5 is the new 4

So my 4-year-old is 5 tomorrow!

He's already had a little party with some friends, 2 1/2 hours of little boys (& a couple of girls) charging round our house!

But they enjoyed themselves and I enjoyed the compulsory glass of wine that every parent needs following a kids party!

So as I did with my blog post after my daughters birthday, here's the baby versus the almost 5-year-old pics!

Pictured above with his big sister as it's one of the only decent and recent pictures I have of him!

I can't believe where the time has gone to be honest, or that he has finished 1 year of school, about to start the next and just as he reaches 5, some of his friends will start turning 6!

So happy end of the summer holidays to you all.  In 13 days they return to school and we can all start cursing the alarm clock again!!

xx 

Insanity and Instagram

So here we are, half way through the school holidays and are we all surviving?!! How are are you all doing?

From this end it's been an continuous stream of insanity and Instagram! Thanks to the gorgeous summer weather this year my Instagram feed is full of pictures of sunny days at the beach, playing in the fountain, ice creams etc.

Of course I can't miss out the insanity that is 2 children on school holiday for 6 weeks!  Walking round town with 2 kids, high on sugar from a sneaky McDonalds doughnut, and both waving McDonalds balloons bashing every passer by was one of the 'highlights!'

Getting a new laptop was also one of my personal highlights!  With a screen big enough that I can actually see it!  Decided at 6.30 am the other day (who knows why, I was wide awake and the sun was streaming in) to get it set up.  As it switched on, a voice started talking which I was convinced was my 4-year-old, I thought he'd heard me and got up, but it was actually the laptop talking to me!!  Decided to get caffeine at that point!

Also, to make this holiday top notch, those of you on Twitter may have seen that we have a new fridge freezer, oh I am so in love!  Being nearly 40 means that a new fridge freezer that matches the colour of the other appliances in the kitchen and is automatic defrost is the absolute height of happiness!

So that's my insanities and Instagram story.  I do hope everyone else's insanity levels are not rising too high!

xx

University Challenge

A few days ago, University Challenge comes on TV, 8-year-old is still up so we deicide to see what she thinks of the questions.

Well it's safe to say she wouldn't have won the show!  Sitting there shouting out one word answers such as 'FISH' to a question concerning Saturn and 'GOAT' to a question surrounding a painting I'm not sure it was her most intelligent half hour!

The 2 days ago, get in from work to an endless string of questions such as

'What's in that bag?'
'Are you going for a shower?'
'Where's my brother, I hope he's not in my room.'
'How many baking trays to you have?'
'How many shelves are there in the oven?'
'How do you play squash?'

I find that last one a bit testing and completely irrelevant to the previous questioning!

I don't know about University Challenge bit I'm finding her universally challenging!!

Happy days
Xx

Day 12 - Summer 2018

Over 1 week down, just under 5 to go!!

Never a dull moment!

The temperature has dropped (for 5 minutes anyway!) for which we are all grateful I think!

The last week has seen my 4-year-old attempting to take off with both hands full of feathers he had collected in the park!

My 8-year-old wetting herself for the 1st time in years, and having to get her an emergency pair of leggings in Primark as result. Sometimes life throws you circumstances you never expected and standing in the stairwell of Primark whilst my daughter attempted to change her leggings, under her coat so that nobody saw, is not how I had thought my Sunday would go!!

It's seen the final episode of Poldark to which I am inconsolable and still haunted by what I can oy describe as a 'Heathcliff and Cathy' moment!

So here's to another week of insaneness and unexpected whatevers! Xx

Day 5 - Summer 2018

So here we are at day 5 of the school summer holidays and there's more than enough material for 20 blog posts already!

However, this year (so far) I do feel ready for the school break. This feeling may not last long!  May be it's because they're slightly older now I don't know, but I do know they'll spend the first 2 weeks fighting over every toy, crayon, ice pop, DVD etc, then they'll settle down once they get used to spending every day in each other's company!

Then there's the daily 8-year-old wisdom! This first week has seen her start writing a note to her new class teachers for September, addressing it
'Dear Mr J and Mrs Hag!!'
Obviously the teachers name is not 'Hag' she had misspelt the surname, but it made me chuckle!!  As well as reply to her with
'You can't refer to your teacher as a hag on day 1!!'

I hope everyone has had an entertaining start to the school holiday too! Xx

The blog turns 1!

So a year ago today I published my blog publicly. I've managed to keep this charade up for 1 whole year!

Thank you to my 460 followers (between Facebook and Twitter), my readers and sharers etc for the 4721 blog views in the last year! I appreciate every one of you. Keep up the good work!

Obviously I couldn't write this sort of post without advertising my book on Amazon! So here's the link!


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maternal-Instincts-Laugh-Might-Diary/dp/1521942366/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530644005&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=maternal+instincts+by+caroline+richardson&dpPl=1&dpID=41BMzxHP93L&ref=plSrch

As the advert above says, for the next week the paperback will be only £4.  And for my USA readers, the kindle edition drops to only $1.99 tomorrow (18th July) for 1 week only.

What does this all mean to me? Well, it's not about making money, or bigging myself up. It's something, that at the end of the day I can say is all mine, and yes I am already planning the sequel!

Happy reading everyone and thanks again. Xx

My world cup

Oh the joys of watching England's world cup semi final with an inquisitive 8-year-old!

1.
Aim - to sit still on the sofa.                     Achievement level = Zero!

2.
Aim - to sit quietly for a while.                Achievement level = Zero!

3.
Aim - to not block the view of the TV.    Achievement level = Zero!

4.
Level of intelligent conversation = well if you've read my Facebook post from last night regarding the 'tinned Phil' then say no more!

5.
My level of tolerance for Little Miss Inquisitives questioning  = Zero!  Tolerance level finally reached zero with the question 'Mummy, what are buttocks!'

Anyway, England you did us proud and in 4 years time, when 8-year-old is 12, and nearly 5-year-old is nearly 9 and I'm at an age where if Little Miss 8-year-old carries on, I won't make it to, I'm sure you'll bring the trophy home!

xx