Sunday Party Time

Little Prince attended his friend Y's Laser Tag Party, rather than being held inside, the party was at an outdoor centre!  There were various scenarios set up for the children to battle in, for example they started off battling to control four wooden towers.  There was no rhyme or reason to how the children conducted their battle - they just ran up and down shouting and shooting :-)  They battled through three other scenarios, in exactly the same fashion lol.  They all had a wonderful time :-)  After the weary soldiers had finished their battles it was rations time - hot dogs and birthday cake :-)

It was a perfect day out for Little Prince, running round in dirt and mud, "shooting" his friends and generally being a typical noisy boy :-)

At least today started well!!!

Well oversleeping and having to rush round like a maniac to get me and Princess Lollipop ready in time to go to Dancing Class, wasn't exactly the best start - but we got there on time and Princess Lollipop enjoyed her lesson.  She was so funny though, she struggled to follow the moves and keeping turning round to wave at me didn't help her either - she grinned through the whole lesson and obviously had a great time.  I think she'll be a ballerina more in the style of her biggest sister than of Darcy Bussell though :-)

After the lesson we went to OUR new shop to pick up Little Prince and bring him home.  Mr Messy was surprised that Drama Teen wasn't with us, as he was under the impression that she was coming over to the shop.  When we got home I woke her up (!!!) and asked her what she was doing today, and she said that once she was ready she wanted me to run her to a local Pub/Restaurant so that she could ask if they had any vacancies and drop off her CV with them.  Then she wanted to go to the Food Fayre in Our new shop's village and then she was off to the Shop to work with her Dad for the afternoon.

The Food Fayre was disappointingly small, but the stalls it did have were lovely :-)  As it was nearly the end of the Fayre, the Littlies were given a free cake-pop each.  Fussy Princess Lollipop when asked which one she wanted, pointed to a big cupcake!!  In the end she was persuaded to chose a cake-pop instead, but had to check out ALL of them before choosing a white and pink cat-like one.  Little Prince ate his in seconds, I'm sure it went in, in one bite!!  Whereas Princess Lollipop carried her carefully in two hands for ages, until we told her she could actually eat it!!  She hadn't realised that lol, however, she took one bite and declared it "not nice" so her helpful Big Brother finished it for her (we do feed him honest).

Next I got myself an ostrich burger, it was soooooo yummy :-)  Little Prince said he didn't want one, which surprised me as he normally loves burgers.  It later transpired that he did want one, but as they only had one on the grill he thought that was all they had left, and that he'd be "pinching" mine!  He was very upset when I explained that they would have cooked another one for him, especially as by then he had insisted on buying some fudge, and I said he'd had his turn and wasn't having anything more!

All Princess Lollipop wanted was an ice cream, so we dutifully went over and bought her a cone.  Rather than take her and her dripping ice cream to the Shop we sat on a nearby bench while she ate it up, and Drama Teen devoured her butterfly bun.  We hadn't been there long when it started spitting, so as soon as everyone was finished we dashed over to the new shop.  Mr Messy was in the middle of a test shoot in his new Boudoir Studio, so I left Drama Teen there and took the Littlies home.

During the (less than 10 minute) drive the weather changed completely and we were drenched in a torrential thunderstorm!  Huge puddles covered the road and it was still lashing it down when we parked outside our house.  We waited in the car for it to die down, but after waiting for ages it became obvious that the rain was going nowhere, so we made a dash for the house.  In the few seconds we were outside we were all completely drenched!!  Crazy weather!!

The treats at the Food Fayre had only whetted the Littlies appetites, so I made them an indoor picnic, while they sorted out a picnic blanket on the living room floor.  I also told them to choose a Disney film they both agreed on to watch - they choose Wall-e, good choice :-)  I thought it was a great choice, but the Littlies obviously didn't, as soon as they'd finished their picnic they started running around and playing wildly!!  They didn't even notice when the DVD was turned off!!  Despite all my efforts they just got wilder and wilder, and by tea time I was tearing my hair out!!

Princess Lollipop refused to eat her tea, and was misbehaving so much that Mr Messy took her to bed.  After wailing and shouting for ages, she finally fell fast asleep.  And once Little Prince was safely tucked up, peace returned, phew!!  I spent the evening on my computer while Mr Messy watched the Wimbledon doubles finals, I can't see the attraction in tennis at all!!  After thinking about the way the day descended into chaos, I've decided that I've got to stop trying not to give Little Prince his medication if we are going to be stuck inside, and the way the weather was, there was no way we were going out or playing in the garden!!  He is given his medicine for a reason, and one of those reasons is the affect his behaviour has on the rest of the family, so I'm going to try harder to be more sensible about when he does and doesn't take it.  I'm not Superwoman, and I doubt even she could keep up with Little Prince lol.

Fantastic School Report for Princess Lollipop

Princess Lollipop brought home her very first School Report, from Big School (half day nursery) this week.  And it was every bit as impressive as her big brother's had been earlier in the week :-)  I am so very lucky to have such wonderful children - and its lovely to hear that others (ie their teachers) think they are great too :-)

Her Report says things like "Princess Lollipop has settled beautifully into school life, she is a popular member of the group" and "she is very confident to try new thinks and has a curiosity to know how things work" and "she always demonstrates enthusiasm in all she does."   And it finishes with "She is a lovely little girl and is a pleasure to have in class."

