Great Party Day followed by Partly Grating Day.

(Boom, boom!)

On Wednesday, Josie was 4. We started early-ish with her presents, (mummy only a LITTLE bleary eyed by staying up too late to watch the election results start to come in) and she was very thrilled with wooden cakes and biscuits, numbers and a magnetic board and a small host of Baby Stella stuff. Of all the children, she is the one it is the most fun to buy toys for, because she really plays with and appreciates them. After that i think there was a certain amount of educating and some talk about the new US President Elect and then gradually our guests started to arrive.

Auntie Kate and Madison, Michelle and Chloe and Helen, SB and BB all arrived (followed later by Marcus) and an afternoon of playing, catering, gossiping, eating and fire-working. Fran had made a cake, with very minimal help, and a variety of them decorated it.

(Photo shamelessly nicked from Helen; i’d quite like a few more H, but they are all f&f – is it okay for me to do so and borrow a come where everyone is decent? 😉 )

Fran played a very creditable version of Happy Birthday on the cello, though she had played it better in the morning so she was cross afterwards (!) and everyone sung along and we had fireworks, sparklers and marshmallows over a fire, plus roast chestnuts too. Max does do well at that stuff, though he had forgotten till slightly too late that we had veggies amongst us! 😉 The day ended with all the kids curled up on my bed playing Animal Crossing, while the adults gossiped more. Perfick.

Thursday was typically really tiresome with Josie being the worst offender. I think everyone was very tired, i had to go to work for a bit, we needed to get through some work and the weather was awful. Managed to inspire the kids with the idea of creating Lauren Child style picture books but then for reasons i don’t understand, despite them all being very enthusiastic, they were utterly uncreative, pathetic and whiny about actually doing anything and mainly just made a mess. I was pretty much ready to throttle people by the time we needed to go out to Brownies, where fortunately other peoples children annoyed me less and we managed to end the day on a reasonable high with a good craft there, more fireworks and hot dogs. When we got home Max sent me for a bath and an evening with noise, good in theory but Fran decided sit on the stairs and play the same 4 notes over and over again on the recorder and Amelie was in the next room singing the same line of “Where is Love” over and over too.

It was just that sort of day 🙄

Previously in the week…
Last Thursday/Friday/Saturday Maddy and Fran went to Claire and Charlie’s for a Halloween party. Amelie went on a Rainbow sleepover on Friday night; there were only 5 of them, with 5 leaders but they had a ball and she was very happy about it all. Josie, Max and i went to Kate’s and had Halloween and chip tea with all of them. Was particularly great to see Summer, who has come on amazingly since i last saw her. She’s always been rather lovely in her own particular way but she has learned to interact now in a way that is very new to me; i could genuinely feel her coming out to me in a “play with me, laugh with me” sort of way. It’s hard to explain unless you know her, but i’ve known her so long, since she was an utterly helpless baby and throguh all the time when she was on so much valium to control her fits that she was a permanently asleep 3/4/5/6 year old. It is just amazing to feel her enjoying company and clearly communicating. I also love the way Madison plays with her; Kate is teaching M to sign, not cos she can’t talk but because she is inevitably going to spend much of her life with and around non-verbal kids – and it is so cute seeing Madison sign things and play with S.

Saturday/Sunday i had to work and also spent time with Josie; Max ferried kids to dancing and so on and then on Monday we had a visit from Em, E and R. All very lovely. Tuesday was mainly characterised, so far as i can remember, by Maddy spending all day making a cardboard hamster cage which is completely amazing (must blog a pic.) We made her laugh this weekend by secretly buying a catnip, mouse shaped toy and putting it in the cage – she thought it was VERY funny when she found it!!!!

Right, that gets me as far as last Thursday anyway, back later.