Photo of the day. Homemade Headresses

Wearing their headdresses, made by Bean at messy play. (Bean & I made one for Ed now that he has to go to school now-we'd hate for him to feel left out at all).

Photo of the day. Cold Day at the Zoo

a cold day at the zoo, pulling silly faces.

Photo of the day. Tip for Mum

Taken from the latest free Morrison's magazine.
It's so very true, I get so excited about Christmas & it can be so easy to get distracted their christmas lists, but every year we make their friends & classmates chocolate gifts, which they decorate & gift box. It's quite cheap, fun and with my collection of ice cubes trays we can make all sorts.
I'm so looking forward to doing it again in a few weeks.
We also make cards & decorations, so hopefully they won't just be focused on what they'll get out of it.
There'll be no spoilt little brats here! Haha

Photo of the day. Ed Playing the Uke

Ed playing my uke. I taught him two chords and how to strum today to save him bashing away at it.

Photo of the day. Tree Lighting Montage

This is a montage of Ed and I, and our trip to see the Christmas tree being lit at our local shopping centre last Thursday.

Photo of the day. Winter Berries

Winter berries in my garden

Ed's First Show & Tell

On Fridays Ed's class have show and tell. They only started doing it a few weeks ago, but I hadn't yet managed to help him sort anything for it.
I finally remembered at 7am last Friday morning.
Over half term, I found the time to note down some of Ed's crazy thoughts & we wrote a story together, inspired by a dream he had. Him & Bean drew the pictures, I printed it off & made it into a book for them. They were so proud of themselves.
So when I first heard they were starting show & tell at school, I really wanted him to take his story. But could I find it when I needed it? Nope. I ended up faffing with the computer, printing off a new one & putting together a book at 7:30am. I so don't have time for extra jobs in the morning, we barely get to school on time.
So I proudly sent him to school with his book & when we sat together after school I asked him how show & tell went. He pulled these items out of his pocket. Bloody hell. I didn't even know he had them. Oh, did I really let my son go to school with cotton buds in his pocket? Bit dodgy on the motherhood skills.
Anyway, while I tried to put aside how gutted I was about his story, I asked him how it went & to be fair to him, he gave the most detailed description of his items, why he likes them & what one can do with them, so I'm sure his teacher will be pleased with his wide vocabulary & world knowledge regardless of the danger factor of a 4 year old carrying these around all day.
So I'm still proud. But maybe he could do his book next week?
Bloody hope so after all the effort I put in.

Presumption & Advantage Taking

Yesterday, when I collected my 4 yr old son, Ed from school, the first thing he said to me was;
"Where's Jack's Mummy?"
I knew exactly what he was after.
Jack's Mummy has chocolate coins in her pockets for her kids when they get out of school (a practice I'm not sure how I feel about & will be discussed very soon).
Jack & Ed are good friends. They play together at school everyday, but with this friendship comes bickering and the occasional fisty cuff fight (in a 4 yr old-nice-boy-really way). They often end up in pointless fights over silly things, which we always work through. Thankfully (since I'm so new to this mummy vs school thing), Jack's Mummy is wonderfully approachable. In the beginning when Ed came home telling me Jack was hitting him, I could go to her and we solved the miscommunication the boys were having with no problems.
However, because of this occasional bickering, poor Jack's Mummy does seem to feel a bit guilty. She often shares her children's chocolate coins with mine, which is fine by me, I can often use it to my advantage & bribe them to get to the car/walk home nicely.
But, for Ed to presume that she will give him a coin everyday is definitely a step toooo far.
I know it's very easy to take advantage of other people, it's really easy to slip into presuming someone will help/provide/etc. I often have to berate myself for it. A lot of different people have helped me out in a lot of different ways, & I endeavour to remain grateful & courteous, forever. I do find it very difficult, because I seem to be by nature a particularly selfish and inward focused person, but I try really hard to never forget.
Just because someone has helped me out once in a while, doesn't mean that they will/should/can ever again. 
And I do not want to raise two boys who think they can presume to expect anything from another human being. I want them to be independant, but to be able to accept help graciously. Having friends you can fall on in times of need and whom you can be there for when they need you is one of the joys of life. I guess it's about finding a good balance.

Ed never got his chocolate yesterday. I had told him he could have one out of my secret stash (because bribery works) if he walked to the car nicely, but then he ran into the road without holding my hand & therefore lost it. Silly boy.

Any thoughts?

Hand Crafted Bracelet

I just had to tell you about my new bracelet.

A friend of mine, Sarah, runs a jewellery making business from home, in her spare time. All the things she makes are beautiful and delicate, just like her. It's funny isn't it how everyone we do reflects us so truly. I have another friend who makes jewellery and her pieces are so different, they are much bolder, brighter & bigger, statement pieces, just like her. I love Sarah's jewellery, they are all very easy to wear on a daily basis, and she's very open to commissions, which is what this bracelet is. She let me have a good old root through her charm box so I could choose the ones that mean the most to me. And in a few days she'd rustled up this beauty. I paid £8, she wanted less, but too much work has gone into this for mates rates, and I think we should look after our cottage industries.
Please do check out her website, she really is fabulous and affordable.
www.indijewellery.co.uk
www.facebook.com/IndiJewellery 

Thought I should add the reasons behind my choice in charms.
Strawberry - obvious if you've read the 1st blog entry.
C - my initial.
Leaf - I love the outdoors & plants. A lot of my childhood was spent camping in fields playing on rope swings.
Cocktail glass - I like the occasional drinkypoos.
Wing - I love animals, in particular I love birds and I'm completely intriged by bird flight.
Bird house - I'm a very homely loving girl, I enjoy my creature comforts and the quaint things in life.
Flower - who doesn't love flowers?
Key - I have a memory, incomplete but strong of a pair of school shoes I had when I was small, which had a key in the sole. Since then, I have always loved keys, the old deadlock type, just like this one.

Small Town Living

One of the things I've noticed since starting the whole school run thing every day is that so many people are related to each other. 

Is it just me that finds this weird?

My eldest son has a 'buddy', which is a boy in year 5 I believe, who comes over to reception occasionally. To be honest I couldn’t tell you exactly what the buddy's role is, but it’s something along the lines of providing the reception class with older children who can show them around the school, help them, be someone they can go to with issues like bullying, help them with their learning, etc etc. 

Anyhoo, on the way to and from school, we quite often have a child walk past us whispering to his mum that my son is his cousin/brother/friends cousin’s buddy. This happens so often, and by so many different children I’m beginning to be a bit freaked out. I'm just waiting for one of them to say it’s his uncle brother’s stepson’s buddy...which could totally happen in this town.

Having thought about it, I know why it freaks me out. My family is spread out all over the UK & I only have a few family members in this town. Everyone in my family either went to Uni or joined the forces, met someone and moved elsewhere. Only a few didn’t.  I have further opinions on this but they are just plain bitchy and ill-informed so I shall jolly well keep them to myself.
What about you? Do you find your relatives are flung far and wide? Do you live in the town you were born and bred in?

Winning Star of the Week

Ed won star of the week at school last month. We were so very pleased (I never thought it would happen, I mean, Ed is of course a lovely boy, but he can be very willful). Turns out he's quite different at school, all helpful and happy to tidy up. Grrr, why can't he be like that at home?
Anyhoo, the winner gets to take the class bear home for the weekend, and they have to fill in Cocoa's weekend diary. So this is ours. I thought it too adorable so decided to plonk it here and immortalise it.