Post by Anna, from a few weeks ago.

This is Anna here, as Mammy is still away in hospital and she asked me to do a guest post. So here we go!

Well, as you know, Mammy is gone for a few days so Daddy is here minding us. We were told we could be in charge of the cooking, so we went for it!

We did a Tesco shop and lets say Grandma was surprised to see what was in the cupboard - lots of junk food. We saw no point in getting healthy stuff when we could choose whatever we wanted!!

Although, the deal was, the younger ones had to have their 5-a-day (my parents couldn't cope with all the junk food otherwise!) so I printed out some charts and got them some stickers.

They're doing well, I think!?! They particularly like the farm stickers we got. Not sure whether it's the stickers or the chocolate bar at the end of the week that they are more motivated by. Anyhow, they seem to love it.....

We went to see Mammy yesterday, it is a bit crazy here without her around. At least it's only a few days.

Although the idea of kinda being in-charge at first made me feel slightly sort of looking forward to it, I have to say it's not as fun as I thought it would be. There's a lot of clearing up after the younger ones have eaten and put tomato ketchup everywhere!

I really miss having Mammy here as she is always there to listen to your feelings about life, and just to chat too. I have realized how much I enjoy her company.

At least Daddy is here. He is trying his hardest. Saying that I still HATE it!!!

Amber is always there to listen to all my gobble-de-gook. She likes to plonk herself on my lap. And let me pet her for hours on end!

I hope that was an OK post, on my blog I am always writing about the dogs (which I have to admit is much easier) and it's weird writing about how you feel about stuff.

Trying to convince Daddy to go and see Mammy again.

Goodbye,
Anna

New Quarter Masters

Tomorrow I go into hospital for a few days for surgery. Anna and Beth have decided that they are going to take over 'quarter master' duties for the next couple of weeks or so and are looking forward to the challenge! Our one stipulation was that everyone needed to achieve their '5-a-day' but other than that they could have a fairly free rein within reason. They therefore drew up the following charts;

The younger children were very excited at the prospect of a sticker chart, especially one which came with the promise of a chocolate bar at the end of the week!

They then drew up a menu (of sorts) and ordered a delivery from Tesco. It arrived this morning and they gleefully unpacked, not having seen so many treat foods in one place at once. We are usually quite strict about our diet; wholegrain cereals and bread, no crisps or chips unless it's a birthday etc. We had left the girls to the ordering, with a set budget of course, but were a bit surprised to see 3 boxes of Coco Pops! Anyway, we think it will be a good learning experience for them and so have not picked them up on their interpretation of 'within reason' and will see how it goes. At least they'll get their fruit and vegetables and hopefully they will have got their fill of processed food and welcome more wholesome meals in a few weeks. In the meantime luckily Justin is a doctor and so can deal with any constipation issues......

Anna turns 14!

Anna turned 14 this week! 14, I can't believe it!

Her brothers gave her a Lego City book as they are of an age of thinking that everyone loves what they love! She was very gracious about it though!

Her cards reflected her passion for dogs and Beth put three figures representing Amber, Hermione and Jessie on her cake.

Our beautiful, wonderful 14 year old!

Still Going...

And still raining....

Lego

This is what our playroom looks like today, Lego everywhere...

 I love Lego. If I could choose just one toy for our children that is what it would be. Today the weather is brutal; howling wind and lashing rain. Non-stop. So the guys have been ensconced in the playroom in a sea of Lego. Happy out.

The best thing about Lego is it can be anything they want it to be, there is no limit to what they can create. Sometimes one child plays on their own but more often than not they get a game going as they have today. As the day goes on the games have added layers of complexity with an on-going dialogue from the various different characters.

 For the last few years most birthday or Christmas requests from the 4 younger children have been for some kind of Lego or another so they have a fairly extensive collection. It is kept in two large shallow boxes, the idea being that they can find what they are looking for without upending it all. That idea was ours however not theirs, so when we hear the unmistakable whoosh of thousands of tiny bricks cascading everywhere we know it's a Lego day. I just have to try and have hoovered the carpet first because it's not going to be seen again for a few days until that particular game has run it's course. We now have a system of scooping up the Lego with a dustpan, hoping the hoover did get a chance first so there's not too many dog hairs too. Mind you, I may have to remind myself at that point how much I love Lego!

Doggy Days

The last couple of days have been all about the dogs. Poor Holly went in for spaying on Wednesday and has been feeling very sorry for herself. She's been wearing an old baby vest held in place by her harness to try and stop her worrying at her stitches. She's demanding the full princess treatment and if she's left on her own at all she whines until someone goes back to sit with her and pet her. 

As Holly was out of action we offered to look after another AADI puppy, who's currently waiting for a foster home, for a few days so Bramble would have someone to play with . He's a 12 week old Chocolate Labrador called Chester and is a real sweetie. He and Bramble get on very well and they are certainly keeping the guys busy looking after them.

 

Amber managed to injure herself while playing with the puppies so we ended up taking her to the vets yesterday as well. Her leg is much better today but unfortunately she seems to have associated the incident with Chester and is laying all the blame on him. She now won't go anywhere near him so that's making things a bit tricky. Anna has been reading up on a bit of canine psychology to try and resolve the impasse!

We also had an amazing double rainbow last evening which had the children running over to the windows to see. This photo doesn't do the amazing depth of colours justice at all but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Light Evenings

With the changing of the clocks we have now resumed our evening walks after tea instead of driving the dogs to the field or forest. Anna usually comes with me and often Beth too. They sometimes find it frustrating that many conversations we start at home get interrupted with a more pressing 'need' so it's good to have this time together. I enjoy the mental wind down at the end of the day and a bit of headspace before going home to take on bath/bedtime which is a major production in our house. An hours exercise does wonders to get rid of that sluggish tiredness I otherwise give in to at the end of the day as well. We just need the self discipline to keep  it up now!

We have a community field about 20 minutes down the road which gives the dog a chance for a free run.

Home again!