Benjamin

For those that have been following, then you will know that my big boy is about to turn 5 and start school.
So I thought I would let you know a little more about him…….

1. When he was born he looked like a very old man
2. Almost like he had been here before…!
3. He looked around as if to say ‘oh this place again!’
4. He takes after me rather than Steve
5. He is a fussy eater
6. If he likes something he likes it
7. If he doesn’t then don’t even bother
8. He is left handed
9. Has red hair
10. He is a Virgo
11. And apparently lives up to it
12. He knows how things should be
13. And woe betide anyone change it
14. He doesn’t like change
15. He doesn’t like sweet things
16. Although he likes Twix’s
17. His favorite ice cream is Vanilla and Chocolate
18. I sometimes think he might become a vegetarian
19. He loves chicken, rice and sauce
20. Especially Apricot Chicken
21. But he doesn’t like tomatoey Mince meals
22. When having Chilli, will eat everything but the meat
23. Same with Spaghetti Bolognese
24. Cheese makes him sick
25. Oh and so does Oyster sauce
26. He doesn’t like jelly, yoghurt, cake or potate chips
27. But will eat apples, bananas, oranges, kiwi fruit and mandarins until there are none left.
28. He is definitely a leader
29. He never forgets anything
30. And I mean anything, he will remind you about something that happened a year ago! And he would have been 3 ½ or 4 then!
31. He loves Hi 5
32. He knows lots of their songs
33. And the actions to the songs
34. He also likes the Wiggles, I can’t stand them!
35. He suddenly has this new thing about exercising
36. He enjoys it
37. He is mad on swimming
38. And seems to glide through the water with such ease
39. He has started to learn to write his letters and numbers
40. He can write his own name and his brothers
41. He loves answering the phone and will talk to the person on the line for ages
42. When he talks to Grandma he walks around the house showing her everything
43. Poor Grandma can’t see any of it on the phone but happily amuses him as she has a guided tour of the house, again!
44. He loves to help you with things
45. He loves singing
46. He will sing with me in the car to all the latest hits on the radio
47. And he even knows the words!
48. His favorite colour is Blue
49. And apparently he will be trying everything when he is a big boy of 5
50. Well that is the answer we get from him when he doesn’t want to do anything now
51. He is very caring of others

So that is our big man for now, I know he will change a lot during the rest of this year as he starts his big journey through school.

Wedding

3 weeks to go until our wedding

Coming Home

My parents have been living and working out in Dubai for the last 2 years on and off, well mum has been there on and off, Dad has been there most of the time.

They have had a ball from reading her blog and I know it was amazing for them to have come full circle in 30 years from living out in Kuwait in 1977 to now living in Dubai in 2007.

But they informed me last night that the time is up.

When they come home for my wedding in 2/3 weeks time they won't be going back afterwards.

The company has said thank you very much, you can go home now.

They have had a great time, but they do have 4 gorgeous grandsons here in New Zealand who are growing up very fast and they are missing it out on all they are doing.

New Zealand Rally 2008

When I was a little girl, we lived in the Middle East, Kuwait and Jordan to be exact.

I was 7 when we moved to Kuwait and we stayed there for 4 yrs.

I have lots of wonderful memories and experiences to recall that not many can say they have had in their life time.

One of these such things was Rallying. Yep that is right, fast cars and lots of man power.

My dad co-drove for Datsun at one stage.

I remember going out into the desert in the middle of the night just to see them for 5 minutes as they came in off of a stage and got ready to go out on the next stage.

I also remember the driver of the car (David), who just happened to be a pilot, deciding that as they hit a sand dune then he would see if the car would fly!

You guessed it, it did sort of, although the front axsel didn't quite enjoy the flight as much as everyone else and they came limping in from the stage with the front wheels at a 45 degree angle, but the clever service guys had it all sorted and changed within 15 minutes!

Now you don't get service like that in an average garage!

My father also travelled to other countries within the middle east to partake of these crazy races. Dubai, Bahrain etc.

