And they say there's nothing in genetics

Number one son has just been confirmed as the latest in a long line of severely colourblind blokes in my family. It's all my fault, as the women generally carry and pass on the gene without having to cope with the not-so-fringe benefits.

However the added and unexpected extra result of the sight test he had to do is that he's also long-sighted. Glasses arrived yesterday and very suave he looks, too.

No farm no good!

Ok. So it was a good job that we checked. The Cotswold Farm Park was shut last week so we went to London instead and missed the snow! We were pretty proud of our superlative efforts on the museum front -we got in a bit of each of the V&A, Natural History Museum and Science Museum!

We even went to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace and waved and everything. She didn't wave back, though....



Then Sunday saw us going down to Surrey to Joshua's baptism. Dave and Pam are old friends from uni and it was so lovely to meet their little boy and his amazing cheeks!

Lemon and sugar

Well, it's half term and the lemon is that I'm working most of the week. The sugar is that the boys and Mike are having great fun doing boys' stuff, uninterrupted by my pesky female slant on things.

We're all off on Thursday and Friday and will be making a trip to the Cotswold Farm Park, which we're all looking forward to. Then we'll get the boys on their bikes on Friday. Should be interesting....

It's Shrove Tuesday today and, ever ones to follow a good tradition where food's concerned, we've done the whole pancake thing. I made quite a lot, it's fair to say. I limited myself to two and Number Two Son had a little bit of my second, preferring to munch his way through an apple "chocked up".

So, faced with a mildly virtuous pair opposite them at the dinner table, Mike and Number One Son resolved to eat their way through about 9 pancakes between them, with lashings of authentic Canadian maple syrup and chocolate sauce. If they aren't both sick tonight, there really isn't any justice in this world.

I'm back

...and not before time. We've had a lovely Christmas, with loads of family, music etc etc, including an amazing visit from our lovely Canadian cousin, Kerry, for Christmas itself.

Then there was lots of snow. Lots. More than Vancouver has been getting lately, certainly!

And, of course, the none-to-small matter of number one son's seventh birthday. Seven! I found myself really reminiscing about when he was first born, more than I usually do around birthdays, certainly. He's such a sophisticated little thing now - so different from the scrawny, anti-sleeping pink thing that we brought home from hospital seven years ago.
A trip was made to Think Tank in Birmingham, followed by a family tea. A good day.

So a cold but good winter so far. Really looking forward to some warmer weather and getting in to the garden, which is desperate for some attention. Roll on spring and enough of the cold stuff!!