Well thank goodness we are going on holiday tomorrow (and no, I haven't quite finished, well started, the packing yet...) The first week of the summer holidays has seen me turn into the evil nagging shrew woman, who doesn't like kids much (or any noise/mess they make, at least). I always find this first week the hardest, and combined with PMT I didn't feel great. I don't think the kids had too bad a time though. The car broke down so we didn't really go anywhere much (luckily we've still got 2 people carriers so it doesn't mess up our holiday plans too much), but they camped out and have done some lovely art work, and Lucy had a baking day. Harry liked the courgette/marrows we picked on Friday (now grated and frozen ready for making Courgette Loaf), and he loved the millions of butterflies in the garden at the moment.
One thing I have really enjoyed this week is watching 1920's based 'The House of Elliot' on DVD each evening with Lucy! We love it!! I remember watching it on TV every week years ago, and I decided to buy it on ebay the other day.
This evening we went to the house of one of Tom's school friends for a BBQ. It was really nice and I needn't have worried about us mixing in with lots of new people. Scott met someone who works at his college and there was plenty to talk about with everyone. It does make me realise just how much social stuff we get to have as church members though, that we take as a given! I feel very lucky to have all the church member and non-member friends that we do - I feel surrounded by a very nice bunch of people. We decided to go home when Tom got a nose bleed and Harry had a little wee accident in his pants...
I really am going to go and do some packing now. Be back in a few weeks!

Guess what - I actually did some DIY on the house!! So much fun fillering (There should be a special font you use for sarcasm). Our house is pretty much made of filler...

A good activity for the kids - we froze all kinds of objects in water, in an icecream tub. We did a few different layers so they didn't all sink to the bottom - things like stones, pennies, small plastic toys, string etc. Then they spend ages hacking them out! I got the idea from this blog Lets Explore - it has lots of good ideas for kids.Took this picture a few days ago - Scott trying to escape from the trampoline, with lots of little people trying to stop him!And finally, why can't my kids keep still when they sleep? - this is what they look like by the time we tuck them in when we go to bed. (Unless Harry has fallen out of bed and is asleep behind the door) Do everyone else's children do this?

First day of the Holidays

Well we've drawn up our calendar for the holidays and made a list of all the things we'd like to do. Yesterday was a nice pottering round day. Jack drew up a plan of the kitchen so we can cross off when we have cleaned out each cupboard (I want the whole place sparkling by the time we go away) Lucy, Harry and I decided to dig up the potatoes and then I thinned out the beetroot a bit. Mum gave me instructions on how to cook them in the pressure cooker (she got me one a few weeks ago from her Charity shop!) Mum's not very well. She and Dad both have Swine flu-like symptoms. Dad's in France though and has been there a couple of weeks, so they've got it from different places - Mum probably got it from Dan who's been ill too :( I have finally put up a clothes line at this house (the retractable one from Lakeland), and got loads of washing dry yesterday. I was very extravagant and got the nice coloured posh pegs!
Here is my lovely peg bag from Laura Ashley... (It will match my kitchen perfectly if I ever get round to finishing it)

Also yesterday we went on the RAF base to have dinner and Family Home Evening with the Bleakleys. The lesson by Abigail was very good - a treasure hunt/scripture chase thingy, which ended up with all 14 of us (10 kids!) in the Celestial Kingdom (AKA Tim and Holly's bedroom) - getting our reward of sweets. Sam (age 6) said the closing prayer and in it said thank you for the 'sweeties' which Harry interrupted to tell him it should be 'sweets'. Harry now thinks he's too grown up to say Sweeties and is correcting anyone who says it...

The activity was helping the Bleakleys pack and get their car roof box on - they are going to Cornwall on holiday this morning! It was a lot of fun anyway and we didn't get home till about 10.30pm.

