Come to the Circus.....

Our last afternoon of half term was spent at the circus. It was a rainy miserable day and a friend called to say she had spare tickets so I thought I'd go along with the girls. Having not been to the circus for a number of years I wasn't sure what to expect. It was brilliant - acrobats, tight rope walking, high trapeze and not forgetting clowns. The children loved it and I have to say I really enjoyed myself to. At the end of the show Claudia gave me a hug and said "Mummy that was really fun" a moment I will not forget, she had such a good time.

Today is 31st October, Halloween, I'm not always very keen on Halloween but somehow you do get sucked into the whole thing. Isabella had been invited to a H'ween party and Claudia and I went trick or treating with some neighbours. (Our trick was to pull a silly face incase you're wondering). Claudia and her friend Rebecca were dressed as Witches, Ella was a ghost (white sheet with two holes for eyes), Marie a pumpkin mask and me a cat (mask and ears only I decided not to wear my catsuit - that really would scare people) anyway we seemed to make most of our neighbours laugh rather than scare them which I think I prefer!

Jason will be home on Friday - hurray! It feels as though he has been away for ages so I shall be glad to have him home. He has been in four South American countries over the last couple of weeks so I have a feeling he will be exhausted when he gets home.

If it's not the children it's the dog!

Well, here we are already at half term, and boy don’t we need it. Although Isabella seems to be enjoying ‘Year 1’ she is exhausted and definitely ready for a break, so what did I have planned for the girls – well quite a relaxing week, maybe a trip to Odds Farm, a play in the park, perhaps a swim but definitely nice and relaxed and no rushing about.

All started well, Jason went off to South America on Sunday morning leaving at about 5.15am and as requested he actually did manage to leave quietly without waking the children up. Sunday was very nice, we went to church had lunch at mum and dads followed by dinner later on with Jason’s parent all very nice. Then 3am Oscar (our dog) wakes me up making a strange crying/barking noise. I went downstairs a bit cross and let him in the garden only to discover quite a lot of blood on the hall floor. Oh my what has happened? I let Oscar back in from the garden and realised (now I hope you’re not eating whilst you read this) he had blood coming out from his bottom and was obviously in pain. Within moments he then started throwing up as well. I then spent the rest of the night nursing the dog whilst mopping up yucky stuff. Poor Oscar. The next day I took him to the vets, where he had to have blood tests, he was put on a drip, was given medication and had to stay in for two nights. I picked him up this morning and was told he had haemorrhoid gastroenteritis – piles and a dodgy tummy. So I’m now just over £300 lighter and Oscar seems to be fighting fit again.

On a more cheery note, Isabella and I went to see ‘Disney on Ice’ last night at the London O2 (the Millennium Dome) http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/theincredibles/index.html it was all about The Incredibles who visit Disney Land and get up to all sorts . Isabella loved it and I just loved watching her, she was clapping and waving and having such a good time. Afterwards we had tickets for the after show party so we went along and met the ‘stars’ of the show, Isabella got a goodie bag with lots of Disney stuff in which she thought was great.

Baby Sam

Here's a picture of my new nephew, little Sam. Isn't he lovely!

The Joys of Motherhood

We had another breakfast café at school on Friday, which was a great success making about £300 profit. I was at school at 6am cutting rolls and sorting out bacon, sausages and orange juice etc. Then back home for 7am to sort the children out then back to school for 8am to give everyone breakfast. Phew, it was a pretty hectic day. Once the children had gone to school I helped to clear away the café and all too soon it was time to collect Claudia and her friend Sophie for lunch. The afternoon was filled with play dough and games of hide and seek then time to collect Isabella and her friend Ollie from school and cook tea for everyone. Claudia hardly touched her dinner she told me she had a tummy ache so I sat quietly in the family room with her when suddenly she decided to throw up all over me – lovely! I picked her up ran upstairs and put her in the shower at which point I heard Isabella shouting “Mummy I’ve fallen off my chair and hurt my leg” I shouted down “Isabella you’re fine, I’m covered in sick”. I was very pleased when it was time for bed that night feeling pretty tired.

