Week 3

I'm running a little late with week 3 activities as I started blogging, then never finished and have just tried to find another 10 mins in my day to finish off...

Well, the kids are alive and kicking - just.  These Mum's that I hear of (although I've never personally spoken to one) that LOVE the 6 LONG weeks school hols just amaze me.  Either that or they just put their kids in a cupboard and lock it!

Anyway, Monday saw us over at Wat Tyler, meeting up with a few other Mum's, although we didn't end up spending the day there as planned as the kids were just knackered and whinny to go home.  So we did and they spent the rest of the afternoon zonked out in front of the TV...

On Tuesday, I'd booked for the boys and I to go to "family pottery" at Swayne School in Rayleigh (thanks to Mum for spending quality time with her grand daughter) and they had a rather good morning creating lots of things out of their air drying clay...

Nicholas was particularly pleased with his fish!

The afternoon saw us spend time with my good friend Karen and her boys Ash & Sam.

Nicholas has football camp over at Soccer Hub on Wednesday and Cassandra had nursery, so some well needed 1:1 time with my eldest.  His choice and after breakfast (toast and chocolate cake) at Stop the World cafe in Leigh, he wanted to go down to the beach.  A grand session of crabbing then ensued - very proud of my big man for his efforts!

That evening we went over to the in-law's to visit their new addition - Oscar the kitten and he was well and truly fussed over!  Yummy Shephards Pie for tea too :)

Cassandra had Little Steps Gymnastics with her bud James Goff Thursday morning whilst I bombed over to Chelsmford with the boys for my 2nd follow up to my laser eye treatment.  All good so a trip to "The Entertainer" toy shop, saw the boys get some lego for all their gem work so far...  Quite impressed when we got home as they actually built it and played with it!

Dinner on the boys was the agenda for Friday after dropping Cassie at nursery as we all went to King Edmund school in Rochford for "Family Cookery".  Alex has shown an interest for a while now in becoming a chef, so I thought it would be fun....  Whilst what we cooked was great the arguments between the boys over who was chopping/stiring/cutting/mixing/layering etc etc was not so great.  Sometimes I wonder why I bother doing stuff with them....

The weekend saw Lee on his final two days of  FA coaching - his assessment days - pleased to confirm that he did indeed pass with flying colours, whilst I took all 3 kids down to Kent to Lennon's football party.  Both the boys had been invited and they both had a great time.

Sunday I got the best bargain at Neverdon's bootsale a double buggy for Cassie for £1.00!  I was very pleased.  And of course she had to get ANOTHER baby doll to go with it and of course she had to go and show her friend Jacob over the road.

The boys got bits and pieces that they saw and wanted, that they didn't really need, but at least they did all come home and play with them. 

Half way through....

Winner!

Mum won a scrapbook lift competition this week - way to go!

http://scrapology-adventuresinscrapbooking.blogspot.co.uk/

Week 2

Well, week two is done and it wasn't all bad :)  I'm even on the ball and blogging Sunday night - get me!!!

Last Monday saw us meeting up with some other Mum's from school over at Promanade Park in Maldon.

It was touch and go whether we actually went or not due to the weather, but it held out for us and we all had a fun time.

Tuesday saw Alexander at Mad Science camp being held at school.

Alex loves his science and whilst it's quite expensive, it one of the few things Alex is really interested in and he goes every summer for a day or two.  Today was all about chemistry....

That left Nicholas, Cassandra and I to amuse ourselves for a bit until the afternoon when Mum came over for tea and to babysit as Lee and I went to see Batman - The Dark Knight Rises.

Lee has been looking forward to this film for what seems like forever and the wait was worth it.  I have one word.... FANTASTIC!!!!!

On Wednesday, Alexander was back at Science camp and Cassandra was at nursery - so although a day with just Nicholas and I, I had my Avon delivery to sort, so I invited Jack Duce over to play and I never really saw either of them for a good couple of hours!  The two boys play so nicely together it's great.  I'm so pleased they are both in the same class next year....