Last Day of School

What a day...
Got the kids off to school along with presents for their teachers. Harry and I then went to Lucy and Jack's school for Lucy's Leavers' Assembly. A pretty good storm started up, but everything was all going nicely, till Harry needed a drink, and we crept out to go to a water fountain. We looked in one of the classrooms and saw water pouring through it like the tide coming in. We told one of the staff, but they were busy with other floods that were coming in all over the school. The assembly carried on - the House that Lucy is House Captain over won the most house points for the year, so she went up to get the trophy for that, and then she was also awarded with a certificate for being 'a wonderful and committed young leader' - she and her friend have been acting as young leaders with kids down at the infant school for a couple of years. The assembly had to end pretty soon after that though as all the teachers had gone out to rescue stuff from their classrooms. The headmistress told everyone the school had to be shut and the power turned off. Some of the kids were crying and it was a bit chaotic! The storm was really loud too - ridiculously heavy rain and lots of thunder and lightening. I got Lucy and Jack, and we had to go straight to the Clinic for Harry's eye test. I thought it was a shame that the year 6 kids didn't get to get signatures in their yearbooks etc, but the kids didn't seem worried - Lucy said it was the best day of her life!!

Harry was worried about the thunder, but we walked to the clinic, and went in for Harry's appointment. It was awful - Harry was totally unco-operative and wouldn't even face the doctor - he kept struggling with me and I've now got a really painful shoulder - pulled something in it. Anyway, after me taking him out the room 2 times to talk to/threaten/bribe him, and him still not being tested, we gave up on it and were chatting about testing him again in the future, when Harry suddenly warmed up and got talkative and then did the whole test... His vision is perfect anyway...

Went into town after that and got Lucy's secondary school uniform. Over £80 and that doesn't include coat, footwear, trouser, skirt etc!! We also picked up triple of Tom's prescription to keep us going over the summer - looks more like it will keep us going for the next 3 years - 6 enormous bottles!

My visiting teaching appointment for the afternoon got cancelled, so a bit of rest (though I remembered I hadn't made my 'Handmade Cards' donation for the Ward Activity auction tomorrow, and got them sorted out)

Picking Tom up from school, the torrential rain started again (and loads of lightening and thunder again) - it was crazy! We were soaked through in seconds - the umbrella totally broke (the whole stick bit fell off) and Tom had no coat.
Didn't really say goodbye to anyone for the summer.

We got home anyway and a few minutes later I noticed water was flooding into the porch through one of the walls, so spent quite a while mopping up and hoping it would stop raining soon so more water would stop pouring in. It eventually did, and I think the porch will dry out OK. I just finished that, then Ethan our nephew arrived - I'm babysitting him for the evening so Shane and Dawn can go and see Harry Potter. I made a quick dinner (thank goodness for previously made & frozen chilli) ready for Scott to eat when he got in - he and Jack have gone to the cinema now as well to see Harry Potter. Lucy and I are going tomorrow night after the Ward Activity. We got the tickets with Tesco vouchers - it works out quite a good deal.

I am looking forwards to a quiet evening anyway.

Lucy and Jack's School Play

Harry and I have been to see Lucy and Jack's school play this afternoon - Lucy was an Announcer, and Jack was the fat 'Friar Swill' - it was really funny, and they were both good in it! These are the only semi-decent photos - Harry had the camera most of the time to keep him amused - he took about 40 pictures of the above bench, my chin, the audience etc...

Tom's Sports Day & Our veggies so far

It was Tom's Sports Day this afternoon - all the kids do 2 races, and Tom's were the Bean Bag and Running races. He came somewhere in the middle for both of them, and seemed to be quite enjoying himself. I spent most the time reading to about 6 little kids - the on-site creche!

Rubbish photos, but you get the idea... I know you are also obviously very keen to know how my first year of veggie growing is going (!) so here are some piccies of them:

London Temple

We took the kids down to the Temple today, and Scott and I took it in turns to do a session. Scott took the kids to Gatwick to watch the planes, and I stayed in the grounds with some activities to do. For some reason I hadn't considered it might rain (which it did), but the kids and I made a nice little area under the trees which kept us dry. Tom drew a picture of the Temple, the boys followed some poor duck around, and watched the giant fish, Lucy read and we took loads of pictures of each other. All the normal Temple photos you usually take, but I do like them - especially the new blog header one, and the flowers were gorgeous. (There aren't many of Jack because he was pulling daft faces in all of them).

