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Friday 23 December 2011

The Meaning of Christmas (Etc)

So, I had such plans for a Waltons esque Christmas - I'm off work, you guys have finished school - I'm not sure if you can understand how much Mummy plans things, and then gets a bit disappointed when they don't go quite to plan....
Writing cards - I see us all sitting down, signing our names, licking and sticking envelopes. Obviously, I forgot that one of you has difficulties writing for long periods, one of you can't spell (combined with being a perfectionist and unable to guess) and one of you is only four. So, in fact, it's just me writing cards and you lot dictating names and messages. Less fun.
Seeing Santa - Monster, I am SO embarrassed. There's lovely twinkly Santa desperately searching the room for something that you will accept. Have you no shame? Or fear of Santa getting fed up? Hours, we were there while the poor man offered one thing after another. Thank goodness he had hidden some cars under his chair.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Father Christmas

Darling Lelly, I love your letter to Father Christmas. It is very polite, and very nice (not the three page double sided job your brother turned in last year) but....where will Father Christmas find
a turn back potion (I know your little friend has threatened to order a 'turn into monster' potion from Father Christmas but you probably don't need to worry.)
the best shoes in the world
a street made of real gold
Lion, elephant and monkey potions
?
I suspect the last requests may be an attempt on revenge for possibly being turned into a monster, but even so. Next year, I will show you the Argos catalogue.

Monday 28 November 2011

Christmas Spirit

So, you little ones have no idea of how much I love you. I love you so much that today I left work early, and drove a 60 mile round trip to the only shop in the world still stocking your future Christmas presents. I cannot tell you how worried I was that I would leave the carrier bag on the counter.

I just really really really hope you don't kick off on Christmas Day about it not being a coin maker.

Friday 18 November 2011

Update! Sorry kids - you'll have to guess what I was thinking for the last month...

So, where were we? Last post, appropriately enough, appears to have been on the anniversary of my father's death. I still can't really think about that - he's been locked up in a little box in my head for the last twenty something years - far too sad for me to talk about. Even now,I'm a bit teary typing.

Thing's are getting back to normal after poor Granny's death. I hope, for Granny's sake, that you guys keep a piece of her in your hearts. Even if it's just the memory of the odd cheque arriving 'for the children' and then us all having a day out, plus food in a cafe, rather than yet more sandwiches.

Lelly, maybe you could try to remember that although, yes, it is lovely for Baby Whitehouse that Granny can now take care of him, you should try to keep that thought in your head. It is nice to know that your guinea pig will be well looked after in Heaven, but possibly we would have liked Granny to stay here a bit longer. I'm sure there was an animal loving angel with a bit of free time already feeding him.

Secretly tho, and maybe you'll get this when you are a bit older, I hope so much that my dad and Granny are catching up.

Monday 17 October 2011

Horrible week...

Hi guys, and sorry not to have written to you recently. What a horrible few days this has been. Mummy is really sad about Granny dying, and I am so proud of you for drawing the pictures for her coffin. I'm sorry I was a bit snappy at first - it was the last thing you could do for Granny, and I was a bit surprised that you thought she would like sheets of paper covered with animal stickers and glue. Your second attempts were gorgeous - Number One Son, you made me cry with your instructions to God to be good to Granny.

It seems like Daddy did a really good job while B and I were away - pizza boxes not withstanding!

Friday 23 September 2011

Birthday surprises

B - I really wish I could show you all the cute stuff we bought yesterday to do your room! After you said you'd like it done for your birthday, Daddy and I went shopping and chose paper, bed linen and it's all hidden away. I really want to show you! See, grown ups get excited too!

Friday 9 September 2011

First Week Back

Hi guys; well done on getting to Friday - only one homework tantrum (B - you know what I'm talking about) and no late mornings. Phew. When you are a parent, sometimes you want to be kind of invisible at the start of term - you know, letting the teachers get on with it before asking them loads of stuff. That's probably the only area we could have improved on.

Next term, Monster, leave Lelly's glasses alone, and try not to drop them the night before school. It meant he had a letter for his teacher on the first day. And Lelly, TRY to remember that you are in Year 2 now, and stop queuing up for your old class/ leaving your lunch box there etc - your new teacher might think you are trying to tell her something!

Congratulations, Number One Son, on contracting both a vomiting bug and a fungal infection (nice) - your first week has been more like half a week. Don't try that when you get a job...

But, it's Friday mornng, and I can't wait for my four to come back tonight - it's been very quiet without you.

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Stop bickering!

What I really don't understand is why you all feel the need to keep kicking and nudging on long (over five minutes) car journeys. It would be so much nicer for you not to be told off, surely? And who can ever win an argument about which bit of air belongs to them?

Why not walk quietly around Asda, and then we will leave and do something fun? Jumping and chasing, hiding in aisles etc is all very well, but it takes time. And then you get told off. (Can you see a pattern forming here?)

Actually, I would really like to leave a supermarket without the sympathetic passing shot from the cashier - "Not long now, nearly the start of school?"

