Open Wide

Guess where I went (look at the title - no it wasn't a gynaecologist). I have always had a fear of dentist, ever since I was little. NHS after NHS dentist pulled my teeth and filled them with that awful silvery stuff that makes eating tin foil awkward (okay so I don't eat it out of choice but sometimes a bit will be stuck to the Kit Kat for example). Anyway my boys all went off to their day things.

 

I had breakfast and went off to the new dentist. I wasn't scared because I had already taken the kids there and they seemed really nice. I was a little anxious though because you just never know whether they are going to tell you all your teeth need to be pulled and you will have to be Mrs Gummy for the rest of your life. Actually I didn't think I would need any work as it had only been 18 months since we were last seen and we visited our previous dentist regularly back home. So, on the way there I got stuck behind two separate tractors carrying huge hay bales, then a motorist who did 20km under the limit, passed a police car (so of course I slowed down as I am now a safe and responsible driver) and almost got run off the road by this car.......

I took this photo while we were at the lights and she saw me take it. I just wanted to worry her that's all, after all, she wasn't to know I didn't get a clear look at the number plate.

Back to the story. I got to the dentists late but they were fine. I filled out a magnitude of forms and was called through by M the hygienist. She had just got back from Maternity Leave and she was very caring, gentle and nice. She cleaned my teeth thoroughly. Because I didn't look after my teeth when I was younger, my gums have receded so anything cold is unbearable. She was fantastic though and kept saying sorry and let me have breathers. She decided to stop after the bottom teeth and all my X-rays and let the dentist see me. How come the dentists here are called Dr and in England, Mr? I have to go back next week - Valentines Day - Huffle and I are both there together, ahhh how romantic. The dentist was lovely too. He seemed very pleased when he had finished prodding and scraping and announced "no cavities". Good, thank you.

I came home, skyped Moo. When she was here at Christmas, we did a lot of Christmas shopping. We bought a lot of things for Huffle and decided that some of them could be his birthday presents (Feb). Well I couldn't find the ones I had bought anywhere so I asked Moo if she knew where they would be. The silly Moo (knew there was a reason we called her that!) had wrapped them for herself and left the ones she was going to give him under the bed. Oh well, at least that mystery is sorted.

I had lunch, knitted, watched Bomb Girls, tidied and then started on dinner. Beef Stew and Veggie Stew. While I chopped and peeled, I skyped LizzieDotDot and got to chat with Small's friend Bomberdill. He was telling me about his new Tablet. I showed them the snow and pulled faces at Bernard. Bomberdill read to me from the book we sent Bernard - it was the twelve days of Christmas Canadian Style.

I skyped Grandma and Grandad and they gave me a cookery lesson in how to cut meat for a stew. I propped the IPad up on the window so they could watch the boys get off the school bus and then they chatted to them for a while. I got told off by Grandma for being 'too Canadian'. Last time I skyped her and Madamme Courvoissier, I got a phone call and they said I answered it with a Canadian 'Hi'. Honestly. I do try and say words that Canadians generally will understand but I certainly don't try and speak with the accent, heavens above! I shall have my English Accent forever! However, I have noticed both the boys are saying things in a lilt! Especially at the end of their sentences!

Small did his homework. He had to find five words in his reading book (The Hobbit) that were interesting or he didn't know. Then write the definition and then put them in a sentence. Smallest had to find 50 things of the same thing for 50day - what's that? He chose Lego - I suggested soldiers but he said they were all in a battle so couldn't leave his bedroom - of course they are. He also had to find something with a 'v' at the end of the word or in the middle. He chose Hive but couldn't draw one, then he chose Liver and Small let him take one of his pieces from the Game Guts and Scabs. I looked up what a liver does and told Smallest so he can tell his class. By bedtime though, he had completely forgotten.

Huffle came home and we all ate our stew. He said he thought the pieces of Meat in the stew were far too small. Ahhh really Grandma! The boys have always hated stew but Smallest had the beef one with Huffle and loved it and Small had the veggie one with me but he had gravy on his. I made cheese dumplings which they both liked a lot.

