Early start

Little Prince woke us up bright and early this morning, although he was the only one that was bright lol, at 5.30am!! We have been watching TV, the hotel has a Disney channel with a manic female presenter who shows the attractions of Walt Disney World. She is WAAAAAY too perky for this time in the morning!! Mad Cat Lady is now playing with Pal Mickey with Little Prince. Who is mostly ignoring her and playing with his new Transformers toy I bought him in Walmart the other day - why do boys toys always make a noise?!?!

We are at the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight, and I'm not sure how/if we will make it all the way through the day, as we've been woken up so early!! And as we are staying off-site we can't nip back to the hotel in the middle of the day for a rest!! So we will be spending the whole day and evening at Magic Kingdom! I can't wait!!!

EPCOT

The hotel free shuttle bus drops us off at EPCOT each day, so we decided to go there. We had a fabulous day :-) We got our PhotoPass (fabulous invention) and have already had almost a hundred photos taken!! We had some really special ones too, one where we had to hold out our hands and look surprised - and by Disney Magic a Tinkerbelle appeared in our hands - how cool is that?!? And in another one we were sat down and Stitch appeared covered in ice cream!!

Another wonderful Disney invention is the Guest Assistance Pass. I talked to Guest Services this morning and explained that Little Prince has ADHD and asked if there was any way they could help us with queuing so that he didn't annoy the other guests. We were given a Pass that allows us to enter rides/meet characters by a different entrance. This saved us so much time, as mainly we were sent straight through the Fast Pass entrance. I felt a little guilty, almost as though we were pushing in or getting unearned priveliges. But then on the rides where we didn't use it, Little Prince was a pain and could have ended up hurting himself or others. At one point I was waiting for Little Prince and Mad Cat Lady who were riding Soarin' and I nearly cried (probably over tired and emotional lol) thinking how hard this holiday could have been with just me and Mad Cat Lady to wrangle Little Prince, but Disney make it all ok :-)

We spent most of the morning in the front part of EPCOT, exploring all the rides Little Prince wanted to go on. He loved everything and each ride he came off he announced that one was his favourite!! After lunch we started to travel round World Showcase. We visited Canada and then the UK, and were just crossing the bridge to France when Little Prince said he felt ill. We only just had time to drag him over to the hedges before he threw up everywhere!! For the second time today, the first time was in the hotel bathroom this morning!! As soon as he'd been sick he felt tonnes better and wanted to carry on exploring. We kept a very close eye on him as we carried on travelling round the world, but he seemed fine again! Its getting quite worrying though as he isn't eating or drinking properly and keeps being sick!! We spent the next few hours visiting the rest of the countries in World Showcase, and rode both Maelstrom in Norway and Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico.

We then came back into Future World and re-rode the Figment ride and the Nemo ride. We wanted to go on Ellen's Energy Adventure but unfortunately it was closed, which we had to keep reminding Little Prince of every few minutes, when he again asked to go on it!

We were all tired and achy so we went to the Electric Umbrella cafe for some tea, nuggets and fries and drinks. Little Prince said he was hungry and wanted nuggets and grapes. But as soon as he sat down at the table, he couldn't eat anything. He did manage his second chocolate milk, so at least he has had some nourishment!! We did have to rush him to the bathroom as he thought he was going to be sick, but luckily it was just some dramatic retching!!!

We then made our way to our designated bus stop to wait for our bus back to the hotel. We had been waiting for a few minutes when Little Prince told us he was desperate for the toilet. I left all my things with Mad Cat Lady and me and Little Prince rushed to the toilets. He worried and panicked the whole way there and back that we would miss the bus and be stuck at EPCOT forever!! He was very relieved to see Mad Cat Lady still waiting when we got back!! The bus was twenty minutes late, and by the time it arrived Little Prince had once again convinced himself that we were going to be stuck there all night and that the Monorails would be our only way out!!! The drama didn't end there, when the bus finally arrived we were stood waiting to get on when it suddenly started to drive backwards, I had to grab Little Prince out of the way as he was about to be hit by the buses door!!! Very scary!!! The bus driver suddenly realised, jumped in his seat and put the brakes on!!! The rest of the journey back to the hotel was uneventful, Little Prince fell asleep before we'd even left the bus station!! I had to carry him back to the room, while Mad Cat Lady carried all his stuff (sunglasses, Mickey light up toy, EPCOT mask!!).

Back in the room I got Little Prince straight in bed, he'll have to have a bath tomorrow. Then I sat here and blogged about our day. I think I'm definitely addicted to blogging!!!!!

Quick Post

We've arrived safe and sound!! FLight was loooooonng and boring!! Little Prince behaved himself and Mad Cat Lady asked are we there yet the whole way!!! Got checked in hotel then went to Walmart. Bought loads of stuff including Smarties for Drama Teen and Tink stuff for LMS!! Found I've not packed my phone charger n Walmart was out of stock! Took ages to get this computer to connect but now we are YEAH!!! Off on complimentary bus in bit to the parks - Mickey we're on our way!!!!!!!!!!

Almost ready

I had a refreshing nap this afternoon!! I was falling asleep on the sofa and Little Prince said I should go to bed, and I didn't argue lol. I probably wouldn't have been so tired if I hadn't had to persuade him to go back to bed at midnight last night, when he got up to watch TV and thought it was already time to go to Disney!!

Well the packing is done. The shopping for Mr Messy and Drama Teen is done. Its almost time to bath Little Prince and get him to bed. And I don't know if I want to go!! I love Disney. But I love my family more and I'm leaving most of them behind. I want us all to be there. I'm sure I'll have a great time once I'm there, its the thought of saying goodbye to Mr Messy and Drama Teen tomorrow that's making me sad.

Final bits of shopping done :-)

We went out this morning, after having our haircut and shopped for the last bits we needed for our hols. I was totally thrilled when looking for chunky pencils or crayons for Little Prince (he uses the ordinary ones a bit too hard and breaks them) to find some triangular shaped ones!! This is exactly what his Occupational Therapist has recommended he use (he could use pencil grips but he messes with them too much and pulls them off). I've bought a pack for in his aeroplane play bag, a pack for at home and a pack for him to use at school. And if they have more stock in when I get back from my hols, I'll buy some more as spares! Little Prince is thrilled that he will have his special helping pencils to use at school :-)

Clever boy :-)

Every Friday before school finishes they hold a Merit Assembly where the children are awarded certificates and house points for good behaviour and good work from during the week. Parents are invited to attend, and whenever I remember (most weeks - I'm getting better!!) I go along. I'm so glad I remembered this week as Little Prince was awarded a Head Teacher's Award for "always providing good answers to science questions." I am so proud of him I could burst :-)

The teachers are learning more about how to handle him now though, as they don't let him hold his certificate like the other children do (he eats it!!) they present it to him and then 'look after it' for him until the end of the assembly. Although while stood up at the front of the assembly he did sit on the table swinging his legs (all the other children stood nicely!!) and somehow (he swears it was a accident!!) managed to blow the candle out too!! I rang Mr Messy to tell him once I got home and he was killing himself laughing!!! They are as bad as each other!!

Pretty toes :-)

I've just got back from my pampering session at the Beauty Salon. It was a lovely treat, and I feel very relaxed and ready for my holiday :-) And while the varnish was drying who should walk in but Mad Cat Lady!! She was having some pampering before our hols too!! Great minds think alike lol. She had to rush off to the supermarket to get all the shopping her husband and boys have requested for while she is away, so she couldn't join me at the little village cafe for lunch. Luckily there was a paper on the table at the cafe, so I could read that and not feel so daft having lunch on my own! And then LMS rang me so I chatted to her too, she still sounds cheerful and a lot more settled than she was at the beginning of the week, which is obviously a huge relief!! Her and her housemates now have an adopted phish (a fish shaped bottle opener) that is going to have university adventures with them!! It has already been photographed drinking and on the computer - typical student life then?!?! After my lunch I popped to the corner shop and got some of those little packs of tissues you can shove in your handbag, as Little Prince has come down with the sniffles!! Why do they always do something JUST as you are about to go on hols?!?!