Now don't get me wrong, this was just a hobbie, not a job, although I am sure he would have loved to have done this more. It was in his blood as his father had also been involved with the rallies in England, although my aunty (dad's sister) told me a few months ago that she remembers helping her dad set stages when she was little, so we are talking many years ago.

Me, well I remember the rallies in the middle east and I also remember marshalling for the British Rally one year in Nottingham, I must have been about 20 yrs old. Getting out to the stage at 4am and standing in the freezing cold dark, whilst these mean fast cars came hurtling round a bend heading straight for you before turning in the other direction. I loved it.

I guess to an extent I am glad I don't have little girls, because I have come to the conclusion that I am not your average feminine young lady, I like too many boys sports, although I would attend these sports wearing pink, just to make a statement.

Anyway, The New Zealand Repco Rally 2008 is in Hamilton this weekend. Sadly no we are not going out to watch any of it, although my SIL and her boys are tomorrow.

But last night we did hang around town watching the official start parade.

Ben was interested in seeing the rally cars, so was I, but Alex spent the whole time wanting to go home. Not sure what Steve wanted to do, although I don't think he had much choice in what he did.

We had lots of fun, and I am sure as the boys get bigger we will eventually head out to the stages further around the Waikato area.

We do have a friend (Greg) that is part of the Targa New Zealand Rally, a rally for the average New Zealander and we have got to see him in action once this year. We will aim to catch up with him more over the next year if we can, although he will be back driving in Rotorua next May/June so we will be there to cheer him on. Picture below shows you him and his car (he is guy on left) INTGRR a Honda Prelude

Birthday and School

1 week to go

We are going to have some visits with the school this week coming.

Going to go and spend some time in a classroom so Ben can see what happens, where to go etc

Nice for him to know what he has to do in the mornings when he arrives at school.

Also we will spend an afternoon there as well so he can see what happens at the end of the day too.

He never forgets anything, so going and seeing both routines once will be fine for him to know some of what is going on.

His school bag is all packed, on it's new hook in his bedroom, his decision not ours!, and ready to go. His clothes are just waiting for name tags so we can work some what towards not loosing his uniform.

Now we just have to wait for the day to arrive!

Low or No Sugar

As you are aware Steve is a Type 1 Diabetic.

Has been for many years now, like 23 odd or so.

Yes it has its moments, but nothing too over powering to our life.

Food is food and I haven't been totally radical and banned sugar completely, I mean there are sometimes when we need sugar in the house, and believe me when we need it we need it, can't make the excuse of 'hang on, just nip to the dairy and get some!' when Steve is feeling low in blood sugar and needs some pick up.

Ok we don't posess a sugar bowl and unfortunately anyone who comes to visit and wants sugar in their coffee, well they have to scoop it straight out of the 1L Tupperware container that holds the castor sugar! Castor sugar because I do use sugar in cooking and this works better than granulated sugar.

We do however have diet products in the house, again not because we are all diet crazed, but because low calorie or no sugar products are to a certain point benificial to Steve.

Only problem we have is Alex. He likes Steve's jam.

Now I am not a person who spreads jam on bread or toast thick enough so you leave teeth marks! I have a thin layer, enough to get the flavour but not ruin the toast.

Now I could go on about people's preferences on toast but that can be another post for another day!

I am happy to let Alex have some of the jam occassionally, Steve is not.

As he is not constantly eating products filled with sweetners and is getting adequate calorie, vitamin and nutrient intake as required for his little growing body then I have no problems.

I came across this website that mentioned the harm of Aspartame in children. This is what they said:

Studies have documented that aspartame is safe for use by children. However, children need calories to achieve proper growth and development. Thus, parents should supervise their children’s diet to avoid dietary excesses or nutritional deficiencies.

Exactly what I just said, we are not using them as a dietary supplement, we are just letting him have jam on toast occassionally and a mouthful of Pepsi Max from our glass.

