Foreign invasion

D-Day is almost here - my brother and his wife arrive for a visit tomorrow! Hoorah! I've actually never met Christine in person, for one reason and another, but we've talked of course - god bless email - but still, I'm really excited to meet face to face. And I haven't seen Steve in ages, so it will be nice to see him as well. She's been here before ("here" as in England, I mean) as her dad is English so she has relatives here and stuff. Steve's never been, though, so I'm sure it will be fun for him to have his first taste of Europe. Tonight's task is to clear off some space on surfaces in the girls' room/guest room so they have places to put their stuff. The girls are being temporarily moved to Alex's room, which they think is cool. They are arguing over who gets to sleep on the floor and who has to sleep in the top bunk (Alex sleeps in the bottom bunk). There's the different between kids and grownups right there - grownups would consider getting the floor to be losing the toss! (Our solution is to have them alternate - but then of course, they argue over who gets the floor first... If there was more floor space they could both sleep there, but, well, that's the way these things go.)

And that's that.

And Olivia's - she's big on writing at the moment. Partly because Sarah & Thalia spend a lot of time making lists of things (usually important, secret things, being 7 and 8...) and partly because it's something they are working on in school.

The houses in Bobville

Sarah's turn for glory here - this shows her picture and the original she copied it from. She's very fond of copying things - and quite good at it, too.

Cutting edge

Alex's "artwork" from nursery - he was practicing cutting with scissors. He's only 2, so it's not really that showy. But he had a great time with it...

where the time goes

Haven't posted in ages, I know. This is partly the usual, and partly that Olivia's asthma has been acting up a lot and we've had 4 doctor's appts and two trips to casualty in the past two weeks, so I'm feeling a bit inundated with that stuff at the moment. Poor chick. She hasn't had any proper asthma attacks, thank goodness, but her breathing is really tight and hasn't been responding well to the usual treatment. Hence the repeat visits. Of course, it never stops her bouncing around all over the place :)

Anyway, will try to do better in future - I've got some photos of a fox in our garden and the kids' artwork to upload over the next couple of days, so at least there will be something there to look at!

Today we're off to a fair at Morden Hall Park - crafts and entertainments. The weather is supposed to be very nice, so hopefully that will prove to be true.

Well, seems my social life is a bit like buses - nothing for ages, then several things come along at once. Not only have I got the only two activities the entire month in the same week (quilt group meeting & a Pampered Chef party at a friend's house) but also, the weekend I had planned to go away with some quilting buddies for a retreat, my mother will be here visiting from the US, so I probably won't go - will just go for the day. Why does that always happen, anyway! At least I have things to choose from...

Here's the kids playing Pooh Sticks on the bridge at Morden Hall Park. We had a nice day on Friday, finally, so we went out for a little picnic lunch, trip to the Farm, walk in the park, visit to the Garden Centre, etc.

Kids back to school tomorrow - mixed feelings about that. In some ways, it's nice to have a little more leisure, not have to run around taking them places, not have to get up early, and so on. On the other hand, they do better with some structure, really, especially the girls, otherwise they tend to squabble. "Squabble" being a diplomatic word for it. But it's always nice to have a breather, even if it did seem to come almost immediately after Christmas this year. We'll be desperate by the end of May!

So, as I was saying :)

Alex started today at Carousel, a local nursery - he's going 2 sessions a week - Wednesday morning (8.30 to 1.00) and Thursday afternoon (1-5.30). He had fun today I think, though he's a little tired, admittedly. Not surprising, I guess with so much unrestrained playing going on. It meant I could go to Asda (supermarket) with only 2 children in tow - given that last time I took Alex he insisted on getting out of the trolley and pushing, it was a distinct improvement. Next week, no kids at all while shopping, hoorah!

Spent the Easter weekend at Grandma Lucy's house (Geoff's mum) - no computer access for a whole weekend. Weird, but kind of relaxing... Anyway, the kids had a lovely time - it's the first time we've been up since Geoff's Dad died, as Lucy didn't really feel up to being invaded before now (she's come down to us, but it's a bit chaotic going up to her with lots of small kids - better now that Alex is getting older, though). Oops, someone at the door, must go, more later!

So, after our shock snowstorms :) it's turned summer all of the sudden. Wednesday through Saturday were lovely, sunny days with temps up near 20. Yesterday and today more like spring, but still nice enough to do stuff outside. And as the kids finished school at 1.30 Friday for 2 weeks Easter Holiday, let's hope it stays.

Sarah's off this afternoon to a birthday party - Thalia's. She's 8, which I find amazing - almost as bizarre as Alex being 2. They do grow fast. Olivia was slightly jalous she wasn't invited to the party until I reminded her she's been to 3 different parties over the course of the last week. It's birthday season, I guess. Funny how they go in cycles - none for ages and then a whole bunch come along at once - like London buses!

New nomination for Most Boring Task in the Universe - thank you letters for school fundraisers. Necessary, yes, but dull dull dull. Of necessity, am splitting my time between addressing & stuffing envelopes and catching up on surfing. Nothing too exciting yet, but some minor laughs, like If Condoms Had Sponsors. The more bored I get of thank yous, the easier I will be to amuse, no doubt...

Ok, so you know how I said it was sunny? All of the sudden it got that blacky-yellow colour and dumped the most enormous quantity of HAIL all over us. This isn't a light dusting of snow in the garden, it's hail. Snow, sleet (when the snow was beginning to go), rain & now hail - what form of precipitation is left for today? Brimstone? Cats & dogs? 

Snowed again this morning - a real blizzard for a few minutes, but it didn't stick. Now it's all lovely and sunny, though it still looks really cold. The kids are loving this winter - I'm sure it will go down in memory as "the winter where it snowed all the time". It may not compare to many places in the world, but for London, it's been pretty snowy!

We didn't make this giant snowball - it mysteriously appeared in the field between when we walked to school and when we came back. Pretty cool!

Alex building a snowman (with a little help from Mummy) 

A better snow - actually covered the ground a few inches deep and stayed around for most of the day. Great packing snow - really good for big snowballs & snowmen & stuff 

So who says it never snows in London? OK, not a lot, but it's still coming down now, so who knows what it will be like in the morning. I hope there's something left or the kids will be disappointed. (Photo is terribly out of focus as I can't use the flash - but you get the general idea!) 

We went to Kew Gardens on Thursday and saw lots of interesting stuff, including some wondrous orchids. The strangest thing we saw, though, was one of these - an axolotl. Remarkable, in a rather bizarre way!

Well, it's officially the half-term holiday now - no school tomorrow. So of course the kids are manic. We have plans for several of the days, nothing too strenuous, hopefully. Today we are going to take the kids swimming, that is, if they ever finish eating breakfast, etc. You'd think with the exciting prospect of going swimming (which they nag us about all the time) they would hurry up, rather than messing about, but then, that's kids for you, I guess.