Really pleased I had my shopping buddy!

Now I am not a fan of shopping at the best of times and outnumbered in my house with an all female to male ratio, these family trips could turn out to be a nightmare for a gentleman such as myself. I could be stranded in clothes shops and viewing all things feminine, such as looking at make up, answering difficult questions about sizes and whether the ladies in my life look nice in it. Too many loaded questions to cope with! Or so I thought...Thank heavens for Anna. Last weekend I spent two of the most pleasurable hours shopping I have ever had in her company. We shopped and looked around in calm ease with no agenda. We scouted for DVD's, film memorabilia, the Norwich shop, football gloves and went for coffee. She was great company, we chatted away and this was a shopping experience I would love to repeat! P.S. Why is that neither of my children can't avoid getting messy when eating or drinking. Must order some bibs for them - note the chocolate sauce on Anna's nose. Messy pair!

Even Anna ate some pudding!

Recently we have been treated to Lucy's experimental cooking and she definitely whipped us up a treat or two. Given the task to make a crumble at school, she thought she would test the recipe out on her unsuspecting family and I have to say it was wonderful and tasted great. The dry run was a cherry and apple crumble, served up with lashings of cream and ice cream. A week later, the main dish arrived home from school and was also delicious. A slight problem in that there was fifty percent less apples, with Amy having supplied her with large cooking apples, I can only conclude that Lucy got a bit bored peeling such large ones. The result was a bit too much crumble and not so much apple! Anna, not normally one to have a pudding bravely tried some on each occasion and ate every bit. Amy is a fabulous cook and we can't get her to eat any of her puddings, so praise indeed for Lucy from the famous food critic Wiggle! I for one am looking forward to next dishes Lucy tries, what will be next?

It's finally finished!

After much swearing and I really mean much swearing, Lucy's bedroom is finally finished. After all these years of being practically inept, you would have thought I would have learnt my lesson and paid somebody to complete projects in the house such as this! It was a good job, that for some periods of time Amy and the girls were not in the house whilst I was decorating, as I used words I have not spoken in a long time! Not one screw I put up stayed secure, I fell off the step ladder, landing on my arse on an open pot of paint - for a short period of time I looked like a smerf (angry smerf). Rescued by Uncle Ron and his drilling skills, I completed the project by the skin of my nose, hours before the carpet guys arrived to fit it. Despite all the hassle, agitation, loss of dignity and pain, I am chuffed to bits to be able to have done this for Lucy. Her emotional reaction with tears of joy, made it all worthwhile. Enjoy Looby chick. Your first grown up bedroom with enough storage spare to keep all your crap in! xx

Resolutions that I must make stick!

Another year of family life has flown by and we dive into another full of hope and expectation. This New Years eve, the Hammond family broke with tradition and our usual level of social ineptness and actually stayed the course and saw the New year in! Getting home  at around 2am, having had the most wonderful time as guests at our friends Sophie and Jo's house with great food, fireworks, toasting marshmallows on the fire, meeting new people and even a bit of low level partying. All right, we are all paying for it now as we are usually all in our PJ's by 8pm! I love my family, beyond words, but we do get caught up in the mechanics of life and routine and sometimes do not make time for each other as much as we could, me probably the most. I take life too seriously and forget at times, just to spend time with Amy and the girls enjoying ourselves.  Amy and I focus so much on parenting and providing the girls with all they need, love and support, that we often forget our marriage and time to be with each other. So girls, the message is clear, I am going to find as many baby sitters as possible and palm you off to them for the whole of 2018, so your mother and I can spend more time together. Just kidding! Although this is important and I especially need to make the effort to find time with Amy and simply be together. So this is my resolution this year and one I fully intend to stick to. Don't feel at all like I saw enough of Amy last year as my wife, not a fellow parent and this is something I want to change moving forwards. Spending time with the girls is always great, such as taking Lucy to her first competitive game at Carrow Road and we won, but spending time with Amy is what makes me tick. Happy New Year to my family and can't wait for the adventures this year may bring! xx