Well, here it is, the day we have been counting down to for 7 months. Today is my final day as Mr Mum. Yes, that's right, as of Monday I will be back in the working world. Jo finishes her work today so we are doing the swap back to our "normal" roles.
So what next for Mr Mum I hear you ask. Well, as of Monday I will be launching a new business empire from my recently rented office up the road from my house. The office is well situated with a train station opposite, a Costa Coffee on one side and a pub on the other - what more do you need!!
What a 7 months it has been, I have learned a great deal over that time, and met some great people. I now know the school routine like the back of my hand, I can locate the iron within 10 seconds and unload the dishwasher quicker than anybody. But there is still one thing that has beaten me - yup, you guessed it - the buggy rain cover - to this day, I still cant put the blooming thing on, just as well the majority of my 7 months was over the summer!!
My time as Mr Mum has been eventful to say the least, sure its had its ups and downs....who can forget the time we lost Emma's Bob requiring a school wide search or the emergency chicken pox incident involving a rapid trip to the doctors, there was the Sports Day with picnic and I wont forget the occasional glass of Pimms with the Mumsters....However, overall I have enjoyed my time in charge and wouldn't have changed it for the world.
What started off as a five and a half week project turned into a 7 month role. Before I started I had no clue about buggy covers or the school routine. I didn't even know many of my daughters friends, which looking back was a real shame. Now, I can safely say I have met some good friends, and enjoyed getting to know my daughters friends. I think, if the opportunity arises, it is an experience all Dads out there should go through at some point in their life. It has definitely opened my eyes to my daughters lives and what the Mumsters out there go through on a daily / weekly basis. As I have said before, hats off to the Mumsters - its not all coffee mornings and gossiping on the playground, a lot of hard work goes into making sure their kids enjoy school and get the most out of the experience, while enjoying some out of school activities and meeting new people.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me through this time. I have to confess the thought of being Mr Mum full time filled me with dread before I started, but the role has been made a lot easier by the help of the Mumsters and my family. So a massive thank you to all of you out there who have helped along the way. I wont list you all as you know who you are so THANK YOU from Mr Mum.
So, as the half term draws to a close with the winter closing in, the playground goes eerily quiet as everyone heads off home for a well deserved break. The next half of term will start before you know it, with everyone back to the daily routine at the school, the gossip on the playgrounds, the shouting at the kids and the mad rush at the beginning of school....and things will carry on as normal....but without Mr Mum....who will be thinking of you all from behind his computer screen.
Thanks again everyone and I hope you have enjoyed this blog. Its been a pleasure to write so I hope it has entertained you in some way.
Have fun Mumsters and most importantly, enjoy those kids of yours - they will be all grown up in the blink of an eye.
Bye Bye one and all
Mr Mum
xx
Friday, 21 October 2011
Sunday, 21 August 2011
35 degrees in the shade
Sorry for the delay in this posting - had a slight issue finding a wireless connection at our second location in Spain so had to wait until we were back home....
Anyhows, Friday came and it was time to pack up and move on. We decided to set off early and drove the one hour up the road back north towards Alicante. We arrived at the new location, just outside Murcia - it was a massive complex - I mean massive!
Apparently there are 9,000 identical apartments at the complex so you can imagine the scale of it. We arrived at the security gate and registered our details. We had some directions to our apartment so we thought it would be reasonably straight forward to find - how wrong we were! After about an hour driving around we gave up and headed back to the security gate to ask for help! it turned out our directions were for someone elses apartment! We finally found it and settled in. The apartment is owned by a friend of mine and it was exactly what we needed. It was opposite a swimming pool, had an excellent air con system and a superb roof terrace where we ended up spending a lot of time.
As for the complex, it designed in small "jardins" which there were numerous. Each Jardin had the apartments on all sides of a square with the swimming pool and play areas in the middle of the square. Each Jardin was identical and they covered a lot of land. If you have seen the film The Truman Show or been to Celebration Town in Florida you will know what I mean.
Other than the Jardins there was a "Town Centre" which was a massive building, on 4 sides of a square with a large lake in the middle. The idea was for shops and restaurants to take a spot in the building and turn the area in to the central town area. Then the recession came! The "town centre" now consists of a supermarket, 1 restaurant and 1 pub. The rest of the shops are empty. Don't get me wrong, it still had what we needed but was a shame they couldn't get more into that area.
Anyway, once settled in and unpacked we went for a swim and made ourselves at home. The weather was still very hot so the air con was much appreciated.
The next few days drifted by with sessions in the swimming pool and on the roof terrace, that was pretty much it - very lazy times, but the kids were happy in the pool so why not? Over these days we got to know who else was in our Jardin and there were some sights! My favourite (if you can call it that) was a "lady" who was there with her 2 kids. I saw the kids first, mainly because they had blocked the sun they were so large! and then came along Mum...... it was a sight believe me - she was very very large indeed and decided it would be a good idea to wear a bikini for the week, she had also been sitting in the sun for far too long as she had turned a very dark brown. For those of you who are Little Britain fans, just think of the character Bubbles Devere who lives in the health farm. She was the spitting image of her!
Other than lazing by the pool, we did manage a few trips out, although it was far too hot to do much (it hit 45 degrees one day). The first of our outings was to a beach that had been recommended to us. now, I am not a big fan of beaches. Its the sand - the damn sand, it simply gets everywhere! so when we arrived on the beach I was already missing my swimming "sand free" pool. The beach was crowded as you would imagine so we found ourselves a square inch of sand and laid out our towels. No sooner had I done then the pesky kids walked over them covering them in the grains of evil sand. We then went for a paddle in the sea before heading back to our towels covered in sand and now salt. Needless to say, our beach trip lasted for about 1 hour before deciding enough was enough and heading home.
