Joys 5th Birthday

I realize I haven't yet got around to Donalds birthday, and I will but I just want to mention here that on Donalds 7th Birthday (which was a saturday) we had a party for him in the house, from that day Joy had it into her head that she would be having a party on her birthday too, we were not prepared to have another house party in such a short space of time and her brithday was to be on a tuesday which isn't exactly an appropriate day for a party anyways so I had arranged to have a 'party' at the beach for her instead!

The night before her birthday I laid out all her presents

When she woke up she tore through all her presents so quickly there was no time to get a photo of her unwrapping anything! We got her a Happy land windmill farm, a Happy land Toy shop, a Happy land roaming rose caravan, a doodle bear, a hello kitty picnic basket, 2 strawberry shortcake playsets, and my personal favourite.. a toy cake set with lots of velcro pieces so you can design it anyway you like!

                                            
                                                  We also got her a balloon with her age on it..

..and a birthday badge so everyone knows its her special day!

there was another badge under her cardigan too, just incase she took her cardigan off!

While she waited for it to be time for the party she got some birthday cuddles from her brothers!

Eventually we got tired of waiting around and headed for the beach! we were way too early but the kids had a fantastic time playing while we waited for our friends to arrive!

When everyone arrived we had a picnic then sang 'Happy Birthday' and had some delicious chocolate cake!

I had 3 games planned. The first was called island hopping. I filled a white bucket with water from the sea and laid out some mats, the children were divided into teams and each team had a white cup. the aim was to fill their cup from the white bucket and then jump across the mats trying not to spill the water from their cup, they each had an orange bucket at the end to dump the water into then they had to run back and give the cup to the next player, the game continued until the white bucket was empty, the team with the most water in the orange bucket won. The second game was a seashell relay race. each team had to find a seashell and I laid out some mats quite far apart. the first player had to run with the seashell on their forehead to the next player then that player ran with the seashell on their forehead to the next, and it continued like this until the final player reached the finish line.

The third game was called fill the bucket. I took the 2 orange buckets down to the sea and placed them a short distance from the water each team had to fill their bucket to the halfway mark using only their hands, the team that filled their bucket first won.

When the third game finished everyone was free to play how they liked. Donald and Teo wanted to play with the buckets

                                                         Joy wanted carried in the water

                                              ...But nearly got dunked in!

Some stayed in the water for a while

 Back on the grass I asked our friends to draw some pictures on some squares which were tied together so Joy would have something to remember the day by

What a fantastic day everyone had!

Just incase she wasn't happy enough we ended her birthday with a happy meal!

When we got home I hung up the pictures everyone drew so that she would always remember her special 5th Birthday at the beach!

She snuggled into bed and was asleep in no time at all and I noticed she was a little bit sunburned too!

The Beach Party was so much fun I think we may have to do it every year weather permitting!

Learning to Ride a 2 Wheel bike

Living in a tiny flat with no storage it was never one of our priorities to buy bicycles for our children. Donald got a bike from my aunt one christmas when he was 3 which we had always kept, but used very little, he outgrew it and we bought him an orange one from tesco for £20 which was faulty but we couldnt return it because we didnt keep the reciept so we got rid of that one and he never got to ride it. when he turned 7 I felt ashamed that we hadn't taught him to ride a 2 wheel bike, I thought if we don't teach him soon he'll grow up and never be able to ride a bike. we took the training wheels off the little bike he got when he was 3, deciding we would teach joy to go a 2 wheel bike as well. we borrowed my cousins bike which she had outgrown to teach Donald on and went to the battery park. My expectations were that Joy would be excited and eager to ride the bike alone and that Donald would scream and cry and refuse to try. these expectations were far from what actually happened.

We arrived at the battery park and they were both excited and ready to learn. They pushed their bikes along to an empty bench where we could sit between turns.

Donald got to go first, he got on his seat, hands on handle bars, feet on pedals. William held onto the back of the seat and pushed him along until he got his pedal power going then let go, Donald was great at balancing and fast at pedalling, William ran beside him.

After cycling to the other side of the park and back Donald was exhausted!

He had a rest on the bench while Joy waited for her turn.

Joy was surprisingly more cautious than Donald was, William held onto the back of her seat while she pedalled and when he let go she was doing fine..

...but then she would look around to make sure daddy was still holding on and lose her balance! William soon discovered she had a technique of her own..

She didn't want him to push her at all, she wanted to pedal herself! after an exhausting cycle to the other side of the park and back she announced it was Donalds turn again

'on yer bike Donald'

Donald was happy to have another go, Joy ran beside them!

after just a few times practicing up and down the park they were both addicted to bike riding!

