Six Word Saturday 

''Look....My Boys First Car Keys''

He's yet to pass his test but things are moving in that direction and his very own car is stood on the drive waiting for him!

What a rite of passage....owning your own car! 

I'm so proud of him! 

Linking up with Cates super duper linky Six Word Saturday

Toughening Up Classes

When I first started thinking I needed a toughening up class it was just a little statement,but since then I have given it more thought...prob way,way too much thought 'grins

Call it therapy or whatever you want to call it but I have really envisaged what a toughening up class may be like and what the benefits of going to one would be...so here are my thoughts on toughening up classes...

Toughening Up Classes 

I need to go and do a crash course at a 'toughening up class'

I don't like having a soft friendly heart,they get hurt too much and when they get hurt they sting and the sting is not very nice at all.

I don't want anymore stings,I want to be tough,so tough that nobody can ever hurt me again.Ever.

So I imagine toughening up classes, you walk in a softie and come out as tough as old boots.

Im not sure what they would do to you,perhaps they would wrap your heart up in layers....first bubble wrap,then cotton wool...then soft coloured tissue paper,then perhaps they could create a hard shell around it and build a wall around the shell,a deep,tall wall that nobody could get under or over or through...hey presto a well protected heart...the jobs a good un.

Perhaps they could then brain wash you into not caring what other people said or did to you...make all your emotions waterproof,so that all the things that made you sad in the past would just run off you and nothing could get through your waterproof coating.

Hey this is sounding good!Im liking these thoughts...I think they could work

Perhaps there would be a dream sucker outerer,something that takes all your dreams and hopes out of your silly little head and replaces them with a cotton wool void.... a nice soft cotton wool void,all clean and fluffy,a space where you feel nothing...no dreams...coz dreams are dangerous,they lead you to believe things are going to be ok and the drop when you find out they are not is too far and as you tumble back down into the gorge of rock bottom you realise how stupid you have been to dream...so to be on the safe side the dreams definitely have to go.

 I'm not sure if they need to be entirely destroyed or whether they should be put in a pensieve like in Harry Potter.

The danger there being that other people may then be able to see your dreams and would you want that...

.

There might be a room full of pretty,shiny plasters and bandages and you could put them on your hurt feelings just like in real life we bandage our physical hurts such as grazed knees...perhaps when someone hurts us we have grazed hearts and those grazed hearts need care so that they can heal...and without care the graze never quite heals and is ready to open up at the slightest touch..

If you have a graze though and you pick at it, the graze never heals does it,just keeps reopening all the time,no scab is ever formed and the wound cannot heal.

There are greater injuries than grazes though....cuts that are so deep that they need stitches,breaks that need plastercasts to aid the healing process and some injuries never heal.

What if a heart can be hurt like any other part of your body but we just can't see it,only feel it and if the injury/hurt is so deep it can never fully heal or trust again...

So where do I find this place then?

In my mind they would be held somewhere a touch magical and I thought either Mordor from LOTR or Hogwarts from Harry Potter

Mordor would be totally grim...flippin eck it would take you all your strength just to get there...walking through all that dark gloomy stuff and with the spookity LOTR soundtrack playing,you would have to have nerves of steel to arrive at Mount Doom.

Would this be good tho....maybe it would...toughening up is never going to be pretty,is it.....by the time you had trekked round Mordor you would either be incredibly brave or scared to death and ready to melt!

Whereas Hogwarts would be a much gentler approach,still a sense of danger...hidden tunnels,monsters and of course Voldemort but it's got so much good too.... Grifindor,Dumbledore,Harry,

Hermione,Ron...

For me and my sanity,and please don't question my sanity,it has to be Hogwarts.I think I could cope with that so much better.

Anyone already been to toughening up classes?Did they work?Tell me they did...please....

Someone said to me last week that life was the toughening up class...perhaps it is.....perhaps I'm being toughened up right at this very moment...perhaps I will stop feeling the stings soon....real soon would be preferable.....

..

Dudes You Are Winners!!!

Hey my little lamb-i-kins you have only gone and won second place in the school Easter egg competition!!

Woohoo! Do a gangnam style dance 'heeeey sexy lambies....wooop woooop wooop wooop'

The school Easter Egg Comp is the most prestigious thing ever.