Gardens

On Sunday, in the pouring rain, we went to the gardens with the boys as they were getting cabin fever!

We went and checked out the greenhouse, see what was in bloom and how things are looking. Especially as the wedding is there in 4 weeks.

The greenhouse is next to the Camellia Garden within the gardens and it was amazing.

I have never seen so much colour in such a small area.

The path to get to the greenhouse goes straight through the middle of the camellia garden. Not sure if after all the battering of wind and rain the flowers have received lately whether the colour will all still be there when I have to walk through in 4 weeks.

It was obvious that they don't like being hammered with rain!

If you then walk down the big hill from the greenhouse to the centre of the gardens, you have to cross the Rhododendron Lawn and yes it is named that for obvious reasons.

The mass of colour around the lawn was again amazing, trees filled with full dark colour everywhere you looked.

It was fun to see the gardens with so much colour yet on such a grey wet day.

Lets hope there might still be some of the amazing colour in 4 weeks time!

Sunshine

Isn't it amazing what a little sunshine can do for everyones spirits after so much winter cloud and rain!

The radio told us yesterday that, hopefully, this weekend will be dry.

The first dry one in 13 weeks!

Yes, we have been having the odd nice day during the weeks of winter, but come the weekend and all it can do is rain!

Today is a beautiful sunny day, with the odd cloud and the whole step of the city seems to be brighter and chirpier.

I love the effect the sun can have on people's moods.

With spring officially only a couple of days away, hopefully soon we will start to have some more days like today.

Olypmics

So the 2008 Olympic Games has come to a close.

204 Countries competed

192 were UN recognised Countries, only Brunei was not represented as they failed to have any athletes attend.

302 Gold medals were awarded

3 Gold medals went to New Zealand

19 Countries won just 1 Gold Medal - places like Iran, Latvia, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Azerbaijan

The next Olympics will be held in London, Great Britain in 2012

The quest for the 2016 Games is now being fought out between Chicago, Madrid, Rio and Tokyo.

I am hoping for either Rio or Madrid

Ben would like to go to the Olympics to watch one time, wouldn't we all, so maybe we could have this as our family goal for 8 years time, to go to the Olympics wherever they get held. I could do Chicago, Madrid or Rio.

Hope you found something fun to watch over the last 16 days.

Only 2 years until the Winter Olympics, my favourite, to be held in Vancouver, Canada between Feb 12 - 28 2010

Wedding

4 weeks to go

Got the licence the other day, so slightly all official now, we have until Nov 11 to get married, why we would want to wait till then I don't know, but hey at least it covers all eventualities.

The favours we wanted have arrived, so one thing down. I have been to the Party Hire place and sorted out a fridge to hire for the weekend of the wedding, as we have so many people around the house during that time I decided that we needed extra space for food and drink etc so a nice big fridge will sit in the garage for a couple of days. Also ordered the table runners for the venue and extra glasses for the house over the weekend along with napkins and plates. Do have 40 odd people coming here on the Sunday for Brunch so will be very useful.

Received the travel itinery and tickets from the travel agent the other day for the honeymoon in Tahiti. Got a travel voucher for just about every breath we take whilst there from the size of the folder with it all in. At least everything is paid for and taken care of before we get there so will be a lot more relaxed knowing we are not worried about how to pay for a certain part of the journey or breakfast etc. I can't wait!

Sickness

So Alex has cheered up a little since last week.

Still very grouchy at times, but slowly eating more.


Ben has a nasty cough and a cold, but is not too bad within himself.



ME - well I now have a stinking cold, ache and feel like crap, but hey isn't that motherhood for you?


After being coughed, sneezed and spluttered on for a week what can I expect but to have gotten sick myself.
I am jsut waiting for Steve to get sick this weekend coming!

Only saving grace is that it has all happened now and not in 4 weeks time!

Wedding Dress

Remember to check back over the weekend when I will try to get a few pictures of the dress in progress up just for the weekend

for you all to see........

