Newbury Show and back to pre-school!

Emily started back at preschool 2 weeks ago and is loving every minute. She gets quite upset on the days she doesn't go and asks when she can go all the time! She is now doing a wednesday morning, friday morning and all day tuesday. She stays for lunch with her Dora the Explorer lunch box and then in the afternoon they have been going out for walks and getting really muddy. Every time I collect her on a tuesday she is in her spare clothes as they have been jumping in puddles!

The theme at pre-school this term is fairy tales and Emily shocked all the teachers by reciting the exact story of Goldilocks. We do not read this story much at home - we have it but only read it about once a month and she was almost word perfect, the teachers said she was brilliant! They have flagged her up as a "bit special" in that she is more advanced than all the other children of her age. They make notes on it and pass the notes onto the school but they think she is much wiser than her 3 1/2 years!! Unfortunately Emily is signed up to Great Shefford school for next September but we have just heard a friend of ours has pulled their child out as it is not up to standard, so I am going to go and have a proper look around it then suss out the other schools in the area if needs be. It will be a real pain if she can't go to the local school as it is easy to get to - any other school will be a 20 minute round trip twice a day but it would be worth it if she is getting the best education.

We went to the Royal Berkshire County Show on saturday. The weather was amazing and Wayne was in a golf championship so I packed up the kids and a picnic and off we went. I have been a couple of times and we took Emily 2 years ago but she was only small then. We saw sheep, pigs, cows, horses, ducks, chickens and loads of other animals like Llamas and Hawks! We looked round all the stalls, there were crafts, food, clothes all sorts! We had our picnic and Emily had an ice cream then Emily went on a few fairground rides that were there and then I took my sleepy children home! The weather has been great this weekend so we have been in the garden a lot, unfortunately I am suffering with a terrible cold, possibly bought on by a very very long but brilliant day at Alton Towers last sunday!!

Long time no see!

It has been a very very long time since I have posted anything on here so I will try to be better organised from now on! We have had a really busy summer with trips to the zoo, days out, seeing friends and finally a camping trip! Our first ever camping experience as a family! We have a huge tent which Wayne and I managed to set up in just under an hour! We went to the south coast between Swanage and Weymouth and the weather was fantastic. We were so lucky. We set the children up in their own "pods" in the tent, both on blow up beds and crossed our fingers that they would sleep ok. Emily messed around a bit but they were both sound asleep by 9pm every night and then woke around 7am the next day - perfect! We went to the beach every day, Swanage, Weymouth and Bournemouth. We went to Monkey World, Portland Bill and had a BBQ. We also realised that we were missing a few vital bits of camping equipment like a table and realised that if we intended to cook a full breakfast or anything more complex than a pot noodle we would need more than a small gas burner!

We stopped at the Bournemouth Air show on the way home and spent a scorching afternoon on the beach watching the Red Arrows and various other planes pass over us. We had a paddle in the sea and both children were completely freaked out when the new plane the "Vulcan" took a very noisy pass over our heads! We also spotted the site for the Olympics 2012 sailing venues in Weymouth.

On a educational note Tom can now say about 10 words and Emily can write her name, Tom's name and mummy and daddy! She can also tell you what letter most things start with and says "T" is for table and "curly c" is for car!!

Birthday boy, sports day and funfairs!

Tom turned 1 last sunday and celebrated by learning to walk properly. He now walks more than crawling and is getting more confident by the day. He had a great birthday, we bought him a garage and train set and he got loads of ace presents like a ride on digger and loads of trucks and cars and proper boys toys! We had a quiet morning with my dad and then Wayne's family came over for a chaotic afternoon although most people prefered to watch the cricket!!

