An evening with Heather & Davy

Its Friday night. I'm so pleased it's the weekend. The kids school work really stressed me today. They had so much stuff that they needed help with, and I had so much to do, and Luke was in a particularly agitating mood. The house was trashed from top to bottom, and every room that I tidied Luke just trashed again. Luke whinged and whined all day and I had to send him to his room a few times. Sam and Jude bickered all day long, and just wound each other up. By lunch time I was ready to blow a fuse, but luckily my friend Caroline turned up for a cuppa so I managed to chill for an hour or so. Thank goodness for friends. Then I managed to get Luke down for a nap in the afternoon. It would have been nice to use that time to clean the house, (ok, not nice - perhaps necessary) but instead I had to do some school work with Sam and Jude. We read the poem called 'The Raven' by Edgar Alan Poe. I think the kids like it. I certainly did. It has such a great rhythm and dramatic sound to it - its not all airy and floaty like a lot of poems. Then we read a bit about Kingfishers in Secrets of the Wood, but by that point I was losing my voice so we left it for another day.

Anyway, things got better. We went to Heather and Davy's house for dinner. The idea was for us girls to discuss this health spa weekend, and to finalize any details about it. But, unknown to me, Heather had already booked the place and it was all sorted. Excellent. We are going in 3 weeks time. There are 2 other girls going to, but I'm sharing a room with Heather. I can't wait now for the next 3 weeks to fly past. I desperately need a weekend away from the house, a change in lifestyle, just for a moment. Sometimes life as a Mum, wife and teacher just gets a bit much to handle. I never get to the stage where I am unhappy, but sometimes I just feel a desperate urge to climb a mountain, or sit in a forest, with no other human contact. To just be alone with nature, and to have nothing to think about - almost like meditation. This urge doesn't happen very often, so I can't complain. A weekend away with the girls will do just as much good I reckon.

The kids, as usual, all had great fun. Luke just loves the play room and spent hours playing with C's barbie cars. True to tradition, the kids put on a few performances after dinner. First we had a short version of Narnia, with Sam playing Aslan, and C playing the witch. Then C sang a beautiful rendition of the 12 days of Christmas. Dressed in her fairy outfit, it was like watching an angel sing. Then, the part of the evening we always look forward to - the kids got dressed up and sang rock music to us. This time I think it was 'I believe in a thing called love' by The Darkness, although it was hard to tell. Above you can see Jude and C dressed in their rock chick outfits.

And here is Sam and Luke, two of a kind, enjoying the limelight with a microphone. Luke is just a little version of Sam, only cheekier and more stubborn. Thankfully Jude has also managed to rub off on him a little, and has blessed him with a love of learning. Did you ever meet a 2 year old that knew which way the fridge magnet letters should go? When I first put them on the fridge he turned them all up the correct way, although we had never taught him, because he recognized the letters from reading stories with Jude.