Lakes with Daddy, Woodfest and garden nakedness...

Some pics from the last few days...

Kids at Howtown

Sonny's new bike, 3rd birthday pressie

The owl flying at Woodfest

And the flying squirrel

Pirate fairy candy-floss girl

The little man himself

Think she's taking the P in this one....

Now they both are..

It rained. The slide filled up with water. The kids made a truck run out of it. Sonny removed all of his clothes, claimed he didn't want to get wet. Quite amusing considering it wasn't at all warm really!

Garden improvements

Anya and Sonny's insect garden is taking shape, they counted over 17 bees (well, they would have done could either of them count to 17) slurping nectar at once the other day, plus loads of spiders, millipedes and stuff. Got a few more ideas, mainly for insect houses to install over the summer, but it's definitely taking shape!

Considering it was a muddy, conifer infested 'rockery' (well, it had big rocks in it!) piled up against the side of the house (read: damp) when we moved in, it's quite an improvement! And it's only taken 4 years!

Ingenious

What do you do when your Mammy's too pregnant to spend hours bouncing you up and down on the see-saw but neither of you have legs long enough to reach the ground?

Use sticks.... lateral thinking from the kids there...

Vice squad

Realised we were on a downward spiral - heading rather quickly towards being the family in the BBC show 'Outnumbered' - when the other day I uttered the words,

"Sonny, how many times have I told you not to put snails in that vice?"

'as x as y' similes

Anya is exploring the wonderful world of similes and is peppering her language with a wide variety (all her own inventions of course... none of this widely-used rubbish for her..)

Here is yesterday's collection:

As white as a snowbear

As sweet as a cherry tomato

As cold as a horse

As hot as a cow

As tired as a moose

As hungry as a caterpillar

As happy as a rainbow (I like this one!)

As sad as a baby

And a new one this morning; as comfy as a house.

I asked her if houses were particularly comfortable and she said that they were because you could sit down or lie on something soft if you wanted to and therefore they were comfy!

She came in from school this morning and announced that the sun was making her skin too hot. She disappeared into the house to 'do something about it' and came out like this....

Not sure how effective it was at cooling her skin down!! I noticed that all but the sun hat had been removed about 10 minutes later.

A very Sonny picture

Pic says it all really... I love this picture of him. Taken last Friday by the Ogwen.

One of my favourite pictures of Anya is from when she was a similar age. She's in Llyn Padarn.

I just need a little...

Sonny (on the sofa): "I just need a little..."

and then this happened:

The boy really has inherited his father's sleeping patterns!

Vintage steam fair and other weekend-y gubbins

Took the kids to a vintage rally at the weekend so that Ian could get out some of his old car enthusiasm and the kids could look at steam-y things. To be fair, it wasn't as geekish as I'd imagined. Spending over half an hour watching the tractor pulling competition was just about to wear me out but managed to persuade them to move on with the promise of an ice cream. Anyway, the bit they loved most of all was of course the fun fair and the fact that they got to eat candy floss at the end. I did try to convince them it was pink wool and that they'd poo a pair of socks but they didn't believe me.... pics below.

We then went to Karen and David's for a bbq to celebrate Karen's 40th. Had a great time, kids loved it, playing in the tree house and spending hours with a bunch of other kids chasing the poor chickens and dogs round the fields. They finally crashed about 8pm which, considering that neither had had a nap, was pretty good going considering how much they'd done. Tummy aches ensued all night unfortunately.... think ice cream, candy floss, fizzy pop, sausages, copious quantities of olives and crisps, grapes, strawberries and cake.. mix it all up by running round and round a field until you are so exhausted you fall asleep in your clothes... not surprising they had tummy aches really is it???

Greenwood Forest Park

Now that we are the proud owners of a season ticket, this afternoon saw the first of hopefully many visits to Greenwood.

Some pics...

Big boys racing... Ian and Torquil getting out their competetiveness

Fairy power!!

Rufus couldn't quite manage the pedals, so they resorted to the nest best thing - Sonny power!!

Anya and Rufus in the den wood

Anya den building

Rufus, Anya and Sonny in the sandpit

The Big Green Slide - Sonny, Ian and Anya. Anya reckons Nan would love this slide!!

A sociable weekend

A few pics from the weekend, all spent with good friends in glorious sunshine...yippee!