Spoiling myself

I've just rung the beauty salon and booked myself in for an eyelash tint and pedicure in about half an hour. A girl's gotta look good for Mickey!!!

And I spoke to Mr Messy at work (he gets up long before my alarm goes off!) and he's feeling a LOT better today, which is a huge relief :-) He still feels a bit wooly headed, but other than that he's fine :-) I also spoke to Little Prince's teacher and have asked that he be able to do the same weekly spelling tests that his class mates do, only verbally. He had been doing spellings, but this week had been changed to practise writing during the week (the only child in the class to do so) and was feeling that he wasn't good enough to do spellings. His teacher understood completely and said she would change him over as soon as we were back from our hols. I also asked about the Ed Psych's visit and she said that he didn't give any new info about Little Prince, just confirmed what we already know - that he has problems with concentration and fine motor control. Although he did say that Little Prince had higher than average understanding too, which I knew but its nice when the professionals agree :-) The last thing we talked about was the incident when the other child got hurt yesterday, I reiterated that Little Prince needs high levels of supervision and that someone needs to be thinking ahead for him (he doesn't do that himself!) and if they can see a situation that is likely to develop into one where someone gets hurt, they need to intervene BEFORE it happens!! Fingers crossed they'll get the message now!!!

Mr Messy is back home

Mr Messy has been away working since Tuesday, and I've really missed him. It was doubly hard him being away just after LMS returned to Uni!! Hence the huge leap in choccie consumption round here!! Well he got home this evening safe and not well!! He had a splitting headache and only lasted half an hour before having to go off to bed. So I'm still missing him lol. I hope he's feeling better tomorrow, as he hasn't had mobile phone access much while he's been away and I need to talk to him!!!

The rest of the day's waffling

I wanted to have a word with Little Prince's teacher about the Ed Psych's visit, but she wasn't in today so I couldn't! I'll have to catch her tomorrow instead. Although I am a bit miffed that she was told before Little Prince joined her class that we needed to be kept informed if there were going to be any staff changes, as this can sometimes send Little Prince overly waffy!
And on the subject of overly waffy!! I was talking to my friend (Little Prince's girlfriend's mum) at swimming and she was telling me what had happened at school today. Little Prince had been swinging one of the 'stilts' (see picture) round by its rope, let go of it and it had hit another child and badly cut her head. I know the child's mum so immediately rang up and apologised and asked how the child was, she has had to have butterfly stitches and has a slight headache, but is otherwise ok. I could have cried. How? Why? What was going on?? According to the child's mum (who lives directly opposite school so can see what goes on in the playground) all the children do that and no one has thought to stop them, and I'm not to blame Little Prince. She is writing a letter complaining about the lack of supervision (her older child was also hurt today by an even older child throwing stones at him!!) during breaktimes. I don't know what to do! My child was the "aggressor" here, but the school know he has issues and I warned them he would probably be worse this week (due to the upheaval of LMS going back to Uni and missing her) and he had a different teacher. He was probably a ticking timebomb and unfortunately this time someone has got hurt. I know what Little Prince is like, he is no angel, but he wouldn't deliberately hurt another child (well apart from his sisters!!) BUT he gets carried away and once he is revved up he finds it almost impossible to calm back down again. He NEEDS very close supervision, not the teachers/dinner ladies standing in the doorway drinking their cuppas and not taking any notice of the kids - which I've observed on more than one occassion!!

Today's Waffling!

After getting Little Prince off to school I went straight out to town. I'm fed up with being in the house on my own, its TOO quiet!! I took back a couple of tops I bought that didn't fit/didn't suit and was feeling a bit fed up as I had wanted to take them to Florida. On a whim I went in a charity shop and found two more tops, that fit perfectly and will be great for Florida - amazing what a good bargain does for you mood lol.

When I got home I decided to get most of the packing done :-) I've still got bits and bobs left to put in the suitcase, and I should probably check if I really need all the stuff I've stuffed in there as its much fuller than I thought it would be!! I can't believe its almost time to go :-) Look out Mickey - here we come :-)

I also got a phone call from Little Prince's school Education Psychologist who had been observing Little Prince yesterday and needed to set up a meeting with me and Mr Messy to discuss his findings. We won't be able to make it next week, as its a bit far to "pop" back from Florida, so the meeting is scheduled for the week after. He wasn't giving anything away, so I have no idea if there is anything to worry about!! So I'll probably just worry!!!

Broken!!!

Me and Drama Teen went to casualty and everything was done very quickly, we visited Triage within minutes of arriving. Then a few minutes after that saw the Nurse, then off to X-ray and then back to the nurse. She showed us the x-ray and the 'kink' in the bone at the bottom of Drama Teen's little finger. She strapped the finger to the one next to it, much to Drama Teen's disgust - it apparently looks stoooopid!! She has to return to the Fracture Clinic in a weeks time, Mr Messy will have to bring her as I'll be in Florida, worrying!!! Poor Drama Teen was hoping her finger was just swollen and bruised and looked quite surprised when the nurse told us it was actually broken!

Cheered up

Well going out and doing a bit of retail therapy cheered me up :-) I got my glasses fixed - which is good as I can barely see to fasten the screw that had come loose (NO comments about loose screws!!!). I was disappointed that they couldn't fix my sunglasses though, I tried a different opticians on the off chance that they would be able to help - and they did! For free!!! So my favourite Mickey sunglasses are all ready to go in the case and off to Florida :-)

I got a phone call from a very upset LMS when I was about to set off home! She is very sad and homesick, her housemates are annoying her, she is tired and she is fed up :-( I wish there was more I could do than mutter platitudes!! Its so hard having your babies sad and not being able to even give them a hug!!! I got Mr Messy to ring her too and have spoken to her since then and she seems slightly better and a bit more cheerful. Hopefully once lectures start and their internet is connected things will get even better and she will settle down again. Love you LMS xxxxx

When I was almost home I got another phone call, from Drama Teen! I said I was almost home and she said she would tell me her news once I got home then!! Of course I insisted on knowing what she was on about right away! She had hurt her finger playing basketball in PE, and it was all swollen and bruised!!! This is the daughter who has broken her thumb twice before, usually just before we go on holiday!!! So I was a bit panicky!!! OK OK I was VERY panicky!!!! I raced the rest of the way home, rang the doctors and then we sped off to the surgery!! Passing my friend and her husband (a Policeman!!!) at high speed through the village!!! The doctor wasn't sure if it was broken or not, and recommended using cold compresses and seeing how it was doing in a couple of hours! I spoke to Mr Messy and he said that as he is working away most of this week, and as I'm off on holiday at the end of the week it was probably best to get it checked properly at casualty this evening!!! So I've arranged for Mad Cat Lady to come and look after Little Prince and me and Drama Teen will go to casualty and get her finger x-rayed and see what's happened. Keep your fingers crossed it isn't broken - its her right hand (she's right handed) and she's just started her GCSEs!!!! Its never dull around here!!!!

Still Quiet and Still Sad

Mr Messy went off to work a little later this morning, so we all got to see him, which is a good thing as due to work commitments he won't be home until Thursday evening. I'd advise people to buy shares in Cadbury's as consumption is escalating rapidly!!! I like my family to be altogether, not scattered around the country :-(
I've been waiting for the groceries to be delivered, and now they have been and have been safely put away, I'm off out!! My glasses broke this morning, so I'll visit the opticians and see if they can fix them. While I'm there I'll be cheeky and see if they can fix my sunglasses too, ready for Florida :-) I've tried to find new sunglasses but I don't like the current styles, and my broken ones are so cute - with a little diamante Mickey in the corner of one lens!! I don't have to be back to pick Little Prince up as he is going to a friend's house straight from school, so I can have a nice relaxing afternoon at the shops :-) Hopefully that will cheer me up!!