Tom has been asking to go to the Temple for ages so he could get his first proper scriptures. We've done that when the kids are eight before, but Tom is very keen. He picked out blue ones. Harry went a bit manic in the Distribution Centre and wanted everything. We said he could not have scriptures yet due to lack of reading ability (except for 'H'), but he's happy now because Tom's given him his old Book of Mormon. He came away with a CTR ring, and posters of Noah's Ark and Christ at the 2nd coming. Tom got one of Joseph Smith, and Jack got a journal.

It was pretty successful doing the swap over and looking after the kids, so I think we'll go more often now on a Saturday.

Katy and Dan's baby has a name!!!

Hurray! At last, Katy and Dan have named their baby... Amy Florence Gosling. Short and sweet. (Like her!)

P.S.

This stuff works!! I got some from Lakeland, and yesterday I sprayed it round the patio windows, where there are some black mildewy bits in the cracks and down at the bottom, and they all totally vanished!! I am almost keen to get on with the other windows, and get them whiter than white too!

I like Fridays - they are normally nice and quiet. Harry and I have pottered round the garden (admiring our vegetables...), made a card for Adam to thank him for all his videos since his video player broke, and Harry is listening to story tapes now (I love his little ear sticking out). We are going to go to the Temple tomorrow, so we'll make some cakes later on, to take with us, and then do my main job for today - clean the bathroom! What an exciting life!

Other things - Ethan is better now - didn't find out if it was swine flu or not, though there is a case in our kids' school now.

Tom got a brilliant school report, which says he is especially gifted at Maths. I know. I'm always asking him to work things out for me when I can't be bothered!

We managed to make a flood on Tuesday - Tom was filling the sink, with a flannel in that blocked the overflow, so we had a swimming pool in the bathroom (Tom had gone back in his bedroom), and a nice waterfall down the living room walls! I was supposed to be helping at playgroup that morning, but popped back home to finish clearing up. It all seems to have dried up OK now.

Lucy and Jack are working hard on their school play which is next week. They have about 6 roles between them - I have lost track, and they keep singing bits of strange songs.

I was a 'lady wot lunches' yesterday, and met up with my book club ladies and we read peotry in Harriet's garden. It was very civilised and nice! (Apart from when Harry dropped their guinea pig from about 3 foot up - thankfully it's OK)

Scott said he was a 'bloke wot lunches' yesterday too. He went to Frankie and Benny's with Richard from work.

And all my ironing is done!!!

Today

Quite a few things today...
Tom missed school and we went for his appointment at the hospital to see about his tummy problems over the last few months. We had a great doctor (who discovered just how ticklish Tom really is!), and he sent Tom for his first ever X-ray. It turns out there's a problem with his bowels, which some medicine will start to help. We're all really happy that we know what's going on now anyway. Harry and Tom were great hanging around the hospital so long.
Lucy found out her SATs results today - she got all level 5's, which was the highest she could get in her tests, so well done Lucy!
Nanny and Grandad Page came for a visit at tea-time, and bought fish and chips too which was lovely! Lucy and I had to rush off though to go swimming with Guides. Talk about exhausted... (as if only 4 hours sleep last night wasn't bad enough...) synchronised (well - not very) swimming, piggy back races, handstands, diving etc... I really enjoyed it.
Lucy had a meeting at her new secondary school last week, and found out who will be in her class in September. A few of the girls from guides will be in her class, and it was nice seeing them getting on well tonight.
Also this evening, Shane said that Ethan (our nephew) might have Swine flu - they are waiting for confirmation. Hopefully he is not going to be too poorly. I think there have been 4 cases in their village. It's a bit scary, fingers crossed.