Dont get me wrong beaches can be good. I have had one good experience on a beach, when we were in Bali staying at a rather nice hotel with its own beach - that's the only way to do it. We were escorted every morning out to the sun lounger laid out for us, and then issued with fresh towels, a drink and a bottle of sun tan lotion. Every hour or so a little man would come along and top up our drinks, re do our towels and issue another bottle of sun tan lotion. Now that's how to do it.
However, this was a million miles away from our operation in Spain. This consisted of 4 towels and a few spare nappies for Rosie!! The Spanish have it sorted, they all turn up with pretty much the whole contents of their houses. They have towels, sun loungers, deckchairs, parasols, toys for the kids, ice boxes for lunch, wind breakers and the kitchen sink! They seem to have fun when they do it and I now know why!
Other highlights from the week included 2 trips to the local water park, which bizarrely has a Zoo attached. we arrived too early on the first visit so had to wait an hour for the water park to open, we took this opportunity to investigate the Zoo. It was 10am but already 35 degrees so walking around a zoo was not top of my list of ideal things to do in the sun, but off we went. It was actually an ok zoo with Bears, Zebra, Giraffe, Pigs, Deer, Ostrich etc etc but after about 30 mins everyone was beginning to wilt in the sunshine so we decided to get to the water park and wait for it to open. When it finally did we laid our towels out in the shade and headed for the nearest pool to cool off.
The kids loved the water park, it had everything they needed, including a "lazy river" which Emma loved and a few water slides which Megan took a shine to. Rosie was happy in the kids pool with the mini slides so it all went pretty well. Only had one small incident. After climbing up the steps to the top of one particular water slide with Megan, she had a melt down and decided she didnt want to go down the slide. I had a double inflatable ring on my back and was not looking to walk down the steps with this. There was only one way down so after about 10 mins convincing, Megan decided we could do the slide. I gave her a "its not fast so dont worry" guarantee and off we set. The slide actually turned out to be a lot faster than I thought so all I could hear as we went down was screams from Megan "its too fast" and "slow it down" but we made out the end ok and then she said she wanted another girl - go figure!
So this was a pretty lazy week, mainly due to the sunshine, I'm not complaining I love the sunshine but there is simply nothing you can do when it is that hot other than stay in the pool.
Friday came around far too quickly so it was time to head back to the airport and start the journey home. This all went pretty well, found the airport, dropped the hire car off, checked in, wandered around the shops, boarded the plane (at the front of the queue), took off, had some food. Then with about 20 mins to go, I spotted out of the corner of my eye and young lad running up the aisle, I thought nothing of it until he stopped next to my seat (i was on the aisle) and decided to throw up all over the place....oh what joy, it splattered up my leg and those of my fellow passengers and, as with all sickness, it then set everyone else off, people wretching everywhere - a nice way to end the holiday! The air hostess arrived with a little "Body Fluid Disposal Kit" which she had clearly never used before to mop up the sick......lovely. Still could have been worse, prior to throwing up next to me, it turned out that he had already been sick all over the guy sitting next to him!!
Anyway, we made it back to Blighty in one piece with no major issues and a thoroughly good holiday to look back on.
Next week it is back to normal duties and trying to keep 3 kids entertained. I will keep you posted on events. See ya later everyone.
Anyhows, Friday came and it was time to pack up and move on. We decided to set off early and drove the one hour up the road back north towards Alicante. We arrived at the new location, just outside Murcia - it was a massive complex - I mean massive!
Apparently there are 9,000 identical apartments at the complex so you can imagine the scale of it. We arrived at the security gate and registered our details. We had some directions to our apartment so we thought it would be reasonably straight forward to find - how wrong we were! After about an hour driving around we gave up and headed back to the security gate to ask for help! it turned out our directions were for someone elses apartment! We finally found it and settled in. The apartment is owned by a friend of mine and it was exactly what we needed. It was opposite a swimming pool, had an excellent air con system and a superb roof terrace where we ended up spending a lot of time.
As for the complex, it designed in small "jardins" which there were numerous. Each Jardin had the apartments on all sides of a square with the swimming pool and play areas in the middle of the square. Each Jardin was identical and they covered a lot of land. If you have seen the film The Truman Show or been to Celebration Town in Florida you will know what I mean.
Other than the Jardins there was a "Town Centre" which was a massive building, on 4 sides of a square with a large lake in the middle. The idea was for shops and restaurants to take a spot in the building and turn the area in to the central town area. Then the recession came! The "town centre" now consists of a supermarket, 1 restaurant and 1 pub. The rest of the shops are empty. Don't get me wrong, it still had what we needed but was a shame they couldn't get more into that area.
Anyway, once settled in and unpacked we went for a swim and made ourselves at home. The weather was still very hot so the air con was much appreciated.
The next few days drifted by with sessions in the swimming pool and on the roof terrace, that was pretty much it - very lazy times, but the kids were happy in the pool so why not? Over these days we got to know who else was in our Jardin and there were some sights! My favourite (if you can call it that) was a "lady" who was there with her 2 kids. I saw the kids first, mainly because they had blocked the sun they were so large! and then came along Mum...... it was a sight believe me - she was very very large indeed and decided it would be a good idea to wear a bikini for the week, she had also been sitting in the sun for far too long as she had turned a very dark brown. For those of you who are Little Britain fans, just think of the character Bubbles Devere who lives in the health farm. She was the spitting image of her!
