bit of a late night last night - movie night, Back to the Future III - so he wasn't feeling very well.  He missed his football this morning, because on the way down to the college where they play he got himself into a right state, and had just decided that it would be the end of the world if he played today.  Fine.  I wasn't going to force him because he would have disrupted everything for the other kids, and then he would've run off and tried to escape and get back home :)  So.  He doesn't have these tantrummy things very often, so it's obvious he's very tired when he does.  But it meant that the three of us got to have a nice natter in the college cafe while Thomas powered up with sugary and fatty snacks (crisps and a Chomp), ready for his footy.  Thomas had a super session today - he saved lots of shots when he was in goal, and he also made his first successful tackle!  Astounding!  Amazing!  Ace!  :)  He was very pleased with himself today.  I was very pleased with him too.  I'm not really bothered whether or not he's good at football, but when he does well he enjoys it more and that's always a good thing :)

Wee Jamsie, practising penalties :)

Thomas having a go at taking penalties too.

Matthew seizing the opportunity to make a run for it.

I've no photos of Thomas at aikido, but he's enjoying that very much.  He's always practising his rolls and I find that just fascinating, watching him throwing himself into a shoulder roll and finishing standing up.  Cor!  Wish I could do that!

That was all we did today really.  It's been a lovely lazing about sort of holiday, and I asked the boys if they've enjoyed it and they really have.  We had such a busy summer that they didn't really have chance to rest before they were right into school and busyness.  So I thought it would be a good idea to watch millions of DVDs and just play in the house this week.  Good move.  Why not.  Lovely.

Back to work next week.  Stuff to do.  Time to get on with it all.  Motivation *deep breath in, deep breath out*

Day 11.

Look what we made today :)  Marshmallows (Matthew says Smashmallows), on sticks, covered in chocolate and sprinkles and things.  The ones on the bottom shelf are teeny smashmallows, covered in much more chocolate and sprinkles and things.  They're very delicious, but not moreish, because they make you feel just nice.  If you had more than one you wouldn't feel so nice.

That is basically all that we have achieved today.  Oh, I did fold a big pile of washing.  That is all.  We have watched more films and sprawled on the couch some more.  This half term has been the holiday of sprawling.  It's been very nice.  The boys love this kind of time at home, and I certainly do.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find some energy because it's time to get ready for Christmas!  I don't want to live in this pigsty any longer - I want to donate most of the contents of our house to charity.  Ooh, for the house to be almost empty... divine.

That is all I have to say today.  My eyelids are drooping and I have to give in and go to bed, even though I'm behind again on the hubs - tomorrow I will be five hubs behind, oh dear.

Night all.

Day 10.

And that was my last drink for a long time, hopefully.  I am feeling rough this morning.  Not very, very rough, but rough enough to spoil the day.  I do not enjoy feeling like this at all, it's stupid.  And I don't even need to drink, because I know that I can have a perfectly good time without booze.

I have no more to say about this.  Enough to say that I'm drawing a line under it, and starting from scratch tomorrow - teetotal again, yay!

Day 9.

Cor, I posted three hubs today :D  I'm about to go and check on them, to see if they've been read by anyone.  I'm catching up a little.  I'm just one hub short now, and I'll write that in a minute.  It's very much fun, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.  It would probably be very nice to be able to get paid a nice wage to just ramble on about whatever I fancy - but that'll never 'appen!

Today has gone very, very quickly.  We didn't achieve a great deal really, apart from me posting those hubs.  Me and Thomas and James went into town and enjoyed a bit of coffee/hot chocolate/blueberry juice/Belgian waffle/marshmallow twizzles/cheesy chip fest.  That was nice, to eat rubbish for the day.  We felt full to the brim with stodge, so enjoyed some nice vegetables and salmon for tea :)  This is all a bit boring for a reader eh?  Reading about what my family and I have eaten today?  What the hell am I on about?  Who cares?!  Actually, I can't really help it, I'm watching 'Masterchef' on the telly :oS

