UMBRELLAS

My umbrella makes me happy. Rainy days are ok because of my pink striped wellington boots and my multicoloured Cirque du Soleil umbrella. I walk along imagining I'm a trapeze artist. Heather feels the same. Under her pink Peppa Pig umbrella this morning she was singing a made-up pink Peppa Pig song. It's a nice life when your umbrella makes you happy. Neither umbrella was available for comment or photo, so this diagram is here instead. If you really do love your umbrella, it is probably important to know all its parts.

The Perfect Housewife

A general picture of her welcoming home:

More specifically, evidence of her skills inthe kitchen:

Her stylish appearance mid-afternoon. See how she combines her classy sweater from Monsoon with her pyjama bottoms.:

And when she has a spare 10 minutes, does she run a brush through her hair or pick up a few bits of clutter? No, she photographs it and blogs it.

Ailsa turns five shindig

Ailsa had her B-day party today, even though tomorrow on her birthday. She was only allowed to invite 5 kids, and so invited her table from school - some extras turned up. Sharon as always was the Uber-artistic parent. Ailsa wanted to go with the astronaut theme - so Sharon made this artful constellation of cakes n cookies- Crafty spaceship workshop got under way....
I pretended I knew something about 5 year olds birthday games - musical planets-aka musical chairs, musical astronauts aka musical statues to the tune of walking on the moon by the Police...some game with straws and polo mints that the kids seemed to get in to - those five year olds just roll with suggestions! Then to burn off some of those cake carbs we did some retro 70s disco dancing The bad side...after a gallant display Scotland were beat by Italy 2-1 in Glasgow tonight - despite the weather being in Scotland's favour...and now you think why did we bother beating France twice when we're out of the European championship? It's always good to be philosophical when things don't go how you were expecting...... (Is that something like philosophy is the opium of the masses?) anyway Aubrey, my father-in-law, reminded me of this great site that goes into the whole philosophy of football (Soccer to the minority who live in N. America) or is it the football of philosophy? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrShK-NVMIU). Ailsa and Heather seemed to have had a good time today, but I'm not sure we can keep this up 3 times a year for the next ?12 years/
John

?School day?

Today Ailsa didn't have to wear uniform but had to wear something Scottish - and they did some ceilidh dancing at gym. Heather had to wear pyjamas to nursery. You had to pay £1 for various causes i.e. trip to the theatre/school trip.

Come Alive

Evening time is the time when Claire comes to life, with facial expression, wonderment, ponderous gazes and a few screams.....hints of the future..

John

Angel Baby


Floating on a baby cloud.

Yes, families do need fathers

I agree with Jen C.

I do, from time to time, roll my eyes at John's ideas and suggestions, thinking they are bonkers, or ill-thought-through, or completely devoid of any assessment of risk.
Fireworks, for example. On Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes night) last Monday, John wanted to do a fireworks display for the girls. In our back garden. Have you seen our back garden? It measures about 6m by 10m, and within that space are 2 hedges, a wooden playhouse, 6 trees, a carpet of fallen leaves and overhead electricity wires. It is also bordered on 3 sides by the neighbours' wooden fences and sheds.

I sent him to the local shop for a naan bread and he comes back with a box of fireworks. Us four females were sent indoors to watch behind the safety of the window while he did his manly pyrotechnics outside.

Well, I have to say that in the end, the fireworks display was really..........cute. I have never seen such cute little fireworks. It was like firefly fairies dancing in the backyard. Little fountains of light rising about 2 feet off the ground and a miniature wheel twirling sparkles in a radius of maybe 30cm. All very sweet. I think I liked it even more than the little people.
Unfortunately, I am not so au fait with my camera that I can capture fireworks images, so here is a shot of the packets on the kitchen counter, before being lit.

Thank you John, for the sparkle you bring to our house.

Happy Halloween

Heather and Ailsa went round to the neighbours for a Halloween party, followed by some guysing/trick or treating. There are enough sweeties to do us until next year. Heather dressed up as a fairy princess angel, Ailsa as a witch. I made her a cauldron out of a small black plant pot. She got upset and wanted the large black bucket from the garden so she could stand her broom up and use it to stir her witches brew.

This was the troup coming to our door. Anyone spot Ailsa?