Other than lazing by the pool, we did manage a few trips out, although it was far too hot to do much (it hit 45 degrees one day). The first of our outings was to a beach that had been recommended to us. now, I am not a big fan of beaches. Its the sand - the damn sand, it simply gets everywhere! so when we arrived on the beach I was already missing my swimming "sand free" pool. The beach was crowded as you would imagine so we found ourselves a square inch of sand and laid out our towels. No sooner had I done then the pesky kids walked over them covering them in the grains of evil sand. We then went for a paddle in the sea before heading back to our towels covered in sand and now salt. Needless to say, our beach trip lasted for about 1 hour before deciding enough was enough and heading home.
Dont get me wrong beaches can be good. I have had one good experience on a beach, when we were in Bali staying at a rather nice hotel with its own beach - that's the only way to do it. We were escorted every morning out to the sun lounger laid out for us, and then issued with fresh towels, a drink and a bottle of sun tan lotion. Every hour or so a little man would come along and top up our drinks, re do our towels and issue another bottle of sun tan lotion. Now that's how to do it.
However, this was a million miles away from our operation in Spain. This consisted of 4 towels and a few spare nappies for Rosie!! The Spanish have it sorted, they all turn up with pretty much the whole contents of their houses. They have towels, sun loungers, deckchairs, parasols, toys for the kids, ice boxes for lunch, wind breakers and the kitchen sink! They seem to have fun when they do it and I now know why!
Other highlights from the week included 2 trips to the local water park, which bizarrely has a Zoo attached. we arrived too early on the first visit so had to wait an hour for the water park to open, we took this opportunity to investigate the Zoo. It was 10am but already 35 degrees so walking around a zoo was not top of my list of ideal things to do in the sun, but off we went. It was actually an ok zoo with Bears, Zebra, Giraffe, Pigs, Deer, Ostrich etc etc but after about 30 mins everyone was beginning to wilt in the sunshine so we decided to get to the water park and wait for it to open. When it finally did we laid our towels out in the shade and headed for the nearest pool to cool off.
The kids loved the water park, it had everything they needed, including a "lazy river" which Emma loved and a few water slides which Megan took a shine to. Rosie was happy in the kids pool with the mini slides so it all went pretty well. Only had one small incident. After climbing up the steps to the top of one particular water slide with Megan, she had a melt down and decided she didnt want to go down the slide. I had a double inflatable ring on my back and was not looking to walk down the steps with this. There was only one way down so after about 10 mins convincing, Megan decided we could do the slide. I gave her a "its not fast so dont worry" guarantee and off we set. The slide actually turned out to be a lot faster than I thought so all I could hear as we went down was screams from Megan "its too fast" and "slow it down" but we made out the end ok and then she said she wanted another girl - go figure!
So this was a pretty lazy week, mainly due to the sunshine, I'm not complaining I love the sunshine but there is simply nothing you can do when it is that hot other than stay in the pool.
Friday came around far too quickly so it was time to head back to the airport and start the journey home. This all went pretty well, found the airport, dropped the hire car off, checked in, wandered around the shops, boarded the plane (at the front of the queue), took off, had some food. Then with about 20 mins to go, I spotted out of the corner of my eye and young lad running up the aisle, I thought nothing of it until he stopped next to my seat (i was on the aisle) and decided to throw up all over the place....oh what joy, it splattered up my leg and those of my fellow passengers and, as with all sickness, it then set everyone else off, people wretching everywhere - a nice way to end the holiday! The air hostess arrived with a little "Body Fluid Disposal Kit" which she had clearly never used before to mop up the sick......lovely. Still could have been worse, prior to throwing up next to me, it turned out that he had already been sick all over the guy sitting next to him!!
Anyway, we made it back to Blighty in one piece with no major issues and a thoroughly good holiday to look back on.
Next week it is back to normal duties and trying to keep 3 kids entertained. I will keep you posted on events. See ya later everyone.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Bucket and Spade packed.....
Friday – travel day! Up at the crack of dawn, or if you are Rosie it was a positive lie in! And off to the airport, first stop the in-laws to leave the car, eat breakfast and be given a lift to the airport. On arrival we managed to find the Ryan Air check in with no real dramas and joined the endless summer holiday queues that you get on cheap airline flights. What is with check-in? We are in the 21st century and you still need to queue for hours on end only to be patronised by a check in “assistant who would rather be doing her nails in the canteen than talking to us about whether we have decided to bring any bombs or guns on holiday with us! You get asked a series of questions about whether you packed the bags yourself or are carrying any weapons and even if you did have a gun in your bag – would you really admit it to Doreen the check in assistant?!?! I think not. Do you think that is how they catch terrorists?
Doreen “Good morning sir, did you pack this bag yourself”
Terrorist “Yes”
Doreen “Ok thank you, and are you carrying any weapons or dangerous objects with you today?”
Terrorist “Damn it, how did you know, yes I’ve got a sub machine gun and 10 kilos of explosives in there.....curse you check in assistants, but it’s a fair cop, you’ve got me”
Anyway, I digress. Once through the check in and having said goodbye to our bags, never knowing whether we would see them again, we headed off to get air side. Talking of bags – that’s another thing. The Ryan Air limit on hold luggage is 15 kilos per bag and we paid for 3 bags. 15 kilos is not a lot when you consider there are 5 of us in the family. I had to carefully weigh them the night before to make sure they were just under 15 kg each. The stupid thing with Ryan air is that you are allowed up to 10 kg per person on the plane. Therefore we were forced into taking 2 more bags onto the plane which were full of our clothes etc. In turn, we took up twice as much space as we would have done if silly Ryan Air had just given us a few more kgs per bag in the hold!
Anyway, rant over. We finally made it through passport control on the third attempt; we were being looked at as if we were lepers of something, getting redirected again and again until we were bundled into the “special assistance” line. Clearly Jo and I looked like we needed some help with the kids! This turned out to be a good thing, because of having to queue up behind a bunch of people who clearly hadn’t flown before and didn’t understand the whole x-ray machine and walking through the “magic” door routine we were rushed through with no queue and no drama.