Luckily Saturday was a great improvement, Claudia was much better, so Jason and I were able to enjoy a grown up day at Ascot being corporately entertained. It was lovely, Jason’s company have a box at Ascot and Jason took a number of brokers and me to watch the racing – we had such fun and I even managed to pick a couple of winners – which is amazing considering I only picked them as I like their names!

Its A Boy!

Very exciting news, my sister had a little boy today. Born at 12.10pm at Watford General Hospital weighing 9lb. Mother and baby doing well and should be home tomorrow - I can't wait to meet my new little nephew who has been named Sam William.

Goodwood Revival

Jason and I had a very enjoyable day yesterday at the Goodwood Revival meeting. Many people dress up in 1950's and 1960's clothes and watch old fashion cars race around the track. The atmosphere is brilliant, the whole of Goodwood has a really great 1950's feel about it. We were taken by a Broker who does business with Jason so enjoyed a very nice lunch where we drank far too much champagne and wine (well it would have been rude to turned it down).

Clowning around with face paints

Claudia asked "mummy can we do some face painting"
"Yes" I replied "what would you like to be, a Princess, a butterfly?"
"No, a clown" she told me.

And pictured are the results - I think she would have preferred to be a Princess - what do you think?

Just a quick update.

I haven't written for a while and we are about to head off to Spain and France for a couple of weeks camping (lets hope the sun shines!) so here are a few photos of some of the things we have been doing lately.

Claudia at her ballet class, Jason and I at Royal Ascot, Isabella being a Scottish girl for UNICEF day at school and our catus which flowered for about one day - so glad we were here to see it!

Royal Ascot Week

So it has been Royal Ascot this week and Jason and I went on Tuesday, which luckily for us seems to of been the only day without rain. We had a fantastic day all dressed up, Jason in his morning suit and top hat and me in my new frock (well, I just didn’t have a thing to wear!), obviously I also had to get new jacket, shoes, handbag and hat. We met some friends and enjoyed a few glasses of champagne whilst watching the horse racing. We were in the Royal Enclosure, which made the day even more special, plus it was great to have a grown-up day. Nobody through a tantrum or wiped their nose on me – which often happens when I have a day at home with the kids.

Unfortunately my camera has broken so once I work out how to load pictures from Jason’s camera you will be able to see us in our splendour!

I’ve been busy today setting up marques and labelling and wrapping cakes for Isabella’s school fayre tomorrow, its amazing the skills you learn once you become a mum - who would of thought a few years ago I would of been baking fruit cakes and building marques with confidence. The weather is not looking good so I think I’ll be wearing wellies and waterproofs – lets hope the sun shines over us for the afternoon.

Jason is away at the moment, he is doing the round the island yacht race – a 50-mile race around the Isle of Wight, there are about 1800 yachts competing and knowing Jason he will want to be the winner.

Half Term Fun

Well the beginning of half term was wet, very wet. My heart sank on the bank holiday weekend to see all the rain. We had been invited to a garden party on bank holiday Monday which was cancelled due to the weather, so instead I suggested putting on wellies and taking Oscar (our dog) for a walk whilst splashing in puddles, great fun, or so I thought. After about half an hour of walking through the fields near our house, Claudia said "carry me Mummy" Isabella said "I'm freezing" and I must admit I felt as though we were in Scotland not a May bank holiday in Buckinghamshire. So we turned back home and decided a better plan was to play games on our Wii machine whilst eating chocolate! A much better idea.

The rest of half term certainly got better we went swimming a couple of times and Claudia finally found her confidence in the water, at last she was able to splash around in her armbands without holding on to me the whole time. We also visited the Walter Rothchild museum in Tring (a museum full of stuffed animals) which was great fun. Our dear friends Elaine, Jamie, Adam and Rose came to visit from Somerset which was lovely and on Friday we had a delightful picnic in the Aquadrome in Rickmansworth. All to soon it was time to go back to school and the neverending tasks of washing, ironing and making packed lunches started all over again - talking of which it's now 22.45 and I haven't made Isabella's lunch for school tomorrow yet!

