just another morning here

Since we got home from holiday we have …

Sunday
Spent the day with my family in Oxfordshire, exchanging gifts and generally having fun together

Monday
Popped into town to exchange a couple of presents (mainly unsuccessfully!), then went over to Steve’s parents for the afternoon. Watched Mamma Mia in the evening and hated it.

Tuesday
The girls had their Christmas present ‘trip into town’ with Grandma while I amused Josiah (meccano), and finally finished catching up on ACCF French homework when Anna got home (regular verb endings. My French, despite being a fluent speaker, is appalling!) Watched Angus, thongs, and perfect snogging in the evening and rather enjoyed it!

Wednesday
Helped with Anna’s science homework first thing (electric generators) and some music practice etc., trying to get back into good habits for next week! My friend came over and we took some grumbling kids out geocaching. It was freezing but this meant that the children actually had a ball mucking around in icy puddles! Found 2, dnf 1. Dropped GPSr in the river at one point but it was retrieved and seems ok!

Off out to the Adams’ in a bit for New Year’s Eve games evening, not sure if we will make it until midnight but you never know.

Happy New Year to one and all

Nothing much to report really; I was ill with a nasty cold so nothing more than the essential stuff happened last week. Probably shouldn’t have gone to school either but we had lots of fun Christmas things going on that I didn’t want to miss! Knew I was really ill when I didn’t play much AC at all … and then knew I was better when I felt like WiFi-ing again on Friday (sad but true!).

Very happy to finally have a couple of pictures up on the wall going up/down the stairs, we had the Montmartre portrait framed so that’s gone up, and another one of my all time favourite photos from 2000, which I’ve had in a clip frame for years but it hasn’t been on the wall for ages.

Nothing else new. Well, I had my hair chopped short – now it’s short and sticking out instead of long and sticking out, so not much change there.

Anna sat her Grade 5 cello exam, don’t have results yet obviously. And then she spent the entire weekend on music one way or another. The Suzuki group is playing carols in town on the last Saturday before Christmas again so we (all 3 kids, Abbie joins in on her flute!) had a practice for that on Saturday afternoon, plus orchestra all morning, plus an extra random strings workshop that she was invited to this afternoon. Along with youth group on Friday night and church this morning as well, it’s a good thing she didn’t have any homework, or if she did it hasn’t got done!

Plugged the lights in on the snowman that’s been in our fireplace since last year … that’s the only decorating happening here this year, bah humbug (we are taking tree to holiday house on 20th though!).

Think that’s about everything. Caught up with washing this weekend as Steve was off racing a Ka round a track, played a bit more ACCF and let the kids watch too much tv while I played it, cooked Winter Vegetable Christmas Cobbler (ie used up veg box items that needed using in a casserole with cobblers cut with christmas cookie cutters!) for dinner this evening [as an aside, Steve had never heard of cobblers - is it just him? I often had them as a kid, not sure where they're from? a midlands or northern thing perhaps?] as the last of a run of comfort food that I’ve made this week!

Really not sure if I’m ready for the onslaught of the next two weeks which are full to overflowing with Christmas activities at work and afterwards as well, not to mention a birthday to fit in, but hey, in two weeks it’ll all be over …

I know it’s a week early but the Autumn concert finished last week so the orchestra got its Christmas music out today (Abbie very happy to be given a tiny little solo at the end of one of the pieces!). Joe had a Suzuki Group concert this afternoon and they played a couple of Christmas songs as well – so although it really is too early, I can’t help feeling as though Christmas is just around the corner. Schools (theirs and mine) are already preparing for Christmassy things so there’s no ignoring it! I will shortly be putting the Christmas CDs in the car too

Er. That’s all I have to say. The rest of my life just seems to pass in a blur of school and after school activities, not to mention homework, plus of course latterly the essential Animal Crossing fix every day. There’s no way I can play it as much as I played Wild World on the DS when I was at home rather than working, but it’s still so nice to escape into that other world, I can’t help it – it feels like watching your favourite old film all over again. OK so I’m weird, but I don’t care (you all knew that a long time ago).

Bit worried about the garage at the moment … wondering how long the recession might go on for as it does seem to be filtering down. I try to ignore it while Steve tries to fix it – both pretty useless reactions really, somewhere in the middle might be a good plan.

Anyway back to tonight: dinner, wine, X Factor, Animal Crossing, Casualty, and at this rate the children currently fighting over pieces of electronics kits will be going to bed early so it should be a peaceful evening!

I’m totally too busy to blog, especially as I’m playing the newest generation of Animal Crossing! But we had a good weekend with lots of other stuff in it too, so I thought I should write something quickly.

Saturday was a music day: the girls had orchestra in the morning, Joe and Anna had a Suzuki practice in the afternoon, and then the evening was ECO’s Autumn Concert. We had Grandad and Nanna here for dinner before taking them to the concert too – and it was good fun as usual. Novelty of taking photos of orchestra has worn off I think as they’re pretty much the same! Anna’s orchestra friend (the one who moved to Reading) came down for the weekend so we had her to stay for a couple of nights.

In the midst of this I was hugely excited to pick up a review copy of Animal Crossing: Let’s go to the City. Had problems porting my DS character into it though so that took up the rest of the weekend for me! Can’t manage to wifi easily at the moment though, timezone problems plus the fact that I’m not able to play enough!

Sunday we went to church (me, Abbie and Joe), town (Anna and her friend), and the kit car show (Steve and his dad. I would have gone but the kids didn’t want to). All back home for dinner, and I invited Riona over for tea too because she saved me by lending me her AC:WW game card!

Back to work on Monday then dashed around doing various things after school before ending up at this Excellence in Exeter evening. We really didn’t have a clue what it was all about but Anna was receiving an award as well as singing in her school choir so we dressed up and went out.

Kind of giggled as her award was for ‘sporting and artistic endeavour’ but hey, she was the only one in her year at school who got it, so she must have done something to earn it! I suspect it’s probably music related but we don’t get to find out why each child was nominated. Still very (VERY) proud of her. The choir were good too, we met a few friends whose kids also got awards there, and there was even some food at the end of the ceremony.

Must get up and get on now, we have another new child starting in our class today (the second this term!). And it’s another day when I think about Animal Crossing all day but can’t actually make time to play it! Oh I’m so sad! Scrabble turns will get played I promise, one of these days