Thursday

Me, Little Prince and Princess Lollipop drove over to see my Mum and Dad and drop off some family presents over there. I had tried to persuade Drama Teen to come with us and help me look after the littlies while I was driving, but she wanted to stay at home and see her Boyfriend and exchange their Xmas presents. I was very disappointed as our in car dvd players aren't working and Princess Lollipop HATES long car journeys at the moment :-( The journey there wasn't too bad as she fell asleep pretty quickly :-)

When we arrived at Mum and Dad's house, my Lil Sis's four eldest were already there and just about to start baking with Grandma, once she had finished chatting to her sister (in Australia) on the phone. The four cousins were surprised and very excited to see us, we hadn't told them we might visit as they would have been disappointed if the weather had prevented us coming. Trouble is they (and Little Prince) all went crazy and loud because they weren't expecting to see each other. The chaos and noise upset and scared Princess Lollipop, so me and her shut ourselves in the kitchen to make lunch, leaving my Mum to supervise the other five!! lol there's method in my madness :-)

Once I'd made lunch I took Princess Lollipop in the front room, where it was calm and quiet. Lil Sis's Eldest was in there doing some homework, as a teenager he was "too old" to bake with Grandma lol. Princess Lollipop settled down and came out of her shell very quickly once she had a bit of peace and quiet. Little Prince and the cousins came in one by one at various intervals, and Princess Lollipop coped very well with that arrangement. I have no idea how on earth Mum coped baking with them all, she has the patience of a saint :-) Especially as both Little Prince and one of Lil Sis's boys have very similar issues and wind each other up to fever pitch on occasional!! Mum I really wish I had your patience, and I wish I had it NOW!!!

We couldn't stay too long as it had been snowing on and off at home and I wanted to be able to travel home in daylight! So I started to get the littlies ready to leave. Mum had other ideas, and took them all for a walk in the snow, including Princess Lollipop all snuggled up in her snowsuit! When they got back I loaded the littlies into the car and sadly we had to say goodbye and get on our way.

The journey home was a complete nightmare! Princess Lollipop cried and screamed and shouted "Up Mummy" until I was nearly crying too! I had to stop at the next Service Station mainly to get out of the car!! We ate while we were there, and I hoped that having had a run round and a full tummy might have helped Princess Lollipop cope with the rest of the journey. For five minutes I was pleased that my plan had worked, and then she started again - louder and longer and getting herself even more upset. Me and Little Prince were both almost in tears with her, nothing we did seemed to calm her down :-( In the end Little Prince was a hero and managed to persuade her to hold his hand and she stopped sobbing constantly, and just cried on and off for the rest of the journey. It was a long, long journey!!! And I was sooooo glad when it was finally over, and I could flop on the sofa and relax :-)