Running

Well, I went out again this morning. 545am and 1.87miles done by 620am! I used Mapmyrun.com last night to figure out distance and it is brilliant, I would never know otherwise. Not sure how I will ever get to 7miles but I'm sure I will eventually.

I have discovered that I am not as unfit as I thought I was. On my runs I am able to control my breathing and am not too puffed until the end but I just struggle with the will power to actually to keep going. I am really hoping that I get to a stage where this is not the case and I will want to go further each time and really enjoy it. That said, this is the most I have ever enjoyed running so far and I think that is down to the fact that Bill loaded my Ipod with awesome tunes. I have a thing about music, I love listening to it but have no idea who anyone is so if I tried to put stuff on my Ipod I wouldn't know where to start and in true husband style Bill seems to know exactly what tunes I love. Thanks Bill
xx

We took a day out!

Bill still working and it is the summer holidays so I decided to take the kids out for the day. We went to Groombridge Place as my gorgeous mum and dad got us a year round ticket so it was also a free day out. I am sounding so pleased with myself because I don't very often go out to such a public place completely by myself with all 3 children at once. I do normal day to day stuff but not a fun day out, not without friends usually. I also got thinking about this when I read a fellow bloggers take on it too. I took a few snaps on the way for your enjoyment!

The first one is all of us eating our lunch, the kids were so excited as they had their own packet of crisps!! I am that mean of a mummy that they only get a packet of crisps on a picnic! This is William taking part in a drumming lesson, I joined in after the picture taking and so did the girls. We had a blast and even had another go on the way back.

This was a very cool dragon sitting on its nest with eggs

Another very cool pteradactyl, you can't see it very well but its eggs are in the tree above it.

My gorgeous 3 children sitting on a dinosaur bone :-)

We had an absolute blast and the kids were great, the weather was awesome and we will definitely go back together again. I want to take Bill as he hasn't been yet either and it was just beautiful.

What are you guys getting up to on the holidays???

xx

Running again!

As the title suggests I have started running again. I am doing the Brighton 10k in November with a friend so here goes!

I've been twice this week and so I'm on a mission!
xx

Birthday Boy!!

I can't believe my boy is 6 years old!!!!! Here are a few snapshots of my gorgeous boy on his special day, the Wallee toy is from school, he has it for the weekend and has to take him places :-)

Birthday tea at Macdonalds, several of his friends came along too. Much easier than a party! William and Jaime and of course Wallee on his new scooter (from Auntie Clare and Uncle Kenny)

A very excited boy in all his kit at 615am just off to the park to try out his new bike with daddy and Grampie

Looking at a fab Scanimation Starwars book again from Auntie Clare

and Uncle Kenny

Helmet trying on (from Nannie and Grampie)

Very proud owner of his very own proper cycling jersey, it has a hammer riding a bike (from Grandma and Papaw in the US) we can't find anything this cool over here for kids!

LEGO!! from his lovely friends

His stash, I took this last night before I went to bed!

Took this piccie for my sis as she got the girls LOVELY gap pjs and William a LEGO starwars Tshirt!!

Sorry the pix loading up backwards which is a pain so you are starting from the end and working backwards!!

We had a great day, presents, very early morning, cake, candles, fun and I had the best cuddle for such a long time before he went to bed!

I love my boy

xxxxx

Such a weekend!

Firstly, not great news on my Dad. He went for the results of his MRI, basically hoping to get the date for his surgery and it has shown up something in his hip bone. He had an xray and bone scan that day and is now waiting for the results. For my US friends, the NHS is AMAZING, but unlike over there where there is mostly private health care we have alot more waiting and that is what we are doing again. We have just waited 2 weeks for the results of the MRI and are now waiting for the next lot. This was not expected at all so has thrown my dad for six but we are coping. Please can I ask for you to keep him and my mum in your prayers at this time.