Quiet Sad Day

I had been dreading today. Knowing I would be missing LMS and that the house would be too quiet. I should have planned to go out!! I pottered around this morning catching up on all the jobs Mr Messy and Drama Teen hadn't done this weekend - which wasn't as bad as it could have been, they are improving!! I ordered my online groceries and then decided I needed to get out of the house and went to the supermarket anyway!! Then I dumped some more stuff at the tip on the way home. I also ate waaaaaay too much chocolate and it hasn't made me feel any better :-(

Little Prince wanted a friend to come and play after school, and they are busily destroying the lounge at the moment!

Drama Teen brought one of her friends home from the bus, and friend was in tears!! Apparently another girl had drawn nasty pictures and written friend's name on it and everyone on the bus was laughing!! I gave friend lots of hugs, and then rang the other girl's parents and told them what had gone on. It WILL be dealt with!!

Sunday - Returning home alone

On Sunday morning we had our HUGE breakfast at the B&B, which neither of us even made a dent on!! Then we stayed in the room until it was time to check out, mostly because it had free internet access and LMS's internet at the cottage won't be ready for another 10 working days!! Then we went back to the cottage and finished emptying boxes and bags and LMS made a shopping list of stuff she could do with having (while Mum was here to pay!!). I'd also decided to buy them a cheap microwave for the house (less than £25 for a simple one!!) as a housewarming treat - and because LMS likes baked potatoes and it will be considerably cheaper to make them in the mircrowave rather than the oven!! We also bought her a large set of bookshelves as her room has very little storage space.

When we got back to the cottage we got her male housemate to carry the bookshelves in for us :-) LMS unpacked the microwave and she and another housemate oohed and aaahed over it and got quite excited!! We then decided that we would all watch LMS build her first ever flat pack (the bookshelves)!! She was rescued by the arrival of one of the housemates Dad's who builds flatpacks for a living!! His face was a picture when he came in and saw what they were trying to do lol.

Then all of a sudden it was time for me to be dropped off at the station. LMS and housemate took me there as LMS wasn't sure of the way home from the station, but housemate is a local girl and could direct her. I was quite nervous about the journey, not having much experience of train journeys and connecting trains!! LMS assured me I would be fiiiiiiine :-) I only waited a few minutes for the train to arrive, and it was almost empty so I found a nice seat and settled down to read my book. I was on there for about three hours, so I got a lot of reading done!

I had to spend an hour at the next station waiting for my connection, but I bought a drink, found somewhere to sit and carried on reading. Its not often I get the chance to read without being interrupted, so it was a lovely treat. When I got on the next train I found myself sitting opposite to the same lady as on the last train!! We did the English thing - smiled distantly at each other and ignored each other for the rest of the journey, apart from to say goodbye lol.

I was very impressed with the guard on the train, he found a mum and young son on the train who had missed their stop. When he told them this the little boy sobbed and seemed very very scared, poor lad. The guard had a word with the driver and they made an unscheduled stop at the next station and he told them how to get back to where they should have been - what a lovely man :-) The journey was very hard, getting further and further away from LMS and missing her so much. I hope everyone around me thought the tears I was constantly fight back were because of my book!!

The nearer we got to my destination the more excited I was about seeing Mr Messy, Drama Teen and Little Prince, so I was quite disappointed that they weren't on the platform to meet me. However, as I got to the station entrance - there they were :-) I got a HUGE, clinging hug off Little Prince who kept telling me how much he'd missed me, its nice to be loved :-) But I think it also shows that he isn't as secure as he could be :-( Though he has come on in leaps and bounds, a year ago he couldn't have coped at all with Mummy being away overnight!!

We went out for tea on the way home. Little Prince decided on pasta, but as soon as it arrived he decided he didn't want pasta!! It was late and he was over excited so we just let him eat what he could and fed him bits of our meals.

Saturday - Back to University

On Saturday, after plenty of prevarication and stalling, LMS FINALLY got all her stuff packed in boxes and bags and Mr Messy and Drama Teen got it all in her car. And after even more prevaricating (from me this time) we finally set off to take her (and her car) back to Uni. It was hard work driving and concentrating on not crying!! We decided to split the journey and visit my Mum and Dad on the way over, and when we were almost there I made LMS do some driving, so that she could practice driving using her new GPS. Even though she had to drive on the motorway (for one junction) and cope with a traffic jam on a steep hill, she managed perfectly and I was very very proud of her :-) I know she found it hard work and not enjoyable at all, but she did it and survived :-)

We had a lovely visit and lunch with Mum and Dad and it was great to see Dad looking so well again :-) But inevetibily we had to say our goodbyes and set off again. This leg of the journey was longer and more tiring, by the time I could have done with a rest we were almost there so we ploughed on. When we arrived at LMS's cottage we unloaded all her stuff, helped by her housemates (thank you) and started to arrange her room. We were having lots of fun deciding where to put things and putting up all her pictures and posters, when we got a call from our B&B asking us to be there to check in within half an hour! I thought this was a bit off, but Uni Town was totally booked up so we had to do as we were told. The B&B man then wanted paying there and then, and didn't take cards and we didn't have enough cash!! So we had to leave him a deposit and go to the nearest supermarket to get the rest of the cash out, while we were there we did LMS's food shopping - she shopped I paid!!

We took all her shopping back to the cottage and got it all put away, not a bad achievement given that they have one tiny freezer between four of them!! We arranged a few more bits and then I took her and her housemates out for a meal. As I said before Uni Town was full, so it took an HOUR to get a table and then another half an hour to get our food!! We were all starving by the time it arrived!! We went straight back to our B&B after the meal as we were extremely tired, the others went 'scrumping' for logs!!! Don't ask?!?!

The room at the B&B was tiny and quite cramped, but we were so tired we didn't care and the bed was comfortable so everything was fine. Well apart from other guests getting back late and being very noisy and LMS grinding her teeth!! I didn't get much sleep!!!

The rest of today

Me and LMS went to see Little Prince's Merit Assembly, where the children are presented with certificates for good achievements in the past week. We managed to get there in time to hand over Little Prince's 5m swimming certificate, so that he was presented with that during the assembly - he was very proud (and so were we) :-) Afterwards I talked to his teacher to see how Little Prince had coped with the class spelling test, he knew the simples three word spellings, but would not be able to write them out like the rest of the class. I'm not sure I understood what the problem was, but apparently Little Prince couldn't do the spellings at all and she has just given him initial sounds to learn for next week. I'm very puzzled about this as Little Prince had no problem whatsoever verbally spelling all his words for me, and he knows all his letter sounds and can recognise all his letters?? I'll have to talk to her properly about it next week! She did say however, that his reading is great and so is his number work, and that in science he is already working at a level 2. Its such a shame that he has so many problems with his writing as he is such a bright little boy :-(

After school it was a bit of a rush as Little Prince had his swimming lesson, and I asked Drama Teen to take him upstairs and get his swimming bag ready and get Little Prince changed. Little Prince didn't like this one bit, he wanted to laze on the sofa and have a snack, and refused to co-operate with Drama Teen and needed Mummy intervention! He then went downstairs and lay on the sofa sobbing that he didn't want to go swimming!! I insisted that he was going, and when we got there he was quite happy, despite whinging the whole way to the pool! He was so energetic during the lesson that he and the teacher got through loads of stuff, and she said they'd done 3-4 lessons worth of swimming in one lesson!! And when it was time to come home, he hid in the boys toilets refusing to come out (and knowing I couldn't go in and get him!!) because he loved swimming and didn't want to go home!!! KIDS!!!!

