My poor baby

My poor Esaias is poorly :( and I don't think it will matter how old they get I will never stop feeling upset to the core every time one of my children gets ill.  I do hope he's better soon.

30 day picture challenge...

Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.  Note it says item, otherwise there would of course be a picture of my family here. But it does say item, so here it is.  My very much treasured and loved Vera Wang Princess perfume.  I love the bottle, I love the smell and of course I love the lovely man (Lewis obviously) who gave it to me for my 30th birthday.  

30 day picture challenge...

Day 6 A picture of someone you'd like to trade places with for a day...

...not much of a contest really.  Of course I would love to be Kristen Stewart, the girl has a tonne of money, gets to spend all day with Robert Pattinson - and I would be a LOT less whiney about it all!  Be careful K-Stew lol!

Circus

We took the children out tonight to the Great British Circus.  We had such a lovely time!  We laughed, we 'ooed' and 'agghed' and after we came home the children went up to their bedrooms and played circus.  As you can see Nathan and Esaias are tigers, while Caitlin is the ring mistress!  They all got to ride on a camel, which Nathan was so excited about he bounced all the way to the camels and all the way back again!  Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos in the tent :(

In other news, Nathan and I made apple beef burgers for tea last night.  Nathan saw the apple coming through the grater and shouted "Wow!  Apple cheese!"  Children do say the cutest things!

Serious gamers

 As you can see from the stuck out tongue and looks of concentration, the gaming in this house is taken most seriously!

But of all the gamers in this house, Nathan displays the most skill since he can play games, while sucking his thumb!  Multi-tasking at it's best!!

An off day

Well that's what I'm going to put yesterday down as.  Despite the fact that I took the children out for a treat yesterday, my boys' behaviour was atrocious!  After a very severe talking to, they have been much better today, thank goodness!
We went to see Animals United at the cinema yesterday, and then after swinging very quickly through the Next sale we went to a wedding at Church as the children were singing.  We then went to the Wacky Warehouse for tea before fetching Lewis from work.  It was a crazy day, and thankfully today has been fairly restful to make up for it!
On Friday, Caitlin, Esaias and I went to Lincoln Cathedral on a school trip.  After weeks of training by some of the Cathedrals' choristers the children from New Holland and four other schools from across the Lincs counties, sang in a concert.  All were in agreement that the singing was lovely.  Sadly, we weren't allowed to take photographs :(
Lewis is plodding along as normal (get it? he he).  He continues to enjoy his job, but he's worried in case the unions call for a strike.  We both agree that striking, especially in the current economic climate is not a sensible thing to do, and even though it may make him unpopular, he will not be joining the strikes if it should come to it...fingers crossed that it won't.  On a lighter note, he has had a picture sent to him of a poster that is up in one of the police stations with him on it!  My husband, a model, who would have thought!!
I had enrolled for a Teaching assistant level two course, and was due to start on Tuesday but after discussion with the head teacher at New Holland, I decided that I would try and get on a Level three course.  As I already have a degree, and because Lewis and I are both working, I have to pay for my own courses.  This one is £637!  So I figure that if I have to pay for each one I do, I better start with the highest one I can so I have less courses to pay out for in the long term!  North Lindsey College have very kindly offered to interview me for a place on their next Level Three course, and in the mean time I have a bit longer to save up.
The children are all getting on well.  Caitlin and Esaias are doing very well at school, and their confidence is definitely increasing.  Nathan has recently been assessed by the speech therapist, and she is very happy with his progress.  He is now in the "normal range" for children his age.  I'm not one for measuring my children against others (those centile charts and ridiculous and I have never bothered with them), and I can't abide people who measure their children against others since I feel every child is unique.  Having said that, it's good to know that Nathan is now on an equal footing with his peers as far as speech is concerned....in admitting that I feel I sold my soul a little!!
So that's us for now, we hope you are keeping well to!
Take care
Emma
x

30 day picture challenge...

Day 5: A picture of your favourite memory

I have many lovely memories to chose from, but our holiday last year was so lovely and so relaxed I chose that.  The day we spent at Bewilderwood was particularly special, and we really bonded as a family.

30 day picture challenge...

Day Four: A picture of your favourite night.