The kids played on the computer and found a new game to play, Huffle and I played Table Tennis (PAH he won!).

Everywhere today, the radio, news etc were going mad about the snow expected to fall this evening and tomorrow. They are forecasting 35 centimetres. Huffle has bought paperwork home in case he decides not to go in. Small is hoping the school will be shut. More likely the bus won't be running and we will have to walk!

 

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Valentines, Bath Mats and Crumpets

Another cold day. -9. More snow but not enough to have to clear the drive. I'm sure we had much more snow last year but maybe it wasn't this cold.

Huffle and Small went to work/school.

Smallest and I played, puzzled....

.......watched TV, he had a bath while I sat and crocheted. We wrote letters and valentines (they have to send a valentine to each member of the class in JK and SK, luckily Small only has to send them to the people he likes. Also it is really easy to buy very cheap small cards for such occasions). I also bought him a new bow and arrow as his bow broke on the carnival float. It was only a Dollarama one but it's quite good (Small wanted to know where his was!). We played archery at the targets we got with it.

We went out mid morning to purchase such Valentines, bath mats, crumpets (every morning this week Smallest has asked for a crumpet, normally when I buy them I end up eating them because they get left - shame!).

Smallest and I made fish cakes for dinner.

He made the breadcrumbs and put Garlic, sesame and poppy seeds into it. He thought it was hilarious, I don't know why.

They were yummy. We made chips/wedges with potato and sweet potato and I did peas (the boys hate peas, so Smallest asked for Brocolli and Small asked for Carrots - very rare indeed that they ever ask for a vegetable).

Small came home, did his homework and the boys played on the Wii. I finished off dinner, crocheted and watched more 'How I met your Mother'.

Huffle came home and we all ate dinner. We all played a couple of games of 'Sorry Revenge' and then Small had a shower while we played 'Pictureka' about four times. Huffle and I played Table Tennis (I nearly won!) while the boys watched TV before bed. Then BEDTIME. Smallest read the 'Lazy Ladybird' to Huffle and I read Harry Potter to Small - nearly finished. Nearly time to watch film no3.

 

 

 

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My Kingdom for a Horse

I forgot to mention about Richard III. Huffle has been very excited about all the goings on and has been following the news avidly. For those that don't know, Richard III was thought to have been tossed over the bridge into the River Soar during a battle but he was actually buried underneath a church which fell down and was made into a car park. They found his remains and for ages now they have been doing DNA to see if it was him or not. It was him. A lot of people think he should have a state burial (Huffle included) but it seems he will have a 'ceremony' at Leicester cathedral instead. Also, for those that don't know, Leicester is our home town.

-12 ( feels bloomin' cold). Both boys went off to school today leaving me to clear up the mess that was a lovely pancake pudding yesterday. I had no plans today so spent the day pottering around. Exercise started the day, shower, bit of knitting, crochet, sewing, shopping for this weeks dinners, lunch, cleaning, washing, reading my Mollie Makes Magazines.

We have now appointed someone to do the work in the loft and he should start work sometime next week. Now that means I have to empty the loft - WHERE? DO? I? START? As I looked around the loft I realised that bloomin' sofa was up there, the one that took me and Huffle, Moo and Small ages to get it up there, lots of scratched walls and a quote from Huffle "the next time it moves from here, it will be in chopped up pieces!" OH OH!

The boys came home, both with homework. Small's was tricky and talked about an Object Pronoun. Oh, what's that then? I looked it up but couldn't understand the relevance to his homework. Who do I know who is really good at English Language, Grammar etc? Oh yes, Aunty A. I text her to see if she was still up and then she skyped me, she wasn't quite sure but we think she got it right. ......And that is why she is the boys Moral Guardian. Smallest's homework was to find something with the sound 'ow' or 'ou' in it. He chose flowers. Good choice!

