Holiday time

Hmm, not too good at this bloggin lark am I..

This week we've been on holiday, it has been fantastic to be able to spend some real quality time with the boys without having to put other children first.  I really do love my job, but as with all jobs it's nice to take a break.

We've been to the cinema a lot this week.  On Saturday we went to see Inception, courtesy of some free tickets kindly donated by a friend, Sunday we went and took the dog for a walk by the river in Sidmouth but I ended up getting shouted at by some bizarre woman and it kind of took the 'nice' edge off the day.  Monday we went to see Eclipse - wow what a great film!  No idea what everybody sees in 'Edward Cullen', 'Jacob' would have been my choice!  lol!  Tuesday we went down to Sidmouth for the folk festival but it was very busy and I hated it.  On Wednesday we were supposed to be going to Crealy but pouring rain made it necessary to change plans and we ended up at the cinema again to see the new Karate Kid film (one free ticket courtesy of Orange 241), another fantastic film which had the effect of making both Jack and Max talk animatedly about it all the way home!.  Thursday was a day spent catching up with family, long overdue, and getting our pup a new (and huge) crate.   Friday I actually stopped procrastinating and made myself get on with sorting out our front garden!  It looks so much nicer now and was well worth the energy it took to do (we wont mention my aching muscles, lol!).

It turned out to be a very full week and whilst our trip to try out the new rides at Crealy had to be moved to another day it all actually fell together quite nicely in the end.  With regard to the cinema, if you're ever at The Vue and they ask if you want to upgrade to VIP seating I can categorically state that it's well worth the extra £1.40 a ticket to have the comfy chairs!  (But stay well away from the bags of sweets, they also have a £1.40 or more mark up!)

Today Jack is off to River Cottage HQ for the day and Max and I, well I'm not quite sure what we'll be doing yet.  I think it will be a go with the flow kind of day...

A Bit of a Scare!

A bit of a scare is what I had yesterday...

I've had a bit of a cold, nothing serious, just an annoying muggy head cold with an aggravating dry cough.  I've had loads of colds before so didn't think a lot of it until yesterday when it began to be a bit harder than normal to breathe (I have asthma) and I kept having coughing fits.  Not good.  Throughout the day it got a little bit worse and a little bit worse and my reliever meds weren't doing anything to help.  Eventually I got myself to hospital and had a little go on the nebuliser which sorted me out.  I've had asthma since I was eleven and have never needed to go to hospital for it so was pretty scared, especially when we got behind somebody pottering on at about 30 along a narrow country lane with no passing...

The doc gave me a different preventer and things are a lot better today I'm happy to say, still not right but normal(ish) for an asthmatic with a cold.  I'm kind of glad we've got that out of the way now because I always wondered how the boys would cope if I had to go in and now I know that they will be fine.  I also know I have a lot of people who care for me by the amount of offers of help I received and the help I got which was not offered, just done.  I'm a lucky lady :)

Today I had to take the day off work as there's no way I could easily relocate 5 children to their parents if I needed to go back in (which they said I may have to).  I've been made to rest by my friend and neighbour but am not good at just sitting there so have been pottering in the garden in between resting.  Sam has barely left my side all day and keeps battering me with his cold wet nose.

Meanwhile, one of the parents I mind for has taken Jack off for the day and given him some experience in motor mechanics which he loved.  They've been busy doing something or other to brakes and callipers or something - I'm not mechanically minded as you'll have noted...  The parent has very kindly offered to give Jack some more 'lessons' in motor mechanics which I think Jack will jump on.  It's funny but I never realised they miss out on this sort of thing having their dad so far away, in many ways I'm sure it doesn't matter but in others ... well it allows him to be a boy and use tools and get oily and stuff...

Barely Connected!

Hmm already slacking on the blogging front, however I do have a really good excuse - my internet conked out!  Or rather my internet keeps conking out and going back on again or maybe not as it feels like it at any particular time...  My new router arrived from BT on Thursday but I haven't had time to put it on yet so fingers crossed...

In other news...

Tesco vouchers, we are finally getting a few more after a very shaky start, not enough to get anything good but hey at least we tried!  Only a week or so left of them being given out now so we shall see how many we get altogether, hopefully enough to get something nice for the munchkins to pay with.

The boys went to an art exhibition in the week.  I'd like to see them trying to reproduce some of the art they've seen but usually get whined at if I ask for them to do stuff like that so we'll see...  They took a few pics of the stuff so when I upload them I'll see if anything is suitable for the blog.  There was also a park there and they spent a very happy few hours on a brilliant zip line.  So, PT and art both covered in a day of having fun.

