ELEVENSES HERE *****************************************************************************************

[MaryAnnSingleton]

think we've been deleted,so shall we put ourselves here in other subjects ?
Sleepless night fretting about T and loos and lunches at big school - how neurotic am I ?!

bunting on profile !!!! can't really do the bangle as it doesn't come out very well. The bunting has sweet little buttons and beads on it too - she is very clever !

Well we're back and it was brilliant We all really enjoyed it and B laughed and laughed. In fact, I've never heard her properly belly laugh before I don't think, and she was heckling the clowns My mousy quiet little girl was right there in the thick of it, although she couldn't bring herself to volunteer to take part. Never mind, she just loved it! Would highly recommend it for those scared of clowns, as they were just so silly, not at all threatening There was a contortionist who made me wince a few times - too bendy for my liking.... Oh, and a girl who climbed up two long white pieces of material and did stunts hanging off them by her toes

MAS - the bunting is gorgeous, and looks like it suits your kitchen to a T, and the bangle sounds lovely.

Hippi, the teacher sounds so nice. I always tried not to have favourites, but some children are just too special...I really remember some of them, and all for completely different reasons. I really hope B gets the chance to have a particularly special relationship with at least one of her teachers

I'd try not to worry about the reading too much. Boys are notoriously reluctant to read, but look how many men are in high powered jobs - they obviously manage somehow I think the key is finding something they really really want to read and see a point in doing it. It may be that the Financial Times is the thing that grabs them, or a history book, or reading in a foreign language. One day something will click, I'm sure. They're both bright boys

Right, off to bed. Night night. Good luck with the job application btw!

morning ! quick cup of coffee here before drawing
So glad that the circus was a success and that B had such a good time !! am pleased to hear that clowns weren't menacing !

Circus sounds fab

btw hotcross, O loved the pictures of B and the class bear and has asked to see her again soon

Bunting looks lovely, and how handsome is T in his school uniform!!

I have just come back from O's class assembly. He only had a tiny part this time, but that is only fair. They all did so well, it was lovely

I ended up walking home with littlemissstroppyknicker's mum, which was lovely as she is just very very nice. And we did not talk about O and littlemiss, so it was even nicer

Right, better go adn straighten the house out a bit. I have an old friend of mine with whom I used to work 10 years ago coming for coffee. She is bringing her little girl who is 2.5 and she is pregnant with no 2 I have not seen her since March so it will be lovely to catch up with her!

ah that sounds a v nice morning hippi ! Am just eating some smoked cheese as a snack before going back to drawing - have just drawn a rockpool - next up is the axolotl !

what a strange creature the axolotl is..

OMG

There I was just reading your posts and wondering what on earth an axlotl looks like and there it is!!! It really is very very odd, isn't it? For some reason I imagined big and hairy and land living - shows what I know
Hope the work's going well MAS?

Have a great morning hippi. Oh I'm glad stroppypants' mum is nice. Makes it easier not to want to stick pins in her! Also it sounds like she's given up her vendetta because O handled it so well, which is great.

I've been doing the library this morning, which I always enjoy. Although it was harder today as I was on my own and didn't have anyone to discuss things with. I came unstuck with some new joke books which didn't seem to 'fit' anywhere. I couldn't find any others, and our system didn't have capacity for a new category. I had to pester the head in the end and we agreed they could go next to poetry, and we'd name it jokes and riddles. Phew. Just need to track down some card now....

Right, must go and iron some clothes for the weekend!

he's very hard to draw because he's so weird and unfamiliar ! - still I've had a go !
Agree with hotcross that O has handled the littlemissstroppy situation very well indeed - what a star.
Hotcross - I think jokes and riddles usually end up grouped with rhymes and poetry,at least they seem to in our library and in the paltry selection they stock in bookshops - I am sometimes comissioned to do joke books by the poetry editor at Macmillan, so all under the sme umbrella really.
Ok, must get back to work - am on a snorkeller at the moment,had to get reference for diving masks.. hope you have a fab weekend - when are you off hotcross ?

I love the axolotl!! What a cute little thing, adn it looks as though it is smiling!! Can I have one as a pet??

Friend has just left. She is lovely. Whenever we see each other it is just like we last met yesterday. Even though it has been more like 6 months

Right, better go and get packing, we are camping tomorrow night with Oliver's Cubs pack. Eeek, I am so NOT a camping person....