Better than any other event in the whole wide world,even the Olympics!

You should see the calibre of the entries...people spend a lot of time creating the perfect entry for this event.

In the past I have seen

J-Eeg-ward,Egg-splosion,

Egg-Streme Sports,Eggs-Factor,Egg-quarium....today two that caught my eye were Egg-stra Terrestrial and Egg-nam Style!

We did actually win one year!It was Sharkys entry in year six 'Hogwarts Eggs-press' We did the background as the platform 7 3/4 and a train with Harry,Ron and Hermoine in it.

Oh the glory of it!We still talk about it now and Sharky is sixteen and a half!it was our moment!

I never in a month of Sundays thought we would ever win again!

Not ever. Not at all.

But Chippie has!!

Young 'I don't like crafts,drawings,anything makey' has bloomin gone and won!!!

I just squealed in the playground when the kids told me he had won,the kids laughed when they saw how excited I was.

And Chips was so proud! His friends crowded round us and were really pleased for him.Everybody had the opinion that the lamb-i-kins were very,very cute!There were lots of smiles and chatter and a lovely Smartie Easter Egg!

So my little fluffy friends you did it for us!Thank you!We will love you forever!

The Winning Entry!

The Bun Fight

So on the occasion of Chips ninth birthday we had a family bun fight!

It was a snowy day!Snow in March!

I've known Chips birthday sunny,windy,on mothers day but never ever would I have thought it would snow on Chipsies birthday!

Therefore he toddled off to school in his civvies...jeans,LFC shirt and a big chunky hoodie,school said warmth was more important than uniform during weather like this and so his two birthday badges were pinned on his fleecy hoodie instead of his school sweatshirt.

I packed him the almost obligatory bags of sweets for his classmates and a pack of choccie biscuits for the teachers.

And when I picked him up from school later that day it was blowing a right old blizzard...luckily everyone was able to make his family tea party and he was surrounded by family and friends and the atmosphere was pretty much perfect.

The day had a calm feel to it,which I found really appealing.

Everything just gelled together...yes it was a bit birthday chaotic but not to the point of frenziedness and Chippie had a happy day and that is what my aim was.

I also wanted to people watch and to see my family celebrate this young ones special day,so I tried very hard to keep my eyes open and catch moments to treasure.

One such moment was when I saw Tiger help his nanna put her coat on...the care he showed towards her and his gentleness truly melted my heart,I was more than proud of him.

I heard a lot of chatter all around the house and when I looked around there were lots of smiley faces and laughter and it seemed a cosy comfy atmosphere.

The food went down well and although I thought that there may not be enough,that wasn't the case and we have been picking at it ever since!Yep a quick wander into the kitchen these days always results in a handful of something being scoffed and this results in a really lapsidaisical approach to meal times...not so good but understandable!

It was so nice to see people that we haven't caught up with for a while,have a chatter and a natter and find out what has been going on in their little corner of the world.

I loved seeing my older two mixing with people coz they did it do well and with ease.I love how they are turning out....able to mix and socialise happily,with big grins on their faces,they are such good big brothers to Chips.

The hammies provided a source of entertainment!They were taken out and passed around and luckily they behaved impeccably...no escapes...no nips! 

It took Chips over a hour and a half to open his pressies,he examined them carefully and someone had been rather heavy handed with the Sellotape!

After everyone had gone home I sat on the settee with Chippie,he was still playing X Box and we snuggled up until he asked to go to bed,which was about ten o clock...virtually as soon as his head touched the pillow he was asleep....all birthdayed out!

It was a good day......

Popping Thoughts

As I work in my little titchy kitchen these are the thoughts that are popping in my head...

Chippie must sure love those Vans...he's even had to move his fave sitting position on the settee just to keep them on and this is 3 days in...the thrill has obviously not wore off yet! 

*****

Tupperware is fiddly to put away properly but when you need it next time you are always SO glad that you did the putting away job properly!

*****

Snow in March...weird....

*****

Why are all the songs on the radio sad...are they sad or is it just me hearing them that way...where are the cheery songs hiding...and do I even want cheery songs anyway....