Thank you Secret Pal Keri

Yesterday I received a lovely parcel from my July LID Secret Pal Keri :-) It had some bath toys (chosen by her older girls - thank you so much), a ladybird notebook, a taggy blankie pal and some ladybird beads. It was lovely surprise to receive this, thank you so much Keri :-)

Today

After getting Little Prince to school, and warning his teacher that he might be sad/upset because LMS is returning to University tomorrow, I came home, woke LMS up and then went out to the bank. I had to withdraw the money to go and pay for Mr Messy's new car. It was pretty scary walking back to the car with that much money in my bag, but I made it safely enough and drove straight to the garage with my doors locked!! And Mr Messy's car is now all paid for and ready to be picked up tomorow morning :-)

When I got home LMS was busily sorting out her route for her motorway driving lesson today. It was almost time for her to leave when she burst into tears and said she didn't want to go and she was sure she would be killed on the motorway, and that it was hard enough driving without having to think about her route on a motorway!! Many tissues later she was in the car and setting off, still upset and unhappy, but at least she was on her way. I'm sure she will be fine and she really does need these lessons to boost her confidence and help her overcome her fear of driving on a motorway and of getting lost. Apparently if she dies she is going to haunt me, so hopefully she will be ok!!!

Yesterday

LMS was a complete star yesterday and let me have a lie in :-) Little Prince had woken me up at stupid o'clock (way before 6am!!) and I was absolutely tired out! I woke the girls up when my alarm went off and asked LMS if I could have half an hour back in bed, and she managed to get her sister off to the bus in time and her brother fed, dressed and up to school and left me in bed till after 10am. Bliss :-)

Mr Messy was home in the afternoon, and we both walked up to school to get Little Prince. We were in the middle of sorting out why he had someone else's school jumper when he was 'kidnapped' by his girlfriend H, to go and play at her house! So we ended up walking home without him, just with all his bags lol. When we got back LMS made bolognaise for everyone while I got Little Prince's swimming stuff sorted out and then went and picked him up from H's house. He has changed his swimming lesson day so that he is in the same class as H, which he is much happier about. The lesson went slightly better than last weeks, but still seemed like organised chaos as the teacher isn't that experienced and has to deal with a wide range of ages and abilities. When we got back from swimming I handed Little Prince over to Mr Messy who was in charge of feeding and bathing him, as I was getting ready to go out for a meal with a couple of friends. Drama Teen had come back from her friends house and had her reheated bolognaise, and LMS had gone out for a motorway driving lesson.

I had a great time with my friends, we had a nice meal and a good natter :-) We are planning to do this again about once a month, which should be lovely :-) When I got home I asked LMS how the motorway driving had gone, and she HATED it! It was scary, there was too much going on and she never wants to do it again!! Trouble is she has another lesson tomorrow morning!!! Oh dear!! She needs to learn and to boost her confidence as she is taking her car to University tomorrow (well I'm driving it all the way there and coming home on the train!) and she will be very restricted if she won't/can't use motorways.

More Owies!!

Little Prince is certainly in the wars (as my Grandma used to say)!! On the way home from school yesterday he fell off his scooter and scraped his thigh, his knee and his hand!! He cried a lot and didn't want to go on his scooter again until we were nearly home - it was obviously the scooter's fault and not his own for going to fast!! He felt better after a lot of sympathy from his big sisters and spent ages cuddled up with LMS under a blanket soaking up the sympathy :-)

My Best Friend Mad Cat Lady came round before tea to look at Wolfie's eyes, as they seem to be crying!! She has given us some cat eye wipes (who even knew they made such things!!) and said it doesn't look infected and not to worry :-) She also gave Little Prince a Florida brochure that she'd picked up when she was collecting our tickets - which he loved :-) We made her laugh by giving her a Disney Princess photo frame and Marie Cat compact mirror, that Drama Teen had grown out of!!! Mad Cat Lady really loved them :-)

When Mr Messy got home from work he and Drama Teen flew around getting ready to go to their Photography Club and I went out to pick up the GPS system we'd ordered for LMS to take to University. When I got back LMS had fed Little Prince AND got him to bed - she is a star :-)

During all this chaos the mechanic brought my car back. He'd had a hose pipe on it to try and see where the water could be getting in, and none had got in!! Then on the way home he'd taken it to a jet wash and water had got in, but only slightly!! Mr Messy is going to ring him and discuss what to do with it!! It obviously does have a problem as the spare wheel compartment keeps filling up with water and the car smells damp - but how to fix it is the problem!!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen had a good time at their Photography Club, although they were both disappointed that they couldn't enter the Club competition as the photographic mounts they'd ordered hadn't arrived! The judge did have a look at their photos and gave them some pointers, so at leas they got something out of it.

Carless!!!

That's CAR-less not careless!!! My car is in the garage today so Mr Messy has the other car so I'm stuck in the house and can't get anywhere!! Normally it doesn't bother me and the car sits outside unused. But today because I haven't got it, I WANT it!!! So instead of going out somewhere interesting I get to sort out yet more cupboards!! Urgh!! I'm beginning to see the attraction of a messy, cluttered and disorganised house, which is why our house is messy, cluttered and disorganised lol. This sorting out is hard work!!!

Another New Blogger!!

I think Drama Teen was feeling left out, so she has made her own blog too :-) I'm sure she'd appreciate some visitors and comments so please go HERE to see the world according to Drama Teen!!! What a scary thought!!!

As these are the girl's own blogs and they are both old enough to make decisions themselves about using their image on the internet, they have both been told they can post pictures if they want. The pictures will NOT be including me, Mr Messy or Little Prince, so we can preserve some of our privacy, and after some of the posts on this blog, some of our dignity!!!

Bl**dy Car Still Broke!!!

After picking Little Prince up from school, I dropped him and LMS at home and went back to the garage. The garage man asked if I could give him an hour, which was no problem I'd go and sit in the cafe and have a drink and a cake and read a magazine. Nope!! The cafe was just shutting!! No problem I'll go and sit in the library and read for a while. Nope!!! The library didn't open for another hour!!! Not my day really!!! So I had to sit on a park bench and read a magazine in the cold!! I went back to the garage and noticed the car sat outside with its wing mirror missing!! Went inside and was informed that the parts place had sent the wrong mirror and could I come back tomorrow?? Nope!! My car is in the garage tomorrow, having its "leaking when it rains" problem fixed!! Nothing is ever simple!!! So it will be Thursday before we can get the wing mirror fixed, but at least it will be done before LMS goes back to University. I'm sure she's relieved about that as it means the Bank of Mum & Dad pay instead of her lol!!

Owies at the Dentist!

Me and all three kids (yes I know LMS you are an adult now!!) were at the dentist's this morning. Little Prince went in first and confidently climbed into the chair and announced he had an owie tooth. The tooth is totally healthy, the problem is that as he bites it bangs into the tooth below it (probably his teeth are out of place due to his thumb sucking!). So all we can do is reassure him that his tooth is healthy and that it will probably get better when he gets his big teeth. While me and the dentist were discussing this Little Prince was trying to grab the dentist's instruments off the tray in front of him, and in trying to grab his hand and stop him I caught him with my nail on the side of his nose. He was VERY upset and cried, and there was blood. I feel an awful horrible Mummy, even though I know it was a complete accident and couldn't be helped, I still feel awful :-(

Me and the girls all got a clean bill of health too :-) We then dropped Drama Teen and then Little Prince back off at their respective schools. And while we were at Little Prince's school I had to explain his owie, and also look for his PE kit that he claimed was lost and find his school jumper, that again he claimed was nowhere to be found. Both were found on the floor of the class cloakroom!!
Me and LMS then took her car to the garage, where they were supposed to be swapping the battery over (they put one of their batteries in when they fixed it last and needed to give us our battery back) and fitting a new wing mirror that someone has kindly bent and broken!! Trouble was the assistant that I booked all this with hadn't told the other guy, who knew nothing about all of this!! He rang the first guy, who admitted he had forgotten to order the mirror!! The second man was very embarassed and ordered a new mirror there and then, it will be here later this afternoon, so I have to take the car back after picking Little Prince up from school to sort it out.
Meanwhile!!! Mr Messy has bought himself a new car (similar to the one above), that he is picking up on Saturday, he and LMS have been car sharing till now, but once her car is at University with her that won't be very practical lol. He does the nice/easy bit - test drives the car, choses which one he wants and orders it!! I have to do the hard bit - insure the darn thing!! It was quite complicated as I had to sort out a totally new policy for LMS (she can't be a named driver on her Dad's policy any more, it has to be her own policy) and change Mr Messy's from the old car to the new one!! After numerous phone calls and plenty of faffing around it is now all done!!!