Our Rex rabbit (Ruby) had babies last week too (on the 27th for future reference) , they looked like tiny naked mice when they were born, very cute!  I cannot believe how quickly they grow though, they must have doubled in size already!  Its going to be so hard to let them go when they're old enough but we already have tons of rabbits so I cannot keep any more!

With the forthcoming election the candidates and their supporters are out in force and on a recent trip to Sidmouth we were accosted on more than one occasion by people trying to thrust leaflets into our hands resulting in Jack,Max and I having a discussion about politics and elections.  One such person was the local candidate for the Green Party.   A few days ago I read something about the GP and what they want to do with  regards to monitoring home educators so I made the most of a perfect opportunity and asked her why the GP want to regulate HEors more than they already do.  Her answers were pretty much the same as the ones from the bill which has just been amended, everything she answered I had a counter argument for but as per usual for people who think they have all the answers she had a counter argument for my counter arguments, lol!  Anyway, just after we saw her the boys and I went to have lunch and lunch time conversation turned to politics.  I asked the boys if they would vote for her based on her answers to our questions.  Jack said no and Max said yes (definitely not sheep then, lol!).  I asked Jack why not and he replied:

"Because she didn't answer a single one of your questions mum, she just cleverly changed the subject every time or turned it back onto you"

You know what?  He was dead right!

I have a tiny baby coming in soon so needed a proper pram, (ok so I have the bugaboo but I'm a bit of a pramaholic and any excuse etc, lol!)  I was lucky enough to win a really nice silver cross pram on ebay so yesterday the boys and I all jumped on the bus buses to go to Newton Abbot to pick it up.  It took hours to get there but only cost £14.50 making the £400 pram a bargain for only £60 + bus fares.  I love ebay! (although readily admit to having been stitched up more than once by unscrupulous gits on there!).  We decided to make a day of it and has a days shopping in Newton Abbot and Exeter.  I spent far too much money but came home with 2 very happy kids and a lot of new things for me!  I'm not really a materialistic sort of a girl but now and then it's nice to get a treat or two!  My latest 'toy' is a DSi.  I'd sold mine to Max when he wanted a DS but sort of missed it so when I saw them cheaper than normal in WHS yesterday jumped at the chance to get a new one.  I'm already enjoying the photo editor on there!

I also finally bough Just Dance! for the Wii.  Been meaning to get it for ages but always forget when we're out in shopping areas as the noise and rush of people drives me batty!  Jack, Max and I played it for a while last night and it is so funny! Goodness knows what anybody would have thought who looked through the window though!  I think it will be good exercise too because I was exhausted after half an hour or so!

The boys music lessons went well this week.  I don't know how he does it but Jack played guitar beautifully even though he hasn't practised for more than half an hour all week!  Max is really getting on well with the keyboards too, I'm thinking about buying a digital piano as I have been told it's a pain to relearn the reach if you learn on a smaller scale instrument.  Luckily our music teacher has a friend who is selling one...

Back to normal...

Well the schools went back today which meant I had to be on my toes this morning and up and out of bed at stupid o'clock to start work at 7.30.

Got back from the school run to find the boys had got all their books etc out and were sitting nicely working away.  This is rare and I was so pleased with them. They're currently using the Galore Park books for KS3 which seem to work very well for them - thank goodness you can also buy answer books which mean they do very well for me too, lol!

I had a friend pop over during the morning so had some adult company for an hour whilst the munchkins had little friends for company, always a good combination.  Not so good for the boys having to work with 5 little munchkins making a racket but they coped and survived so all is well.  I keep reminding myself it would be far worse in a class full of teenagers...

I went to a toddler group in the afternoon and came home to find the boys had a quick tidy up for me!  No idea what's going on here but I like it!  I'm seriously thinking about employing a cleaner as its so hard to find time to do everything but it means I will be working just to pay her (or him) which seems a bit futile.  Maybe I will try a bit harder to do more in the evenings instead of collapsing in a heap in front of a heap of paperwork.

Spent the early art of the evening worrying myself sick as the area near where my oldest son lives is on fire (very badly, needing 16 fire crews) and I couldn't get hold of him on the phone.  No matter how old they are you never seem to stop worrying about them!  So relieved to finally talk with him and find he was ok and well away from the fire...

Just got to feed/water the rabbits now and then it's movie time.  We're finally catching up with the world and watching New Moon tonight.

Ah yes I must get the courgette seedlings in too...