Radio

Yesterday I was just going into the kitchen to start cooking dinner when I heard the annoucer on the radio mention something about an opinion poll that had just been done on Boy Bands.

Now I listen to Classic Hits, a good station that playes hits from the 70's, 80's 90's and today.

Jason was going on about how this poll had just come out and that the number 1 Boy Band of all time was apparently "Take That"

He was asking if you agreed to this and if not who would you have voted for?

Got out my phone and text "Westlife. Playing one of their songs at my wedding next month"

About 5 minutes after sending the text, my phone goes and would you believe it is Jason from Classic Hits. Asks me a few questions, gets me to say a few things back to him and then says congrats on the wedding and good luck.

So I carried on sorting dinner but now with the radion turned up even more because I knew that when he came back on and discussed the Boy Band section I would be on the radio.

It was about 15 minutes later and suddenly he is talking about them and then went to the calls he had received about them.

And yes there was my call. Such fun.

BUT

To then have my mobile go off with a text about 2 seconds after my section had played was a little scary.

The text was from a friend of mine Vanessa which said "Westlife! I'm not coming then!"

I mean what was the chances of anyone I know hearing me on the radio, let alone Vanessa of all people!

So I quickly called her, laughing the whole time, apparently she had just got in her car and on came the radio and there I was.

As she said "You never know who will be listening!?"

Gave us both a great end to the day :)

More Swimming

As the boys are not feeling the greatest, then I asked Ben if he wanted to attend his swimming lesson today?
Yes, he did want to go.
Fine, but then up peeped a little voice saying "Me go under today too?"
So then I had to organise a quick lesson for Alex as well.
Luckily he had a make up lesson to do and they were able to accomodate us.
So do I know have 2 children that are really into swimming?
Alex has suddenly gained all this confidence in the water and wants to go in as soon as he has got out!
At the moment I think he would go swimming everyday if I let him or was able to let him.
Which is a good thing considering how he was earlier in the year, and hey, they don't at present do any other activity so why not let them do swimming.

Food

Alex has not been eating too well during the time he has been feeling unwell.

I have been ensuring he drinks loads so am not too worried, but then as a mother you do always worry when your children are not eating, for what ever reason.

But I seem to find that when I serve Risotto, then Alex seems to wolf down the meal.

Ben, when he was younger always liked the Risotto as well, not sure what it is about it that they like. Alex will look at you and say he is not hungry, then eat all that he is given and ask for more?

So thought I would share with you my basic simple recipe for Risotto.

Chicken Risotto

1 medium size Chicken breast, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup sweetcorn

3 or 4 mushrooms sliced or a good handful of button mushrooms

1 courgette, sliced

1 cup risotto rice

4 cups of warmed chicken stock

1 400ml tin Evaporated Milk

1 tsp Rosemary

Pepper to season

2 tblsp Oil

Method

Fry chicken and onion in the oil until browned

Add risotto rice and fry for a further minute or two.

Add half the warmed chicken stock and stir well.

Leave to simmer gently for 2-3 minutes then add rest of stock.

Add mushrooms, rosemary and a decent dash of pepper.

Stir well and leave to gently simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occassionally.

Add sweetcorn and courgette and half of tin of evaporated milk.

Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick.

Risotto is ready to eat when the rice is cooked (soft to bite) and the fluid has all evaporated. So a little trial and error is used to establish when your risotto is ready. Add more evaporated milk if a little more fluid is needed to complete the cooking of the rice.

You can place most vegetables in a risotto - asparagus, peas, peppers what ever takes your fancy.

Hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine do.

Wedding Update

I went to Rotorua today to have a fitting of my dress.
I was sensible and took all the appropriate underwear with me, so it was a proper fitting and probably the last before I pick up the dress before the wedding.

I had made all these plans for today.
The boys had a museum visit today with daycare and I was going to be one of the parents going with them.
I was then going to drop the boys back at daycare and go on to Rotorua.
Steve was then going to collect the boys from daycare and take them home on the bus.
I had already made the dinner so that when I got in from Rotorua about 5.30 to 6pm then it wouldn't be a mad frantic rush to get everyone fed and watered.