After Science club, I picked Alexander up and drove him to Mum's for a 2 night sleep over - I alwasy try and schedule one in each holidays - Mum and Alex just love spending time with each other and now Alex is getting older, they can do so much...

Thursday morning, I had an appointment at our house to sign up a new rep to my Avon team ..

Then just after lunch, Nicholas had been invited to play in a friendly football tournament for Soccer Hub who he trains with on a Wednesday.

So along we went only to be told the team they were supposed to be playing had cancelled that morning, so they were going to just play the kids who were at soccer school that day.  Great - not.  The Soccer Hub elite beat the other kids 9-1!!!!

Nichols then went over to Charmaine's for his first "other-than-Nannie's-house-sleep-over" with Jack and I didn't hear or see him until 9.30am the next morning!  Was very very strange with only Cassandra in the house that evening though.....  I actually missed my boys :)   LOL!

Friday was the big day - after dropping Cassandra at nursery, collecting Nicholas from over the road and dropping him at Soccer Hub for training, I meet up with Mum and Alex and we all went off to Lakeside to see if we had a "go" for my laser eye surgery that's already been deferred 3 times...

After hanging around for over an hour and having had various tests I got the all clear and before I knew it I was in and it was done!  Terrifying wasn't the word, don't get me wrong, it's not like you're sitting there and can see this red laser about to zap you, but it's rather scary, just glad it's all over very quickly!

I was a bit teary afterwards and it was hard to keep my eyes open, so I simply went home and went to bed - leaving the 3 kids in the capable hands of Mum and then Lee.

I felt lots better in the morning and my eye sight is amazing.  I can see what everyone else can without my glasses!  Optical Express do a referral scheme to, so if anyone is thinking about it, let me know as I have vouchers that can get money off the treatment!!!

Saturday Lee was on his FA Coaching course so it was just me and kids, thank the Lord for Mum who came over and played taxi to dropping Nicholas and Sam to football training (that Richard Knight - Freddie's Dad) was taking this week, and then driving me into town to have my aftercare appointment.  All good, so we came home and just played.

In the evening I took the kids and Mum to my friend Debbie's Dad's 90th birthday party she had organised - more of a tea party than a rave, but she's done it brilliantly - a real British theme with lots of teapots and china teacups, plates of biscuits and an old timer singing away.

Whilst Lee was on his coaching course all day again, today saw us over at the Tudor Day at Southchurch Hall park with my good friend Rachel and her two kids Calum and Niamh.  Everyone was dressed up and was giving a good history lesson.  They all had fun finding the clues to the quiz, listening to a guy play the era's musical instruments, making crowns and having a go at archery.

McD's for lunch and then back to ours for a play (due to the rain) rounded off the day.

or, so I thought, until Lee got in and we all went down to the seafront to skim stones and have an ice cream - Rossi of course!

A great end to the week and almost into Summer Hols week 3!!!!

Week 1

As per last year I was going to post every Sunday night giving an update on the previous week's events - just  don't know where this week has gone though - oops!

The first week of the 6 LONG weeks of school summer hols was good as it goes.  Mum had "spoken" to me the week before about not wanting to spend time with my kids and before I knew it they'd be all grown up and that.  So taking that on board, I'd tried to look at the hols in a different light.  That light lasted until last Sunday when the fighting and arguing just got to me and they got chucked out into the garden for a bit - just not in the hailstones though!

Anyway, every Monday during the hols, some of the Mum's from school have arranged to meet up and week 1 was at Grays Beach.  The kids love it there - very similar to Promanade Park in Maldon, but more enclosed and we were just soooooooo lucky with the weather.

Jess Crozier and her daughter Libby followed us there and soon after Rachel arrived with Calum and Niamh and a few others turned up too - we all had great fun in the sun and especially in the splash park!