*****

The Brits are doing well at The Malaysian F1 race ~ well it's only the half way stage but hey I'll take whatever glory we can get.

*****

The bacon is smelling nice

*****

If I really went and lived in a cave would I still be unhappy coz caves are dark,damp and cold and there may even be bears in them...so why does the thought 'I want to live in a cave keep popping into my head' caves may not be the best place to run away too....

*****

"Yes Smooth Radio I know F1 is more than a race.

 I live with Chips and yes F1 is more than a race here,so quit the advert coz it's doing my head in!!!!Seriously!!!"

*****

And while I'm on the subject of Smooth Radio as much as I love Simon Bates,and I do love him,I do not want to hear him advertising The 1000 Pound Minute advertised on a Sunday morning...the 1000 Pound Minute is for workdays,it's when I'm frantically stood in the kitchen drying my hair,making cuppa's,talking to Chips thro a wall...in general stressing, so please don't talk about it on Sunday morning coz I just don't want to be reminded about Monday morning. At. All.

*****

Bacon cobs with real butter....even more yum...totally unhealthy but totally yum...and who cares about healthy I'm gonna live with the bears in a cave anywa..right...

*****

A real kind person has given Sharky his Christmas tip....£5.They really didn't need to have done that...but they said they kept missing him and today they have passed it on too him.I think that is really kind....they must be some of the good guys of the world.

There we have my Sunday morning thoughts....

Eight

So my eight year old little mate it's your last day of being eight!

Time flies...you have grown...soon you will be nine and how you are looking forward to it,I see your smile widen and your eyes brighten every time I mention the word nine.

Lots of people are talking to you about being eight for one day only.They all seem to have big smiles on their faces,perhaps your smile is contagious.

This morning on your way to school you said

"Please God will you help me after swimming to float home and to float into bed and into my birthday"

Then you looked at me and said 

"Do you think God heard?"

I said I thought he had definitely heard that heartfelt little prayer.

It made me smile so much,such a impromptu thing to do.

At eight you are still a bundle of cuteness.

Your hair is still blond and although it has lost some of its curl,it still has waves and curls there,especially when wet!I smile when I see a little ringlet curl peeping out....usually at the side of your face.

You have kept these curls for a very long time and Iam glad,when they go you probably will be glad but to me you and curls go together...full stop. 

You are the friendliest child ever!You will chatter to anyone and always want to join in any conversation going!

You are exuberant,your voice is loud and you jump and move around as you speak,I'm sure you were born to be the town crier as you also seem to know everything about anything.

Your smile is totally amazing,it does literally light up your face,you are a very smiley boy!

When I pick you up from school you always give me hug,your friend carries your bag around for you and deposits it with me before I even catch a glimpse of you!You seem to have quite a few girls who like to mother you...still!

During this year you have developed a close friendship with J and it's great to see you playing together and being there for each other...I really appreciate this friendship.. 

At eight you love the X box,the hammies,reading - still,oh and F1-dear old F1...that HAS to be a post on its own!

You also LOVE Gangnam Style and you can fit the oooop oooop opnam phrase to any sentence you want and you do!

You like swimming,feeding the ducks,scootering.

You don't like any veg or fruit,orange pop,putting your socks on,anyone turning the tv off before you,

You have a love of animals and of nature...I adore walking with you,you notice the little itty bitty things of life that I too love...clouds,blossom on trees,animals,it's great to go on a country walk with you and listen as you point these things out to me,then Chippso I know I have done my job well.

You still have a lovely innocence about you,its very endearing. 

If I had to think of 5 words to describe you I would say this...

smiley,infectious,gentle,kind,happy

Bye bye my gorgeous little eight year old....welcome my gorgeous little nine year old....

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Six Word Saturday

I have two 6WS today!

F1 Is Back...Happy Little Boy

And

Chippies Last Week Of Being Eight

These are two very important thoughts in this house at the moment!

First F1.... this is the major thing in my youngest sons life at the moment...dear old F1....said with a wry smile.

I don't know if F1 found Chippie or if Chippie found F1 but they are like that 'crosses fingers'

It's all about F1.

He sleeps,eats and breathes F1 and so therefore so do I!

Even if I don't want to!

I can quote the drivers,the tracks,I even know a few car names now...it's intense!

