I've got a golden ticket

Still a poorly household. I don't know if I didn't sleep well or whether I dreamt I didn't sleep well. I know I had a dream that I looked out of the window and it was snowing. That seemed real. Small is still croaking but seems to have more energy. Smallest isn't right but he doesn't seem to have a bad throat. Maybe a bit snuffly. Huffle still not right either. We are all very tired.

We had croissants for breakfast (a birthday tradition in this house - not that it is Small's birthday till Monday but we knew we wouldn't be all together for Monday morning breakfast). We were skyped by Grandma and Grandad who are nearly ready to come to us.

After breakfast, the boys played on the computer and Huffle and I went into the loft. We made the bed, hoovered and generally tidied up (mainly my craft stuff). The boys put away their toys up there and then we all got ready and went out for dinner. We ended up in a pub. It was fairly decent. We had five minutes before the film was on we wanted to watch at the cinema, luckily it was just across the road from where we ate.

The cinema was packed and we had to sit on the front row (Moo wouldn't have liked that). The seats go back so I was practically lying down so it didn't hurt my neck.

The boys watching a clip for Despicable Me 2. Brilliant, I better get knitting Minions again.

We watched Hotel Transylvania. Ceelo Green was one of the voices. We like him.

It was a good film and I felt quite warm in there, which is unusual as the air conditioning normally makes me feel cold. When we came out they were giving away some cards and I got one for Smallest.

We told him it was a Golden Ticket like the one Charlie Bucket got in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As we came out, standing at the crossroads were lots of people holding boards saying things like 'abortion kills children'. 'Life is the first right'. Lovely, just what you want a bunch of children to see as they come out of a film. well that meant we had to explain to Small what abortion was. Also I gave him my opinion on abortion (which Huffle shares with me). It's not a conversation I expected to have with my almost nine year old but I don't think it hurt. I can't believe in 2012 there are still people who think they have a right to tell others what they can and can't do. Freedom of choice - that is all I will say!

We popped into a shop for some cake to take home and came home and ate it.

The boys played basketball....

Huffle edit for below picture, my leg looks about ten feet, weird?

I played a bit too. We came in, the boys watched TV while Huffle and I sneaked a game of Carcassonne and Yahtzee in. Then we played Monopoly Deal while Huffle watched a bit of Golf. The boys had their tea in front of the TV while we printed out photos from our Barcelona trip for a frame we bought ages ago.

I feel decidedly worse. Small has gone to bed with tummy ache. I gave him some medicine and dropped some on his quilt, I scooped it up and gave it to him but he said it was all fluffy! Ahhh a bit of fluff never hurt anyone, did it? Smallest fell out of bed, awake, even though he said his head was right in the middle of the pillow - it just rolled out!

Huffle and I had lovely warming soup for tea. his was a can of mushroom but I had a homemade (frozen) one of italian mixed beans. I was microwaving it, whilst telling Huffle I had thoroughly cleaned the microwave and look how shiny it was, when I spilt the whole thing over, all over the bottom of the microwave. what a mess. I just scooped it up and put it in my bowl, at least I know the microwave was properly clean. I couldn't have done that a few days ago before I cleaned it!

Huffe has just finished watching the Ryder Cup and is very pleased that Europe have won. yay.

 

 

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Cancel the Fair

This morning everyone felt a little bit worse. Small's voice was awful. He said his throat was better but he didn't look or sound better. We made him have a hot bath and some medicine but it didn't help. We decided to cancel the fair and Small's friend's sleepover. Small was very upset but it seemed silly to walk and walk around a busy noisy fair, stay until late to see the fireworks, get cold and everyone get more ill. I rang his friend's mum and she seemed happy that we had been thoughtful enough to cancel, it also wasn't fair to pass it to another family.

After everyone got baths/showers, Small and Huffle watched a bit of the Ryder Cup, checked out the Stoke score and we all did the Crouchy robot dance in the kitchen.

Then we all sat down and played a game of Monopoly Deal. I won. By this time it was lunchtime so we had something to eat.

The boys tidied their rooms whilst Huffle and I cleaned, swept, hoovered and mopped. It is spick and span now.

