What with one thing and another I haven't had time to write much about our holiday, and here it is the last day already. But we've been having fun, going to the beach and splashworld and the park and other fun things, mostly aimed at kids, but stuff that the grownups have been enjoying as well. We're taking (or rather, Geoff is) the girls back to Splashworld this afternoon (an indoor water park - a pool with waves, water slides, fountains, water cannon, etc). Last time the babies went too, and although Aine enjoyed it quite a bit, Alex wasn't quite so keen, so David is going to get off work a little early this afternoon and he'll take Aine with him and Geoff will take the girls. Cathi and I will stay here (and Alex) and perhaps go for a long walk or something, depending on the weather.

The weather hasn't been quite what we'd like - not much sun - but at least it hasn't been chucking down rain, so it's not too bad. We've still managed to get out and about a lot, and the girls had a whole morning of playing in the very nice playground in the centre of Waterford. Yesterday we took advantage of the brief period of sun to go for a picnic on a secluded beach fairly near to Waterford. It wasn't hot, but at least it was warm enough for us to eat lunch outside and for the girls to mess about in the rockpools without freezing.

Back home tomorrow after a long ferry trip and a long drive - I'm going to let Sarah stay up as late as she wants tonight, as that makes it more likely she'll sleep in the car on the way home. On the ferry on the way over they were showing Harry Potter 2 in the kids' cinema, so if we're equally lucky on the way back, that part of the trip shouldn't be too bad.

Well, here we are in Ireland, which is cool. As expected, Cathi's baby is very sweet, although she's obviously going to be a handful, even at a young age. She's about 2.5 months older than Alex, so it's fun to watch her and predict what he's going to be like at the same age. Not that I haven't been through that age before with the other kids, but you do tend to forget at precisely which age they do what...

We spent yesterday driving around doing stuff, went up to a car boot sale outside Kilkenny and then went to lunch in Kilkenny, which looks like a very pretty town. Geoff bought me a lovely piece of pottery as a belated anniversary present (it was 10 years this year, astonishingly). Today, we'll probably not go quite so far afield. i don't think the weather will be nice enough for the beach, but perhaps we can have a trip to "Splashworld" later today, if it's open and if it fits into the schedule. If it doesn't rain, perhaps there will also be a walk over to the local castle or something like that.

The best thing, besides visiting with old friends of course, is that they have a big hottub on their deck, so every evening, after the kids are in bed, it's out to the hot tub for a soak and a gossip & to sort out world affairs and all that. perhaps that's what's wrong with the UN - they don't conduct their business while soaking in a hottub with a nice drink.

Off to Ireland early tomorrow morning. Staying with Cathi and Dave and as Cathi is at least as much of an internet addict as I am, I'll be checking email and blogging as usual, if I have time (and if she's not already online). But in case there's a lot of silence, well, you'll know why! Just hope the weather is better than it has been here this week...

well, today we had a first - solid food. Alex, that is. The rest of us have been on solids for a while! Anyway, he's a little young for it, technically (3.5 months rather than 4) but he's a very hungry baby in the daytime and has recently taken to chewing on his fist, so I reckoned it was time to at least try. And though he's not entirely sure what to do with the food (we had some pear puree today), neither does he spit it back out, scream and make faces, so I think we're on the right track. I just want him to keep sleeping through the night most nights - it's a hard thing to give up, once they've started to give your nights back!

Last night was Olivia's annual ballet show - this is the first time she's been in it, but as ballet looks as though it's here to stay, I'm assuming it will be an annual event. She used to be in a different ballet class, which only had little ones, but now she's going to a different place, which takes all ages. She's only in with tiny little ones, but there are other classes for older girls, so we had a whole show, from 3 year olds up to about 18, I reckon. It was quite sweet. In many ways, the little kids were better than the older ones, as they were much less self-conscious.

