November 2012- Jingle Bells tantrums smell mummy needs some wine...

[Pikz]

Just to start us off..

Yes to Mary Poppins! One of my absolute favourite films EVER! Chim chiminee chim chiminee chim chim cheroooooooo

I grew up with the old wind in the willows, and found a dvd of "winter tales" in the supermarket the other day. It fell into my trolley and F and I have enjoyed watching it.

gg I bloody love labyrinth. Dance magic dance etc etc.

I used to love the dark crystal when young but watched it the other year and it has aged quite badly

And drop dead fred is brilliant. Watched it a couple of months a go after rick myall died. The scene in the restaurant is one of my faves ever. Some of it was a bit weird though and I did end up wanting to give the girl in it a bit of a wake up slap.

Others.... um I love chitty chitty bang bang, sound of music, mary poppins and the original snowman. Haven't seen Annie for years but I noticed it was on sky movies the other day so might put it on.

I don't think I'd ever get bored of Grease and also love West Side Story. I used to watch a film on a Saturday morning before my parents got up and for about 6 months it was one of these. Must have been about 10yrs old I guess. And Star Wars. Just brilliant.

I'll stop now......

Hi quiche, feels strange posting here instead of facebook, I've not been on here for ages

I'm so looking forward to watching my old favourites with S..... Much the same as GG's actually. We've already started watching Annie, S loves it. The remake is quite good too, but we both prefer the old one, she will occasionally ask for New Annie though.
Others for me are Willy Wonka (the original) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the wizard of oz and Beetlejuice (when she's a bit older)

We watched miracle on 34th street on Sunday how I love that film.

I am a really good Parker weirdly and I drive a tank of a 4x4 but I one day just cracked parking but I am shiteat turning it in small spaces!

I like the Depp Willy Wonka but am a big Depp fan. Can't wait til they are old enough for Pirates of the Carribean and Harry Potter.

I love Depp, but I'm not a fan of the remake at all. I love the Harry Potter films, I am sooo looking forward to watching them with S.... I hope I have the patience to wait to read the books to her first though. I'm so glad I read all the books before seeing the films.

I can remember the madness waiting for the new HP book to be released, and trying to avoid hearing the plot line befoe you had read it

Reeeeallly need to go to bed now.
Night lovely quiche xx

I read 1-4 in a week and then had to wait ages for 5. The day it came out I had cystitis but still got on the train for a 40 min trip to Paris, picked up a copy and went home. It was an uncomfortable journey but worth it.

BP I remember reading the last HP whilst working behind a bar during my masters and helpful punters spoiling the plot with "has x happened yet?"

Can we have a chat about Childminder xmas gifts? I'm stuck.

Bugger, just reported my post to remove it, sorry for mentioning her name.

isla what is your budget? O's key worker is getting a home made card with some home made cookies but for childminder I would get some amazon vouchers and make something with T.

Midwife been and baby is head down so I'm all good to go for my homebirth! Not for a good few weeks though please.

About £100-£150. Max. M won't be there all of next week as her dad is having her monday and I'm on annual leave the rest of the week, so I won't need to pay any fees next week. She's been really flexible with my chaos all year and I want to show how grateful I am. I was thinking maybe restaurant vouchers for a nice place in town or her and her husband and then maybe a hamper of goodies that they maybe wouldn't normally buy themselves? Is that too much? I don't really want to give cash.

Great news eliza how exciting!!

How much?

V generous imho I would go for a lovely hamper on its own if you want to push the boat out.

Hmmm hampers can be tricky. My old work used to give us hampers and a lot of it went uneaten/unused and i'm not a fussy eater at all.

Having said that a hamper from choccywockydoodaa has just turned up sent from a company that DH works for. Don't think much of that will go to waste!

I think it's common ettiquete here to 'gift' equivalent of a week's fees. Seeing as I am not actually paying next week's fees it won't put me out financially. She has been great with last minute changes of plans, having M late when I've been stuck in traffic and not charging etc.

Wow. Other than the girls I don't spend more than about 10-15£ on anyone. Am feeling very stingy now.

I am quite a good parker but we live on a narrow road with terraced houses and no private parking arrangements, where I have to do it daily, so no choice really.

We have started on old Disney cartoons, Robin Hood, Beauty & the Beast, Jungle Book. Also looking forward to Annie, Mary Poppins, Dogtanian & The Muskahounds and loads more. DD is quite into movies, S is getting more interested but doesnt have the same attention span. And as they are older all the fantasy stuff that I love, Star Wars, Harry Potter, LOTR etc. I was a MASSIVE HP geek and queued for the last 3 books as they were released at midnight.

Wow Isles, that is generous. Nursery staff here getting box of chocs for staff in the room and a 10 voucher for each DC's key worker.

That is very generous. I got restaurant vouchers to a posh restaurant once from my boss, it was for £100. But the meal was £55 per person plus drinks. Didn't like it at all. I'd go for hamper and voucher for massage or something?

gg £10 budget here for kids only. No adults will get presents apart from some wooden Xmas decorations painted by O. I'm stingy and I don't care.

I usually spend no more than £20-£30 on family and £10-£15 on non family so I'm not normally that generous. I'll probably get them a £50 restaurant voucher (or maybe a voucher for a local spa, although that really doesn't seem like her thing?) and then maybe £30ish on biscuits/wine/chocolates/whatever.

I would prefer restaurant over spa (surprise surprise!)

It isn't a criticism, am just a bit surprised, I am sure she will love it x

Isles I've never heard of that being the etiquette - ours has got a nice hamper from lush (£20) and a bottle of wine. Restaurant vouchers are a nice thought but only if they've got a babysitter - not everyone does. Given all that's on your plate with the house etc am sure she's not expecting a fortune being spent.

Wow. I spent £4 per teacher.

At nursery once we bought all the staff a bottle of prosseco and the key worker had a candle as well. But that still was only about £7.00

I think £100 is a bit much really but if you want to show her how grateful you are maybe a £50 is still v generous.

Hey all :) hope all is well? Got quite a few pages to go back and catch up on! E has been hilarious this weekend, and i've got my scan to look forward to on Thursday, plus I've had my first litter of rats born here in almost 3 years. They were born yesterday, and are doing great. I am pleased. Won't put a pic in case of rat-phobics but they've got their own page on facebook called 'Atlas Rats' if anyone wants to peek at them. They're not that interesting just yet, all pink and squiggly like for now!

right, off to catch up!