The boys played on the wii. Huffle caught with some more Ryder Cup, we all had a play on the IPad (we've found a new app that makes your Photos funky looking) and then we skyped Grandma. We all made dinner and sat in front of the TV and watched Rango.

The CD was damaged so we missed the ending but Small told us what happened (he watched it on the plane and at movie night when we first moved.

HB skyped us and we chatted but had to cut it short to get the kids in bed. It's been a tough day. Hopefully everyone will feel better tomorrow. We promised them a trip to the cinema (at least we can sit down).

 

 

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A fox and a shrimp

Quick lesson : Terry Fox (mainly for Aunt Pear and for those of you that want to know but don't want to comment).

Terry Fox was born in 1958. He was a long distance runner. He developed a type of bone cancer and had to have his leg amputated in 1977. It only took him three years to get running again with an artificial limb. He started the Marathon of Hope across Canada in 1980 in order to raise money for Cancer Research. Unfortunately his cancer spread and he had to quit after 143 days. (he ran the equivalent of a marathon a day). He was considered a National Hero. His legacy lives on and every year over 60 countries take part in the Terry Fox run.

I hope I have researched this correctly.

This morning Small got up with a sore throat. I gave him some medicine and told him to drink plenty. The boys went off to school. I had a leisurely breakfast, got ready and went out to my knitting group. I did a dry run to the swimming pool so I knew where I was going later with the kids.

The knitting group today consisted of six of us. All older than me. All really nice. All very helpful. I loved it. I started my sock again from scratch and even managed to nearly finish the whole rib.

The time flew by and two hours later I reluctantly left with a new huge crochet hook. (not because I didn't like my new crochet hook but because I had to stop knitting) I popped to a few shops looking for a birthday card for Small. I wasn't asking for much, just a nice simple card that told him we loved him or a funny one that he would laugh at or just a nice one with his age. Unfortunately the cards here are awful. Too much sentiment. Too yucky. Too over the top. I tried five shops and in the end went to a supermarket. I got him one with Bugs Bunny on and when you open it it says something like 'you stinker', which is what we call him sometimes. It will have to do. I picked up a few things for dinner and headed home, starving!

I popped into the garden centre to check if I could work Wednesday instead of Tuesday (Grandma and Grandad arrive tues). I left a note and they are going to ring me back. Then I got home and had a sandwich. I can't believe how hungry I was. All that knitting! I had a tidy up, put some washing on, got the boys swimming stuff together and then sat outside on the porch with a cup of tea and my crochet. I skyped LizzieDotDot just as Mrs Royal came round for a tea. I briefly spoke to LizzieDotDot but promised to call back Monday.

Mrs Royal stayed and chatted, had a cup of tea and we watched the boys come off the bus. They were full of news of the run they did at school. Smallest did 17 laps and did more than everyone else in his class. He also ran it all. He should have been running with two Grade 8's (12 year olds) but he ran faster than them and lost them! Small walked round because of his throat. He was asked to write on a label, that was stuck to his top, who he was walking for and he wrote "my Great Uncle". That was nice. I think Uncle Dermott would have been proud of him. They both did well. They had a quick snack and then we went to swimming. We took a wrong turn (isn't that why I did a dry run this morning???), but got there just in time for Smallest's lesson. When it was Small's turn, they had put him in the wrong group, luckily they had space in the other group and it was the same time.

Smallest said he loved it but it was too easy. I told him they were just checking what he could do and it would get harder. Small said his was just right but he was tired after he finished. Silly Mummy forgot to pack any dry clothes so they had to sit on their towels on the way home. I got to chat to a Mum I already knew and Small's friends Dad there so that was nice. I also met Small's afternoon teacher there. She seems nice.

We got home, put dinner in the oven (the oven that, I told Huffle yesterday, we definitely needed to change as it burns everything) and when Huffle came home I went out for a walk with Mrs Royal. (Drew is away for the weekend). We had a lovely walk (not too long today as our dinners were in the oven) and a lovely chat. On the way back, we noticed the moon was full and the sky was gorgeous.

This photo does not do it justice - it was just lovely.

