A weekend round-up

What a week, and it's only Tuesday. I am shattered and Husband is away overnight (I think, am not entirely sure, I have asked repeatedly and only get half-answers so I've stopped asking...) I have a PLA meeting at 7.30pm though so Mother-in-law is coming to babysit. This is all fine, except  I have MIL angst so have raced around like an idiot tidying and cleaning (the boys' dinner bowls were in the dishwasher before they'd even finished chewing their final mouthful of spag bol!) and am now even more walloped than before!

(Baby turned 2, will henceforth be known as Toddler!)

Toddler's birthday celebrations at the weekend went well. In actual fact, considering all our friends parked their cars in the world's fullest car park, entered a heaving venue, politely stayed for 90mins even though every activity had a queue, were then told they couldn't actually have icecream as the queue was insane, had a cupcake and a party bag and drove 60mins home again, then I'd say it went off like a fucking miracle. I spent 50 minutes standing at the main entrance waiting for everyone to arrive, then 30 minutes walking round telling everyone about the change in icecream plans, then Husband and I had a blazing row (yay, parties!) before heading home again to spend the evening with Auntie who had invaded on a whim. Such is the life of a party planner!

The main thing is that Toddler (waahh!) had a great day out, everyone made it there and home again safely...and it's over for another year. I know for sure that the world's most popular outdoor venue won't be our venue of choice for any future celebrations, though. I knew it might/probably would be busy but frankly, when we turned up at 1pm the sight of the carpark made me want to vomit! I've never been so happy to see a glass of wine when I got in!

With that madness behind us, we enjoyed a quiet day at home on Sunday. Louise Powell came to photograph the boys which sounds quite stressful but was actually the most calm photo shoot I've ever attended. She arrived, the boys immediately relaxed and took to her and she simply took photos as we carried on our Sunday morning in the garden. It was wonderful. She sent me a sneaky peek...

I mean, how is possible to capture such a wonderful shot? Makes my dreadful iPhone photos look dire!! Can not WAIT to see the rest. If you're interested, her website is here  and she travels!!

After the photos were done, we snuck out for a cheeky dinner at Zizzi's, just us 4. The boys ate pizza and pasta and icecream, no-one screamed, no-one pee'd their pants, it was a lovely end to the weekend.

Monday came and I had a list of random jobs as long as my arm, stupid things such as pay cheques into the bank, buy stamps, make phonecalls, write notes for PLA meeting, complete Toddler's two year review questionnaire, get cash out...  you know the sort, all tiny but together they take up your whole day. So Toddler and I ran here, there and everywhere in the car before stopping off at BFF's house for a relaxing coffee...only to find she'd 'lost' a fish while cleaning the tank. Cue two grown women screaming over a tiny corpse we finally found underneath the double bed. Gah!

We also sold Boy's bike on eBay for an impressive £190. Man, those things hold their value! We bought it from the amazing Islabikes  2 years ago for £250 and can now go over at the weekend to buy the next size up. Hurrah.

(This is him posing with said bike for the final time, I had to get a picture from every angle!)

I was worried he would cry when the guy turned up and he had to hand it over but no, he wheeled it to the front door, had a chat about its new owner and took the cash. Husband, on the other hand, was standing in the kitchen having a massive grump about the fact I'd sold his first bike. Sigh!

And then we woke up and it was Tuesday. We spent the day in Stafford with Auntie Doodoo and her boy in the freezing cold sunshine. Costa called, we answered, and we managed a trawl around Tesco while Toddler napped before making it home in time for the school run. Toddler was most put out about having to put his shoes back on to go and collect his brother...

(Behold, new beloved Chase. Thank you, birthday fairy!)

So there you have it. It's been a whirlwind couple of days and I was looking forward to a quiet day in tomorrow but Leeds Dad has an extra day off with his Toddler so we're off out with them as a treat. I can sleep when I'm dead, yes?!

Hope everyone is having a good week, not as busy as mine! Am off to wrestle these beauties into bed before Nannie arrives x