Happy New Year

I hope yours goes really well and you have a good time spending it however you want to with the people you want to x

Rain, rain and more rain!

It's getting a bit boring now isn't it?
Today has seen me get soaked twice, we waited for it to ease this morning and took out five of the dogs to a local park. Eden stayed at home to get some revision done as she's got her mocks in February and she's already starting to panic about them.
As it happened that was really handy as we were waiting for a parcel to be picked up and all the boys decided they wanted to come!
Two of our dogs are a bit unpredictable around other dogs so we left them at home with Eden to be lead walked later. We do take them altogether most of the time And keep those two on leads unless we're in the middle of the forest and we've got a good view of what's ahead. Luckily all the dogs have a good recall so most of the time there are no problems but I just felt like a stress free walk this morning!  The park was empty which was great, the younger boys splashed in the mud and puddles because after all that's what wellies are for aren't they?
We then dropped Clark off at Grandmas as he was taking down her Christmas cards and some of her decorations, she's got fed up of them!!
 Malc and I then took the two other dogs for a walk. We live very close to a holiday park so we walked up to it and strolled round looking at all the fabulous huge mobile homes discussing which one we're going to live in when Malc retires! Seeing as Malc is fifty-seven now and out youngest is only seven I really can't see that happening! Goodness only knows how old we'll be by the time they all leave home! But it was absolutely lovely to go out by ourselves and talk about dreams and the future instead of our usual conversations about money, kids and the more mundane things in life. We had to take shelter by a mobile home as there was a really heavy shower which was quite romantic! So you can see if that counts as romance just how mundane our life really is!
Off to make tea and hopefully pick up my knitting needles and have a snuggly night in front of the TV. Well I think I've earnt it!!

New Years Resolutions.

One of my friends put something on Facebook this morning about people posting the usual thing about losing weight and getting fitter in the New Year. She suggested making a New Years Resolution that could benefit somebody else. It shouldn't  be charity work or sending money to an organisation but something personal, something that requires a bit of effort, something with meaning. Maybe walking an elderly neighbours dog, making a cake for somebody every now and then. Mowing their garden, writing a letter to a friend and maintaining that contact. What do you think you could do?

This is my Mum and Step dad on Christmas Day, I think my Mum was taken by surprise by the look on her face! One of the things that happened in the last few months was that my Step dad had a stroke. He has made a marvelous recovery, he went into hospital totally paralyzed down one side and not being able to speak and as he had got into hospital so quickly they were able to administer a wonder drug which reverses the effects of the sthee within hours. He was back out within a couple of days and to look at him you just wouldn't know that he'd had a stroke at all.
One of the things this made us think about was that they lived a bit far away, only about 10 miles but with the unreliability of our minibus and my Mums disabilities it would be too far to walk or cycle, it would be a couple of buses each way so they decided to move closer to us which they did a couple of months ago. This has been brilliant because the boys have been able to walk down to them and help do things that they find hard to do which in turn means that some pressure has been taken off me because I know the boys can take some of the jobs off my hands.
For example yesterday my Mum came down with my cold ( I do like to share!) So today I took them up a roast dinner that I cooked yesterday and a trifle that I'd made so that Ed could spend time looking after Mum and himself as one of the after effects of the stroke is that he gets tired very quickly.
After we'd visited them I went to visit my friend who had baby number 11 on Christmas Day, today was also baby number 10's first birthday, so I got to hold a little newborn which is always a pleasure. It always leaves me feeling really broody though!
When we got home the boys took the dogs out and I did a mountain of ironing despite my dropping the heaviest of hints over the past couple of days that I should be in bed being pampered! We are bracing ourselves for another storm with heavy rain and strong winds tonight, so the rabbits have been covered and secured. We will all snuggle down and be grateful that we can stay indoors and don't have to go out anywhere.
Now I'm off to drink my lemsip! Sniff, sniff !!

Where have I been?

Well, the main computer broke then Clark's tablet broke, so I've had to wait until Christmas to keep my fingers crossed that Santa would bring me a tablet all for myself! Luckily he did!
So much has happened since my last post.
We have two new puppies, Tyxall and Chumleigh. They are brother and sister. This photo is of them at 7 weeks old, they are now 17 weeks old. They are Staffordshire Bull Terriers. My friends dog had 11 of them and she very kindly gave us two of them!

More pictures

This is how we had to carry them around for the first few weeks until they'd had both their jabs.

I will post some pictures of how big they are now over the next few days. 

We also have another teenager in the house, Callum has turned 13 at the end of September.

