Yep its yet another catch up post!!

Thursday - LMS came home from Uni. Well only until Sunday as she is out at a party with friends from college on Saturday night, and at a BBQ at Uni on Tuesday night so has to go back again. She is then coming home for the Summer next Thursday. Little Prince is confused and grumpy, he wants his sister to come home and STAY home and isn't very happy that she is going away again, even though its only for a few days. He was very impressed that he got to stay up late and go with Daddy to the station to pick LMS up, and insisted that she take him to bed once they were home. I feel redundant when LMS is here!! During the morning Mr Messy and Drama Teen both went to have their eyes tested, Drama Teen chose some new designer frames and looks very good in them. However, the optician was quite worried about the changes to Mr Messy's eyes, she has recommended that he go and be tested for diabetes (!!!) before coming back next week to have his eyes re-tested. He will also have to have his pupils dilated so that she can photograph the backs of his eyes better, his pupils are too small to do it properly without the dilation. He is NOT going to like the effects of his pupils being dilated!! I had it done a few years ago and the slightest bit of light makes your eyes really hurt!!
Friday - Little Prince woke up at 2.30am!!! To tell me that his curtains weren't shut right!! Aaaargh!!! I 'corrected' the curtains and went back to bed and lay there for almost an hour listening to Little Prince wriggling and playing - when he started to bellow Happy Birthday to Me I gave up and went and told him to go back to sleep. He was quite surprised to hear it was still stupid o'clock and he should be asleep, but luckily agreed to try and sleep again! I was then woken up at just after 6am by Mr Messy wanting to know if I'd seen his wallet!!! Why do my whole family think I know where everything they have ever owned is??? I went downstairs and tried to look for the missing wallet, but Mr Messy found it in one of the shopping bags from his trip to town yesterday. I went to bed, again, and got a few more hours sleep before being woken by a hungry Little Prince. After lunch me, LMS and Little Prince went to town to buy Little Prince some new PE pumps and for LMS to hand out her CV to various shops to see if she can get a Summer job. We then went to the small out of town retail park to hand out more CVs. While LMS was visiting the other shops me and Little Prince went to Toys R Us for a look round, and managed to find some more Disney Cars he hasn't got - a minor miracle as he has that many of them!! LMS joined us half way round the shop after completing her CV Mission. When we were in the Babies R Us section I noticed they had the cot that I like, and also that it was massively reduced as it has now been discontinued! Guess what?? I bought it!!! The sales person then knocked some more money off as it was the shop display model and had a few scuffs and knocks on it, so I got a HUGE bargain and the exact cot I've been coveting :-) My next mission is to see if I can find the matching dresser anywhere. I know I'll have to store them for ages, but at least I will have the ones I want :-) Mr Messy thinks I've flipped completely, but when I told him how much I'd saved he forgave me lol
UPDATE - I got the changing unit too :-)
This evening LMS babysat so that me and Mr Messy could go to the cinema to see the latest Indiana Jones movie. It was FANTASTIC :-) Lots of action and humour and references to the previous films. We both really enjoyed it :-)

Car Boot Sale

I love a good bargain, so when my friend suggested taking the kids to a local Car Boot Sale I jumped at the chance. We had a bit of a struggle getting three car seats in my car, but managed it in the end! Unfortunately the Car Boot Sale was a bit of a disappointment, not many people had turned out (could have been the iffy weather this morning or could be because of school holidays) and the ones who had seemed to be mainly professional Car Booters rather than ordinary folk. I did manage to find some brand new Kipper the Dog books for Little Prince, and paid over the odds for a Power Ranger Megazord (don't ask!!) figure he wanted, so he was happy :-) We then drove to a nearby pub for lunch, but as they had a special offer on the carvery it was packed out, so instead we drove to the nearest town and had lunch in a cafe there. We then mooched around the shops and bought a few bits and bobs. I tried to get Little Prince some new school pumps, but as he was wearing his thick sports socks I couldn't gauge the size properly. I'll try again tomorrow and make sure he is wearing his thinner school socks. We then had a quick whizz round the supermarket before heading off home again. Little Prince was almost in tears once we'd dropped my friend and her girls off, as he hadn't given his Girlfriend a goodbye hug - awww bless :-) We arrived home just as my ironing was being delivered, so perfect timing :-) Later on when Mr Messy arrived home from work he and I tipped the house upside down looking for the car insurance - can't find it anywhere and the car needs taxing on Saturday DARN!! I ended up ringing the insurance company to ask them to send us another certificate, fingers crossed it will be here in time!!!