We hadn’t been in long when our wonderful friends and neighbours invited us all over for an impromptu BBQ which was great as it meant I didn’t have to cook!  So we walked over the road and enjoyed Darren’s cooking and the company of Sarah, Kelly & Matt and Stevie.  The kids all played very well together (considering there were so many of them) but by 8pm, they were showing the classic signs of tiredness, so it was home to bed.

Tuesday saw Cassie attend her very first "activity" on her own - a Little Steps Gymnastics session which she loved whilst I took Alex and Nicholas into town for a check up of their eyes.  in only 3 months Alex needs new glasses already...

A quick trip to the library was next - just to register everyone for the Summer reading challenge “Story lab”.

It was another glorious day today, so this afternoon I got Crazy Daisy and the woosh slide out and the kids played for ages in the garden.

When Lee got home he did some sparring practice with Alex in the garden with his new mits/pad and then took Nicholas over the field for some footie practice.  I think he likes it that the kids don’t have to rush off anywhere for a few weeks and he can actually do stuff with them.

On Wednesday, whilst Cassie was at nursery, Mum and I took the boys down to the beach where they got together with some other kids and went crabbing - and were very successful too!

A trip over to Southchurch park for an ice cream saw a brilliant photo op in amongst the flowers (Lee would be very proud of me lying on the ground) and I was quite pleased with this one..

Then it was home to Mum's whilst I went to collect Cassie and then re-meeting up at the Dr's for my little lady to have her pre-school jabs :(  Just glad Mum was there!

Thursday was a Cassie and I day as the boys were at Deanes - Alexander taking part in Archery for the day and Nicholas doing 4-in-1 sports with his bud Thomas Goff.

Cass and I spent the morning at Tina’s house so Cassie got to play with James and they had the paddling pool out and had lots of fun splashing in and out of it.  After lunch cassie and I went home and did some of her “homework” workbooks I’d bought her to be just like her big brothers.  We’re concentrating on the first three numbers and the 5 letters of the alphabet that they first learn at school – A, M, S, T and D and we’re also working on C for Cassandra!  It’s slow going.  I’m a little concerned that she is just nowhere near where the boys were academically when they started at the school nursery, but Julie, her Key worker at nursery says maybe not, but in other ways she far beyond where she should be…

This evening I had been invited back over to Tina’s as she was hosting a partylite get together for Sam, so it was enjoyable to have a good ole chat to the girls.  I spent a few pennies to support them both and then it was home for an episode with Lee of NCIS - it's getting REALLY good!

Friday saw Alexander at Belchamps - now he's 8 he can finally go and take part in all their activities - which I hasten to add he thoroughly enjoyed!

That left a well looked forward to 1:1 time for Nicholas and I and the first thing we did was to go and have breakfast at a lovely little coffee shop in Hockley called Urban...

Nicholas had lots on his "want to do list" but playing the Wii was added at the last minute due to the fact that we manage to get hold of "Voodood" - one of the Skylanders that the boys were missing, so Nicholas and I just had to play a level or two...

Next came crafting - Nicholas did well to sew up his finger puppets, painting and magnext... then it was time to go and collect everyone!

Lee took Alex to karate Friday night and then it was the weekend!


After football training on Saturday morning, it was Thomas Goff's 7th birthday and Tina had organised him a Harry Potter party which Nicholas had been invited to - she did really well with the HP themed games and he loved his "goodie bag"!!

Nicholas then went on to Ryan's karate based birthday party up at the school whilst Rachel took Alex home on his bike with her for him to have a sleep-over at Calum's.


On Sunday, I gave Lee a well deserved lie in and took Nicholas and Cassie over to Neveden's bootsale - haven't been there for ages and all the kids (inc Alex even though he wasn't actually there) got something.

We of course, had to have a tea party with Cassie's new doll - now called Susie, but my fav buy of the day had to be the new tea, coffee and suger pots I got - brand new for £2!!!

Alex got home just before lunch time which was lucky as I've never seen such hailstones!!

A chill out Sunday completed the day and the first week.  All in all a good one with not too much yelling!