We also had Rememberence Parade where I was a very proud Mum with the youngest three boys taking part in their Beavers/Cubs uniform

Eden had her Youth Club Christmas Ball which gave her a chance to dress up!

Cody had his 7th birthday, we went to a place I think I've mentioned before where two children eat free with every paying adult so it works out really cheap for us, not even £3 each! For a few Sundays in December Father Christmas was there too, luckily Cody's birthday fell on one of those Sundays.

We've made things for Christmas

Well that sort of brings you up to date !

I'm sure with future posts I'll be talking about past happenings.

So pop back when you have time. More to follow!

Thank Goodness It's Cooler!

Cooler weather was promised and it has arrived. Hurrah!
It poured with rain in the night and I looked out my bedroom window watching it, it was a glorious sight. I imagine it was the same feeling Noah had when the rain eventually stopped!
Today we went into town as I had to buy Callum and Clark some new wellies as we had a trying on session yesterday and found that they had both grown out of theirs. Callum is now a size 7 at just twelve years old so we had to get his from the mens section. the size 6 in the childrens section was £5 cheaper!
Anyway they are done, we do get a lot of wear out of our wellies and they are usually passed down too.
We are gearing up for all the autumn walks we are going to take with the dogs. I do love Autumn, it's my favourite time of year.
There's nothing nicer than walking through the leaves with a chill in the air and coming home and making hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. It's became a bit of a custom last year and also helps when little legs are flagging, the thought of that hot chocolate spurs them on a bit!
Malc is picking up the new universal joint on Monday afternoon and the bus is being fixed on Tuesday morning.
I'm really hoping that's the last of garage visits for a while.
The boys also wanted to spend some of their pocket money this morning so Cody bought a battery operated car and Soloman bought a gun (He's gun mad, I hate them!) Callum bought some treats and toys for his rabbit and gerbil and Clark bought these.

He already has two which are nearly a year old and really wanted some more, Clark does love his little furries!
We've just had a lovely hours walk over the fields near us again tonight and it was beautiful, very busy with other dog walkers and children playing on the swings but lovely nonetheless.
I'm now going to sit down with some strawberry and lime cider that I have discovered.
It simply has to be cider being a Dorset girl and all !

In the garage again!

Before I start on my tale of woe I"d like to thank Karen and simplesuffolksmallholder for their comments yesterday. Don"t ask me what happened yesterday with my replies! I replied to simplesuffolk and the reply came up about 5 times, so I had to go through deleting them, it looks a real mess I can tell you.
I also forgot to tell you how my day started off , goodness knows how because it was quite significant!
Our minibus was booked into the garage apparently the donut!!  (yes that's what the garage called it! ) that's attached to the prop shaft had worn and it wasn't half making a noise.
Anyway Malc went to take it down to be fixed, a couple of hours work we were assured. He arrived only to be told one of their ramps had broken so they couldn't do the car today and they rebooked it on for the next day (today) I was a bit miffed and wondered why they hadn't rung us before Malc had driven down there. Anyway he took it back this morning and it's fixed. Unfortunately the reason it was wearing is because the universal joint has broken! I know it may sound like I know what I'm on about  but believe me I don't!
So we've got to get one of them and the garage will sort put fixing that. So no positive vibes for anyone for the next 7 - 10 days I'm afraid!

One of my lovely neighbours has taken up cross stitch again and did this as a practice piece and then she gave it to us. I really don't know what she means!
I thought it was lovely and I have framed and hung it.
Beavers starts back up again tonight , Eden has school rehearsals for " Guys and Dolls"  and she also goes to Youth Club later on so Fridays are back to being extremely busy.
I'm now off to supervise cleaning of rabbit hutches.

How often can I title a post "Busy"?

Run off my feet would be more appropriate! Malcolm has had a rush job on so it"s been all hands on deck. A lot of walking and delivering to houses on foot.
I really don't understand how I'm not 8 stone!
Here is Eden upon her return 2 weeks ago now. Wow! Where did that time go?

She has got two legs honest! It looks like she's only got 1 1/2 in this picture!

This was taken before she threw the contents of her suitcase all over the floor to be washed!!

She's come home with over 500 photos which I'm sure will appear on this blog over the next few posts.

In between working we have been walking dogs in the evening in this beautiful sunshine. By the evening it's just about bearable for me!

Eden went back to school today and home school started. I'm amazed at how competant a reader Cody has become over the holidays by just spending time reading books by himself. We have school books which are just for schoolwork and they we have about 5 bookcases full of books they can read anytime. 

