Keeping up

...or maybe not.

I'm finding out the true meaning of plate spinning at the moment. Not only have I got loads on work-wise (not least, the ceremony of the Church School Awards on 24 March, with all the busyness that brings with it), but the boys have sprouted social lives that even the most active It girl would be proud of!

In March/April, we're running at a current total of 6 birthday parties, at least one football match, band rehearsals, football clubs x 2, jazz dance and that's without trombone lessons etc. I'm now beginning to more fully appreciate what my Mum and Dad did for us when we were little!

The end of a long summer

I know, I know, I've neglected this blog dreadfully!

The main reason for this is that I heard at the end of May that the organisation I work for was being closed by the government as part of the first "in-year" spending cuts.

As part of the Communications team, I have been busy making sure that the right thing is said at the right time and, having been a bit raw about my own situation, was a bit concerned that every blog I started to write was becoming a rant. Not helpful.

So I've kept quiet for the whole summer! If you know me well, you'll realise what a sacrifice that's been!

The summer hasn't been all about redundancy and sad stuff, however. We've had some brilliant times too. Venice in July/August was a particular highlight. Lots of pasta, pizza, amazing weather, not to mention the amazing and slightly improbable city of Venice. Fantastic.

Our lovely Canadian cousin, Kerry, was back over on these shores at the end of August and we met him in London for a fun day of sightseeing and lots of chat.

We also celebrated my sister-in-law's wedding in September, which was a wonderful day of family, friends and lots and lots of love.

So now I'm looking forwards and not back. This work situation could just be the beginning of something very exciting for me - I'm looking into what I might be able to do that uses my gifts and talents that will still work for the family and gives them back a happy wife and mum.

We're getting there, in spite of the rigours of this summer. Roll on Autumn and Winter, as I think that they might hold good things for us! They might even have a bit more blogging too....

The anatomy of an Easter bonnet

As it's the last time I'm likely to make one, I decided to put a bit of effort into Number Two Son's Easter hat this year. In the end we all did a bit - even Mike painted egg-box daffodils.

I feel that I should share the process - and the pain...

First, make a top hat (far too much swearing and gnashing of teeth involved to take any photos of this but take my word for it that it was an A4 paper box beforehand). Paint it brown.

Then paint grassy bits on it.


Then get slaves to paint more grass and flowers (including the egg box daffs - amazing how much orange paint it takes to cover up a green egg box) to stick on and then endure the moaning about a miniscule dab of green paint hitting the youngest's finger.

Stick random stuff around the top while the rest dries off.

Stick it all on. Swear again as you realise that you should have accounted for the brim being stuck on inside the hat when you were measuring around small person's LARGE head. Ram it on and tell him to walk very carefully....

Watch proudly as he struts his stuff in an extremely noticeable hat at the actual parade, only mildly lamenting that all but one of the orange daffs have dropped off....

Thank goodness Big School doesn't do this kind of thing.

Happy Easter everybody!

Running all over the... track

Number One Son, my sister-in-law Lesley and I ran the Sport Relief mile today. We had great fun and the weather was very, very kind to us! A good way to spend a morning.

Was really proud of all of us, but particularly of my boy, who just kept chugging along, didn't stop once and only asked a couple of times if he could have a drink!

All in aid of charity, of course, so if you want to donate to the cause, go to www.mysportrelief.com/therhodesteam

Going the distance

Having played around a little bit, trying to get into running over the last couple of years, I think that I'm finally getting the hang of it. This has been helped by Number One Son wanting to do the Sport Relief Mile and so it's given me a goal to work towards. Not as big as the one my sister-in-law has taken on, which is the Sport Relief SIX miles.... Mad.

Really enjoying running, though, and a mile doesn't feel like much at all now. Will look for something longer soon, as the next step up. Looking forward to getting better at it!

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!!

Avoiding the chopping block

As Mike was out and about today on a history trip to Tutbury Castle, the boys and I decided that we were not to be outdone. So we flexed our English Heritage membership and went to Boscobel House, a little bit north of Wolverhampton.

A good time was had by all and even the little one eventually caught on and then told everyone that Charles II had hidden there to avoid having his head "chocked" off. The oldest tried sitting in one of the two priest holes. Not comfy and pretty dark, as the photo shows.