I fear I will be cold in the night, or uncomfortable, or too hot, or claustrophobic, or need the loo in the middle of the night but be too afraid to go out there as I am scared in the dark, or.....eeeeek....
Dh very stressed at work and cross with me because I passed his number on to someone he wants to avoid.... bugger...
Anyroad, what do I need to pack for camping???

MAS the axolotyl is very cute

Hippi - forgot to say B is very keen to see E again too Isn't that nice? I wonder if we could manage something after school, or at the weekend?

I'm very about the camping. i think the weather is going to be gorgeous this weekend, but cold at night I fear. I'd say take lots and lots of layers. A scarf, hat and gloves - it's always the extremities that go first IME. Also hot water bottle and woolly socks. Do you have a thermos cup thing? I always find my tea/hot choc goes cold too quickly in a normal mug, but in one of those it'll still be warm an hour later Chocolate Will keep thinking.

oh you're both going away this w/end ! Good luck with camping hippi - the weather is meant to be v good,though as hotcross says,nights will be chilly !
It'd be lovely to get together again soon - am sure T would enjoy meeting O,E and B again - maybe half term ? we will be heading up to see MIL at some point.

oh you're both going away this w/end ! Good luck with camping hippi - the weather is meant to be v good,though as hotcross says,nights will be chilly !
It'd be lovely to get together again soon - am sure T would enjoy meeting O,E and B again - maybe half term ? we will be heading up to see MIL at some point.

Hello. Just popped on MN to share some really sad news. My Great Uncle died last night He was 99, so a very good age, but it is still a shock. We were hoping to go and visit him this weekend in hospital, so I'm so sad we weren't in time...

Do I tell B? She'd only met him once, and didn't really realise he was family, but she liked him a lot and he thought she was wonderful. I just don't want to make her sad for someone she wasn't close to. Hmm???

oh hotcross that is so sad and I'm so sorry - what a shame that you didn't get to see him - lots of love and sympathy from here xxxx 99 is a fantastic age though - but as you say,still a shock.
As for B - I would tell her as she will sense that you are feeling sad/something is up and I think it's always best to be straight - just simply tell her that the nice man who was your great uncle and her great great uncle has died - and explain that he was very old and not well and it was his time to go -obviously less bluntly than that - she might get sad (or not - children are very surprising in their reactions as I've seen with T and his grandad) but in a way it might be helpful for her to see that death is a part of life etc with it being someone who is not so close to her every day life,iyswim.
lots of love xxxxxx

So sorry to hear about your great uncle hotcross. I agree with MAS about what to tell B.
99 is a great age though!!

I took O to speak to his teacher (the scary one who is utterly lovely ) because apparently littlemissstroppyknickers was loudly complaining in the playground to her mum and all those around her that O was being mean to her. Mum just shrugged and told littlemiss to tell the teacher. So I spoke with O and he tells me that littlemiss was being mean to the whole table and not letting the others share the book and he (O) raised his voice adn told her loudly she had to share. Apparently this was mean But there could be more to the story. Anyroad, I told O he really had to tell teacher and he asked me to go with him, so we went after school today. She was a bit surprised, and am not sure if she felt he was telling tales but after he had said his bit I told her that they had never got on and that it was probably just a personality clash rather than one of them being horrid. Hope I did the right thing [fret]

Right, better go, O has a swimming lesson. How is the adorable axolotl?

try not to fret hippi - that sounds all perfectly sensible thing to do. Hope swimming is good - we're off shortly to T';s lesson. He hasn't brought his PE kit home so I will have to wait until next Wednesday to see if he remembers - am sure it can't be too mucky,though I'd wanted to at least wash the socks - however T isn;t at that sweaty boy age yet thank goodness !
Axolotl done,as well as a catfish ..am wading slowly through - there seem to be quite a few more to do though...

hope you are all safely back from camping/Birmingham ...weather is beautiful so you should have stayed dry at least hippi
We had nice lunch out yesterday to celebrate the end of my birthday week - went to a nice pub in town which we've often thought of going to but never had in the 3 yrs we've lived here...so glad we did as it was excellent (sea bass on crispy,smoky savoy cabbage with leeks and bacon in a cream sauce) yum ! will definitely go again.