I was so proud of both of them, and completely surprised at how easily Donald took to it! Neither of them wanted to go home! Now I can see they are both ready and able to ride bikes I will need to buy them new bikes, the one Joy was on is a bit too small and besides that a boys bike. the one Donald is on is a girls bike and william thinks the handle bars are too far away so the plan is to buy new bikes after Teos birthday. Teo might even get a trike for his birthday! we still have a few kinks to work out in the meantime, we need to teach them how to steer and Donald tends to just drop off when he stops, we need to teach him how to stop properly, but with balance and pedalling mastered everything else should fall into place easily!

saving electricity

some time ago I went on a mission to save electricity because it costs me way too much. my tv gets switched off at the wall and therefore only gets switched on between 8 and 11pm and my computer gets switched off at the wall and forgotten about completely, I check my facebook on my phone, I rarely check my email anymore and as for blogging, well you can see that too has been neglected. occassionally I consider going on the computer but the thought of waiting for it to load up puts me off so i don't bother unless I need to do some online shopping, as a result of not turning the computer on very much I decided I didn't need the size of broadband I had and switched to the cheapest broadband available by my service provider. I also downsized my tv and phone package while I was at it and have saved around £50! (not sure if I've saved much on electricity, they still ask me to continue paying £70 a month)
 I appologize to you my readers that I have not been posting lately, Its not that we haven't been doing anything, because we have been having so many fantastic days out, Joys birthday being just one of the most recent, I have just been too lazy to switch the computer on! I may eventually backtrack and write about joys birthday, and maybe even donalds too which was back in march, but first I plan to write about our most recent adventure, teaching Donald and Joy to ride bikes!

Don't stop me dreaming

I'm a big dreamer. I live in a world of fantasies. I'm full of big ideas and not much more. I need my dreams though. for if I shut my eyes and saw myself growing old in this flat I would seriously consider ending my life.  I dream of a house, not a big house, but a house I can build with my own hands, maybe with some help of friends and family (if I had any) Okay, that was uncalled for, I know I have lots of friends, and you all know who you are but if I had the money and resources (which, I don't right now, but hey maybe someday I am only 25) would you help me build a house?

I dream of a Garden, a beautiful colourful garden with lots of birds and creatures, maybe a garden I can grow my own food in too, I dream big like that. I dream of planting it with my children, maybe even my grandchildren, because lets face it my kids are half way grown and I'm nowhere near realizing my dreams.


It's craziness because I know all of this is unlikely to ever happen. As it is I can't even grow a cress head on my windowsill or hang a curtain rail. It would be a great place to start, absolutely and if I fail I try again and again until I am sucessful. Ah you see I'm full of ambition like that but the reality is I'm not going to hang that curtain rail and I'm not going to grow that cress head. why? maybe I'm lazy.. maybe I'm afraid.. I don't really know for sure but I'll still dream about it. I'll dream of the things I could do if only I tried and I'll probably never get around to it and I'll never know why for sure. and of course, these are things the children will need to be able to do eventually as well, but if their own mother and father don't do it, where will they learn it? for god sake give me a hammer! I need to figure this out for the childrens sake! Now, If I can manage that sucessfully (we will see) I know I can get around to building that house.. right? wrong. my husband is not very enthusiastic about it. Oh, he's all for the idea of having our own house built, if we had the money and resourses, as long as we don't have to design it or lift a finger, now what's the fun in that? sure we'll have a beautiful sturdy house to live in but it won't mean much more than a roof over my head if I don't make myself a part of it!

I am a dreamer. I try to dream realistically but Dreams aren't meant to be realistic are they? Just please, Don't stop me dreaming.

quarter of a century

Well, That is me quarter of a century now. Yesterday was definitely a birthday to remember, unlike my 18th or 21st, which I can't really remember, okay I remember having a pig cake on my 21st and I was pregnant with Donald on my 18th but that's all.

Yesterday I wore 2 badges, 1 that read 'It's My Birthday' because it's important to me that the world know it's my birthday, and 1 that read '25, quarter of a century' because alot of people Don't believe I'm that young, in fact if it weren't for my birth certificate saying february 17th 1986 I would probably believe my mother skipped a few of my birthdays.

I dressed up in the new red dress and shoes my husband bought me and I wore JML slimming pants underneath because when I wear a dress I look pregnant. they were quite uncomfortable but worth it because I looked nicer, not that pregnant's a bad look for me, I just didn't want people stopping me to ask how far along I am and having to explain that I'm not!