The best laid plans always go to pot!

The boys have been unwell, well Alex has been and Ben is now going that way! This morning I decided that in fact neither of them really needed to spend a long day at daycare, so that meant they were going to be home all day.
I had already decided that they could still attend the museum trip as they were not sick enough to have to stay home just didn't need the extra tiredness of daycare. So a quick call to reassure daycare that I could still transport some of the children to the museum and we were all set.
Only problem being that I was going to Rotorua this afternoon and that now meant that they had to come with me!!

I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THEM WITH ME....I PLANNED THIS SO I COULD GO ON MY OWN

So unfortunately before we left I got everything organised so I had everything I needed for a whole day with the boys going to Rotorua.
We went to Daycare and collected the other children and had an enjoyable morning there.
I will post another post about this mornings visit to the museum later.

Whilst at the museum my girlfriend called and said that yes she could still accompany me to Rotorua, so I informed that we had 2 extra people and she said her husband had offered to have the boys at their house with their 3 yr old daughter, who was also sick by the way!
So when we had finished, I raced home and grabbed the cooked dinner, raced to the shop and brought extras and then dropped the boys at Wendy's house to play all afternoon.
So the best laid plans suddenly changed for the better.

So Wendy and I actually got to go to Rotorua on our own and the boys were well looked after by Richard. Thank you so much, you don't realise how important this was to me and I am very grateful.

The dress:

The dress is coming together really nicely. Unfortuantely due to Steve reading the blog everyday I can't post a picture of the dress, as much as I want to, although I might be able to put one up this weekend, just for the weekend mind you whilst Steve is not at work and then I will take it down on Sunday night / Monday morning. I see what I can do!

The shape of the dress is perfect, although I am not too sure on the top.
My mother had sent over some lace with the material as we are not sure whether to do the sleeves in lace or the raw silk like the rest of the dress.
She had sent several pieces of lace and it turns out that one of them is a perfect match with the material and so now we are going to place the lace over the bodice and continue it on to the sleeves.
It makes it look very elegant and old fashioned but in a great way.
The skirt is not a fufu thing with lots of layers it is actually very straight and simple.

The shoes I have to wear are perfect with the material and the shawl I already had curtesy of my father when he travelled in China a few years ago is also a perfect match.

So it actually turned out to be a good day in the end. Caught up with my brother and his wife for a couple of minutes and then drove the long road home to an already cooked dinner.

Thank you Wendy for coming with me, it was lovely to have someone with me, even though my SIL was going to come the times clashed with her family, it is nice to share these things with people who care about you.
Only 22 sleeps until Grandma gets here for the wedding and so she will be there for the very last fitting of the dress when I collect it.

Olympics at Our House

As I am sure is the thing at your place all the tv channels seem to be taken up with the sport.

Now we don't mind this too much especially as the boys seem to be enjoying seeing something different everynow and then.

Although when they both have colds and are not feeling flash hot then this is their response to watching the Olympics with dad.....

They all looked so cute together.

My only grudge with the Olympics is some of the sports that are in it.....I mean why have tennis?

No one famous is in the matches, so how can it be the best person representing their country?

And what is the point of Beach Volleyball? As my friend's 16yr old said 'A sport just for the men to watch!'

Happy watching and hope the country you are supporting is winning some good medals.

Birthday Time

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Kerry,

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to my cousin Kerry who is 23 today.

Look forward to seeing her soon as my bridesmaid in the wedding.

Which Sports Car Are You?

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Viruses

I don't know what little virus Alex has managed to pick up but it has really knocked him for 6!

He is asleep for 6.30pm these last few nights and he is sleeping through till 7am. Although he does come to visit me during the night at least twice!
He is not eating the greatest, although he is still drinking lots, so not worried.
There seem to be only 3 of us eating dinner each night, although Alex does have dinner served and he does join us at the table although he doesn't actually eat anything, just seems to fall asleep during it, so he is usually in the shower as dinner is finishing.
Pyjamas are on before 6.30 and he is asleep on me within 5 minutes!
Today I made a concerned effort to ensure he ate lots of little good bits when he was hungry so not too worried in the evening.