Mountainering and Sorting!

I decided to have a quick look at Little Prince's downstairs bookshelves after tea, only intending to take out any books he had obviously grown out of or just weren't really suitable. I ended up having to completely sort out the shelves as one of them was broken!! I think its due to Little Prince mountainering up them to retrieve confiscated toys!!! I can't think of anything else which could have completely snapped the parts of the shelves that join to the sides of the bookcase!!! So instead of a quick few minutes job, I ended up sorting out for about an hour, but at least its another job done :-)

Its all coming together

I've just had a phone call from our LA to arrange our second opinion visit. Apparently this isn't a legal requirement for our Ethiopian application, but it is our LA's best practice and they would prefer that we have one done. It might make it easier at panel to have everything as similar as possible to the usual domestic applications, so we had agreed at last week's meeting to have this meeting. The social worker offered us a couple of different times/dates and I rang Mr Messy and he let me know which would fit in best with his work schedule. I will ring the social worker first thing tomorrow to confirm which date would be best, and take it from there.

A new blogger starts blogging

Yep LMS has caught the Blogging Bug!! She has started blogging in anticipation of working for Walt Disney World, Florida next year!! So can you all go and visit LMS and say "Hi" I'm sure she'd appreciate it :-)

My day so far

Apart from babysitting a nervy and worried LMS this morning, I have got other stuff done!! I had a franchise oven cleaning company come in and blitz our oven, and it looks all sparkly and clean and new :-) I just wish he'd done the grill pan, which I refuse to even put in the oven as it needs a very good scrub!! Once LMS had finished her interview we took loads more bags to the tip and to the charity shop. And then I treated her to a bacon buttie at the local cafe. I've just had a phone call from Mr Messy asking me to get his old golf clubs out of the attic, so that he can give them to someone at work. Yuk!! The attic has spiders!!!!

The interview!!

LMS had her telephone interview for working at Walt Disney World, Florida this morning!! She spent the morning thinking of sensible answers to the questions she'd been told in an internet forum she'd probably be asked. She got progressively more nervous as the morning went on! She hid upstairs (so that I couldn't eavesdrop - as if I would!! Well yes actually I would!!) just before the phone was due to ring. I think I was as nervous as she was, as I manically played solitaire on the computer while she was on the phone!! When she emerged back downstairs she was visibly shaking and said that was the scariest thing she had ever done!! She said she told the interviewer she was nervous, and she tried to put her at her ease and was very upbeat and friendly - which is just what LMS needed :-) She now has to wait three weeks to find out if she has progressed onto the next stage - a face to face interview!! Luckily the three weeks is up just after we get back from Florida, so she will be able to let me know as soon as she hears anything. Good luck LMS we're all rooting for you :-)

My boring mundane life

I don't do much do I?? Today's exciting event was a trip to the supermarket to stock up on things we've run out of, mainly kitten food!! The kittens have started to eat two sachets of kitten food per meal so we ran out a lot earlier than I anticipated, and you can't have hungry kittens!! I took Little Prince with me, as LMS wanted to have a shower and veg out in peace! And as usual when you take little kids shopping I ended up with a load more junk and stuff that I wouldn't normally have bothered with!! Its just easier to buy the darn things and get the shopping over and done with!!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen went out photographing ready for a competition they are entering. They were photographing a local tourist spot, which they hadn't realised had an activity on today, so the place was crowded and they didn't get very good photos unfortunately.

LMS has a telephone interview

I think I mentioned that LMS has applied to work at Disney World, Florida next Summer on their International College Programme. Well she found out on Friday (and I was too excited to blog!!) that she has a telephone interview next week. That means she has progressed to the next step in the application process :-) She was quite blase and unconcerned about this, I on the other hand screamed and danced around the lounge!!! For which I got soundly told off by LMS!!! Good luck LMS, it will be fiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!!

Collapse of XL!

To all our family members that were worried, luckily the collapse of XL will not affect our trip to Florida :-)

Boy's Day Out

I dropped Mr Messy and Little Prince at the train station today, as they are off to visit a Museum on a Boy's Day Out. Little Prince was very excited about this and has been asking if its time to go since he woke Daddy up at 7am this morning. However, the nearer we got to the train station, the more reasons he was coming up with to try to persuade Mummy to come too!! He tried "Its much nicer when we all go some place together" and "I hate museums" and "Tidying up is fun" (what I told him me and the girls would be doing while the boys had fun) and finally resorted to pretending to be asleep when we parked the car!! Once we'd got him out of the car he seemed happy and bouncy again. Hopefully both boys will have a fun day!!! On the way home I called in a shop and got Little Prince an Indiana Jones dressing up set, as that is what he wants to dress up as for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party we are attending at Disney :-)

When I got home I encouraged (she would say bullied lol) Drama Teen into sorting out and tidying more of her room. We only had her big bookcases left to do, but it took us most of the afternoon! She got rid of a pile of books, which LMS then went through to see if she wanted to pinch any, which she did! Poor Drama Teen then started to get a bad headache, so we left putting all the books, ornaments and assorted trinket boxes away for another time. While we were doing that LMS was sorting her bedroom into boxes ready for her return to University next weekend. She also had to sort the boxes into two piles 1. MUST go to Uni with her and 2. Could be delivered later. Again that took her all afternoon. And for some reason I seem to be lumbered with the huge pile of stuff for downstairs!! Mr Messy rang up to say they would be back at the station soon, so me and LMS took all the rubbish to the tip on the way to the station. Little Prince was a very tired and grumpy boy when he was in the car! We went to a fast food restaurant on the way home, and it was the WRONG fast food restaurant, so he initially refused to eat anything! We eventually persuaded him to eat a little, thank goodness. He then decided he wanted to go to the nearby toy shop, but we said no, knowing he had his dressing up outfit at home! He sulked and whined for most of the way home before falling fast asleep. He was so sleepy that after half an hour lay on the sofa, we thought we'd better put him to bed! Where he's stayed, fast asleep ever since.

As a 'well done' to Drama Teen for working so hard at sorting out her room, me and LMS decided to tidy up and put away all the rest of her ornaments, books and trinket boxes. LMS enjoys arranging things, so I left her to it, she had a whale of a time :-) She has even let Drama Teen have her Lava Lamp, as she has nowhere to plug it in at University, and its too delicate to store away in a box. Drama Teen seems suitably impressed by both the tidyness of her room and her newly acquired Lava Lamp :-) So by next weekend, when all the boxes are on their way to University, we will have THREE totally sorted and tidy rooms - LMS's, Drama Teen's and Little Prince's :-) We just need to get the rest of the house done then lol.

What happened at bedtime!