Bank Holiday Weekend

Hope everyone had lovely weather for the Bank Holiday :-) We had our HOST family to stay from Friday evening until early Sunday morning, so we had a busy weekend. We took the family to the local art gallery, which always has a craft area during school holidays and after we'd eaten our lunch in the gallery cafe we spent quite a while helping the children with their crafts. Then we managed to fit in a visit to our Pond-Friends, without any incidents at all!! Well apart from Little Prince managing to trap his fingers in the bathroom door while playing hide and seek with the children, he cried so much I thought he must have broken them, but once he calmed down there seemed to be no lasting damage, not even a bruise!! Our friends daughter took us down to her horse and let the HOST family's daughter ride round on her (she has always wanted to ride a horse and her parents didn't know where to look for riding lessons near their university). I don't think I've ever seen a child grin so widely :-) Little Prince then wanted a turn and he loved it too, he has decided he is a cowboy now. He was quite miffed that our friend's daughter wouldn't let the horse run!!! We've promised to find out about riding lessons for him, so that he can learn how to ride properly and then he would be able to go faster! That seemed to calm him down. As usual our friend's put on a lovely feast for a (semi) traditional English Tea - the ribs for Little Prince weren't traditional, but they kept him happy :-) He also liked the Taiwanese Pearls (black tapioca in honey and milk) prepared by the HOST family mum. I'm so glad he is an adventurous eater, unlike his mum and sisters!!

When we got back from our friends, the children all wanted to play on the Wii again, it would be their only chance as their mum says they won't be allowed one once they are home in Taiwan as they will have to study too hard to play :-( Little Prince had fallen asleep in the car on the way home, so he was fast asleep in bed - which did lead to less arguing as we only have two Wii-motes! Mr Messy and Drama Teen went off to the supermarket to buy provisions for the Sunday Roast, however, while they were out the family announced they would be leaving at 10am as the dad had to do lots of studying. We were a bit surprised by this as most students stay until mid afternoon, and it meant that they wouldn't be joining us for Sunday Dinner. Mr Messy did make them a traditional English breakfast in the morning though, and they seemed to enjoy that very much. then it was a bit of a rush getting their picture taken with the children to put in our HOST Visitors Book and getting all their things packed in their car. Little Prince was very upset to see them go as he had had a whale of a time playing with the children :-( He is so much younger than his sisters and they don't always want to play with him, and when he isn't at school he misses having children his own age around him.

On Monday the weather was ok-ish, cloudy and windy but not raining, so we decided we would chance a trip to the beach. It was even windier and colder on the coast, but we spent a bracing half an hour walking along the beach collecting shells and Little Prince digging for Pirate Treasure. Then we visited a nearby animal sanctury, which was more like a mini zoo, with all sorts of animals to see. The onsite cafe was a lovely break from the wind and tasty too, especially the scones piled high with cream yum yum :-) We thought after all his running round that Little Prince would fall asleep on the way home, but instead it was Fraulein who snoozed most of the way!! We tease her that she must be part cat as she spends most of her life asleep!! We stopped off for tea at a KFC as neither me nor Mr Messy felt like cooking when we got home. Little Prince was impressed by this choice, but Fraulein refused to eat and only had a drink saying she couldn't eat two large meals in one day!!

