Swimmin'!

we went to a nearby-ish leisure centre yesterday, I've heard about it for yonks but never gone before, it was a horrid rainy overcast kind of day so the pool was of course busy. We first had to encounter changing rooms and small people had to be changed, then a locker had to be found (one that worked and had a bracelet on it...locker number three turned out to be ok).

I wasn't sure how it was going to go at first (could make all the usual complaints about Other Half letting me child wrangle four kidlets on my own...but we'll just take that as a given) as Kane was not a happy bunny and Maya was clinging to me like the proverbial limpet. We had purchased arm bands for the purposes of small child floatation so I could let go of her, but she wasn't so sure. Ruthie loved it and bounced around diving and whooshing about happily, Chay loved the idea but hadn't got his head round the fact that the water wasn't the same depth all the way around.

Kane eventually calmed down about his lack of floating ability, which in turn helped him float...I took that child for swimming lessons for years when he was little and you wouldn't know it!

It was a good set up there, they had four areas, one for serious swimmers, one for teeny tinys and two for kind of playing in...ooh and a circular pool called the vortex where the water pulls you round at speed (we all liked that one ). There was also a slide...I don't know what it was like as I ignored it .

We managed to stay in for two hours and by the end of it Maya was swimming kind of froggy fashion and sooo pleased with herself too. Kane had gained enormous confidence and was attempting to swim, Chay was much less bothered by all the water splashing in his face and I was dead pleased at how well it had gone, Madam Ruthie of course was having a fabulous time showing off to her siblings as she has been several times before with friends and knew where she was going and what she was up to!

After all the exercise we were shattered, Kane was unwell (more to do with popcorn consumption I think) Maya was worn out but happy and I felt the great need for an afternoon nap, which sadly didn't happen.

So a successful outing and it didn't cost the earth, everyone is saying we must go again ...yay? No, it would be fun it's just co-ordinating everyone and swanning about in a swimsuit which bothers me.

Right off to check littlest girl who seems to still be asleep... which is odd, but maybe another cuppatea first

A Lovely Day

This holiday lark is tiring! Other Half is now on two weeks leave so this is when we officially “do” stuff of the holiday variety.

Other Half returned from his outing on sunday a tired and slightly ratty personage, that coupled with my lack of sleep (because Kane stayed awake all saturday night ahem singing death metal songs with his mate….oh and I was petrified by a scary film) and also slight rattiness made for a pleasant evening. We already had the tickets to go to the Isle Of Wight on monday so I hoped a state of civility would return by then.

Sunday night saw Kane being extremely ill and throwing up twice, this led to me stressing about his ability to go on a day out the next day, it was a close run thing but he did perk up the next morning….I suspect a whole bag of doritos and dip had something to do with his state of health, sleepovers see…got to eat a horse between two bread vans haven’t you?

On monday we all jumped up full of the joys and ran about getting ready, taking my tribe anywhere seems to involve inordinate amounts of food and spare clothing…and drinks…and towels and oh yeah there’s that kitchen sink…

We got to the ferry (fairy boat as Maya and her sister before her, call it) in plenty of time, The kids enjoy this bit as much as the actual destination I think.

Maya was singing the “bubble song” at this point, and no as I have told others I don’t know what the bubble song is.

We arrived at fishbourne and made our way to Blackgang Chine it didn’t take long and when we got there it was a bit of a surprise to see quite how full up the car park was. Other Half had a small grumble about where we were directed to park (which I ignored) and then we got on with our day….here is some pictorial evidence…. I shall attempt not to overload you with my fabulous brood…

No I’m not on the phone that is merely a pigment of your imagination.

Strangely I didn’t fancy the rollercoaster…

what is that last picture of? Well it’s me missing Other Half and Chay coming whizzing out on this thing…

I heard Chay screaming all the way through this big black pipe but totally mis-timed the picture taking!