Monday 22 August 2011

Sad Lonely Grapes

Sooooo, I think I need to write this down. When you make your little grapes/ biscuits/ peas 'walk' around the plate, squeaking in terror ('Please don't eat me; I'm only a baby') I feel, as a mother, sad for the Mummy Grape/ Biscuit/ Pea. That is why I sometimes snap at you to stop messing with your food. Because I am a crazy, sad grieving person, thinking of the poor mummy waiting for her little grape to come home. And getting eaten instead.

Monday 15 August 2011

Homework?

B - not being funny, or mean, but just really hope you haven't forgotten about Martin Luther King. Friends reruns are great, but not essential to the Summer.

Friday 12 August 2011

Dear Kids, to the left is a photo of Mummy. Not Granny, not Auntie K, not the lady opposite. I'm not quite sure how having my hair highlighted could have caused this much confusion, but I am dreading what will happen when I eventually pluck up the courage (and raid the Christmas fund) to have Botox.

I am really surprised that you would find it hard to tell the difference between me, the person who has been ever present, and my non identical sister who you have only just seen again after two years. She is also beautifully tanned, and has dark hair. As she is younger and more glamorous, I'm not too worried.

The really weird thing is not being able to tell me apart from Granny or Auntie K in the photos - particularly your (wrong) impression that I was also married to Uncle T. I am glad that we have corrected that misunderstanding, and that you no longer need to be worried about Daddy.

Homework. Now!

B - I would just like to remind you that Martin Luther King's biography won't write itself.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Dressing Up

It was so funny taking you out yesterday dressed as smurfs. I just want you to know that I find that as much fun as you do. Poor B, strolling casually several feet behind us - I remember taking Snow White to Asda not so long ago! I'm so glad that I have learnt not to be embarrassed by this stuff - so what if you are painted blue and wearing little caps? This time won't last long - soon you'll be dragging me away from clothing shops, begging me to let you choose your own outfits. It's great that, for now, I can produce a cat mask from a bag and brighten up your day.
Sorry I got a bit stressed about the make up - by the time I'd painted you to your exact requirements, I really couldn't bear to see it smudged. You were very brave, Lelly, holding back the tears after Number One Son opened the door on to you. That's the spirit!

Saturday 6 August 2011

Castle? Check

I know that it must be hard to understand that spending my last five pounds on a boat trip and not an ice cream was a good idea. Mummy is trying to teach you that experiences and not expenses are important. Plus, two quid a scoop is outrageous!

Sofa Sogood....

Boys, I know that this is how you would like to spend your holidays (sofa, food, television) but the unwritten and universally understood rules of the Summer holidays insist that you see daylight and fresh air. Secretly, I would quite like to quietly do the housework, sort all my paperwork out, but stuff online, while you zone out in front of Cartoon Network. We cannot go back to work and school without a couple of exciting outings to mention. You don't know it, but I am taking half of you to Batman Live soon. We need more. Today, we do a castle.   


Thursday 4 August 2011

My Ageing Appearance

Actually, Lelly, I would just like to let you know that I do not have 'Ha ha ha, hair like a granny'; I have hair like somebody who can no longer afford £80 every six weeks. Most other mummies probably don't have lovely shiny hair without a bit of extra help. I can't really win, can I? Do you remember when I bought the hair dye and you hid under the table as I looked 'like a witch, tee hee'?

Wednesday 3 August 2011

The Beach and a Bit About the Blog


So, my small and not so small children, I have decided to create a blog. I like the idea of writing to you, explaining my response to the day, and maybe (when in years to come you do an internet search on me/you) why I acted like a snappy dragon (hence the name!) on certain occasions.

With four of you, a job, and Daddy, I have quite a bit to get on with, and I can't promise you'll find my views on everything here - sometimes it's just a no, with no deep and meaningful behind it. Those would be the times you don't get biscuits for breakfast, to watch an 18 (no matter that all of your friends have seen it...hmmmm), or to invite all your friends to Disneyland Paris for your birthdays. That sort of thing.

On the other hand, maybe I can let slip to you all those things you have no idea about - the times I stand in the doorway of your rooms at night, just waiting to hear you breathing before I can go to sleep myself. You all look quite lovely then; it's nice to end the day pleased that all is well (and asleep and not fighting over the remote control...)

Let's start with yesterday. With hindsight, I should have shown more interest in the hundreds and thousands of pebbles on the beach. It's just quite hard to concentrate on looking for the zebra pattern on a lump of stone while trying to make sure your siblings don't throw themselves into the sea.

Also, after a while*, 'treasure' is redefined as old rusty bottle tops, and bits of sharp glass. When you are a boring grown up, it's easier to focus too much on the risk assessment of picking up old bottles, and not enough on the shininess of them.

*two hours

I'm sorry about the sand throwing Number One Son; trouble is you can't 'even up the score' once you've been asked to stop throwing. It may well have been started by the other little girl, but even if she had got two more throws in by the time you were told to stop, that's just tough. I couldn't let you throw a couple of handfuls to make it 'fair'.

I have to say, watching you all dozing off, sun kissed and sandy, in the back of the car is another of those hundreds of happy moments I'm glad about.