Once air side we joined the masses looking around the “cheap” shops before realising our plane was boarding and the gate was the furthest away. We made it to the gate as they opened it and studied the form guide. Normally there is priority boarding for families but Ryan Air obviously hadn’t agreed to this so it looked like we were about to join the back of a very long queue, and with the plane not having a designated seating plan it was a free-for-all. Luckily just after I had a moan with another “Doreen” about splitting kids up on a plane, they announced families could board first, so we walked up the queue passed all the tutting and moaning and boarded the plane in relative ease. Well, if you discount me and the kids going down in a wheelchair lift to avoid the stairs only to find us stuck in a corridor where all the doors were locked and not a plane in sight, having to then come back up the lift and carry the buggy down the stairs, while Jo sends out a search party! We chose some seats towards the back and settled down for the two hour journey.
It all went pretty well, the kids did some drawing, ate some food, watched a film, annoyed the people sitting in front, drunk some drink, spilt some drink, annoyed the people behind us and finally we landed in Spain.
It was hot – damn hot, just how you like it when stepping off a plane, we had made it to Spain! Now just a hire car to find and then a 2 hour drive to our accommodation........
By about 4pm, we had made it to our final destination. For the first week of this holiday we were staying in a lovely complex not far from Almeria in southern Spain. We had two apartments with an adjoining door, this meant the kids could sleep in one and we could then shut them off at night and relax in ours. It also meant double everything – 2 TVs, 2 DVD players, 2 outside areas etc etc which was very useful with 3 kids to entertain. They also had excellent air con which was the best part about them!
We chucked our bags in the room and headed off to explore the complex. There was an indoor pool (with sliding roof for summer months), beauty spa, tennis courts, DVD library, chill out areas, a restaurant, crazy golf, outside gym and the best part – an enormous outdoor pool WITH kids paddling pool – happy days! Guess where we spent the majority of our time!!
Over the next few days we slowly relaxed into holiday mode, with mr mum hanging up his iron and Jo switching off from work. The kids loved the pools and were happy mucking about in them for most of the time. Jo and I joined them when we got too hot in the sun before reclining again to lap up more rays. We didn’t really venture out much in this week, occasional trip out for a meal or to the local beach, or to the supermarket but that was about it – we had everything we needed in the complex so why leave?
The kids also joined in with the activities that were laid on by the management. They joined a couple of “activity mornings” which kept them busy for a few hours, they also played tennis and one night they even went out (Megan and Emma only) to a movie and pizza night. I can’t believe it’s got that point in my life when my two eldest are out later than I am! They didn’t get home till gone 10pm after having a great time with the other kids watching “Nanny Mcphee” whilst munching away at freshly made pizzas – what more do they need in life!
The only other incidents to talk about was Jo managing to drop a glass jar of tomato sauce in the supermarket – she couldn’t even blame a child for this one, it was all her own work, much to the kids (and my) amusement!
Then there was “Codegate”. On the gate to the swimming pools there was a security touch pad which you needed to know the code for in order to access the pools – this is to stop little kids jumping in the pools unsupervised (which turned out to be a joke as it was the kids who remembered the codes better than the adults!). Anyway, on the 1st of every month the code gets changed. So on the 1st August it was changed – but did they bother to announce the new number - no! We were one of the first at the pool that day and luckily were told the code on the way in so we were ok, however we then made the mistake of sitting near to the gate (as it was easy reach to the paddling pool). This proved to be a bad move because every 5 minutes we would hear – “Dear, what’s the code, I thought it was 0756 but it doesn’t seem to be working...do you know what it is darling?” So we were then left to relay the code to them enabling their access to the pool..... this invariably ended with them walking off muttering “I wasn’t told of the new code, were you told dear, why wasn’t I told, I pay all this money and they can’t even be bothered......blah blah blah” This is fine once or twice but by the 500th time I thought about making up a poster to put on the gate, reading something like “THE CODE HAS CHANGED . IT IS NOW 0842. I KNOW YOU WERENT TOLD, NEITHER WERE WE, NOW GET OVER, GO AND SIT DOWN AND ENJOY THE SUNSHINE”. Luckily the kids took on the task of telling everyone, allowing me the opportunity to read some more of my book in peace!
Other than the small matter of Rosie locking us all out of our accommodation one day, there really isn’t much to report. The week went well and I am now nicely burnt! When will us brits learn!!
Next week we are moving on to a mates place just up the road, which has kindly let us borrow for free......the adventure continues soon.
See you later one and all and I hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you are. Well, unless you are reading this in Australia, in which case your summer was a distant memory – G`day!
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Let the summer holidays begin!
With school a distant memory it was time to get into Summer holiday mode. This meant 24/7 child care and therefore limited time for blog writing. Therefore i have decided a weekly posting on the blog is the best strategy for me and the kids, sorry if this disappoints all you Mumsters out there, but as you all well know 24/7 kids does not leave you much time for anything, let alone writing a daily blog!
So we will start at the logical beginning, otherwise known as Monday. A busy start to the week with a party first thing for Megs. So off we went to a local soft play at 11am and dropped Megs there where she was reunited with all her school pals who hadn’t seen each other for ages and ages, well three days anyway! With Megs in the soft play party it allowed Emma, Rosie and I to head off with one of the other mums to the park for a picnic. So the 3 of us were joined by S, C and later H (she was at the party).
We started at the playground which was fun – all the kids thought it would be fun to split up and head for different equipment, therefore leaving me and S to run around for an hour after them!
When we were both tired we decided it was time for the picnic so we headed out to the grass area, laid out the rugs and tucked into a massive supply of party food – this is thanks to C having a birthday party the day before and leaving large quantities of food for us all to consume! S then went to pick Megs and H up from the party leaving me with the three little ones who thought climbing a tree and getting stuck would be the best way to kill half an hour!