We had left Drama Teen at home with three friends from Stagecoach, well two friends and her Young Man. They spent some time walking round the village, not playing out as they are MUCH too old to do that lol. And Drama Teen even managed to cook them all some lunch, without destroying the kitchen in the process!! In the evening once all her friends had been picked up, the Young Man being the last one to be picked up, she seemed very quiet and subdued. Mr Messy jokingly asked her if he had dumped her, she promptly burst into tears and said he had :-( Apparently Young Man feels that only seeing each other once a week is too hard and that they should split up, and just be friends. She seemed a bit better later in the evening but still quiet, poor little lamb.

Tidying up!

I know its not like me at all lol! But we've got some more HOST students coming this evening, this time its a whole family - Mum, Dad (the one who is studying) and two children, from Taiwan. Our house seems to have elastic sides so hopefully we can squeeze them all in :-) One of the children is interested in trying horse riding, so we are visiting our Fish Pond-Friends, as their youngest has her own horse. I just hope Little Prince manages to behave this time, or if not that his mischief isn't quite as spectacular as last time!!
And during my cleaning, tidying, dusting spree I am also dealing with the very real proof that adverts do indeed influence children!! Have you seen the nPower advert with the woman that goes round the house throwing green paint everywhere?? Something to do with "turning the world green"?? Well Little Prince apparently saw this advert and decided to try his hand at turning his world "yoghurty"!!! I used a Frube (squeezy tube yoghurt) to spray our lounge "yoghurty" when asked about this he even quoted the line from the advert to explain what he'd been doing!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!!!

Swimming Success

Little Prince behaved BEAUTIFULLY at swimming yesterday :-) I reminded him before his lesson that me and his teacher had agreed that if he didn't behave (crashing into the other pupils or constant ducking under water and not listening to the teacher) he would have to come out of the pool and go home. He solemnly nodded his head, and I was wondering if it was going in one ear and out the other - but no, he wasn't an angel (I don't think he ever could be) but he tried very very hard to behave nicely and do as he was told :-) I am so proud of him :-)

Little Prince-isms

Little Prince told me incredulously yesterday that when he gets to be a growed up man and a Daddy that his Daddy will be a Grandad. I smiled and agreed and said that would mean I would be a Grandma, Little Prince was disgusted with this idea "NO! You'll be MY mummy!!" was the reply lol.

He has been observing his sisters with their snazzy laptop computers and now wants to know when will he have a computer that he can walk round with?? I've told him not for a very very long time, until he is very very grown up!! I don't want laptops to go pond dipping too!!

The Bricks are HERE!!!!

YEAH!!! Finally!!! It took the man with the crane truck contraption almost an hour to get five pallets of bricks onto our drive, but they are HERE!!!! Our drive is between our house and the cottage next door, and it also has the telephone line for next door going fairly low across it, so it was quite a tricky delivery job - but the man managed it. My builder and his labourer are coming on Saturday to start and I will finally have my private garden back :-) It might even inspire me into getting the lawn mowed, and weeding the flower beds!!

More Bricks!!!

I've finally got hold of some bricks :-) I went to the Builders Merchants this morning, saw the bricks, ordered them, paid for them and they are being delivered TOMORROW :-) Hopefully our builder doesn't have too much planned over the Bank Holiday weekend and can come and get on with some building!! Who would have thought I could get so excited over bricks!!!

Bricks!!!

I might have finally found my bricks!!! YES!!!! I spent the afternoon ringing round different builder's merchants and one had 'reject' bricks for a GREAT price!! I'm popping round there after I've dropped Little Prince off at school and ordering them :-) After being totally let down by the reclamation place, I've searched high and low to get the right bricks at a reasonable price (who knew bricks cost so MUCH!!!) and now I think I've finally found them :-) Hopefully the builder's merchants will be able to deliver them this week, and in a weekend or so our builder should have our wall finished YEAH!!!!!!!!! Of course the job still won't be finished, I'll have to get my handy man in to clear the ground in front of the wall (again - he cleared the raised beds that used to be there a few months ago). Then I can put weed supressing membrane down, a put down this special non degradable, eco friendly mulch I've found and then move Little Prince's climbing frames and slides over there - and we've got our garden back :-) Its going to be much safer for him and much more private too, which I like :-) And he'll have a lot more room to run around and kick a football around in - I'll probably have to get him one of those mini goal posts sets!!

