Tag: Kids

Summer holidays already!

I cannot believe May and June have slipped by already! Since then I have managed to get a job for a term starting in September and do a fair bit of writing and juggle the children. The last two weeks of term in particular seemed to be spent almost entirely at school. Imp has turned seven and had a sports party which has to be one of the easiest we have ever arranged as the centre did the party, the meal and wore them all out, all we did was the cake and the bags. Hpops is rapidly approaching nine and I am stumped what to get her, we have ruled out a mobile phone and a TV, she had an ipod touch and laptop and so many books she has a queue! Lego is always a good option but she has a fair amount already and after spending lots of time this week going through books, clothes and toys I am reluctant to amass even more, so if anyone knows brilliant presents for a nearly nine year old do let me know. We have booked to take her to the Warner Studio tour, and I have bought her a pretty dress (thanks to the sales!) but need some bits and bobs.

We have been of late lucky with the weather and so as the holidays are now upon us we are taking day trips as and when the weather allows us. it was with some trepidation that I booked tickets for Legoland for the first week of the holiday. However we had a lovely visit and would recommend it. I have also done that horrible job of sorting out the uniform for September in the main and just have the labelling to do, that way it can all be hung up and forgotten about until then. I may still have to run the shoe shop gauntlet but not until nearer the end of the holidays. It stuck me though as Hpops tried on a black skirt and Imp his new shorts and blazer how grown up they have become, time seems to be simply slipping by so quickly.

The last couple of weeks have been fairly emotional, Imp said goodbye to his infant school in readiness for the junior and even though the buildings are on the same site and the school is becoming a primary joined up school the interactions will be less and the uniform changes and expectations go up as does the level of homework. Clubs have all been arranged for next year so my own schedule is taking shape, Monday and Friday at work with all children doing a club and tuesday-thursday lots of writing and supply work! Imp is keen to take up fencing and whilst I am not sure it is a good idea to arm him with an epee we have taken the plunge and signed him up, Pixie is beginning Spanish, again maybe not a good idea as the Imp and Pixie may be able to converse in a language Mr T and I have no knowledge of and therefore plan even more mischief than they do already!

In terms of school they have all had an outstanding year, Imp achieved a level 3 in all subjects for his end of Key Stage 1 and Hpops  is still keeping up with the work. Apparently they are all well-behaved, sunny and polite at school, I am hoping to see more of these qualities at home rather than the arguing, fighting and whinging I usually get.

It strikes me as well how their eating habit change at holiday time. During term time they have three meals, a fruit snack at school and a small snack when they are picked up from school. Once they are  home they seem to want to eat all the time, true they do spend a fair amount of time playing outside so may need more fuel but even so- the amount they can eat is more than me sometimes! Whilst the holidays provide a challenge in terms of entertainment and activities the new term will herald new challenges for us all. I will be working on contract so will have to ensure I am planning lessons, marking and writing reports! Hpops will have to deal with being in the same building as Imp again and Pixie will have to cope with not having her big brother about. Life could get very interesting.

Life lesson #37 Remote control + water = tears

You can tell it is the Easter holidays when we’ve done battle with Lakeside shopping centre, have cable ties from toys all over the place and the sound of whinging is replaced with inventive play with the newest additions to the toy cupboard! That happened on Monday when we, perhaps, ill advisedly battled the Bank holiday traffic to go to the shops to finally allow the children to spend the vouchers they had received at Christmas. The girls settled for dolls and build a bears, Imp on the other hand chose a remote controlled Sebastian Vettel remote control vehicle! We were a little unsure about him having it as he doesn’t have a wonderful record with them as my skirting boards can attest!

Once home it was out of the box, batteries inserted and whizzing around the place crashing into toes and any other debris that happened to be lying about! It was going so well, we only had to take it away once, due to the fact that he had rammed it into something and smashed one of the wing mirrors off! ‘It’s OK,’ he said, ‘He can still see out of the other one!’