With the older kids back from the party we tried to have a game of football but this didn’t go so well as everyone wanted to be on the same side! So we called it a day. Young C had another party to go to so S took him off while I took my lot and H back to our house for a play in the garden.
We got the water slide out and the hose and that kept them pretty entertained until S came and picked them up. What is it with water that kids love?? They are obsessed with getting wet and making sure their pals are also as wet – at what point does getting wet become an irritation and not fun???
Anyway, a busy start to the week was followed by a quiet Tuesday. I took the three of them to have their haircut, including Rosie’s first cut – she was a little overwhelmed with the whole experience with a look on her face saying “why the hell is this woman wetting my hair and then cutting bits off – i want my mummy!”. £30 later we left!
The rest of the day was spent chilling at home and doing some food shopping, so not much to report from that day.
Wednesday came, and another busy day – today we were off to a local farm with two other mums and their kids – T, A, K, D, K, J and C. So a lot of us! We met at the farm for 10am and headed on in, first stop was the little animals for some cuddling , this involved mainly rabbits being stroked and passed between the kids. We then had a look at some pigs and geese before finally finding the coffee shop! This worked well as the three of us were able to sit and talk while the little monsters played in a pretty large sand pit. Sand, like water is a great fascination to kids, they simply love it! They play with it, throw it, build with it and even eat it – endless fun
As they were having so much fun we left them to it for a while before heading up to the main picnic and outdoor play area. K had even managed to bring 3 proper chairs so it was a rather civilised picnic, well as civilised as it can be with 8 kids running around demanding! We then let them loose on the main play area, which like Monday meant the three of us running around after the kids making sure they weren’t getting picked on by pesky other kids or getting stuck half way up a climbing frame..... after getting tired of all the running we headed for another sand pit and an ice cream break kindly provided by K.
It was then time for the traditional Larkam v H family football match. Straight from the outset the H’s were up to their old tricks, kicking, tickling, pulling – you name it they were doing it. But this time the Larkams were ready, we are used to their methods and decided it was time to play them at their own game. This tactic proved very successful as we won the game quite comfortably and i only ended up with about 5 bruises on my legs!! So with the H family collective tail between their legs we headed home after a long but most enjoyable day.
Thursday was yet another busy day –we went up to see my brother and his family, which included two cousins for the little ones – C and J. I do believe this is their first mention on the blog – so welcome! We met at a nice pub which had kindly laid on a bouncy castle for the little folk and a pretty good play area, so they were happy in the garden running around while the three of us could catch up. We had lunch and further plays in the garden which all went pretty smoothly. Sure there were a few tears and arguments along the way but all in all a peaceful and relaxing day in the sunshine.
Although the drive home was none of the above. We got stuck on the M25 10 miles north of the Dartford crossing. It was engines off time – we were going nowhere. So instead of the usual 1.5 hours it took us nearly 3 hours to get home. This is normally a inconvenience and something you could do without, but with 3 very restless kids in the back and a holiday to pack for waiting at home, it is another ballgame all together! We finally made it home without anyone being chucked out of the window and got stuck in the packing for holiday. Thats right people, Mr Mum and family are going on holiday – two weeks of sun, sea and nappies in Spain.
I hope that has brought you up to speed on the comings and goings in my life, next week will be all about the holiday so don’t forget to tune in same time next week. Until then, stay well and enjoy the sunshine.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
End of an era.....
Sorry for the delay in posting this - I simply didnt have time yesterday as you are about to find out......
Get your tissues ready, its going to be an emotional rollercoaster!!
Yesterday was the last day of Term, the last day as Mr Mum (probably), the last day at Infant school for Megs, and my last school based blog. So before we all start crying, lets cover off the day.
Jo was off as well so we all walked up to school for Megans last day in Infant school. She starts at the Juniors in September which although is on the same complex is a different school. First job was a presentation of gifts to the teachers in Megs' class. This set off a few of the mumsters and teachers so tissues already out at 9.15am!!
We then came home. Rosie went swimming with Jo while I got everything ready for the "picnic and pimms in the park". This is becoming an end of term tradition and long may it continue. Basically we invite everyone to the park which is next to the school for a glass of Pimms while the kids run around using up some of that energy!
So, at 1.30pm on Friday 22nd July we picked Megs up for the last time at Infants.....There were tears and more tears....even Megs' teacher joined in....the end of an era, I cannot believe Megs has been through the Infants school already, it seems like only yesterday she was starting at pre-school with her little chubby cheeks and dimple, now she is a big girl with attitude and make up! She has made some great friends along the way - they know who they are, but shout out to K, H, P, I as the main ones, and together they will be starting a new adventure in September.
Anyway, after the tears had subsided it was time to hit the park, so we gathered everything together (thank god for the buggy) and off we all went. The school was a buzz of activity as everyone was saying their goodbyes, signing each others shirts with the older kids were off in a limo for the afternoon.
Arrived at the park to a scene of absolute chaos, it seems we weren't the only ones to have this idea! The school had literally emptied in to the park, there were kids everywhere with mumsters frantically tying to stay calm and keep an eye on their little treasures.
We set up base on one side and got the picnic rugs out, this was quickly followed by the Pimms which were snapped up by desperate Mumsters attempting to relax after the emotional morning. It all went pretty well, people came and went, brought additional snacks and cakes to add to the picnic and slowly we drank our way through about 4 litres of Pimms in the sunshine. No major incidents, the kids all played well together and got their sugar fix from the sweets on offer while the parents took the opportunity to relax in the sunshine. A great way to spend an afternoon and a fitting end to a busy busy term.