After the show, we had Thalia around for a sleepover (she was in the show, too, and both her folks were away, so it was practical, as well as fun), which is our first proper sleepover. We did have Thalia once before, when Lana went into hospital to have Keir, but this was a "real" sleepover. And much more giggly. They did eventually go to sleep, though. Eventually. I can see that the main problem in future will be that Thalia is an early riser, which would be fine, except she woke both the other girls up, too, and they really need a bit more sleep, especially after a busy, tiring day like yesterday. At least they are old enough not to need me to get up with them when they get up at 6.45 on a Sunday morning...

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything; those of you who read the blog regularly may have guessed that this is because Geoff's dad died, later on the same day as the last entry. We've been very busy since as Geoff's been up to his mum's house twice - we went the second time, this past weekend, for the funeral and so forth. Everything went very well, it was a lovely service with a good turnout and all that, but it was still obviously a bit of an emotional visit. Geoff's doing well, and his mum not too badly. It does help that Stuart is able to be there with her I think.

The oddest thing, of course, is being at the house without Geoff's dad there. Even Sarah noticed it - she said "It's different here without granddad, isn't it".

Only a few days left, and actually, it's not been too bad. We've been greatly helped by having nice weather, and thus being able to get out and do stuff. Today, which looks set to pour down rain any moment, Sarah has a friend around to play, so that's also ok. I think they're upstairs playing with Millie's My Little Ponies (of which she seems to have quite a few - she brought a whole bag full) - the game seems to involve a pony show, which their team (the girls) seems to be winning, over the boys' team (the boys being imaginary, made up for the purpose of the game, so that they could beat them, I think). Such devious minds at only 5 1/2!

Geoff's brother is coming in from Australia later today, somewhat unexpectedly - as Geoff's dad isn't doing too well. I mentioned that he'd had a 2nd stroke, but he's also had 2 heart attacks since then, so none of us have very high hopes for his recovery. Stuart is coming over to spend a month with him and Lucy, just in case. It will be lovely to see him, of course, though one would wish it were in more pleasant circumstances. Anyway, he'll stay with us tonight, then go up to Leicestershire tomorrow. And hopefully he'll be able to spend a few days with us at the end of the visit as well. Someday we may actually make it to Australia for a visit there, but it won't be particularly soon. Might as well wait until the kids are old enough to get a lot out of it, as we won't be able to afford to do it more than once, probably.

So, 4 days of the Easter holiday down, only a million to go. Ok, not quite, but it feels a bit that way. We've been lucky to have really nice weather so far so that we can do outdoor things (it doesn't stop them from whining, but at least the whines aren't as loud outside) instead of being stuck inside. And there are two bank holidays this weekend, which means that Daddy is home to help entertain the monsters...I mean, lovely adorable children.

My friends and I have a theory that although school is great and we love it when our kids are in school, the problem is that they get so used to having their entire day structured for them, that when they have a holiday they spend the entire time expecting their mums to devise activities for them. Which would be ok, if they would do the things we devise instead of deciding that those activities aren't good enough or interesting enough, and therefore, they're bored [most commonly heard phrase during school holidays: "Mummy, I'm BORED"]. At least my two girls are close enough in age that they can play stuff together. It's usually weird stuff involving sitting on each other's heads or something, but at least they do it together, and usually in another room. Not that I mind doing stuff with them, but sometimes I also need to do things like cook dinner, do washing, clean the house, feed the baby, etc etc etc.

Seems to be a problem posting to my blog at the moment, but I thought I'd type something now anyway, in the hopes that when the publishing thing is sorted, I'll not have lost all the stuff I've added. We'll see. Of course, being a tightwad about internet stuff, I don't pay for one of the premium services, so the chances of their dealing with my problem are slim to none; perhaps it's a temporary server thing (I know all about those from the years on ns.com) which will resolve itself anyway. I should be so lucky.

Today was the last day of school before the Easter Holidays - two glorious weeks of bored children, and I'm sure the weather will turn all rainy just to make life that much easier. The kids got out of school today at 1.30, and by about 3, they were already intolerable. It's going to be a fun two weeks. And as Geoff's dad recently had another minor stroke, we won't be making the previously planned trip up to Grandma & Grandad either, which won't help any (that's not my primary concern about Geoff's dad's stroke, of course, but it's an additional negative aspect...)