I didn’t really suspect anything was up until Tuesday afternoon when  I was informed by Hpops that the car was no longer working. this needed a little investigation. I suggested that perhaps the non-stop use had worn out the batteries the car had been supplied with. This seemed a good idea until Imp said;

‘The tyres might still be wet.’ I of course asked why and was informed that in his wisdom and desire to keep the car looking sleep Imp had decided to wash his new car. Of course the car had not taken too kindly to this as it transpired that it had been fully immersed. We hope that if we dried the batteries and terminals the car might be reincarnated but further inspection proved that the circuit boards inside had reacted badly to the soaking! This caused many tears not least because he had a stern talking to about appropriate use of water, the dangers of putting anything in the water and respect for property. Despite his pleas for a replacement and his insistence that he cannot possibly be happy again if he doesn’t have one he has now come to understand that it will not be replaced. The plugs have since been removed from bathroom other than the main one to prevent any of the children playing with water when they shouldn’t be, not least because the leak we had recently caused by the water tank is enough to deal with for now!

I have to confess I do feel a bit sorry for him, we have convinced him to keep it as a model for now and as his birthday is in June we may be able to find something similar, we’ll see. In other news the little two have adjusted to their new beds well. Pixie is delighted to have a ‘big girls’ bed and says it is snuggly and Imp having had a cabin bed which he decided he didn’t like had the legs shortened and is now much happier. In a happy development he has spent much of his time reading by himself, something I never thought I’d be able to say!  He has discovered the Tom Gates books and has read two in less than a week, indeed when I got up today to do breakfasts and stop the children fighting over the remotes and so on I found two children still in their rooms, one sleeping, one reading and the third  was the one who had asked for food! A very pleasing development!

Olympic Flame starts summer holidays.

School’s out for Summer! This year I have to admit I felt a little sad, no more nursery trips for me now that pixie has left to enter the world of full time school. Hpops has finished Year 3, how is that possible and soon Imp will enter his last year of infant education to be swallowed up into the juniors! It seemed to hit Pixie that she was leaving her beloved teacher the day before term finished and we had a fair few tears, although she is growing up very quickly it is easy to understand how she feels.

It occurred to me that in eight weeks all three of the children will be at school all day and what will I be doing? Well I have now sorted myself out a provisional timetable, on a Tuesday and Thursday I will be reviving my love of teaching as I will be helping out in school. I am quite excited by this, although I won’t be paid I will be doing what I went to university for and helping kids learn, without any of the planning, marking and reporting responsibilities. I am hoping that this may then enable me to get a paid job at some point in the future as I will revive my knowledge  and get to grips with the new technology routinely used in the classroom today.  On Monday and Wednesday I will be run and then write and Friday will be relaxing and then helping out in the library or with swimming, this is as well as chaperoning various clubs and instrument lessons with the children.

Study resumes in October as well so I will have plenty to keep me out of trouble as well as several Dexter, Criminal Minds and CSI DVD box sets to watch, seeing as how they are not really suitable for children to view! Before that I have to survive the summer, our holiday isn’t until the end of the holiday but I have  tried to book some activities in for the children to keep them occupied and they are already excited about the Olympics.

We were all excited to go and see the Olympic Flame on Friday, I was busy watching the tennis until it was time to go. We aimed to arrive an hour before it was due to get to us but even so there was already a lot of people gathering and a buzz of excitement in the air. As people lined both sides of the street of Brentwood we sat the kids on the kerb, they had met some of their friends from school and so chatted along happily, using their ipods to take photos. Luckily Mr T made it as well.

As the crowds thickened the police had their hands full keeping the road open, several cars beeped their way past cheerfully, flags were sold so we could wave the flame through and eventually some police outriders came through high-fiving the kids which added to the excitement for the children.   An ice-cream van fought its way though the crowd and then re-appeared opposite us, clearly sensing an opportunity.  Further down there was a buzz and we knew something was happening, several vans with dancers from the sponsors and Olympic buses with the mascots came past smiling and waving, we had to mind our toes and the police gave up and closed the road completely!

Eventually after a pause the torch itself came through, held aloft by a white tracksuited torch bearer! Everyone was clapping and cheering, waving flags and smiling, even the few drops of rain that fell couldn’t dampen the spirits. We walked back to the car with many of the crowd and everyone was happy and cheerful, having seen a bit of history and shared it with the community. I even got back into the car for to hear Murray win his Wimbledon Semi-final!

We are looking forward to our visit to the Olympics in a few weeks time and I am glad that we are getting towards the start date now and we can actually enjoy the sport rather than the advertising leading up to it! I am counting down to the Wimbledon Final – I hope Murray can do it otherwise despite all he has accomplished people will continue to write him off as an also ran rather than appreciating what he has achieved already!  I suspect however that Federer with his majestic shot making, desire to get back to number 1 and win an historic title could edge him out, but the wonder of sport is you never know, if you want me I’ll be in front of the TV!

