Family Picnic

We thought we'd take full advantage of the sun before it buggered off again, so went for a picnic in Maldon today where we met up with my Dad & Pauline. It was such a good day, the kids all behaved themselves, Kit wasn't a pain in the rear, the weather and company were fabulous. I may be a little crispy now, didn't wear enough sun cream, but at least the kids were covered.

Kit on the loose!

Collecting weaponry

Taylor after my beer

Happy 6th Birthday Isobel

I can't believe that this cute little thing...



Now looks like this!







Where has that time gone? It certainly passes by without you even realising. She is so grown up now, and as a bright as a button. I can't wait to see what she will be like in a few years time.

Birthday Meal

We got as many of our friends as we could muster together last night to go out for a meal for my birthday - the big three zero! It isn't actually until Monday, so I am still clinging on to my twenties as I post this.






We had a lovely time, but I've STILL got a hangover at 11pm the next day. Getting too old for this...

Day at the beach

Another manic busy week here. Nothing new there then. It's only going to get worse when I work fulltime...HELP. I start in three weeks. Prepare to never see me again.

Pete had an interview for a Youth Worker job on Monday, first time he's even been selected for interview for one and he really wanted the job. He was interviewed for four positions, and they called him on Thursday and offered him two of them! We are both very happy that the plans we put in place to get our dream jobs about two years ago have finally come together. A bit of determination gets you everywhere. It's only two evenings a week, but that's all he needs, seeing as he's going to be my little housewife from now on. :)

Ryan had his last official day of school this week too, where they all sign each others shirts and take lots of pictures. I remember it well. Can't believe I left the same school 14 years ago. He only has to go back for five exams now and he is done. I think he has two Media exams, PE, Statistics and English Lit. He has finished everything else already.


Taylor had his SATS tests this week too, which seemed to go well. He has a guided tour of his new senior school this week, as we missed all the open days earlier on in the year. I'm really excited for him as the school looks brilliant.

Pete was going to Wembley to watch Portsmouth in the FA Cup yesterday, so I decided to take the kids to the beach with a friend for the day, rather than sit around indoors. The weather wasn't great, thought it might be a washout at first, but I'm glad we went as it was lovely!


Kit wasn't sure about the sand at first;










All attempts at crabbing were unsuccessful. Our bacon clearly wasn't of the quality the crabs were accustomed to.





Kit really looks like both Ryan and Pete's Dad in this picture. Pete noticed it last night. He normally looks so much like me, we'd never noticed the other resemblances before.

The big day

Well, today is the day that a third of the country who have bothered to register, go and vote. It beggars belief that often the people most helped by the government, those living in poverty, can't be bothered to register to vote. That will be my mission in the next few years, encouraging people to use what they've been given.

What they don't realise is if we wake up to a Tory government tomorrow, they are in big trouble. If they'd got up off their backsides and chosen to vote today, and voted for the party who actually gives a damn about them, then I wouldn't be sitting here worried. I've chosen a career in the social sector, as has my husband. We like being involved in the community, and will probably always be seeking out new projects that we are passionate about. One day, we'd quite like to set up a project or charity of our own together. If the Conservatives win tonight, most of these valuable projects, that encourage families to get better educated, eat healthily, care about their surroundings, care about each other, break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness for their children, they will all be cut. It makes me very sad.

I can remember all too well the last Tory government, the divide between the 'haves and the have-nots', the attitude that poor people are at fault for their misfortune-never mind that they were born poor and there is no escape. I can't believe the amount of public sector workers I've heard talking about voting for David Cameron. Do they not realise that their jobs are on the line here? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

This will be a very sad household tomorrow if what I fear becomes a reality. I am not just worried for my family and what the future will hold if we both lose our jobs, I am more worried about the children and families out there that really need help and support, and the disabled who need home care, and the homeless. We will be fine. They probably will not.

Where is it?

I have lost my gym mojo. Has anyone seen it?