I am so proud of my Princess Lollipop :-)  She has overcome HUGE separation anxieties to settle down into school life, and to hear how successfully she has done so is overwhelming.  Well done Princess Lollipop we are all very very proud of you :-)

Fantastic School Report for Little Prince

Little Prince and all his friends came out of school, clutching large brown envelopes today - its School Report time again.  Little Prince handed his envelope over, saying he was scared at what it would say!!  So when we got in the car, I read out this Summary written by his class teacher:-

"Little Prince has had an excellent year and deserves to feel proud of the progress he has made.  It has been an absolute pleasure to teach him over these past four years.  He has developed into an intelligent, thoughtful and inquisitive young man.  He has made a positive contribution to the class.  He enjoys school and always does his best.  He has a large circle of friends and is both liked and well respected by the class.  He is a very popular member of the class.  He is a very well behaved pupil and always tries to act in a sensible manner.  Good luck Little Prince, I know you will grow from strength to strength.  Both Classroom Assistant and I are very proud of your achievements this year."

I could barely keep from crying with pride in my wonderful Little Man :-)  He has to work so hard to overcome his problems and achieve like this, much harder than his "normal" school mates - and I am glowing with pride at the determination he has to be "just like them."  I think he not only does that, but surpasses most of them too - well done my Little Man :-)  Keep going like this, and harness your boundless energy and enthusiasm and you can touch the stars :-)

GREAT Day for Drama Teen

Drama Teen is on her way to being a qualified driver, as she passed her Driving Theory Test today, on her first try :-)  Well done Drama Teen, we are all VERY proud of you :-)

NOT Cooking with Mama!

The other day when Drama Teen and Boyfriend were cooking tea, they came dashing in to say they didn't think they should carry on using the hob.  Apparently there was smoke coming from where the knobs are, and a horrible, acrid burning smell!!  I agreed it would be better to finish cooking using the microwave, and to turn the hob off and leave it off!!

So now we have to research what hob we want to buy, and start saving up to buy it!  Which is going to take quite a while, as we've taken a huge pay cut to allow Mr Messy to work full time in his Photography Business.  I don't mind though as having him around and happier (he is now doing something he really enjoys) is worth it :-)

The Last Few Days

The whole family has been helping Mr Messy move OUR Shop to new premises, and its taken longer than we thought!!  I don't think he had realised quite how much stuff he had at the old shop to move!!  And being Mr Messy he left it right until the last moment to start packing ready to move!!  Thankfully we are now all finished, the old shop is emptied, cleaned and tidied, we are just waiting to meet the Landlord and hand over the keys and that is it, officially moved out!

The new shop currently resembles a bombsite, with boxes and stuff everywhere!!  Although there are more rooms at the new premises, there isn't as much storage space!!  So me and Mr Messy need to find the time to go through everything and get rid of everything he doesn't need or doesn't use!  Mr Messy hates sorting out, so I'm sure he'll keep putting it off for quite a while yet!!

At the new premises Mr Messy has two dedicated studio spaces, he is a lifestyle photographer and the majority of his photography is done "on location," however, he does do a fair amount of commercial product photography and also Visa and Passport photos so he now has a small studio to make this easier.  He has recently launched a very tastefully done Boudoir Photography service, and another of the rooms is being turned into a Boudoir Studio.  It has a gorgeous, vintage, red velvet chaise longe and a beautiful, ornate folding screen in there and I am in charge of "staging" the room, or "fluffing" as Mr Messy refers to it!!  So me and Drama Teen have been looking round Charity Shops and Car Boot Sales for suitable props, we've found quite a lot at bargain prices and later today I'm going round there to arrange them all in the studio.

I've also been spending time in my Craft Room and have almost finished prettifying my plain metal, magnetic noticeboard and my "Summertime Fun" board :-)  I've also (after much prodding from a friend!) got up the confidence to use my Cricut, and just like she said, once I got started it wasn't as hard or scary as I'd initially thought :-)  I'll be unveiling my creations on my Pinspired Creations blog very soon :-)

Little Prince and Princess Lollipop were supposed to go to their swimming lesson yesterday after school, but instead I had to take Little Prince to the Doctor.  The evening before he'd shown me his leg, which had quite a few raised red spots, that he said were burning and very itchy, I gave him some Calpol and the next morning he didn't mention them at all.  However, when he came home from school the whole area of his leg was red and swollen and extremely tender to the touch, he also had a heat rash like itchy patch of skin on both his chest and back, poor lad :-(  The Doctor said the spots on his leg were most likely infected insect bites and prescribed strong antibiotics.  The heat rash like patches, he said were very dry and could possibly be excema, and that Little Prince needed to use an emollient cream on them to see if that helped.  The onsite Pharmacy didn't have enough of the antibiotics to dispense them for us, so we had to drive over to a different Surgery to get hold of it!  By this time it was past teatime, Princess Lollipop was upset at having missed her swimming lesson and Little Prince was feeling very sorry for himself - I decided to cheer them up with a trip to Macs!  By the time we finally got home it was time to dose everyone up with their various medications and get ready for bed.  Mr Messy and Drama Teen were out photographing a local event, so I had to sort the littlies out myself.  Luckily I got Little Prince sorted out first, as when I took Princess Lollipop to bed I fell fast asleep myself!!


Drama Teen has finished her A Level exams now and left college - which I can't believe as she can't be old enough to do that!!  She and her boyfriend are helping me out by finishing painting the Princess Lollipop's Playhouse - The Pink House.  They have also been working really hard helping Mr Messy move to his new premises, now he has moved, I'm hoping they will have time to get on with more painting :-)  I'd LOVE to get the whole thing finished before the Summer Holidays!!  And I'm really looking forward to sewing all the accessories and getting all the bits and pieces in place, I really enjoy doing all the "finishing touches" :-)