Sorry I mentioned the sun..

As soon as I mentioned the sunshine in my last post on Thursday I put the Hammond kiss of death on the weather and the temperature dropped about ten degrees: it started raining really heavily and the weekend's weather has been a complete wash out. My plans to take the girls out in the fresh air and do something this weekend were quickly stopped in their tracks. Never mind, we spent a cracking morning in Playland in the warm and had lots of fun and silliness. Anna was simply bonkers as she ran around creating havoc, she was without a doubt a woman on a mission. Having grown a couple of inches of late, she now has unlimited access to all the climbing frames, slides, guns and bouncing things and loved the freedom of this. There was a very funny moment as Anna rushed into the boys toilet at high speed and skidded on the puddle in the middle of the floor, slid all the way over the room and got up giggling. Not sure what the puddle was though! My baby girl is bonkers with attitude, hence the glasses. Parental mistake 47: Letting Lucy and Anna take out their toy babies today. I have been changing pretend nappies all day and strapping them in and out of car seats. Lesson learnt, I promise you. Never again!

A great welcome home...

I went away for work this week and you would have thought that I would relish two nights away in a posh hotel and peace and quiet. No, I did not sleep a wink and the person in the room next to mine snored like an elephant. The best bit of the whole experience was coming home and the welcome and cuddles that the girls and Amy gave me. Lucy would not let me go for minutes and minutes and when Anna finally worked out she had missed me, she pestered me and pestered me for hugs, kisses, flips and tickles. It was lovely.

The sun is out this week, the temperature has risen and Lucy has a spring in her step. Her one liners have returned and she is in top form. For example: ' Mummy - this chilli is delicious but it is poisonous!' Her school work has been fabulous this week and I must be boring the living daylights out of any reader as I keep mentioning it, but she really is doing well and her enthusiasm for learning rises and rises. We are all getting tired now and there is only a few weeks till the Easter holidays and I have time off with my family as well. Can't wait! A bit of rest, family time and sunshine and I too may have a spring in my step! Who am I kidding, the girls will wear me out. Should be fun though...

And the winner is..

Anna Hammond. Whose tireless effort and dedication earned her the amazing and grand prize of a 'comic relief tomato plant' as the undisputed winner of crazy hair day at nursery and boy did she carry it well! I only have a night before picture, the only explanation I can offer is that once the hair bands came out this morning it looked like a dodgy eighties perm. Well done Wiggle for putting up with something you really were not that happy about. Every penny you raised literally does save and change lives for those less fortunate than ourselves. We are indeed a fortunate family and blessed. While I type I have just been watching comic relief and a film about a girl called Esta who was about the same age as Lucy who was looking after her baby brother who was two after their mother had died. Tears are streaming down my face - I just can't help it. In another less lucky life that could be my girls. God bless crazy hair...

A family portrait..

Lucy has completed her first ever picture of us all (including the cat!) and written all our names under each of us. Take a really close look, as Lucy seems to have dropped the name 'mummy' and decided to call her Amy instead! I think I am looking pretty good. I am, however, delighted at how far she has come on since she went to school. Not only is she good with the written word, she is quite handy and opinionated with the spoken word too. For example tonight when I lent over to give her a bedtime kiss she said 'please can I have a nice kiss, not a sloppy one daddy and if you do not try your hardest you will have to do it again!' She is so curious and the constant questions she asks are just her way of wanting to learn and learn. She always wants to find out about more things - this week it has been driving safety, getting points on your licence, free range 'happy' eggs and how do farmers kill the chickens we eat. I answered most of the questions by giving her all the information accept the killing chickens question and I may have added in a water park and cinema in for the happy chickens laying eggs! Anna's spoken word has been intermingled with a good old fashioned barking cough this week. Her best line being the mixing up of the words 'work surface' which is now known as 'sork wurface!' or my other personal favourite 'that stupid thing is really stupid daddy?!?'

Marbles, beads and buttons..

I am afraid that I do not speak of these objects with any level of affection. In fact they are a source of much frustration and frequently induce muttered swear words from me. Wiggle loves collecting small things, so much to the point that nothing is safe in our house. It does not matter who it belongs to, she will swipe it and then add it to her ever expanding collection. She has several storage vessels and her mission is to transfer all this bits and pieces from box to lunchbox, lunchbox to jar, jar to tin and so on. She is very meticulous about what she should carry them around in on any given day. The problem with all this regular transferring is that it usually results in her dropping them all over the place and that in turn means I have to pick them up. The other problem is that one can be going about one's business and then suddenly tread on something such as a marble that makes you jump. This can be very hazardous when carrying coffee for example. If I tread on one more bead I think I may not be responsible for the language that comes out of my mouth. Her other trick is to fill her pockets with her swag and I always find out after I have put the washing machine on and then I have to listen to an hours clanking and clattering as a handful of marbles or beads get a thorough cleaning. As I type, the washing machine is making such nosies, I will find out what the cause is soon enough, I am sure. She is a hoarder of expert skill and despite my annoyance I can't help feeling it endears me to her more. She has a wheeler, dealer and geezer charm to her that shines through in the mischief she gets up to.