For Whom the Bells Toll!

Summer Holidays wouldn't be complete without ice cream vans plying their trade and on the whole, I'm partial to a Mr Whippy, but on my terms!

So when the jingly bells echo down our road at the most inconvenient time - just before tea time, during tea time or when I have no money to hand out, it stikes fear into my heart.

It's not really the Ice Cream Man's fault, it's just that saying 'Not Today' to the children isn't as easy as just saying no because alongside the - IT'S NOT FAIR...YOU PROMISED ( I NEVER promise, I know what I'm like!) my children have this uncanny nack of being able to recite every time when I have done them out of an ice cream.

This is despite the fact that we have some really yummy cartons of the stuff in the freezer which they can have whenever they like - within reason of course, unless thay have lain a MASSIVE guilt trip on me about some other neglectful misdemenour.

The thing is, I like to be able to choose when I buy ice cream , in the same way that I like to choose what company to buy my gas and electricity, home insurance, car insurance, Accident Protection Insurance from.

That's all folks!

Vaaay - caaay - shun!!!

So, the School Holidays are upon us, or me rather, and at this moment in time, I feel the weight of them bearing down on me.


I really messed in my School Holiday Planning this year, writing in my diary that the Easter ones finished earlier that they actually did and that the Summer ones started later that they actually do. According to me, my kids don't break up 'til next Friday.


Anyway, Keith and I have done some amazing team work planning which means that our kids don't have to go and assist the roofers at school for the next week, which is good because it's probably against the law anyway and I really can't see what any learning outcomes might be...actually there's possibly loads to be honest but....nah!


I guess for any working mum that isn't a teacher and actually for working mums who are teachers (as they still have to work in the holidays) as the children run out of school full of plans for bike rides and swimming, all day long footy tournaments and picnics, our hearts sink as we (I) realise that I'm going to have to still say no sometimes, so what makes the holidays different to any other day?

Stop snivelling and pull yourself together - they'll survive!

Why?


I will over compensate, I guess, and give them some of the most fun filled, adventure packed moments they have ever shaken a stick at and do you know what?

Apart from getting a whole bunch of fulfilment from shaking a stick,they will still want to be in front of the tele in time for High School Musical 2 every time it is shown.

Mr Disney, I salute you!

http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/originalmovies/highschoolmusical2/

Disney Channel from Friday 17th August!!

Very Interesting.

To save you having to do this experiment at home, you should know that a Toffee Hoops Crunch Corner, when droppped from about 70 cms ( roughly half the height of a Hall 8 year old - small prize for the first person to correctly guess which one!) creates an abstract splatter pattern spreading over an area of about 3 mtrs by 1 mtr.

The toffee hoops highlight the yoghurty splat in a compelling way, suggesting that if you joined the dots the resulting picture would be... well...very interesting.

The vanilla smell lingers for some time afterwards even when you have used Vanish Carpet Stain Remover.

I await your thanks!

You Saw Me Before I Was Born.

Well, I think it's time to share with all the world (!) the amazing and exciting news that my brother and his wife are expecting identical twins. We know what sex they are going to be too, but I'm not gonna blog that!

Tracy is now 24 weeks into this marathon and apart from one blip last week is doing really well. She has to rest now, which is by far and away the toughest part of being pregnant.

The pregnancy has been incredibly fragile and if the babies had not separated when they did, they could have been co-joined ( see diagram c above). They are highly dependant on one another even though they are two separate little things and only one ounce in weight difference - , in fact they only weigh about a pound each anyway - isn't technology amazing?

When our twins were born there was a pound between them, but they are boy and girl so fairly easy to tell apart although some people still got confused in the early days, ' How do you tell them apart when they are in the bath?' 'OOhh umm...you've got me there' and 'Which one is the girl?' 'The one in the dress!' - and no, it wasn't Keith!!

So my brother is trying to get his head round the fact that the Doctor has told him, ' Mr Fuller ( cos that's his name) these babies are so identical that you essentially have one baby.......only twice!' Apparently even their fingerprints could be the same.

Anyway they have had their photos taken quite a few times now and most everybody who's anybody will have seen them before they are born, but what's amazing is that only God will have a specific plan for each baby as an individual.

I am really excited and terrified at the same time! Please, if you do, pray for Jon, Tracy and Libbie and the two little shadows with a flashing sparks of life, that have so much potential.

Thanks

Will keep you posted :)