I've nothing else to say.  Oh yes, I have.  Did anyone see 'Catherine''s comment on my blog the other day, about Postgrad tuition fees?  She reckoned that the fees won't really go up for the MA that I'm wanting to take, so I'm going to look into that a bit more.  She has given me tremendous hope.  The only thing I was wondering about, to do with the MA, is if I end up also applying to do the BSc Midwifery, will they think I'm a little crackers and flaky and indecisive if they read on my application that I've just done an MA in something completely not related to their subject?  It's a problem, when you have two ambitions that you want to pursue - the question is, will I be able to achieve both, or will one of them have to die a death before I've even started?  Hmm.  We'll see.  I'll just see how things pan out.

Waffley, waffley, waffley, waffle.  Blogging when one has nothing much to say is a bit silly!

Lx.

Day 8.

Busy all day, watching films and being in pyjamas.  No time for blogging or hubbing.  Exhausted after all the lounging and eating of rubbish.

Lx.

Day 7. Monday mornings, lush.

I don't mean that I am a lush.  Obviously, I'm not.  But I do mean that Monday mornings are luscious.  Delicious, ambitious, splenditious.

lush 2 |ləʃ| |lʌʃ| informalnouna heavy drinker, esp. a habitual one.
luscious |ˈlə sh əs|adjective(of food or wine) having a pleasingly rich, sweet taste : a luscious and fragrant dessert wine.• richly verdant or opulent.

I haven't always liked Monday mornings.  But I think that I misunderstood them, poor Mondays.  I suppose it's easy for me to like Monday mornings, because of the nature of my 'job'.  Being an almost full-time stay-at-home parent is not the same as going out to work.  I can understand the Sunday evening feeling that a lot of people have, when they've had a beautiful weekend and face the thought of having to go back to work the next morning.  I'm tremendously lucky that I'm alone on Monday mornings, and I have only my own things to do.  I pack the kids off to nursery and school, and I have three hours to write.  Who could fail to love Monday mornings if they were me?

But it's the half term holiday now and I still have that zingy Monday morning feeling.  I'm looking forward to spending some time with my kiddies - I've missed James and Thomas while they've been at school.  Particularly James because it's been his first half term.  I'm used to missing Thomas, so that's easier.  Though actually, I'm surprised at how quickly I've got used to James being at school - the days pass so quickly that it only feels like he's away for a couple of hours.

Tt.  I have just dampened my mood a little though.  A thought about the MA in Creative Writing popped into my just now, and I'm sad because if the tuition fees take a steep rise I will not be able to do it.  I'm very angry, that the gap between rich and poor in education is being widened again.  It's starting to become like it was in centuries gone by.  Should have bloody well done the MA when I first thought about it two years ago, shouldn't I?!  I may be kicking myself over that.  Well I'm going to apply anyway, and think about funding if I'm lucky enough to receive an offer.  No point in ruining my Monday morning buzz over things that are beyond my control.

I'd better go.  The kids are grinding Play Doh into the carpet!  I only popped on because they were playing so nicely, and I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to get my Day 7 blog entry out of the way.  I didn't want to have to spend time on it this evening, because I've got three hubs to write if I'm to catch up on that side!  Aaaaaagh!  I've got ideas for one and a half, so I have to find one and a half more ideas in the next few hours.

Anyway, lovely Monday morning...

I took this last Monday morning :)

Day 6.