He is so grouchy and the slightest thing sets him off. He is definiftely a mummy's boy at the moment.
Ben managed to set him off today whilst we were out and all he did was hold on to the handle of the pushchair!
Unfortunately when he starts crying, then he starts coughing and then come the sobs.
Poor little man is not having a great week.

Although the bright side of it is that at least this is all happening now, so hopefully no one will be sick in 5 weeks time!

Wedding

5 weeks to go

Birthday

3 weeks until Ben turns 5 and starts school

Inspiration

I was amazed with myself the other week, when I was suddenly ploughing through a lot of stuff I needed to get done.
Ok it did help that the boys were at Daycare so I had the time to get it all done.
But I suddenly realised the following.....

'You get the best inspiration from the places you don't realise"

Inspiration was flying from everywhere and things were getting done.

Sickness

We have been very lucky this year with sickness in the winter months, especially as we are now in August and it is apparently spring on Sept 1.
We usually hit sickness in this family, or more to the point we have in the last 3 years, usually at the brginning of June just as Alex has his birthday.
There is the usual colds, coughs, flu, viruses etc you get the picture.....

Apart from Alex needing to see the doctor in June for a nasty infected scratch on his face from a tree branch and then in July needing to see the doctor again for an infection in his little boy parts! Ouch I know. We have done very well.

So imagine my surprise when Alex didn't want dinner last night and when having a cuddle discovered he was his own hot water bottle with a raging temp of 39c.
So the usual stripping off of clothes, drinking of juice and taking of Pamol was prescribed.
This carried on for the whole night. He kept his temp up there between 38.5 - 39.4c
Steve slept in Alex's bed and he slept with me. We woke up a few times to administer juice and check temps, but it wasn't that long a night.
What was long was the sitting at the doctors for 2 hours this morning waiting to be seen!
Turns out at 8.30am we were unable to get an appointment with our GP so had to go to the emergency clinic.
Alex more or less slept on me the whole time we were there. Ben got restless and so I had to call in reinforcements and get Steve to come from work to look after Ben, he needed attention and food.
And at the end of the morning at the clinic we left with the normal diagnosis - VIRUS
Therefore no treatment extra to what we are already doing.

Although Alex is now a different child to how he even was at 8am this morning. Man they bounce back so quick!

Mouse Update

Just over a week ago you will remember that I posted about the unwanted visitor we had called 'mouse'

Well we set out the man size trap that Steve decided to now use and we waited.

We set it by the dishwasher, which is where we thought they were coming in from. We baited it with the food of choice, in this case apple, seeing as that is what they kept going after. We ensured that all the other fruit was not in sight, in fact it was in the microwave. We also made sure there was no other food at all around. Just the tempting apple in the trap.

We did this for several nights, as we have worked out they don't like change!

Nothing, narda, nout.....

Although one evening about 11pm we did hear it go off......but nothing, so we think they might have come across it but managed to move before it caught them, and then this in turn scared them for a while.

Then the other day we noticed that there were droppings in the cupboard under the sink again. We had put a cloth over and in the hole to hopefully stop them coming into the cupboard, and therefore they would go under the dishwasher and use the trap, but as mentioned before we have intelligent mice....!

It was then that I noticed the fluff on the floor in the cupboard and had to wonder what they had been getting at?

Then I looked at the oven gloves that hang on the door and loh and behold they had been chewing the gloves!

So Steve placed the trap, loaded into the cupboard. We didn't move anything or change anything, just the loaded trap and closed the door.

Guess what? This morning Steve found a visitor.

I won't go into all the gory details, but the rather nice size mouse didn't like us, nor did he like Steve after he was taken outside and dealt too.