 

 

All change at school

The news today is full of the new curriculum due to hit our schools in 2014, my children will be entering years 5,3 and 1 at this point so of course I am interested, especially as they will probably end up being delivered the new senior curriculum currently in the process of being written. It seems as if there is going to be a more victorian flavour to learning as times tables, correct use of apostrophe and phonics take centre stage, in some places this already happens, as do foreign languages. In fact, it has long since been said that children find learning a new language or musical instrument easier than adults and with an increasingly global workplace awaiting them learning a language at an early age can only be a good thing.

I have no real problems with children learning number facts of phonics either but as one of the people interviewed by the news pointed out creativity has to be encouraged as well, it is one thing to teach children their time tables as a set of facts they can manipulate but they also need to be able to apply these facts, understand the learning behind them so they can use them in practical situations.  We know that learning has been targeted to levelled tests and these levels and the way schools are tabled is also going to change, it is not clear yet what is going to replace them. One thing I am not clear on is how this is going to help teachers faced with a crowd of children of varied abilities, learning tables by heart may appear to help them but if they can’t apply the learning it is blnak learning, my kids found one of the ‘exercise’ books we used to have to school. It was full of times tables tests, grammar tests and a variety of simple exercises such as putting an apostrophe in the right place, adding full stops and capital letters, as well as leaning how to add and subtract. It had no pictures and few appealing child friendly colours and they immediately labelled it boring and still say things like; ‘What was school like in the olden days?’

Still half term has come and gone in a blur with the jubilee weekend dominating and a variety of family days before the big return. I am now back to writing every day so that I can hopefully get the second novel written by the end of the year. The rain seems to be never ending at the moment and I think we are all hoping that this means we will have a summer in July and August this year. We have been busy celebrating imps 6th birthday and it is now only a couple of months before Hpops turns eight, and it all seems to have gone in the blink of an eye.

Finally a fun thing we manged to complete over the last ten days was Herman the German Friendship cake. Our neighbour gave us a quarter of her to get us started. The idea is you get given the pre-mixed starter dough and then you look after, feed and finally bale the sour dough cake when the time is up. The children loved having their stir every day and adding the various ingredients. The kitchen did smell a little like a brewery for the duration thanks to the process and at time Herman was a little too enthusiastic and tried to escape from his bowl, perhaps he was offended because it was pink.

Eventually the time came to cook Herman, the kids decided what they wanted to add as the ‘sweeteners,’ we had apple, raisin and brown sugar sprinkled over the top. It took a little longer to cook than we expected but the wait was worth it, I had been warned that due to the sour dough some children didn’t like the taste but mine lapped it up and even wanted more! Herman lasted two days before he was all consumed and the things they learned about cooking and mixing in a fun way, as well as eating the proceeds meant everyone was happy at the end of it. We have passed on the three quarters we didn’t cook and I hope that Pixie’s class have a great time with the stirring!

Our next project is hatching our own butterflies, they should be ready to leave their chysalis just before the summer holidays begin! Meanwhile we are having fun watching the caterpillars and working out how much they have grown and guessing when they are going to start the next stage of their life cycle!

Joyful Jubilee

Sometimes amongst all the bad news about recessions, no-one voting for us in Eurovision and the national football teams not doing as well as expected it can be hard to feel proud to be British! This weekend however I was proud. The warmth and strength of feeling for the queen and all the jubilee celebrations despite the cold wind, pouring rain and crowded conditions were overflowing!

On Saturday we all spent the day in Hyde Park for the jubilee family festival, the place was busy and although we did have to wait an absolute age for toasted sandwiches the day was lovely. The children were delighted to see Mike the Knight, Fireman Sam and Thomas the Tank Engine on stage. I must admit we gave the Disney tent a miss as the queue was snaking around half the children’s area!  One of the highlights came at 3pm for Hpops as Strictly hit the main stage. Robbie Savage, Chelsee Healey and her favourite Kara Tointon appeared, we had managed to keep the personnel a secret and it took her a few minutes to realise it was Kara on stage, but once she did there was a lot of bouncing, silly giggling and when she came out in a floor length peach dress for a waltz with Artem an OMG escaped!