Emily had her last day of term at pre-school on friday and the Sports Day, she did really well and ran, jumped, carried and hopped her way through the races and enjoyed celebrating with her team mates. I participated in the parents races and did really well despite carrying Tom for half of it! Alot of Emily's friends have left for big school now so she will have a bit of a shock when she returns in september and they are not there. She will progress to 3 mornings in September which will be better for her as there is not such a gap between mornings then as she will be doing Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I went to my first Pre-school Committee meeting on Wednesday night and seem to have come back as the new Chairperson!! I have been nominated and will be voted in at the AGM in September. I will be in charge of the committee and organising fundraising, pre-school funding, trips etc etc. I am really excited about it and I think it will be a lot of work but the committee is great so I should have a lot of support - and if we don't do it all then there wouldn't be such a great pre-school.

We went to Hungerford last night to watch the fun run, carnival and go to the funfair. We watched the fun run as our cousins/godchildren were in it. Issie is 11 and finished 2nd and Harry is 8 and came 5th! I might take part next year with Emily but it was a mile long and probably a bit too far for her this year. We then watched the carnival and went up to the funfair which was good. We finally got home at 9.45pm!! Tom fell asleep on the way home and Emily went straight to sleep within minutes of climbing into bed. They were shattered but then it was about 3 hours later than they usually are up! This morning the slept until 8 so not too bad but I think we are in for a long day!

Finally Emily had 7 inches chopped off her hair on thursday. Her and Finn went to the hairdressers and Finn had his hair cut first then it was Emily's turn. She was great (mostly because she could stare at herself in the mirror for 20 minutes!!) it is a short neat bob and looks fantastic, it looks really healthy and tidy so I am really pleased. We decided to trim Tom's but he wouldn't sit still so ended up with a grade 4 all over - so he looks a bit bald now - never mind it will grow back soon!!

(No pictures at the moment as I seem to be having trouble uploading - there are photos on Facebook though)

Busy busy....

I have been completely rubbish and not updated the blog for ages now. About 2 weeks ago we went to Legoland with Sophie and Hannah for a day out. It was absolutely brilliant, we went on loads of rides, plenty for Emily to go on including a rollercoaster, the carousel, a spinning teacup type ride, a dinasour trail and the fairy story boat ride. Even Tom could come on a few rides too. We were really lucky that the weather was outstanding so after some lunch we put the girls in their swimming costumes and let them play in the huge water park which they loved. It was such a great day the only complaint was the cost of it all. I had to pay £35 for me to get in and when asked how old Emily was I swore blind that she was 2 otherwise I would have been spending £26 for her!!!! We are going to go again in the next few weeks with Wayne but I luckily have a voucher for buy one get one free entry and Emily's birthday will be pushed back a little later again! I wonder how much longer I will be able to get away with it!!

We saw quite a lot of Sophie as we had her to tea the next day so her mum and dad could go to parents evening. They played in the garden on the trampolene for ages and then ate fish fingers, chips and beans followed by a Pizza Hut Ice Cream factory inspired desert! I put some ice cream in a bowl and let them decorate it with chocolate chips, smarties and anything else I could find in the cupboard, they loved it although by the time they had finished playing with their desert it was pretty much liquid!!

Emily also started Ballet this week! It is at the Lambourn leisure centre and there are only 5 girls in the class. Emily knew Hope and Georgie from Pre-school and Ellie from music and there was another girl called India who we didn't know. They all wear pink leotards and little pink skirts with ballet shoes and it was possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Emily happily went off with Mrs Clemenger (the elderly teacher - very stereotype grey hair in a bun - petite and posh!!). The girls go into the hall whilst the mums and siblings wait in the back room. They do 20 minutes of pretending to be flowers growing in the garden, dancing around to teddy bears picnic, "good toes, naughty toes" and all sorts of things such as being a mouse, butterfly, fairy! Emily loved it and pranced around with all the grace of a baby elephant! But she was really good so we are signed up until the end of the term and she should get a uniform next week so we'll see how it goes!



Last night I went out for my friend Helen's birthday and her husband Dan had offered to play slave to her and her friends, there were 8 girls who were waited on hand and foot by Dan, cocktails, beautiful mexican food and even complementary glow sticks to wear to the pub were all provided! We ended up in the Tavern in Hungerford where there was a live band which was excellent. I threw in the towel about 12.30am as Wayne is working all weekend and the prospect of spending all day alone with the children on a few hours sleep was not good! Emily pushes Tom so Tom pulls her hair and so on and so on for most of the day!!