We were also given this a few days ago

I cut the end off before I thought to take a picture, we've had some steamed for tea but I've seen a recipe on another blog for marrow and ginger chutney so I'm thinking  giving that a go.

We have had so much cardboard left over from one of Malcs jobs that the boys had a bonfire on my dug over veg patch, they also burnt some wood we've had hanging around the garden. I thought I could dig it all in and it might put something good back into the soil!

Well that's a very quick update, I could go on but I've now got to sort some tea out! Then onto another dog walk. I sometimes wonder why I have a bed and wish I could sleep standing up!!

Tales From New York

We skyped Eden last night, it was amazing. First time I've done anything like that it was great to talk to her. So much gets lost in emailing and messaging.
They went to the Hard Rock cafe and apparently Eden was so excited looking at the wall of guitars.She  also sat in the window of her hotel room for most of the night watching life happening. New York is her dream and she told us she didn't want to miss a bit of it, not even to sleep!
The boys had a good time in the tent albeit not sleeping also ! They were playing on Clark's tablet until the early hours of the morning, but as they were outside it didn't keep us awake!
Callum, Clark and I went to a knitting meeting on Saturday and handed in some of the charity knitting we've been doing. One of the ladies there parcels them all up and sends them off to the right places or gives them to the right people.
We also had my friend with the big family over for a barbeque yesterday. It was one of her lads who stayed with us for the last couple of days.
Today we went for breakfast at the lovely restaurant we go to sometimes. It was as lovely as ever. They still do the deal of 2 children eating free with one paying adult so this is a really good deal for us, we only pay for two adult breakfasts.
I have done a load of ironing this afternoon. We have got barbeque leftovers for tea and I plan a long soak in the tub this evening so quite a nice weekend really.
Whilst I did the ironing the boys made this ready for Wednesday.
They asked if they could do the banner for Edens return which I thought was really sweet. It"s nice that there's no jealousy about her going. They seem to be very excited for her and can't wait in the morning for me to read out the emails and pictures she's sent.
It would be nice if this continued as they all get older but I fear it won't, as they all get partners and have children other influences come into play. But I think that I will enjoy and encourage it at the moment whilst I can
Here's a picture of the banner, it's not string together yet but you get the gist!

Swallows and Amazons Urban Stlye!

Clark has got a friend staying tonight. We have put the four man tent up in the garden and they're sleeping in  there for the next two nights. That's the theory anyway!

I hope you have got your anti-glare on, the sun shining off Malcs bald patch is rather bright!!

The weather forecast is not very good at all, it will start to rain in the early hours of tomorrow morning and doesn't finish until Saturday afternoon so rather them than me.
Eden is on her way to New York for two days, she'll be visiting Ground Zero, Times Square and other touristy places. So I'm sure she'll enjoy that.
Other than that not a lot is happening, I'm going to put a roast on in honour of our guest. I think most kids like chicken and roast potatos and I've done several different types of veg so I'm sure he'll like at least one of them!

Sleep tight boys!!

Just how any colours do Goldfish come in?

The boys have decided that they would like to spend their pocket money on some Goldfish.
Now all the boys earn their pocket money by helping their Dad out who is self-employed. They each have set jobs that they do with him every week and if he gets extra jobs one week and they give him extra help then their money goes up accordingly. Eden earns her own money delivering leaflets which she's been doing for about five months and that's how she's got her spending money for her holiday.  I'm very proud of the fact that they earn their money as I think if you give them it for doing nothing they are going to expect that for the rest of their life.
That's just my opinion though.
Anyway they have got the old fishtanks and pumps out of the shed as we had fish several years ago. The water has to stand for a couple of weeks, they have collected stones and shells from the beach, scrubbed and soaked them and arranged them prettily in their fishtanks, it has been a long two weeks and it has been counted down as eagerly as Christmas! ( We are nearly into September so I am legally allowed to use that word!!)
Yesterday we went to the pet shop that we regularly attend so the boys could chose their fish.
Callum has already got a couple in his tank so he wanted a couple more. Clark wanted two for his tank and Soloman and Cody are sharing a little tank so they were getting one each.
 They stood eagerly peering into each big plastic tank full of a variety of different colored fish.
The young lad who served us was brilliant so patient as my boys chose exactly which two fish they wanted out of a tank of about two hundred!!
Malc and I thought it was hilarious, the young lad was so good and really tried his best to catch the ones they wanted!
So we returned home and they were floated in the tanks in their plastic bags until they'd had enough time to acclimatise to the water temperature and then the bags were opened and out they swam!
Watching them swim around  kept the younger boys entertained for hours, it was great. I'm just going to have to watch very carefully that they don't overfeed them and I'm slightly worried after having had a conversation with Cody about why they can't be stroked!
The boys have been knitting and crocheting again over the past couple of days so more pictures in my next post!

