Dreaming

I was just woken by a boy in floods of tears yelling at the top of his voice. 
It's 2:30am. 
Dragging myself to their bedroom I then have to explain to Ed that Bean can't have stolen his book bag as he is in fact fast asleep. 
All of a sudden the tears stop. 
"Oh" he says. "It was just a dream". 
A cuddle & a cup of milk and the boy goes back to sleep.

(photo is of Ed that night when I checked on them at 10pm, spread-eagled)

Book Crossing

www.bookcrossing.com
I've discovered book crossing through one of my son's preschool teachers, who is world book night distributor (www.worldbooknight.org - books are given out to people who don't often read and each one has a BCIN number so it can be passed on and tracked through bookcrossing.com).
It's completely brilliant, and turns the world into one massive library!

Although we visit our local library often, I don’t use it very much for my own reading (my boys always have bedtime story books out). I like to take my time with a book and 3 weeks is never enough, so i often stress about renewals and late fees. I usually buy books, often second hand on eBay, and therefore have a busting set of shelves. The idea that my books could be passed on and loved by one person after another is just fantastic. So I have labeled (with their own BCIN numbers) a stack of my books, just the ones I probably won't read again, and left them at Bean's preschool for other parents to help themselves to. I love the idea that one could find a travelling book on a train or in a park, but that's unlikely to happen to me. In the meantime, I'll just distribute my old books.

While i was writing my profile page on bookcrossing.com, I thought I would put together a top ten type list of my favourite books (subject to change of course);
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk
Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
Emma – Jane Austen
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson-Burnett
The Remains of the Day – Kazoo Ishiguro
(That was really difficult to compile, and I know it looks a bit like an A level reading list, but these are the books I go back to read again and again).

Dinosuars Bite Back at Chester Zoo

We love Chester Zoo, and we Especially love the dinosaur exhibition. It'll be gone soon, so I thought I'd post some photos and these awesome beasts.