Christmas 2010

A random assortment of christmas related photographs, all a bit hit and missy I'm afraid!  We had our annual christmas party on the 18th of December, the day after schools broke up, which was really good.  There were about 30 kids in attendance, a couple of babys and about 20 parents, so there a few more than last year.  Steve did his usual awesome job of entertaining the kids, as well as a decent amount of mingling with grownups - when I commented afterwards what a great host he had been, he said it was easy as all he did was wonder about with a drink in hand telling people about the holiday to India he has just won (more on that later)!  So it was all good, but I failed to take any photographs!

Decorating gingerbread christmas trees, mostly with a lot of icing, which he eventually was put straight in mouths...

... and then used as lipstick - no false macho bravado for my boys!

I'm wearing my christmas hat, doing my chores, singing a song...

All my boys watching the telly together, Tom opting for the top of the sofa, closest to the radiator!

Christmas day dawned cold, and fortunatly not too early!  Sam woke up at 6:35 and I told him it was too early so he climbed in with me till Tom woke at 6:50 - those extra minutes make a world of difference!  The boys opened their stockings in bed with us and then rushed off to wake Danny up, and then we all trooped off down stairs.  The gasps as they saw the tree with twinkling lights with presents spread all around, and ahhhs as Tom clocked his playhouse from Santa (constructed the night before!)  and Sam spotted his large, shiny, beribboned present with a sign stating it was from Santa were lovely to hear.  I have told them that they only get one, special present from Father Christmas to try and cut down on the begging!   And then the unwrapping madness began...

 Imaginext space station and related space goodies, all gifts from my mom, sister, brother and their families.

 Even big brothers get their share of the loot!

and the lego making begins!
And then we packed up our five selves and provisions, presents and pillows, blankets and champagne (most important!), toys and clothes... etc etc and crammed it all into Steve's audi and made our (considerably uncomfortable, but it would be worth it when we got there!) way to Steve's mum and dad's house for christmas day, and to spend the night  there (with Steve's youngest sister Cath and her husband Mark as well) so that we would be there for Steve's birthday (Boxing day).

Uncle Mark makes a comfy place to lie as we wait for Christmas dinner to be ready.

And I once again failed to take any pictures!!  It was fantastic a spread - turkey and a beautiful piece of beef, yorkshire puds, roast potatoes and all the trimmings (big thank yous to Mark, Evelyn and Cathryn, for a wonderful meal and a beautiful table with thoughtful touches - personalised lush products anyone?)

Boxing day, Aunty Cath on story telling duty

 Deefa dog

All the Card menfolk

 Daniel in his christmas jumper, with Grandad

 Grandma, not feeling very well

Tom practising his photography on me

Back home and the epic lego castle making begins...

There's that radiator seat again!

... and epic castle is completed

Wearing Aunty Cathryn's christmas present with all his loot in the background!

 

Rainbows Christmas Performance

Well if Sam's Christmas show had me grinning, Tom's had me chortling!  Small children between the ages of 1 and 4, presented before us in a varied assortment of christmas gear and fancy dress.  The singing was funny, not mean't to be, but still.  A few children, tone deaf and not always sure of the words belting out "when santa got stuck up a chimney" much, much louder than anyone else!  Tom sang the first song and then came and sat with me (to take the photographs, apparently!) for most of the performance (mercifully, rather short), until Santa Claus arrived at which point all his reluctance to take part was flung aside and he went and put himseld forward as santa's little helper (well, he was dressed the part).

Year 2 Christmas performance

It was Sam's Christmas performance.  Called "It's a Party" (because of celebrating the birth of Jesus)  ans it had a LOT of LONG songs...  Sam was narrator number 9 and his lines were

                      "the three wise men were busy, their noses in a book,

                      the invite must be super cool to make them want to look"

It was very, most extremely, amusing!  A lot of the kids forgot their lines, said them in the wrong places, at the wrong times - which seemed to irk the chief angel, who pointed it out to the child, the teachers and the audience!!  The performers (my son included) yawned, scratched, plucked at their clothes and picked their noses. 