Spent yesterday with Lisa, Megan and Lauren in the morning then we all went to Seiont to meet Marion, Grace and Alex in the afternoon for ice cream, playing on the park and coffee. The kids played so well together. For the most part, Sonny, as usual, shunned the option of boy-of-his-own-age (Alex) to play with and went for the big boys on the campsite. Found them playing planets in the willow stand; some big kid was the sun, Anya was Mars, Sonny was Pluto etc... the game smelt distinctly of Anya but they were all very happy running around this boy at varying speeds depending on whether Anya thought their orbits were fast enough!

Today was spent with Tamsin and Mabli, or Mabsin as Sonny calls them both. I've never has friends with a collective name before! Had a lovely picnic in the sun by the lagoons, then a bike ride and an ice cream trip. Was really nice to see them, they both (but especially Anya) really appreciate spending time with Mabli, she's just like a big sister to them. It's also so nice that they are now of the age where Tam and I can sit and talk and eat while they all play - they're getting very good at tree climbing and the lagoons it just the perfect place to do it as the trees, for some reason, all have really good low branches so the kids can get started. Few pics below, all from today as I was camera and phone-less yesterday...

Big cuddles...

Poor Mabli had to do lots of these!

I love this picture.

Sonny emerged from his dressing gown this morning (it was his chrysalis) and turned into a butterfly, hence the wings - which he wore all day - and got very cross with random strangers who asked if he was a fairy!

Well, I am now officially like a whale. I feel huge and most people now look shocked when I say I still have 12 weeks to go. I stood with Kath today, a woman I work with who is due in 2 weeks, and I was the same size! And it's not her first either so I can't say that her tummy muscles are holding hers in... The baby is so low it feels like it is about to fall out, all of the time, and I am getting so many contractions that last night I nearly rang the midwife! Apparently it is all par for the course for a multip (the much nicer medical name for a woman who most people would just call daft, you know, one who has taken leave of her senses and has ended up having lots of children - how did people ever have 10? Their bumps must have scraped the ground as they walked...) and I should expect it to carry on if not get worse. Oh, joy. This is definately my last child, I'm going to book myself into the vets to be spayed once this is over... I mean, it kicks me so low I can feel it on the top of my thighs when I'm sitting down (really, I can) and to make matters worse, I've started leaking colostrum - you know, the yellow milk stuff that stains. So I was in a meeting at work the other day, wearing a white t-shirt, and felt the warm drip, drip, drip land on my tummy... nice. It's ok when you've just had the baby, everyone expects (or at least understands) that you walk around with crusty, milk stained clothing and you're never without the baby over your shoulder or attached to your boob anyway so it's fairly obvious what is going on, but in a meeting where not only was I the only woman but also the only person in the room to have kids, well, it isn't so easily explained. Glad I had a body warmer with me - must have looked very strange though, sitting in a swelteringly hot room, red-faced and sweating, wearing my body warmer! Thought I was going to pass out.

The children are getting more excited though, as is Ian (I am too, of course, could just do with being a bit more comfortable!). Sonny is now also claiming to be having contractions and Anya is getting more adventurous in her suggestions for names, thankfully she forgets most of them within 5 minutes of making them up...

Our holiday in the Lakes was superb, could have done with longer really, and it's great that the good weather seems to have stayed with us and will do for a good few days yet. Anya was running round and round in circles through the daffodils singing, 'Spring is here, spring is here, spring is here at last' the other day - I know exactly how she feels... Sonny of course is 'very lots sad' because he can't use his skis but hey, he'll get over it.

Few pics for you. Some from the Lakes, some from home, all from the last week or so. More to follow when we find where we've packed the camera... oh, to be organised... and by the way, Anya doesn't get her dress sense from me (probably just as well really).

With Sally in their den

On the bike track from Keswick - they rode so well and really enjoyed it, so much so they didn't want to turn around. Anya has plans for the C2C (aka Nan's house to the caravan on her bike).

She rode all of the way up this very long hill, and really enjoyed coming back down it again!

In Caldbeck

In Caban, on home turf

Not sure of the reasoning behind the head-dress, or even if there was one

Dinas Dinlle this morning

More Dinas Dinlle from this morning

Ian's new shed base - his afternoon's hard work. Good, eh... insurance have finally paid out so maybe now we can get the 9 bikes we have between us out of the house!

