Class of '18 Best foot forward through the autumn leaves.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread was getting big....

No cyclist deliveries round here. The food would be stone cold
All food deliveries get brought by car where we live.

We are in the big city near you I think Lonicera so plenty of food delivery by cycle, just not today for Panda, DH and cub. Still full from curry now, will.take a while to sleep!

I went in to ds's room this morning at 6.30am in an adoring sort of way, only to find he was still awake or at least his light was still on...

however he was fast asleep, presumably up until the small hours on the xbox downstairs, which is now an unusual treat for him as it is not available at uni

this did give me the opportunity to steal his falling down jeans though and hide them away, as they are drving me insane, clearly two sizes too big even with a belt; he admitted last night they were annoyingly loose but he refuses to wear anything else. Last night he promised me he would change into a "suit" as he appeared off the bus wearing the same jeans and red M & s jumper he had left in two weeks ago, but lo and behold "suit" meant putting a rather tightlight blue suit jacket over this ensemble, and large black and white trainers to match. however it looked fine. But not as handsome as a real suit!!!

Ds said yesterday how much safer he feels out at night in his university town; he said even the people on the buses in London seem intimidating in comparison, He said he loved the way his university town was "small and cosy"..I had never thought the bright lights would be so unattractive..however I see that most socialising will need to be done in the day over the next six weeks, which is all to the good. SIX weeks holiday as it is only a two semester arrangement with a short time off for easter in the middle of the second term. It is nice in the sense that he could make travel plans but planning is not ds1's strong point - I'm already quite worried he is going to sit around gaming if he is at home for too long. Job would be good but travel would be much better for his development on so many levels.

we are also finding that ds2 (who has ASD) has his nose thoroughly out of joint when ds1 is home, and we had a lot of "I don't like how he does x y and z" and "why does he make that annoying noise when he eats?" we pointed out to ds2 that his 16 year old teenage habits were equally annoying and the poor eldest should be allowed a certain time to slob out before criticism was directed at him. Ds2 works much harder at his academic work than ds1 and ds2 knows it, which gives him a certain snobbery towards ds1

DS1 and his girlfriend have planned various dates while he is home. At the weekend they went for a nature walk and fed the ducks, yesterday they went bowling and today they're playing monopoly.

Place marking as you had dropped off my TIO.

Went to school yesterday evening with DD to collect her A Level Certificates. Nice to see everyone. DD went out afterwards and no idea what time she returned home. Might see her around tea time.

A level certificte presentation this afternoon. Not sure what will happen afterwards.

There doesn't seem to be any sign of dds A level certificates at all She has asked, but everyone seems clueless.

I'm not seeing anything of her at all so far. She's either studying hard in her room, or off with friends. While I love her company, it feels like the right way for her to be spending her hols and that makes me happy for her.

I've one more day of work and then I've got a couple of weeks off from work. Woot woot! I've ordered some wool and I'm going to have a massive crochet binge, mixed with long walks and visiting family. Fan-bloody-tastic.

DS had an envelope this week with A level certificates in. There is a presentation evening this week, invitation only, for prizewinners. I only know about this because I am the plus one to a prizewinner.

DS1 went into school yesterday to pick his up because I reminded him

He happened to see two of the teachers who had been the most supportive, so that worked out well.

DS has his certificate presentation evening tomorrow, then he is off out for a pint or two. I think 6 weeks away from uni is a bit too long, he hasn't been very motivated to work so far, he has done some research for a report, but not started writing, not has he done the revision he really should be doing...

DD was shortlisted for a chemistry award, but didn't win it. She and her BF decided they couldn't be bothered to go to the pub, so came home instead.

Dd has her A level certificate presentation tomorrow, combined with a student reunion. All former students are invited to the buffet afterwards. The school has only been going for a short time (dd's year is the 3rd to have left) so it isn't a large number and should be fun for her.

DD is home tomorrow yay!! She has a friend visiting tonight and they have gone to the Bristol Hippodrome to the panto. Very rock and roll my DD!!

Ds!!! is back, in good mood, woke up very early to get here and now has promptly gone back to bed without supper..oh dear, I'm expecting him to be up at 5 am tomorrow. He had a big lunch here though. I made him write a thank you note to someone, dictated the address to him, stuck the stamp on the envelope and then he posted it. He behaved as if he has never posted or received a letter before in his life, or as if he was sending a letter to Santa..he seemed to find the whole process incredibly exotic!!! He confessed that this particular relative had sent him money two weeks ago, but as he never opens his post box at halls (all uni stuff is done by email) it never occurred to him to look in it..
Ds2 is even worse. He sat on the sofa eating a box of chocolates. ooh where did you get those from I said..oh he said airily one of my classmates gave them me as a present. So did you give out any cards despite thinking it unnecessary? um yes, he replied, at that point I thought maybe I had better..(I had stuffed some blank christmas cards in his knapsack as insurance)
off to Book Club now, the very noisy children are making fajitas and singing Hamilton. My head hurts already.

Ds1 also failed his room inspection, and had to pay £15 fine to have it cleaned properly, as it apparently was "dusty". He passed the last one so I can only assume that the dust was now 3 months thick instead of just one month (lack of hoovering)

DS has been throwing up since 4am. So far he's hit two lots of bedding, both sides of one bed and the carpet both sides of the bed. Most has gone in the bucket (lined with a bin bag as learned on school trips) for which I am very thankful. Mum and I both had it last week so I really feel for him except that we had to clean up after ourselves of course.

Oh no. Poor him and poor you.

That's horrid NotAKnitte. I hope he gets better quickly.

Has anyone else's dc NOT got their certificates or about to imminently get them?

DD picked her certificates up when she was home a couple of weeks ago. No presentations or anything, and if we didn’t still have DC at the school we would not even know they were in. 🙄

We’ve had an email to say that they can be picked up but needless to say we won’t be around when the school is open. I think it took DS1 a couple of years to arrange to pick his up - and that was when DS2 was there and could have collected them any day........

Just been catching up good to here everyone is home and I hope the various bugs and illnesses are soon gone.

Ds flew home inn Sunday. Airport is small and nearly every passenger was a student flying home for the holidays. Place was like a scene from Love Actually. So many tears of happiness from the parents.

Have heard lots of stories about his friends and fingers crossed it seems he has found nice friends to share with next year. They are in halls together now and eat most meals together already. Long my the harmony last.

The ds2 took around 48 hours to adjust back to being a younger brother and the transition was a bit bumpy but all is now good. He has ASD so change is never easy for him.

Ds has his rugby team here tonight - I am off to spend the night at DPs!!! And ds2 is off to their fathers house. So ds1 will spend tomorrow cleaning up the house :)

Today is my first day of holiday. So looking forward to it.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas break and a very happy new year. It has been one amazing year and I have enjoyed sharing it with you all.

DD's boyfriend came round the other night and spent a lot of the evening massaging another person/other people while he was here. He barely messages DD now.

Waiting for it all to unravel.

Oh lovely Downey to have him home... hope your house not too much of a mess!

Lonicera, how is your DD? Can she see a split coming or is it you looking on from the sidelines? Hope a breakup doesn't spoil your Christmas.