News Years Eve!

Already. I've just been to the supermarket and it seems the world is stocking up for the Seige of 1st January. As for me and my family we are planning a fairly quiet night in together. Now all the boys are older we stay up and see the New Year in as a family. We've gotten a habit now of watching classic comedies while snacking on party food and this year will be no exception. Husband has purchased a boxed set of Faulty Towers DVDs. Last year it was Monty Python. Who knows what will happen over the next couple of years? Number One son is well into his application for the Army Foundation College and if he is succesful he will move away next September, and he's only 15.

New Year often makes people give thought to new beginnings and to making changes in their life. We are no exception. I hope that by the end of the year I will be training as a teacher, which means that Husband can think about retiring. Number One Son is thinking to a future with the army. I'm hoping that Number Two son will change his behaviour and not give us so much grief. Each new school term we tell him it can be a new start, and I really try to believe he can do it. Number Three son, well, he just plods on doing well academically, but I can see a naughty side pushing to get out...

Happy New Year and Happy New Beginnings to you all.

Christmas Day

And I spent most of it in bed feeling very poorly, and unfortunately nothing to do with alcohol. Managed to cook Christmas dinner for everyone, but now it is 9pm and I think I may go back to bed. Number One son has spent all day on his new rowing machine, Number Two is delighted with his mountain board and so far hasn't broken anything and Number Three has watched his new dvd on his new TV. Husband has played with his mobile phone. And me? I'm writing this on my new laptop. I love it - even more so after I managed to connect to the internet, and it only took me two hours...

Christmas Eve

Already... And the dogs have had a walk. Number Three son has been in practice for the big day and woke as some ridiculously early hour, Number One son was next with the earache that he's had for four weeks now, so back to the doctors he went, and Number Two didn't get up until 1.30 pm becasue he has now got the cold that the rest of us have got. Happy Holidays...

Following our family tradition the turkey is in the oven. It smells so good I'm not sure I can wait till tomorrow for it. Isn't it funny how family traditions start? I cook the turkey on Christmas Eve because when Husband and I first got married we only had a small oven, so I cooked the turkey ahead so we had space for roasted vegetables. Now it just seems easier.

Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008.

Almost Christmas

Only two more days to go. Tomorrow, for the first time ever, Husband is spending Christmas Eve with me and the boys. He works in retail, and promised that when he reached 65 he wouldn't work Christmas Eve any more. I didn't believe him, but he reached that milestone birthday last April and he's kept his word. The question is will he just get under my feet all day while I try to get on with all the things I traditionally do? I think the dogs will get an extra long walk tomorrow...

Merry Christmas everybody.

Times of trial

OK, so I wasn't going to carry on blogging, but I've changed my mind. Parenting is harder work than I ever thought it would be. Number One son asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Peace in the household, I told him. You shouldn't have had kids then, was his reply! I know he meant it in the nicest way but it certainly got me thinking about how having children has dictated the course of my life. I'm working in the job I do now, in education, because of having children. I chose to be around for them when they were small, and in order to work and still be there for them when they came home from school, I took a job in a school. I've progressed, and now I'm taking another step and have applied to train as a teacher. I hope that by being on both sides of the fence - as a mother and as someone who works with children - it will make me more understanding when it comes to problems in the workplace. More understanding than the management at Number Two son's school. He's a child with behavioural problems, which we acknowledge and understand, but while most of the teachers handle him well, any good work they do is undone by one other person. This leads to all sorts of situations when Number Two is upset and we have gone past the point of begging the school to do something about this teacher. We don't want to move our son from school - that would only move his problems with him - we just want them to help our son get the best education he can whilst not allowing him to disrupt others. It can be done and he's proved it! Just not in this teacher's dept. It seems they are a law unto themselves and can just carry on as before without following strategies or school guidelines. We have had to resort to the formal complaints procedure, which we really didn't want to do. I'll keep you posted....

Black and Blue!

I literally am. Some days I'm sure you're trying to kill me! I don't think, Number Two Son, you meant to fall asleep the other night without switching off your TV. You probably didn't think that I would come into your room without turning on the light, and that you didn't realise that spreading the TV cable across your room could possibly be dangerous...

The bruises will fade soon.

Boys Will Be Boys...

Well, this week will always be remembered as the week you went in the pool. Nothing out of the ordinary? This wasn't any old dip. No, this was the school pool, out of hours AND in full school uniform. OK, it was quite comical. You didn't actually swim - just took a dip up to your waist (along with two school friends) after being dared by some workmen who were nearby fixing a window. You were very lucky to get away with some school detentions - I was sure you would be excluded for this! So Number Two Son I hope you've learned your lesson this time. Will it calm you down? I don't think so. I think some children are put on this earth to give parents grey hairs, but they usually turn out right in the end. I will probably never admit this to you face to face, but I remember doing something very similar when I was around the same age - but I was lucky, I didn't get caught...

Working life

I always knew it would be hard juggling a working life and a home life, and whatever I do my children will always be my first priority. So why on earth did I have to put gaining a degree into the equation as well?! I worked out that I would be doing the final year of my part-time degree at the same time my eldest son would be doing his GCSE exams. We would be able to offer sympathy and understanding to each other, I thought. I would know exactly what he was going through because I would be in the same place. Some luck! Here I am, approaching my final year out of six and in a state of panic over marks and essays. Number One Son, a fully-fledged teenager, is more concerned with girls and sport than coursework and exams! So, one more academic year for both of us. It will be interesting to see what it brings. Will it be a race for the highest grades, or just a race for the finishing line, with both of us saying, It's the taking part that counts, not the winning.'...

Hello there...

Dear son,

life can be very hard sometimes - especially when you're approaching your teens. I know this, and I know that you rage against it. You can feel it hurting and you just can't stop it. Then we, your parents, come along and you want us to make it better. But often we make it worse. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry when I shout at you when I should be hugging you. I'm sorry for the terrible things I say when I should be saying, 'it's OK. I love you.' Instead, what you hear is 'I hate you,' even though those aren't the words that come from my mouth, aren't the words I mean. I promise , from now I will try harder to understand what you are going through. Not to jump in and say I know, when I obviously don't, but I promise to try and listen. I can't say the rest of your growing years will be easy, and I won't get it right that often. You, your brothers, your Dad and me, though, we all have something in common. Something to cling on to when emotions are high. Something to celebrate when things are going well. We are a family. As long as we remember that, as long as we are together, things will turn out OK in the end,

Mum