Quick catch up and a a salute to the past.

We’ve had a hectic week and i feel like i have barely seen the children at all.

Last weekend they spent with my parents and my sister, while Max and i cleared bits of the house and did a stocktake. Thanks to Max’s organisation with pre-coded sheets, we got that done very quickly, in only about 6 hours. Was quite amused that as we drove away, having put boxes of rubbish and cardboard into the skips outside, i asked him where he’d put the clipboard of sheets…. on a pallet by the skip… in the rain…. 😯 We got back to them in time though 😆

The house clearing took a bit longer, but we moved the lounge into the old stockroom, so now have a desk and bookshelved playroom/office/workroom place. Our bedroom has a lovely blue wall, the lounge is now almost empty but has a nice umber wall and the dining room is the green, but all the way round. We’ve moved all the furniture too so it looks lovely.

This week the 3 big girls did a Sound of Music workshop while i worked/looked after Madison and Josie, shopped and various other things. Loved looking after 2 little ones… seems so easy now! The girls had a great time after initial tears about being in the chorus again. Fran threw herself into it, Maddy seemed happy and Amelie looked, at the performance, as if remembering actions and words was something of an effort!!!!

Fran is half way through HP3 now and they’ve all played lots of D&D this weekend. Fran is also playing it on the computer, Maddy is inventing her own adventure and i think i am about to lose the computer to Fran who has just spotted me playing” CivCity Rome” on it. That’s if she can get it off Josie, who is obsessed with Clifford the Big Red Dog. 🙄
Amelie needs stretching, she is being all needy. Must do something with her this week.

We’ve had extraordinary conversations about genetics, natural selection and embryo selection with the kids at the dinner table this week. Even Amelie can really throw in some blinders these days.

We finished “Fattipuffs and Thinifers” and have moved on to “The Borrowers”. Both have been loved. They even tidy their rooms for a story now 😆

Fran is off with my mum to hire a Cello this week. Must sort out lessons.

BM/PM finished the year having turned over a very respectable £203K in the end. Wow 😯 It’s deathly quiet this week though, which is a bit scary. Must get something going on it. I’ve done lots of work and have just added the Fashion Angels art range to PM, which is already selling well.

And, cos i always do, and it would seem rude to forget, today is the 6th April, 16 years to the day since our school friend was killed. I still think of him often but these days i suppose i think of his mum and dad more. When i first met Max’s Gran it was about the same length of time since her daughter had died. Back then i thought it must have been in the past for her. Now i know that things like that just never stop being your present 🙁 It terrifies me t0 think that, and astonishes me that at just turned 18 we thought we knew everything, thought our grief and pain was all there was and never comprehended for a moment the depths to which his parents lives had plummeted in the blink of an eye. How little we know, till suddenly we do.

Thinking of you and yours as ever, my purple,green and mustard jacketed mate.