Highs and Lows

We finally got the email from the Team Leader at our Local Authority, giving the costs of changing our application to Ethiopia (which at just over £2500 was a LOT less than we thought it would be after our recent conversation with her! But is £2000 more than I've heard other families are paying!!). Both me and Mr Messy sent seperate emails to Team Leader OKing the charges, didn't want her to think I was railroading Mr Messy into anything lol. I emailed our sw, to ask what cakes she would like Mr Messy to bake for our meeting, which was a veiled way of asking when we would be starting. She sent a message back to say she wasn't meeting Team Leader at the LA until mid-June so we wouldn't be starting until after that!! Why is that other families get charged SO MUCH LESS and get their update/addendum (not a full re-do like we are being forced to do) for £2000 less than us, and it only takes them 3 months!!!! We will be paying through the nose for this and will have waited about 4 months to even START!!! I am so so frustrated. It looks like my dream of actually finishing this adoption and having MeiMei home by the end of the year are now officially shattered :-( Life is SO UNFAIR!!!!!!! Stamping my feet in a childish tantrum here!!!!

Another Busy Weekend

This weekend is starting as it means to go on I think! Our hairdresser is coming in about 10 mins, Little Prince is already protesting that he hates having his hair cut! Our supermarket groceries are being delivered anytime in the next two hours. And Mr Messy has gone to the train station to collect this weekends student, a French lad studying chemistry in Geordieland. Mr Messy is going to take him out for breakfast on the way back, so at least I don't have to start cooking too :-)

Should I change his name!?!

Little Prince I mean! As yesterday at his swimming lesson he was more like Little Monster!! There was only him and a little girl in the class, both with similar levels of swimming ability. The teacher would set them off to swim to the other side of the pool, and Little Prince would deliberately swim diagonally across the little girl so that he could come first. Or if he couldn't manage that he grabbed the back of her costume a couple of times! He also kept ducking under the water when the teacher was talking to him! I was so cross with him! Once they were dry and dressed after the lesson, I made him apologise to the little girl and tell her he wouldn't do any more crashing next week. On the way home I warned him that if he repeated the behaviour next week, that he would be taken out of his lesson and brought home and that would happen each time until he chose to be nice to his fellow pupils and listen to his teacher. Hopefully the message will have got across!!

Great news :-)

Our holiday is almost booked :-)

We are going to see our friends Cabbage Queen, Farm Boy and maybe even Computer Geek (if he can make it) in the USA in August :-) Not sure of the exact dates yet as our fabulous travel agent is just sorting the best deal on flights for us :-) I can't wait :-) We haven't seen our friends for AGES!!! Well Mr Messy and LMS saw them a few years ago, when he took her over there to buy her Prom Dress (yes she is spoilt - that's what you have kids for lol). They have heard all about Little Prince but haven't met him in person, and I wonder after reading the post before this one if they know what they are letting themselves in for?!?!

And the other news I was waiting for is POSITIVE :-) YEAH!!!!

LA said YES!!!!!

