KIDS | Family Affairs and other matters

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Dear all, In haste, this is just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Christmas – or as the Archbishop Of Canterbury recently said, “I wish you all a Messy Christmas”. Which in my case is what it will be. It is early Christmas morning and it is only my mother and I [...]

ONESIES

Thursday, December 22, 2011

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Woohoo. My children have new Christmas onesies and all their friends are super jealous. Having written about the Onesie team a couple of years ago when they first set up in the UK I am very proud of their achievements. Once I told them that my Onesie post was still one of my top hits they sent me three more to review. Honestly, my kids live in them anyway - they're not cheap but they are spectacularly good quality and super comfortable. They've even opened a shop now in Shoreditch which looks very cool. I'll show you some pictures at the bottom of celebrities attending the launch party. Anyway, the new Christmas onesie was my son's choice of attire for his birthday present opening session yesterday It is a OnePiece that you can see here http://onepiece.com/gb/shop/product/view:TR10001 - he looks great in it:- Here is my daughter snoozing in hers:- and here are the three of my children posing together:- Zipped:- or unzipped:- Here is their new shop:- Dizzee:- and cool picture of OnePiece's taking over London. This one is my favourite design but they've sold out at the moment:-

TOFFEE RECIPE

Monday, November 28, 2011

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My 11 year old was immediately on the case. The minute I mentioned I'd found a rather delicious looking toffee recipe on a friend's blog he was off out the door buying ingredients. It's easy. Tastes delicious. Not sure it's cooked enough. Might have needed a teeny bit longer to set properly. But here it is. I think he might have to roll the squares up into balls and wrap them individually - what happened to those toffee sweets we used to have like that? In a red packet with each one wrapped in greaseproof white paper? Where have they gone? His brother and sister obviously like it - look what a mess they've made. He's going to kill them:- Check out the recipe here on Are We Nearly There Yet mummy's blog. Yummy.

THANKSGIVING

Sunday, November 20, 2011

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I'm thinking about doing a big meal for friends and family next week for Thanksgiving - always the last Thursday of November apparently. I have a lot to be thankful for even if I am probably in some sort of strange "Transition" phase at the moment. My friend is going to lend me a book about Transitions....and what it means to end something and move on and start again and all that stuffing (note interesting segueway back into Thanksgiving - although not sure I could face a turkey so close to Christmas though). Is that the point of Thanksgiving then? To be thankful....I know it's a harvest festival sort of thing so hopefully not only iåçn a massively religious way - but I'm not sure exactly how Americans celebrate it these days. Anyway. I'm going to do a brief update. For future reference you understand. Archives. 18 YEAR OLD He is doing well. Managing unexpected vast swathes of time relatively well. It's all new to him, this space and of course it is very tempting to waste the whole day in bed - but he isn't doing that. Mostly. Occasionally I have to text him from the bottom of the house "GET UP!!". "I AM" is the usual response. He has got a job in a bar which he's loving and he's doing his revision, rewriting his personal statement, reviewing his options and courses and plans for his travel, spending time with his girlfriend and even getting to the gym. Impressive. 16 YEAR OLD Such a shock for her to lose her best friend (our cat) this week. She went into TOP mourning position but is emerging now from her misery and hopefully she will be fine now. A brilliant distraction for her is that she's managed to get herself a job in Gilly Hicks and she couldn't be happier - they basically sell underwear so I'm not so sure, but, as a subsidiary of Abercrombie and Fitch at least it will be too dark in there for anyone to see her and too loud for anyone to speak to her. She can't wait to fold clothes and use the scanner. I get that. I always wanted to work in a shop full of lovely clothes. Good for her. Christmas money sorted. 11 YEAR OLD Funny as ever although he too was deeply affected by our cat's death. Working hard to get fitter and lose some weight. We managed to service an old bike of his and now he's cycling to school everyday which is good for him but fills me with horror. It's so dangerous and they hate wearing their helmets. I bet he takes it off en route. He was telling yesterday that his friend has a "kidney bean infection". CAT Dead OTHER CAT Pining ME Not dead. FISH May or may not be dead (don't really care tbh which I know is a really bad thing to say, but they're just so unloveable aren't they).

THE BAFTA KIDS VOTE 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

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HURRY UP! The British Academy Children’s Awards are taking place on 27th November and I’ve been asked to post the following video of children’s presenter Barney Harwood issuing a call to action for kids to vote for this year’s ceremony. Here we go then:- Pass it on x

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN

Friday, November 4, 2011

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The worst thing for a friend to say to me when I'm having a bit of a shit time is "I know you're having a bit of a shit time - how are you?" because it totally disarms me. It is usually because I have persuaded myself that I'm not having nearly as shit a time as lots of other people and even the slightest whiff of sympathy is an absolute disaster for me. A friend has just done that - "I'm fine" I told her with an increasingly wobbly voice (Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional). "The kids are fine. My job is fine. I'm fine on my own, I just don't feel like going out tonight". She is understandably worried - not wanting to go out is a total first for me so it's either a sign that I am suicidally depressed or a sign that I am finally growing up and not feeling the need to run after (or away from) my life. Yes, of course I'm missing Builder Bloke and I'm having to come to terms with being single again, but there are upsides to not being with him. Most importantly, because of the complicated "wife swap" scenario we were in, it is good to have less stress between my ex husband and me. Conversations and arguments aren't swooping round and round in four different directions like Chinese Whispers and he has been sympathetic to the situation I have found myself in. So much so that when I had to go and collect my daughter's art book from his house the other evening his new wife - my children's stepmother invited me in! It was the first time that I'd stepped over the threshold of the house where my children spend every other weekend and I was very nervous about it. Then she asked me if I wanted a drink. After a slight pause in which I am quite sure she could see me thinking "shit, f*ck, yes, no, HELP!!" I said "yes, why not" and so I sat with her and my ex husband in their kitchen, drinking wine and talking. The situation was strange but surprisingly fine. In fact it was more than fine it was a good thing to do and a major step forward in developing our grown up working relationship on behalf of the six children we have between us. It is obvious that our common bond means that we both want the best for our children and will do all that we can to make sure that happens. We all know that the kids (especially the younger ones) would find it a lot easier if we had a better relationship and certainly down the line there will be events - significant birthdays, graduations, maybe even weddings that we will all need to be at. How much better it will be for all concerned if everyone can be in the same room together being civil. We both know how much stress it will alleviate for our children in the years to come. I am feeling very grown up and think we all deserve a gold star (presented to us by our children). Although tomorrow's post will probably be called "It's All About Me"...

BACK TO SCHOOL

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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RUBBISH. My children appear to be the only ones who have gone back to school already. Lots of their friends have just started their half term holiday. We didn’t really do very much in the end, although my youngest son and I did spend a lot of time together doing bits and pieces which was [...]