Getting there...

Ok, so here's how it is at this point in time..

Three days until Jacks birthday and ... fairly on top of the preparations.

Less than two weeks until we move out and... no where near packed.

moving into the new house in less than two weeks and... still not exchanged contracts and the house is still barely habitable.

One out of three isn't bad!

We would be doing slightly less appallingly though had Simon not contracted swine flu and been barley with it for the last five days. He does seem to be starting to pull through it now, so hopefully by next week we might be getting somewhere again.

nearly five

Its hard to believe but our mad scientist, our eccentric genius, our brilliant little man, is just about to turn five. I can't believe it's been nearly five years since he tumbled into our lives.

And amongst the chaos and the packing and the cleaning and the flu we have to find ways to make his birthday just as special as ever. So tonight I'm sewing his number 5 for his birthday tree. Every little helps!

Fins Birthday tree (with 11 little wicker fairy baskets to hold his fairy presents! I only had 10 so had to borrow one from Frankie!) which caused so much excitement and anticipation in Jack just before Christmas.

The power of love

Isn't it testament to the overwhelming power of parental love that I am sat here, at 11.30 at night, having been to work and come back to a screaming baby, tried to settle him for an hour with no luck and am now alternating between feeding and fending off his attempts to reposition my hair clip.....

And I don't mind!

Salmon

A friend of mine recently attended a Bill Bailey show in London ( where she now lives ) in which he 'big up'd' to a variety of 'Westcountry massive's'. When he 'big up'd' the Tiverton massive she was the only one that whooped but there had been whoops for a large number of other small westcountry towns from around the auditorium.

It occured to me that although all these people lived in London, they hailed from further afield. This is how we are like salmon! No, really!

Salmon spawn in little streams high up inland, the baby salmon grow in the safety of these little streams and rivers before making their way to the big ocean. Then, when they are ready to spawn they find their way back to the safety of the little streams in which they grew.

It's ok to be in the ocean as long as you can find your way back to the little streams when it's time to spawn.

Sledging

The snow remains, and we are immersed in its possibilities. The river has been full of floating ice. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

The boys have been fascinated by the changing nature of the snow. Seeing it falling in huge flakes (Jack said it was like cotton wool), walking through a 'swirling whirling snow storm' when it was driving at us in little bits, seeing how the snow changed as the weather got colder and colder, packing it into a recycling box to make snow bricks for a snow fort. Working out how best to make a home made snowboard with only what could be found in Uncle Robbie's workshop. So many different ways for three small boys to extract every last bit of pleasure from the wonderful whiteout.

Hello

Our first entry! A week or so later than intended but better late than never. We are almost snowed in. With Daddy snowed in somewhere near Lincoln and not due home until Friday which is making for some frustrated and grumpy little men.
But tomorrow we may try to battle through the snow, up the hill, all the way to Little Hall Farm where our sledge is being stored prior to the move.
Either that or we will just hang out by the fire and laminate Jacks write-start pictures.
Who can say...