After our disastrous meeting with our LA on 28th April, I had lost a lot of hope that we would be allowed to try to change our application to Ethiopia. Then LA Team Leader spent AGES coming to a decision about whether or not we could proceed, and as each day passed I slumped further into a depressed, pessimistic state, convinced that she would say no, and our dreams of adding another child to our family would be over. The last communication we received from Team Leader was that she would let us know the decision, this week. And today I finally cracked, I couldn't stand waiting any longer and rang her up. I fully expected her to be "in a meeting" or "away from her desk" but I was put straight through!!! Her first words were that she had an email almost ready to send out to us, and would I like to know what it said?? WOULD I!?!?! Stupid question!!!! She said that after the meeting and after all the information I had sent her (bombarded her with more like!!) since the meeting the dept had decided that we could be reassessed with a view to applying to Ethiopia. I cried and sniveled, Team Leader checked that I was ok to carry on with the conversation, of course I was!!! She said that as our initial assessment is over a year old, they would not be able to just present an addendum to Panel and we would have to be fully reassessed (urgh!!!). And that as second time adopters the fee would be less for this (can't remember if she said 2/3 or 3/4 of the initial fee). She also said that they would have to charge for the Panel visit, and as ours is an independent Panel it is expensive. She said that the LA were allowed to charge us for Intercountry Adoption work, but not allowed to make a profit from that charge. She is just waiting for confirmation that she has worked out the fees correctly and then she will send the email. She also confirmed that our original sw is available and willing to do this reassessment, which is a huge relief as she knows us and although very thorough, is a very efficient and quick worker - which might make up for the fact that our LA is the slowest EVER!!!

I'm not sure how I feel right now! I've had since last February (when we first told the LA we wanted to change country) to get myself worked up that they wouldn't allow it, and now against all the odds they have said yes! I think I'm still in shock!!! Hopefully that will wear off soon and I can be excited! I am greatly relieved though, and feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted from my shoulders. We can move forward positively (although probably grindingly slowly!!) and know (as much as you can in ICA) that we will be able to adopt our newest little one. I was never, ever certain with China that we would actually get to adopt! Partly a reaction to our first experience, and partly because the slowdown was well underway by the time we were LID. Off to start knitting :-)

What a Day!!!

OK not a great start, with the builder getting me out of bed at 7.30am!! He was more than embarrassed that I answered the door bleary eyed and in my dressing gown!! This afternoon we had to pick up Fraulein from a revision session at college and then drive over to our friend's house. Little Prince is notorious at this friend's house - as each time he visits he does SOMETHING!! One time he staked his claim to the trifle by writing his name in it with his finger, another time he got hand cream all over the place. But this visit he topped the lot!!! He was in the garden with friend's husband supervising (yes he managed this WITH supervision!!) and was looking at the fish in the fish pond (you can see what's coming can't you?!?!). He decided he wanted to touch one of the fish and despite warnings that it was deeper than it looked and to be careful he went in headfirst, up to his ankles!!! Luckily friend's husband was watching and managed to grab him by the ankles and pull him out PHEW!!! We then had to strip him off, while he dripped all over the kitchen and chattered excitedly about the fish!!! Then he had to wear friend's 12 year old daughter's clothes (PE shorts and smallest t-shirt she could find) for the rest of our visit. We thought that was it, he had done his mischief for the day, but NO!!! He found some more mischief!! He was playing quietly in the lounge when there was a shriek and he came running into us in the kitchen shouting "I sprayed it in my eye." He had found some window cleaner and tried to clean the windows, but got the sprayer the wrong way round!!!! I dragged him to the bathroom to rinse his eye and he was soon fine and asking if he could clean the windows now!! We only stayed a while longer as my heart couldn't take the strain of wondering what was next!!! Luckily friend's have grown up boys of their own and are used to these sorts of happenings!!!

On the way home Little Prince and Drama Teen played, think of an animal beginning with each letter of the alphabet, which had us in stitches!! Little Prince went first A for Awul (owl!!). He then accused his sister of cheating when she said H for Hare, thinking she had said hair!! And then argued for ages that he should be allowed Y for Younicorn (unicorn). Life with Little Prince is never dull :-)

Just off to bath the pond dipper as Eau de Fish doesn't seem to suit him!!!

UPDATE: Apparently the intrepid adventurers exploits didn't end there! Mr Messy has just informed of what Little Prince got up to when he played in the garden for an hour with Mr Messy watching. While out there he repeatedly scootered along our patio wall, (it is only about 12" high) his most spectacular fall was when he went off the wall one way and the scooter went the other!! Little Prince survived unhurt and ready to try again, I'm not sure about my flowers!! He was stopped from riding his ride on trike down his biggest slide - luckily!!! I'm so glad he is now tucked up safe and snug in his bed!! I hope tomorrow is a quieter day lol.

