Day 13 in...

the holiday household. In the last 13 days we have been to:-

Mums for tea-on-the-green
a fancy dress night at skaters
Castle Rising Castle
Old Hunstanton
Cinema to see HP6
London

We have had Andrew to stay for 3 days (in the new tent) and now have Dan here for 10 days. This B'n'B lark is not all its cracked up to be (we also watched the local hotel being pulled apart by The Hotel Inspector this week). Tomorrow is dedicated to film watching, they have Casino Royale, Hot Fuzz and Next to get through. There should be a lot of DVT around the house by 6pm.

T minus 9 hours ...

Today is the last day of the school year. So far I have wasted 3 hours faffing on the internet (I have however, ordered some dyslexia help books for the holidays and joined a couple of dyslexia website forum thingys). In the next 9 hours I must...

=> fill 2 freezers
=> clean the house
=> find the number and wordshark programs
=> get rid of this cold
=> sort out the banking
=> phone the tumble dryer repair man
=> finish the ironing/putting the washing away
=> change all the beds/get duvets back out (bloody English summer)

I will not be taking bets on how far down this list I get. Wish me luck.

Good news first...

DS2 will not be excluded from school. Thats really all I have to say about that!

We have the start of the hoildays coming up and no plans as yet, so, I am going to make an effort to get his spelling up to scratch. He is dyslexic and although he is very clever (5+ years above his age, he can't spell for toffee). Also have to make a big effort with DS3 with reading and spelling as his dyslexia is worse. Happy to report that his school noted he is good at cricket, when life gives you lemons and all that, he may make a cricket teacher after all....

DH is considering going back to school (as a teacher) he has been approached by an organisation looking for teachers for the building industry. It's being seriously considered at the moment.

Am I a ...

witch? I have dithered about all morning wondering if I should put the washing out (it is quite overcast and dull here). I have just made a decision YES! I should indeed put the washing out, so, I filled the basket from the machine, re-filled the machine, turned around and.... hail stones are falling from the sky. WTF? DS1 is on a field trip today to a local beauty spot. I really hope they are under cover :( and I am secretly glad that they had enough staff and that I am not there.

what do you want first...

the good news or the bad news? DS2 came out of school today in a mood, it turns out that the teacher who locked him in a classroom last week wouldn't let him go to the toilet during a lesson so DS2 muttered "pr*ck" under his breath. Unlike DS2 the teacher isn't deaf and we are now waiting to see if/when he will be suspended from school. DS1 was chatting just now and mentioned that as a "boffin" the school have said he will be taking his GCSEs a year early. Why is there never any communication from school? Why do I get this information from children in passing?? DS3 got a gold certificate for excellence today. As meatloaf says "2 out of 3 ain't bad...".

They are back...

the boys are home. Chaos reigns, the washing pile is 2ft high, DS3 has a wobbly tooth and DS1s voice is breaking (eek). I have to get a better plan for bed time,the current one is shite. I send them to bed at 9ish they faff around until I lose the plot and finally get into bed with lights out at 10 (just in time for us to go to bed). Frankly its not good enough and quite stressful. Must have a think.

I feel like a...

teenager who has been left in charge of the house while my parents are away for the weekend, although it's my children who are missing. We can make mess and eat tosh and not think before we speak. Being a good example is quite draining at times and with 3 Sons, being a referee 24/7 is even more draining than that! I am off to get a take away that I will eat from the container (with a spoon) and I wont do the clearing up until tomorrow. So there!

Spoke too soon...

and now its raining...

Summer is here...

Well, obviously now that I have said that the heavens will open and all my veg will be washed away. I love growing food I can't really see the point of planting flowers when you can plant veg, fruit & salad - it looks just as good and tastes a whole lot better :)

It is 2 weeks until the schools break for the summer, DS3 has 7 weeks off DS1/2 have a few days less. I have so much I want to do before 17th July (fill the freezers for a start ). I hate to start the holidays unorganised. It usually goes Pete Tong by the end of the 4th day but at least I get 4 days of sanity. The children are away this weekend staying with K&S for the last time before they move back to Belfast... I will really miss them when they go. We are staying with them in August at the new house so I suppose its not too long but when we lived in London we were in each others pockets. We still see them a couple of times a month and talk every week. A fraying of the umbilical cord rather than a sudden cut.

I havent written about the arrival of Bebe the dog. We have had her for 5 weeks now and she is very funny and fits in here perfectly. I am allergic to animals so the children knew for sure we would never have a dog. However, Bebe belonged to a friend of our for 6 years and I have become desensitised to her. So, when they announced she was going back to Battersea for various reasons (none to do with the dog) I offered to have her. I say offered, what I really mean is pleaded! They said yes straight away and we took her home with us that night. I am still the best Mum in the world...