I was taking Little Prince to bed, and told him to go and say goodnight to his sisters, who were both in their bedrooms. I heard a commotion from Drama Teen's room and then a very upset Little Prince burst out of her room yelling "She's pulled my eyebows out!" Apparently he had been messing with her make up and to try and make him stop she'd plucked one of his eyebrow hairs!!! I had to take a very upset and worried Little Prince to the bathroom to check that he still had some eyebows (that's how he says it and I think its cute lol), which seemed to reassure him a little. I then had to go and tell Drama Teen off, with Little Prince still chuntering about how dangerous 'weezers were and that sisters shouldn't be allowed to pinch someone's eyebows!! And yes when I finally got back downstairs I laughed!! A lot!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRAULEIN!

Fraulein has turned the big ONE-EIGHT, so she can now legally drink in the UK, don't know about Germany. Either way it's a scary thought, she's dippy enough sober! Hope your birthday was a good one, and we'll get your present and card in the post eventually!!

Lots of Love Us
aka Your chaotic, disorganised English family!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Not a lot happening!

I've set LMS off at sorting out what things she needs to take back to University, and to tidy her bedroom - where all her Uni things are still strewn in boxes all over the floor. She is grumpy with me for making her do this, so I've been banished to stay downstairs out of the way!! Part of the grumpiness is due to her aching all over and especially her arms - she has suddenly upped her exercise routine to include the gym (yesterday), swimming (today) and her weekly pole dancing, plus I make her walk up to school and back with me and Little Prince. She is definitely feeling the 'benefits' of this at the moment!!!
NOT Drama Teen's collection - but it looks cool!!
I was very sad and slightly OCD last night, as I spent an hour or so sorting out Drama Teen's Disney pins (collectible badges). I had bought her a Pin Album ages ago, probably last year when I took the kids, and she had managed to put in ONE pin!! So rather than have them all round her bedroom and stuffed into an overfull tin, I sorted them out myself. LMS is grumpy with me about that too, as she enjoys doing 'sorting jobs' like that and had planned to take them to Uni with her to give her something to do! Sorry LMS I just couldn't resist lol.

Social Worker Meeting

On Tuesday our Social Worker and the Local Authority Team Leader came to visit. The Team Leader had a couple of concerns regarding our amended homestudy report, and wanted to clarify things with us. Of course as soon as I'd heard this I started to worry and panic!! I cleaned and tidied the house, I'm relaxing a bit as I only did downstairs lol, which is my usual method of stopping myself worrying about upcoming meetings!! The meeting went fine!! It was a doddle!! We repeated things we had told Team Leader on the phone and that was it!! I can't believe they scheduled a meeting for that!!!! We discussed the fact that the Local Authority had been advised that updated references should be sought, and Team Leader said a phone call from our Social Worker to each of our referees should be fine :-)

Our Social Worker has since emailed me to let me know that the amended report was in the post on its way back to our Local Authority! Already!!! As soon as she receives the original references from the Local Authority in the post, she will ring our referees and get that sorted out. She says everything is coming together nicely and looking positive for Panel :-) Wow!! I even feel a little smidgen of confidence about this :-)

More Sorting Out

I sorted out my computer desk this morning :-) It feels so much nicer working at a tidy desk - I wish I'd done it earlier!!

This afternoon, when LMS had returned from the gym we sorted out Little Prince's walk in cupboard in his bedroom. He had a huge stack of toys that he has grown out of or never really played with, and as I was in a ruthless mood they all went to the charity shop :-) So now all the stuff we bought to decorate his new bedroom while we were in America, is put away in the cupboard, instead of cluttering up my bedroom :-)
We then had to go and pick Little Prince up from school, and I dropped off his 'dyspraxia equipment' (well a sensory cushion, special scissors and writing slope). School have ordered all of this equipment to help Little Prince, but it hasn't arrived yet, so I offered them the use of his own stuff that we use at home and his teacher jumped at the chance. She was telling me how well he has settled in, and how hard he tries to do the work like the other children do. She is very pleased with how he is doing, and of course I am very proud of him :-) We think he did get stressed by the visit from a drumming company this afternoon though, as he chewed the front of his shirt until it was drenched!
After we had collected Little Prince we drove over to the local car garage, to make a note of ages, makes and prices of the cars available. Mr Messy has got to seriously start looking for a car as LMS is going back to University soon, and taking her car (that she and her Dad currently share) with her! The garage we actually visited had nowhere near as many cars as shown in the picture lol.

Charity Shop Run :-)

I've just come back from a trip to the charity shop :-) I thought I was too late and that it would have already shut, but I had to drive past it to go to the petrol station anyway - and to my delight it was still open :-) So that's an empty boot waiting to be filled with more stuff to be got rid of :-) Me and Drama Teen are tackling more of her room tonight after her guitar lesson, so hopefully we will get enough sorted out to make another 'charity shop run' tomorrow :-) And Mr Messy is at home, so I can take our other car to the tip - its boot has been full of stuff to be thrown away for a few days, but we've not had the chance to take it yet!!

LMS has texted to say she is safely on her train on her way home from University Town. She is meeting her Dad at his train station, and they will come home together. Little Prince will be thrilled as he has missed her a LOT. I'm dreading her going back to University for her new term, it will be so hard on all of us again.

Having a break!

I dropped Little Prince off at school this morning, and he was just as excited and eager to go in as he was last week :-) I'd had my fingers crossed all weekend that he would still be happy to go :-) One of his friends cried, he had a sore throat and didn't feel himself, poor lad :-(

Today has been my first chance to sort out Little Prince's toys, with him not around I can be more ruthless!! So more bags are ready for the charity shop and the tip :-) I can't believe how much rubbish I found buried in his toybox!!! So now I'm having a break - not having a KitKat though lol.

Today's Blurb

LMS went from Baby Sis's house to her University Town today, to pick up her keys to the house she and her friend's are renting this year. Apparently is cold and she got a surprise present - a water bill in her name that has to be paid in advance!! Luckily all her friends are there picking up their keys and they have worked out how much each of them owes so she can sort that out.

This morning Mr Messy and Drama Teen went to one of Mr Messy's friend's to photograph their baby. I've seen the photos and they are gorgeous :-) Me and Little Prince had a lazy sort of day (I'm still recovering from yesterday's train journeys!!), played some Play Doh, cuddled up and watched tv and read some books.

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen got home we all went out to Pizza Hut for tea, as I was too tired to cook. Little Prince really enjoyed chosing what to put on his ice cream factory dessert :-) And unlike when the girls were younger, he actually ate it all up!!

Later on when he was in bed me and Drama Teen got some more of her bedroom sorted out. More bags loaded into the car ready to take to either the tip or the charity shop. Tomorrow we start tackling the bookcases!! Well if she doesn't have too much homework, as that has to take priority lol. I think at the moment Drama Teen would rather do hours of homework than any more sorting out!! But it was her idea to do this to her room, and it will be much easier to keep tidy once she has less stuff in there!!

Yesterday's Nightmare!!

Yesterday started at 5am and ended after midnight!! The train journey there, which should have taken about 3 hours took FIVE!! And the one coming home took SIX - three of which we had to stand up!!! That's what happens when you try and cram three or four train's worth of people onto one train!!! Drama Teen missed the morning of her "Beauty Inside and Out Day" but enjoyed the afternoon, which included the pampering by beauticians session. She also met a friend from her Summer Camp, and had a great time chatting to her. I spent the few hours I had in Edinburgh wandering round the fab shops on Princes Street, I didn't buy much (only a few books) as I'd been shopping the day before with my friend. But it was nice to window shop :-)

Once Drama Teen had finished her "Beauty Day" we ate a quick fast food meal, before heading for the station. After the delayed journey that morning, we were wondering if we would actually get home, and got to the station in plenty of time. All trains heading to Edinburgh from home's direction were severely delayed or cancelled!! Not a great start!! We eventually found that there was only one option to get home, and we would have to wait 3/4s of an hour for that train. There was nowhere to sit and wait where we could see the announcement boards, so that we would know what platform to use, so we stood and waited!! As soon as the platform was shown we rushed there, only to find a few hundred other people already knew and were massed on the platform. It wasn't long before the train pulled in, I made Drama Teen hold onto me and we pushed our way onto the train together. There were no seats left, apart from in First Class - which even in these sort of circumstances the train company would not let you sit in unless you paid a hefty supplement!! We ended up standing in the luggage bit of one carriage all the way to Newcastle. Luckily enough people left the train in Newcastle that we were able to get seats together - we could have sat down seperately earlier, but Drama Teen was adamant that she wouldn't sit next to a stranger! My poor aching back and feet really appreciated that seat :-) We got chatting to a group of people from Down South who had just been on a team building exercise on one of the Scottish Islands, which sounded like an episode of "I'm a Celebrity" complete with eating bugs and sleeping in the open!! Although I think I would have prefered the Australian jungle to the midge infested island they were on!!