Shopping, Tidying and Wii Fitting :-)

This morning me and Mr Messy dropped Little Prince off at school and then went over to the supermarket. We've got another student (from Brunei) arriving for the weekend this evening, and as she is a vegetarian Muslim we needed to go food shopping. Tonight I'm making a puff pastry cheese pie thing that I learnt in High School (and yes I can still remember how to cook it!!!) with salad and stuff and the rest of this weekend's catering is down to Mr Messy :-)

After putting all the shopping away I had to go and revisit our accountant to get him to write the words on our pay cheque (as it was for a large amount the cashier wouldn't let me write them - jobsworth!!!). I realised half way to the large village nearby (where the bank is) that I'd forgotten to go to see the accountant. So I could hardly say anything to him about him forgetting to fill the cheque in properly lol. My excuse is I'm blonde though :-) While I was out I got Little Prince some more school trousers (he goes through the knees of SO many!!!) and optimistically thinking this lovely weather will stay with us, got him some more school shorts too. Trouble is that means I've loads of labels to sew in tonight YUK!

When I got back Mr Messy had finished cleaning the bathroom - he is a REAL GEM :-) And was slouched in front of the TV (working from home my eye!!). I had to kick him off so that I could do my daily Wii Fit Workout, and after a bit of muttering and grumbling he went back upstairs to his office :-) I've just got to go and give everywhere a quick vac round, and that is as tidy as its getting for the student! Its WAY too hot for housework!!!

Lots of Secret Pal Gifts :-)

In order of receiving them :-
This first gift is from my August LID group Secret Pal (well not so secret as I worked out who she is). Its a lovely set of pink pyjamas covered in multicoloured hearts, two jingly buggy toys and LOTS of pretty hair clips :-) I hope MeiMei likes wearing things in her hair as she will have plenty to chose from :-) Thank you ever so much Karen :-)
This is from my new July LID Secret Pal (I joined the July LID group before an August one was formed - too impatient lol). Once again I know who sent it :-) The gift contained a lovely white cardigan with embroidered flowers and picot edging, some tights with a petit souris (little mouse) on and a flowery notepad :-) Thank you ever so much Keri :-)
And this gift is from my YaYa Secret Pal (don't ask I just like making on line friends). Once again I know exactly who my not so Secret Pal is, as there was a lot of confusion over the shipping of this gift (DHL couldn't find me!!). Anyway once the gift finally arrived it was lovely, it consisted of a full Summer outfit including shorts, t-shirt, hat and hair clips all decorated with turtles. And also a little pink bikini decorated with lighter pink flowers. And to top it off a couple of pairs of pink sunglasses, and yes one of them has turtles to match the outfit :-) Thank you ever so much Millie they are all very cute :-)

Hmmmmm!

These are Little Prince's toes!! LMS was painting her nails at weekend and he wanted to join in. He refuses to have the nail varnish removed, despite his friends at school when they saw them at PE saying OMG and laughing. At least he is in touch with his feminine side :-) And I'm glad that he is confident enough to know that he likes having his nails "coloured in" and not to let peer pressure deter him :-) Go Little Prince :-)

I HATE reclamation yards!!!!!

Still can't get hold of the bleeping reclamation guy and get my bricks. How is my builder supposed to build the wall with no bricks?!?! The reclamation guy promised he would deliver the bricks so the builder could build this week?!?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

Semi wasted morning!

After getting Little Prince to school, I set off to a meeting at the local volunteer bureau to chat about doing some volunteer work during school hours. I was a bit apprehensive and nervous, but I want to do something so had to get on with it. However, when I got there the person I was supposed to meet wasn't in (she'd had a bereavement unfortunately) and they had no note of my phone number so couldn't get in touch to let me know. They apologised profusely and said they would get back in touch once the lady was back. It wasn't a big deal, as I'd got some shopping to do in the town centre, so I'm not that bothered.

