Seven more sleeps!

We track the countdown to Christmas through the number of sleeps that are left.  My eldest, Cornichon has been counting (on and off) since 364 sleeps.  There are now seven left and that magical night is all the more'touchable' now!  We celebrated the countdown today by watching Christmas films.  We went to the cinema to see Arthur Christmas and really enjoyed it.  I love the way the whole Father Christmas story is depicted as a massive NASA-style operation!  We then found a new episode of Prep and Landing Naughty Vs Nice.  It was good but not quite as awesome as the first one which is a constant Christmas reminder all-year round in our house.  My two boys were wide-eyed during the films and totally stoked for Christmas!  1 more day for Little Pickle and 2 more for Cornichon and then Christmas Holidays!  Whoopee!

Life is good

I took 2 of these

A happy one of these

We all did some of this

I took 109 photos in hope to get one like this

We took this filled with good things

We were given these

and these

This was delightful

I had 30 seconds to do this

There were songs about bananas and Batman

It was a good day

Time for Me

The hen weekend was a blast - just what the bride-to-bee wanted. There were 12 of us in 2 cottages by the beach in west Wales and we spent the entire weekend drinking wine, eating amazing food and celebrating being girly. It was a revelation for me as I can't remember the last time I was on my own for a whole day without having to be somewhere for someone. I could just be there for me which was so blissful! I had no mobile phone signal in the cottage, only when walking on the beach so I had plenty of time to just be by myself (and with the rest of the girls!) and be a girl myself - not a wife, not a Mummy, not a daughter, just me. I had forgotten what it was like to just be me and, well, what a nice girl I can be! It was good to go out and just take the things I needed and not have to cart around coats for the boys, wipes, nappies for Little Pickle, snacks for all and sundry and a pushchair! I had a wallet, cash and a phone and a jacket. All mine, just for me. It was very liberating and I spent the first few hours quite off balance and thinking that I had forgotten something or someone or that I should be thinking of someone else. It took me ages to realise that it was just me on my own. I liked it.

We spent Saturday doing outdoor activities like archery, clay pigeon shooting, pistols, baseball nets, crazy golf, scalextrix, go-carting and the competitive side of me came out. I thought I would be great at the baseball (decidedly average), good at scalextrix (crap), OK at archery (crap), good at crazy golf (good and terrible = average) OK at go-crarting (poor), good at pistols (average to poor) and OK at clay pigeon shooting (absolutely amazing!) I was disappointed with my overall performance (joint 7th) but chuffed to bits with my clay shooting! I was awesome and scored 56 points where the second placed person scored 26! Thank goodness for the performance which bucked up the rest of my scores! I will clutch on to that victory for a while and try to forget my crapness in the other things. I may become a markswoman. Shame I loathe and detest guns really! I was quite touched early on in the day when a bloke from another team who I know from about 20 years ago when I lived with my parents, came up to me and asked if the other girls knew about my "sporting prowess". I used to be good at sports in school but I had not seen Chris for years and years and was surprised he remembered me let alone that I was into my sports! That comment boosted my ego at the start of the day and made me all the more disappointed by the end!

Great Day Out

I spent today out with the boys introducing a bit of culture and education.  We took a train to the museum!  It was a fab day and we all enjoyed it (although Cornichon did want to go home when we were in the art gallery!)  We went in the dinosaur exhibit and they both got a bit nervous and Cornichon kept reassuring me "They're not real, Mummy!".  A good day was had by all not least because we were all out all day and did not spend any time hanging about the house which can be fun but does get tough if we do it too often.  Now I am back in work I am going to try a bit harder  to have quality days when we do stuff like this.  I will, I will, I will!

Brilliant birthday weekend

This weekend was spent celebrating Little Pickle's first birthday.  I have been thinking about how our family has changed since his arrival and how much I love being part of a foursome, since the fourth corner of the square came along.  I really feel sorry for people who have "only" one child.  I know that this is totally ridiculous as any one who has a child is incredibly lucky to have even one (I want to say blessed but being non-religious I am struggling for a better word than 'lucky') but that said having two is so rewarding, especially when I spy on the two of them interacting with each  other.  It makes my heart melt on a daily basis and I would never change a thing about it.

It was Little Pickle's birthday on Friday and Mr Gherkin had the day off.  We all went to the new swimming pool down the bay.  The boys loved it (as did Mr G and I) and Cornichon was in his element.  I initially thought that he would be clingy and scared but he quickly warmed up and was off splashing on his won quite quickly.  I really wish I could take them swimming more often.  I think that Mr Gherkin and I will make more of an effort to take them in future as it was so great holding them so they could 'chase' each other in the water.  We went to Pizza Hut after the pool and had balloons and a pizza buffet.  Everyone loved this too especially the ice-cream help-yourself bar for afters!  We then went on to an amusement arcade and fiddled about on the racing machines and Cornichon and Little Pickle loved this - riding real motorbikes!  It did not get any better than that!  Cornichon took a shine to air hockey too.  We saved the birthday cake until we got home and had it for tea and Little Pickle loved it when we sang HBTY to him.  I really thought he knew that the day was all for him and that he felt special for it too.

Yesterday was spent with Mum, Dad and Sister Gherkin and Mr Gherkin's Mum and Dad.  They all came here bearing gifts and I provided another birthday cake and some cookies and biscuits.  We ate junk and drank tea and played with yet more presents and again Little Pickle was in his element.  Sister Gherkin stayed over last night and we went to the pub.  Surprisingly we have never really been to the pub just the two of us before!  It has always been with Mr Gherkin or Mum and Dad.  We resolved to rectify this when she moves here in July.  It was so good to get out of the house without the boys and Jon!  I need to get out more and just be me.  I need to get sleep too and just be awake too.