I had a lot to choose from, but I think my favourite night was when Lewis and I traveled down to Norfolk for my cousin Joshua's wedding (25/07/2009).  It was also on Lewis's birthday.  We had a really lovely time together, minus our children (though we did miss them!)  Lewis says he loves taking me to Norfolk because I am happier there.  I spent a lot of my childhood holidays there and it was a truly magical time, I hope my children feel the same way since we are likely to go there if we ever go on holiday in the future.

30 day picture challenge...

Day 3: A picture of the cast of your favourite TV show.

Again a close call, between Scrubs and Glee, but Glee wins.  The perfect combination of teenage angst, comedy and show tunes for me!  We love to sing the songs from Glee in our car together, and listening to Esaias sing "Don't Stop Believing" Caitlin singing "Don't Rain on my Parade" and Nathan rapping and dancing to "Bust a Move" is one of my favourite things, along with mine and Lewis's duet to "My life would suck without you." of course!

30 day picture challenge...

   A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

I wasn't sure whose picture to put up for this one.  I have known my little brother all his life but we definitely haven't been close for that long.  I have known Lewis for 15 years, and we have always been drawn together...I think we still make a good team today.

30 day picture challenge...

I found this on facebook and I thought it might be fun to do...
Day One: A photo of me and 10 facts about me

It's not the best picture (see previous note about camera issues) but I think this is the most recent picture of me and it is with my lovely family on Caitlin's birthday/ baptism.

Ten facts about me (feel free to nod off during this)

1.  I love my family.  I was raised with a strong extended family who taught me great values (we'll just skip over my parents).  My cousins are like siblings and I am very close to them.  My own little family unit is the most precious thing in the world to me and everything I do is for them.

2.  I always have the best of intentions but sometimes my actions suggest otherwise.

3.  I was a vegetarian for 12 years, my family said it was a phase...I dug my heels in deeper!  I decided to eat meat when I fell pregnant with Caitlin, and have remained a meat eater since.  I wish I had the will power to be veggie again, it's a cause I believe, but also a good way to stay slim!

4.  I am afraid of being called lazy.  I was a very laid back child and liked to be asleep whenever possible and this got me a reputation within my family of being lazy.  As a result I am so terrified of being accused of being lazy so I go and go and go until I drop, frequently biting off more than I can chew!

5.  I married my best friend.  He rocks my world and I love him to pieces!  I would do anything to make him happy, and I know he would do the same for me.  He makes me want to be better every day.

6.  I count my ex-husband as a good friend.  We were together for almost seven years, although we were only married for just over a year, so he knows me very well.  He has no need to pacify me so he tells me the absolute truth at all times and I value that.  

7.  I cry a LOT.  I cry when I'm angry, I cry at films, I cry at songs, I cry when I'm tired....it's annoying!

8.  Having said that I am content with my life.

9.  I love my house and do not want to move but I would dearly love a utility room.

10.  I don't like babies, they are odd looking and dull to me.   As of today I created a new rule "When you are old enough to wear wellies, you are old enough to stay at Auntie Emma's house!"  I much prefer it when children have personalities and can talk back.    

Decisions, decisions...

My children are the most beautiful in the world no doubt about it (of course I may be a touch biased!), but at the moment we are relying on a real cheap camera to take pictures of them and it makes me so sad because the pictures just aren't great quality.  When Jessi takes pictures of the children the photographs look so lovely!  I am earning some extra money at the moment, but with neither my TA job or Lewis's job 100% secure now is not the best time to be splashing out.  I have found a nice camera in one of the ebay shops, so I have come to this conclusion.  I either just deal with the pictures as they are OR I sell my scrap booking things which spend most of their time languishing in my drawers and raise funds towards a camera.  What to do?

Happy Red Nose Day!

My own cynical opinion aside, it always amazes me that no matter how tough times are for the people of Britain we are always happy to dig into our pockets and help those in need.  And what gets us in the charitable mood more than celebrities making fools of themselves?  A favourite of mine has always been the Dawn French/ Hugh Grant smooch...hilarious!  So tonight I will be chilling out once the boys are in bed and being entertained by those doing something funny for money. 