Some photos from the last few days

Happy on the bike track

Singing cyclists

With Frantic in the garden of Electric Mountain

Sonny's strange expression is because he's just lost 4 woodlice up his sleeve

Look what Anya has acquired - and she can skate!! Thanks, Cass, you've made this girl very happy

Bedtime snuggles

They must have 10's, if not a hundred, soft toys between them yet tonight Sonny has gone to sleep with 2 plastic trucks and 4 metal cars and Anya has gone to sleep with a butternut squash...

Well, this was taken this morning and comparing it to last week's pic I do now accept that I have grown a lot in the last week! To top it off I now have a stinking cold. Oh well...

Today has been a grand day though, Torquil and Rufus came to play this morning and then we spent the afternoon park playing and bike riding. I have to say, I may be their mother and therefore biased but what the children can now ride on their bikes is truly amazing. They rode off-road on some really narrow, muddy and sometimes steep trails this afternoon and were absolutely superb. Their enthusiasm and ability is truly amazing, Anya has even learnt (purely by accident) to ride out of the saddle. She was pushing so hard on her pedals to get through a really muddy uphill bit that she stood up. She was so pleased with herself and announced that she 'could take her bottom off the saddle, keep pedalling and not fall off!'

Couple of pics below although due to the fact that on the exciting bits we were running alongside them so couldn't take pictures, the pictures are of the more calmer sections of the ride!

My boy going for it

Note that she's actually wearing a fairy dress. She also wants me to write that her bottom is not on the saddle at this point!

On being pregnant, for the third time

I have now obviously reached the point in this pregnancy where it is universally obvious that I am a pregnant person. Until 2 days ago no one had asked when I was due or how long I have left and then suddenly 7 people since Wednesday have asked such a question - usually followed by a response that makes me think I must either look like I am about to explode or look so knackered that they really feel that it must be over soon! Well, it's not going to be over soon, I still have 15 weeks to go, and expect I'll get much bigger before then!

I must admit, I feel bigger than I actually am, this was taken last week and I think I have got pointier since then but not grown much...

I felt, certainly with my first pregnancy, that one of the downsides to being pregnant was that I became to a certain extent 'public property'. People touched my bump as I talked to them, even people who I didn't know that well, and gave me all sorts of well-meaning advise with a very serious undertone. You know, the kind of advise that if you don't agree to instantly, was met with a response like 'Well, you'll never get it to feed/eat/sleep/drink/poo/ride a bike/swim the channel blah blah blah unless you do...". I was asked constantly how I was feeling, including questions which were really rather personal and which you wouldn't dream of asking someone who wasn't pregnant - "Have you got piles yet?" being the one I remember well, especially as it was asked in a crowded canteen at work.

The nice thing about it all though was that when people asked how I felt, they really did care and even listened to the answer. It's like you are allowed 5 minutes of fame to report on the most personal of ailments, should you so desire, and people are programmed just to nod and offer sympathy. Thing was, with my first and second pregnancies, I didn't really get any ailments, I just got a bump and more tired. Now this one, that's a different kettle of fish. I've had, to name but a few, morning/noon/afternoon/middle-of-the-night sickness, chronic belching episodes, heartburn, pelvic pain, pins and needles, swollen feet, back ache, blocked sinuses, cystitis, insomnia, the list goes on.... but do people ask how I am? Do I get the chance to have 5 minutes whinge or take it easy, put my feet up? No. Of course not, because I've had 2 children already and should know what I'm doing. I don't even need to see my midwife that often, unless I ask.

I'm not whining, I don't really mind, I think it's rather funny really. I have finally got used to the public intrusiveness of pregnancy just at the point when it is no longer there!

A weekend with Grandma Train

Clent Hill

Well, after an interesting 1st night (think 5 creatures in one sub-tropical bedroom then add the following complications: a child who wakes for a drink every hour and needs a wee every 2, another child who wedges himself under beds then tries to sit up, a panting dog, a snoring bloke, a pregnant woman with associated heartburn and pins and needles and a security light that would turn on if someone sneezed in the next town and which lights the room up like Blackpool illuminations and thus wakes all of the above creatures...), the rest of the weekend was rather wonderful.

Although she remained rather weary in the afternoons, Firstborn continued to recover rather well from her ear infection (no anti-biotics - yippee!) and both children thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Grandma Train - they truly love her to bits. The weekend was spent on trains, looking at trains, eating food and walking in lovely places.

With her new friend the snail who accompanied us on the train

Sonny happy to be on the footplate of an engine in the engine house

Staying awake in the afternoon was still a struggle for a recovering Anya