When I got home, there were three sad faces at the dinner table. The dinner had burnt (oh really Huffle, what the oven that I have tried to cook in for eleven months, and always burn things, and get really frustrated with because there is only one shelf, and all my cakes get ruined in? Oh now you understand!).

Right then! Grandma - we have oven shopping to do. Grandad, I just bought four big bags of bulbs and we are not allowed to plant them until October. When are you here? Oh yes, October, perfect timing. He he.

The boys have missed Scampi since we moved. I can't find it anywhere. So today, I found Popcorn Shrimp. I thought it looked similar, shrimp is a bit scampi like isn't it? NO, IT ISN'T LIKE IT, THEY DON'T LIKE IT - but then it was burnt!

Poor Small. I think he may be poorly for his birthday. He is losing his voice now. Still giving him medicine and making him drink and rest and keep warm.

Last night I said to Smallest "I'm not going to get you up in the night to go to the toilet, you can do it yourself now". Okay he said, no problem. At 11:30/12:00 I heard him creeping about. I got up to check he was okay and there was a big wet patch on his PJ's. I said "oh did you wet?". "oh no, oh did I, oh yes". He said "you can get me up from tomorrow!". Bless him, at least he woke up.

Another funny thing Smallest said. "I thought Terry Fox was a real fox but now I know he isn't, he's a man!"

 

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Do you have leaves in England?

When I got up this morning I had a stinky runny cold! However by midday I felt fine. Weird! Huffle went off to work and was in an all day meeting - Poor Huffle - he still doesn't feel well. I heard on the family grapevine that Grandma wasn't well - Get better soon, a flight here is no fun when you don't feel well!

After I watched the kids get on the school bus, I made my breakfast, put it on a tray and sat and watched Downton Abbey - how decadent! Love it!

Then I got myself ready and went off to a supermarket to do some birthday shopping. So many birthdays in October (also managed a bit of Christmas shopping too - yes really!). When I left the house, it was cool and I was wearing jeans, vest, long sleeve top and a light scarf. When I came out of the supermarket 1 hour later, it was really warm.

I got home, put stuff away, Skyped Moo briefly to put my order in for some Christmas stuff, had lunch, skyped Aunt and Unc Pear. Prepared dinner. Yahoo Skyped me and then I went off to pick the kids up from school (yay I remembered!).

I bumped into a lady I like at the school and was brave enough to ask if she wanted to for a coffee sometime, she invited me to her house next week, the I remembered that Grandma and Grandad were here so I said I would ring her in a few weeks. But at least I made the effort and spoke. L to be fair, her and her husband have invited us round a couple of times since we have been here but we haven't been able to make it. He is English and she is Welsh. I'm trying to make more Canadian friends but it's hard!

We went to the library, Nan was there. We haven't seen her for ages so we had a good chat. Smallest coloured in, they both chose their books. Small started reading his before we left. We came home, started dinner, played Junior Monopoly. Huffle was late out of his meeting but managed to join us for dinner part way through.

I went for a walk with Drew. We laughed a lot. We were talking about the trees and how the colours were so lovely. She turned to me and said "do you have leaves in England?". yes, Drew, we have leaves, and we have trees!! She didn't mean that exactly, she meant did they change colours like here and did they fall. She loves asking about England. Later on, she told me AbFab was on tonight. I said "oh what side?". She couldn't understand me. Side? That doesn't make sense when you think about it. But when I told Huffle later he said it was probably a throw back from when tv's had only three or four channels. It's funny, we speak the same language but there are so many different ways of saying things.

the sunset on our walk - gorgeous.

Small had a better day at school today. He said there was a bit of text book work but not too much. He enjoyed playing football.

Smallest had a good day too. He learnt about Bus Safety and about Terry Fox (canadian athlete who died from Cancer - he was much more than that, but I am assuming anyone reading this will know who he is, if not, comment and I will tell you more). Anyway, the school are running the Terry Fox run tomorrow and they all take a toonie ($2).

I asked Huffle to take a look at the new fridge as the freezer door opens when you shut fridge door! He lay on his back on the floor to see if he could adjust one of the legs and said "they don't have bottoms like we do in England - ooo err!"

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Mac who?