Moving On!

Eden rang last night about 6 ish to say she'd been on the beach all day. Then I received an email about 4 o'clock this morning. I've also had a couple of Facebook messages today so I feel much better. Many thanks to Carol and simple Suffolk smallholder for their words of wisdom yesterday.
As the tittle says, moving on!
 Today Clark, Callum and I went to our knit and natter group. We had a few extras there today. Some of the ladies had grandchildren with them. So my boys got out their spare needles and wool and had two of them knitting in no time at all. Passing on knowledge is one thing I'm passionate about. It's OK to have a way with words and be numerate but sometimes I feel practical skills are overlooked and I'm a firm believer in passing on our skills, whatever they may be. As you know Clark crochets and Callum knits so the other day Clark passed on some tips to Callum who can do basic crochet.

I love that picture, I caught them unaware!

There's nothing better than seeing  my children working together like this. I've learnt to treasure these moments as they don't happen all that often,  they are usually arguing!

A while ago I think I posted a picture of a fireman that Callum had knitted for a local fire station that wants a mascot, this was through a knitting group we belong to. More were needed so myself and another lady have volunteered to  knit one each.

Here's mine,

I really don't like to do toys like this, they are very fiddly and involve quite a bit of sewing which I'm not a big fan of.

I also promised a picture of Clarks mice in a previous post, so here they are,

These are two of them, he's made about eight but he's sold some to Callum who's going to wrap some and put them into his lucky dip boxes that he's taking to his next table top sale. 

I love the way they negotiate prices with each other with Callum working out how much he needs to sell them for and how much he can pay Clark and then working out the profit. 

Priceless!!

What to do with my "Mummy Head"?

I went to my Mums yesterday with Malc and the boys. We mowed her front and back lawns and trimmed wild bushes back to neatness. We ended up staying all day. We tracked Edens flight which the boys thought was amazing. I received an email last night from the mum of the family she's gone with.I've also joined Facebook for the 10 days she's away. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, I can't find anything or anyone. I really don't understand it but it means that Eden can message me and we can see what adventures she's having so it's got to be worth it. Clark stayed at my Mums last night so we only had three children here which felt really weird. Unfortunately there was a party in the road round the corner from us with loud music and a fight broke out which spilled into our road so that kept us up until the early hours. Then I woke at 3-30 am and checked my emails to see if Eden had been in touch. She had, so Malc and I had a cup of tea and looked at them and replied. Cody also woke so he was looking at them with us. We went back to sleep and woke again at 9am. I've been fine, there have been a couple of times I've had to hold back tear but this morning one of Edens favorite bands, Imagine Dragon's came on singing one of their songs that I'm so use to hearing Eden sing and it was all to much. I indulged in a few tears sitting on my bed! She just seems so far away! I know she's safe and happy, I've had pictures of her playing a guitar on their front porch already but my "mummy head" is going to take a right bashing over the next couple of weeks I think. I feel such a fool as well, other mums seem to let their kids go anywhere and they don't seem to worry, don't want texts or contact but I find that strange. I feel like I can't talk to friends, they seem to think I'm over protective and worrying too much. I feel quite lonely and isolated with my thoughts and emotions at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow is another day and each day will get easier. Sorry to ramble and indulge in self pity, I just don't seem to have anywhere else to release my feelings

My feet don't touch the ground!

It's been two weeks since I lasted blogged ( that sounds like a confession!) I just don't know where the time goes.
We've had Malcolm's and my Mums birthday ( they are on the same day)

So Callum made this sponge and Clark decorated it. We had a takeaway as a birthday treat together and then some delicious cake.

Eden is off on her travels to America tomorrow so this week has been all about ironing and packing and getting last minute things together for the trip. She's leaving us at 7-30 am and won't touch down until 8-30 our time tomorrow evening so it'll be a long day for her and a stressful one for me until I know she's arrived safely.

We have had about 5 barbeques in the last couple of weeks, most of them at other peoples houses that we've been invited too and we've had some lovely food and company.

Last night we went to a local firework display which is held every Thursday night as a tourist attraction. There are street entertainers and live music. ( Some bands are better than others!)