On a plus point Tom is doing really well with his walking and has done about 6 steps unaided now - he is getting better by the day!!

A couple of fab days out.

A few days ago we went up to Leicester to see my friends Michael and Nick and their beautiful house! It is such a lovely house - completely terrifying taking 2 dirty grubby children into it but still lovely all the same! We had a great lunch then went to Bradgate park which is gorgeous - a real weekend picture postcard type of place, lots of families and friends all enjoying the warm (allbeit cloudy) day. We saw loads of deer and had an ice cream (how many weight watcher points in a Magnum!!!) and played football on the grass. It was a really great day.

Then yesterday we had Wayne for a bonus afternoon and decided to make the most of it, we packed up a picnic and took ourselves off to the Cotswold Wildlife park. It was a really warm day in the end and we had our lunch and walked around the park, we saw penguins, a peacock, rhino, zebras, monkeys, all sorts of birds, farm animals and camels, loads of creepy animals like snakes that can eat a whole person, and lions! It was a brilliant day and we walked so far! One of the best bits was watching Emily get so excited about the animals, we saw some meerkats and she announced "I know about meerkats, they are Sophie's favourite!" (Sophie is Emily's very knowledgeable friend on the topic of meerkats and many other animals!)

On another note - we were at music group yesterday and we were playing with the parachute and Tom was so engrossed by it he stood on his own for nearly a minute, I thought this was amazing but then he did it again and topped it by actually taking a step on his own and balancing himself again! I think he was shocked by me screaming and clapping so he sat promptly down, but his confidence is growing.........

Rocky Horror, colds and shoes.

We had a brilliant weekend, after finally fighting off horrible colds we had a really late night (2am) and were so tired and run down that we have them back again!! Wayne is coughing badly and I have a head cold which is driving me crazy. We went to our Rocky Horror surprise party for our best friend Dan, it was hilarious, there were so many funny outfits and we certainly blended in!! It was a brilliant night including a fantastic group dance of the "time warp."

After a long long long day on sunday we decided to test Tom to see if he could stand unaided and he did!! He has been doing it more and more lately and he managed to stand for about 10 seconds on his own, we then tried to see if he would walk between us and he managed a couple of steps!!! He is quite wary and will drop down and crawl rather than just go for the walking but he is getting there. I decided shoes would be a good option so we went to Clarks in Mothercare today and he is the proud owner of a pair of Navy shoes size 3F!!! After telling the sales girl that I am sure Emily's feet haven't grown and she doesn't need new shoes I was shocked to discover that she is now a 7 1/2 F!! Please stand up bad mother Ali who has had her in 6 1/2 G's for about 4 months!! So £35 lighter and 2 new pairs of shoes richer we came home!!

A quick update.

I thought I was about time I updated so here it is....

We went to Cornwall at the weekend and had a brilliant time. We did so much. We arrived in Perranporth on the friday and I expect my children to be very tired and want to go to bed early - but at 8pm we were playing mini golf! We put Emily and Tom in the same room for the first time and at 9pm they were still laughing and not sleeping so I took Tom out in his pushchair for a walk and got him off to sleep and suprisingly they slept soundly until 6.45am the next morning! We woke up to hear them chatting away and laughing hysterically! It was lovely.

