An amazing Christmas

Christmas 2012 was completely glorious. We spent it with the OH's sister, her fiancé, their son and Grandma.

They have recently moved into an apartment just a stones throw away from Canary Wharf and it is GORGEOUS.

Unfortunately the OH caught the lurgy, so he spent most of the time throwing up, drinking diarolyte and lying down. Poor daddy. It was a shame because OH's sister always puts on an amazing spread and the food did not disappoint. It was completely scrummy. I even fell in love with Christmas pud, which I'm not really a fan of but it was so tasty, especially when steaming hot and topped with a generous squirt of whipped cream.

We were truly blessed because there was a moment when we thought we wouldn't make it to her house. Our car is kaput, so I had to borrow my mum's car. We picked up OH's mum in south London, then the car wouldn't start and it was pouring with rain. We were all too embarrassed to ask the neighbours for a jump start, but thankfully after a call to my mum, the car started. At that point my mother in law said she'd sent up a quick prayer, I'm telling you PRAYER WORKS. In the heat of the moment I hadn't even thought to do that *slaps forhead and hangs head in shame*. Well at least one of us was on the ball. Thank you Jesus.

I'll leave you all with some pics from the day, can you spot the insane shoe collection? I always knew OH's sister loves shoes but this was something I'd never seen before, plus this was AFTER she'd got rid of 70 pairs 0_o lol....

I can truly say I had a wonderful Christmas and it really is the simple things, Jesus, family, love and thanksgiving that make it what it is. I hope you all had a beautiful, blessed Christmas too.

A shaky start

Image from www.cahiley.com 

February is rapidly coming to an end and so I thought I’d give a little update on my 2012 goals. I think it’s therapeutic to review my accomplishments so far and see where needs more work. If the truth be known it's all been a bit shaky, but all is not yet lost.

1) Eating healthily & more exercise - This has been an epic fail. If anything I'm eating more junk and doing less exercise. Very disheartening. I hate to give excuses but I'm so tired all of the time, I'm just eating whatever is quick and to hand. I must try harder to make healthier food choices. I need to get to grips with this. It is currently a joke!

2) Get son christened - Booking the date in the next few days.

3) Swimming lessons for my children - This is proving to be more difficult than expected. My local leisure centre is booked up for the next six months. I could book lessons for my baby boy and middle daughter, as there is availability for their age groups but I can't leave my eldest out. Plus I need to coordinate diaries with my sister and mother in law because each child needs to be accompanied by an adult. I'm disappointed that the process hasn't been as straightforward as I'd hoped but those lessons will get booked by hook or by crook. Alternatively we may ditch the lessons and just take them for a fun splash about each week instead, at least then they'll get used to the pool, they love water anyway - simples.

4) Organise finances - Now I'm a person who loves to save and although the better half isn't a big spender, we have different approaches when it comes to money. I'm working hard to get us both on the same page so we can start putting a decent lump sum away each month. Hoping to get this properly established sharpish.

5) Establish a way to make money from home -  That is still very much a work in progress. I’m taking each day at a time.

6) Do more fun/silly things with my children - I must admit I'm struggling with this one. I can be goofy with my kids from time to time, but daily is tough. I'm a bit of a control freak I'm ashamed to admit, and I find that once I get my kids hyped up with silly play it's tough to get them back on an even keel. It usually ends with constant threats of having to sit on the naughty step because of their failure to calm down. *sigh*

7) Spend more time with family and friends – This is improving but still a work in progress. I've got some play dates booked and want to visit my grandmother next week. The kids would love to see their beloved Nanna. Me too.

8) A family holiday to Barbados - I need to get my son’s passport sorted. I fear this may be a bit of a pipe dream, but I am determined to try and go on some sort of vacation abroad before my eldest starts school and holidays are forever dictated by term times.

9) Work out how to credit photos properly on blogger -  The lovely Maria at Cheeky Pink Tulip helped me with this. I was using the old blogger interface hence the issues. All sorted now. Thanks Maria!!

10) Build my blog and meet more inspirational people through the world of blogging - Slowly but surely I’m getting there I'm meeting lots of great people and I’m loving it.

So that’s my update, still lots to improve on but lots of time still. How are you getting on with your goals for 2012?

Otherwise engaged

I love these rings, especially the fingerprints
on the inside. I know what we'll be getting.

The better half and I have been engaged for four years. Come to think of it, it's four years to the day today. O.M.Goodness!

I really thought we would be married by now, I definitely did not think we would have THREE children and not be married.

The better half proposed in glorious style a few weeks after our eldest daughter was born and  I vowed there would be no more children until we had made our union official. What is that saying about best laid plans?

Just before I found out I was pregnant with our third child I had it planned (hypothetically) that we would go to Barbados and have a simple wedding in paradise. How amazing would that have been? An amazing holiday with the girls and a wedding all wrapped into one.

Now we are in a situation where all of our money goes on the children and providing the best life possible for them. There is absolutely no money in the pot for a wedding.

Many have suggested to do something small, get family to make and bring food. The thing is we both come from very big families and I don't see how either of these suggestions could work. Admittedly I was never one of those girls who dreamt of the fairy tale wedding to her prince charming. I never had visions of the dress and the cake from the age of seven, so I'm not precious and I don't have high expectations but I would like the experience to be romantic and memorable for all the right reasons. 

Now my new target is for us to be married by 2013 the absolute latest. I'm getting concerned that the longer we leave it, the more we'll feel like just not bothering. I sense that the better half has lost complete interest in the idea, it's never a topic of conversation, it just exists silently until our daughter sees a bridal magazine or hears the mention of a wedding and asks when mummy and daddy will be getting married.

The honest answer is I don't know, our lives are so crammed with other stuff that we'll just carry on as things are. That is until 2013.......

Family, foibles & fun times



Image by =_RoBeR_= Flickr

I'm the eldest in a family of four. Growing up in a reasonably big family used to feel like a massive inconvenience. There was always some kind of argument going on. Someone was always getting blamed for what someone else did. There was never enough room, way too much sharing and food portions were always miserably small. Well I suppose I'm exaggerating, but in my memory being the eldest of four children felt at best slightly annoying and at worst completely and utterly suffocating.

These days I couldn't feel more thankful for having the three siblings that I do. All three are very different, but all three know who I am inside and out and I know them the same way. With siblings there is such a profound sense of commonality. Shared history, shared ways of thinking, shared parents, shared lives - it's great.

The banter between us always has me in hysterics. At Christmas we sat around and reminisced about our childhood, and the time we were caught running the streets in the school holidays when we should have been inside. We all scrambled for dear life trying to out run our Dad's car, praying he didn't see us (obviously he did), petrified of the punishment that lay in store. Or the time when my brother bit through his bottom lip after the armchair he was balanced on the back of toppled backwards and he went flying. I spent the whole evening trying to hide him from my Mum and when she finally caught up with us he had to be taken to hospital to get 6 stitches..... Or the time I jumped over the garden fence into our elderly next door neighbour's garden to retrieve a wayward ball. Only for the neighbour to catch me red handed and threaten to tell Dad that I had been trespassing. I was so scared of the repercussions. Looking back it all seems so trivial, at the time it felt like a life or death situation. The stories are endless and I love it. Memories are truly priceless.

I remember growing up my parents always used to tell us; 'These days are the best days of your life'. I always wondered what the heck they were talking about. I couldn't wait to be an adult, independent and living by my own rules. Now I understand that adulthood brings with it a whole new set of rules. How is it parents (mine in particular) ALWAYS know best?