Christmas 2010

It was such a lovely Christmas this year. We spent it at my mums, who as usual put on a lovely spread and ensured a good time was had by all.

The kids pretty much got everything they wanted, and it was great to see Kaz and Chris and Max too. We don't all get together very often (every couple of years or so) so it was nice to see them.

It was good to see my brother Tom again, he's mad but totally fun. And I managed to get a few pics before he became completely incoherent due to vodka intake. lol.

There were of course the obligatory party games (designed by my folks) which was well received, great fun and caused much laughter and hilarity.





As always, it is necessary to dress the youngest members of the family up...purely for entertainment value. tee hee.

and as always...me and Steve engaged in camera wars too.

Ethan and Daniel had a great time, although we didn't see much of them, as Ethan was busy constructing the model kits we bought him, and Dan was engrossed in his new game. but so long as they were happy, that's all that matters at Christmas time. it's about the kids after all.

Thanks for the wonderful Christmas everyone. Lets hope for a happy and healthy New Year, with lots more get togethers. xxx

Loz x

It's snowing !!!

Well, they said it was coming, however, we didnt think it was coming with such gusto!

I still havent got anything other than my phone to take pictures on but it doesnt stop me from snapping off a few choice photos to try and capture the moment.

Loz x

Christmas Party

Today was Laurence's Christmas Party at pre-school. It was really nice, and although I didn't managed to take very many pictures - because of child protection etc, I did manage to snap one at the end.

I always find it hilarious at toddler parties, especially Christmas parties, when Santa finally makes an appearance, and all the kiddies have been so looking forward to it...the door opens, the jingle begins to play....and in walks some skinny thirty something with a poor excuse for a Santa outfit on, a badly fitting beard and a half-hearted ho ho ho!

The kids freeze, panic, then run screaming to their mums and dads.

It's a classic moment too, when Santa begins handing out presents, calling each child's name in turn, and although each of them is waiting with baited breath for their name to be called, when it is, they freeze (again) the bottom lip starts to quiver, and eventually, it is mum which has to go and collect the present.

Somehow, it seems vaguely cruel to start off a child's expectations of Christmas this way.

Funny though. :P

Loz x

Christmases all at once.

For those that don't know, for 10 years we lived next door to a very unsavoury family that went out of their way to make our lives a living hell. The son, Mark Weston, has today been found guilty of murder, a murder which took place 15 years ago. He was tried for it once, but was found not guilty because of a lack of evidence, however, since the double jeopardy law was relegislated in 2005, it was reopened. He was tried at Reading crown court, and today found guilty because of new DNA evidence.

For the last 6 years mark weston made our lives unbearable, he made countless anonymous phone calls to the police with ever growing accusations about us, including, firearms in the house, our home being used as a drug factory, child abuse, violence etc etc. The list is endless. The police couldn't do anything because the calls were made anonymously, our housing association had their hands tied too.
To be honest, we were afraid of how far the harassment would escalate. To the point where I would no longer take the dogs for a walk, or feel comfortable letting the kids out to play.

He and his family lied about us constantly (as they had done the previous occupants of the house we lived in) and the verbal abuse was daily. They turned the rest of the village against us, turned my husbands parents against us, and caused us to live in fear and isolation.

We moved because of them, and had to rebuild our relationship because of them. But we pulled through. Knowing that justice has finally been served has made today one of the best days of my life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-11982681

Loz xxx

It's Christmas !!

Well..not quite, but it always feels like it when the tree goes up.

I was absolutely gobsmacked at the price of real trees this year. We usually get our tree from a local farm which has a side line business this time of year with them, but even their prices had gone up. Countrywide were the worst..nearly £60 for a 6ft tree, which is already netted (so you cant really see what you are getting) !
Needless to say, I am not paying £60 for something which will last for just a few weeks.