Gutted. Every Tuesday Huffle brings home his laptop from work, plugs it into the TV, we make a pot of tea and settle down to watch The Great British Bake Off. (Yahoo was watching this live yesterday and emailed me at the same time, which meant I hadnto watch it!). However, we couldn't get it. Last nights episode wasn't on. Can you believe it? We will try again another day. Wanted to watch those yummy doughnuts being injected with gloppy jam!

Instead we watched Over the Rainbow and grimaced every time Arlene Phillips spoke. When the Dorothy's (can I just say that her name is Dor-O-thy and not Dorthy as they say over here) started singing 'ding dong the wicked witch is dead', Huffle said he wanted to see Arlene slumped over in her chair, naughty!

I had a restless night again. Too cold, too hot, needed the loo, Smallest got up after an 'accident' (though to be fair he sorted himself out, bless him, I only heard him because he closed his door and then closed the bathroom door and then opened it and then opened the bedroom door). Huffle went off to work, Small went off to school. Smallest and I had breakfast, bath/shower, played a game of Junior Monopoly, and then we played Banana Lego Game, then got ready and went out in search of a new park. We found one not too far away. There were women doing an exercise class (not one of them smiled!) while their babies and toddlers sat in their prams.

Smallest went on the park ........

A bit of climbing...

A bit of swinging around...

.........and then we got his scooter out and we went for a lovely walk.

Scooting

We passed ponds, wildflower meadows, a forest, a barking dog, houses, trees. It looked like it would rain so after a while we turned round and came back. Smallest went back on the park, then we drove home for lunch. I took lots of photos (for those of you that follow me on Instagram, I am sorry, I have posted them on there too).

We walked over a bridge

Past gorgeous wild flowers

Ponds with beautiful Auntumnal colours

Berries

Seed heads

We decided to have lunch in front of a film. Smallest chose Dumbo but we couldn't get it to play. I chose ET but Smallest got bored so we ended up watching Sid the Science Kid (not a film, just an episode). I crocheted, he watched the TV.

We went out for a scoot and ended up going over to talk to Drew (our neighbour).

Hibiscus I found in Drew's garden

We walked around her garden and then we went for a walk in the Corn Field. I told Smallest it was a Maize Maze - it wasn't but there was a lot of 'corridors'. Smallest loved it. We walked for ages and then turned round and came back to Mrs Royal's garden.

We stopped to say Hello (of course). She was about to go out for a walk so we joined her. We only walked for about 20 minutes, by which time Small was home (alone). I had left him a note saying I was out and would be back shortly. The note actually said 'Small, just gone out for a quick, be back soon, Mummy x'. Smallest scooted back to let Small know I was nearly home. Small said "I didn't know where you were!". Whoops, forgot the 'walk' bit!

Small started on his homework, ran off, cried, came back, tried again, ran off, cried, stomped, shouted, said sorry. OMG what is wrong? He had to write a conversation between a waiter and a customer - how hard can that be, we eat out lots! Every time I tried to talk to him, he just ran off. So when Huffle phoned home (he has to take some Amercians out this evening for dinner so we won't see him till late) I got him to talk to Small and find out what the problem was. It seems he is bored at school. Too much working from text books and too much of the same thing. I personally don't think he knows it all, as when he brings his homework home, there are things he doesn't always understand. Unfortunately he is nearly nine now. Time to do some work. Not playing anymore or watching TV and having fun. I realise learning should be interesting and fun and maybe the teachers aren't handling things brilliantly or maybe it is all text books here. I don't know! I'm sure we will work it all out.

Smallest and I played Monopoly again and then we all had dinner. Smalls friend rang to see if he wanted to go and play but he said he couldn't because he had homework. I tell him to get it out of the way as soon as he comes in but because he spent all his time running backwards and forwards this room, he has missed out on a play at his friends. I talked to his friends mum about Saturday. He has hockey practice and won't be back till after 2pm. I said that could work as we were planning to go late afternoon, see the fireworks at night and then they could have a sleep over. He has hockey the next day too and needs to be picked up 7:15am. OUCH! Still could work! She even said Small could go to practice with them if he wanted.

