Half Term Holidays

Monday. The first day of the half-term holidays we all just wanted to spend a quiet day by ourselves at home, doing the usual kind of stuff, such as...

Making a huge web out of sellotape all over the living room, to hang toy cars from...

 Fitting Harry into a cardboard box...

 Doing Yoga on  the Wii, with a cardboard box on your head....

 Leaving little messages for people.... (This one from Harry)

Tuesday - Valentines Day. Scott and I had exchanged Valentines cards the night before (we are rubbish at keeping things from each other...) His to me was a very interesting handmade pink creation with an aeroplane, and the number 16 on it (apparently this is our 16th Valentines day together), and mine had the wonderful quote 'I can't believe how much I'm not sick of you' on it. Are we romantic or what?!

The kids and I cleaned up the whole house in the morning, then Mum and Dad came and spent the rest of the day with us. Here we are at lunch, with Mum and Dad both making some kind of interesting 'cheerful cheesy Grandparent' face!!

I'd been a bit stressed in the morning, but gradually unwound, and we had a nice day. I was really happy too, with a dress which mum had altered for me, by adding sleeves to it.
Here's Mum having a not too successful go on my roller/stomach-work-out machine thing... had a right laugh!

In the evening, I took Lucy and Jack up to church to Youth, where Abi Bleakley was also being dropped off, and then coming back with us to stay for a couple of days.

Wednesday. Had a fairly quiet day at home. Lucy and Abi made their now traditional pancakes for us all, and worked on Lucy's camp scrapbook. We watched girly films in the evening.

Thursday. What a day. The kids amused themselves in the morning, while I made some cupcakes for refreshments for a Disabilities Seminar I had organised for that evening. (I love this new cupcake carrier I got!)

In the afternoon though, we had to drive to a shopping centre in Spalding to meet up with Holly Bleakley, to drop off Abi. It should have taken an hour maximum, but we had an 'exciting' journey there which took over TWO HOURS... My satnav was in Scott's car, so I planned out a route that looked best on the map, but turned out not to be, and with Lucy and Abi navigating from the back seat, we somehow ended up in the middle of nowhere, on THE bumpiest road I've ever driven on. After getting back to a main road and realising we had spent about an hour going in a massive circle, (and me having a serious sense of humour loss) and then having to follow diversion signs after another road was shut, we finally made it. I was just SO cheesed off at the wasted time!! It would have been quicker to just take Abi all the way home!
Once at the shopping place, we at least managed to get Jack and Harry new trainers, and Harry a Children's World Atlas which he adores (though narrowing down his choice to that book, in 'The Works' was a bit torturous...) By that time we were starving, and I realised I would not have time to start cooking when I got in, because of the Seminar, so I took the kids to Frankie and Benny's for tea. We then got lost on the way home again, but it only took just over an hour this time, though I had not planned on driving right through the the centre of Peterborough (nor on having to pull over right near the Cathedral to let Harry out to do a wee in a bush next to the pavement!) I also had to have Lucy take mobile phone calls for me to sort some stuff out for the evening.
Anyway, we made it home, with 5 minutes to spare for me to get ready before Rebecca Cain came and picked me up for the Disability Seminar. It was really good, and Rebecca and I also had a really good chat (sitting outside our house in her car till about midnight!)

Friday. Scott had the day off, and all I can say is thank goodness, as I had gradually got more and more tired as the week went on, and the kids got more and more boisterous and silly.

Saturday. I took Harry to a swimming party at lunch time, and went in the pool to help out - spent the time dragging a big float loaded up with kids around the pool, so they could go and splash another float full of kids. Very noisy and fun!
In the evening I drove Mick and Jo Waters to Northampton, so we could attend a Worldwide Leadership Training meeting. I really enjoyed it, and got quite a bit of inspiration from it, both for the Young Women's programme and personally. The motorway was shut again on the way home, so we followed the diversion signs this time (I didn't trust that I could replicate the way I went the time before!)

Sunday. On Sunday Scott took the boys to Huntingdon, and Jack gave his first ever Sacrament Meeting talk, on Honesty. I went with Lucy to Northampton again for their Ward Conference. I taught the Young Women lesson. Lucy and I stayed for ages afterwards so that she could hang out with some of her friends. I made myself popular by handing out Jelly Beans to all the youth, which were left over from my visual aid from the lesson.
When we got home we heard the news that Jack has been called to the Deacon Quorum President, at church. I am really happy for him, and felt the 'realness' and responsibility of this for him, if he approaches it in the right way. At the Leadership Training meeting, it was said that our youth should be encouraged to have more responsibility for the people their own age, and I felt deeply that our youth are capable of this, and that it will train them to be great leaders in the future.