 

Smallest decided he would dress up as???? And shoot me!

Huffle came home. We all had dinner (which Smallest helped to make). Small went off to Beavers. Smallest, Huffle and I payed Rush Hour until Smallest went to bed.

At Cubs, they had a visit from a Mountie (no photo for you AA). Small learnt that they wore red because when they were in a battle, the opposition couldn't see if they had been hit or not! Ummmm interesting.

Huffle and I played table tennis - I didn't win today.

 

 

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Flip It!

It snowed in the night and was still snowing when we woke up -10 (feels like -17). Last night we watched another Comic Relief Bake Off - LOVE IT!

After a lovely lazy day yesterday, it was back to the grindstone today. Huffle off to work. Small off to school.

Smallest and I played, bathed, drew, coloured, tidied, cleaned and after lunch we went for a play at Smallest's friend's house.

They played fairly nicely together. They are both very bossy and find it hard to not be bossy with each other. It normally ends in a small fight. His Mum is about to have baby no.3. I gave her my phone number because if she goes into labour inthe middle of the night, what will they do with the other two kids?

We had walked there so we left in time to meet Small off the bus. On the way, we met Drew and stopped for a chat. The bus went by, the driver waved to us but Small didn't see us. We watched him walk up the drive and after a while he turned round and came back to look for us. Silly Bear!

Small did his homework and Smallest drew pictures of us all. Then they played on the IPad while I got dinner. Bangers Mash and Beans and I made Pancakes (English ones, well Crepes (French) I guess, we call them English!). The boys loved them.

Huffle came home and we ate our dinner. The boys played in the basement until it was time for Beavers.

Huffle and I played Table Tennis (4 games and I won one and was close in the others - WAHOOOOO)

Small watched TV until bedtime and then I read Harry Potter to humans we looked through his Cubs book to see if he could get any more badges.

Huffle and I saved our pancakes till the boys were in bed. Then we made them, added lovely things to them, rolled them and ate them in front of Bake Off - Mary Berry would have wanted us to! Yum yum.

 

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Boo Hop

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. Thank God we didn't end up doing yesterday over and over again. Wiarton Willie, our closest Groundhog, didn't see his shadow and predicted, via a 'whisper' to a man in a strange Top Hat, that Spring will be early. HURRAH. Lets hope he's right.

These are mainly Punxatawney Phil (from the film Groundhog Day) but the white one left middle is Wiarton Willie who we went to see in the Summer.

Last night Huffle and I watched the first episode of My Redneck Vacation, which we were introduced to by MrGator around about this time last year. We have seen some of the episodes but not all of them. Very entertaining.

We all had a lovely slow relaxing morning. Small did his homework. Art and Readers Response. Smallest did some dot to dot, I did some jigsaw and Huffle cleaned a bit inside our cars, polished some shoes and played on the IPad. We skyped Grandma and had a good long chat.

No news about the soup, so I guess meat soups are more popular. A woman walked up our drive earlier with an envelope. I thought she was bringing me my winnings (not that I gave them my address ha ha). Huffle and I made a Roast Dinner. Small started building a Roman Arena (from a prize he won at the games yesterday). Smallest made a Treacle Sponge and Custard for the first time. A bit messy but very tasty (though Huffle did have to rescue the Custard).

After dinner and pudding, Small and I did some more work on the Roman Arena........

..........while Huffle and Smallest entertained each other.

The boys played on the Wii and argued until we separated them whilst Huffle and I watched Episode 1 and 2 of The Great Comic Relief British Bake Off. It was very good and made us feel all nostalgic. We also felt like we should have had a big slab of cake with our cup of tea but all we had was a wafer!

Smallest did a puzzle while Small had a shower and then they were friends again and went back in the Wii.

Then they fought again so the Wii was banned for the rest of the day. Mrs Royal came round, brought us some money they owed us for the carnival, had a cup of tea and watched a bit of The Bake Off with us.