By that time the sun had come out so after a few minute queue we all had an ice-cream and the kids enjoyed racing around the park and burning off some of the huge amounts of energy they seem to have the whole time!  The finale hit the stage and it was a fabulous Disney concert, Pixies squeals when Belle appeared on stage left my ears ringing for ages! As the pirates and princesses took to the stage accompanied by the west end singers the kids jiggled and sang along. Imp was particularly impressed by the appearance of Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie! The Lion King part at the end was great as well and even the tube journey home was pretty much hassle free. Three happy tired kids that day!

Sunday brought us a mini lie in as even our earliest rising child slept until 730am! We made our silly hats for the party we were attending that afternoon! The kids weren’t as interested in the flotilla as I’d hoped and spent most of their time running in and out of the garden even when it was pouring with rain!  One of the hits of the day for them was the candy floss maker – they could each have the colour they desired and flavour! The idea of being able to make it for themselves was also appealing to them and as they were tired even the sugar hit didn’t completely hype them up!

Monday brought Imp’s 6th birthday and he was delighted to receive a mini stereo system and some audio books and he declared that now he was 6 he was able to stay up later and listen to them, just like his big sister! He was visited by two sets of grandparents and started his karting career. For a long time Imp has wanted to go racing but due to his age and height he has had to wait until he reached six. He had his very first lesson on his birthday, he was very excited to put on racing overalls but after his initial briefing realisation set in that this could be dangerous so gave him a bit of healthy respect. Helmet and gloves on he tried getting in the kart which can be awkward but he manged very well and then they were off. The lesson involved getting to grips with the accelerator, brake and steering wheel. He was able to  navigate around cones and by the end of the lesson he could even weave in and out of them. At the end of the session the three boys were allowed a free drive as it were, even though it was on a limited part of the track it gave them the opportunity to whizz around the smaller part. My only moment of anxiety came when the boy behind Imp managed to clonk him quite hard sending him into the kart in front as well as making his head shoot forward, he didn’t seem to be hurt and carried on, and ever the pro when the instructor asked him if he was OK, nodded he was and asked what he needed to do to make his driving smoother. He is now eagerly awaiting his next lesson tomorrow and as long as he does well there he will then be qualified to drive the Bambino kart!

Tuesday brought another party, more BBQ food and a bouncy castle which we got three hours use from before the rain came down again, once more tired, happy children and we shouldn’t forget of course that this is all because the queen has reached her golden jubilee – congratulations Your Majesty!

In other news Tumbling Through Life has been released on Kindle and I was delighted to discover that it has been downloaded in the UK, USA, France and Spain amongst others! I am now busily working on the follow up although as we are in half term and the month of June and beginning of July are filled with school trips, sports days and various other child related appointments it could take some time!

What’s the point?

This is a question one of the kids asked me the other day in response to a request to tidy their room! Of course that was far too time consuming them so instead we ended up having quite a detailed discussion.

‘What’s the point – it only gets dirty again’ she said.

I pointed out that by that logic I needn’t bother doing the washing, ironing, cooking or any of the other cleaning jobs as due to the nature of the house it gets dirty again or they get hungry again. I also pointed out that if that were the case maybe Mr T shouldn’t go to work, after all I am sure there are things he’d rather be doing and so we could live on beans on toast, wear dirty clothes and live in a box – needless to say she did go and tidy her room, but it seemed to get us both thinking about things that are important in life.

Later that day all the kids were sat in the living room glued to i-pods with various degrees of noise coming from them, I confiscated them and said that as the sun was actually shining we were going out to get a few bits and then we were going to make hanging baskets, after lots of moaning we made it to the DIY shop, got the stuff and in the end we did make the hanging baskets. To some extent they must have enjoyed it as Pixie delightedly told her teacher all about the yellow snapdragons this morning. It made me realise how different their growing up will be to mine.

For us we were out and about on our bikes with every opportunity or playing with friends, we’d walk to school and back on our own by the time we were about Hpop’s age without needing a mobile phone to track our whereabouts and we could survive until the next day without have to use facetime or the internet as they weren’t there for us to worry about.  Don’t get me wrong I am Facebook, twitter affiliated and fully i-pod, i-phone etc functional and I won’t deny that on rainy days when they can’t agree what to do they can be a boon but we would have played board games, used our imaginations to play games or built lego. My children still do that but to a lesser degree, everyone is much more safety  conscious and theses days children are much more protected. We are lucky in that we leave in a quiet bit of a cul-de-sac, so in some ways the kids do get a taste of how I grew up, able to play outside with the warning to stay in sight but usually pushing our luck and staying where we could hear ourselves being called, of course we didn’t think about any possible dangers but we had fun.