Moonwalks, Yoga and Blogs

I don't seem to of got round to writing this blog lately as I need to book an appointment to use the computer, this is mainly due to Claudia who has discovered the CBeebies website. She will be 3 next week and I have to say I have been quite impressed by the way she can use the computer - clever girl, she must take after her mother!

Its been a pretty hectic week, as usual. Last Friday morning we had the breakfast at school, which was a great success, I think we made about £400 profit. I stayed at the end to wash up and clear away. On Friday night I went to a 'Pink' night (no not a Gay night as someone else asked me) it was organised by a group of school mums who will be walking the Moonwalk this weekend - no not walking like Michael Jackson - but walking 26 miles around London at night, raising money for breast cancer. Instead of asking everyone for sponsorship money they decided to have an evening selling pink cocktails, raffle tickets and an auction of promises. I understand that they raised about £2000 which is fantastic. I thought the pink cocktails were particularly good however, I did wake up with a slight headache on Saturday morning.

On Tuesday I went to a yogo class for the second time. It was great but I was terrible at it, I even fell over twice - how embarrasing. However, by the end I did feel very calm and relaxed and will be going again next week.

I've been listening to a new comedy programme of Radio 2, Saturday 1.30 about a very sad person who writes a blog - its very funny - and somethings are a bit too familiar! www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/comedy

We've Survived Our First Full Week at School

Well, Isabella has now completed her first full week in Reception, and boy is she tired. Poor thing, I felt terrible this morning when I had to wake her up and then hurry her up in order to get to school on time. I think we are going to have to be careful this weekend as quiet/tired Isabella could turn into a screaming monster at any moment.

Although Isabella is tired, she does seem to be enjoying school. She has done PE twice this week, she has been learning how to read and used the computer. When I picked her up from school today she very proudly shown me a 'Smiley face' badge which she had been given in assembly, however when I asked her why she had been given it she said "I can't remember" - she has a memory like her mother!

I managed to get to the gym yesterday for a couple of hours which was great - I really enjoyed doing a workout and then relaxing in the steam room afterwards before collecting the kids and getting on with my ever growing list of things to do.

I went to a PTA meeting this morning (goodness my life is very exciting!) and was careful not to get my name put down for too many things. I will be helping with a fundraising breakfast next week, although I said I would serve food and clear tables rather than cook as I don't want the whole school to go down with food poisoning. The school PTA certainly seem to host a lot of events, one event which has always been really successful and great fun is a band night, but unfortunately the very talented singer and his lovely wife and children no longer live in the village - I wonder if they could be persuaded to come back towards the end of the year for another band night?? the Herriott hotel would be available for rooms as I'm sure other guest houses in the village would be!

Jason had his first Salsa lesson this week, he also attended an awards ceremony last night and has been at Lords cricket ground today watching Middlesex v Northampton - nice work if you can get it!

Motorbikes and Mud

Here is a picture of Jason doing the Enduro race last Sunday, he came 9th out of 134 competitors which is pretty good. In the over 30's category he came 1st. Well done Jason!

This picture was taken at the start of the race and he still looks quite clean, believe me by the time he came home he and the bike were covered in mud.

Starting 'BIG' School

Today was a very strange day for me as Isabella started 'big' school. Last night she let me wash her hair and cut her nails, without putting up a fight, (which doesn't happen very often) and she even went to bed early. This morning she was so excited it was lovely to watch her putting on her uniform and getting ready. When Isabella left nursery, just before Easter, she was one of the big girls and today seeing her in the playground she just looked so little. I have to say that I did have a few tears in my eyes when she went into her classroom. For the first few days she will only be at school until lunchtime and then next week she will start doing full days. When I picked her up today I asked "Did you have fun? What did you do?" to which she replied "I can't remember" is this the sign of things to come?

Jason had his first Enduro motorbike race of the season last Sunday. I'm told that Enduro is a sort of off road motorbiking but much harder. Personally, I think its just big boys having fun in the mud. He had a good time but is now suffering from a few aches and pains, obviously I'm being the good wife and offering the odd sympathetic word.

