Breakfast drinks

I took this picture in a services area café. We'd just arrived in France, early in the morning, after a night on the ferry.
The children were bleary eyed, wanting to be at home. They still managed to muster the energy to ask for one of the kitsch souvenirs sold in the shop! But all they got were these drinks (that they barely touched) and croissants.
Hard life... :)

Packing

I wonder why it is that packing is just as stressful whether you go for a week end or two weeks? But incredibly stressful it is... This is what it looks like (or at least feels like) in our house ;)

The two older girls recognised themselves straight away. DD1 asked why she was just standing there looking cross. Well...

Nobody has style like a 4 year old boy

My little boy loves his welly boots. He has red Thomas boots, blue Bob the Builder boots, and green and purple Fimbles boots.
This week Bob the Builder was 'the chosen one' to adorn DS's feet. Unfortunately, in our house, it's often wiser to settle on what you can find amid the chaos, rather than what takes your fancy... We could find only one Bob the Builder boot and I was braced for a hard getting-ready-to-go-out time. However DS was very zen about it all and just chose to wear a different boot on each foot.
His fashion statement has been widely admired this whole week!

Party!

I didn't link up to the Monday Club yesterday because we had just come back from a wedding in France and I was, well... not up to doing much at all!

Of course we would have thought nothing, before children, to hop on a ferry to France, drive for three hours, attend a wedding, party for most of the night, make an appearance at lunch the day after, drive back and hop on the ferry back.

But with four children in tow, including two under five, a jolly party week end comes closer to a herculean task! Even if, as it is, we didn't party for most of the night but left straight after dinner at around midnight (which was still incredibly late, none of the children having slept at all during the evening!).

The travelling and confinement in the car meant that the children were tired and restless. The fact that we had to do numerous going back and force to where the different parts of the wedding were held, didn't help matters. Not did the cold, and DD1 being car sick...

But in spite of all this, and some melt down moments when tiredness was really high, every body had a really good time!

It's funny how, when you do things as a family, you can bee in good form, warm, entertained, and have a miserable time. Or you can be cold (well, we were not cold all the time...), tired, and having to be nice to people you don't know well, and have a great time.

There was a general feeling of happiness and emotion, which can be expected from a wedding party but not necessarily the case. Our children were a hoot :) Those of our family (the groom was DH's cousin) were pleased to see us without that crippling pressure to have a quality time together that can sometimes spoil such short meetings. And, well, it was just nice!

And the genius idea that DH had to ask for a cabin on the way back (we were travelling between 5.00 pm, French time, and 9.30 pm, English time) was just a godsend!!! Three out of the four children had some sleep and DH and I, even when they were not sleeping, did not have to run after them or even just to be extra vigilant of where they were and what they were doing. A godsend... I recommend it to anyone who would do the crossing to France with LD Lines (or DFDS as they were called at the terminal, which caused us a second of panic) as the 4 berth cabin was only an additional £12 !

The picture is of DB and another little girl, at the castle were the reception was held, while we were waiting for dinner. She was greatly enjoying these stones!

Morris Dancing

To celebrate their Diamond Jubilee year the Winchester Morris Men are touring Hampshire !

They were visiting our village this week and it coincided with the end of our girls' ballet class, so we all went to see them. The weather hadn't been great that day but the sun just showed itself for the dancing and the light was gorgeous.

I took several pictures and chose this one for the Photo of the Week. I, once again, played with the focus and colour and I quite like it - seen in a small enough format ;) !

If you want to check if the Winchester Morris Men will be performing near you, you can do so here. 

They will be in London with other groups on Saturday 18 May!

Sand, water, a dam : perfect playground!

Water, sand, gravel, tunnels (two with holes in which you can speak to each other!), a dam... Our children found their Eden on Monday in the new playground at The Vyne!

A fish and chips tea to finish the day... Perfect!

This is my post for this week's theme at The Gallery : the week-end.

When is a child poorly enough to not got to school?

"I'm really not feeling well..."

 

All week-end DD2 has been suffering from a cold and saying at bedtime that she felt sick. But it didn't stop her playing outside, enjoying an ice-cream in the sunshine, paddling in water.

So when she got up this morning saying that she 'really felt sick' I must say I took a harsh view on it and told her that she had to go to school anyway.

But it's hard because I believe she might not feel that well. She's prone to tonsillitis and, as a consequence, tends to have a combination of sore throat and sore tummy when she has a cold. Has she not been herself this week-end I might have been swayed. It's happened before that, even without a temperature or being actually sick, she was sleepy and felt cold but not this time.

There is still though, at the back of my mind, the idea that the school could call me any minute to come and pick her up...

Talking of the school... Have any of you known the scheme that was in place the last couple of years? In Hampshire they were giving ice rink tickets to the children who had not missed school during a term. A 'reward' that I foudn utterly outrageous. I remember DD2, then age 6, telling me that she had to do her best not to be poorly. As if she could have helped it! As if it was not sufficient not to feel well, the children had to feel guilty about it and were penalised when other children received the most coveted tickets during Assembly.

This year though the message has changed. Logically the school suffered higher rates of absent children as parents were pushed to send them in class when they were not well, so now the word is to keep them at home... 

One way or another it doesn't make it easier to decide, when is 'poorly' poorly enough to stay at home?!