Aren’t boys lovely… can you make out teenagers attractive expression in the last pic? Finally there is one last shot and (you may be pleased to know) camera ran out of battery on me…

The kids had a great day and considering the age range it was lovely to go somewhere they all enjoyed.

There were a couple of bad points of course, mainly where I felt the almost overwhelming urge to murderate Other Half when his road rage tendencies got too much (is it really necessary to swear and roll your window down in order to inform the driver who has annoyed you that this is the case…and the hand signals are inventive) and poor old Ruth had a bad wasp experience, one of the little bu… I mean beggars, decided to climb up her jeans leg in the car. It decided it didn’t like her attempts to squash it and gave her a sting, then we all went a bit frantic when it escaped from the bottom of her jeans leg and flew around the car a bit!

I was so knackered from the heat and general busy-ness of the day I collapsed that evening in a heap on the sofa…and for a lot of yesterday too!

Today we will be going somewhere a lot closer to home…don’t worry I’ve recharged the camera battery…

Cuppatea first methinks

Rain Rain Go Away

It's raining it's pouring... I inadvertantly left a kitchen roll out in the garden last night....papier mache! Better move it from the rabbit hutch before it becomes an interesting sculpture, welded to the roof.

Didn't have any plans for today, but I have been overtaken by Ruthie and her need for her friend to come around. So it looks like I best get a move on as I shall be picking up a young lady in under an hour.

The lack of pennies is beginning to get on my nerves, not because I feel the need for a mad spending spree, but because it seems doing anything with the kids involves some output of coinage...even if it's just for petrol. I do have plans to visit a traveling farm tomorrow seems they take some animals out and about for the children to encounter them. I'm sure I'll enjoy it even if the small people don't and seeing as it costs an arm and two legs to visit the zoo with my little lot it'll kind of make up for that.

Hoping it dries up a tad, just so I can throw kidlets out into the garden and get on with house stuff... boring but necessary

Feel the need for a cup of tea now, so kettle on!

A Cooking Day

Don't know how it happened but somehow I have been persuaded to make goodies today. I investigated various sites and came across this one all recipes. I have found and used a recipe for chocolate brownies and it is soooo easy! It's a microwave recipe too and although it smelled a bit "eggy" whilst cooking they taste yum

Then I was also persuaded to have a go at chocolate truffles... oh that is so messy... I did think littleuns would be helping and we did all start together but as the truffle mix was spreading all over small people I decided maybe it was a mummy job

here are two small chocolate vultures I found on my travels
I am off to now make chicken curry for dinner, unfortunately due to the amount of chocolate I er... accidentally ingested in the making of treats, I'm not as much in the mood for curry as I was earlier .

A Day Off?

decided we could do with a day off today, in other words I am not going on any excursions, I will however attempt some house tidying .

Kane is feeling much better as illustrated by the fact he is shouting at his little brother and generally getting on my nerves! He has already invited his mate round (without asking first) and now when I then say his room has to be tidied is having a stamp about. He was upstairs being industrious (or so I thought) and when I went to check progress discovered him watching Youtube vids on the computer. I told him to desist or his friend couldn't come round...his suggestion? "Maybe I'll just phone him and tell him he can't come round.." Lazy little bleeper! I informed him that if he didn't tidy then HE wasn't going anywhere either, oooh much huffing and puffing and groaning of "Muuuuuuuuummmm". I left him to it for a mo and on my return he had sat straight back down at the computer, don't think I'd even got down the stairs before he sat down!

Computer is now off and I am in a mood .

Ah well time for me to get off MY computer and set a bit of an example I suppose....

Headache

well, I braved the route to the cinema today, got there with minor lane changing needed (think the kids abiding memory of mum driving will be "oops didn't want that lane...") The car park was lovely and empty for me (yay) and we were in plenty of time... result!

Toy Story 3 was excellent and I was very impressed with the 3d, also quite pleased the 3d specs sat over my own quite comfortably. We had sneaked our own sweeties in , can't afford cinema prices for kidlets sweety and drinks needs, and Maya sat still for approx three quarters of the film (better than expected). Ruthie and her friend seemed to enjoy it and Chay loved it, thank goodness as I was a bit dubious as to whether it would hold his attention for the whole time.