This week we had a crisis when the very old X-box finally creaked to a halt, cue lots of hysteria and how imp and Hpops couldn’t possibly cope without it.  I must admit I was peeved, Mr T was away and despite my efforts to find a cure it was after a variety of tests pronounced no longer working. In the end to preserve both my sanity and Matthew’s a new one was procured and again it reminded me how much things have changed, I still remember the good old spectrums! Then it occurred to me that the time I spent playing on that, and the time I was thrilled when my Dad taught me to get an old dragon computer to type my name 10 times isn’t so different from the pleasure they get from finishing a game on the X-box or i-pod! Technology may have moved on but the feelings are the same.

What I most want for my kids is for them to be happy, I haven’t got it worked out what I want them to do as I don’t think it is up to me to tell them. I hope that we can give them all the opportunities they need to find out what they are good at, what they enjoy and that somewhere between the two they can work out something that will make them happy. At the moment Hpops wants to be a teacher, a writer, a famous (that word again) and a dancer, imp wants to be a racing car driver, a fireman and a policeman and Pixie wants to be a fairy princess and a mummy! I’m sure they’ll change their minds several times but for the moment we’ll keep letting Hpops go riding and Imp will be karting for his birthday, as for Pixie, she has a dressing up box full of fairy wings and princess wings to keep her happy – the mummy bit can wait for a long time! As we drove to school and they decided to play cloud spotting I came full circle, I remember playing that game and loving making up stories about the shapes in the sky whilst trying to work out while they were there.

So in the end I guess I hope they come to realise that while tidying and cleaning may be boring they are necessary so we can enjoy the pleasures of play and family time and cloud spotting!

What next?

This little phrase when coupled with three kids could mean almost anything but in this instance it actually refers to me! The marathon is over and although I am still running a few times a week I am in the position of fitting it in around my life rather than fitting my life around the running! Not only that nut Pixie goes to school full time in September, so once I have survived the onslaught of the summer holidays I will in a way be a free agent.

For some this might seem their idea of heaven but after four years of looking after the kids and running around like a looney I know I’ll need something to do.  Whilst running and housework can account for some of the time and the trips up to the school for music lessons and meetings as well as helping in the library and with swimming I feel I need something else to do. As a result I have been looking for something part time, feeling this would give me the best work/life balance. It then occurred to me however that this would mean having someone to pick the kids up and drop them off as well as be there for any other training days and so on probably resulting in more hassle than pleasure.

I can pick up the writing again but this can in a way be rather isolating – it is difficult to talk to other people when you’re engrossed in your own little world and whilst I do want to pick the writing back up again as well as try to catch Heather up on piano as she is now way ahead of me, I still felt I could do with ‘something.’ I considered supply teaching but even there the hours would not be compatible with the kids hours so more stress. As a result the only think I could thing was to do some voluntary work, preferably at the kids school, although not with my own ones so that I can at least get myself up to date and get back into the idea of being in the class room.

I also wanted to pick up me study as I would love to train as an education psychologist but need to finish my courses so from September  I am hoping to do a couple of days in school, a couple of days of writing and some study, – I guess that should keep me nice and busy as well as keeping the house clean, doing some exercise and trying to review books as they get sent to me! That way playing the piano and cross stitch can become hobbies as well providing I am not too tired!  This should result in me being more stimulated and satisfied and therefore more helpful to the children rather than us all taking each other for granted.

The summer term is now in full swing and as we approach June the list of events to observe or participate in is growing rapidly – sports day, swimming galas, dance shows and parents evening just to name but a few as well as trips for all the kids to various places. Whilst I love the busyness that leads up to the holidays it can become exhausting as well!