The boys had their tea. Small was very rude and insolent and was given a punishment of filling the dishwasher which was very full because it was our dinner stuff. He hated it. They watched TV before bed.

 

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Winter Carnival

As soon as we got up this morning, it was All Go! We got ourselves kitted out in thermals and went to the local church for a Pancake Breakfast. Two pancakes, a sausage and lashings of hot maple syrup. A chat with some nice people and off we went again. Back home we got the costumes ready for the boys. They were on the Carnival Float for the Cubs and Beavers and had to wear 'Early Settlers' costumes. Smallest already had an Indian Costume (thanks Aunty Kat) so he put that on, on top of his thermals and other clothes. He must have had four layers on his bottom half and four or five on his top. I also sent a blanket each to wrap around them. Small had his thermals and proper clothes and a coat and then on top of all that a dress shirt of Huffle's, a waistcoat, a very small cowboy hat and a cowboy belt and gun.

Small complained that he looked like Henry VIII. Huffle started playing Pavarotti.

We warmed the soup and emptied it into the Crock Pot.

It was quite thick!

I dropped the boys off where the float was being made and they helped to get the float ready. They both had moustaches drawn on too. Meanwhile, Huffle and I ran about like a pair of mad people getting eggs together (that we boiled for far too long last night), pins, snowman, ping pong balls, prizes etc etc and packed the car up and made our way to the Community Centre. Our road is a bit bumpy and I was trying not to spill the soup? the police had blocked the road but told us to drive through the Petrol Station "and don't spill that Chilli" he shouted after us. It was all a bit mad, we had no idea where we were supposed to be but we got set up (thankfully inside because it was too blowy for the ping pong balls). We were right by the door. Jars were set up, sweets put inside the jars, snowman on his stand, signs put up.

NoCustard turned up to help us and her, Huffle, Mr Royal and I went and watched the parade. The boys float was by far the best (of course). Apparently the brownies normally win. The parade didn't seem as long as last year and there didn't seem as many watching either. We walked along with the parade towards the end so we could fetch the boys. They loved it but missed watching the whole thing.

Cubs/Beavers float.

Bee on a bike? Hillbillies? Town Crier and the start

Brownies. Rameses and DayCare.

Marching Band. Obligatory man on toilet! Bikers.

We collected them and finished off setting up the games. NoCustard was in charge of the snowman and she did a sterling job. I delivered my soup (Carrot and Tomato - I told them it WAS NOT TOMAYTO BUT TOMARTO). Mine was the only non-meat soup there. I was also told it was the best. The results are announced tonight at the trappers Ball but we are not going.

ClownRose doing her clowning

Huffle did the jars/ping pong game - he loved it (though he has a sore back from standing so long). He liked the fact that the older kids thought it would be easy but found it tough. It was a very popular game. No-one seemed to know anything about it. We told everyone it was a typically English game. One of the mums came up towards the end and said she was very impressed and could she steal the idea for the SpringFest. I said of course she could. She then asked if I would do it. NO I WON'T. I said I would give her all the jars and the ping pong balls but would not do the thing itself. She took my email address. (Hopefully so she can get the jars and balls!!). Huffle was pleased to be recycling a game from the old Narborough fete when he was a small.

The smaller kids loved the snowman game and the prizes all went. The scavenger hunt went well too. Some people said the questions were hard (they weren't, they just needed to look around the building). All the goody bags went though we did give a few away at the end. The boys put on the signs like a sandwich board and walked around the hall trying to get people to play. They were really good and very useful and I think they had a really good time.

We tried to get the egg and spoon race going but nothing really happened. Maybe it was too cold. Smallest's friends played but Huffle and I ended up eating a couple of the eggs in our sandwiches later. Huffle and I never got to eat or drink the whole time apart from a small cake at the end. The boys had a drink and a hotdog. We ended about 3pm, very tired and weary.

My new friend Pie who helped with the Scavenger Hunt was very helpful later with the snowman game once NoCustard had gone home.