I thoroughly enjoyed it too by the way .

Buoyed up by successful outing I wasn't even particularly worrying about the trip home...silly me.

I have now discovered why they fit child locks! We were just exiting the road leading up to the cinema and on turning right leading up to the A27 Maya cries out "shut the door!!" What?!

I ascertained that yes her door had flown open.... bleepin' hell! Very luckily we were on the pavement side and the road was not heaving... pulled over and hazard lights on I managed to scramble out swiftly and get the door shut. Oh my lord I have a headache now! I asked the girl if she had pulled the handle and a very little and sad voice whispered yes, and then she burst into tears...don't think she'll be doing that again but I will have the child locks on at all times from now onwards!!!

Cuppatea time methinks .

Poor Girl

my Ruthiepegs is ill...poor girl was moaning a bit yesterday about tummy pains but silly mum (that'll be me) thought it had more to do with large bags of pic'n'mix than any sort of bug....WRONG .

She got up this morning in a very moody mood sat and looked a bit grey and then said she felt a bit sick and her head hurt, now she chose to tell me this as I was attempting to unpack many many bags of shopping, so sympathy was in short supply. Think I said something along the lines of "I am REALLY busy right now you'll have to wait!" but I did relent and pass her the calpol quite swiftly. I was more moody as littlest lady had cottoned on to the fact I was busy and had come to pester me also, Other Half of course was busy.. sitting! Now I could of course go and tell him that the littleun needed attending to, however I tend to find my irritation at him not knowing what needs doing leads me to just strop loudly and hope he gets the hint. Of course he doesn't. It is at points like this I need a set script to pass to him, you know in case of emergencies...something like

"Ohh dear, I appear to be awfully busy doing something in the other room, which unfortunately I really can't stop just yet, do you think you could possibly come and attend to this child... WHO IS SHOUTING AT ME!!! I mean who appears to need some attention?"

What do you reckon, might that be helpful?

Anyway back to poor girl, she then went to bed (under protest) and within half an hour I got the call "Muuuuuum, I've been sick..." So up I rushed and got a glass of water and some tissue and took offending bucket away . Fortunately/unfortunately little (big) girl hadn't had any brekkie so it wasn't as vile as it could have been .

This has happened once more and so todays plan to visit friends (new kitty, they've got a new kitty!!!) have been shelved . I Think Ruth is under the impression she might be a bit better later and we can go but I have had to say no to that too... car journey and sicky girl is not favourite!

So, re-written plan for today is clear the plate bomb which has exploded in my kitchen, and possibly bring in those rain washed clothes which are um, drying on my line... knew I should have brought them in last night....

Now That Was A Bad Idea

just finished watching a very very very (times infinity...) sad film, My Sisters Keeper, it's not as if I didn't know it was going to be sad... and yet I still feel the need to watch! I have fancied this book since I saw it reviewed on the Richard and Judy show (oh god I am so easily swayed). It would have been even more over-indulgent and sad if the kids had gone to bed and let me boo-hoo in peace, blinkin' summer hols. Ruthy spent a good portion of the film asking me what things meant, and then asking me what they'd just said (you know, when she was TALKING!) Kane however just interjected the occasional "she's really selfish!" comment followed by "why'd he die?" and other such statements designed to get on my nerves, oh and of course when mummy has tears streaming down her face they both have to turn and peer at me and giggle!

Bit of an odd day, got a bit done housewise, stairs are now returned to a stair like state and not general storage depot, the laundry baskets at the top of the stairs have been emptied (nah, not really emptied but definitely made less full). I hoovered my bedroom floor... da da dah!!! This is worthy of a da da dah as my floor gets sorely neglected in favour of stemming the tide of other "stuff" which threatens to engulf the house most of the time. Well you do the maths, one house, three bedrooms, six people, two cats and one dog... one person fighting the losing domesticity battle .

