just another morning here

Last week it was Anna’s 15th birthday. It was a fairly non-event, since I had to go back to work, and she’d already opened pretty much all her presents with my family the week before! Steve gave her something she’d been wanting for a while, and Grandma and Grandpa visited with a gift in the evening too.

Her present from us was a set of tickets to see One Direction in Plymouth two days later – so she already knew about that too, obviously. At this point I need to back track and tell the whole story of the One Direction tickets …

Back in October we found out about the concert and she said she’d like to go as a birthday present, but I realised that I wasn’t going to be near a computer or phone when the tickets went on sale. So, I enlisted two kind people to both try and get a set of 4 for us – and they both managed it (I had no problem selling on the 4 I didn’t need!).

Then, to cut a long story short – I have two girls in my class who are also One Direction fans and had got tickets, so I cooked up an idea whereby we could all go to the concert together. Anna was up for sharing her birthday party, so I carried on planning.

Just after half term (in the second week of their half term), Anna and her friends came into my class to meet the other two girls, and they spent an afternoon decorating a banner together for the concert and generally getting to know one another. Then on Thursday we all bundled into one of the school minibuses, along with an extra mum and an enabler, to go down to the concert.

When we arrived they did the whole screaming fan thing together outside the back of the Pavilions, then came back in dribs and drabs to hurriedly eat a packed tea on the bus before heading off again. At this point the groups split up with Anna and her friends going off together and the other two with their carers – they were gutted when their banner was deemed ‘too big’ and not allowed in!

It was absolutely fantastic for the two girls from my class to do something together with a group of teenagers, and I have to say that Anna and her friends were brilliant with them – they were all singing along to the 1D album on the way there, then all chatting about the concert etc. on the way home. And I don’t think they really realised how much of a big deal it was for the two from my class to be included in a trip like that. I was really proud of them

While I was dropping them all off I was given a flier for a free coffee in a cafe opposite, so I sat there with my book for the evening, and was joined by the girls from my class when they came out of the gig a bit early – I was very impressed they made it through as far as they did given how exceedingly loud it was! We waited for the other gang of girls to extract themselves and then drove on home, getting back around 11.30 – not too bad really.

We then had 6 teenagers upstairs while Abbie slept on the sofa They were all asleep by 1am which wasn’t too bad really. The next day was a bit of a blur all round though!

This weekend has been our last ‘holiday’ weekend, with no orchestra or choir commitments, and it has been quite lovely … Steve and I worked a bit in the morning, Anna had a piano masterclass at SWMS, Abbie did homework, Josiah had a Suzuki group lesson, then Steve and I went out to the cinema at teatime to celebrate our anniversary (more chance of me staying awake but I still didn’t quite manage it!). Got the ironing done for the weekend during the evening, so today was quite relaxed too – church for Anna and I, then I went out caching while she finished off her homework; Abbie had a friend round, and Josiah went on a choristers’ panto trip. Not entirely sure what Steve has been up to all day other than trying to plan a summer holiday and getting depressed about how expensive it will be …

Having not really had a family holiday this year, we decided to push the boat out at New Year and booked a break at Center Parcs. Gulp! It was embarrassingly expensive but we have had a lovely time together. The children didn’t have Christmas presents from us this year; instead they chose activities to do while we were away.

Abbie chose a horseriding lesson – she loved this as she got to canter and do a small jump as well, things she hadn’t attempted before. Having had horse riding lessons for birthday and Christmas, she is hooked (and I am very worried about this!).

Joe chose laser combat – so Steve HAD to go with him This actually looked like loads of fun and I wished we’d all gone!

Anna chose to come to the spa with me – I don’t usually go in for that sort of thing but it was quite relaxing I suppose … and very lovely to spend the time with Anna She will kill me for posting a pic but she did love the waterbed

We didn’t go out to the New Year’s Eve party (bah humbug) but cooked enchiladas at home, did our jigsaw, and then sat in bed listening to the fireworks. Instead we celebrated New Year’s Day in style – the kids all had a session aqua-jetting before a champagne buffet brunch with live jazz band. In fact we had live music twice as there was a classical guitarist playing in the restaurant where we had dinner in the evening, which was great too. During the afternoon Steve had booked pool tables so we enjoyed chilling out there.

Lots of swimming, sauna, and relaxation in-between all the activity.

Very much enjoyed the weekend Having said that, even though we all enjoyed it, I’m not sure we’ll go back in a hurry – it’s fantastic, but as we are limited to peak times these days, it is very expensive! I missed exploring the countryside and seeing something new of the world, something we usually do wherever we are on holiday, even just in the UK … we are trying to decide what sort of holiday to have in the summer but perhaps, having read the offer in the comments on the post below, we won’t need to book a holiday for the summer at all

Steve and I say on the way home every year how grateful we are to have family on both sides where we feel totally at home and comfortable, and where we enjoy everyone’s company, look forward to getting together and always have a lovely time. It was yet another year like that – again we had a fabulous time with my side of the family, between games, food, a walk around the village, gift exchange, and general chatting. Last year we didn’t quite get everyone out for a walk but this year we did (I’m sure having Meg the dog with us helped!), so took a pic in the same place – and it was a first take wonder!

Everyone liked their presents, and the girls did well for their birthdays too, although I’m not sure I should thank Mark & Heidi for the Olly Murs CD we had to endure on the way home

It was super-exciting to be able to add not one but TWO extra pieces of paper into the hat for our Not-so-secret-Santa for next year since my sister is expecting twins in the summer. They have now been named Bobbin and Charlie (by Abbie – not quite sure what she was thinking?!!?!).

We even ended up talking about going on holiday in a big house together again … who knows if/when that will happen but it is just lovely that everyone would want to – we are very blessed

When we got home we had to blow up Josiah’s inflatable dalek, and he ended up ‘sleeping with the enemy’ all night long

Boxing day started in a very lazy fashion; Steve and I watched a film in bed. The children decided, for once in their lives, to get up and ready on time and in a shock event, they were ready before us! We went over to Steve’s parents’ house for the day which was lovely – we exchanged gifts before a fabulous buffet lunch.

After lunch we played games and fell asleep in front of Elf … then picked at the food again before watching the Borrowers in the evening. Lovely and relaxed

Today we had always planned to go sales shopping – something we NEVER normally do, but I confess now, I had planned to buy presents for my family (who we are seeing tomorrow) after Christmas. Well – you get more for your money! We’d already bought a few, but found the last few successfully today. We should have our Christmas celebrations later on every year!

The children spent a bit of their Christmas money too, so they were very happy – Josiah bought the last Harry Potter film on DVD so we came home and watched that, closely followed by Senna (one of Steve’s presents). Looking forward to going over to friends’ tonight … and Steve’s off for the whole week between Christmas and New Year, so it does feel as though the holiday is stretching out nicely