So welcome back F1...said through gritted teeth...

And the second 6WS so close to my heart!

In less than one week my young Chippie will be a big number 9!

8 years old no more!

The last time I will ever have a 8 year child.

When I had Chippie I knew I was being given a extra special gift,the chance to be a mum one more time and I said to my heart that I didn't want to be sad about when he grew up,as with the older boys I used to want to save time with them and it's something that is impossible of course,so with this last baby I wanted to look on the side of how lucky I was to have this time again...no bitter sweet regrets....but of course you can't easily change how you are inside and I do have a slight twinge when the thought of him growing a year older crosses my mind.

I want to make the most of this week tho,give him lots of attention and really key into his last week of being 8.

So that's my weekly 6WS thoughts,pop over to the host of this linky Cate who blogs at Show My Face  
and read some more 6Ws

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Six Word Saturday

Ouch!Some Things In Life Sting!

Life!Not always grand is it?

I sometimes feel that to have no feelings and to be tougher would be a good thing.

In fact I'm certain it would be a good thing.

Anyone know of toughening up classes anywhere.....?

Not the most happy chappy six words in the the world but they describe how I feel to a tee.

To read more positive and probably more cheery six words pop over to Cate at 

Show My Face 

8th March 2004

It's the 8th of March today and 9yrs ago this was my Chippies due date.

None of my boys have ever arrived on their due date

None of my boys have ever arrived early

And all my boys were induced...not so eager to make a appearance into the world these lads of mine!

2004 was a Leap Year and I did wonder if I would have a Leap Day baby.The boys were quite unbelieving about the implications of what would happen if their sibling was born on Feb 29th... a birthday only every four years...no way!

But the day came and went and no baby appeared.

March 8th,due date,came and went and no baby appeared.

March 14th,my best friends sons birthday came but no baby appeared...we would have loved it to have born on that day,a nice connection between us but nope no baby...

This baby was not for moving!

We went to hospital to arrange a date to be induced,I wanted the last possible date,just to see if the baby would indeed make its appearance naturally,I'm a bit horoscopy and I had a choice between two star signs and I must say this bothered me!

 I felt I was making a choice for the baby and what if its wasn't the right choice! I logiced that out by thinking what would be would be and so the date was set for 21st March - Mothers Day...

 

The days ticked by and still no baby appeared....I would go on the school run and the times people said to me 'Are you still here?' and the classic 'You've not had the baby then?' to which I would answer through gritted teeth 'No,not yet' and at the same time think 'Does it look like I've had the baby!!!!!A bump this big and you ask if I have had the baby,grrrrr! 

It was mind blowingly irritating to keep a smile on my face and politely keep answering questions like these.

The little baby did not make their appearance until the last minute possible,with hospital help,yep induction again!

I went into hospital on the 21st March 2004,Mothers Day,clutching magazines that the boys had brought me for Mothers Day and on the 22nd March Chippie was born.

I did kinda know that it was inevitable that Chippie wouldn't start naturally and after trying absolutely everything in the whole wide world to make labour start when I was pregnant with Sharky I just left nature to take its course with Chippie....there are somethings you just know are just not going to happen!

And all these years later that date,the 8th March,still sticks in my head.

Funny isn't it,you are given dates and even when your precious bundles don't arrive on those dates you still remember the date!

I can remember all three boys due dates and how I felt at that time,I can see two more posts bring written!

So we are on countdown to Chippies birthday!Better get my act together,things to organise,presents to buy,a busy time ahead!

Oh I do know its March 9th today...like mother like sons...late!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Playcentres...Heaven Or Just Hell

So what does everybody think about Playcentres?

Good places where children can run around and burn off their excess energy come rain or shine or nightmarish places where the noise is unbearable and the children get over excited,over hot and over the top?

I tend to think the latter!Im not so cool about Playcentres.

I think this comes from having a little one who finds climbing a challenge,this makes play centres a challenge for me too...lots of places to get stuck,lots of unpredictable drops and lots of busy children rushing around and sometimes not behaving that well!