First we went to my grans house, and shared some cake with my gran and granda, William cut such thick slices though that I was feeling quite full and regretted eating cake before lunch.

It was a long journey to braehead because my husband had his battery changed and forgot to get the code for the radio before we left the house, I bought an album from the t-mobile jukebox for my phone but I couldn't download the songs right away so it was no use.

When we finally got to Braehead we went to elc first to pick up a dinosaur CD for donalds birthday party because the one we had somehow got scratched and kept skipping. while there we noticed Happy Land toys were on sale, so bought some things for Joy's birthday.

Then, we went to TGIF, the kids got their goodybag and balloon which kept them quiet for most of the time. William got a free milkshake and I got a free smoothie thanks to a voucher I got from their website when I signed up to the birthday club. I ordered a 3 course meal for £13 mozzarella sticks for starter, chicken tenders for main, and brownie for dessert. William just had wicked chicken which also cost £13! I tried to get them to help me with my starter because it was quite a big portion but they didn't help much at all. I struggled with my main, and gave most of my chips to Teo. I kept checking the time, worried that we were going to miss Yogi Bear. we decided to get Desert in a doggy bag to take away so we wouldnt miss the film but it was still taking too long. as we fretted and kept looking at the clock, waiting for desert and the cheque the waiter came back with a chocolate fuge cake with a candle in it and asked me to stand. he asked my name and how old I was and then asked the whole restraunt for his attention and announced my birthday and with the help of some other waiters sang me a Birthday song! I was absolutely delighted! I had never had so much attention on any birthday ever, I absolutely loved it, It just made my day! I blew out the candle and they put the cake in a doggy bag along with the brownie I had ordered (if I knew i was going to get free cake I probably would have just went for the 2 course meal for £10)

At the cinema we asked for tickets to see yogi bear and they said which showing? we said now and they asked 3d? we said no. they said that the 2d started at 2:45 and relief washed over us, we were so sure the film was meant to start at 2:10 and so worried about being too late, and we were early. we sat down and opened the cake box. I made them help me because after everything I had already eaten there was no way I could eat a cake and a brownie! there was no need to order any snacks for the movie, we were all much too stuffed!

The film was absolutely brilliant, lots of laughs. at first Teo and Joy kept running around and I could see william was getting very upset. Eventually I managed to grab him and I fed him and he went to sleep, once he was settled, Joy settled down and we could all enjoy the film in peace.

afterwards, we went to the toilet before the long journey home when I realized I had been bleeding. I'm not sure if the slimming pants brought it on or if it was going to happen anyway but I didn't let it ruin my day because lets face it, it's all a part of nature and it's going to happen on alot of womens birthdays. It brought back memories of when Joy stopped breastfeeding and I started bleeding, I remember it didn't stop until I became pregnant with Teo. I just hope it's not going to be like that again.

Later that night we took Donald to anchor boys, we didn't have dinner first because we were all still too full. After Anchor boys we made tuna pasta for dinner and had more cake and icecream. Feeling incredibly full, sleep brought us all relief.

No Smoking Please

Firstly, Before I begin I would like to state that I hold nothing against a particular friend of mine who does smoke and hope this blog does not offend her because she has always been considerate when she does it usually doing it away from the children and myself or making sure that the smoke is blowing in the opposite direction to us, she thoughtfully asks if it bothers me and I appreciate her consideration greatly. she is a wonderful friend and as I said I hold nothing against her.

Now, Yesterday as you may remember it was a very wet day. I got the kids in their puddle suits and put the little one in the back pack and started walking to the bus stop. I don't like the one on the corner because I am so paranoid about the bus zooming past without seeing us so I walked to the one at barrs cottage. I thought of walking all the way to church but when I reached barrs cottage and checked the time, there was only 25 minutes to get there which I felt would not be enough time to walk at the speed my children travel.

I stepped into the bus shelter and the children followed behind. No, sooner were we enjoying the dry shelter than a woman lit a cigarette. If I was more of a bold person I'd have said to her 'look here you, theres children here, have you no consideration?' unfortunately, I'm not bold so I just took the little one in the backpack out into the rain and the other 2 followed. the children were quite happy jumping in the muddy puddles while we waited for the bus, but as time passed, another woman arrived at the bus shelter and also lit up, it was a long 15 minutes waiting in the rain for the bus to arrive.

