May 2008 Archives

Recently, Jilly went to wake Evelyn to get her ready to go to 'that new nursery'.

"Mummy", Evelyn said, not entirely conscious, "Can I have my rhymes CD on just one more time?"

(Evelyn goes to sleep, at night, listening to her rhymes CD)

"But Evelyn, it's morning now. It's time to get up", Jilly informed Evie.

"But how can it be? I love my bed"

Waking Evelyn on another morning, recently, Evelyn told Jilly...

"Mummy, I dreamed about plasters last night. It was a very good dream. They were all on my legs and I loved them." As we keep tellin' 'er, she is 'blinters bonters'.

At, while we were at Deb and Kev's this last weekend, Evelyn was treated to the use of the room Kieran normally sleeps in. As Kieran stayed at home this weekend, it wasn't necessary for Evelyn to sleep on her inflatable bed in the same room as Jilly and I. I'm not sure that Jilly would agree that giving Evelyn the use of her own room is entirely sensible...

"Mummy", Evelyn told Jilly on Sunday morning, "...my bedroom has become a bit of a mess. Could you un-mess it for me, please?"

As least she asked politely!

Sat in the back of the car recently, Evelyn was chatting to herslf (or baby Lucy) when she began re-counting a conversation she had had with Kieran earlier in the day.

"Tee-tee is going to do Maths, Physics, PE and Psytology (Psychology - she still occasionally forgets the 'kuh' sound)...now what is that?"

Evelyn had only been told, once, what Kieran was going on to study at college, and she was able to tell baby Lucy. Having just reported the facts on Gingatopia, I may still fail to remember, if asked, later today!

And (and this this sort of...kind of...makes me a little sad), Evelyn seems to have almost mastered to that illusive 'kuh' sound. Evelyn was quite thrilled tonight to be able to successfully say, 'picnic', 'stickers', 'bonkers', 'pink' and 'stink'. Of course, Jilly and I made a big deal about her being about to make the 'kuh' sound, but a little of me felt slightly sad...

PULL YERSELF TOGETHER MAN!

Evelyn did a spot of gardening with Mummy this morning, and successfully completed her first exercise in window-box landscaping...brilliant!

Move over 'Capability' Brown, there's a new girl in town...

The plants are sweet-peas, grown by Jilly and Evelyn from seeds, and a gift from one of Evie's friends on her birthday.

It's been forever since we were last at Debbie and Kevin's so, this weekend, we had a lovely time with Deb and Kev...and their newly acquired chittin's (chickens).

Deb and Kev recently bought five chickens and have built an excellent coop/chicken run for them at the top of their garden. Evelyn was completely enthralled by the chickens, and was desperate to see how they behaved, particularly at bedtime when, according to Debbie, they take themselves off to bed - in an orderly fashion - about an hour before the sun goes down.

Deb and Kev haven't had the chickens long (so they're not laying yet), but as a special treat for Evelyn, Debbie 'planted' five eggs in the chicken coop for Evelyn to collect this morning. As soon as she could coax someone outside, Evelyn was up the garden path and staring into the coop in the hope of catching a glimpse of one of the chickens laying an egg. Evelyn was very excited to see that there were eggs in the coop, and enjoyed one of them for her breakfast. Hopefully, the next time we stay, we will be able to enjoy a few authentic home grown free range eggs...

We also enjoyed an excellent barbeque cooked on Deb and Kev's Chimichanga...er...Chimera...er...Chimenea.

Peculiarly, NO chicken though!

Photographs to follow...

Officially, it was Kieran's last day at school today. He has to return for a further four weeks of GCSE examinations, but he has finished his schooling...and Jilly is besides herself...oh dear!

Of course, (and, I am reminded, typically!) I hadn't been sensitive enough to realise that the combination of Jilly being 'a bit hormonal' and her Kieran Prince Binky being all grown-up and leaving school, was enough to drive her to despair...this is something for which I will be eternally sorry after the inevitable and inexorable 'We're getting divorced' row that Jilly and I enjoyed on Wednesday night!

As this is a special birthday for Evelyn (the last birthday she will have before she goes to primary school, leaving many of her nursery friends who will go to other schools), Jilly and I decided that Evelyn should have an organised birthday party. Obviously, we couldn't afford to invite the thousands of children that call Evelyn 'friend', so Jilly managed to reduce the list to those children whose parties Evelyn has already attended, plus one or two others that Evelyn couldn't bear to be without.

Evelyn enjoyed her party tremendously, and was quite overwhelmed at the number of presents she recent from all her guests.

After Evelyn's party; Jilly, Evelyn and I returned Dominic to his dad (Tilly was fast asleep in bed when we arrived), and stayed a while to play in the garden, before returning home to welcome the Fisher Clan from Bradford who came round to deliver Evelyn's birthday presents.

As has become the habit (see Evelyn's 2nd Birthday in Filey and Evelyn's 3rd Birthday at Haggerston Castle), Jilly, Evelyn, Kieran and I went away for Evelyn's birthday over this last week-end. As she loves staying in caravans (bless!), Evelyn was very excited to be going to the seaside for a four-day Reighton Sands fourth birthday caravan holiday extravaganza.

We arrived at the caravan site on Friday afternoon and, before registering, spent an hour or so on the beach (as the tide was going out), and in the site playground (which Jilly seemed to enjoy almost as much as Evelyn!)

Saturday was spent in Bridlington (on the front) where, again, Jilly seemed to enjoy the rides as much as Evelyn. I sometimes wonder who we visit the sea-side for...

Nanna and Poppee joined us for a special birthday lunch of fish and chips on Sunday, after visiting the Sea-Life Centre in Scarborough, and spending some more time on the beach at Reighton Sands.

We haven't seen the Drurysharks since before their recent trip to Oz (we don't see them nearly often enough, really!), so we called in to see James, Jenna, Maddie, Charlie and Mo on our way home on Monday. We enjoyed an excellent barbeque lunch and an excellent birthday celebration cake that Jenna made for Evelyn. Sadly, I didn't manage to take any decent photographs... except of the lovely cake...ahem! It was lovely seeing the Drurysharks, especially for Evelyn who had a lovely time, playing with Imogen in the garden.