Mr Messy is at home ill today with a pounding migraine :-( Sad that he's ill, not that he's home!! As the day has gone on he has got a lot better though :-)

I've done my Wii Fitting for today and once agian feel quite bouncy :-) Probably because I still have so many bouncy bits lol!!

Just tried getting hold of my reclamation place, who were supposed to deliver my bricks at the end of last week - and guess what?!?! Still no answer!!!!!

All's Quiet!

Mr Messy is back at work, Fraulein is back in college and Drama Teen and Little Prince are back at their respective schools. Its very strange to have the house to myself, and for it to be so quiet - I'm just about to put my iPod on the speakers to listen to some music lol!! Can't stand it this quiet!!

I've been back on the Wii Fit, and feel much better for it! All this endorphin release stuff must be true!! I've felt slightly down and lifeless over the long weekend (I'm not doing the Wii Fit in front of the kids lol) but feel bouncy and lively again now I've managed to do my exercising!!

I'm stuck in the house all day waiting for DHL to deliver a parcel, so I've managed to get quite a few jobs done round the house too. I've just got to wrap up a few parcels of my own and nip to the Post Office to get them on their way. Then I think I'll finish sorting out the washing ready for everyone to put their own stuff away when they come in tonight. And after that I might start some knitting - how domesticated :-)

The builder came this morning, and got the last bit of foundation dug out, he couldn't do any more than that as none of the stuff he needs has arrived!! The reclamation man who was supposed to deliver the bricks ready for a start this week, is now missing and not answering any of his phones!! And the rest of the stuff (builders sand, plastisiser and more ballast) is being delivered tomorrow. Why can't people be more reliable?!?! The builder is on a weeks holiday this week and wanted to get the whole thing finished, but with all these delays I can't see that happening!! Its a pity as with the weather being so nice at the moment we could have got a lot done to put the garden back together again!! Oh well, I'm sure it will be finished one day....

Sunny Bank Holiday!!

Which is almost unheard of in the UK!! The Uni girls all set off safely this morning on their drive back, and didn't seem to mind too much having to get up relatively early (after their late night DVD session last night). Apart from LMS forgetting her contact lens solution they seem to have picked up all their stuff too - AMAZING!! I've got a text to say they got back safely :-)
After lazing around all morning not doing much of anything, me, Mr Messy and Little Prince went to the nearby shopping centre to get a new TomTom Navigator GPS thingie. He is charging this back to his company, so was able to buy one of the top of the range ones, with a built in radio receiver that picks up traffic alerts and redirects you round bad traffic!! We wandered round the rest of the shops and bought Little Prince a couple of new t-shirts as we've noticed now the weather is brightening up that loads of his are too small for him now! Then we decided to have a drink and cake in the coffee shop, where we met one of his teachers and his teacher for next year (they are sisters in law). Little Prince was quite put out at this and hid behind me and wouldn't speak to them lol. He did enjoy his smoothie and cake though, even if he had to keep hiding from his teachers!! After that we decided to drive home the longer, more scenic route and apart from a little bit of whinging Little Prince seemed to enjoy the drive, me and Mr Messy certainly did :-) Driving along in the sunshine with the sunroof and windows open, along quiet country lanes and past gorgeous smelling fields of Rape (the smell of which always puts me in a Summery mood). Hope the weather stays like this for a while longer :-)

?!?!?!?!?!

The latest prediction from China Adoption Forecast for our LID 16th August 2007. Due to the CCAA processing an abysmal THREE days worth of LIDs this time, the predicted timeline has stretched out once again. and that's on top of the fact that the Chinese Heritage Expedites (Nov 06) group have just been left out AGAIN for, can you believe it the SIXTH time!!! WTF!?!?!?!?!

Our prediction for LID 2007-Aug-16

China has 581 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 5.7 days of dossiers each month.