Tinged with a bit of sadness from Mr Mum on his last official day we all said our goodbyes and headed home.
There was no resting up though, Megan had a sleep over to go to so it was a quick change, bag pack and then out the door again to her friends house. It was then kids to bed so that Mr Mum and Jo could go and have an enjoyable evening in the pub with some of the other parents. This went well, even though most of the teaching staff from the school were also in the pub! and finally hit the sack about 12.30 after a busy and some what emotional day.
Just the 6 weeks summer holiday to get through now!!!
Before I sign off, just wanted to thank everyone who has helped Mr Mum over the past few months, its been an enjoyable but tough time, only made easier by your help and support. So thanks to the usual suspects - you know who you are. Also thanks to Jo for supporting this change in our circumstances, don't worry - normal service will resume soon! Most of all thanks to my kids, their friends and all the other kids out there, without whom I wouldn't have much to write about and the day would be a whole lot less fun.
So that's about it. End of another school year and end of my school blogs. I will update you all with summer holiday fun but not on a daily basis - remember I have 3 kids at home to entertain so no time for blogs!!
Until next time everyone, I hope you have enjoyed the blogs and see you all soon. Bye bye.
In the words of that shy retiring small time pub singer Robbie Williams "'The kids are alright"
Get your tissues ready, its going to be an emotional rollercoaster!!
Yesterday was the last day of Term, the last day as Mr Mum (probably), the last day at Infant school for Megs, and my last school based blog. So before we all start crying, lets cover off the day.
Jo was off as well so we all walked up to school for Megans last day in Infant school. She starts at the Juniors in September which although is on the same complex is a different school. First job was a presentation of gifts to the teachers in Megs' class. This set off a few of the mumsters and teachers so tissues already out at 9.15am!!
We then came home. Rosie went swimming with Jo while I got everything ready for the "picnic and pimms in the park". This is becoming an end of term tradition and long may it continue. Basically we invite everyone to the park which is next to the school for a glass of Pimms while the kids run around using up some of that energy!
So, at 1.30pm on Friday 22nd July we picked Megs up for the last time at Infants.....There were tears and more tears....even Megs' teacher joined in....the end of an era, I cannot believe Megs has been through the Infants school already, it seems like only yesterday she was starting at pre-school with her little chubby cheeks and dimple, now she is a big girl with attitude and make up! She has made some great friends along the way - they know who they are, but shout out to K, H, P, I as the main ones, and together they will be starting a new adventure in September.
Anyway, after the tears had subsided it was time to hit the park, so we gathered everything together (thank god for the buggy) and off we all went. The school was a buzz of activity as everyone was saying their goodbyes, signing each others shirts with the older kids were off in a limo for the afternoon.
Arrived at the park to a scene of absolute chaos, it seems we weren't the only ones to have this idea! The school had literally emptied in to the park, there were kids everywhere with mumsters frantically tying to stay calm and keep an eye on their little treasures.
We set up base on one side and got the picnic rugs out, this was quickly followed by the Pimms which were snapped up by desperate Mumsters attempting to relax after the emotional morning. It all went pretty well, people came and went, brought additional snacks and cakes to add to the picnic and slowly we drank our way through about 4 litres of Pimms in the sunshine. No major incidents, the kids all played well together and got their sugar fix from the sweets on offer while the parents took the opportunity to relax in the sunshine. A great way to spend an afternoon and a fitting end to a busy busy term.
Tinged with a bit of sadness from Mr Mum on his last official day we all said our goodbyes and headed home.
There was no resting up though, Megan had a sleep over to go to so it was a quick change, bag pack and then out the door again to her friends house. It was then kids to bed so that Mr Mum and Jo could go and have an enjoyable evening in the pub with some of the other parents. This went well, even though most of the teaching staff from the school were also in the pub! and finally hit the sack about 12.30 after a busy and some what emotional day.
Just the 6 weeks summer holiday to get through now!!!
Before I sign off, just wanted to thank everyone who has helped Mr Mum over the past few months, its been an enjoyable but tough time, only made easier by your help and support. So thanks to the usual suspects - you know who you are. Also thanks to Jo for supporting this change in our circumstances, don't worry - normal service will resume soon! Most of all thanks to my kids, their friends and all the other kids out there, without whom I wouldn't have much to write about and the day would be a whole lot less fun.
So that's about it. End of another school year and end of my school blogs. I will update you all with summer holiday fun but not on a daily basis - remember I have 3 kids at home to entertain so no time for blogs!!
Until next time everyone, I hope you have enjoyed the blogs and see you all soon. Bye bye.
In the words of that shy retiring small time pub singer Robbie Williams "'The kids are alright"
Thursday, 21 July 2011
The calm before the storm....
Today was my last full day as Mr Mum in a school capacity.....the summer holidays start at lunchtime tomorrow so today was the last proper day of school.
We took Megs and Emma (last day at pre-school) in and successfully dropped them both off. There were a few tears at pre-school from some of the mums as their little darlings started their last day but Mr Mum held it together.
On the way to school, Emma and I had an interested debate about whether she wanted any more siblings. Emma asked whether we were having more kids - to which I replied NO WAY! She then went on to say that if we wanted more, we could buy them.......so I asked where I would buy a child from to which she replied "There is a shop called Margarets which sells kids......what? I'm not joking dad, I saw it on Newsround!!" I might need to watch Newsround more often to see what news stories they are covering!!
While waiting to go to Toddlers, I happened to turn the TV on. Blimey! there is a whole bunch of nothing on in the mornings......let me quickly run you through the schedule as I flicked....
