a new decade begins........

........I'm not sure in which childcare manual it suggests that mouthing through the living room window "Get out here and finish the snow dog you miserable little sod" is positive parenting, but after two extra days of children at home I'm finding I can forgive myself. Ian and I had a whole child free week planned, you know, eating in proper restaurants where chicken nuggets are not on the menu, long walks without chocolate finger bribes, wandering round town without the whines of dismay, but two days in we, like the rest of you, woke to this glorious sight........

Needless to say the school was closed and entertainment of a snowy variety was our remit. Now we love our children, relish their company (mostly) but after exhausting them on the sledge on day one they were a little hesitant about venturing out on day two, hence thinly veiled threats being hissed through the window.

Fortunately the various snowmen, snow bears etc. were built on day one and spent the next few days watching us (quite ominously in the dark) until the big melt started and snowman's head looked futher skywards until it eventually fell off.

Did you notice how I slipped back in there, hoping no-one noticed my unexplained absence? A blogging crisis hit the VH household, actually I couldn't find the time to do it and I had little inclination anyhow. It's amazing how much time it freed up for me but I have missed you all so I'm back (again). Quite often it strikes me that this is a funny thing to do, what is the purpose? Sometimes it feels a bit show offy, a bit "look at my perfect life, home and children". That is so far from my life, our house is in dire need of attention, our children fight daily and life as you all know is never perfect. But I like the fact that this blog is my only journal of family life, my only diary, a record of how our lives are at this point in time. Many times over the last couple of months things have happened that I wanted to blog about and tonight this prompted me...........

...............our children love each other to bits but how they fight! Over anything and everything........who goes up the stairs first, who has the biggest piece of chocolate, who sits where at the table, who gets the extra yorkshire pud and on, and on. Sometimes however, they forget their differences and actually get on, in fact revel in each others company. Tonight Kitty climbed into Jack's bed and he read her stories whilst I was despatched to more menial duties, not much in the scale of things but to me, priceless.
So, Christmas has come and gone, New Years day was spent recovering  from a fantastic party here with lots of friends, neighbours and their various offspring. The Christmas tree turned into a twig, far too much was chocolate consumed, terrible television watched and Ian and I got very competitive with Singstar. Normal life has now resumed but here's a snapshot of our festive house before the hoardes descended.................


........look at that cute little Santa, an ebay bargain and just like the one my Grandma had when we were children.
When this house is tidy the love affair with it begins again, quite a short lived one because the order never lasts long.................... 

.............this year the children were in full control of the tree which of course meant rather a lot of low flying santas, snowmen and baubles. We chose a beautiful tree which managed to shed both needles and decorations with alarming speed, there was a strict no go zone set out, in fact even breathing near it was strictly forbidden.



So, 2010, a new decade, the big four-oh is creeping up on me but apart from that not much changes. The children will try to kill each other with increasing regularity, I will still drink far too much tea and consume vast quantities of cake, I will consider a job, and then promptly reconsider, I'll lose my temper, Ian will pursue various hobbies with his customary intensity, we'll camp in the rain, visit new parts of this wonderful country we live in and rant, laugh, cry and dance with each other....................life as normal!

Happy New Year.........................xx