My new toy....

...Arrived today! I had to set it up and use it!
We all donned our visibility jackets and with Leah and Benjamin safely strapped in(looking comfy don't you think?), we pedalled off on an adventure....












Matthew and Joseph led the way (within shouting distance) and Isaac was ahead of me, he did a great job of cycling straight by the road side! We went all the way to Walcott, stopped at Julie's to ask for a glass of water... and were offered tea!!! Must drop in again sometime!!! Fuelled up we set back home and straight to bed for some tired legs...



The benefit of this particular trailer is that it also converts into a double buggy, so can be used for walks... clever eh?

I'll be practising cycling the school run over the holidays, as I'll be doing a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing in Sept with staggered intakes and Benjamin starting nursery..... I may actually get fit!!! well then again maybe not.

Wow!

Mamine and Papytail "popped in" yesterday..... from London..... with a wardrobe in their boot!!!!
Well daddy had mentioned that my cousin Said and his wife Syb had just moved and there was one going spare..... he happened to be going past on the way home from the tip.... and it seemed too good an opportunity as Tom and I had been talking about building one in the children's room.... It fitted in his car (sort of with seats out and a rope to keep the boot down.... and as it was in the car it seemed a shame to unload it.... so they may as well drive it straight up to us!!!!!

I love my mummy and daddy!

After a little "tweaking" (it didn't quite fit) here it is snug in it's new home!!
PS I know the room looks a mess... but there were five children in it as the wardrobe was being fitted... and...All the clothes need to be moved over!





Thank You so much Said and Syb for the amazing wardrobe and of course thank you M&D for bringing it up and putting it in!

Thank you!

Benjamin had a little message to share with all of you who sent wishes, cards and presents.

"Thank you for my lovely cards and presents"

I know I should really give thanks, individually, but I'm sure I still haven't got back to everyone with regards to Joseph's birthday!!! (Sorry if you've been forgotten on the Thank you card list but your gift WAS appreciated.

Have I conquered my fear of maths?

Anyone who has known me for even the shortest time, will be fully aware of my absolute panic when confronted with numbers, especially if you add in a X sign!!!!
But look at this clip, I've been having fun multiplying "big" numbers to prove to myself I can do it...successfully... well, so far!



Go on have a go just pluck any two big numbers and give it a go.... It'll give you a great sense of achievement, if like me, you usually have to resort to a calculator for all things mathematical!

A French weekend

Mamine and Papytail came up, together with Bernard (Mamine's cousin who doesn't speak ANY English)this weekend,the weather was unexpectedly gorgeous. As we set off Saturday morning,on our walk with Chris, Sue and Asha, from Edenham and round Bourne woods we regretted having dressed for rain, and left the caggies in the bus wishing we had brought the sunhats!! We joined in the village fete on our return to the bus and caught up with the vicar who knew Tom's Aunty Brenda (who lived in the village until 4yrs ago)well.
Sunday after church and a lunch with all vegetables provided by our garden, Daddy and Bernard got busy with jobs in the house and garden as they were "not here to rest". The beginnings of an engineering feat of a wire frame, to keep the pigeons out of our brassica beds started to take shape...a visit to Lincoln the next day, to a steelworks factory, saw us finally in posession of the proper rods required (by Bernard) to complete the frames.Monday was of course Benjamin's birthday so lots of opportunities to sing the happy birthday song to an overexcited three year old duck quacking around the house driving his Postman Pat van tent!
Thank you all three of you, for sharing in a moment in time of our family madness, for your help (Daddy the downstairs toilet Lino is brill and it "feels clean".... yes even with 4little boys and one not so little one using it!!!)
No photos from me for the weekend as I had mislaid my camera until the end, but one photo of our parting thank you, a gift from our kitchen garden... to share hopefully with Kaz, Andy and Poppy.

Happy Birthday........

BENJAMIN!!!!!! (AKA Ducky)
A big 3 today. (A huge thank you to lovely Carol, my Homestart helper, who came over with this lovely cake for him)
3 years ago... we were still renting the house as the sale hadn't gone through yet.... The garden hadn't been touched and Tom hadn't started his chainsaw massacre on all the trees! and we had been a fairly average family with only 3 children up 'til then.....

Taking a chance....