On the saturday morning we went to see my Grandma, who for nearly 92 is doing really well. She played with the kids and even managed to hold Tom. Then we headed to Lelant to see my Dad and Mary and decided to go to Flambards for the afternoon. Flambards is a brilliant theme park and there is a fantastic exhibition/museum of Britain in the Blitz and Victorian Britain. Emily liked it but thought it was a bit creepy in the Victorian village with all the manequins! We went in to a science exhibit and Emily tried all the different experiments and Tom was fasinated with the funny mirrors and a blowing machine that blows a beach ball into the air! We went on various rides such as pedal helicopters and a carousel (with Emily singing Mary Poppins) but the best ride was Wayne and Emily on the log flume - but she keeps saying that "the water boat made her sad" as she didn't like the drop and getting soaked! The best bit was the animal centre where they showed us Spiders, Birds of Prey and a huge snake that Emily happily held and stroked!!! The snake did coil around her leg which scared her but we told her the snake was trying to cuddle her and she was happy about that! After Flambards we went for a Fish and Chip supper then back to the caravan. On the sunday we went to Newquay and the Aquarium which Tom thought was amazing, he loved watching the fish and touching the glass! Then we went for a sunday roast and a walk on the beach. On the monday we went to see my Great Auntie Carol and Uncle John who had never met the children or Wayne so that was great fun and then we took my Grandma a cornish pasty for lunch! After lunch we went back to Dad's and took the train into St Ives where Emily and Tom played on the beach - and Tom ate most of the sand!!

Back to reality and I finally have my car back so been really busy this week in preparation for our best friend Dan's 40th party tomorrow night - it is a Rocky Horror theme so the photos will be interesting. Wayne is going as the character Eddie played by Meatloaf he looks like an ageing rocker and I am going as something resembling a cross between a prostitute and a transvestite!!

On a negative note I have had a really stinky cold all week!

A long couple of weeks.

It has been a while since I posted anything, we have had a really rubbish few weeks. Firstly Emily got a throat and mouth infection which spread to her face in the form of blisters. She was really poorly and didn't eat for a week, she was contagious so we had to stay confined to the house! Luckily Wayne, Tom and I didn't get it. Also the main bridge in and out of Great Shefford has been closed so the diversion is about 15 miles long which is such a pain. The bridge opened again last friday - not that we have been able to use it as Wayne's van broke down last week and he has had the car so we have been house bound again. We have been going out for walks and have been on the bus to Lambourn twice to go to music but it is driving us crazy! No idea when the van will be fixed so we could be without a car for a while.

On the plus side the weather has been fantastic so we have been in the garden every day. Emily's friends Finn, Sophie, Fran and Louis have all been over to play and the trampolene is a firm favourite, we have been playing in the sand and on the swing and on sunday we even got the paddling pool out!

Emily had to have a week off pre-school when she was ill so her first day back she got a bit upset and they phoned me 1 hour in to come and collect her. On the friday I ended up having to stay for the whole session so this tuesday I just left her screaming and crying and the teachers said she calmed down after about 5 minutes and she was fine! So fingers crossed she will be good tomorrow.



We are off to Cornwall for a long weekend tomorrow which will be good so I will have lots to write about next week!

Pre-school!

Emily had her first day at pre-school on tuesday. I stayed with her for the session and Wayne looked after Tom. She wore her uniform which is a blue sweatshirt and t'shirt and really looked the part. She was really excited on the way there and when we got there she was given a little cardboard person to put in a pocket on the wall to say that she was there!! Then she put her bag in her tray and got stuck in. The children all take registration and I have to admit I was a bit choked up watching her sitting with the other children and saying good morning!! She played brilliantly and did what she was told, she especially liked playing on the computer and painting. She sat down with the other children to have "tuck" and was chatting away to a few other girls! They sung "the farmers in the den" and another girl Holli picked Emily to go in the middle with her and then Emily picked Rachel who is also quite new! I ended up doing some cleaning and helping out with washing up and bits and pieces as she was really confident and didn't need me at all!! She is really excited to go again tomorrow and is going to take Mary Poppins for show and tell!

Whilst all this has been happening for Emily - Tom has learnt to pull himself up to standing and is very pleased with himself - he will pull up on anything now especially the sofa and it seems to have opened up a whole new world for him!!

Party and presents!!

Well, the party was brilliant, everyone we had invited came and had a brilliant time. Everyone was dressed up there were fairys, snow whites, a fireman, a spider, batman, a builder, a bumble bee, pirates, piglets, and even a Mr Happy and Mr Bump! The bouncy castle was a great hit and all the children were really well behaved with the only incidents being Emily and Finn falling off their chairs at the table!! The grandparents were brilliant help, especially Nanna Mary and Claire and Jake brought the music although the bouncy castle was so loud that no-one heard it!!