I've been so good, going three times a week for about 11 weeks, but I had some kind of virus thingy where any physical effort was impossible, and now I can't be bothered to go back. :( I've had a stressful week with coursework and an essay cut-off date too, which hasn't helped. I only have one more essay to go. Yes, one more. I can handle the exam fine, I love revising and don't mind a bit of pressure, but I hate my tutor and the essay writing part. Can't wait to get it all finished for the summer now.

I've had my start date through for the new job, the 7th of June. I'm doing a training course for a week, then they'll be letting me loose on the public. I am so excited, but crapping myself at the same time. What if I'm not any good at it? Still can't believe I've got the job that I wanted.

I've moved Kit in with Isobel tonight, so Taylor is now where Kit was, in the box room, so he has his own space again. He's in hogs heaven. Bless him, he's been so patient waiting for his room back.

Bush Envy

en·vy   /ˈɛnvi/ Show Spelled [en-vee] noun,plural-vies, verb,-vied, -vy·ing.
–noun

1.a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
2.an object of envious feeling: "Her glorious privet bush hedge made her the envy of her neighbors".

Yes, my neighbor has the Bush Envy. It is actually quite hilarious. Pete has been clearing the pit of a front garden. He's moved my massive flowering shrub thing(yes, that is it's Latin name), planted some begonias and busylizzie's(can you tell I am not into flower gardening at all?), then I bought him some bare-root Privet bushes on Ebay and he set to putting them in. The next door neighbor has been watching him with a glint in his eye, making snide little comments like "That line isn't straight", and "They'll take ages to grow you know", or "They are too close together", amongst other things. Alas, our hedge does NOT yet look like the glorious specimen above. It looks like this;



Pete has just seen the neighbor carrying a bag of compost into the house, so the war has begun it seems.



I went to stay with some friends I'd met online, up in Sheffield. The journey was immense. I travelled to Richmond by tube and met another friend, who drove us both up there. I think it took me six hours in total. It was lovely to be child free for a day. A week would be nicer though. Coming home was even worse as I was hungover. Yuck.


We also travelled back into London to watch the London Marathon at the weekend, as our friend Brian was running in it to raise money for Arthritis Care. He did brilliantly, considering we'd all laughed when he told us last year that he was applying for a place. He did say that he was glad we did all scoff at the idea, as it egged him on to finish.

New Job

About a week ago, on an email at work, I saw an advert for a secondment opportunity for one year, doing my dream job. It's basically what I'm doing my degree for. It was for a Family Intervention Support Worker, working with disadvantaged families who have been in trouble for anti-social behaviour, influencing them to make positive changes to their lives to improve their and especially their children's life chances. Seriously, it was my dream job.

I only had about an hour to do the application and I really didn't do myself justice, so when they called me a week later to ask me to come to an interview I was shocked. Fast forward to today, my interview was at 9am and I was in there for 45 minutes then had a written test too, seemed like I was there forever. I was interviewed first, then as I was doing my test in the room next door they were interviewing someone else and I could hear every word! She stumbled a lot and asked them to repeat questions a few times so I felt a bit more confident after that.

Well, they called me at 5pm to offer me the job! I wanted this job sooooo much, can't bloody wait to start now but have to wait for the crb check to come back(even though I have a valid one already dated Nov 09 - it's madness that they have to re-apply). Here is a link to the FIP project description, which says it better than I ever could.

Just got to pass my bike test in a week or so and buy a moped now, and even worse, I have to tell my manager that I'm leaving for a year...I am TERRIFIED.

Half Term

Is it just me, are the children always off on some kind of holiday? Don't get me wrong, I prefer having them at home because I get a lie in and there is less washing and ironing to do, but it seems like we just get into a routine and it changes again.

We got up to the usual days out. We've been to the seaside for a wander, a bag of chips and a go in the arcades, and it just happened to be the day of the motorbike cruise on the seafront so Taylor and Kit were happy watching the bikes.



We went out for a pub dinner and got to sit out in the sunshine having a beer.



I met up with some online friends and their children for a picnic at the local nature reserve.



Annnnnnd, Kit decided he'd finally start walking unaided.