Yawned

 Plucked at their clothes

It's a Party!!

Angelic

Please excuse all the soft focus, it is because I am only allowed to post pictures of my own children on the Internet - not because of any artistic endeavours!

It was a most amusing way to spend 45 minutes and I thank my gorgeous boy for being so pleased to see me sitting in the front row.  He said his words clearly and with great enthusiasm, and I was very proud (although not so much of the nose picking).

Edinburgh

I was supposed to be in Edinburgh the weekend of the 4th with Andrea, my kindred spirit, for a much needed girl's weekend away.  Sadly the inescapable presence of snow made it difficult for Andrea to fly up as the airports were opened and closed and opened and closed, and we had no way of knowing if they would be open so she could get there, and even more importantly, open so she could get home again.  So in the end, as a result of the hotel I had booked for us being rather wonderful and upgrading my double to a family room, at no extra cost, I went to Edinburgh with all my menfolk!  We had a lovely time even though it was truly, truly freezing cold.  The trip up was fairly painless as the train was remarkably empty, until of course just before we arrived in Edinburgh when both boys threw up!!!

trying to escape the camera!


We arrived in at Waverly Station and the boys were thrilled to be greeted by the Christmas market and funfair.  We headed straight to the Ferris Wheel and had some stunning views over Edinburgh, which Sam and Tom both loved.  Steve loved the views but was less enamoured by the fact that we had to be so high to get them ;-)

We had a little wander about the market but then the kids were hungry so we set off to find somewhere to eat, somewhere that would meet the needs of both boys  (1. bacon sandwich and 2. chips with one of those "long skinny things").  Easily done you would think, but nooooo.  We finally found a pub which looked set to, more or less, suit our purpose.  We went in, found a table, took all the kid's layers off, sat them down, got our coats and scarves and gloves off, and sat down.  We had just picked up the menus when one of the staff came over and said, "I'm sorry we aren't licenced to allow children under the age of 5!!!!!!"  To say Steve and I were fuming is an undestatement.  They waited until we were all sat down and unwrapped before they came over.  The kids started to cry when we had to get their coats back on again (they were cold and starving).  There were no signs saying they didn't serve children under 5, the only sign said "no small children after  8pm".  I was very, very, VERY cross.  So if you happen to be in Edinburgh, on Rose Street, looking for somewhere to eat or have a drink, steer well clear of The Rose and Crown, they are truly crap with appalling customer service.

... anyway!  We decided then to head up to the hotel and get some food there.  It was hard going in the ice and snow, especially with Tom who kept slipping and nearly pulling my arm out it's socket when he did!  But we made it to Bread Street and saw the hotel towards the end of it. As we walked towards it we spotted, just across the street, a cafe that suited every body's taste requirements!  We all stuffed ourselves silly and then waddled off across the road to check in to the Point Hotel.  The boys were beside themselves with excitement, I think the hotel was the best thing of the trip for them!

We spent the afternoon on a guided hop on hop off bus tour, had a look what there was to do the next day and then finished up about 4pm, and then it was back to the fair! we had all decided that we would have a go at ice skating at the bottom of Princes Street Gardens... until the boys spotted the bubble pods!!!!!!!! Basically like giant hamster balls which are filled with a child, blown up, sealed shut and plopped onto a small pool. The kids had an absolute (pardon the pun) ball and it was laugh out loud to watch them!

After that we headed back to the hotel.  It was after 6, very, very, most extremely cold and the boys and I had wet socks, so we decided to get take away pizza to eat in the hotel room.  Got the boys warmed up in the bath, ate tea and then into bed.  At which point Steve went out to watch football and I stayed in... hmmm, not the way my weekend was supposed to pan out!!