We will continue to set the trap for a little longer...just in case there are some family members.

Meme's and Quizes

I love doing the little quizes you find on other people's blogs.
How good are you at this?
How do you do this?
Who are you most like?

You get the idea.
My mum had this on her blog, finding out which Jane Austin character you are most like. Funny we both turned out to be the same one!

Take the Quiz here!

Olympics Today

Last night we got to watch some Cross Country Horse Riding.
ben took a little bit to get into this, but after a while he liked watching them make the jumps and managing to not fall into the water!

He was later playing with Steve and actually playing horses with Steve.
So there's Steve crawling on the floor with Ben on his back, who promptly called to Steve and said.....

'Do the jumps daddy like the horses on the tv!'

Oh yes, the Olympics have definitely sunk in with Ben.

He also got to watch the Basketball, Volleyball and Archery. This is actually a great way to introduce him to some sports that he will never really see at other times because they are not regularly followed on the main channels throughout the year.
Let's see what he will be like with the Athletics....

Olympics

Yes the Olympics has started.

Now I am not a great fan of the summer Olympics, although after watching an hour of the Women's Road Race last night, Steve might argue this point!

I love the winter Olympics, skiing, skating, anything to do with the snow, it is all just magic and such fun to watch. I would take 2 weeks from life to just sit and watch the winter sports if I could.

Last night we caught our first shot of the Olympics on the tv, yes the Women's Road Race (cycling) Ben thought this was amazing.

He watched intently the women cycling along the road, having the support cars pull up beside them and give them muesli bars and water bottles.

He loved the fact that they had numbers on their backs. He just loved everything about it.

He sat there glued to it telling us that he was going to cycle like them, that mummy was going to be his support team and drive the car up along side him and hand him food and drink. That he was going to have to ride really fast and that he wanted a number '4' on the back of his shirt. He also wants a suit like the ladies were wearing whilst cycling.

He kept asking when it was going to finish and who was going to win.....so I tried to explain to him that it was a very long race and that these ladies were riding a very long way.

I tried to explain it in the context of where our caravan is from our house.

So there I am telling him

'you know it takes us a long time to drive to the caravan'

and

'it would take you a long time to ride your bike to the caravan'

and

'these ladies are riding their bikes to somewhere far away like the caravan'

This must have sunk in just a little too much because he had his shower, got out, stood in the living room in his towel and promptly asked....

'Are the ladies at the caravan yet?'

Think the Olympics will actually be quite fun with Ben around, have to see what is playing on the tv tonight that he can sit and watch.

Alex and Swimming

Alex has discovered the joy of going under the water.

He discovered this new found freedom at swimming lessons last week.

This weekend we went to the caravan, our last trip there before the mayhem of the wedding starts.

He spent the whole time in the pool under the water, ok this had a few moments of coming back to bite us, like when he drank too much water and puked on the side of the pool, would have been alright if the adult pool hadn't been completely full with all these people watching me deal with a 3 yr old puking everywhere!

Otherwise he had a ball in the pool. So nice to see him eager to go swimming like Ben.

So of course this meant that when we had lessons today Alex was so full of himself, and it showed.

He was fabulous in his class today, so much so that he is no longer an Octopus but is now a fully fledged Turtle.

Way to go little man, we are so proud of you.

Wedding

6 weeks to go until the wedding

Went and organised the wedding license this last week. So all becoming official now.

Don't actually have the license yet, collect it this week sometime, but all the right lines have been completed and the i's all dotted and the t's all crossed.

Just have to check the spelling when I pick it up and that the date is correcta nd we should be in business.

Had lots of rsvp's and looks like most people are coming this way for the weekend to help us celebrate. So should be a lovely family affair in September.

Works For Me

HOW TO CLEAN THE HOUSE

1. Open a new file in your PC.

2. Name it "Housework."

3. Send it to the RECYCLE BIN.

4. Empty the RECYCLE BIN.

5. Your PC will ask you, "Are you sure you want to delete Housework permanently?"

6. Calmly answer, "Yes" and press mouse button firmly.....

7. Feel better?

Works for me!