BBC1 - "Heir Hunters", a bunch of ambulance chasers try to earn money off other peoples grief, BBC2 - still kids TV, so some random cartoon about a super hero dog or something, ITV - "Jeremy Kyle Show" - What the hell?!?!? who watches this program? Today's episode - two, not so glamorous women who were so large they had their own postcodes! Apparently they were sisters who had fallen out.
One can only describe them as "chavs" (for my international mumsters look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav ). The larger one, who seemed to have planets orbiting her as she was so large, waddled onto the stage and immediately told her sister she wanted to "smash her beep beep beep face in!" to which her slightly smaller sister, who couldn't get up as she was stuck in the chair retorted with "beep off". What a delightful pair, I bet their parents are so proud!
So before I threw the TV out of the window I decided to see what Channel 4 had to offer. It was "Friends", what a surprise for Channel 4 to still be flogging that relentlessly. It was the one where Chandler proposes to Monica with a rather annoying studio audience screaming and cheering in the background. all very nice the first time round, or maybe the second but come on people - Friends finished in 2004, so channel 4 - give it up!
At this point, I gave up - I didn't have time for the 130 satellite channels!!
Anyhows, I digress. Typically I go to toddlers on a Thursday with M and M, but unfortunately M junior was ill today so we skipped toddlers and had a coffee at their house instead.
Rosie and I then popped to the shops before coming home for power nap and lunch. It was then pretty much time to go back to the school, so after slamming the door on someone trying to sell me insulation for my loft, we headed off back to school.
I picked Emma up first, her last day at Pre-School before starting at big school in September. She has been at the pre-school for 2 years and has loved every minute of it (once she gets through the door and on her own). As long as Bob has been there, and this hasn't always been the case, she is happy and has made some nice friends along the way. But, she is now all grown up and off to big school so it was goodbyes to all the teachers this afternoon and big cuddles (and that was just me!!). Its unbelievable to think Megs went through the same pre-school and is now entering Year 3, Emma is off to Reception class and Rosie starts at pre-school in September - where does the time go!
We then picked Megs up with her mates. For some reason they were all a bit hyper so we let them have a run around before the long slow walk home. I walked back with T and her 3 which made for an eventful walk. After being attacked by a bush, sniffed by a dog, walked into a lamp post, negotiated the road and picked up every piece of rubbish along the way, we finally made it home and relaxed!
A play in the garden and tea followed, it was then to bed to re-charge the batteries ready for tomorrow - THE LAST DAY OF TERM.........we have our "Picnic and Pimms" after school followed by a night out so forgive me if the blog is a little delayed!
Laters Mumsters........
We took Megs and Emma (last day at pre-school) in and successfully dropped them both off. There were a few tears at pre-school from some of the mums as their little darlings started their last day but Mr Mum held it together.
On the way to school, Emma and I had an interested debate about whether she wanted any more siblings. Emma asked whether we were having more kids - to which I replied NO WAY! She then went on to say that if we wanted more, we could buy them.......so I asked where I would buy a child from to which she replied "There is a shop called Margarets which sells kids......what? I'm not joking dad, I saw it on Newsround!!" I might need to watch Newsround more often to see what news stories they are covering!!
While waiting to go to Toddlers, I happened to turn the TV on. Blimey! there is a whole bunch of nothing on in the mornings......let me quickly run you through the schedule as I flicked....
BBC1 - "Heir Hunters", a bunch of ambulance chasers try to earn money off other peoples grief, BBC2 - still kids TV, so some random cartoon about a super hero dog or something, ITV - "Jeremy Kyle Show" - What the hell?!?!? who watches this program? Today's episode - two, not so glamorous women who were so large they had their own postcodes! Apparently they were sisters who had fallen out.
One can only describe them as "chavs" (for my international mumsters look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav ). The larger one, who seemed to have planets orbiting her as she was so large, waddled onto the stage and immediately told her sister she wanted to "smash her beep beep beep face in!" to which her slightly smaller sister, who couldn't get up as she was stuck in the chair retorted with "beep off". What a delightful pair, I bet their parents are so proud!
So before I threw the TV out of the window I decided to see what Channel 4 had to offer. It was "Friends", what a surprise for Channel 4 to still be flogging that relentlessly. It was the one where Chandler proposes to Monica with a rather annoying studio audience screaming and cheering in the background. all very nice the first time round, or maybe the second but come on people - Friends finished in 2004, so channel 4 - give it up!
At this point, I gave up - I didn't have time for the 130 satellite channels!!
Anyhows, I digress. Typically I go to toddlers on a Thursday with M and M, but unfortunately M junior was ill today so we skipped toddlers and had a coffee at their house instead.
Rosie and I then popped to the shops before coming home for power nap and lunch. It was then pretty much time to go back to the school, so after slamming the door on someone trying to sell me insulation for my loft, we headed off back to school.
I picked Emma up first, her last day at Pre-School before starting at big school in September. She has been at the pre-school for 2 years and has loved every minute of it (once she gets through the door and on her own). As long as Bob has been there, and this hasn't always been the case, she is happy and has made some nice friends along the way. But, she is now all grown up and off to big school so it was goodbyes to all the teachers this afternoon and big cuddles (and that was just me!!). Its unbelievable to think Megs went through the same pre-school and is now entering Year 3, Emma is off to Reception class and Rosie starts at pre-school in September - where does the time go!
We then picked Megs up with her mates. For some reason they were all a bit hyper so we let them have a run around before the long slow walk home. I walked back with T and her 3 which made for an eventful walk. After being attacked by a bush, sniffed by a dog, walked into a lamp post, negotiated the road and picked up every piece of rubbish along the way, we finally made it home and relaxed!
A play in the garden and tea followed, it was then to bed to re-charge the batteries ready for tomorrow - THE LAST DAY OF TERM.........we have our "Picnic and Pimms" after school followed by a night out so forgive me if the blog is a little delayed!
