summer holidays - happy dayz! x

So the summer holidays are here at last! Yay! It such a good feeling when the kids break up from school, there is such a feeling of anticipation. All those fun-filled summer days stretching ahead, the sunshine, the days out, the laughter and games, the FUN........of course the reality is, that so far the weather has been drizzly, the kids are tired, cantankerous & getting on each other’s nerves, and there is still the shopping, cooking and cleaning to be done. However, it is wonderful to no longer be tied with such inflexible chains to the routine of school and playgroup runs. I no longer leap out of bed shouting “Will you please get dressed and go down for breakfast?.....get your shoes on....clean your teeth....where’s your school bag?....have you read your reading book?....everybody to the door.......NOW!!” I do really love having the kids home for the holidays, they are great fun! Even though I no longer get any ‘child free’ time and even when they get on my nerves – they still manage to make me laugh many times a day and I want the holidays to last as long as possible.

We have started a token reward system, in an attempt to encourage good behaviour and a bit of help around the house – it was beginning to get me down that the kids seemed to leave a trail of toys and bits and pieces behind wherever they go.... moving merrily on to their next task... blissfully oblivious to the trail of devastation left in their wake. So they get one token (made on the computer and laminated – we mean business here!!) for good behaviour, such as getting themselves dressed, tidying up their game after themselves, laying the table for tea, playing nicely together. They can then use the tokens in exchange for treats, such as a sticker, sweets, a lolly, football cards, an ice-cream, being taken swimming, going to the park!! (Please note – tokens will be taken away for bad behaviour, such as hitting or fighting!!) So far, so good! They have tidied up after themselves today, played (relatively) nicely together and helped me out with a few little tasks (such as getting the recycling boxes back in after they’d been emptied) Yesterday, Abbie (in particular) was in it for the instant gratification, each time she has got two tokens she duly came and collected a sweet, paying with her tokens! Today, she seems to be looking ahead a bit more and she is saving up to be taken swimming (15 tokens), although she did ask if her and Millie can put some of their tokens together to make 15 and both getting taken swimming together!! (umm, good thinking!!)

The thing they haven’t worked out yet (phew), is that the activities are things that we would be doing anyway over the summer (like going to the park or going swimming) but still, if I can get a bit of good behaviour and incentive to tidy up after themselves out of this, then I’ll stick with letting them ‘earn’ their treats!! The only problem with this system is I know the novelty will wear off.....maybe by then; they’ll all be so well behaved and so used to tidying up after themselves that we’ll no longer need the tokens! (ha – some chance!)

Hannah asked me today if I could get her ‘the end of the world’ - apparently it’s blue and outside somewhere!! I was wondering what made her say that until I caught myself soothing her after she’d lost her sticker, “Don’t worry Hannah; it’s not the end of the world! We can get another one!” So I realised that I often tell her that things are NOT the end of the world, sometime, I’ll have to get her to show me this blue thing outside that is the end of the world!!

Millie ..........

Well I can’t believe, a whole year has passed,
Since you started school, it’s just gone so fast,
That day you walked off, looking so small,
All smart in your uniform, ready for school.

At Harvest Festival, in church you stood,
Joining in with the songs, as best as you could,
The Nativity Play, now there’s a delight,
How cute you all looked, not a dry eye in sight,
(beautiful angels, all dressed in white!)

I came into school, to see craft that you’d made,
I could take it all home, after I’d paid!
You all sang some songs, entertained us all,
Standing so smartly, in that big hall.

You brought home reading books, shared them with me,
You’d sit down and read them, after your tea,
You learnt all your sounds and to read words and spell,
To count and add numbers and write sentences well.

I watched your assembly; you were all very good,
You’d all learnt your lines, and spoke when you should,
I was so proud of you; my throat had a lump,
My little girl, up there at the front!


We have many a painting, stuck on the wall,
Plants & junk models, you’ve brought home from school,
They all remind us, of the effort and fun,
And all the hard work and learning you’ve done.

You’ve learnt to turn cartwheels, the best that I’ve seen,
Sometimes I call you, my ‘Cartwheeling Queen’!
Your Grandparents came in, to join you for dinner,
You earned lots of Green Cards, once you were the winner!