Then a load of fireworks are let off from a flat barge in the middle of the harbour and I have to say they were pretty impressive.

Tonight the same thing happens in Bournemouth, it's further away so what we do is go to a viewpoint that's nearer to us and we watch the fireworks from there.

I have also been knitting but I've forgotten to take photos so you're just going to have to take my word for it!

Clark and I have also been to a friends house who very kindly helped us to understand an american crochet pattern as their abbreviations are different to ours. Clark was then able to crochet this

He's also been crocheting a load of mice which I will post pictures of next time.

Callum is knitting a penguin which he hadn't quite finished yet so again pictures to follow.

Right I'm off, honestly it takes me ages to do a post, I'm constantly interrupted by children or the phone!

I hear thunder!

For the last two nights at about 10 o'clock we've been out looking at the moon through our binoculars. It"s a full moon tonight and also the last of three in a row super moons where the moon comes closest to Earth during a new moon or full moon. It"s also called a "perigee full moon".
Perigee is a monthly event when the moon approaches Earth at the closest point during a full or new moon. Put the close approach and the full or new moon together and you get a " Super moon"
It really can look huge !
Although tonight might be a bit of a let down as cloud and rain are predicated at 9ish in my part if the world. Hence the reason we've been looking at it over the past couple of nights just in case we missed out on the full event.
It has been an incredibly beautiful sight through our binoculars. We are going to be printing off a map of the moon although Eden pointed out bits of interest on it, various craters, I've forgotten the names already hence the need for a map.
Looking at the moon last night we noticed one huge dark cloud in the sky with sheet and fork lightning. It was really wierd, no thunder, no rain, we stood watching it with some of our neighbors for about 1 1/2 hours. It began to get really windy like something out of a disaster movie.
As it was getting late we came in and within about half an hour we had the most beautiful lightening and the loudest thunder right overhead.
Malc and I sat in bed watching it. A couple of the boys were a bit worried about it but soon fell asleep.
We also had quite heavy rain and despite me saying to several people over the last week that if it rains I'm going to run round the back garden naked I managed to refrain!
We are meant to be getting more storms tomorrow. Can't wait!

Catching up slowly

Is what I'm going to be doing.
I have spurts  where I love blogging and I get ideas for posts in the funniest places doing the most mundane of things and then I get other times where I just can't be bothered.
The heat hasn't helped, I had about three nights at the beginning of the week with hardly any sleep which sends any motivation out the window.
Our van still hasn't got a MOT!
It went into the garage last Monday and welding and brakes were worked upon. We were told the problem with the headlights  was the relay only to chase round everywhere trying to get one, fit it and they still didn't work. Then we were told it's the connection, couldn't get one until the next day only to find that didn't work either!
The garage finally found something wrong with the electrics, they fixed it and we took it for the retest and it failed again. The back brakes weren't balanced. Took it back to the garage who stripped it all down again only to find the back brake drums are warped so the back brakes will never balance until they are fixed, therefore it will not pass the MOT. So the van is off the road, we put it in 10 days before the old one ran out so we would have time to get it all done and the old one finally ran out yesterday!
To say I'm cheesed off would be an understatement!
It's back into the garage tomorrow to get the drums done so I've no doubt you'll be hearing more of the saga as it unfolds.
The boys did the carnival

It was about 27° and they had to be sprayed with water as they were travelling on the float.They must have been boiling! 

Clark walked alongside collecting money in  a bucket. There were 22 floats in all, unfortunately the Beavers didn't win any prizes. The boys came back having had a great day though.

The boys have spent most of the week in the paddling pool whereas I have spent most of it in the lounge with a fan directed straight on me doing some knitting.

All of these are for a friend.

Callum has also been doing quite a bit of knitting too, he's made this fireman as a mascot which was requested from our local fire station through one of the knitting groups we go to. They are chuffed with it and can't believe it was knitted by a 12 year old boy.

They want him to knit another one.

He's also been knitting some snakes at the request of the same group, they want them for the Christmas shoeboxes.

He's also been knitting dinosaurs but we've not got any photos of them yet.

Anyway onward and upwards,  I'd better go and check on the boys playing outside and I'd better get them a drink and Callum has just finished bathing the dogs so I'd better check he's cleaned the bath properly!

How to stop the whining?

