Not Now Later

Day Two

I've been quite useless at posting on here over the past couple of weeks and I'm not promising much for the immediate future given that at the end of a day like today I just feel like collapsing into bed the moment that the kids finally fall asleep. It's day two of the school Summer holidays and already, I suspect like many other mums, I'm wondering how on earth I'm going to cope for almost seven weeks.

Both children have got colds. No, not Swine Flu, just colds with fluorescent green snot and short attention spans. Neither of them are unwell enough to warrant a day in pyjamas watching telly and snoozing. But neither of them are well enough to present in public, much beyond a quick trip to the shops where they are instructed to sneeze only into their tissues and smother themselves in antibacterial hand gel whenever anybody so much as looks at them. Even during our very brief visit to Boots I received several disapproving glances from people who had caught a glimpse of those runny noses and decided that my kids were leaving a trail of Swine germs behind them.

If I thought there was any chance it was flu I wouldn't have even ventured out to the chemist, but I'm convinced it's not, mainly because neither of them have a fever or any other flu-like symptoms. So, it's just a cold, but until they are snuffle-free it looks like we're under house arrest.

Party Planner

Louis is 4 in August. Whoa! How did four whole years pass so quickly? I never cease to be amazed that we managed to produce a fully functioning human being who has made it to (almost) four years old! 

Neither of the kids have ever had a fully fledged birthday party with a guest list and invites and cupcakes and party bags. Last Halloween came close when I invited around 15 or so local kids to dress up and come and play pass the pumpkin, eat ghost shaped cookies and dance to my carefully composed playlist of spooky songs. The house was trashed, but the children enjoyed themselves and I was in my element. I loved it. 

This year, because Louis is at nursery school and has got a bit more of a grasp of what a birthday is all about, I've decided that he can have a full-blown (though on a budget, of course, recessionistas) birthday party experience.

I've already hired a venue and I've even got Ed involved. Last night he spent ages fiddling around in Photoshop with some images that I'd found for the invitation. He made this and I was suitably impressed.

We recently spent a long, weekend in the twee seaside town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk which might explain my current obsession with beach huts and fish and chips. And might explain why, like it or not, Louis is having an old fashion, British, seaside fun themed sort of knees-up with Punch and Judy and ice creams and end of the pier fun.  Not of course that I really know how on earth I'm going to recreate a traditional British seaside setting in a church hall, but it'll be fun and with two months to sort it out I should be able to come up with something. Louis' birthday falls in the middle of the long Summer holidays so I guess we could spend weeks on end sitting at the kichen table making, crabs out of old egg boxes and painting strings of deckchair striped bunting.

So, can I get away with this?  He'd probably give anything for a Ben 10 party at the local soft play centre. Let's face it the party is for him and he'll have a great time, but the planning is all for me. I could never be bothered to plan my own wedding as I couldn't face being the star of the show so we buggered off to Vegas, but this is different. It's Louis who has to blow out the candles and I get to make up little bucket and spade party bags and release my inner Martha.

 

Now, I need suggestions for a playlist. Already come up with Bad Manners version of Oi I do like to be beside the seaside.