OK, so to most people, we were absolutely off our trolley to go on a camping weekend in a rally field, in the torrential rain with 20 odd adults and 40+ children none of whom we had actually met before!!! (edit: I had met one mum and her 4 children previously here)

A fairly stressed Friday putting up the tent with the help of Kris's husband before he went back to work saw us two mums sat under her awning watching as our "little" (compared to Kris's monster camper van) tent started to let in water... wondering if it was such a good idea after all!!!
Going back home to pick up the big boys who had been performimg in cricket matches, singing in class groups, getting into the football final.... we wondered whether we would manage to get back to our tent with many roads being affected by fairly serious flooding....
Tom was protectively wary of being in a field with internet acquaintances but was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the husbands had the same problem getting their wives off the computer when chatting on the forum!!!!
We got there and the weather took pity on us.... other than the occasional shower we managed sunburns in most of the family groups.... the adults were well behaved and the children all got on.... what more could we have asked for?

Leah showed signs of being claustrophobic and freaking out when put in the tent!!! but did sleep through the night (when she eventually settled!) Matthew got gripped by his book and was lost in the world of dragon riders... but did make the odd appearance to join all the other children in many a football/cricket match.....
The younger ones went around with makeshift bows playing at Robin hood and the littlies congregated on the picnic rug area outside our tent to play/ read whatever I managed to fish out of the bus.... (It's official: the Tourneo may BE a transit but it IS a tardis!!!)

Saturday was lovely lazy, lounging around , eating the multitude of home made biccies and cakes our forum motherly "non camper"Karen made for us, eagerly awaiting the next arrival of a forum member as the rally field was soon overtaken by the snaking line of MPV's and minibuses!!
A birthday celebration for one of the children in the group and then a BBQ in the rain, but food enough for all (feeding whatever children happened to be passing by your tent as you dished up...), made for a unique and fun weekend.
Saturday ended late for us as we stayed with the late night lingerers and drank a little more than usual....
Sunday morning and no one wanted to get up, let alone pack up camp..... but Tom had an appointment in church with the sunday club children and his guitar so we we were home in time for the family service....(mummy's head had by now got worse so she begged off and crawled into bed instead, shamefully)

An event to repeat? Definately!!!

Our escape!

All was quiet in the house as we loaded the van.... No one stirring not even when popped in to kiss the children... 5am and off on a freedom break!!!
We arrived in drizzly Whitby in time for a bacon butty breakfast and then set about deciding where abouts in Yorkshire we were going to base ourselves. We saw the eary Whitby abbey went beachcombing then a visit to the steam train and a gentle moor walk saw us at Beck hole pub, pint in hand, having had a light shower under Mallion spout, reminiscing about our pre children walking days... we heard the gentle call of the Lakeland fells beckoning over the Pennines..... so as it WAS Tom's birthday treat.... over we drove!
Arrived in beautiful sunny Glenridding, pitched the tent and enjoyed a "stonking" meal at "The Travellers Rest". A wonderfully restful night and even Tom had a lie in until 9! After some touristy visits/purchases we aimed for the summit of the old man of Conniston. (having been ten years younger and a good deal lighter the last time I tackled it, I was under no illusion of reaching the top) However slowly and grumpily I trudged on with Tom ever energetic going ahead and coming back to me ever patient.... His perseverance was rewarded as we did eventually make it! and what a view (and sense of achievement) The day ended with us pitching the tent in Langdale and a meal at "The Old Dungeon Ghyll". The night wasn't quite so restful as the midges were out in force but we needed an early start back down to Lincoln anyway!
A most restful break even though we packed in a fair bit, carefree and without routine!

The children didn't miss us that much, as they were having a whale of a time with Mamine and Papytail! But LOTS of cuddles on our return.
Thank you so much Maman and Daddy for coming up and looking after them all, they had a great time and so did we! You may well need a month to recover but we truly appreciated the escape you afforded us. Merçi.XX

Settling in to a new home...

Master of his new domain.... David in his bright and airy room looking onto a nice green garden....
Settling in, and getting used to new routines, daily devotions and meeting up with the other residents. The change has seemingly sparked David back to life and we are seeing his humour coming back. Today we went to visit and as the weather was glorious we strolled into the town and enjoyed ice creams together with the children...

8 years old!

No. two son is 8 today!

Happy Birthday Joseph!!!!!introduced to the world by his big brother...

And today enjoying a breakfast cake!