You’ve joined in sports and non uniform days,
You’ve matured and grown up, in so many ways,
I’ll watch you at sports day, as you join in the races,
I’ll be there cheering, amongst all the faces!

You’ve had a class disco, made many a friend,
I look back with fondness, as it comes to an end,
You’ve learnt such a lot; I hope you’ve had fun,
May your success continue, as you start Year One.



Love from Mummy xxxx
(Sue Shaw – June 2010)

it's been a while........

Well I am aware that I haven’t really been keeping up with my blog lately. I guess it gets to a point where I’ve said a lot of the things I wanted to say, I’ve covered the shopping nightmares, the school run, the camping trips. And as any of you who have read my past posts will know, my life is an endless cycle of cleaning, tidying, cooking, washing, shopping, school runs, so after a while it’s all just going round again & I have nothing new or exciting to tell you. H & G have also gone down to only two mornings at playgroup this term instead of three (my own fault, should have booked more earlier – I borrowed someone else’s places before Easter, but playgroup had children starting after Easter that had already got the places) so the upshot is, I have even less child free time into which I need to cram a million things & getting round to writing often gets bumped off the bottom of the list.

Well, we have just about recovered from an accident and illness filled weekend. It all started on Friday night with a barn dance at school. It was quite amusing watching all the kids (mainly instigated by Abbie) doing their hair and putting on their make-up (they may need some tips with that in the future...I’m not sure quite what look they were trying to create with the thick blue lines under their eyes ...well top of their cheeks and across their eyelids– it was an interesting look) I was getting flashes of the future and four teenagers getting ready for a night on the town – gulp!!

At the barn dance Georgia fell and jarred her arm. When, in the morning, she still wouldn’t use it, I took her to A&E to get it checked (before anyone says anything – I am WELL aware of the number of times we have needed to go to A&E, please stop counting!!) Well it turns out that she had a mild dislocation of her elbow. They popped it back into place & she was as good as new!! Apparently, it’s an injury that is common in children under the age of 4, but that didn’t help me to feel any better about the fact that it was my hand she was holding when she fell over and did it – note to self – next time she falls – LET GO! Don’t try to hang onto her!

Then the sickness started. Millie was sick first on Saturday morning, then Hannah on Saturday lunch time, Rob by Saturday afternoon, me Saturday night & Abbie on Sunday. So we spent the weekend lying on sofa, holding buckets, feeling sorry for ourselves, in various stages of the dreaded bug! Georgia was the only one who didn’t get sick, but then she had done the whole elbow thing, so it wasn’t as though she got off scot free!!

Before I go, I must just share with you my dizzy mother moment from the day!! Having been to Tesco to do the shopping, I pulled up on the drive, only to realise that all the shopping was still in the trolley, at Tesco, next to the car parking space that I’d been in. My heart sank, as I imagined trying to explain to Rob how I had manage to lose £75 worth of shopping! In my defence, as we reached the car, Hannah had fallen over and was requiring a great deal of care and attention and Georgia was having one of those sort of tantrums where you have to wrestle the child into their seat – but still....to drive away and leave a trolley full of shopping...the very stuff you went to Tesco for...DUH!! Thankfully, some kind person had taken it back into the store and we were able to rush back up to Tesco & collect the prize for being a total airhead!! xx

Life Before Kids

So do any of you miss L.B.K? (Life Before Kids) And more to the point, is it okay to dream wistfully of days gone by, of freedom and spontaneity, of relaxing, hassle free weekends? Or does that, in some way, make it seem as though I am not appreciating how lucky I am or what a wonderful family I have? Because, believe me, I know that Rob and the kids are the best things that have ever happened to me and I know that I am very lucky to have them all. But still, the drudgery of the everyday reality of life with a young family can be somewhat draining, the constant cleaning, meals, washing up, school runs, dressing kids, shopping, putting kids shoes on........ Maybe it’s because Hannah & Georgia have started playgroup, so I now get small tantalising snatches of being me again, not just someone’s Mummy! I am beginning to remember how hassle free a trip to town for the shopping can be, no whingeing, no crying, no moaning! On the down side, also no buggy to put the shopping on to get it home! I had forgotten that it was possible to sit down for ten minutes and enjoy a cup tea (now, I’m talking about the WHOLE cup here, not just a couple of slurps before leaving it to go cold, while you go off to sort the next child related issue!) I actually get the chance to go for a swim or a run. Finally, a bit of me time!!