Happy Easter

Wow, it's been a while since I had time to update my blog. Naughty me. We are all just plodding along here quite merrily. I am loking forward to my friend Sam having her second baby any day now. We are on call to go and collect her 5 year old son for a sleepover here when she goes into labour. Can't wait to have a snuggle with a baby girl, it has been a while since I've held one. I'm kind of used to boys now! She's asked me to take some nice photos of Harvey and the baby, so I can't wait to do that.
We normally do our annual easter egg hunt in the woods, but due to Sam's rather large belly, and the rotten weather, we moved it indoors this year:

The Birthday Boy

Just wanted to add some pictures of the birthday boy.

Opening his presents





Wasn't impressed with the cake(well, who would be if they knew they were too sick to eat it?)


In bed this morning


Feeling glum


Watching Daddy play PC games

Happy First Birthday!

Well, the boy is one today. He was born at 2.47am, so we would've been all snuggled up in hospital now this time a year ago.





He's been ill with a sicky virus this week, so is miserable as sin and not really up for celebrating at all. Poor thing.

Almost one

Christian is one on Saturday. I can't believe it. He is still very quiet, uber cute, and very much a typical boy. He loves footballs, playing fetch, wrestling his sister...typical boy stuff really.



How much like Isobel is he in this one?



I didn't get either of the jobs I applied for, and Pete isn't getting any interviews either, so we are stuck here in this tiny little house going crazy. I think we are going to have to stay here and do the building work that we need to do to make the house bigger.

I went to a tutorial for my course and my tutor was stroppy with me because I'd moaned via email about her marking. She put me on the spot, asking me what my problems were in front of everyone thinking I would back down, so I told her that her marking doesn't make sense and her comments aren't understandable. Her written English is unintelligible, and that isn't fair. This is MY future she is messing about with. She then proceeded to go through the marking strategy being really patronising, and I told her that I'd filled all the set criteria she'd just been through and she is still marking me down. She just smirked and shrugged. She's a bitch and I can't wait to be shot of her. During the group work we were split into two teams and no matter what my group talked about she shot it down in flames(even though I made sure I did none of the talking, because I knew she'd be a pain and it wasn't fair on the rest of my group), and the other group, who talked nonsense and stuttered their way through it, were heaped with praise. If this next essay isn't marked appropriately I will be asking to be moved to another tutor group. :(

School Report

Taylor has just brought home an excellent school report, I think it's the best one we've ever seen from any of the children. We normally give them £5 for a good report, but he can have a tenner for this one! He got above the expected standard in reading and writing, and is on target for maths and science, and he got A's and B's for effort.
His teacher says:

"Teaching Taylor this year has truly been absolute pleasure. He is a kind and hardworking young man. He approaches all tasks, inside and outside of the classroom, with determination and a keenness to please. He has a witty sense of humour and he is a popular, well-respected class member. I have no doubt he will achieve great things in the future. He has grown into a polite young man with a positive outlook and attitude towards learning - keep it up Taylor, and you'll go far! I wish him all the best in the future."

His headteacher put:

"Taylor this is a delightful report. You can be really proud of this. Your attitude to work, combined with your obvious abilities have resulted in you making such pleasing progress. You are clearly a great asset to your class, and a delight to teach. Keep up this hard work and you will go from strength to strength, and have a superb foundation upon which to build your year 7 work."

Change

It's a big week for us this week. Change is afoot(hopefully).

Firstly, Monday the 1st of March was the day we found out about Taylor's senior school place. After months of stressing about it, there I was at 12.10am on Sunday night logging in to the Essex Schools website. I couldn't believe he got the school we wanted! Still can't believe it really. It's second best in the area, and when you consider how bad a lot of the schools here are, this is a big deal. We've been very lucky.

I'm next on the list for big change. I'm leaving in thirty minutes for an interview. Then I have another interview tomorrow. Then, hopefully, I'll have another one in a few weeks time. Not sure what I'll do if I get more than one offer. Got to get the interviews out of the way first I guess.