After dinner, Small did his homework (all through dinner we were pretending to be waiter/customer. It was easy once we started. Small has to try and fit at least four of his spelling words into the conversation too.

The words he needed to fit in were, breakfast, please, feast, meal, bread, spread, eager. One part of his homework read.......

Waiter : what would you like for breakfast? I would like to inform you that our breakfast special is our best meal and you have a selection of breads with spread. It is a feast.

Customer : I'll have that then.

We laughed lots at this. I can't believe he fit nearly all the workds in one sentence. He seems happier now he has talked to Huffle. Smallest and I played 3D Snakes and Ladders, Rhino Rump and then coloured in until I decided they both needed an early night (or was it me who needed an early night from them?).

Something I forgot to say previously,

Huffle and I have always prided ourselves on the fact that we have never taken our children to MacDonalds. We don't like it, it's rubbish and so far have avoided it! (what really, never? I hear you say!). Well when Small went to his friends (sorry haven't got a name for him yet) last weekend they took him there. Ahhhhh. Oh well, we have still not taken them there! And he only went for an ice cream!

 

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Whoops

Huffle and I went to bed early last night, a big blanket, paracetamol and a long undisturbed sleep. Ahhhhhh.

He went off to work feeling not 100% but not too bad. The boys went off to school without any incidents. I decided to stay at home and wait for the fridge.

After breakfast I got the ironing board out, watched Canada's Over the Rainbow and ironed a pile of things. Aunt Pear skyped me and we chatted about HB, Grandma and Grandads impending visit, birthdays and poorly throats. We were interrupted by Sears ringing to say they were on their way.

I changed the lounge around we I was waiting (just because I thought it would be nice to sit in front of the fire - I call it my Autumn/Winter change). However, today was a scorching 21* (well not scorching but nice).

The fridge turned up. One of the delivery men asked if I was English. Then he said "ahhh Liverpool is in England". "Yes it is, it is North" I said "and do you know that because of football?" I asked. It was, he had watched the Liverpool game last night. He laughed at our flying pigs in the sun room and said to me "you should tell your husband you need a new oven as well". Can I get that in writing please?

When they left, I sorted out all the stuff that should be in the fridge, washed it, chucked stuff away that wasn't any good. It took me half and hour to take all the tape off the fridge to stop the drawers etc falling our whilst in transit.

I had a quick bite to eat and then went shopping (just a small shop for fridge things!), only it turned into a biggish shop for all sorts. Whoops. I came home, put it all away, made the fridge look nice and then sat on the porch with a cup of tea and a jam scone. It was really warm. I looked at the grass and realised I should be cutting it. Perfect weather, drying grass that's far too long. So I opened the big gates (which broke a few weeks ago and now have parcel tape on them to keep them from falling down - hurry up Grandad and tell us how to fix them!). I cut the front lawn and then moved onto the back. As I was mowing around the Jungle Gym, I went a bit fast and couldn't stop in time. I hit the Cedar Trees and wedged the mower in there. It could have been serious. My foot slipped off the brake/clutch and my shoe fell off (nearly chopped it in half).

Whoops

My instint was to turn it off quickly before any limbs got chopped or trees fell down. But then I couldn't get it started again. So I walked away and left it as it was. I hoped if I left it for a while, it would magically start again and Huffle might not find out. I did try to push it but it's a beast of a thing. I came inside and skyped Grandma. By the time I finished talking to her I went out again and the mower worked (thank goodness), no damaged trees and only a slight hole from the tractor digging into the soil.

I got on with the rest of the mowing without any more problems. Raked the worst of the grass up into piles and then the boys came home. Small started his Maths homework and moaned a lot. Smallest helped me make meatballs.

The boys had their dinner. I rang Mrs Royal and told her I wasn't walking to it as I felt a bit ropey. Huffle came home and we had dinner. When he came home he noticed I had cut the grass. His first words were "any problems with the mower?". How did he know? Who had told him? Was it Grandma? He was just asking, he didn't know anything but of course, then I had to tell him what I had done. Huffle then went out and cleared up the piles of grass.

The three boys played football and I joined them briefly till I realised there were Mosquitoes about.

 

The boys came in and watched TV. Huffle and I tidied up and cleaned the kitchen.