Managed to burn Other Halfs dinner (oops) at which point he said "it's ok I'm not really hungry now as it goes" (now, as opposed to earlier when if I had presented dinner he would have been hungry ) he then looked at his plate and asked if the pork steaks had shrunk... they had due, to the aforementioned burning of them...mind you thought he wasn't hungry NOW . I managed to feel both guilt and resentment simultaneously and different thoughts were battling for attention in my head.. poor sod's dinner is spoiled, why didn't he cook his own dinner if he was hungry, I know he goes to bed early I suppose it is a bit late, why doesn't he just SAY he wants dinner a little earlier. Of course nothing was said or else I'd have been starting something which would have meant he would go to bed late and not be able to get up in the morning! AaaaaaRgggH!

There, that's better .

He didn't even notice I'd cleared the stairs mind you...

Ah well, tomorrow is another day and there are plans to meet my friend and her kids at the park, not a park I know very well and I am a tad nervous about driving (eeek don't know where I'm going) there. It will be good to get the kids out and about though and little Miss Maya seems ok this evening so hopefully we will get to burn some excess energy off, which will hopefully lead to a more settled evening. And now I am off to find something more lighthearted (anything) and cheer myself up...it's my own fault I knew it would make me miserable .

Ooh look Argumental did I ever tell you I slept in Marcus Brigstocks bed? His mum gave us the bunk beds when we were little so it's not very exciting, makes me smile when I think of it though .

Dog's Gone Loopy

and is currently trying to sneak (as sneakily as a large staffie/ labrador cross can manage) her manky old knotted rope toy into the living room. I have raised my objections and she is currently doing a lap of the garden in usual over-excited fashion.

We had a plan for a tidy day today, but first there was the trip to the dentist, we all get checked at the same time and nice mr dentist just charges for my check up. Kane, the eldest, of course is not brushing his teeth properly (for properly read "at all") Maya (three year old angelic one) was a bit nervy as this is her first go in the dentists chair, Ruthy (eldest girly) has good teeth and young Chay seems to be brushing properly also. Me? Ooh no we don't have to go into that do we .

On our return I started the clearing of the clothes pile... it's a big job but someone has to do it (apparantly). The dishwasher needed emptying and filling up again, clothes needed to be removed from the washing machine and yet more clothes put into the washing machine (I think I need an industrial type washing machine to be honest, combined with some sort of huge tumble dryer).

Whilst sitting and sifting through the, now greatly reduced, odd sock basket Little Miss Maya came for a cuddle and it was at this point I realised quite how hot she was. Temperature was taken and ooer she was 39 degrees...I then discovered I was out of infant paracetomol and had to make a quick dash to the chemists. Medicine has now been poured down the infants throat (and so far so good as it's not comeback up yet) and she's having a lovely laze about watching CBeebies. I feel the need to join her for a little laze about myself .

Her temperature has dropped ever so slightly but as she's not particualary mizzy I am not rushing off to the dr's just yet. Just keep dosing her up and letting her drink whatever she fancies.

Right, now it's almost that time of day to consider what to feed the marauding hordes, mmmm I foresee rice and vegetables and possibly a little chicken... nice and easy one pot cooking is called for today .

A Long Weekend

I am a little tired today as I over-indulged in large amounts of comfort food and alcohol last night, more the food than the alcohol but still it has the same soporiphic effect . Other Half was out for the day yesterday(and most of the night) at the High Voltage festival in Victoria Park , he was out to see ZZ Top and others, drink copious amounts of falling down juice and possibly other things I am not going to think about cos what I don't know won't hurt me . I had my brother popping down for a visit and so I prepared steak for the meat eaters and veggy chilli and nachos for ooh, ME! Nah, I did share. There was a good film on called Sunshine Cleaning, a dark comedy but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then however I made my brother endure Twilight , which he did put up with, with good grace.

