just another morning here

Tonight was Anna’s year six Prom … we had played it down and refused to spend any more than the bare minimum on the evening; Anna saved up for her dress herself - we bought the shoes and jacket to go with it. Then at the last minute Steve found out that his mate had a Rolls Royce to spare, so the girls got a chauffeur and a posh car for their grand arrival at the school gates

By all accounts and despite torrential rain, they had a fantastic evening, and now of course we have set a precedent for any other end of school dances which might come our way

A weekend of following this cello girl around, as she has another concert tomorrow as well! Today’s was fun; after the usual Children’s Orchestra practice, when we went home, the Youth Orchestra jumped on a coach together and went down to Exmouth for a performance in Manor Gardens, at what is apparently known as their ‘performance stage’, although it looks more like an upmarket bandstand to me!

It was slightly drizzly at first, but having cancelled the concert last week it went ahead today anyway. Abbie, Joe and I had picked up Aunty Esther along the way, taken her home for lunch, and then took her out to Exmouth and subjected her to the concert as well

We armed ourselves with details of a few local geocaches to find; glad we did, as it kept us moving until the sun came out. Did a couple of micros, then the last one was a tiny magnetic nano, very well camouflaged to look like a bolt head, it took me far too long to find it despite the fact that I was looking in exactly the right place! Afterwards, the sun finally appeared, so we bought ice creams and sat in the park for the rest of the concert.

The tv and broadband were both down at home today - the first of which didn’t bother me at all but the second was awful! TV came back on just in time for Dr Who, which pleased the children, and the internet finally back on at around 11.30pm.

I went to Taw Bottom and had lots of fun. The end.

editor’s note: think her writing skills need some development! she was tired

Anna told us (very nonchalently, as if it wasn’t much of an achievement!) on Tuesday that she’d been invited to join the Chamber Orchestra - which is the higher level of the children’s orchestra, so more technically advanced, and with a better balance of instruments, as the children’s orchestra doesn’t do auditions it can be rather unbalanced at times. She wasn’t sure at first whether she wanted to do it or not as it’s a whole hour’s extra practice ( ) but it’s a compliment to be asked, anyway. Today she gave it a try and came out saying she’d really enjoyed it so that was great. She’s probably among the youngest there so it’s going to be hard work, but also very good for her

Abbie finished a beaded photo frame that she’s been making over the past week or so; it looks really nice. She’s put a photo in it and is ready to give it to the lucky recipient. She’s also set up her art stuff on her desk and is painting loads of lovely pictures.
Also today she took her own money into Claire’s and, completely unprompted, came out with nothing for herself because she ran out of money buying a present for Anna to say well done for going to Chamber Orchestra

Anna hit the grand old age of 11 yesterday, and we all enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her. She had a few presents in the morning, which she was very happy with. Then we went into town so that I could sort out her presents from us - a Build A Bear which she has been hankering after for ages (are you ever too old to secretly want one? I’m not!) but can never quite bring herself to spend her own money on, and a new bank account in her own name - complete with bank card which can be personalised so that’s an extra gift which will follow eventually. She was thrilled with all of that too!

Spent hours in Claire’s Accessories as a special concession (I usually operate a strict ‘3 minutes and no more!’ policy in there!), and a few more shops along the way. Then we went to MacDonalds for lunch and managed to meet one of her best friends from school, so that was an added bonus! Meandered home via a few more shops where the girls both bought slippers that they needed.

At home we played beauty salons; the girls showered and I blow dried their hair (even made an effort with my own!) then they faffed around with nails and makeup ready to go out in the evening for our Christmas present pantomime.

It was a fantastic evening, the panto was great and Steve’s mum had sneaked to tell them it was Anna’s birthday so she got sung to in the middle of the show as well which was exceedingly embarrassing for her but funny for us! Afterwards we had fish & chips with Steve’s parents, then home to bed.

As an aside, and only because I quite like the photo of myself for once: Abigail wanted a locket, so we hunted around and found a nice one in H Samuel that she bought with some Christmas money. She then decided she wanted photos of me and Steve in it so we had to pose for her last night. Now to print them out small enough and try to fit them in!

I was just writing some letters on behalf of the orchestra (Christmas raffle time!) so looked at the website, and spotted this page which is new and has a picture of Anna on it

Last week was taken up with our little excursion to Kessingland Beach. For anyone who doesn’t know, while we were there with a Home Ed. camp earlier in the year, Anna and a few of the other children entered the karaoke competition, so this was the Park Final week.

We ended up with very convoluted arrangements whereby Steve and Abbie stayed at home, with a bit of help from Grandma during after school times. Josiah came with us as far as the Portico where he stayed with Ernest and Buttercup for a few days. Meanwhile I took Anna, Violet and Gwenny on to Kessingland for the longest sleepover ever!

We had a free static for the week, I think they chose the worst one to give us, but it was ok for a few days. Well it was once I swapped the tv for one with an av channel for the Wii!

Tuesday was taken over with preparations for the evening, between a long rehearsal and then a quick swim before three hours of makeup and hair doing. It was an enjoyable night actually (mainly thanks to Twitter friends!), and while I sort of wanted Anna to win because I thought she was genuinely the best of the bunch, she didn’t, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief at not having to go to Grand Finals in Clacton! There are a few snippets of video here, here, and here - the latter being the hilarious finale to the Disney Show which the Teamstars did - which really was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long while.

Wednesday was a fairly boring, grey day, and we lazed around watching tv, reading, and playing wii. The girls took the living room over in the evening and pulled the sofabed out so that they could have a proper sleepover together (ie all sleep in the same room!) but Anna ended up back in bed with me by the end of the night!

Typically, Thursday was a beautiful day weather-wise and in some ways it would have been nice to spend longer on the beach, but we had to get back, so waved goodbye to Kessingland, hopefully forever!!

We spent the rest of Thursday chez Portico which was nice, and drove home late that night. Then spent Friday pretending we hadn’t got home yet and generally procrastinating over everything. Must add that Joe had a great week, as did Steve and Abbie - Steve was amazed at how quiet and peaceful it was!

Saturday was more normal; it included an orchestra practice and AGM where I somehow managed to get on the committee for ECO - well I figured it was a worthwhile thing to get involved with and all three of our children will benefit from the orchestra over the next few years.

Then we popped up to share cake with my sister in her new flat at university, of course my phone chose that moment to play up so I couldn’t ring her - I vaguely knew where I was going thank goodness but we did still drag a random towel-clad fresher out of her flat in order to let us through the building so we could find the right place!

And the afternoon was spent cleaning and tidying the first floor of the house. Which was great until I went downstairs and saw the comparative mess down there! Ironed while watching X Factor and then had an early night before an early morning Grand Prix which is a must-watch this morning!