On a much, much lighter note we did have a wonderful weekend. On saturday, Bill and my dad took my kids to Bedgebury, leaving mum and I with a morning to ourselves. We both had a few errands to run in town and of course just had to have a Starbucks!! Mmmmm tall skinny decaf hazlenut latte! We met a friend in town too for a catch up. I sadly managed to get a few christmas pressies on sale in Fenwicks which I hate admitting to but they were lovely. It was a boiling hot day so it was just nice being out with my mum. In the evening we had been invited to a private park in town for a party. It was being held in a 9 acre park surrounded by houses and you can only access it through gardens of houses surrounding it. Wow what a wonderful experience. We could certainly never afford to live in this area but it is lovely having such generous friends who extend hospitality to us. We started off in one of the gardens with Pimms ( my fave summer tipple) and they had a massive trampoline which the kids loved and it was such a picturesque sunny evening. We then moved down to the park, each house had a table and bbq set up and we all hung out eating amazing food and drinking more Pimms. The kids just ran round like loons hero worshipping all the other older children. William sat by himself right in front of the bands mesmerised....there is something sooo cool about watching live music. He particularly like our friend playing in his band. They managed to stay up till 10pm before it all became to much. But soooo worth it.
Today, we became Godparents to the gorgeous Molly Mae. Our lovely friends put on a wonderful celebration after church with loads of us in another AMAZING garden. We lazed about eating and drinking and the kids again had a ball!

What a fab time we had in a rather dark time. Mum and dad joined us on Saturday night but fancied a quiet one this afternoon so just came to church.

What did you guys get up too?
xx

What we've been up to recently!

We've done lots of dog walks recently in the woods and on Saturday Bill was working so the kids and I went to the woods and look what we found! How cool!

Had to get a family shot for the family readers, I really like this one and Millie keeps saying how much she likes it too because she is hugging William.

She also likes to hug trees as you can see from the next one.

I love the woods where we walk because Mabel gets a great run and we all have fun too, we went quite early on Saturday so didn't see many people and when I looked up this was my view! So beautiful.

There is also something very lovely about seeing the sunshine coming through the trees too, it's kind of magical and always makes me feel glad to be alive .

This is Jaime walking along some tree roots which she was very pleased with and I just had to take a pic My 2 lovely girls

The next one is when I walked the dog to the park and it is just going out to the meadow but again just looks so gorg! Can you tell I like the sunshine!

This one is great cos the kids had all just cycled a couple of miles on an old railway track that is now a pathway and at the end there was the perfect climbing tree. Toby, Williams best friend, is the furthest up. William was right wuss and kept crying about getting stuck he obviously is not a tree climber!

We spent all day Sunday busy, Bill and William went cycling before church and afterwards we went to Picnic in the Park in Calverly park in town. It's an event that all the local churches do for everyone and there's bouncy castles, facepainting, fun games, bbqs and all sorts going on. We went with another family from church who spent alot of time in Japan so had a traditional Japanese picnic which involves meat, marinade and veggies......YUMMY!!!!!!!!! So much better that your bog standard sarnie! And soooo much healthier too, thanks Payne family.

We left in time to get home to watch England play Germany then kind of wished we'd just stayed at the park as they got spectacularly beaten but we had a great time with some lovely friends and surprisingly considering the weather (30deg) the children played beautifully.

We both came down with a crash this morning though as at 7am, Bill calls to tell me he has been knocked off his bike on the way to the station. He cycle about 5 miles (ish) to get the train as the ticket is so much cheaper then runs the other end to the office. But today, a CAB driver knocked him from behind not once but about 4 times and then just drove off. Bill was really shaken but ok and has been at the police station this morning! Luckily so far the house insurance has been amazing and in theory they will either fix the bike or replace it. But, he is pretty shaken up about it which is such a shame and biking really is his thing!

Anyway, he has gone to collect Williams new bike, we managed to get him a 2nd hand specialized bike for his birthday. We had looked at this one in the store but it was ridiculously expensive and then a friend said we could buy their sons as he has grown out of it. Bill is just going to polish it up a bit and the voila! William will be thrilled and he won't care that it is not brand new, in fact he probably won't even realise! His birthday is on the 9th so not long now to sort it.

There are only 4 more weeks till the summer holidays which will be challenging having them all at home constantly for 6 weeks but lovely at the same time. We will find out on Thursday what the situation is with my dad and hopefully what treatment he will be getting so please keep him in your prayers..

Anyway, I really ought to go do something more constructive! It is sooo hot and I just can't be bothered....we had such a full on weekend I just want to flop on the sofa!!

Ta Daaaa!

Bubbs had sports day today, it was soooo much fun!

He is the one leaning forward in both these pix, he is doing some sort of throwing activity, one with a bean bag and another with a small ball. Bless him, he had a blast and so did we. Nannie and Grampie got to come too. The girlies were at nursery so it worked really well and the weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot.

This one here is the play field after with everyone on it having our lunch. We all go to stay and eat with our kids which was lovely.

Below is Bubbs in his new uniform and of course Jim Jam had to get in on the action showing off her princess nighty!