Whilst Jason was out playing in the mud, Claudia went to a party and Isabella and I went to Amersham swimming pool where we had great fun whizzing down the waterslides. Isabella kept telling me that she could go down the slides on her own and she really didn't need Mummy's help, she didn't seem to realise that I wasn't helping her I really was having a good time. I was however, a bit of a baby going down the blue slide as it was very fast and very dark and I ended up telling Isabella that you had to be at least 7 years old to go down it which luckily seem to do the trick! Well, a little white lie every so often won't do her any harm.

Easter Egg Hunting

I took the girls to Hughenden Manor in High Wycombe today, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hughendenmanor/ the home of Benjamnin Disraeli. I've never actually been in the house, I'm always worried that one of the girls will knock a very expensive vase off a shelf or something, but the gardens are really beautiful, the panies and tuilips were really wonderful to see. Today they had an Easter Egg hunt - we went around the gardens and had to answer various questions about birds and eggs and once we had answered them all correctly we were rewarded with a bag of mini Easter eggs each. Isabella and Claudia seemed more interested in rolling down the various slopes in the gardens and seeing how many grass stains they could get on their clothes than answering questions so I kept reminding them that at the end they would get some Easter eggs and that seemed to spur them on. They also made a small birds nest out of twigs and bits of material and had their faces painted. On the way home we stopped off at the park so all in all a fun day.

Jason surprised me by getting home just after seven o'clock tonight (he is never usually home that early) it was great because the girls hadn't quite gone to bed and they were really excited to see Daddy. As it was still light, (how I love these light evenings) I took the opportunity to take Oscar for a quick walk around the village and how lovely it was to see sheep in the meadow, although I had to make sure that I didn't take Oscar of the lead as I think he quite fancied a sheep for dinner!

Moving On

After living in Rickmansworth for 25 years, Jasons parent moved house today. They have bought a lovely house in Northwood. I went there today with Isabella and Claudia. The girls were very excited to see their new bedroom and are looking forward to their first sleep over. Luckily for us Jasons parents have downsized and have been looking for a good home for some of the garden furniture they had - we were only to happy to provide a good home for some very nice items.

We've been enjoying the lovey sunshine over the last couple of days. Claudia and I had a picnic in the park yesterday whilst Isabella was at a party and then we picked Isabella up and she joined us for some bike riding around the park. She can now ride her bike without stabliers - which is a great achievement - I was a very proud mum when she first managed to do it without falling off!

Super Skiers

Earlier this month we went to Colorado skiing for a couple of weeks, it was wonderful. Beautiful powder snow, blue skies and sunshine - we couldn't of asked for more. I thought you may be interested in some pictures of Isabella and Claudia enjoying the snow.

Jungle Fun

Well the first day of the Easter holidays is over and little Herriotts are tucked up fast asleep in bed exhausted. We've had great fun today running around Jungle Mania (childrens soft play place), and it seemed as though most of Isabella's nursery were there as well. I'm not quite sure who enjoyed it more the kids or me. Jumping in the coloured balls, which just come up to my knees, and sliding down slides - what fun, of course the only time you can do anything like this and get away with it, is if you are actually a child or have children of your own. Then enjoyed a very nice lunch at Pizza Organic, which I recommend, then home for a bit of down time before taking Isabella to gymnastics. Phew!

The things kids do!

Well we had an interesting evening last night - just as I was reading my 4 year old her bedtime story she decided to insert a bead from a braclet into her ear which then ended up with a trip down to our local A & E department to try and get it removed. However, as she had managed to well and truly push it in they couldn't get it out and we ended up having to go back this morning and see the ear, nose and throat doctor, who using a microscope managed to remove it - thank goodness!

It was Isabella's last day at nursery today, and I was glad that we managed to make it back from the hospital in time for her to join in with the Easter egg hunt and give her teachers flowers and cards. I can't believe that after Easter she will be going up to Reception - where have the last 4 1/2 years gone.