Daniel just had to have his picture taken with Santa outside Sainsburys on Saturday. He absolutely loves Christmas, and has no problem showing it to the rest of the world. So thank you Father Christmas for making his day :P

Joseph is really starting to find his feet now - well, his tummy at least. Laurence adores him, and as this pictures shows from the way his head is blurred, he is always playing with him. It's the best kind of socialisation there is, to have a big family of differing ages. Whilst I agree that it is important for kids to learn how to get along with their peers - like in a school environment - they only have to do that for 6 hours a day. For the rest of their time, including all the ever growing holidays, and weekends, they have to mix with all ages. Allowing kids to socialise with a varied group of adults, kids, babies etc, is vital to encourage a rounded sense of society in them I think.

The kitchen is nearly there. The units are all in with doors and drawer fronts etc. But we have to wait until wednesday for the tiles to go up, so I wont be posting any pictures until then. but it looks good now, and at least I have some space to work in.

Today is tip run day. I have a multitude of bags and boxes to load the car up with and dump, and sadly, most of the stuff is non recyclable. It pains me to have to dump it all, but it's no good to anyone else (no freecycling then) and I cant even find an arts and crafts use for them either. 


Loz x

A nice day!

Had a really lovely day today. The boys and I went to a indoor softplay centre and actually got to meet up with a few other really friendly HE families. Some of the names were familiar, so it was nice to put faces to them.
Laurence had a great time playing with so many children, usually when we go there during the week it is fairly quiet, but today there were a couple of parties going on so the place was pretty busy.

Of course, when I got back I was greeted with.....'The Kitchen' and all its' mess. I know I will just have to grit my teeth and get on with the tidying and organising (which really  needs to be done anyway), but right now, I just don't feel in the right mood for it. So I'm going to make a cup of tea, grab a couple of party rings and sit down to watch countdown and deal or no deal whilst playing with Joseph and putting Laurence through the pain of trying on a bunch of new clothes which have finally arrived! :)
(when I say it like that, it sounds like I still have a load of stuff to do and probably wont get to watch much of either programme anyway!) lol.


Loz x

Nearly Christmas...

Sadly, we didn't get chance for all of us to go into the village for it's annual Victorian Evening and 'Christmas lights switch on', however, Ethan and Daniel took a trip in to sample some of the fun which was on offer, and as usual they concentrated on what food and rides there were. Daniel was most impressed with the swan ride, whilst Ethan preferred to take pictures of the tree which they put in the river. It looks so pretty.

I suppose soon it will be time for us to also get a tree and start decorating. This year should be lovely because Laurence is that much older and will be able to get involved. We are definitely having a real tree, but since moving I know we dumped all our old decorations, so I'll have to pop down to the Christmas Shop and see about stocking up on some new ones, and getting the kids making a few too.

I am so looking forward to Christmas this year. I couldn't enjoy it last year because I was full of morning sickness which lasted all day!! I shall be making up for it this year however.



Loz x

Fighting Frustration....!

It's another Monday morning, the fog is shrouding everything in an eerie gloom, and my kitchen is still no closer to being finished. At 8.20 this morning, the new fitter came and began to organise himself. At 8.50 he left the house to get some things which he needed, and here, at 11.30..he's still not back. As a result of all this fannying about, my patience is really wearing thin with everyone.
Poor Ethan tried to explain to me today, that he has been thinking about his future, and instead of games design, he would love to go into film making, and would I be able to help him discover more about it. 
In principle, that is fine. He wanted to know some basics, so we researched it and printed off some worksheets and some explanatory notes and set to discussing what we had found. 
Then...he yawned.
Now, I know it was just a yawn. Everyone yawns...and not always because they are tired or bored. But I - in my current frazzled state - took it personally.
He began to complain that he couldn't understand what was written in the research notes we had found...I begged to differ arguing that if he couldn't understand simple notes, then he would be stuffed when it came to trying to understand anything more complicated, and that if he couldn't persevere with two sheets of paper he ought to give up now (basically, I know this is one of Ethans' ploys to get out of having to read something).  
I do not adopt a completely autonomous routine with Ethan. I cant afford to. If I were to leave him to his own educational devices, he would flop and flap about all day not actually doing anything. I know there are some out there that will argue that that is the best way for someone to learn, but I know categorically that it is not the best way for Ethan to learn. So whilst I try to allow him to discover as much as he can on his own, and I have no concerns with what methods he decides to use, or how long or how little he takes with something (or indeed, what that 'something' may be), I do like to keep some basis 3 R's routine in with it.
So when he turns his nose up at having to read something, or yawns when I am trying to explain to him what he couldn't be bothered to try and understand in the written notes, yet he still insists on wanting to know more about it, I begin to pull my hair out and my fuse comes dangerously close to burning out.