Laters Mumsters........
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
I now pronounce this building.....open!
Today was a big day in the history of our school. For 30 odd years they have had to make do with "temporary" classrooms ie pre-fabs. But today saw the opening of something special...more of that later.
Lets start at the beginning, the day started pretty much like most days, off we went to school to drop Megs and Emma off at their respective classrooms. This all went to plan so Rosie and I left the playground happy.
It was then a quick turn around before heading off for Toddlers group with T and D. Today was the last of the term, so they had laid on a picnic for the kids. We had a nice peaceful cup of coffee while the kids rushed around like headless chickens, but this was short lived! The picnic went well, with them all huddled on the floor munching away at their chosen snacks, this was followed by a game of pass the parcel, which normally would be a good plan, but with 2 and 3 year olds, it was quite a battle. I don't think they understood the fundamentals of the game where the parcel needed to be passed on and not just ripped open so this created quite a few arguments and tears - what fun! After the "game" we presented the two organisers with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolate and then we came home after a good time.
Rosie and I then had some lunch and a power nap before heading back to school for the historic grand opening. Let me paint the picture for those who do not know the school. Approx 30 years ago, the school needed to expand and ended up with pre-fab classrooms for one third of the pupils. Theses pre-fab classrooms were meant to be a temporary structure until the school built a proper set of classrooms. Well, some 30 years later, a year 2 wing of 4 classrooms has now been built and was opened today by the lady who was head mistress 30 years ago.
The new block allows the kids to get into the main building through a corridor instead of running through the rain and is a vast improvement to the school. So, in my capacity as Governor, I was invited to a presentation in the main hall prior to the opening. It was great, the whole school was brought into the hall and the head went through a slide show of the progress of the build. This was then followed by a few songs from the year 2 kids (ie Megs and Co).
We then all went outside and watched as the initial Head cut the ribbon and pronounced the building well and truly open! a Great moment for the school and will be fully utilised by both Emma and Rosie in the coming years.
After those celebrations it was back to our house, but tonight was slightly different - we were joined by one or two other people! Tomorrow night is Brownies and they have been asked to perform in a "show". for this Megs wanted to show them the dancing she has learned. So, because P didn't know the dance, we invited her back for tea and to learn the dance. She was joined by K, A, D and T so we had a full house and a full show!
With "Waka Waka" blasting out the kids performed the dance in the garden with P watching on and taking notes, it was then her turn to join in. They are now all ready for the big show at Brownies!
I now know how it feels to be a child minder - not sure I fancy that full time, having 3 kids to deal with is tricky enough, never mind 7 !!! After the dancing practice it was tea time which was slightly chaotic, but i think everyone managed to eat something so they were happy.
A quick bounce on the trampoline was followed by P being picked up by her mum and T taking her crowd home. A chaotic end to a full and busy day.
The kids went to bed rather tired but happy. Tomorrow is another day - only 2.5 days left of term and of Mr Mum in his current capacity!
Have a good evening Mumsters and enjoy the kids while you can!
Lets start at the beginning, the day started pretty much like most days, off we went to school to drop Megs and Emma off at their respective classrooms. This all went to plan so Rosie and I left the playground happy.
It was then a quick turn around before heading off for Toddlers group with T and D. Today was the last of the term, so they had laid on a picnic for the kids. We had a nice peaceful cup of coffee while the kids rushed around like headless chickens, but this was short lived! The picnic went well, with them all huddled on the floor munching away at their chosen snacks, this was followed by a game of pass the parcel, which normally would be a good plan, but with 2 and 3 year olds, it was quite a battle. I don't think they understood the fundamentals of the game where the parcel needed to be passed on and not just ripped open so this created quite a few arguments and tears - what fun! After the "game" we presented the two organisers with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolate and then we came home after a good time.
Rosie and I then had some lunch and a power nap before heading back to school for the historic grand opening. Let me paint the picture for those who do not know the school. Approx 30 years ago, the school needed to expand and ended up with pre-fab classrooms for one third of the pupils. Theses pre-fab classrooms were meant to be a temporary structure until the school built a proper set of classrooms. Well, some 30 years later, a year 2 wing of 4 classrooms has now been built and was opened today by the lady who was head mistress 30 years ago.
The new block allows the kids to get into the main building through a corridor instead of running through the rain and is a vast improvement to the school. So, in my capacity as Governor, I was invited to a presentation in the main hall prior to the opening. It was great, the whole school was brought into the hall and the head went through a slide show of the progress of the build. This was then followed by a few songs from the year 2 kids (ie Megs and Co).
We then all went outside and watched as the initial Head cut the ribbon and pronounced the building well and truly open! a Great moment for the school and will be fully utilised by both Emma and Rosie in the coming years.
After those celebrations it was back to our house, but tonight was slightly different - we were joined by one or two other people! Tomorrow night is Brownies and they have been asked to perform in a "show". for this Megs wanted to show them the dancing she has learned. So, because P didn't know the dance, we invited her back for tea and to learn the dance. She was joined by K, A, D and T so we had a full house and a full show!
With "Waka Waka" blasting out the kids performed the dance in the garden with P watching on and taking notes, it was then her turn to join in. They are now all ready for the big show at Brownies!
I now know how it feels to be a child minder - not sure I fancy that full time, having 3 kids to deal with is tricky enough, never mind 7 !!! After the dancing practice it was tea time which was slightly chaotic, but i think everyone managed to eat something so they were happy.
A quick bounce on the trampoline was followed by P being picked up by her mum and T taking her crowd home. A chaotic end to a full and busy day.
The kids went to bed rather tired but happy. Tomorrow is another day - only 2.5 days left of term and of Mr Mum in his current capacity!
Have a good evening Mumsters and enjoy the kids while you can!
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