It struck me recently how much the kids are growing up – it wasn’t long ago that they needed help with dressing and so on and now they are in the main independent. The weekends now are filled with activities and parties but we have persuaded our elf that he is allowed to come downstairs and fix himself a bowl of cereal and watch TV if he so wishes. It also stuck me how different their childhood is compared to mine – they play outside and in the garden as well as read and colour in and play games but their lives are also filled with gadgets. Since they were small they have been able to operate various ‘i’ gadgets competently and move easily into new technology! Pixie was practicing her alphabet recently and instead of x for X-ray or Xylophone we got X for X-box! How times have changed!

Best foot forward for the Easter Bunny

The kids are excited – tomorrow being Easter and all that brings with it school holidays and the promise of chocolate. For some reason despite constantly referencing the Easter Bunny they don’t seem to believe in his/her/ its power to steal Easter eggs as well as deliver them! Predictably as soon as the holidays began the weather changed from glorious sunshine to cloudy with occasional showers, worsening to deep snow depending how far North you were!

Despite that the holidays began quietly, filled with boring but necessary tasks such as dental check-ups all run, (thank goodness none of us had any problems!), opticians for Hpops and the confirmation that she is slightly long sighted and then a visit to the hairdressers for all so that they could be tidied up! The big two enjoyed a craft and cooking day at Bake it Make it, a business run by local mums. The kids made cornflake nests, chocolate thins, easter bunny pegs and easter wreaths which have been proudly hung on bedroom door handles and have certainly brightened the place up. Not only did they get all this with a break for lunch fitted in but the two ladies running it seemed unruffled when we collected the children and unlike my house when any kind of craft work is carried out it did not look as if a pillow had just exploded or the entire contents of the cooking cupboards spilt all over the floor!

On Thursday I aged another year – I celebrated by taking the children to Pizza Hut and then bowling where they wasted no time in absolutely thrashing me! I did redeem myself by winning an angry birds pig teddy from one of those coin hungry arcade machines, the fact that I could probably have bought the thing for about half of what we put in it was lost on the children, all that they cared about was that money went in and a teddy came out! In the evening we had a movie night and I was delighted when all three of them sat and watched the first Harry Potter film. Copious amounts of popcorn probably held but Elf really seemed engrossed in the film and even Hpops acknowledged that it was OK!

Yesterday was yet more errands and preparing for Mr T’s birthday – he celebrates today and to be honest after Elf’s football, in the cold with no cafe serving hot drinks, we’ve done very little. Watched the boat race which turned out to be very dramatic, football focus, read a little, played with the kids a little and will soon be blowing candles out from atop a muppets birthday cake – chosen by the kids of course because this year we couldn’t repeat the feat of the football cake from last year.

Marathon training is now tapering and at last the end seems to be in sight, just over two weeks to go. Last week I managed just over 20 miles and still felt relatively OK! It is nice to think that most of the hard training is done and dusted now although I am still trying to raise money for the charities I am supporting.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/melsmarathonmadness

Tomorrow is a half marathon and then lots of chocolate. This week I have been doing other preparation in terms of trying to work out how to get to the start line on race day! My initial plan to walk five minutes down the road, jump on a train to Liverpool street then switch to the tube and so on has now been disrupted due to the fact that upon checking the train timetable it appears there are engineering works taking place! After a brief panic and the discovery that all the marathon coach/breakfast packages had been booked I decided that what will have to happen is a journey into Dartford, this will take me straight into Blackheath – hopefully in plenty of time. My first goal is to offload my kitbag and get to the starting point on time rather than still be queueing for the toilet when I am supposed to be at the start, which is what happened to me at the Brentwood half a couple of weeks ago, it didn’t particularly compromise my race but had to start from the back.

The nerves are beginning to kick in as I look at the route and read all the information in the official magazine which describes what happens at the expo that has to be attended, work out what I need to take with me and even worry about who is going to stand where and try to ensure I remember all of it so I don’t just jog past and ignore them. I am hoping my GPS app will still work but knowing how many people are going to be around this is not guaranteed.

Wishing everyone a happy chocolate filled Easter!

Time does fly…

It doesn’t seem like it but it is now just over four years since my little Pixie was born as she celebrated her birthday last week. She was the first one of the children to have their birthday on a school day as Hpops always has hers in the summer holidays and Imp is often in the half term. This didn’t stop her, she was up early enough to open the majority of her cards and presents before we had to leave for school, she was delighted to wear a birthday badge on her school top and take in some sweets to share with her friends.