Emily had loads a brilliant presents from everyone, books and puzzles and clothes. We bought her a bike and some mermaids and Tom bought her a Mary Poppins doll to go with the Mary Popppins DVD from Claire! She had a shopping till, lots of Peppa Pig bits and a Lola doll from Charlie and Lola.

We had a quiet day after the party and then yesterday we went to a farm with Sophie which was ok (but a bit rubbish) and saw some pig racing which was interesting then we went to the book shop where we appropriately bought "Little miss stubborn" for Emily!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Emily

My friend Hannah has shown me how to make these cheesy montages so here it is...Emily the first 3 years!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nearly 3!!

Emily is 3 in one week!! We are pretty sorted with her presents - she is getting a pink bike, and the party is organised - 24 children in fancy dress at the village hall with a Charlie and Lola theme! She is very excited, she is going to be a fairy and Tom will be a pirate!

We haven't been up to much lately, my friend Abby had a beautiful baby girl Isla so we looked after Finn for a day and took him to my mother in laws birthday lunch where he fitted in like one of the family and now keeps asking to go back to Emily's Nana's house! We have been going to Football classes on a wednesday in Lambourn which Emily loves, they are teaching her to score goals, control the ball and most importantly to listen to the coach and not need mummy stood next to her at all times! She has been getting more independant each week and is doing really well now. Wayne also bought her a golf club and we were practicing in our hallway as you can see in the photo! She actually has a decent swing and Wayne is thinking of taking her to golf with him a couple of times over the summer!! (rather him than me!)

Tom is crawling everywhere and can put himself up slightly so that he can reach the DVD's under the Tv and Emily's toys on her table! He is driving me crazy there is no way of containing him, he is also attempting to eat everything in sight. Speaking of eating.... Emily has been doing really well with our zero tolerance approach and is now eating a wide range of food such as ham, bolonaise, garlic mushrooms, carrots, brocolli, roast potatoes, pasta, toad in the hole and loads of things that she never would even have tried a couple of weeks ago - but I am beginning to think that crap food like chicken nuggets and fish fingers was better for her as she has turned into a real madam the last couple of weeks, very defiant and not a day goes by that she isn't sent to the corner!!

Lots to report!

Its been a while since I have posted and we have been up to quite a lot. In February half term we went to Bucklebury Farm with Emily's friend Sophie, it was the first time we have been and although it was cold we really enjoyed it, Emily got to feed a deer and goats from her hand which was great to watch!

Then we had Finn for the weekend and on the saturday I face painted them as tigers! Then on the sunday we all went to Marwell Zoo and saw loads of animals - Emily and Finn walked most of the way around the whole zoo so they were absolutely shattered!

We have started organising Emily's 3rd birthday party and the numbers are above 20 now!! It is going to be fancy dress and Emily will be a fairy. I have ordered a bouncy castle and loads of Charlie and Lola themed stuff. I can't believe she is 3 soon! She will also be starting pre-school just after her birthday!

Emily and Wayne have both been ill this last week, Emily with another viral infection and Wayne with Acid Reflux for the second time - this time he has listened to the doctor and switched to decaff coffee for his 10 cups a day!! Both are better now thank god!

Tom had his 8 month check yesterday and is doing everything that he should be and is also now moving around really well - he commando crawls on his belly everywhere and is really hard to keep track of now - I think I am in for trouble when he gets up and about!! He weighs 20lb 11oz now and is sitting in a proper car seat which he loves. He is also eating anything he can get his hands on. We went out for a special mothers day lunch and he was eating yorkshire pudding and Emily regularly feeds him bits of her breakfast! We went to 2 parties this weekend and he loves birthday cake too! He also sat up at the table at playgroup with all the other children for a snack of toast and juice - he loved it and although he made quite a mess he ate most of his toast!

Egypt.

