A Mother's Ramblings

I blogged the other day about the rules we have for Summer this year and thought I'd blog about the way that Top Ender has risen to the challenge, as I was rather surprised at how fantastic this craft was. One of the rules is that the children have to create something every day and on the second day, it was almost as if Top Ender decided to take it up a notch. Dan Jon Jr was in my room, sitting on my bed talking to me about a drawing he had made and I was impressed. Dan Jon had drawn a potato man on a moped, wearing a swiss cheese jacket and the level of detail was amazing. And then in walked Top Ender.

So we've had a proper week of Summer Holidays, so far we've not killed each other, we've created a lot, we've walked a lot, we've read, we've painted, danced, watered, jumped in sprinklers, gardened and had several adventures! This coming week, Top Ender is at camp so Dan Jon and I will be adventuring on our own and having some fun!

This Summer, I've decided to do something a little bit different. You see, every Summer I pretend that the children aren't going to spend all day on their electronics and every Summer, the children spend all day on their electronics. Yup, I know I haven't ever told *you* that but I guess that is because I wanted to seem a little bit like I was in control of my children! However, I've decided that I don't care. I mean obviously, I care about my children but if they want to spend all day on the consoles then they can because guess what, this is their Summer holiday too and that's what they like to do, that's how they like to relax and actually, for the most part, the games that they are playing are partly educational too!

As many of you know, Dan Jon, Top Ender and I go to Church on a Sunday together. Flyfour is a different branch of Christianity to us three and although he sometimes joins us, he much prefers to worship in his own way and this means mostly on a Sunday, the children and I head off to Church and leave Flyfour at home. Now, if I were Flyfour I would probably use the time to sleep or read, or surf the web, possibly have a nice long shower, but no. No, you see as well as Flyfour being a better me than I am, Flyfour is also one of those amazing people who does amazing things for others when he could be taking time out for himself.

HOORAY! So the Summer holidays have officially started here at A Mother's Ramblings and we could not be happier. Six weeks (it is six weeks right?) of not much going on, of the children eating me out of house and home and hopefully, six weeks of us enjoying time together! With that in mind, other than the weekend meals the rest aren't planned... just sort of in the back of our mind so we can have a week of using up the odds and ends we have here!

Over the last few weeks, Dan Jon has been cracking us up with his jokes and misheard moments, so here is one of these that we hope you'd like to read and enjoy giggling at with us! When we had decorated Dan Jon's bedroom, we had a few days gap between dismantling his old bed, painting the bedroom, having his new carpet laid and of course finally having his bed delivered and put together. This meant, much to Dan Jon's delight that he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of his bedroom. It was to his delight because Dan Jon hated the cabin bed he had been sleeping on and much preferred the bed on the ground thing.

Top Ender and I joked a little in a live Facebook video that we were thinking of skipping going to the Theatre and instead going out to eat. We, of course wouldn't have done that because we love the Theatre and we love seeing new shows and we'd already eaten... not that that would have stopped us, we're both foodies. Anyway. We had heard a little about Wonderland from my friends in the Theatre world and from the blogs and forums I follow that talk about the Theatre. From what I could tell, it was a good show one that was suitable for children aged six and older and this adaptation, set in the modern world and given a contemporary update worked well for both the audience members who knew the story of Alice and for those who were totally new to it. So we went off to the theatre, was totally recognised and found our seats and waited for the show to begin. IT WAS AMAZING!

The last few weeks have gone so fast, I can't believe how quickly they have passed! I think that's the thing about having all the works going on in my house, it's really helped the time to pass! With that in mind, this is what is happening this week in our house and what we're eating.

This morning, whilst you are waking up in your nice warm beds, I'm waking up (if I ever went to bed that is) in a cold tent. So whilst you are enjoying your warm, comfortable bed just take a moment to think of me okay?

Many a time I have been told that Top Ender is just like me, and I get it. I mean yes we look alike and we have many of the same interests and if I'm being perfectly honest she has every single one of my flaws and faults and sometimes I can't overlook them because as we all know the faults we hate most in ourselves we see most clearly in others. However, the one part of me that I am glad that Top Ender has inherited is her love of helping others, working with children and allowing children the chance to know that they are loved, worthwhile and can achieve anything they put their minds to. I think this is why Top Ender loves being a Guide so much and not just being a Guide, but also being the Patrol Leader for the youngest Guides in her unit and also why she is eager to be part of the Young Leaders programme... so much so that she has started almost a year early (with permission from her Unit Leader) by helping out at the feeder Brownies Group. It's lovely picking Top

I'm not saying that I'm an internet addict, but I think I'm pretty close. So what would I do if I had no internet? I'd clean the house from top to bottom. I'd go to the gym or for a walk or a bike ride. I'd go to my friends and neighbours homes to chat. I'd bake cakes, cakes and more cakes. I'd cook every meal from scratch.

When Top Ender knew that I had tickets to go and see Dreamboats and Petticoats she was really excited because she remembered having gone to see it before and how she had loved the music and the story and she just wanted to see it again! So together off we went to the theatre. Now, you might think a thirteen-year-old and a thirty-eight-year-old are not the sorts of people who would enjoy a musical, that is not only set in the early 1960's but is also filled with songs from the 1960's, but having spent a lot of time with my Aunts growing up and having had a mother and father who loved music this  thirty-eight-year-old has had a love of 60's pop music passed onto her and she's passed the love on to her thirteen-year-old too!

The other night I was driving to pick up Top Ender from the Brownies meeting she helps out at. It was a beautiful evening, and the way I had gone had meant that there was little traffic on the route however as I pulled up to a roundabout I saw that there was a big lorry to my right and so I stopped and watched as the Lorry driver drove across the roundabout. I was smiling. Not at the Lorry Driver, not because I had heard something funny on the radio, or because they were playing a song I liked, not even because it was a lovely evening and I was on the way to pick up my favourite daughter. No, I was smiling because I'm a smiley person. It was something that I taught myself as a teenager, to always have a grin on my face (but not a wide eyed staring grin, because that just freaks people out) and it's sort of stuck because I did it so much. Or maybe my Mum was right and the wind changed and now I'm stuck like this.

Okay, Please be warned! This post is the kind of sickening lovey-dovey post that drives some people crazy. Read on at your own peril!  Over the last few weeks, it's been all go during the weekends at our house as we've been redecorating the children's rooms, preparing for the new doors, the new roof and the garden landscaping etc. Flyfour has pretty much worked non stop from the moment he steps inside the door on a Friday evening until the moment he steps back out the door on a Monday morning. This past weekend Flyfour scheduled a much needed day off. There was no decorating that needed to be done, there was no furniture that needed moving, there were no workmen coming... And yet.

Last week started off really well. I went shopping on the Saturday evening, after a day of door fitting, bedroom painting, furniture moving, bathroom shopping, curtain shopping and purchased nothing, but somehow during the week instead of eating the meals we had planned we managed to make other bits and pieces meals instead. Which is fine, as it means this week I don't need to meal plan as much as I'll just use the meals for last week!