The afternoon was difficult as she couldn’t decide what she wanted to do, first it was the cinema, then it was a restaurant and in the end we went to the local starbucks for pink milk and a cookie, as once she got home she  was distracted by more presents and cards. She enjoyed blowing out the candles on her cake and then the next count down started – the one to her party! She was very excited about this having been to quite a few of her class mates and some of the ones the older children had attended. In between we went to a roller skating party.

It was interesting watching the children go from complete beginners, where every move resulted in them falling over to novices which meant they could almost get around the whole course. Imp and Pixie proved to be very dodgy and I spent most of my time scooping them off of the floor or preventing them falling over. Hpops on the other hand after a shaky start seemed to figure out how to stay on her feet and manouvere herself around without too many problems. The evening ended with the realisation that Imp had lost his second tooth although it was nowhere to be seen. He spent some of the time looking for it but after a bit of coaxing he conceded defeat. Luckily we were able to convince him that if he smiled when he went to sleep the tooth fairy would see the gap and might leave him a reward, which of course is what happened.

The weekend heralded Pixie’s party, excitement before the event was reaching fever pitch and the entertainers comment; ‘She’s buzzing isn’t she?’ made me wonder if she was going to run out of energy. She attacked the microphone with gusto, danced with all her might and revelled in all the games and tricks the entertainer played. She did indeed thoroughly enjoy her party and adrenalin carried her through until quite late. It caught up with her on Sunday though and an early night seemed to get things back on track.

Whilst all these celebrations were going on marathon training continued, apart from a few days off thanks to a back injury, I was lucky enough to get a quick referral to a physiotherapist who not only diagnosed the problem and helped solve it, but also gave me some exercises to improve my core strength to make running easier. It turned out to be a pulled back and after a few days not running I was allowed to try and run and see if there was any pain. I was delighted when there wasn’t and then once I had seen the physio for a second visit and been given the go ahead I was able to resume normal training. I have a half marathon race this weekend and then just three long runs, an 18, 20 and then a 15 mile before the big day. It seems close not, only a calendar month which is both exciting and frightening, I think I am getting to the point now where I just want to to get it done and then the mammoth talk which seems to have taken over my life will be over, I guess now all I need to do is decide what I am going to do afterwards.

Half Term and back to training

Half term seemed to come around very quickly, and we spent the majority of it at Centreparcs, the Elveden Forest site. I have to admit that having read a few reviews on various websites I was a little apprehensive as they had several bad reviews listed. Many were disappointed with staff attitudes, cleanliness and availability of activities. Still we packed up and headed off arriving just after lunchtime. You cannot get into your accommodation until 3pm but you can arrive onsite early, park up and make use of the facilities, however, the only facilities included in the holiday price are the sub tropical swimming paradise and the outside play areas. Sports, kids clubs and craft activities generally cost extra and at peak periods such as school holidays get booked up quickly.

On arrival we were greeted and given our keys but told we couldn’t go to the villa until 4pm as they were running late with the cleaning, this wasn’t a problem and we made ourselves comfortable in one of the on-site restaurants and met up with the rest of the family. We planned the rest of the meals for the week and booked them while we were waiting and managed to get pretty much what we wanted, we were also able to book in for the spa.

On arrival at the villa we were pleased to see how close it was to the main village and that we wouldn’t require bikes in order to persuade the kids to venture out, as we hadn’t brought any – there were a lot around and you can hire them but beware there are a lot of wobbly riders out there and some do not look where they are going and can be tricky to navigate around on the more narrow pathways. The accommodation was clean and tidy and for a family of five fairly spacious. The remainder of our party were in a villa opposite us and beside them was a semi-famous person; Max from Eastenders and his family – not that we bothered them as they were clearly having a family holiday and did not seem to want to sign autographs etc.

We ate in the villa and again everything was clean and tidy and in working order. On Tuesday the kids were attending a queen of hearts tea party, this enables the adults the opportunity to try the swimming pool without them – the rapids were indeed rapid and not to be tried after a trip to the hot pools as the temperature difference is huge! The slides are fast and for the faster one there is often a large queue. The males of the party enjoyed the competitiveness of clay pigeon shooting whilst the rest of us spent the time exploring the site and using the climbing frames and so on.