Only one 3 year old vs chicken-related incident threatened the general harmony and enjoyment of a lovely afternoon.

Stoopid is as stoopid does.....

I think that silly evenings in with the boys are seriously underrated. We decided to dress up and do a bit of disco-divaing yesterday. Here are the results...

Love and Marriage

Very exciting news this week, as my sister-in-law's boyfriend proposed at the top of the London Eye. I'm relieved to say that she said yes and so we are all completely delighted! Another fab and even more special wedding to look forward to....

Triple Trouble

Two posers and a poser-in-training. Thursday nights with the family are about to get even more raucous!

Momentous occasions

Lots more momentous occasions happening recently. Ian and Jill, good friends from band, got married last Saturday. Even the torrential rain couldn't dampen spirits and we all (and especially them) had a fantastic time. Even the boys scrubbed up pretty well, I reckon!

Then the newest member of the extended Rhodes clan was born late last night. A little boy - weighing in at a mighty 10lb 15oz. I always thought that my youngest was heavy at birth (around 9lb 5oz) but seems as nothing compared to this Goliath!

Now we can all hardly wait to meet him! More photos to follow, I'm sure....

Catching up on the celebrations

It's been an all-action kind of a week this week and so I'm catching up on what I haven't posted!

My mother-in-law turned 60 last week and so we celebrated in style - from me and my sister-in-law taking her for a spa day on her actual birthday (and supported Further Education at the same time - would highly recommend it), to organising a surprise gathering of closest family and friends for a meal on Saturday night. All lovely and she seemed to have a great time.

Number one son then went off for a long-promised stay at Graham and Helen's for a couple of nights and was spoilt rotten! An amazing amount of chocolate has found its way in to our house, after they went to Cadbury World and a (seemingly inept) juggler managed to catch number one on the nose. Clearly my boy has heard that "where there's blame, there's a claim" but, true to form, he chose to claim the extra chocolate they offered him by way of an apology, rather than contacting his solicitor!

We, on the other hand, went down to Brighton on Sunday for the end of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's London to Brighton run. Now, I'm not a huge vehicle fan, but just very occasionally a rally like this comes along that sounds more interesting than others. Usually because it's somewhere nice.... It was a good day and many, many pictures of old lorries were taken by Mike and his dad. Number 2 son had a great time - a large collection of lorries and buses being his idea of heaven - and even managed to blag his way in to the driving seat of a bus, using his tried and tested unfeasibly cute routine.

I have to say that I often (and, may I say, justifiably) accuse my husband of being very, very sad to chase old lorries and buses and models of old lorries and buses all over the country. However, this kind of event restores my faith in my choice of mate. After all, he could end up looking like the several blokes we saw wearing bus uniforms, with the remains of several weeks of dinner down them, or the young chap who'd spent all day keeping a steam engine going and who was going to need several baths to scrape the goo off. I like to think that I rescued him from these fates but I think that, despite his obsession, he's actually a fairly mild case compared to some of the seriously odd people in that world. I left Brighton that evening, counting my blessings.....

10 years ago...

... we were just in the middle of our wedding rehearsal! We got married on 10 April 1999 at the Crossing at St Paul's in Walsall. Embarrassing picture of how young we looked below.....

I've been remembering the week leading up to the wedding really vividly over the last few days. I'm not usually this schamlzy about our anniversary but 10 years feels like the first milestone and one worth celebrating and it's got me thinking.

Key things I remember include:
1. being told by an older, married friend on the Sunday before to remember to concentrate and take all the detail in on the day. She was so right and I'm very glad she gave us that advice. I pass it on now.

2. spending the Thursday in wellies with one of my three lovely bridesmaids, peeling ivy off my Grandma's fence, pegging it to the washing line and hosing it down, ready to be wound round the hand rails on the stairs at the church (we got married two floors up - a long story of church reordering).

3. practising our vows at the rehearsal with all our families there and thinking that this was the most special bit.

4. being proved right about 3. on the day.

5. having a really, really lovely time with many laughs at the pub with both families and close friends after the rehearsal.

6. our french friends arriving on the Friday with a very large, white peace lily that Agnes had held for the whole drive from Albert, in the Somme, to Walsall!