Now this type of housework I like, I wish everything was this simple to get rid of!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Iain,

Happy Birthday to you....

Yes, happy 36th birthday to my baby brother. Well my only brother actually.

Hope you have a super day.

Although I am a little concerned because if you are now 36, then what does that make me?

Mice

We have a mouse!

No it is not the nice kind that the kids have as pets in a cage in their rooms, no, we are talking the uninvited kind that visits you during the night.

We knew we had one several months ago when we started to notice droppings in the cleaning product cupboard under the sink in the kitchen.

There is a hole at the back where some water pipes come through and so we knew how they were getting in.

So we went through the usual treatments.

First Steve said he was not poisoning it, so we cleared the cupboard of all the bottles and laid a trap with food on.

Unfortunately we have a very wise mouse/rat because they proceeded to eat the food of the trap BUT never set the thing off! Including when Steve put thread round the food for the mouse to get its teeth caught, it still managed to get the food but leave the string and the trap!

After about 2 weeks of this Steve finally said to me "Get some POISON"

So we laid some poison traps at the back of the cupboard and left them to it. Over the last several weeks they seem to have eaten all the poison, poo'd green, but still come and visit us in the middle of the night!

Here you can see the hole, with the poison trap and that we have activity there.

Apart from the fact we can tell that they are back through the cupboard we have also noticed some strange going ons in the kitchen.

I came down the other morning to find an apple by the dishwasher.

Now I know this wasn't there when we went to bed, and the boys had not got up yet, so it was strange to find it there.

What was even stranger was the little bites all over it.

2 nights later we came down in the morning to find the banana half eaten. The black on the bench is banana skin, nothing else!

What amazes us about all this is just how they are getting up onto the bench? We can only assume they are climbing up the new curtains beside the bench.

2 nights ago we came down in the morning to find most of the apples in the bowl with lots of teeth marks over them where people had had little chews, and it is definitely not the boys, although I do know Alex likes to have a wee chew and put it back, but it is the wrong size and shape for him. Again the bits in the bowl are skin nothing else!

Steve informed me today that when he came down this morning there was another apple half chewed over by the dishwasher again.

The mouse can get under the dishwasher as it is next to the kitchen cupboard under the sink.

So we have now invested in an even bigger meaner trap, which I have been assured should work.

You load food, in this case we will use apple as he seems to have a liking for it, on the plate with the circle bit on and then when they step on the plate part to get the food the lid slams down shut, either trapping them or something worse!

Although Steve can be the one to come down each morning and check it.

And if I hear it go off in the night he will be the one that gets kicked to wake up and go check it out!

We will also look at ways to close off the hole under the dishwasher and maybe blocking the hole under the sink with temporary filling, as we do need to get to this hole if there is a problem with the dishwasher.

So I will keep you posted with our success and if any of you have any tips on how to get rid of our unwanted visitor then please leave a comment to let me know.

Wedding Countdown

7 weeks to go

Personality Test

Came across this test on one of the blogs I was surfing on last night.

Not bad really, quite impressed with the results.

Your personality type:
Quiet, serious, sensitive and kind. Do not like conflict and not likely to do things which may generate conflict. Loyal and faithful. Extremely well-developed senses and aesthetic appreciation for beauty. Not interested in leading or controlling others. Flexible and open-minded. Likely to be original and creative. Enjoy the present moment

Probably agree with about 90% of the personality type.


Careers that could fit you includes:
Artists, musicians, composers, designers, child care workers, social workers, counselors, teachers, veterinarians, forest rangers, naturalists, bookkeepers, carpenters, personal service workers, clerical supervisors, secretaries, dental and medical staffers, waiters and waitresses, chefs, nurses, mechanics, physical therapists, x-ray technicians.



Glad to see that nursing is on there, at least I have done one thing right in my chosen career!


Go check out all my results for yourself over here or take the test yourself here.