Frustration...

whoever says being a stay at home Mum is all about sitting around watching TV and drinking...well in my case hot chocolate... is wrong, wrong, WRONG!  Being a stay at home Mum is THE hardest job in the world, it is also one of the most rewarding, but still hard.  So that's my opinion before I begin....
Going to work is proving to be tricky.   I love my job, I love that I get paid for doing something I love, but balancing that with running a home is also hard.  Normally, my house is in a pretty clean state (not perfect you know, but ok) but at the moment it is getting into such a state that I get home from work and sometimes I just cry!  While Lewis is a wonderful and loving husband, housework is not his strong point and I am finding it so frustrating that he has whole days at home with noone else here and he sits and does NOTHING!  I know he needs to rest, and that he works hard but I'd be so grateful if he would help out sometimes.  Having expressed this to him the other day in a rather loud voice, he spent all yesterday doing jobs I have been asking him to do for months...bless!  It requires hard work on both sides not just him, but it is still frustrating!  I am sure over time we will get into a routine....fingers crossed!

The nicest part...

I do like going out and working in the garden, but I always think the nicest part is coming in and getting warm and cosy.  I recently bought a slow cookers, and I have to say I really like it.  I put the stew on before I went out in the garden and came back into a lovely smell, and we had a rather delicious stew for tea, even if I do say so myself!

Caitlin loves to help out in the kitchen.  Today she has made Caitlin's fruitcakes and cornflake crackles.  The best bit is she washes the dishes afterwards :)

The boys got cuddled up.  

More in the garden

I was taking pictures in the garden so of course Dash sat himself in front of the camera, he's such a poser!

Look!  Little buds on the apple trees!  It always makes me happy to see things growing in the garden.

Windflowers

I bought these for the children the other day as a treat, and they absolutely love them.  The best bit is Nathan's name for them...windflowers!  So cute!

Pottering in the garden

Snowdrops and daffodils ready to flower soon I hope.

Our patio is FINALLY finished!  It has been a long and drawn out process, but it looks really nice.  It could maybe do with one more bag of stones.  We also need to get some grass seed as we have lots of bare patches on the lawn.  The turf (as with most new builds I guess) was just laid on top of a bit of soil and some rubble so it has never grown particularly well, but it is looking distinctly battered now.

One of the best things I have ever grown!

Stop the world I want to get off!

I never realised how hard it is for the pets in our family, but it seems it all just got a bit much for Max today!

Birthday cake...

We couldn't light any candles at Church due to health and safety (!) so we had our own little birthday cake ceremony at home..It was tricky trying to fit eight candles on to a cupcake but we did it!

Contrary child...

After watching an entire episode of Charlie and Lola, while contentedly sucking his thumb, snuggled up to me on the sofa, Nathan stood up and shouted..."I don't like Charlie and Lola!" hmmm, really Nathan??
Anyhow, here is a brief update on us...
Lewis - still has a job (hurrah!) and as far as I know there has been no more talk of redundancies.  Obviously no job is very safe right now, so it may happen, but all is thankfully quite right now!  Thank you so much to everyone who has kept fingers crossed/ said prayers/ wished us positive thoughts...please keep up the good work, it is working so far!
Me - Job is going well, and my wages are definitely making life easier.  I am due to start a Teaching Assistant Course on the 29th of March 2011, so all being well I will soon be qualified enough to do my job!  I love my TA job, but I have to say that my job as a dinner lady is positively relaxing after the morning session.  I think it is because I have to be completely and utterly focused on one child the whole time.  I am constantly analysing, making changes, and negotiating...it can be exhausting!
Caitlin - has settled in well at New Holland.  We have had the guitar teacher approach us and ask that Caitlin continues learning guitar at New Holland even though we have to pay at New Holland (at Wootton it was fully funded for some weird reason!) because Caitlin is very gifted.  I have to say that I think any child would do well learning guitar from him, because he exudes enthusiasm!  Having said that, I now have the opportunity to observe Caitlin in the classroom and have found that she is all that the teachers have said.  She is caring and very hard working.  I think the relaxed and happy atmosphere at New Holland will help her to excel.
Esaias - is also doing well at New Holland.  He has found a few friends, and says his days are "excellent!"  He's counting down the days until his sixth birthday.
Nathan - continues to make fabulous progress.  His language is amazing, and better than I ever dared to hope.  In addition to that he is very good socially.  He can speak, but he can also listen.  He can do, but he can also encourage others.
My children are an absolute delight, and I feel very blessed.