We had a brilliant week in Egypt, the weather was amazing, the hotel was really nice - we stayed at the Hilton and we had fun spending time as a family! Both kids were fantastic on the flight and behaved impecably! The first day we set ourselves up by the heated pool and pretty much stayed put for the rest of the week - we even got friendly with the pool boy so he would put towels on the sun beds for us to make sure we had our spot then when he saw us on the way to the pool he would put the large umbrella up for us!!

We spent everyday in the pool, Emily loved it and Tom couldn't wait to get in. Then about 12 we would feed Tom and get Emily some lunch then Tom would fall asleep in the pushchair and Emily would fall asleep on the sunbed! We would go out for dinner somewhere - our favourite was the Hard Rock Cafe in the centre of Sharm El Sheikh as they played brilliant music and the waiters danced! (and they served fish fingers!!) Usually we would end up with Emily dosing in the pushchair and Tom wide awake taking it all in, in the baby carrier! We were slightly worried about all sleeping in the same room but it worked really well, only a couple of times did we put Tom in bed with us and one night we all slept in together but it was fine and everyone slept well!

Sharm El Sheikh was great - very busy but loads of little market shops and bedouin bars with big smoking pipes everywhere - it was quite a sight with all the lights and music everywhere. We saw a good show in the hotel with a man who stood on broken glass and led on a bed of nails!!

We were not looking forward to the journey home (especially as we had over 1000 cigarettes in our suitcase and we found out on the way to the airport that we were only allowed 200 each and could be prosecuted for tobacco smuggling and receive a 5 year caution!!!) but the children were brilliant and both slept for most of the flight giving us a chance for a quick nap before the drive home! And we didn;t get stopped at customs!!

Now we are just getting back to normal and after a quiet week Emily is not so tired anymore and Tom is back into his routine with 2 new teeth!! His bottom left tooth came through on the last few days of the holiday and the other bottom one has broken through this week so he is much happier now!

Peppa Pig world.....

Emily's latest game is to create Peppa Pig world where she sets up all her people and toys. She puts all the people in her toy bus and takes them off for a picnic, she can tell you who is sitting with who, who is friends or not and what they are all eating, then she will drive them back again and each one will say goodbye to the teacher as they get off the bus!! She also will put them all in a row and then lie them all down so they can go to sleep! She will tell them off if they fall over and put them in the corner until they can say sorry! Its quite amazing to watch and she really gets her imagination going wild with so much going on and all the things she says to the toys are incredible and she makes them talk to each other!

She has also invented new words and says "Giz" "Lickylick" and various other nonsense words when she is playing or just being silly!

Only 6 days until we go away now - it can't come quick enough - just all the stress of packing and going on the aeroplane to come!

Clever girl!

Emily learnt a new word at the weekend thanks to Mary Poppins - she can now say.... "supercallafragerlisticexpealladocious!" she sang it very loudly all the way around Newbury yesterday and people thought she was most impressive!

New Year.

New Year was fantastic. we had a big group of friends over and did a race night with horses called "nose picker" and "yehbutnobut" which was hillarious and loud with everyone cheering on their horses, by race 4 Christine was up £1000's on everyone so we abandoned it in favour of letting fireworks off!! At midnight we made incredible amounts of noise as we let off more fireworks and toasted the start of 2008 with Jools Holland on the tv for company! Then around 1am we decided to play the game when you stick a post it on your head and have to guess who you are with hysterical consequences - a load of drunk people makng the suggestions then trying to guess who they are makes for an interesting time!!! By 2.30am I was failing and had to realise that our children would be awake in 4 hours so I went to bed but everyone else kept going until 5.30am!! Lots of tired hungover people in our house on New Years Day!

Yummy!

Tom has now been introduced to the world of food and I am afriad to say - is a fussy eater! He doesn't like cheese or chicken. He loved Sweet Potato last week but hates it this week and now only wants to eat yoghurt and sweet fruit puree! He was doing really well with food and was starting 2 meals a day when he got poorly over christmas so we are trying to get him back on track. I am getting the blender out on saturday and have made space in the freezer for millions of little cubes - Annabell Karmel here I come...!!!