7. spending the evening before the wedding with the girls, trying to get my chief bridesmaid's hair to curl and one of the other bridesmaids burning her head with the curling tongs in the effort. Was quite sore the next day, bless her.

8. my dad coming in to the lounge full of women at about 9.30am (we got married at 11am) and suggesting, in a slightly tense voice, that someone might like to take the initiative and get showered and dressed. I hasten to add, we made it with time to spare and were all clean and beautifully scrubbed up!

Then there are so many memories of the day itself, the only sad bit of which is how many very special people were there then who aren't here now.

If I get this dreamy at 10 years, what am I going to be like at 25?

I'll stop. And yes, I'll gladly pass you the bucket now......

The first weekend of spring

This weekend has seen beautiful, spring weather and it really does begin to feel like we've finally seen the winter off.

We made the most of the lovely day yesterday by going out with the boys to the "Poohstick Park", which is a great big expanse of common land at the back of our street, with a (very small) river running through it. It got its name from it being the first place that number one son ever played poohsticks!

Please note - shorts seen out for the first time this year!

The park is a very useful place at the moment as he's learning to ride his bike without stabilisers and the walk to it and the space available when you get there is ideal for practising! Once there, we introduced the boys to the finer art of rugby passing. Number one got it fairly quickly but number two didn't quite get the hang of passing the ball on. His preferred method of play was to pick up the ball and make a run for it in the opposite direction. This is not as silly as it sounds, given that his older brother was bearing down on him and had already delivered some serious, not to mention illegally high, tackles on their dad!

Meanwhile I maintained my gift for girlyness in the face of all the testosterone in my family and proved myself absolutely rubbish at passing and catching. Always said that rugby was a game for watching and not playing....

Things they don't tell you when you become a parent

I spent yesterday evening creating an Easter bonnet for the 2 year old's Easter Parade next Thursday. Photographic evidence will follow next week. However, this got me thinking - when I signed on the dotted line for parenthood, at no point did anyone say that I'd have to become a master craftsman as well. A bit like the dodgily-shaped Easter eggs I was sticking on to the hastily constructed hat at 11.30 last night - I'm simply not cut out for this part of the job.

It made me wonder - what else did nobody say would be an integral part of the day job as a parent? Here are a few I have come up with. I'm sure there are more.

1. You will always need to know the answer to "why?"
2. You will never be able to find pen and paper, as the children will always be using them for the latest project (currently school registers in this house).
3. Little boys are like most big boys: no aim.
4. Children will often forget their manners. They never forget the once they heard you swear.
5. The equipment needed and the mess generated is in inverse proportion to the size of the child (see picture below for details).
6. You can take a child to water but you can't make him drink. Pop, on the other hand.....
7. If they're awake and it goes quiet: be afraid, be very afraid.
8. Even the least competitive parent will find themself stifling the urge to ask how all the other children in the class are doing. (I have successfully stifled so far but it's come close a few times).
9. Just because the school trousers say they are teflon-coated doesn't mean that a 6 year old can't put his knee through them in less than 2 hours of wear.
10. You are now the world's expert on all subjects and all you say will be taken in, digested and generally repeated, whether you've made it up or not.

Family, friends and a whole lot of cake!

I've had a lovely week toing and froing, celebrating various momentous occasions. First off was last Friday when we went to a surprise party for Mike's cousin, who's turning 40. He had a great time, we had a great time and got to know some of the friends that we've heard Graham talk about but never met. The birthday boy managed to get up close and personal with a chocolate fountain whilst trying to cut his cake and I'm not sure if his Tshirt will recover! He should look at it as a lasting momento of a good night....

Then we had the family meal for the same 40th birthday. It was a really lovely evening and the boys, as usual, kept all entertained. Graham bravely suggested that they sit either side of him to eat and so it took him a while to eat his own dinner, in between cutting up meat and catching drinks. All good practice for when he becomes a daddy in a couple of months.

Then today we've been down to Hertford to celebrate the baptism of the little boy of some of our closest and oldest friends. Catching up is such a good thing to do and it's always so easy to slot straight back in to how it used to be when we all shared a house at college. Plus 6 kids and one bump, obviously. My 6 year old explained it best when he was talking about them - he reckoned that "they're kind of our cousins, aren't they?" and that's how it feels. Not family in fact but definitely family in feeling.