We almost watched a dreadful film I can't remember the name of but five minutes of a mall security guy running about swearing and trying to save young blondy bimbo type, whilst dark haired funny but not interesting type tried to attract his attention was enough for us. I suspect brunette won the day in the end... just a wild guess you understand.

In the end I went to bed about oneish (latelatelate!!!) and at some point heard Other Half come in, well actually I heard the dogs tail frantically thumping against some sort of amplifying device for maximum noise (oh yeah, she is that organised). Then I fell asleep again until Other Half "quietly" came to bed , stage whisper of "hello dear..." caught my attention, I ignored him. Then about half six I realised I had a tummy ache and was really thirsty (odd that eh?) However I couldn't move for approximately two hours as I was suffering from some sort of mild paralysis, also think I thought if I ignored it all it might go away...it didn't.

So, I have been up earlier than I wanted, and I now have to cook for people and I just want to shut my eyes and be cooked for.

Back in the real world they are just going to have to put up with roast chicken and cauli-cheese cos a roasty dinner is not within my capabilities today .

End Of An Era

Ruthiepegs is leaving juniors tomorrow... eeek in september I will have two kidlets at senior school! My girl doesn't seem very bothered at the minute, despite hordes of her little friends bawling their heads off at the leavers disco this evening. It is however the end of an era and I will have no babies at juniors for a year, how odd. I shall miss some of the mums as we have seen each other for nigh on six years now, and when I wasn't working it helped to fend off the isolation that threatened to engulf me on occasion.

Strangely I wasn't this bothered when Kane went up to seniors, but as always with the boy I suspect it had a lot to do with my hopes that the lad would progress more at seniors, he never really did school (still doesn't sadly... but thank goodness he no longer rolls around the classroom floor shouting boring....no he did, really). Ruth however has always done well at school and she has always fitted, she takes responsibility and plays a role in the school, goodness me however did I get such a grown up girlie?

I will try hard not to show her up at home time tomorrow, but I suspect some eye rolling and tutting will occur when I get teary eyed at the end of the day.

Last Week

....before summer hols, I am filled with a mixed bag of both excitement and also slight dread . I am so so soooooo, looking forward to not having to get up and run about organising everyone, but I am not so looking forward to the inevitable bickering and need for snacks/sweets and various telly channels to be watched.

Eldest boy has just had me straightening his hair this evening, it took forever as he has very thick hair, slightly worried it will be most unstraight by the morning ah the trials of teendom... Bloomin' sure my mum wouldn't have spent forty minutes straightening my hair of a night.

I have work tomorrow and it's my long (six hours) day, I am not looking forward to it, must just bear in mind I have only three days to go! It's just a shame it seems to last forever and I feel like I have been there forever at the end of the day.

I am off in search of goodies, and a drink and also my book, must get some kip tonight or I will be biting the heads off small people in the morning ..................

the beginning...

thought I best pen a word or two since I have opened this blog up! I think I may have another old blog on here somewhere but as I seem to have mislaid it maybe a new start is what's needed, well it'll have to be cos I really can't find the old one... ahh the joys of very nearly but not quite mid forties.

I suspect I shall just give a brief intro to my life and anyone who already knows me please ignore all the repeats.

I am a girl of a "certain" age, you know, the one where you really shouldn't be referring to yourself as a girl anymore. I am a mum of four (yep, count 'em four... just plain greedy isn't it?) kids. We range from petulant teen down to adorable three year old (can do no wrong and charms birds from trees). The order is boy, girl, boy, girl so you can see I am very well organised, hah! I also have returned to work (real work unlike the staying at home doing everything for everyone work) for sixteen hours a week, I do not know how anyone manages more that sixteen hours a week as it knackers me out completely!

I am the proud owner of a newish driving licence which has opened up the world for me enormously, I haven't been mobile for a year yet and still find it all a bit daunting (don't ask me about roundabouts, I don't do roundabouts!) I can now transport four kidlets about in less time than it takes to mobilise a small army, yay.

Right, think that'll do for now, off to visit some of my pals who have already made the transition onto here.