Morning

The camping trip was FANTASTIC!! We had a really good time, tried all the activities, O had fun doing boys' stuff in the woods with his friends, E loved running around with some of the other Beavers / Cubs's little sisters and she also did most of the activites (except rifle shooting as she was just way to young )
The athmosphere was brilliant, a real party feel to the campsite. The leaders had done a fantastic job planning everything. The evening campfire with all the funny singsongs was just the best. And afterwards there was a glow-stick hunt in teh dark woods before heading back to the refreshment tent for hot chocolate and cake. (and then we adults collected our bottles of wine / beer and headed back to the campfire with blankets for an evening of chat - good fun!)
The night however was unbearably cold. E went to bed at about 10 and fell asleep straight away, wrapped up warm. O followed an hour later. He also had no trouble sleeping. I tried to go to bed at midnight but it was just too cold despite fleece joggers, one short sleeve top, one long sleeve top, one sweatshirt, one anorak, one sleeping bag with a quilt stuffed over me inside the sleeping bag. So I got up again to join the catering team around the remains of teh bbq (dh was still there) One of the leaders had brought his telescope and we looked at the moon with such clarity you could see all it's craters. Stunning! Had some port warmed in a flask on the bbq and went to bed. Up again at 2.20 - freezing and needed a wee. Then again at 4.08 - freezing and needed a wee. Dh gave up at 05.15 and got up to re-start the bbq ready to cook the breakfasts. O got up at 6. I dozed up again only to be woken by 'sunrise in the morning' music and emerged from teh tent to find O and a few friends doign some weird interpretive dance in the middle of the field around the stereo. I was never so glad to see morning
Will load some pics on after the school run!

Hope you are both fine and that Birmingham was good hotcross.

oh that sounds fabulous hippi,apart from the cold !! can't wait to see photos

Pictures now added

Have O's Cubs uniform in the wash. He needs it for tonight but it was soooo muddy it needed a wash desperately

They will be making model airplanes in Cubs for the next two meetings in preparation for their trip to RAF Duxford in October. Busy life these Cubs have!

O seemed okay about going back to school this morning, will see how this thing with littlemissstroppyknickers pans out...

The camping sounds fab Hippi, but about the cold. I loved my brownie and guide camps, and I can just picture O and E having a fantastic time! The activities sound very familiar, and there is something very very special about a campfire Fab pics!!!!

MAS - your meal sounded yummy. I'm taking note as it's the sort of food I really like and doesn't sound too terribly difficult to cook!

The tank paintballing was a great success! Dh was like a little boy and insisted on telling me all evening about all the levers/gears etc and what they all did He apparently got told off for driving too fast, which pleased him The hotel was fine, B thought it was all very exciting and we found a nice pub for dinner. Then on Sunday we went to Stowe NT gardens, which was lovely. It was so sunny and we had a great time looking at all the temples etc dotted around. The old school building was amazing - absolutely huge. Apparently Richard Branson went there!

I also went to my first bookgroup last night, and it was fun. A lot less pretentious and starry than the first one! Phew. We're reading The Book Thief for next time, which I've already read but am looking forward to talking about.

Am off to clean now. have a little girl coming to play tomorrow, so need to get things straight.

Wow, your trip sounds brilliant hotcross Dh would love tank paint-balling!!

In a strange way I feel rather pleased the night's camping was so cold. There was a kind of cameraderie spirit at teh school gate this morning, a real 'we survived it' feeling

Boring day at home today doing jobs, am on my own and it feels very lonely after the hectic weekend...

your trip sounds great too hotcross !
What did you do about telling B about your great uncle btw ?
We have put our winter weight duvets on the bed as it's so chilly and they're lovely and snuggly..do you think it's too early though for my hotwater bottle ?
T is cooking at school today - pizza (made with a muffin) and fruit salad...really hope he puts the lid on the container before putting in his bag ! He also has to remember to go to his singing lesson and excuse himself from geography - gah ! I must not fret....

hippi - great pictures !!! have only just realised that you aren't RusselBrussel anymore

well, the container of fruit salad wasn't put on firmly so have been wiping out his rucksack and drying calculator and planner !! but he did get himself to singing lesson on time and excuse himself from geography. He forgot his pencil case but didn;'t get into trouble..teacher lent him a pen too.