My first night out

..since arriving home!

Sorry about the lack of blog last night but I was busy living it up at the local pub!

It was good fun although I was tucked up in bed by 11!!

A lovely day at Blenheim Palace

Met some old friends again today at the beautiful Blenhiem Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. It is a sandstone palace with incredible grounds designed by Sir Christopher Wren.. Here's a link do you can get an idea:

 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace

Anyway, it was great. 

Esme and Rowan thoroughly enjoyed themselves! 

You can see it's freezing here already! 

 

Blog anxiety

I'm suffering from bloggers anxiety but haven't find much today; travelled around the 9 charity shops in Headington looking for some little toys for the children, and I saw a top quality winter coat for £35 - usually priced at £290. 

Then in the off chance I drove to the children's new school and amazingly met their new teacher, Miss Arnold, who seemed very nice and the type of teacher that I wish I'd had at my first school! The children were quiet and shy but I discovered that they won't be needing uniforms at all.. So that will be a trip to the shop to return them. The school does a lot of outside play when the weather permits do all they actually need is good wellies and warm coats with mittens and hats for the winter. 

This evening we had a meeting with William; who has offered his homestay business to us (as a gift) to discuss if it could be a go-er. Mmmm.. Lots to think about! 

Goodnight for now! 

Sxx

Catching up

We are still inundated with visitors! Today we had: my mum, Charlotte, Toby and Sheena and one of Guy's childhood friend with his two children. 

Esme and Rowan were allowed to watch cartoons on Sheena's iPad - which is one of the most amazing gifts our children can receive. ( in their eyes not mine. Guy)

On our trip we have managed with a smart phone each and that has been it. The children were allowed one phone game each to play but time was strictly limited. Guy bought an unlocked phone in Thailand and having the Internet saved us on numerous occasions. We have not got an iPad, nor do we want one. 

It's difficult as we both feel that a computer has a place in a home but shouldn't have a place in a four and half year old child's mind.  The time will come when they will have to use computers but it seems such a shame (and totally unnecessary) to get them used to them too early. 

In the afternoon we drove to a really pretty village called Hook Norton, in the heart of the Cotswolds

To see Alexandra and their two favourite cousins.. 

Much fun was had with promises of many more to come! Esme and Rowan confidentially told them that we are never ever going away again;) (and to be honest I'd second that!) 

Livvie gave Esme (and Rowan) her whole Syvlvanian collection of toys/animals etc.. It's still like Christmas here!! Here you can see them playing with the tree house. I'd like to think Guy could build one of those in the back garden for them!! 

Sxx 

Our helpers have arrived!

They have been up since 3am and are super tired! They got to our house, had some lunch and promptly fell asleep! 

Esme and Rowan are still pretty tired too so snuggling up in the sofa was just what they needed;) 

Guy is preparing the wood but was pretty disappointed to find the wheel barrow had a flat tyre and a new wheel won't arrive before Friday. He will try and borrow a barrow from someone on our road in the morning. 

This is our wild and overgrown garden.. Lots of rain early and sun later in the summer led to supersize plants. This has been pruned! 

And Esme and Rowan in the kitchen thoroughly enjoying 'horses' with Toby.

Sxx

It's the little things..

Today we had ten visitors coming as well as Andrew and his two children who stayed over from last night so we did some baking this morning and made some cherry bakewells and then some lavender biscuits.. And yes, the kitchen looked as if an atomic bomb had gone off afterwards! The cooking was a huge success and will have to be repeated again tomorrow as there is nothing left! 

The children were up early and very excited that Sophie and Marcus were still here so before long the house was full of fun and laughter but my blood did start to boil when they all started practicing their screams in the kitchen. They all went up to the tennis courts in the park and I calmed down again;) 

Andrew and the children left with many promises to meet up again very soon and then our lovely guests started to arrive.. 

Firstly Sheena, our lovely aunt/great aunt, then my sisters and mum. One of my sisters was diagnosed with a huge brain tumor three weeks into our trip.. and as you can imagine I was very pleased to see her and realise that she was alright. A little later we were joined by Toby, Guys brother. They all bought little welcome home gifts for the children and it honestly truly felt like Christmas - all day!! It was so good to see everyone and know that they would be with us in an hours' time, 2 hours time.. It's really as if I have to keep pinching myself to realise its real. 

It's so lovely to look around and see mess and not feel it has to be cleared up straight away because we're not in our own home. It's fantastic to think the children can scream as loud and for as long as they want to because we are in our own home (and I know that these things weren't a problem when we were staying with people) but its so great to NOT have to control the children to that extent. 

It's the small things that make this life we live so wonderful, not how much money you earn or how nice your house is.. It's the peace I feel when I relax; it's the happiness I hear in the children.. 

So tomorrow we have another mad day. We are expecting one of our old helpers who is arriving with his friend, to move, chop and stack some wood for us. (It's a huge amount!) 

Doesn't look like much from this angle but this pile is waist height and has increased from this amount:

This is the front of our house. So our helpers are here for two weeks and Guy is convinced that it will take then that long to get this lot of wood sorted out. 

It's back holiday Monday here too so I can't phone the school to see if the children have to wear uniforms - I think they must do if I have been given a price list for every item.. They will be wearing yellow polo shirts and navy jumpers with grey/black bottoms - should I buy then proper trainers and football boots etc? It's crazy and a little frightening to think I've got to them go into this big bad world. 

I realised another thing today. Now, I'm not religious, but I really do feel so incredibly blessed to have spent this amazing year with the children (and Guy of course!) Not many parents have the opportunity to do this and I really am thankful. So to have been with them when they experienced so many things for the first time, to have held their hands when they were worried or frightened, to have seen their fear turning into joy as they were conquered, to have had that, to have been there and lived with every moment.. I am so thankful. Words aren't really enough. 

Sxx 

A long walk

Yesterday was a day of peace and relaxation - until Guy suggested a three mile walk down the back lanes into Oxford! 

The walk is through the park behind our house, on the back lanes and alleyways for a further mile, and then through some beautiful water meadows into the centre of Oxford.  It usually takes about two hours and this was the first time we had walked it without the children being in their old buggy. (Guy did suggest taking the buggy but it was met with an absolute no - end of discussion - from me.) The children went in on their bikes (including Rowan) and we had a great chat with our friend Andrew (who bought his two lovely children with him). Esme isn't so confident on her bike yet so she stuck to her scooter. 

We are still really enjoying being home and doing that beautiful walk bought home to us how incredibly lucky we have been to have had such a successful trip and then coming bank to such a lovely city that we call home. The children are really enjoying discovering old places and  faces again and it's pretty amazing to hear how their brains work - Esme saw a little girl she used to play with and she said 'I know that girl don't I mummy? What's her name again? - I don't remember!' A quick reminder if the name and she's all smiles again! 

The weather seems almost autumnal already and with our thin blood we're all feeling the cold and we haven't had enough time to find any other jumpers from the garage.

The walk was pretty tiring and we had just finished lunch when the heavens opened and it started raining cats and dogs for the rest of the afternoon. Andrew and I caught the bus home with the littlest kids and Guy cycled back with the older ones then we all collapsed and rounded the evening off with a few games of chase the ace and then bed. 

Xx