Smallest learnt that an insect has six legs. His class has now been split up into two classes. He only has one friend in his class now as the others moved into the Monday/Wednesday one. Oh dear, I'm sure he will make new friends.

Small has decided he wants to take a friend to the Markham Fair this weekend for his birthday. We are not sure yet whether he is coming as he has a hockey game. We also promised the boys that we would go to the cinema this weekend to see Hotel Transylvania.

Just been up to kiss the boys and Small said that Smallest came into his room doing 'the conker'. He he he.

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Feed the Beaver

Huffle and I watched a film last night called 'The Last King of Scotland'. It was horrible with horrific images. It was about Idi Amin - what a horrible man. We had to watch a bit of The Royle Family before sleeping. Smallest woke us all in the night after having bad nightmares. Again it was about Spongebob, apparently he sees 'plankton eyes'. I got into bed with him and talked to him about nice things until he was nice and calm. Then I went back to my own bed. It wasn't long before little footsteps and a torch wandered into our room and crawled into bed with us. He wriggled and jiggled and eventually went back to his own bed.

I am so tired today. I don't know if it's because I'm fighting a cold or because I had a disturbed nights sleep.

Huffle went to work. Small went off to school. Smallest and I had breakfast and skyped Moo. I asked for her help with my sock knitting because it now has a row missing or a stitch missing or something. She suggested I undo a row and see if it looked better. It didn't. I ended up pulling the whole lot off and starting again. Maybe I should have started with something a little more simple.

We then skyped LizzieDotDot. Goodness me, seeing her sitting there with her brood around her, I don't know how she does it. I struggle with two and she's got four boys! I know she would have more too! Crazy. I have set her off doing her crochet again.

Smallest had a bath. As I didn't feel so good today, and Smallest had no desire to go anywhere, we stayed in, played, read, jigsawed and watched TV.

We set up a castle in the loft and had a battle between soldiers and star wars characters. Then I left him to set up the Dinosaur Track while I planted a few plants in the garden. I had to go back and help him out a bit and then I went off and planted again.

Yoda and Obe Wan against General Grevious and lots of soldiers.

 

We played football, scooted and waited for Small to come home. Smallest hid behind the gate and shouted boo at him. We scared him. We all played football for a while and then Small got on with his homework. Smallest and I went off and played up in the loft again. Then Small joined us.

They played together nicely while I got their dinner ready. Huffle came home. I went out and walked with Mrs Royal and Drew. It is Mr Royals birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Wish we had of known, we'd have baked you a cake.

While I was walking, Huffle took the boys to sign on for Cubs and Beavers. (when they put a Beaver in the middle of the floor and said it was time to Feed the Beaver - Huffle had a childish giggle to himself). Small loved it and definitely wants to join. Smallest had a teary moment when he didn't understand some instructions and ended up hiding under the table, refusing to come out. He says he wants to go back, we'll see.

Huffle and I talked about the boys joining Cubs/Beavers. One the most memorable badges Huffle ever got from Cubs was a HandyMan badge. What? Handyman? I remember with fondness (and a chuckle) his carpentry skills when making a bedside table out of an old wardrobe. It ended up being a barbeque stand, a disposable BBQ, and we burnt it. Bless him. As I am writing this, he is deeply hurt!

Small read to Smallest and then to himself. Huffle and I are not feeling well. Both achey, tired, sore throats. We are sitting in front of the TV with a hot cup of tea, wrapped in blankets. Early to bed for us tonight and no more Idi Amin!!!

 

 

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Hash Burn

Small tried to delete a spongebob from the planner and ended up deleting everything. We weren't too upset as we had seen the most important things and it's quite an easy thing to do. I think we've all done it at least once.

We played an old favourite 'Stack 'em up' which Smallest won. Then we played Yahtzee Hands Down which I won. After breakfast we all went into the basement and had a good tidy up. All the games are back on the shelves. Nothing sits on the floor now (an important thing to sort out for when the big rain comes). We have put lots of toys and games in the 'Garage Sale' box. Huffle hoovered (vacuumed). It took us until midday to get it all sorted. We all got ready and went out for dinner.

