This morning

Everything feels like it's been cranked up a level recently.  We all seem to be rushing from one thing to another...a combination of new schools, associated meetings, end of term activities, orthodondist appointments, school fetes, you get the picture.  It can all get a bit...well 'too much'.

I'm not the most organised of individuals so all this dashing around adds an element of stress to the Whoops-a-daisy household.  And this morning was no exception.  It went something like this:-

• Eldest could not find only pair of school trousers that fit him.  Cue me looking everywhere (even in the garden)
• No hot water for shower due to our rubbish boiler
• Find trousers in tumble dryer (completely random as I didn't put them in there)
• Go to make pack lunches - no ham left, have to subsitute with marmite
• Search desperately for £5 (and form, and envelope) for Eldests school disco
• Realise I need to let neighbours chickens out
• Eldest now complains he has no socks
• Littlest one still asleep....yikes (!)........ need to get him out the house in half an hour
• Lost Yoyo's book bag - find it under sofa
• Eldest's taxi arrives (chaperone checks where he is to be dropped off - it is completely different address tonight and I would have sent him to an empty house if she hadn't have checked).  Guilty mother feelings kick in.
• Littlest one still asleep.
• My hair looks rubbish and no time to sort out due to time and no hot water.
• Still haven't fed chickens.  Guilty chicken sitter feelings kick in.
• Littlest one still asleep.....and he can be very grumpy if you wake him.
• Yoyo inspects packed lunch and rejects marmite sandwich.  I get cross.
• Littlest one wakes and refuses to wear shorts I give him.  I get stressed.  Guilty mother feelings kick in.
• Phone call from work just as we leave house.  A visitor has arrived 1 hour early and is expecting to be let in.......wish I had some of his time management abilities.  Resolve over phone.
• Yoyo has written me a note saying 'Dear Anna, I hope you feel better soon'.  Think she is refering to my stress.
• Chickens sorted
• Run back in house as forgotten book bag.
• Run back in house again as forgotten Yoyo's water bottle.
• Drive to school and realise haven't applied suncream to kids.  Guilty mother feelings kick in.

So this is fairly typical nowadays and I need to get some strategies in place to make the whole thing run smoother.  Typing all that out makes me realise why I find it stressful. 

But tonight when all is calm, and my Yoyo came downstairs to get a drink and give me that gappy smile, I could suddenly look back on this mornings events and find them amusing.  Because as you can see from the picture even if I am stressed.............I don't think its rubbed off on her.

Littlest one and the digging

It all started calmly with a purple plastic spade and a flowerbed.  I was laid back Mum, enjoying my spot in the sunshine after hanging out the umpteenth load of post holiday washing.

Then I noticed the mound of soil on the grass getting bigger...... Now, I'm not precious about mud on the lawn I promise, but I was thinking if this enthusiasm for digging continues in its current vein.........well I'll have a mountain of the stuff to deal with I don't nip this in the bud.

And so I. told. him. off.  Yes, a shock to those who know me in real life, I actually told one of my children off (I'm not good at the whole discipline thing).  I asked him if he could keep the mud with the other mud.  His reaction?  Well he sat there huddled in a ball and it could have gone badly......

.......but Rose (my other kitten) saved the day with her remarkable skills of distraction, i.e. she walked past.  Phew.

Love in a mist

We have just returned from a weeks holiday in Centerparcs, Elveden Forest.  I truly wish I had some photos to show you (after all the Queen of Clean was with me and he can take a decent shot), but despite taking the camera, due to a technical difficulty (I won't bore you with details) the camera battery went flat.  So no pictures of the little goslings and moorhen chicks that stalked our patio, or the squirrels that systematically raided our bike trailer every night for leftover snacks.

So we return, having had much fun as a fivesome, but not well rested.  Probably overdid it with the activites.....and my online banking confirms this for me when I checked tmy balance this afternoon.  Could have been a mistake to keep littlest one up for 'night swimming' until 9pm at night for the last two evenings - he is exhausted and a little irritable.

And yes I know I am naughty taking the kids out of school during term time (I should add here that I did have permission from both schools.........not sure why I'm feeling the need to justify, but there you have it).

So on to the picture above.  Obviously I missed the garden hugely during my time away and some kind neighbours looked after things whilst we were gone.  These love in a mist flowers are my favourite thing at the moment and the more you cut them, the more they flower. So I shall keep a jam jar of these little beauties on my kitchen windowsill for as long as possible.

They come from this patch in the garden here.............(which incidentally appeared from nowhere, I didn't plant them so they have self sown from a neighbouring garden).

 

Unfortunately this also seems to be Martha the kittens' favourite playing spot and she loves diving in to this feathery mass and breaking the stems.  Not sure how much more kitty abuse they will stand.