A Mother's Ramblings

As Dan Jon and I walked to School this week, we were talking about his hat and how it is possibly a little too small for him now. Obviously, Dan Jon absolutely loves this hat and the idea of not having it anymore is a little upsetting, but as he came to realise, he needs a new one because it really is too small to be of much benefit in the cold weather! I shouldn't be surprised that the hat is too small, he has had this hat since he was two years old... yes we got this hat back in 2010, on a trip to Go Outdoors  and despite his reluctance to smile and show his face in the first photograph we have of him wearing it, it has been well loved and worn many, many, many times over the years. Including one of my favourite winter photos of him ever.

My husband is a simple man. Flyfour doesn't require fancy meals and the like to be happy, no he'd be quite happy with a plate of Tortilla chips sprinkled with grated Cheese and blasted in the microwave as much as he would a Steak in some fancy restaurant somewhere. When he realised that I was going to the National Gallery on a School trip he had just one request for me. He requested that I find a painting by Turner and take a selfie with it if I could and publish it with a very particular comment. "It always makes me feel a little melancholy. Grand old war ship, being ignominiously hauled away to scrap... The inevitability of time, don't you think? What do you see?" So I found the painting, took a picture and sent it to Instagram and of course managed to take a terrible selfie with it and sent that to Flyfour too, along with the particular comment he was after too.

This week has come round so fast! I can't believe it! Well, here is what is happening this week in both meal plans and daily activities. Let me know what you are up to this week in the comments!

I love going out shopping with my Mum. It's not the act of shopping, that we both enjoy. It's not even the bit where we have lunch together in one of our favourite restaurants or cafes. For us, even when we don't actually go out with the intention of buying anything, but just go out to window shop the best part of the trip is the spending of time together. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't always this way. I'm sure that my Mum could have quite willingly murdered me when I was growing up, just like I could have quite cheerfully have done the same to her. Obviously, things have changed now, as apart from the odd moments where homicide seems the only answer, we get along famously.

There are a few things that mark out members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as different from those around them. One of them is one of my favourite things ever, watching or participating in a Roadshow. A Roadshow is basically a short performance put on by each ward in a Stake based around a theme. Last year for example, the theme was Disney, this year the theme was Panto. Oh yes, it was! Somehow I had managed to volunteer myself to write and direct a Panto and get as many members of the ward involved as I could, and I wanted EVERYONE involved because I'm a tiny bit of an overachiever.

I have decided that this week I'm not buying anything in the Supermarket, other than Cat food, a couple of bottles of drink, some fresh fruit and something for Christmas. This week we are going to eat from the supplies in our well-stocked Kitchen and hopefully, we have everything that we need because I'm not intending to go near a Supermarket again this week (well I'll take my Mum and drop Top Ender off, but they don't count!). I'm hoping that when I do go shopping at some point today that it will be one of those quick ten minute jobs, rather than one of those supposedly quick because I have a list that turns into a two-hour nightmare...

I guess I should have known that Dan Jon Jr was excited about a trip we were making during the October Half Term before I picked him up on the last day of School. I hadn't really picked up on it, until almost every child I spoke to on the last day of term, knew where we were going and exclaimed how jealous they were of Dan Jon and even some of the teachers that don't teach Dan Jon told us to have a good time. The visit we had planned, was of course to Kidzania , a city for children run by children and we were off to visit thanks to Snazaroo Face Paints. I had heard lots about the place and wasn't sure if Top Ender would want to go, she is after all, at the upper age limit of the admittance age. Top Ender said she would go just so she could be there for her brother, but I think by the end of the visit, she was enamoured enough to confirm that she had been looking forward to it (maybe not as much as her brother), that she had really enjoyed the visit and was up for us

You've probably seen Missionaries walking around the streets of your town, two young men, or two young women, smartly dressed with a name tag proudly declaring their name as Elder "Surname" or Sister "Surname" and the name of the Church that they represent. They have probably smiled at you, spoken briefly with you and you've probably thought something along the lines of "How can I make a quick exit?!" and then thought nothing more of them as you've ended the conversation and gone on to your destination. I get it. Talking about religion in the middle of the street isn't top of most peoples list of fun things to do and it can be a little awkward talking to strangers, especially ones who seem to look super formal, have smiles that could power a small town, be jolly all the time and look like they are young enough to be your child.

Yesterday, Flyfour and I quickly worked out what we were going to eat this coming week before going shopping. Flyfour had the day off so that we could ensure we were on time for Dan Jon's evening performance of Richard III and didn't have to worry about rush hour traffic messing everything up. As I had been making props for Panto, DJ asked if I could make a warrant for his play... so I did! The evening was brilliant. Dan Jon and his classmates were amazing and I was so proud of them all. I've known them all for so long and have been on class trips with them, read with them, practised spellings and just hung out with them. Anyway, this is what we decided upon!

For our last Faith In God activity, the Leader had arranged for the children to visit a local Fire Station. The idea was that the children would get a tour of the building and at the end of it have an understanding of what life as a Fireman is like and what their job involves and hopefully be more aware of the importance of their role and of the hard work that these brave men and women do. I sorta said that as Primary President, I'd be going to support the Faith In God leader and to help if Dan Jon Jr had a problem with his blood sugars, but really it was because I wanted a tour around the Fire Station too!

Finally, it's finished. Finally, I can show you pictures of my amazing Kitchen, but before I do, I have to tell you how we got here and show you some pictures of what we were living with before... Out kitchen was fine. Seriously it was, Sure, it wasn't my choice or style, but it worked. We had spaces for food and our plates and pots and pans. Yes, the wall cupboards were slightly too small for our plates and the worktop was starting to warp a bit from a leak, the tap leaked, I'd cut the worktop a bit weird when we had the fridge put in and well, it just wasn't set up for how we use the Kitchen. When we planned the Kitchen with the Ikea Designer, I hadn't really thought about how we used the kitchen, but they were lovely and talked us through the process and pretty soon we had a kitchen that we were pleased with. We decided to go with the fitters that Ikea recommended and after the initial walk through with the fitter, all I had to do was pack up my kitchen. O

If you look at me and my Mum, you can see we are related, even if she thinks I look more like my Paternal Grandfather than her. My Mum and I have the same eyes, chin, evil glare at people who've annoyed us... You'd have to look a bit more deeply to see my Dad in me. He's there though. The same way of sulking, the same love of telling a story, the same determination, the same temper, the same confidence, the same sense of humour, the same love of technology, the same love of dressing up (honestly I swear half the pictures from his youth are of him dressed up in costume) the same sense of right and wrong.

Out meals are a bit boring this week, there are a few bits that I'm making fresh that will keep me amused, but nothing too strenuous as I'm still banned from using the sharp knives unsupervised after managing to slice into my finger with a butter knife last Sunday!

Halloween may have been and gone, but I wanted to share a few pictures from the night of what my little family of four got up to, so I hope you'll all indulge me! As has become tradition, we headed off to the Trunk N Treat at our Church building. The rules for our little get together are simple, no masks, not too much gore and keep the costumes modest to be inline with our values. The children and I had decided to get there early to drop off our Slow Cooker pots of Veggie chilli and help out with various jobs that always need to be done, but somehow the lady who was in charge of organising it this year was all done. I think she really is Super Woman in disguise! Instead, we supported the Missionaries and one young man who turned up to help remove the leaves from the car park (the other young men seemed to forget to arrive early to help!) and by support, I mean we stood around making small talk with the other adults and generally got in the way. I believe it's called