Smallest won third prize in the colouring contest. I bought a lovely picture from Garfunkel (not the big $1,000 I wanted but a smaller version).

We came home and the boys played on the computer while Huffle and I had our egg sandwiches. He caught up with the football and then we cleared everything away. We all made pizza for dinner and watched a film. The spy next door, very cheesy but entertaining.

Then it was the boys bedtime. I had to scrub their moustaches off. I think they will sleep well tonight, I'm sure we all will.

It was a fun day, but very tiring. We don't want to do it next year as we missed everything. Huffle never moved from his spot all day and I only got to walk around the stalls towards the end. We never saw the photos (though Small did and he said I could have easily won. Love him) and didn't really see the colouring contest, except for Small and Smallest's. We missed all the announcements and awards so I didn't see Smallest get his prize money ($1). Also it was very very hard work getting it all sorted. Oh well, we have done it now. Time to let someone else do it next year. Keeps the ideas fresh.

 

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Last Thing - tick

Today I took the boys to the Dentist. The receptionist was very friendly and helpful. The Hygienist was lovely. The dentist was very nice and good with the kids. Smallest went first. He had no cavaties (apparently kids do get cavaties here a lot. How come we English have a really bad reputation for terrible teeth and yet, as far as I know, kids in UK are not known for getting cavaties - or am I mistaken?). There did seem to be a need for fluoride because we get our water from our Well and there is no added fluoride. Both boys had to have some flouride added. Both had a clean and came out with new toothbrushes, toothpaste and flosses. Smallest went next and he was told he needs to brush better. He has a few wobbly teeth and the one with the abscess (though he thinks its just an ulcer) is very very wobbly and should fall out this weekend. They also got to have a delve into the receptionist's treasure box and pulled out a bouncy ball each. They were very well behaved. We all liked the dentist. My appointment is Thursday morning and Huffle's is the following Thursday. I think the dentist was the last thing for us to sort out, so well done us! Apparently they give children gas here instead of an injection. OMG I have such horrible memories of gas as a child. I had too many teeth in my mouth and had to have quite a few out. I hated gas, I used to fight the dentist. It made feel horrible afterwards and I would always have really strange dreams whilst under. However, the alternative is the injection which is no good for me as I need at least four times the normal amount before I am properly numb.

We took Small back to school - he missed his spelling test - He was very upset ha ha ha. Smallest and I came home, did some drawing and colouring in and then we had lunch. After lunch we went to the shop in town. Smallest was very helpful. We bought some lovely purple grapes and he handed them to me in the car on the way home. We were laughing so much because he kept trying to hand me "old man grapes". (The ones that are close to becoming raisins!). After we put everything away we played a game and Smallest entertained me. He did funny voices, puppets and a little show. Then the magic tricks came out. He did some to me and I taught him my favourites. I tried to teach him how to juggle too.

Small came home - he had forgotten his medicine, so we had to all go to school to fetch it. When we got back it was swimming time. They got ready and we went. The sky was dark and we wondered if it would rain or snow. It snowed. Not too bad, it didn't settle much. The boys swam really well.

Smallest did another length and tried out Front Crawl and backstroke. Small swam and swam and swam but always smiling as he went past. On the way home it was actually fairly clear. No fog, snow, rain or ice, just a nice easy journey.

Huffle was home before us and had our soup ready (the one for the competition - yes he did ask me!). We all ate. The boys had their showers. Huffle picked up some card for us to make our signs for the carnival. The kids watched a bit of TV and went to bed. They were very tired. I made another soup and added it to the half eaten one. We finished the signs......

........emptied the prizes into a big container, finished the carrot for the snowman, boiled the eggs and finally sat down with a cup of tea. EXHAUSTED - definitely NOT doing this carnival stuff next year. I realise that people with young kids may be better to sort out the games, but people with young kids really do not have enough time to do these type of things. I'll have a craft table next year instead. I better get knitting now!

 

 

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