Our best guess: 2015-June-30

Swimming and Cinemas

Little Prince had his swimming lesson this morning, and insisted LMS and her
Uni friends came to watch him. I don't think they were too pleased about that as they got in well after midnight last night, after enjoying their night out! But they managed to get ready, dressed and in the car in time, so Little Prince was very happy. His lesson went well, his teacher says he is improving all the time and can now manage quite a few front crawl strokes without putting his feet on the bottom of the pool.

In half an hour or so I've got to take Drama Teen and Fraulein to the cinema to see Made of Honour. There is no point driving all the way back home again, so I'm staying out at the nearby shopping centre and having a mooch round the shops. Then I have to bring the girls and Drama Teen's Young Man back (he is watching Iron Man which Drama Teen doesn't want to watch so they are going to see different films!! How romantic!!).

Whingy day

Well not quite lol. This morning me and Drama Teen went to the Beauty Salon to have our eyes done - me = eyelash tint and Drama Teen = eyebrow shape. I had arranged for the food shopping to be delivered today, and by the time we got back it had arrived and been put away :-) Very impressed :-) As the shopping had already been sorted me and Little Prince decided to accompany Mr Messy, Fraulein and Drama Teen on their shopping trip. Fraulein has come down with a cold and doesn't deal with being ill very well, so she decided to stay at home. Drama Teen decided to stay at home and browse on her favourite shop's website rather than visit it in person!! So just the three of us set off, part way there Little Prince realised he had forgotten to pick up blankie - which he decided was daddy's fault!! He whined and whinged for the rest of the journey, and that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon!! I might feel totally guilty if he comes down with something in the next few days, but right now I'm finding all the whinging very irritating! We took him for some lunch which helped a little, but he was still not in a great mood. We managed to get a new filofax for Mr Messy, the only thing he wanted to get. For some reason he chose the black one not the neon pink one - can't think why lol!!! Fingers crossed it will make him more organised!!

LMS and her friends managed to navigate their way to the Laser Quest place and all had a great time :-) Although that was something else Little Prince whinged about - why didn't they take him?!?! They got themselves ready, had something to eat and then went off out again to paint the town red!!!

As soon as Little Prince had gone to bed Mr Messy and Drama Teen went to the supermarket to get the ingredients to make LMS a cake and surprise tomorrow. Unlike me they both love cooking and baking, I just find it a chore that has to be done.

So its just me and Fraulein at home, and I think she has fallen asleep on the sofa feeling unwell and miserable :-(

Image Chef

I've noticed that quite a few of my Blogging Friends have cute Image Chef pictures on their blogs - and just thought I'd play too :-)

More Birthdays

LMS was NINETEEN (eeek!!) this week! She and two of her university friends are coming home today, so that they can celebrate her birthday with her 'home' friends (who have all been ordered home for the weekend!). We are going out for a meal tonight, the whole family plus Drama Teen's Young Man and Univeristy Friends!! I've arranged for balloons at the table, and we'll take a cake so the whole restaurant can sing Happy Birthday to her :-) I only do it to embarrass her (that's my job as a parent lol). We went out for her 10th birthday and she was so embarrassed at the singing and the waiters bringing a cake out for her, that she hid under the table!! I'm sure she won't do that this time though.

Still Wii-ing!!

I'm keeping up with my 'training' on the Wii and I actually do feel different and more positive!! Despite some setbacks this week, I still feel that we can achieve what we set out to do and convince the naysayers. Perhaps the endorphins from exercising are helping, I don't know and I don't care I still feel positive and happy :-) I've only done a few days, but my Wii Fit Age is already dropping (dramatically!!) and I've 'earned' the longer jogging courses. It sounds silly to jog using the Wii, but there is no way on earth I'd go and jog in public (too many wobbly bits lol) or that I'd just jog on the spot for 15 mins. But with the Wii you see your Mii character jogging along different scenery and passing other Miis and it just makes it so much more interesting. I'm fairly good at the Yoga games too, but I think I really need to work on the balance games as I am utterly cr*p at those!!