Rob took a day off last week, while the girls were at school and playgroup, maybe that is what has got me wistfully reminiscing about days gone by? We went for a long walk in the sunshine, followed by a drink in the pub, sitting in the window watching the world go by. It was lovely. (We actually managed some adult conversation too! the great thing is, we still had things to talk about, things that didn’t involve who was going to take the kids to swimming lessons or relaying information about what the kids have been up to) It got me thinking about all the things we used to do, the long walks, the lazy lunches in the pub, weekends away, holidays, long bike rides. I know that we could still go to the pub now, with all the kids, and we have tried a few times, but the hassle just stresses Rob out, and I tend to spend most of the time taking kids to and from the toilet, so we’ve given up on that one for a while... As they get older I know it will get easier to have walks or take them on weekends away or go for pub lunches, but for now I guess I’ll just have to dream & make the most of my few hours a week!!

Illness and injury

Why is it that having kids is such a constant worry? There always seems to be one of them to worry about!! Last week Millie fell over in the bedroom (she was playing a chasing game with Georgia) She banged her head on Abbie’s wooden footstool. She got a nice little ‘egg’ on the side of her head, so we put some ice on it and kept an eye on her. The next day she seemed fine and went off to school. At about 3pm I had a call from the school to say that Millie had been sick. (Poor little Mil, when I got to the school, she was sat there, on her own, in the medical room, clutching a little bag of sick on her lap, with a bit of sick on her jumper, looking all worried and poorly). When I got her home I phoned NHS direct for advice, as, even though there was a sick bug going round her school, I was concerned that her sickness may be linked to the bang to the head. They advised that I should take her to A&E to get her checked out and so began our hospital trip! Rob came home to take over with the other three, while Millie & I set on our way, her with bucket on lap! Having stopped twice on the way to sort out the sick, we finally made it. We got in and checked in, I heard the lady tell the person in front that the waiting time was over an hour and we settled in for the wait. Five minutes later we were called through, a child being sick after a head injury is obviously high priority! They thoroughly checked her over and kept up in for a few hours under observation. As she had stopped being sick and she had no other symptoms, they decided about 9pm that we could go home, but I was to take her straight back if anything changed. We made it home, she was sick once more, but I think the motion of the car didn’t help. We put her to bed, and breathed a sigh of relief......however that was relatively short lived, as she woke at 12.15 am screaming in agony and clutching her head saying that it hurt. No amount of comfort would calm her down, so in a mild state of panic, we got our neighbour out of bed to sit with the others, gave her some Calpol and bundled her into the car to take her back to the hospital. It was an awful journey; Millie was sobbing with pain and holding her head saying “Make it stop Mummy!” By the time we got there, the Calpol had kicked in and she had calmed down. So they checked her over again and sent us back home...phew! In answer to those of you who think that our visits to the hospital are a bit too frequent, just remember, there are four of them!!! That was Millie’s first trip to the hospital and she is over five years old, so that’s not too bad is it? Admittedly, we have also had to take Georgia (broken arm) and Hannah (cut above her eye) within the last year, but those trips were actually in a different county, so surely that doesn’t count does it?

Now Georgia is poorly with a high temperature and Millie has been poorly with a bad throat and high temperature, it just seems that just as one gets over something, the next one gets it! So we’ve just been through a couple of those nights where they all wake up, one after the other, and just as you get one settled back into their own bed and are just managing to drop back to sleep yourself, the next little feet can be heard padding into your bedroom.....and so it goes on! Here’s hoping that all are back to full health very soon xx

Hair-cut creations!