LMS kept us up to date as to what her, Mr Messy and Little Prince were up to at the family wedding! Little Prince was good during the long service, playing on his GameBoy with the sound turned off. But he didn't cope at all with the sit down reception meal!! There was nowhere for him to run off some energy and he couldn't manage to sit still through the formal dinner, and had LMS in tears at one point :-( They left early!! LMS was dropped off with Baby Sis, as she was going to her Uni Town to pick up her keys to the house she and her friend's are renting this year, and she was half way there and it would have been silly to come home again. Mr Messy and Little Prince then drove home, and they arrived home before we even reached Newcastle!! Despite having set off waaaay after we did!!!

By the time we eventually reached our destination I was ready to cry!! And I still had half an hour's drive to go :-( Drama Teen chatted to me, and kept me awake during the drive and we finally got home after midnight this morning!! What a day!!!!!!

I'm on the train!!!!

Me and Drama Teen are off to Edinburgh today for a Changing Faces "Beauty Inside and Out" day (self esteem work and pampering session for teenage girls). And how sad is this - I'm blogging on the train!!!! Our train was delayed and in the end they cancelled a different train, made the disgruntled original passengers get off and changed it into our train!! But at least we are on our way now, and Drama Teen seems to have stopped whinging about being tired for the moment!

Deep Thoughts from Little Prince

I'm not sure what set him off, but Little Prince has been asking why he has three mummies (Tummy Mummy, Foster Mummy and Me). He named all his school friends and pointed out that they all live with their Tummy Mummies and that its not fair that he doesn't. He says he misses her and it makes him sad not to live with her, and that all babies should stay with their Tummy Mummies. Poor little thing, adoption is such a HUGE concept for a child to grasp. He's totally right all babies SHOULD be able to stay with their Tummy Mummies and in an ideal world he wouldn't have been seperated from his Tummy Mummy and would have been able to grow up safe in her care. I can't take away the hurt and pain this is causing him, but I can listen and hug him when he wants to talk about it. Big big hugs Little Prince ((((((((((()))))))))))

Shopping Day

As the children have settled back into school so well, with no traumas, me and my friend spent the day shopping at a large shopping centre. Luckily with the weather being so awful, its an indoor shopping centre!! Lots of shops had their Summer stuff on sale, so I've got lots of nice tops for my trip to Florida :-) LMS was on school pick up duty, so me and my friend were able to stay out a little later and have an early meal together. Its nice to be able to spend time with her and not to have to worry about the kids - not sure what I'm going to do once LMS goes back to uni!! I've just tried everything on that I bought and everything fits apart from one top :-)

Medicals

Me and Mr Messy went for our new adoption medicals this morning, as the DCSF want them to be less than 6 months old when they receive them, and our old ones have run out. First we had the basic checks done by the nurse before going in to see the Doctor. The Doctor was surprised at how detailed and thorough the checks were, and said that he felt that relying more on our medical histories rather than a battery of tests would be much more reliable and less time consuming! But we ploughed our way through the form and he was very happy to give his recommendation that we are medically fit enough to adopt :-)

Fabulous First Day Back at School

Drama Teen and Little Prince both started back at school today. Drama Teen was very organised packing her school bag last night, and taking her PE Kit just in case. I hope this is a step in the right direction as she can be extremely dizzy about stuff like that!!

Little Prince has been excited and scared in about equal measure about the upcoming return to school. He was up and awake before anyone else this morning, and only whinged a little bit when I got downstairs and made him turn the TV off (we have a no TV before school rule). He ate his breakfast, ran upstairs to brush his teeth and get dressed in his uniform and was happily scootering up and down the hall while I got ready. He read his reading book with very little effort, which isn't bad as he hasn't seen it since breaking up six weeks ago! He was a little miffed that Mr Messy couldn't walk up to school with us (he was on a conference call with work) but apart from that was eager and raring to go. When we got to school he parked his scooter and then hung around near his old classroom door, until I called him over to his new waiting spot! One of his friends gave him a present from his holidays, it was a wooden crocodile so Little Prince was very impressed :-) When the bell rang he was a bit hesitant as he wasn't sure where to line up, but all the other children in his class were the same and insisting Mums and/or Dads had to accompany them to their line. Once he was lined up with his friends he chatted away very happily and marched into school without a backward glance :-)

What a complete turn around from his reaction last year when he started Reception. I am so proud of how far my Little Prince has come :-) Well done brave Little Prince :-)

Hair Raising Day!

In the morning me and Little Prince had to go and pick LMS up from her sleepover. I tried to get in touch with her and say could we pick her up an hour later than arranged, but her mobile was turned off and we had to rush round to get ready in time. LMS sent me a text saying the later pick up was fine, but we were almost there by then so it was a bit late!! After lunch our hairdresser arrived to re-colour Drama Teen's hair. Mr Messy had been doing it with semi-permanent colours and it has been fading pretty quickly and looking patchy. She loves having it her new colour, so we thought we might as well have it done properly with a permanent colour that isn't going to fade and will look smarter for school (who have a new headmistress and are getting VERY strict about the rules on appearance). She loved the result and it looks so shiny and feels beautifully soft :-)
Afterwards we did even more sorting out, and when it got to about quarter to five we filled up the boot with all the bags and set off for the tip and charity shop. The trouble is the charity shop closed at 4pm and the tip isn't open on Wednesdays!! Not a very productive trip really! Although we did drop off the ironing and a big bag of Bratz and Barbies with my Ironing Angel and her young daughter - who was thrilled with the Bratz/Barbies and not bothered at all about the ironing lol.
We had time for a little more sorting out before Mr Messy came home from work, and he and Drama Teen went to the local photography club. Mr Messy stormed up the stairs and started yelling at Drama Teen, she had been told to put her camera and two lenses away (they have been on the dining room table for ages) and hadn't done yet. Unfortunately one of the kittens must have knocked over one of the lenses and its cracked - a NINE HUNDRED POUND lens!!! No wonder he was cross!! No wonder Drama Teen cried!!! Mr Messy is hoping he can get the lens repaired. They made friends again at the photography club, probably because they were both whinging it was a boring meeting!!
During the evening we had a visit from a franchise cleaning company, that I'm going to employ to do a thorough deep clean of the house and then a regular clean (not sure if we'll need weekly or every other week, we'll have to see) to keep the place looking ship shape. I think the lady was horrified at how much junk and clutter we have around the place, as she admitted she is much more minimalistic at her house!! I've booked the deep clean for when we are back from Florida, so we now have a deadline to get all the clutter and junk sorted!! Hopefully that will galvanise my wayward family into getting organised!!!

