Hodsock Priory

I've been meaning to get this post up a while but just haven't had two minutes to get it done. On Saturday 26th we went with grandma and grandad to Hodsock Priory to see the snowdrops. It's only 15 minutes or so away from the house so not too far to travel. I think it's pretty well known for it's variety of snowdrops though we hadn't heard of it before we stumbled across it in 2009.

It was rather chilly and the wind was blowing straight through but the gardens were beautiful. Despite the mud we had a good stomp around. There weren't as many snowdrops as I had remembered and the daffodils weren't out yet but it was good to be outside. I dread to think how many snowdrops the kids killed while we were there - the concept of sticking to the paths is unknown to them.

In the woodlands there were some stumps and Beth made the most of these natural stages, singing for all to hear. Toby was a little slower and had to be lured round with the use of grandad's midget gems. Turns out that he wasn't feeling great - his breathing got worse through the evening and ended with an ambulance ride at 3am and Sunday spent in Lincoln hospital. He's fine now, just need to keep an eye on him and give him his inhaler if he seems to be having issues.

Beth's also fine, she achieved her level 6 gymnastics badge and certificate on Thursday. Only five more to go!

Half Term Fun

It's half term at the moment so we have a whole free week stretching out in front of us. This morning we met up with my 'old' school friend Abi, her bloke, Marc, and their daughter Sylvie. Beth has been bugging us to go to Beacon Hill again for ages - we haven't been since September. The weather didn't look fab but we figured that with wellies, raincoats, flasks of coffee and chocolate cake we'd have fun anyway!

Beth was very excited to meet Sylvie as the last time they met was in the summer of 2007, well out of reach of her memory. She immediately loved the sound of her name and when we arrived, all three kids happily disappeared off to play together. They charged around the rhododendron labyrinth with us adults struggling to catch up, slipping and sliding on the wet wood - no idea why none of the kids seemed to be slowed down by it. I think their fearlessness meant they walked/ran normally where I certainly tiptoed in an attempt to stay upright, resulting in slipping far more than I probably would have otherwise.

Obviously the only way to gather them all in one place long enough for us to catch our breathe was the offer of gooey chocolate cake and juice. :) After another explore we decided to come out of the labyrinth and walk round the rest of the park. The sun was trying to come out and it was a really pleasant wander. The kids hid behind trees, balanced on tuffits (minus the spiders) and generally careered around having fun.

It was a really fab way to spend the morning yet despite being fun-filled, there was a layer of sadness with thoughts of a missing friend. Two weeks ago Sylvie's 7-year-old twin sister, Charis, passed away. For her mum and dad I can't begin to imagine the heartbreak at revisiting past 'playgrounds' without Charis but I hope we created some good new memories today.

February So Far . . .

We seem to be pretty busy at the moment though I'm not quite sure with what we've been filling our time. Beth of course is at school all day everyday and is enjoying it. Her teacher quit at Christmas and two supply teachers are filling in until the new regular teacher starts after Easter. This actually seems to suit Beth pretty well as she doesn't much like repetition; she much prefers new things and surprises.

Toby is just Toby and seems to be known wherever he goes! At the moment he has a swimming lesson on Monday, pre-school on Tuesday and Thursday (just the mornings) and playgroup and gymnastics on Wednesday. Friday is our day for getting bits done though this past Friday he refused to do anything. I think he decided he'd had enough of 'activities' and just wanted to lounge around the house with his toys and the telly. I didn't mind too much as it gave me a chance to tidy round - this Wednesday the builders are coming to knock a wall down between the kitchen and the dining room. Everything needs to be out of the way of the dust, though in our house I don't think that's really ever a possibility!

One of our outings this week was to meet Toby's friend Anna and her mum Claire. We went to Daneshill Gravel Pits, a nature reserve about 20 minutes drive away. It was a beautiful afternoon with the sun shining. Although it's only about a 20 minute walk around the lake it took us nearly an hour and a half. I suppose we did stop to feed the ducks, eat some cake and poke things with sticks. All good fun!

Three Whole Years . . .

Yesterday, January 28, was the third anniversary of us 'coming home'. I'm not quite sure where this past year has gone. The first part of the year was consumed with buying the house and moving, then getting settled in, the kids birthdays and the summer holidays. All closely followed by Beth starting school (and Toby starting pre-school) and finally a rather busy end of year with nativity plays, Christingle, trips away and me (sort of) getting back to work.