We stopped at a place we've been to before with Moo (Huffle's first time). Huffle and I had a really big omelette and the boys had egg, bacon/sausage, beans, Hash Burn (hash bruin or hash brown depending on what Small calls them, he he he) and toast. (only one more day and the fridge will be here and we can start eating properly again). Actually Sears rang me to get our details for the delivery of the fridge (which is more than Home Depot did when we bought the washer!). They agreed to ring me before it was due here so that I could drive back from work and not have to take the whole morning off just in case.

Off to Home Depot we went next to buy some floor grates. We have forced air for heating and air conditioning and the grates in the floor were manky. Now they are all shiny and a bit art deco'y.

They don't really look much here but they are certainly better than what we had before.

We bought the boys some Ribena - the real deal. For some reason Canada doesn't sell squash. So our boys normally have the frozen juice that we over dilute, but as we have I fridge we can't make that up at the moment. They are very spoilt, as they only get this when they visit the Royals.

We came home, the boys had a few fights, both stomped off to their rooms at some point so we settled down and watched a film. Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp - very good, although they have seen it many times. Tey and their tea. Small had a shower while Huffle, Smallest and I played Don't Say It and Tumbling Monkies.

The boys are now watching the Wrestling - I wish they wouldn't but they love it! Huffle and I are cold. It has been about 12* here today but the house feels very cold. (I think we are fighting colds). We are going to put the fire on and watch.... Oh wait, we have nothing on the planner so I guess we are going to watch whatever is on which is probably not much!

The boys were put to bed. Books read. Then Huffle and I finished off our dinner (which we brought back in a take-away box).

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Plants, Pumpkins and Pins

It rained again through the night, a lot! We skyped Grandma at breakfast time. Smallest read a bit of his book to her.

Interesting outfit

 

We had a phone call from Small's new friend to ask if he wanted to play today. So once everyone was changed, Small and I walked to his friends house, I met his parents, we exchanged phone numbers, had a bit of a chat and I left him there and walked back home. Smallest and Huffle were waiting for me.

We drove to the garden centre where I work, picked up some plants, met a woman from the Garden Club who gave me her number and told me to come round and pick up some geraniums that grow really well under pines. That was nice. Then we drove on to The Tire and picked up loads of perennials for just $1.50 each. We had a look at an Eliptical which was on sale but unfortunately it was boxed up and you couldn't see it or try it so we left it. Smallest wanted us to buy a Pumpkin so we let him choose one.

I want this one

Trying on a helmet for size

 

We drove on to Uxbridge and had lunch at an old Tin Mill. It was lovely. The food was spectacular. The service was excellent and it was nice for Huffle and I to spend some time with just Smallest. I think he enjoyed it too. He coloured in a lovely picture of spongebob and the man let him put it on the display counter.

Carrot, Orange and Ginger Soup, Salad and Vegetable Flatbread. Ummmmmmmmmm

 

Next we went Five Pin Bowling. We were expecting normal tenpin but it was really good. Only five pins which were smaller and smaller balls without holes in them. Smallest struggled to get the balls to hit the pins over but he was beating me! Then the lady there asked if we wanted to move over to a bumper lane so Smallest might get on better (I think she meant me really).

Smallest is a perfectionist and if he isn't doing absolutely brilliantly at everything he gets really frustrated. He ended up in a real grump by the end of the game (which Huffle won easily). The people who owned it were chatting to us and the man said "can I give him a treat?" I said he could and he gave him a packet of Reece's Pieces which are like smarties with Peanut Butter in. The man told him it was his prize and we said it was because he got the best score for his age. This cheered him up.

The town we were in had a street party so we went to have a look. We bumped into Pol and Pod, had a chat and then carried on looking at the stalls. We drove to a supermarket to buy Smallest a new drinks bottle for school as he appears to have lost his.

We came home, placed a few plants where we wanted to put them, played football, planted some plants, played football, watered some plants, played football and then Small came home and Smallest, Small and his friend went inside and played in there while we chatted to his Mum. She seems nice, down to earth and full of useful information. Small had played on the X-box, played football, went swimming and down water slides, played more football, he had a great time.

The kids had their tea and watched TV.

 

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