(no subject)
Alex really likes his\ tractor, he was straight on it and shifting big piles of leaves about in no time. He might even learn to peddle next! Dinner went well, even though I ended up cooking most of it single handed, Mum did a bit of veg prep but mainly she baby sat. I quite enjoyed having a day to myself to play in the kitchen, with a few breaks to watch Alex on his tractor. Sarah came over with her boyfriend, so there were 14 of us for dinner. It was nice to finally meet Graham properly, he seems pretty straight up, simple and honest, so lets hope that true!
There was surprisingly little food left out of 3 courses, so I got that right!
We had leek, potato and salami soup, geese with stuffing, pigs, Yorkshire puds and veg, then xmas pud with rum sauce, followed by chocs and cheese and biscuits. I don't think anyone had any space left after that lot! Dad supplied dessert wine and we had Port and Madeira too, very indulgent. IT was a great evening and it was lovely to get everyone together, but I'm glad we only do it once a year!
On Sunday we had another quiet day, with Alex playing with Mum and the Tractor, and me sorting out food and making soup. Monday was another quiet day, dodging the rain. We did go to Pickering in the morning to take the cat to the Vets for his cystitis, and loose some of the recycling. There were a lot of beer and wine bottles to get rid of!
Tuesday was our annual day off, Simon, Dad, David and Stephen set off to walk to Newtondale Halt, and Mum and I took Alex out for a walk with the dog. I say walk, what we actually did was attached me to the front of the tractor with a bit of binder twine and Alex used me as a draft horse! We did take him for a run round Braygate Slack, where he found some lovely mud to dig in.
We then got the train and met the other at Newtondale Halt. We also found 5 other Wombles on the train and managed to gather them all up in once coach. It was a nice run to Grosmont, and Alex was happy as he had lots of people to talk too. We had lunch in Grosmont's incredibly slow and inefficient tea rooms, then went and sat on the train for 4o minutes while 2 failed engines were sorted out! Mum, Dad and Alex got off at Levisham, and we went to the pub in Pickering. I unfortunately got the times wrong so I was back an hour later then I expected, but Mum and Dad had left Alex with Lib and he was quite happy. Oops! Bad parenting, abandoning my child to go the pub with mates, a good way to start a new year!
We came home on Tuesday night, and got as much sorted out as possible, but there still a lot to do on Wednesday, when Ruth came over for the day. I wasn't very with it for a busy day, as I was woken at 3:30 by the most incredible racket, and I could only think someone was trying to break in. After I'd worked up the courage to get dressed and go and look, it turned out the noise was Panther trying to head butt his way through the cat flap after partly dismantling it with his claws. We'd forgotten to unlock it and as the poor boy has cystitis, he was pretty desperate to get out. He'd left me a bit of a mess to clean up too. After the adrenaline surge involved in that little episode I never really got back to sleep.
It was lovely to see Ruth and the kids and have a proper catch up, Alex and Meg had a good time together, but he was very bitey. They left at 3ish, and Alex was exhausted. He spent the time until Daddy got home sitting in his chair watching TV. We had fish and chips for dinner as I was too tired to cook, very decadent!
Today Alex and I have been over to Liz's for a walk along the river bank. Casey and Alex had a wonderful time together, helped by being outside with no toys to fight over! We got home, had lunch and he refused to sleep again, so he was a little unpleasant this afternoon. That was fun when Simon came home early and the pair of them were winding each other up! A quick trip to the supermarket was pretty much all we achieved.
Tomorrow we are off Caths for the morning and lunch to get Alex and Eva together before she goes back to school. Hopefully the weather will hold again so we can release them on to an unexpecting world.
I really hope I get some sleep tonight!
There was surprisingly little food left out of 3 courses, so I got that right!
We had leek, potato and salami soup, geese with stuffing, pigs, Yorkshire puds and veg, then xmas pud with rum sauce, followed by chocs and cheese and biscuits. I don't think anyone had any space left after that lot! Dad supplied dessert wine and we had Port and Madeira too, very indulgent. IT was a great evening and it was lovely to get everyone together, but I'm glad we only do it once a year!
On Sunday we had another quiet day, with Alex playing with Mum and the Tractor, and me sorting out food and making soup. Monday was another quiet day, dodging the rain. We did go to Pickering in the morning to take the cat to the Vets for his cystitis, and loose some of the recycling. There were a lot of beer and wine bottles to get rid of!
Tuesday was our annual day off, Simon, Dad, David and Stephen set off to walk to Newtondale Halt, and Mum and I took Alex out for a walk with the dog. I say walk, what we actually did was attached me to the front of the tractor with a bit of binder twine and Alex used me as a draft horse! We did take him for a run round Braygate Slack, where he found some lovely mud to dig in.
We then got the train and met the other at Newtondale Halt. We also found 5 other Wombles on the train and managed to gather them all up in once coach. It was a nice run to Grosmont, and Alex was happy as he had lots of people to talk too. We had lunch in Grosmont's incredibly slow and inefficient tea rooms, then went and sat on the train for 4o minutes while 2 failed engines were sorted out! Mum, Dad and Alex got off at Levisham, and we went to the pub in Pickering. I unfortunately got the times wrong so I was back an hour later then I expected, but Mum and Dad had left Alex with Lib and he was quite happy. Oops! Bad parenting, abandoning my child to go the pub with mates, a good way to start a new year!
We came home on Tuesday night, and got as much sorted out as possible, but there still a lot to do on Wednesday, when Ruth came over for the day. I wasn't very with it for a busy day, as I was woken at 3:30 by the most incredible racket, and I could only think someone was trying to break in. After I'd worked up the courage to get dressed and go and look, it turned out the noise was Panther trying to head butt his way through the cat flap after partly dismantling it with his claws. We'd forgotten to unlock it and as the poor boy has cystitis, he was pretty desperate to get out. He'd left me a bit of a mess to clean up too. After the adrenaline surge involved in that little episode I never really got back to sleep.
It was lovely to see Ruth and the kids and have a proper catch up, Alex and Meg had a good time together, but he was very bitey. They left at 3ish, and Alex was exhausted. He spent the time until Daddy got home sitting in his chair watching TV. We had fish and chips for dinner as I was too tired to cook, very decadent!
Today Alex and I have been over to Liz's for a walk along the river bank. Casey and Alex had a wonderful time together, helped by being outside with no toys to fight over! We got home, had lunch and he refused to sleep again, so he was a little unpleasant this afternoon. That was fun when Simon came home early and the pair of them were winding each other up! A quick trip to the supermarket was pretty much all we achieved.
Tomorrow we are off Caths for the morning and lunch to get Alex and Eva together before she goes back to school. Hopefully the weather will hold again so we can release them on to an unexpecting world.
I really hope I get some sleep tonight!