Later, after church I went to my father in laws as we do every sunday. I enjoy the social interaction, catching up with family, but when everyone starts lighting up it's either a case of sit and breathe in the poison or leave the room. It's a lonely business being a non-smoker. I find myself spending more time chatting with my 12 year old niece every week than the rest of the family. and yet, as much as I try to keep away from the smokers when they light-up by the time I get home I can smell it on my clothes, in my hair, on my skin, it makes me nauseas. It felt like an eternity getting the children to bed last night, especially since they wanted to stay up and watch 'dancing on ice'! As soon as they were in their beds, I jumped in a bath and scrubbed the smell away!

Unfortunately, this is an issue I can rant about as much as I like, It will never go away. I can't just not visit family and they aren't going to leave their own home to smoke, My very own Gran is another heavy smoker that bothers me. Even when the children climb up on her knee, she will still sit there with a cigarette in her hand. I watch as the smoke spirals around their faces, their clothes and hair and skin smells of it all day, it makes me sick, but it would be wrong to deny them visiting their great gran wouldn't it? and let's face it, nobody ever visits us because they don't want to be in a place they aren't allowed to do what they want.

and so, I reach out to you, my readers, what do I do?  I am a minority in just about everything I do, and I certainly feel like a minority as a non-smoker as well. Some people feel that I am the problem and not the smokers, is that possible? do I need to 'lighten up?'

your opinions will be greatly appreciated, please comment.

Getting Out Of Hibernation!

Every year is the same, near the end of summer I promise myself I wont go into hibernation and that I'll still go out in the winter but come the start of winter hibernation sneaks up on me! Getting out of hibernation is hard too but I'm getting there! last week I went to the cinemas in clydebank with E & J which was great because it was saver tuesday all tickets were just £3.95! we saw 'Gullivers Travels' the only disappointing bit was mcmonagles chippy was closed for refurbishment so we had to find somewhere else to eat. during our day out last week E mentioned the tall ship and We agreed to do that this week so that's what we did today!

It was quite an adventure just getting there since neither E or I knew how to get there, but surprisingly after asking a few people for help, we made it without any problems!

As we stepped on board we noticed a school group was in so we ran fast and far! we hid below deck where there was plenty of space to run..

...and explore!

As we went even lower to the deck beneath the water, Teo continued to explore, climbing up stairs which were sectioned off.

The School Group was beginning to come down now so we decided to go back to the upper deck. There was plenty to explore up there, first a little peek out the window..

and isn't this an interesting seat?

Move! I want a turn!

This is great!

Now Teo's turn!

Then they found a bell to ring!

Joy tried with all her might!

But she couldn't get it to work.

Then with a little help from J...

She managed at last!

After exploring most of the upper deck they sat down for a rest

Until they heard a Strange sound.. then they climbed up onto the side to see a hellicopter Taking off, it was very exciting to watch! later we heard a similar sound and saw one landing too! but sadly while we were watching the helicopters E and I got told off for allowing our children to climb up on the sides, didn't we realize how dangerous that was?

We went through a door on the upper deck and found ourselves in the kitchen! Teo was delighted!

and Finally, after all that exploring a nap was definitely needed!

They had such a great time exploring the tall ship but poor Donald was rather hungry and desperate to get off the ship and have something to eat. But as we got off the ship we noticed a game to play and Donald had to wait a while longer for some food.

After something to eat the kids were all in a much better mood and ready to play some more! they found some clothes to dress up in!

I bought them a notebook and crayon from the gift shop for the journey home and Donald drew pictures about his day.

The Journey home was very quiet!

I'm now looking forward to another day out, I think it's safe to say I'm no longer in hibernation!

Blocks of fun.

Today was a fun day, but it didn't start off that way. I had convinced myself that I was going to get up early and walk to church today since William was at work. But I haven't walked to church in several weeks since William has had holidays from work and driven us the past few weeks. I set my alarm for 8am that would give us 2 hours to get ready and out the door but it didn't go to plan. I dismissed my alarm and went back to sleep, sleeping until after 9, there was no chance of making it so I decided to re-arrange Joy & Teo's bedroom instead. It was madness! furniture and Toys everywhere, I could barely move! it took alot of time but I got there in the end!

By the time I had finished, it was time to go to my father in-laws but I hadn't even got dressed! absolute madness. But, we got there!

we brought Teos blocks out to my father in-laws and I spelt my name with them.

It was REALLY difficult to make my last name!

My Niece made her name with the blocks but when she went to take a picture...

Teo started knocking it down! The little terror knocked the whole thing down!

How devastating! Afterwards, He sat down and began stacking some blocks.

While he did that, his cousin managed to reconstruct her name and take a photo of it!

We went out a walk and Teo went for a nap.

While the little terror slept we were safe to create the ultimate masterpiece!

What a Block of Fun today has been!