Dad's Home :-)

Just heard from my Mum that Dad is home safe and sound :-) All thanks to Baby Sis's friend who works for the Ambulance Service :-) Dad had been told that he could go home today if he could get a lift in a car, a bit difficult as he was struggling to get in and out of a chair let alone in and out of a car!! So Baby Sis got in touch with her friend, who went to get Dad and delivered him home :-) Apparently he was quite tired and has gone for a nap :-) Wonderful to hear he's home now though :-)

Litttle Prince's Bucket List

I had to pick LMS up from her sleepover this morning and on the way home we were chatting about how her Bucket List making had gone. Little Prince wanted to know what a Bucket List was and could he have one. So below, and unedited is Little Prince's very own Bucket List!

- Be a power ranger
- Be a museum guard (so he can see all the exhibits come alive at night!)
- Be a psychologist (he meant Paleontologist!)
- Save the world (That would be REALLY cool, he said)
- Be a builder (LMS was told "To build houses for people, silly!" when she asked why)
- Go to Tummy Daddy's country
- Learn to speak a different language (he decided on Australian!)
- Learn to play guitar
- Be in a band
- Learn to play drums
- Drive a car and race
- Go to Africa on safari like one of LMS's friends
- Solve mysteries like Scooby Doo
- Be in Star Wars
- Drive lots of Star Wars ships
- Work in a factory and make food
- Feed pussy cats
- Have a million pussy cats!
- Go on "Rock N Roller Coaster" (Disney ride)
- Learn how cars and trains and boats work
- Destroy Darth Vader
- Destroy droids
- Help R2-D2 be clever like a jedi
- Be a jedi
- Be a Clone Trooper (can you guess what film he's just watched on DVD lol)
- Learn how to build rockets
- Be able to drive a megazord
- Be Father Christmas (when he gets very old)
- Be Bumblebee (but he decided it would be very hard to be a robot!)
- Be a loony toon (He's already one!)
- Ride a dinosaur
- Learn to do more maths
- Help the good guys defeat the bad guys

Nothing but Hospitals!

Monday
Me and LMS got up early to take Little Prince for some blood tests, ordered by his paediatrician to check if there was anything underlying his behavioural issues. I was dreading it and didn't sleep well the night before, lay awake for hours redesigning mine and Mr Messy's bedroom, as you do!! Anyway we got to the hospital, got checked in and waited, Little Prince was perfectly happy as there were loads of toys and things to do (it is the Children's Unit lol). The nurse called us in to put the Emla cream on, and advised putting Little Prince's jumper back on, as being warm will help his veins stand out. He wasn't happy about this, he is happiest with as few clothes as possible! But we insisted!! Half an hour or so later we were called back in and two nurses took the blood. I sat with Little Prince on my knee, with one nurse with her back to us holding his arm, blocking his view of what was going on. The other nurse took the blood. When it was all finished, Little Prince looked at his arm and asked in a puzzled sounding voice "Did it hurt?" lol.
When we got home we ran round getting ready to travel across country, to see my Dad and for Drama Teen to see her speech therapist. Luckily travelling at midday the traffic was busy but moving and it didn't take us too long to get to the hotel we were staying at. I left the three children there, with a suitcase full of toys for Little Prince to play with, and pointed out the indoor play centre at the adjoining pub and the fast food restaurant across the car park.
I surprised myself by finding my Dad's hospital with no problem!! When I got there, Mum was already there chatting with Dad, who looked so much better - in his own pyjamas and sat in the chair by his bed :-) He was disappointed to not be going home that day (his birthday) but hopeful that he would be discharged the next day. His prostate has become enlarged, causing waterworks problems, which has to be solved before he can be allowed home. We spent half an hour or so chatting, before getting a phone call from my sister and her husband wondering where the car park was! When they phoned again to say they were in the hospital, Mum sent me down to reception to find them and bring them to the ward. We must have missed each other in the lifts as I wandered round looking for them before finding them, in the Day Room WITH Dad :-) He had decided that as Sister and BIL had their four kids with them, he would walk to the Day Room so that he could see the kids too :-)
Once visiting time was over I took Mum for a cup of tea in the hospital cafe, and then we walked back to the car, meeting Baby Sis and her Fiance on the way! They warned us about bad traffic on our normal route to Mum's house, so we took a different way and didn't get stuck too badly. I dropped Mum off and raced back to the hotel to see how the kids had coped!! They had stayed in the room the whole time and were climbing the walls by the time I got there - Little Prince almost literally!!! He and Drama Teen had been playing jump on Mummy's bed - but had remade it before I came!! They showed me the photos later and it had been a mess!!! We went straight to the Pub for some tea and Little Prince was quite hyped up and not happy that he now didn't have time to go to the indoor play area! Once we'd finished our main courses, I left the girls to have some dessert and took Little Prince back to the hotel to try and get him settled to sleep. His new Ready Bed (on a test run before our Disney trip) took longer to get ready than I thought, then Mr Messy rang to see how we all were, so he wasn't in bed by the time the girls got back. Which made settling him down a bit more tricky, but he eventually fell fast asleep leaving us girls to chat. We were mostly talking about the Bucket List (list of things to do before you kick the bucket!) that LMS was compiling, ready for going to her friend's house tomorrow when a whole bunch of them are making and decorating their lists!!
Tuesday
We had to be up bright and early to be able to get breakfast at the hotel, before having to set off for Drama Teen's appointment. Once we'd all eaten and packed up our stuff we set off for the city centre. I'd expected the drive to be horrendous given that we had to be there for 9.30am, but it wasn't too bad really. We had just parked the car and were walking over to the hospital, when I received a call! "Is this Drama Teen's Mum its the hospital here, we just wondered if you were on your way?" My heart fell, as they went on to explain that the speech therapist had just called in sick! I snapped at the poor receptionist, that to get there for 9.30am we'd had to stay in a hotel overnight, and that we were minutes away from the hospital by now!! She advised us to come up to the Unit and they would see if they could get hold of another of the speech therapists to come and see Drama Teen to save us a wasted journey. Once we got in I apologised for snapping and took the kids to the waiting room to wait lol. The receptionist came back within a couple of minutes and said that someone would be able to see Drama Teen at about 10am, so could we come back then. We decided to go round to the nearby huge Museum, which Little Prince got VERY excited about, he loves museums he told us :-) When we got there we found it didn't open until 10am!! So we spent ages sat in the cafe, not eating as we were still full from the hotel breakfast lol. Eventually it was time for me and Drama Teen to return to the hospital, and for LMS and Little Prince to explore the museum.
Drama Teen's speech therapist checked her speech and said there was a very slight lisp to her 's' sound, but that she shouldn't worry as it was only very slight. She then spent quite a long time explaining how Drama Teen could improve her 's' sound and gave her exercises to do each day to facilitate this. She will refer us to the local speech therapy department and said that if in the school holidays we want to come over for a long (all morning or afternoon) appointment to do some intensive speech therapy work, then just let her know. This is one of the major reasons we have stuck with Drama Teens original surgical/care team - they are so helpful and willing to go that extra mile for her :-)
We collected LMS and Little Prince from the Museum, and LMS waited in the cafe while I took Drama Teen and Little Prince to see the Mummy Exhibit (LMS was too queasy to show him that bit!!). Then we set off home again. We stopped for some lunch at a lovely country cafe we'd discovered a few weeks ago. On the journey Drama Teen arranged to go to see a film with her friend, that was on top of the arrangements LMS had already made to see her friends!! We ended up dropping LMS off at her friend's house on the way home (well a quite long detour rather than on the way home!) before FINALLY going home for about ten minutes, before setting off in the opposite direction to drop Drama Teen at the cinema. Luckily for me the film finished late enough for Mr Messy to be able to pick her up on his way home from work. I was sick and tired of driving by then!! So I almost cried when we were nearly home and LMS rang to ask if I could drop her stuff off as she and her friend's had decided to make it a sleepover!! Mr Messy took pity on me later and took LMS her things - thank you Mr Messy :-)
So that's it two days, three hospitals and a lot of driving!!! Hopefully things will calm down now, especially as Drama Teen and Little Prince are back at school tomorrow!!