Funny few days.

Some good, some not so good.

Thursday we went to the park; this shouldn’t be a big deal, but over the last year i’ve found it really hard to go out of the house without adult backup. This is as pathetic as it sounds, it comes down entirely to the fact that i need total distraction from the world around me and only adults seem to be good enough at it, my children having a tendency to run off and abandon me, or be so annoying that i want to run away from them 😆 However, on this occasion, once we were out, it all went swimmingly. Swimmingly if you ignore the fact that both Amelie and Josie headbutted a swing within 10 minutes of arriving. Did a bit of park, discussed Swallows and Amazons (you know, you just can’t get it on audiobook, i’m going to have to READ it!), talked about the various birds, bird flu, bird poo, bird migration, sailing, who the Amazons were and that they didn’t start a book shop etc etc Then went to our favourite running around bit, which is a marked out site of a Roman Villa thing. Found it covered with geese and decided our bird affections didn’t extend to accommodating them, so told the kids to run at them and herd them away. Lots of fun. We kept Amelie on a lead, so it doesn’t count as worrying the wildlife 😉

Took kids to Brownie party.

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Friday we got up frighteningly early and WEREN’T late for the eo trip to Sacrewell Farm, a not very farmy but perfectly pleasant excuse for a local attraction. Started off with activities in the education room (wool pom poms, butter making, chick in egg craft) and tried to reamin calm as Maddy gathered together a selection of i think 6 boys, who all gathered about her while she held court for about 45 minutes, looking like she was Audrey Hepburn at the very least. One, B, who she has taken an extreme liking to, was all but laying his head in her lap 😆 If Max had been there, i susepct he’d have got his shotgun out. 😯 Fran looked a bit put out at the wrestling away of the affections of J, he she likes but had no eyes for her at all that day. Ooops. Had a lovely time with Michelle and Chloe (i am now her offical Back Up Mum, or BUM for short) and trotted round the farm. I was much more sympathetic than Michelle about Chloe’s reaction to a trapped swallow, so won approved BUM status from my new SOD (Side Order Daughter) 😉 and less enthusiam from the long suffering FROOPWSPM (Fast Running Out Of Patience With Stupid Phobias Mum). Played Pooh sticks for a while, retreated into the bakery and house for some educational play, a look at the Evacuee display (sob, wail, gulp) and then back out for a game of “Fran Boats” which involved weaving boats from natural supplies to launch. Fran’s was ace, but it got stuck on the reeds. Michelle has, and has kindly not posted, photographic evidence of me being a G.O.O.D M.O.T.H.E.R and lying face down on the bridge freeing it with a long stick. It floated, survived the rapids. Fran was happy, i engaged. Must do it more often. Michelle, please get a Flickr account, those photos are lovely and i want to bookmark them. Please, for me????? PBPNM (Pathetic Begging Photo Needy Mum)
Josie got hysterical with tiredness so we came home, unpacked boxes of Hama bead Pigs and the big ones went dancing. Then they came home, built a cardboard island and played as if they had known each other for years, not 6 months. Eventual wailing when we tore them apart at 8.30. I had to go and take parcels to the sorting office, thanks to postal strike. Not that i’m bitter.

Saturday was…. tidying, lovely afternoon in the garden planting out stuff and weeding, rabbit grooming. Fran went dancing, Max went to the tip. Anna the hairdresser came and cut everones hair, french plaited the older two and cooed over Josie. Gave me a counselling session that was actually extremely good for me and meant i came up with A PLAN for the immediate future and hopefully some sort of recovery. The girls practised their exam pieces, pranced around in character shoes. I got terribly over excited when the BM site took £2k in a week for the first time this year.
Sunday  we woke up to the news that Great Gran, Max’s mother’s mother, had died overnight. She’s had stage 4 lung cancer for the last 4 months and life had become intolerable for her and for the people watching it happen. It’s been a visible strain on at least 3 people, Max, MF and Aunty Sue, that i care about, for all that time. I didn’t go to see her while she was ill, there didn’t seem much point really and it was better that Max snatched all those opportunities. I’m awfully glad to have been spared seeing how that goes, if i’m honest. All round, it’s good that it is over and hard to be sad exactly. That sounds awful.

Once we’d digested the news, we told the girls, who we really hadn’t given much indication about it all, tbh. They knew she was ill and very old and wasn’t going to be alive much longer but they wren’t particularly close to her so dragging it out seemed pointless. The older two were mostly sad for Max i think, Amelie immediately wailed and sobbed that it meant she’s never see GG again. Dispassionately, i was quite impressed by how clearly she grasped that, i thought death was supposed to be a difficult concept!! Frankly, *I* struggle with that side of it.

Tidied up, had lunch and then went out to LF’s first birthday party. Girls had a lovely time with a gaggle of babies and toddlers and 2 dogs. Both dog owners said the kids would get bored of stick throwing before the dogs… but no. My litter of bouncy puppies out-ran the dogs, who ended up crawling off in exhaustion. 😆
Chatted to the parents of a 6 month old for a while who do Gina Ford (!) and think i’m super mum. If only they knew how much i’m not. Felt distinctly old and wizened.

Came home, made tea, finished wrestling with house, did press hama beads with Josie (major hit, the little jewellery ones are perfect for her) and then watched something on Britain with Max. Have done a lot of talking. Will be doing a lot more.