We did start an "Easter Egg Tree" today, though. I don't know if anyone else did this as a kid, but we did - we decorated eggshells and hung them on a "tree" (ok, a branch), which we used as a decoration. As Geoff says, it makes sense, as eggs normally grow on trees. I know, I know, but I guess it's just a good way to display them. Anyway, we have a couple of eggs I bought at the garden centre, but we're going to make some more - it's a holiday project. It won't be quite the same as in the US as most of the eggs here are brown (although sometimes at Easter they do sell white in some places), but there are other ways of decoration than just dyeing...

The last two posts I've tried to post haven't showed up, so this is a test again. Boring, I know.

This is in the way of a test. I wrote something earlier and tried to post it, but it doesn't seem to have shown up. So you can just ignore this...

So of course, now that I've bragged about blogging a lot, I let it slip and go a fortnight without writing anything. Typical! But it's been busy here (so that's a great change). Not that today is any different, but it was a strange enough day that I just had to say something. This morning when I got up, it was snowing. Yes, snowing. Yes, I know it's April - go figure.

I recently got by email one of those survey things that you fill in and send around to your friends (favourite colour, parents' names, and so on) and one of the questions was how much you love your job on a scale of 1-5. I said 5, which is usually true, but honestly, good thing I wasn't filling it in today, as today we have Mr "I'm going to scream whenever I'm put down" Baby. He's currently with his daddy, screaming because I'm not holding him any more. There are days when I almost (but not quite) wish I was still back at work...

I had a message from a friend of mine who said I "blog a lot", which was great, as I always feel I'm not writing enough, so if at least one person in the world thinks I'm doing ok, I can feel less guilty about all those days I can't think of anything to write, or can't find the time. And as he has a blog himself, and is a computer dude, he knows what he's talking about. Thanks, Richard. :)

Today is a domestic day. Aside from catching up on emails, I'm making jam (plum, my favourite so far), making cakes for a sale at the school (banana chocolate chip - that will solve the problem of the black bananas as well), making bread (bread machine, so that's easy, just measure the ingredients and push a couple of buttons), and, if Alex sleeps well today, maybe even doing some sewing. You'd think I was Harriet Homemaker or something, so just to reinforce the fact that this is not the 1950s and I'm not really that type of girl, my background music today is a playlist mainly consisting of Clash & Joe Strummer songs, with some misc punk & ska stuff thrown in. Wouldn't want to let the side down...

Busy weekend, between stuff and gorgeous weather, so again, not much time online. In fact, I didn't even turn on the computer yesterday, which is a really change for me. I have to at least LOOK at my email, usually, even if I can't respond to it because I'm holding a baby at the time...

Sarah and Olivia went to Thalia's birthday party on Saturday - held in the school hall, it was a proper "disco party" complete with a DJ. They seem to have loved it. And luckily, Olivia is now old enough that I don't always have to stay at these things. I went over a little early so I could say I'd been and not risk mortally offending Thalia - a mortally offended 6 year old is not something one wants to deal with.

Yesterday we had some friends around, some of whom we haven't seen in ages, partly due to their living in Hertfordshire and us halfway around the M25 from there, and partly due to both of us having exceptionally busy years in the past few years, including Nigel's dad dying a couple of years ago. We had a lovely time - again, the weather was fantastic - and after gorging ourselves silly at lunch, we went for a lovely long walk around the neighbourhood - the park (packed with people for a change), cemetery & over to the kids' school. By about 6pm I was ready to crash, as Alex had had a sleepless night, with colic or similar, so I'd be awake more or less since 4am. I think it's the first time in years (barring when I had the flu) that I've been in bed at 9pm!

This has been the most gorgeous week - really lovely weather, warm and sunny, and due to last through until Monday. Part of the reason I've not been online much lately. That and the usual stuff.

This week's excitement came in the form of a visit to Olivia's nursery class. They are doing a unit on babies - learning about all kinds of babies, animal and human, and as part of the human baby unit, they asked if someone with a baby could volunteer to come into the class and show the children the baby being bathed. So, as we are in possession of such a creature, we volunteered & yesterday Alex had a bath in front of Olivia's entire class. He usually enjoys being bathed, but this time, of course, he fussed the whole time. Figures! I still think the kids enjoyed watching the bath, though, so that's ok.