We all enjoyed our dinner at Hucks, the kids thought the buffet was brilliant and there was a play area for the kids to keep them occupied while they were waiting, as well as a computer bank for the older kids. The food was quick, the staff friendly and I would definitely go there again. Our second full day was busy as we paid a visit to the swimming pool with the kids. The yellow and orange buoyancy aids supplied were a big hit and gave them all the confidence they needed to try the wave machine, slides and in Hpop’s case the rapids. It seemed a world away from the days when my little imp refused to go near the water, as soon as he  came down a slide he was out and back into the queue. Pixie declared in true Pixie fashion that she didn’t like the swimming pool because it was too wet, and she didn’t like the slide because it was too skiddy, right before she asked to go on again.

We tried ten pin bowling in the afternoon, another hit and then in the evening we had a magic show at the Pancake House. The food was buffet style and plentiful and tasty and magic Olly came around to do some close up magic before the show. The trick he did with our children and the multiplying sponge balls amazed them and was brilliant to watch. During the show itself he picked on Pixie to help him with the ever growing wand trick, she was unfazed by a roomful of people and wasn’t afraid of telling the magician exactly what she thought of his giant wands. They were thoroughly entertained and we had another quiet evening.

Thursday saw another visit to the swimming pool before the men took over kids entertainment duty and I and my MIL escaped to the spa. It was a long walk from the village but well appointed, the only thing that was slightly disappointing was the necessity to change in open plans rooms, when we went the place was quite busy and for those who are self conscious for one reason or another this can be a problem. We participated in the 3 hours spa around the world experience where you roam around two floors of rooms at your own leisure and decide where you want to go, we really like the Indian steam room and the Turkish one as well. Again a slight niggle that people spending the day enjoying the facilities had taken up residence on the loungers and water beds meaning that despite the signs asking people to be no more than 15 minutes these facilities were rarely available. It wasn’t the warmest of days but even so the outside pool with various massaging water jets was warm and lovely.

Dinner was at Cafe Rogue and again was fine and another play area to keep the kids occupied. Back at the villas we had to start packing up once the kids went to bed as check out is 10am. On this occasion we decided to leave then and come home to do some other bits before the children returned to school but you can stay on and use the facilities if you wish. All in all a good break with plenty of fun for everyone.

With the snow and ice gone it was back to a proper training schedule. Running at CentreParcs was lovely, the air was fresh, no cars are allowed on site after check in day and you can smell pine trees all the way round. There are some lovely views of the lakes as well and so I felt fairy revitalised running there. At the weekend I ran a half marathon and have to admit I found it very difficult. This week the training has gone well and I already have 20 miles on the board and tomorrow aiming for a 15 mile run. Fundraising is going well with a steady flow of contributors. (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/melsmarathonmadness) It has struck me however how isolating the training can be. You spend a lot of time running at the most miserable time of year, it is cold, wet and dark for most of the time but you need to get the miles into your leg. A lot of people you know see you running or hear about what you’re doing so you spend a lot of time talking about running as well as doing it, but at the same time it can be lonely. If you run for a club or train with someone the experience is probably different, but for me doing the majority of my training by myself due to the hours in which I can train  (school time) it can be difficult. Pixie has just switched to going to school in the morning so that makes life easier. I can have breakfast with the kids, take them to school, run and then  have lunch with Pixie when I pick her up after my run but at the same time for the last few months I have had to say no to invitations for evening events because I am due to run early in the morning, a couple of birthday parties of lunches because it conflicts with training and even getting up earlier than usual to run or going out in the evenings if Mr T is home early enough. In reality I am one of the lucky ones, I work around the kids so although the writing is suffering at the moment I can prioritise training whereas those working full time still have to fit their running in. Despite this there have been times when I have wondered what on earth I am letting myself in for, why do I want to run just over 26 miles and the answer is because it has always been an ambition of mine, precisely because of the doubts that I can actually do it – I have to now prove it to myself and for the charities that I am raising money for.

A lot of people talk about a running bug, that once you start you won’t stop. I can honestly say that I won’t stop altogether but I will not be running every day after the marathon, I’ll cut down to 2-3 times a week with a maximum of 5 miles. There are other things I enjoy that are less severe on knees and ankles and carry less risk of getting injured. I have been touched by the interest people have shown and the those wanting to come and watch and am also in the process of trying to work out where it would be best for them to be if they want to be together. I have no idea how I am going to feel once I have actually completed the course but I am sure it will be worth it in the end, 8 weeks and counting …