As I ventured into the brightly coloured plastic place of doom yesterday my mind started to work overtime and I thought the play centre world can be split into two categories;

Those parents who sit and have a relaxing time drinking cups of tea and coffee and either enjoying a right old chinwag or sat silently in their own little iPhone world 

Or those parents that for whatever reason enter the play zone and get involved in the rough and tumble world where kids rule and adults are in the minority.

Iam in the second category and I spend my time crawling around on my hands and knees,through bright primary coloured passage ways,where at any moment you run the risk of being hit by a swinging plastic ball or tube.

You start at the bottom of the play centre and gradually by a process of layered plastic climb to the very top of the playcentre...usually you then have to cross a rope bridge that sways as you walk and kills your feet as you tread on the bumpy,knotted rope...great...and if you have the misfortune to be in the middle of the bridge when a group of children are trying to go in the opposite direction,well basically you are dead meat.

They will plough you over and not even blink as they do it....the play centre world is a feral place,make no mistake about that.

It's kinda like Total Wipeout up there...there are the big balls that you have to dodge before they swing at you and knock you flying and the balls that you can sit on and bounce around on and then my worstest item... the booby squishing machine.... this is like a vertical roller that you have to squeeze through and for kids it may be ok but for women it's not.Its squeezes you so tightly and everytime I go through it I think it is only a matter of time before it explodes my boobs into a million pieces.

Then you come to the slides and it depends on what you are wearing to what happens to you!If you are wearing leggings just simply beware....you will win every race,even if you give them a ten second head start....you will also burn your bum and look a big show off as you beat every child in sight down that slide...like it or not!

As you are travelling around this brightly coloured world of hell you may just occasionally come across other adults,yep a few hardy souls do venture into these depths too,not many though and I'm not sure if it's by necessity or choice that they are there.

The said adults usually greet you with a weary but cheery smile,the kind you would imagine a ship wrecked person would give if they had found a fellow survivor.You may exchange pleasantries but to be honest you are probably just thankful to see you are not the only loony clambering around hell. These adults are usually dads,it's very rare to find a fellow woman up there,is that because most women have more sense than to climb,scramble and negotiate hell...probably.

The children get hotter and hotter and sweatier and sweatier and redder and redder until they look like they could literally explode,this is when you have to go and buy them galleons of pop before they hyperventilate.

This would seem like a good time to get yourself a drink but oh no not so easy,the kids have gulped their drinks down in a flash and are dragging you to the play equipment....again.

You look around in desperation for a easier,more sedate piece of equipment but no such luck, these nice sedate things do not exist in playcentre hell land.

And what of the others,those lucky souls sat at the bottom,slurping tea and coffee and enjoying a few child free minutes.

I've always wondered how the jammy devils managed that!

Probably tho while they sit having the time of riley,we sort their children out as they run amok,secure in the knowledge that their parents are never going to come and check on them....double whammy...bliss for parents and bliss for their kids!

Ah play centres do fulfil a role I guess but give me a romp

around the woods anyday!

And as a final note,young Chipmunk had a fab time running around our local playcentre yesterday and I was such a winner on the big bumpy slide,small mercies!

Play Club

I'm not a big fan of school playclubs.

Don't get me wrong I think the schools around here offer some fab clubs and for people who need childcare they must be a god send.

It's just that I think the school day is long enough as it is and I like to scoop Chips up as soon as I possibly can and bring him home.

But for ages Chips has been wanting to do games club and this half term I gave in and said yes he could do it.

Last Monday was his first day at the club and I was waiting all afternoon to go and pick him up.I worried if he would get too tired,if he would feel hungry or thirsty as usually 3.15 is his snack time and in general I just had a good old worry.

And then I saw him come out of games club....

I wouldn't have missed that experience for the world!

He ran out with a group of children,full of pure joy and excitement.

They came whooping across the grass and leaped into our arms with a thumpity bump.Bags were dropped at our feet,coats stripped off and passed to us and off they ran up the school drive hollering like banshees.

There was no doubt whatsoever that they had had a fab time!

Priceless!

Their enthusiasm lasted all the way home....and when Chips had left his bunch of games club peers he told me all about playing UNO and I could tell from his voice and exuberance that he had had a really good time.

So this week I had not one little concern in my head about games club...it seems to me that after school clubs may not be such a bad thing after all!

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday