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.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 21 January 2011
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 . . .
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 . . .
Monday, 3 January 2011
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!
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