I fell behind with the blogs and hubs, because I didn't get any time to write yesterday.  It's okay to have more than one hub to write in a day, because it makes sense - two different hubs, two different topics.  But it's kind of strange writing two blog entries in one day, because a blog is like a diary - you wouldn't write one diary entry, sign off, and then start the next one straight away!  But because we had some photos from today, I've got away with it :)

Ooh, it's been a very busy and fulfilling weekend.  We've done so much.  We didn't do one of the things we planned, but there's not much you can do about a hangover once the damage has been done.  Urgh.  Yesterday James and Thomas had footie, which we always really enjoy.  Matthew's a right pain because he's discovered that running off towards the road can be a lot of fun, little sod!  So we do spend quite a lot of time catching him and bringing him back to the pitch.  Next week I'm strapping him into the pram :)  James and Thomas have a ball at football training though - it's very fascinating to watch them joining in and having a go.  Thomas is pretty wary of the ball during the little matches that they play, and he runs for it, but then doesn't know what to do with it when he gets near it, so he backs off and lets someone else take it.  Bless him.  He was very grown up yesterday, and told my mum that he knows that James is better at football than him - bless him.  He wasn't at all embarrassed by it though - he just enjoys the running and around, and he's aware that his talents lie elsewhere: his drawing and his stories and projects, and also his aikido.  Very mature :)  James is braver with the ball - the four-year-olds are funny, as they just run after the ball in a pack.  James was really improving yesterday though, he was getting to grips with the idea of finding space and making himself available for passes and throws.  The pack is starting to spread out ever so slightly now.  Little cuties!

In the afternoon, we worked on our space project.  It was very successful indeed.  We have half filled our sheet of A1, and have planned the rest for next weekend.  The work is almost all Thomas's, as James and Matthew were ridiculously tired from staying up until 10pm the night before.  They just wanted to watch the telly.  I got them to each draw a planet (James did Jupiter, and Uranus actually, and Matthew did Pluto) and then I let them go because they were disrupting the whole class!  (I'd be a useless primary school teacher, really I would - no patience when children are exhibiting behaviour that puts my crafting materials at risk!)  Thomas was tireless, and I'd no sooner mentioned an idea than he was scribbling away and getting it done.  Little star.  He enjoyed himself enormously, and can't wait for next week to finish off learning about space.  He's full of ideas for the next project, and I think he's rather keen to learn about the Wild West!  Hmm - tricky, because I'll really want to teach him the truth about these things as far as I can, but I'm not very clued up on these things.  I'll have to do my own research first I think.  See, we're all learning, not just the boys - it's marvellous.  Next week Thomas will be doing some writing for the space project, and maybe will do some work on the computer - maybe typing out some labels and titles, and writing up some space facts.  And we'll print some amazing pictures too.  And I've an idea for recreating an artistic interpretation of a nebula!  Oh yes.  I bet you're impressed.  I am.

Here's what it looks like so far:

Today we meant to go to the Kids' Club at the cinema, because Kev didn't get to see Toy Story 3 with us, lol.  But we slept in very late, because we had rather large hangovers - oops.  Serves us right for staying out so late and understandably annoying our babysitter (very sorry Stinky Pete - I won't ask you to babysit for a long time :oS )   Thomas was a very grown up little person today, and got breakfast for himself and his little brothers - they had cereal with milk on.  He even cleaned up Matthew's milk spillage!  I was enjoying my lazy morning, dosing a bit, listening to the boys being lovely to each other, and heard Thomas very nicely and patiently asking the littlies to turn the TV off and come to the table for their breakfast.  What a little superhero :)  He's been absolutely wonderful this weekend, and Kev and I have just been catching each other's eye and beaming with tremendous pride.

We had a lovely lunch at the Mill at Conder Green.   And then we went for a walk along the canal - we were lucky enough to be there when a boat was going through the locks, and the boys all helped to open and close the gates - they were understandably thrilled to bits!  We treated them to some strawberries and bananas with dipping chocolate back at the Mill after that - they'd worked very hard!  We hadn't worked very hard, but we needed the sugar for our hangovers so we had some cake as well.

Lovely, lovely weekend.  And there's a whole seven days of loveliness to come - I love the school holidays :)

Day 5, late!

Lancaster Canal, by the Mill Inn at Conder Green.  What a stunner of a day!  We got to see the locks in action today, as well as a plane doing crazy twirly stunts and dives which made us think that it was about to crash.  Also saw some grey swans, and some mating cows, some parachutists and a hot air balloon.  Jam packed day.