Well, I guess the work paid off, though, as Sarah won 2nd place with her costume (they divided the kids into 3 age ranges - she won among the littles), which is great. She has to take it back into school today for a Show and Tell Assembly this afternoon, which I'm going to attend, with camera & (hopefully) sleeping baby. The joys of parenthood! Actually, Green Lane (the school) is very good about their assemblies, keeping them quite informal and friendly and not too boring, or at least, that's been our experience so far. The school she used to attend was a little less casual about these things, which was a bit of a pain.

We spent the best part of the afternoon today getting costumes ready for the fancy dress parade tomorrow. Sarah is successfully outfitted as a fisherman, with two lovely handmade fishies, and a hat and jacket adorned with "fishing flies" I made of coloured feathers and mini Xmas bulbs (for floats). I'll try to take a photo or two, as the description doesn't really do them justice. I think it works quite well.

Olivia is going to be an Indian (as in Native American), as in 10 Little Indians. Luckily, she already had a Pocahontas (sp?) dress, so we just had to make a headdress. Add a few "war paint" stripes and, voila, sorted.

Well. All the guests are gone, and the house is relatively empty. Not quite back to normal yet, but soon will be, I guess. Only it will be a different normal, of course, as we only had 2 kids before. :)

The next challenge in my exciting daily life will be the Fancy Dress Parade for Maths Week next week. The kids are allowed to go to school in costume - any character from a song, nursery rhyme, story, etc, providing there's a number connection. Not sure what Olivia is going to do, but we think Sarah will be a fisherman, from the song "1-2-3-4-5" (for those without children it goes like this:

1, 2, 3-4-5
Once I caught a fish alive
6, 7, 8-9-10
Then I let it go again
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.)

Truly exciting.

Geoff's just taken the girls out to see a play at our local children's theatre (we are fortunate in living near one of the few proper children's theatres in the country - this is one entirely devoted to children's productions, and has stuff for both the little ones and the older ones. Everything we've seen there has been excellent) - and anyway, it's very quiet in the house all of a sudden. Alex is even sort of asleep, which also contributes to the quietness. I doubt that will last for long, though, so I'm having a quick computer session while he's still happy to be rocked by Grandma.

Monday school starts back again - we've been in half term here - hooray! It's astonishing just how obnoxious two lovely small girls can get if they feel they aren't being adequately entertained. And their standards of how much attention should be paid to them are somewhat different to other, more adult standards, sometimes. Like when said adult has a feeding baby attached to her and therefore can't actually come look at whatever it is they've built using the empty wine delivery case and all the quilts in the house...

Geoff's parents are due to come down for the weekend, from tomorrow afternoon. In order to fit everyone, we'll have to shuffle beds around, with my mother taking the bottom bunk in the girls' room - it's a full sized bed, though, not one of those little kiddie ones, and it has a proper, sprung mattress, not a foam one, so it's actually not that uncomfortable to sleep on, so it's not a problem, as long as you remember not to sit up suddenly... (I know, I've slept on it once or twice when the kids were unwell or couldn't sleep & needed company.) We'll give up our room to Geoff's parents, in part so they don't have to manage the second set of (somewhat steep) steps up to the guest room, and Geoff and I will take the guest room. Which means that I'll have to change sheets on all the beds tomorrow. Which will go really well with the fact that my washing machine broke this morning. Just what I need! Supposed to get a repairman out tomorrow, which is a good thing, as it's hard to go for very long without doing laundry when you have three small children and a houseguest. At least it wasn't halfway through a cycle and therefore leaking water all over my kitchen floor...

Oh, and tomorrow is our 10th anniversary. The joys of being a "housewife" (yes, I really hate that term, but frankly, having to stay in all day to wait for the washing machine repairperson to show up certainly makes you feel like you are married to the house, so I reckon it's justified in this case!)