For the past few days the boys have been quite fretful, they're bored and no matter what I suggest they don't want to do it!
I'm grumpy myself, although it's been a bit cooler it's still quite hot at night so you're left tired and irritable during the day.
Now one irritable child is doable, two is a bit more challenging, but when there's four of them and you aren't in sweetness and light mode yourself things can go really pear shaped.
Little boys do not understand that minibuses don't repair themselves, garages need to be booked, parts need to be ordered and normal housework still has to be done despite being hot and tired.
So this morning I filled their water bottles and sent them with their Dad to a local park which I think is very under used.
I spent most of the time catching up on all the little jobs that needed doong , although I did take some time to sit and watch the funeral of Lee Rugby as it was broadcast live on the news. So incredibly sad, things like that really help you to put your life in perspective.
Anyway I asked Malc to take some photos for me and he dutifully obliged!
On their bikes and scooters

Playing

They came home and seemed much happier now that they had use up that excess energy. 

Clark has put his tent up in the garden as he wants to sleep out there tonight.

Malc is at Beavers with two of the boys. Tonight they are trying on their animal costumes for the carnival tomorrow , boy is it going to be a hot one!

I run a hotel!

Eden takes the school bus home, we call it the party bus as they are always having fun on it, extremely  weird conversations and they surf! Not sure what that is and I probably don't want to know.
Some of her other friends who don't live in this area are very envious of this bus journey and occasionally come home with her and stay to tea just so they can experience the party bus for themselves.
This was scheduled to happen with one of her friends yesterday, so when I received a phone call from her at about 8-45 yesterday morning I thought she was going to say that the friend had cancelled.
Today some of the biology group were going to Portsmouth Uni to do some marine biology work. They had to be at school at 7-30 am and as the bus arrives much later than that we'd have to take her in.
Unfortunately one of her friends couldn't make that deadline as her parents would both already be in work so Eden was ringing to ask if her friend could come round later that evening, stay the night and be taken in with her this morning.
So we had one coming to tea, she left at 6pm, the second one arrived at 7pm, stayed the night and Malc took them both in this morning. Now I know lots of parents say their children treat their homes like a hotel, but I didn't realise my children's friends would be too!
Our mini-bus failed it's MOT yesterday, it could have been worse but what it's failed on is going to cost enough. So today Malc has been running around getting various parts for it and he's booked it into the garage next Tuesday for some welding to be done as he can't do this himself.
So I think a lot of knitting has to be done this evening, just to try and destress!

Bah humbug!

I"ve been reading round blogs all week and I think I must be the only person who is hating this weather. Bloggers are posting beautiful pictures of gardens,days out, half naked children (and even adults!)
Whereas I'm shut indoors with windows open, fans going, grumpy and longing for Autumn. I do love a nice frosty morning!
I was glad to watch the men's Wimbledon final as it meant I could stay indoors and have a good excuse to do so.
Anyway, enough whinging.
The boys have spent most of the day in the paddling pool, schoolwork has been abandoned, there are enough cold/rainy days for us to keep up with schoolwork. All my children are sun worshippers and they are all brown as berries.
I have been doing quite a bit of knitting, I sit indoors or on the bench in our back garden which is in the shade after about 7pm and I knit away.

This is for my friend with lots of children, her youngest will be a year old just after Christmas so I've started on their presents already.

I've done this for another friend, a baby blanket, here's a close up

I've started on another baby cardigan but I haven't taken a picture yet.

Behind the scenes the last two weeks have been very busy. Eden has been invited to America by a friend whose Dad lives out there. We've had to get her a new birth certificate as her old one was sent with some documents a while ago and had never been sent back! We've sent request upon request for it!

Then we had to get her passport renewed, it ran out last July. It arrived yesterday which is great as it's just over four weeks until she goes. We've been clothes shopping as it's going to be very hot over there, so another bikini and shorts were needed. We've now got to sort out insurance and a visa.  Eden's obsessed with America, she wants to go and live there after she's finished Uni. I'm not sure if this visit will make her more determined to or get it out of her system!

We have our local carnival next Saturday and all the boys are in it. The Beavers are doing a float of Noah and the Ark, although Cody is the only one actually  in Beavers the others are in Cubs/scouts so they are all helping, either dressing up as animals on the float or walking beside it with buckets collecting money. Unfortunately I won't be able to go, Eden's going to the beach with some friends all day, Malc will have the mini bus, so I will have to stay home to look after the dogs, but the boys have assured me they will take loads of photos, Malc's walking alongside them with a bucket so I'm sure he'll take photos too. So there's a post for next week!

I've hoovered all through upstairs, we've had lunch, tea's prepared so guess where I'm off , yes to open my knitting bag!