After a fairly decent night's sleep we packed up, paid up, had breakfast at the cafe and then went to wait for a hop on hop off bus to take us to the Dynamic Earth.  We were hoping to spend the day at the Zoo, but at 10am they didn't know if they were going to open because of the snow and on the advice of the receptionist at our hotel decided to try the Dynamic Earth.  It was excellent!  Really interesting and so well done.  Sam, Steve and I thought it was fantastic, Tom was less impressed.  If you are up Edinburgh way it is worth a visit.   

We were back in Princes Street for just before 2 and with some last minute purchases -travel sickness tablets, (called Traveleeze, work brilliantly, and kids can use them from age 2, highly recommended) some books for the kids and a few items from the Disney Store (puffle number 4 and a toy story torch!) and we were on a 3pm train back home.  Sam slept most of the way to Newcastle and Tom, well, of course, he didn't sleep at all.

It was a wonderful wee trip, and I thank my lovely fellas for keeping me company :-)

Losing people

My Auntie Lorraine died last night.  She was my Dad's sister and the last of the siblings, all 3 of them gone in the space of less than 3 years, and all of them in their 70's - not really any great age.  She was a lovely woman and I admired her tremendously, although I did not know her that well.  She was diagnosed with cancer in May/June, and it was very aggressive, there was not a lot the medical people could do.  And whenever I spoke to my Mom the news wasn't good and we all knew that the inevitable wasn't far off, but when she rang this morning to tell me, it did make me incredibly sad.  I feel so much for my cousins, even though I hardly know them, I can only imagine how they are feeling.  I know what it feels like to lose a parent, but the circumstances are so different that I couldn't say "I know how you feel".

I remember listening to an adult conversation when I was in my teen years, my Dad talking to some friends in the pub of our old house in Cowies Hill, all of them with a few drinks in them.  For some reason they were talking about who they looked like, family resemblance ways.  My Dad said something about Lara looking like the Filmers, my Mom's family, at which point my interest was really piqued and I piped up, "what about me?  who do I look like? .  My Dad then replied "you've got Malan blood, you must have because you take after Lorraine". 

The hardest thing about getting older is not the physically getting older, although that is supremely irritating - grey hairs, wrinkles and making strange, old people noises when you stand up - it's losing people and not being able to do anything about it.

Words don't come easy

Tom said something that Sam found funny, some misunderstanding of meaning in this peculiar english language of ours.  Tom did not like being laughed at, so to explain to Sam why he shouldn't laugh, and hey, look you said some dafto things when you were little, I told them both the following story.  Sam, loving hearing stories about himself, asked me to write about it on the blog.

When Sam was not yet 4 years old he grandparents were coming to visit and I had to tell him that we couldn't do something yet "because Grandma is due soon".  Sam looked at me with some confusion mixed with some scepticism and asked "is Grandma a library book?" to which I replied something like "what do you mean?" (with muchly raised eyebrows) and he said "well you always say my library books are due back, so if Grandma is due she must be a library book!".

Sam loved this little story of when he was younger, although I'm not sure he learn't anything from it, and Tom? Tom wondered off in search of something to bang on or something to jump on.

Bathroom, finished?

So our long awaited, much anticipated bathroom is finished.  At first glance it is fabulous.  The bath is a dream and I love the colour the room is painted.  Unfortunately it doesn't bear up to close inspection.  The finish is really quite poor - the walls are bobbly, the sealant is messy and the paint job is really bad.  The guy who did it, did a great job on demolishing the old bathroom and the plumbing of the new, but his lack of attention to detail has really disappointed me, and made me rather sad.

First sledge of winter

Our first weekend of snow (which feels like years ago now) was great fun, it was all new and exciting and so, of course, we HAD to go sledging. 

Steve, Sam, Tom and I got all layered up (except lucky Tom who was donated some proper snow gear!!) on Sunday morning and started the walk to Whitley Bay cricket field which is surrounded by perfect sledging slopes.

3 layer sledge fest

and home again!  "Why can't I bring the snow in mummy?  I want to build a snowman in the house to be my friend".