So on Sunday afternoon Abbie decides to try her hand at a bit of hairdressing. It was prompted by Georgia saying that her hair was getting in her eyes and something about PC Plum (on CBeebies) going to the hairdressers! (thanx CBebbies – you don’t know what trouble you’ve caused!!) I didn’t see the finished results (or indeed realise that it was even going on upstairs!) until Abbie came down with her hair about five inches shorter than it had been! Actually, that’s not strictly true, the front bits, that she could reach, were shorter, but the back was still the same length! Apparently, she didn’t even take the bobble out of Georgia’s hair for her turn, she just held the pony-tail out and cut the end of it off, which makes for quite an interesting style when you come to take the bobble out. Hannah ended up with an incredibly short fringe, apart from the long bit in the middle of course! It looked a bit like Kevin Keegan in the eighties, with her long curls down the back, and shorter on top. Millie, not to be outdone, decided to go for a bit of hair hacking too. Some parts of hers now are about a centimetre long, but in other places it’s still as long as it was! A very interesting look! I then discover that the ‘hairdressing salon’ was actually in the spare room, so on the floor there was a carpet of hair and on the sofa there were piles of hair stuck to the throw! Great! I’ve vacuumed as much as I can, but I am still going to be coming across hair for weeks! I kept very calm about the whole thing! They did look funny! I just kept reminding myself that there are worse things happening in the world than a bit of hacked hair – it’ll grow back. When I was telling people what had happened it turns out that most people have got a hair cutting incident to share, either themselves as children (usually the night before the school photo!) or their kids! So it would seem that a bit of self-styling is part of the growing up process! Last night I took then all to a hairdresser and got her to salvage what she could out of the situation! At least its winter and they can all wear hats!! Of course, if I was going to share my own hair-cut incident from my childhood...it would have to be the time I got chewing gum stuck in my hair and had to have it all cut out!!.... I seem to remember being banned from having gum after that......!!

Buggies, prams and bad weather!

I love the snow – I love the way it looks when everything is covered in white, I love playing out in it and sledging with the kids, before coming into hot chocolate. However, I have had enough now of the icy pavement. Trying to push Hannah & Georgia in the double buggy today was a NIGHTMARE!! A couple of weeks ago I had to resort to getting the large pram back out the shed. When I tried to let them walk, they slipped over on the icy paths and it inevitably always ended up with BOTH of them wanting me to carry them, which is virtually impossible at the best of times, but throw in a couple of school bags and reading folders and there is NO CHANCE! (and Millie wanting to hold my hand because she too is slipping). I tried the little buggy with the board on, but every school and playgroup run, Hannah & Georgia were crying about how cold they were and how their hands & feet hurt. I tried the umbrella fold, forward facing, double buggy, but it was impossible to push in the snow & ice with two three year olds in it!! So I decided to get the large, backwards facing, nice big bouncy wheels, easy to push, pram out of the shed, why struggle when it’s just sitting there? (yes I know we have a whole array of prams and buggies, single buggy & board from Abbie & Millie days, double folding buggy for the car, big pram from when they were little). My first challenge was to put the dam thing back together again, Rob (in his wisdom) had taken it apart ready for us to wash & sell it. But determined not to let the task defeat me, I duly set about the job of re-assembling the pram, a number of choice swear words later, I have a pram which looks generally the way it should – a triumph!! (until a screw drops off on the way to school and I have to get Rob to sort it out when he gets home – humph!) Anyway, for a short while my journeys in the snow get a bit easier, I wrap Hannah & Georgia up in a blanket when we go out, they face backwards, which is a help & I even resort to giving them a hot-water bottle each, in an effort to stop the crying and whinging about how cold they are! Then this morning – THE RAIN! The ice is still there on the pavements and now there is cold, icy, heavy rain thrown in for good measure. The big double pram doesn’t have a rain cover, so I am forced to get the folding, impossible to push double buggy from the car, as it has a full rain cover. I put it up in the porch and start loading the girls, once Hannah & Georgia are in, I start sorting the other two, boots on, coats, umbrellas and by the time I get back I find that Georgia has now climbed back out the buggy again – arghhh! It’s safe to say, this morning’s school run was fraught with stress!! I get Georgia back in and we get underway, only to find that the buggy is seriously IMPOSSIBLE to push on the icy pavements, the whole thing slides off the path on numerous occasions, and most of the way I am pushing (sliding) the buggy sideways on up the path as it refuses point blank to go forwards. On the plus side, the muscles in my arms are now aching and I feel as though the whole buggy pushing fiasco gave me a bit of a work out!!