This is the first proper upset we have had together, and i do believe it is mostly because of the stress of not having a kitchen - that is after all where we do most of our work together, and we had such a nice routine going, which has been recently thrown into the air and scattered to the four corners of my sanity. 

I am hoping that as this week goes on and we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel, and things begin to feel something closer to normal, that things will settle down and our routine will continue.

Anyway, I will update later, as matey has just walked in through the door, and is cracking on as I speak. lets hope tomorrows pictures show a little progress.

Loz x

Fitters and footers...

Last night, I found myself lost for words. A rare event.

After the fitter had left my husband and I stood back to take in what he had done in all its glory. At which point, my husband nearly popped an artery with laughter.

Take a look at this picture. Now, granted, if like me you have no idea about fitting kitchens, you may not immediately see what the problem is. But let me explain...

You see, this is a corner where two of our brand spanking new kitchen units meet. Both should be drawer line base units (which as you can see, the one on the left is, and one on the right isn't).

However, the genius of a fitter has made a crucial error in this installation.

I am in this picture holding up a piece of wood in the exact position where the drawer should be. Notice the lack of space on the other unit for either a drawer, or a door even!!!

The fitter installed 3 units. screwed them together (unlevel, but that's another story) but either forgot, or didn't know that he had to use spacers in this corner.

Yes, I sound like I'm just going on and on about it, but seriously, when you have someone in your home to make improvements, the last thing you expect them to do is make a hash of it. But, having said that, it's a sad sign of the times that service in general isn't what it used to be.

......................................................

On a lighter note, Ethan made another of his tape sculptures today, this time his left foot. The plan is to make every part of the body and eventually join them all together. Ethan has had great fun in figuring out how to make the structure stronger, musing over alternative materials, and even delving into the thought of much larger scale applications. 

He wants to create a permanent structure from his tape 'casts', so he has also looked into using plaster of paris at some point. The idea being to create a tape replica of himself, then eventually a full sized 'statue' of himself which he then plans to decorate abstractly in some way. Personally, I love watching him experiment with new things like this, and also beginning to think outside of the box. 

Art was never something Ethan showed a great deal of interest in, but then I don't think anyone had ever approached him with any ideas other than the usual things you expect at school. 

He has even talked about what it would be like to re-create a full sized house from tape...or at least something big enough for a couple of adults to comfortably move about in. I love the ideas and can't wait to get hold of some industrial sized rolls of sticky tape. :)  

Loz x

Rant...continued...

So, the kitchen fitter turned up at 10.12am this morning, he left at 1.30pm, and in that time did precisely......well, take a look.....

Kitchen at 10.11am this morning.



 




 kitchen at 1.35pm this afternoon.

 



Now, I'm no genius, but surely in 3 hours something more than this should have been achieved???

Well earned rant...

I'm going to sound like I'm complaining as you read through this, and if I'm going to be honest, to an extent...I am!
I am at present having my kitchen replaced, and it's only taken them 6 months to finally get going with it. (sarcasm)
So, Tuesday afternoon at 1pm, we had a nice carpenter chappy turn up on the doorstep, saying he needed to take some measurements. Which in itself is fine. However, we were then told that the kitchen would need to be ready for dismantling at 8.30 am the next morning! which in theory is fine too...except we are a family of 6, with the kitchen being the hub of the house!

We are now eating out of boxes piled up on the dining table. And can we find anything? No. 

I'm pleased to be getting the new kitchen as it was certainly long overdue, and there is only so much patience you can have with an outdated 70's kitchen staring at you every day.  But why is he taking sooooo long?

Yesterday, it took him all day to remove 7 units and about 90 tiles. he is supposed to be finished completely on Friday. Lets wait and see shall we.