The getting back to work thing has been on the edge of my consciousness for a while. Toby is only at pre-school for five hours a week but by September he'll be going every morning so I really need to be thinking about work . . .

Despite editing being my preferred area, I got commissioned to write four books (any of you TCMers will know, this sounds far more glamourous than it actually is!) and decided to try my hand being an author. Taking this on at the beginning of December probably wasn't the brightest move - I didn't look too closely at the schedule and didn't really think how tight the deadline was; all four books to be finished by mid-January! Never mind, apart from neglecting my Christmas cards and being 'unavailable' for intellectual conversation, I think I muddled by okay and got them in a whole two days early.

I think before I take on any more work I'll have to do a bit of a survey among mums who freelance from home. Not quite sure at what point you can justify additional childcare - at one point I was in the kitchen with the computer on the counter and jumping between writing and cooking the kids tea. Not sure that I did justice to either effort with my mind/body split between the two!!

Overall a great year with a nice mixture of family and friends, old and new, a new home and a new village. Definitely a positive move as we're very happy in our 'location' even though we do still miss our CA/US friends and hope that perhaps 2011 will be the year that we get to see some of them again in person.

Happy Birthday Cousins!

During the week we were away, it was cousin Adam's 5th birthday and cousin William's 2nd birthday. Poor William had chicken pox, Adam managed to avoid it and on Sunday had a party to celebrate (his birthday, not the fact that he didn't have the pox!).

As with any party, Beth was very excited at the prospect especially as it was a fancy dress party with a magician. Normally Beth would just wear a party dress and a tiara and be a random princess but this time she went as Snow White. She has always wanted a Snow White dress but every time she has tried one on it bothers her. For anyone in close proximity of Beth, this wouldn't be a surprise. We have a 10 minute 'dance' every morning where she goes through the same routine of "will my pants stop bothering me?" then "will my t-shirt stop bothering me?" followed by "will my socks stop bothering me?" until she has gone through every piece of clothing. I'm not actually sure anything bothers her but she's got into such a habit that she does it anyway.

Well, for Christmas grandma whipped out her sewing machine and threw together a non-bothering Snow White dress. Thankfully (as I think it might have taken a bit more effort than I indicated here) she liked and was happy to wear it. The outfit was made complete with a school hairband and her sparkly Dorothy shoes from Auntie Liz and Uncle John.

Toby was going to be a wizard but again, as with any fancy dress parties, decided to go as Toby. Adam looked fab as Batman and William (whose spots had scabbed over) was cute as Mr Tickle.

The magician was very good and managed to deal with the 5-year-old hecklers in a very dignified manner! There was also a surprise guest appearance by Bob the Builder, Spider-man and a rather sinister Batman. The cake also reflected Adam's love of Batman.

Sneaky Holiday

We're just back from a sneaky holiday to the Centerparcs near to our house with grandma and grandpa. It's only about 20 minutes away but once you go in and dump the car, you could be anywhere so it seemed daft going to any of the other ones.

It was a great time to go, pretty quiet after Christmas, and we had fantastic weather (for January) with no rain and lots of sun. It was a little chilly but there was definitely a Spring-like feel to it all.

We went to the 'subtropical swimming paradise' every day. There was a lot to do, loads of slides and rides, wave machine and pirate ships to explore. Toby definitely loved one of the slides the best and would have done his slide circuit all day had his legs not given up with all the climbing stairs that was involved. Beth liked most of it but I think her favourite bit was the outdoor part of the pool, despite the temperature being below zero one morning! The water felt quite warm and there was a ledge she could play on and jump off. The rest of us adults rather liked the whirlpools. :)

Although there are lots of activities you can pay to do, the only 'extra' thing we did was bowling. Neither of the kids had been before and they both seemed to quite enjoy it. I think they found the wait between goes a bit long but thankfully Beth won so she was happy. The rest of us played pretty crap - seemed harder than playing it on the wii in my pj's!!

The rest of the time was spent playing in the woods, walking, relaxing in the villa and visiting the nature centre. Both of the kids seemed to really enjoy watching the birds from the hide. Think I'll have to swat up on identifying birds as since we've come home, Beth wants to know the name of every bird in the garden.

It was a lovely week - perfect to get away from the January blues. Think we'd better get something else booked to look forward to . . .

Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year - we hope you have a wonderful 2011!

Steve joins us in this greeting, just not in the photo - he's not much for having his pic on the blog!