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Reighton Sands
Posted by Webby at May 31, 2010 09:12 PM | Comments (0)Jilly and I never really recovered from not going away for Evelyn's birthday (as we've done for all Evelyn's previous birthdays), so Jilly arranged this weekend away at Reighton Sands, Evelyn's favourite.
Unlike last weekend, the weather wasn't great, but the rain did stay away long enough for us to spend time on the beach, and eat a picnic lunch, on Saturday.
Of course, my liddle beaudees were happy so long as they were able to spend time in their sparkly shoes and dresses, dancing and drinking pink drinks, and who was I to deny them that?
Goodbye Upper Right Central Incisor
Posted by Webby at May 26, 2010 08:36 PM | Comments (0)Evelyn said goodbye (or, more accurately, thcudbye) to her upper right central incisor tonight. The tooth has been extremely wobbly for some time now; so much so, that it has appeared to protrude from Evelyn's mouth horizontally on occasions, and Evelyn finally asked Jilly to pull it out tonight.
The liddle beaudee was so very brave and, as Jilly took a firm grip on the tooth, Evelyn actually 'whipped' her head back to remove the tooth herself. The tiniest "Ow!" followed the extraction, as Jilly dropped Evelyn's tooth onto the sofa, and there was a crazed rush to prevent the tooth from falling into the bottomless chasm which is 'down the side of the sofa', but sense prevailed when Jilly found the tooth again, and wrapped it in clean tissue for presentation to the tooth fairy this evening.
I asked Evie if she had any idea what everyone will be asking her whenever they see that she's lost one of her most prominent teeth.
"Have I been kissing boys!", she told me, with a very subtle, but very definite, smile!
I'm planning to replace the photograph with a more flattering one just as soon as we've all had a bit of sleep, and I've got some more batteries for my camera!
Notes From Evelyn
Posted by Webby at May 25, 2010 09:36 PM | Comments (0)For her birthday, Evelyn was given a lovely set of stationery which included a number of little personalised notes...er...from Evelyn.
This morning, Jilly had had to tell Evelyn repeatedly not to bounce on our bed as she was being a little giddy. Eventually, as nature called, Jilly went to the bathroom and returned to our room to find Evelyn sat on the bed, a little calmer.
Evelyn passed Jilly one of her little notes, and this is what it read.
The 201st Otley Show
Posted by Webby at May 22, 2010 09:55 PM | Comments (0)Or the HOtley Show, as Jilly referred to it with comic genius...
Having recently discovered that it was the 201st Otley Show this weekend, Jilly thought that, given some reasonable weather, the show might make a nice day out for the three of us. Who could ever have guessed quite how glorious a day it would be?
We arrived in Otley at a little after 09:00am and, after making an hasty dash to the port-a-loos (apparently installed by one of Jilly's patients), Jilly and I made our first purchase of the day at a real ale stall selling Glastonbury Ales. Of course, they came highly recommended by the stall holder, but Jilly remembers drinking them on her many visits to the music festival, so we bought four bottles of their finest...
We had an excellent time in the glorious sun. We watched as many animals were shown and judged, including the Aberdeen Angus, many breeds of sheep, hamsters, goats and Shire horses. Inevitably, Evelyn was a little disappointed as we explained to her that there was no pig competition.
Just before lunch, we all gathered around a small enclosure to watch ferret racing. Four ferrets were inserted into steaming hot tubes and the winning ferret was the one who first popped out (entirely) from its tube. Now that's summertime fun!
Usually anxious around dogs, Evelyn surprised and thrilled Jilly and I by (very literally) getting amongst the beagles and fox hounds in the main field as children were invited to spend some time with the animals. Evelyn was very excited about being with the dogs, particularly the beagles, and was surprised at how soft they were!
We all enjoyed Jason Smythe's Adrenaline Tour, and there were more than just one or two gasps of astonishment from my liddle ladies.
Further gasps of astonishment were barely stifled by Jilly as we watched a couple of tug-of-war bouts. In truth, the day was getting on and I - for one - was becoming weary under the sun, so we I decided it was time to leave, and I dragged Jilly away from the flexing biceps for the tug-of-war teams.
Daddy's new tattoo
Posted by Webby at May 15, 2010 09:44 PM | Comments (0)So, Evelyn decided that, like "all the other dads", I should have a tattoo...
Et voila!
Goodbye Lower Left Lateral Incisor
Posted by Webby at May 14, 2010 10:22 PM | Comments (0)As it was dangerously loose this evening, and as it was Evelyn's bedtime, Jilly removed Evelyn's lower left incisor to make it safe for her to go to bed; and she did it with Evelyn making no more than a slight 'Ow!'. She is so brave, our liddle girl. Of course, she immediately made sure the tooth was nice and clean for the tooth fairy, wrapping it in clean tissue ready for placing beneath her pillow tonight.
And this has reminded me to write about a further tooth related episode from a few nights ago.
Earlier this week, Evelyn claimed that a tooth had come loose from the back of her mouth (not the one which was visibly loose at the front of her mouth, of course). She held a tissue over her head, claiming that it contained the tooth, and that she was going to place it beneath her pillow - that night - for the tooth fairy. It was transparently clear that Evelyn's tooth hadn't fallen out, and that this was a fraudulent plot to con money out of an unsuspecting tooth fairy).
The next morning, Jilly discovered that Evelyn had fashioned a rudimentary tooth out of the apple she'd been eating and placed that in the tissue (does she think the tooth fairy was born yesterday?). Asking Evelyn if she thought she could trick the tooth fairy into leaving her some money, Evelyn was 'mortified', and clearly worried that the tooth fairy would no longer leave her money for her teeth.
"Don't tell her, mummy! Evelyn pleaded, whereupon, Jilly explained that the tooth fairy must already know that she'd tried to trick her, as she'd left the apple 'tooth' behind, and NO money.
Evelyn's gone to bed quite confident, tonight, that the tooth fairy wil be along to exchange her tooth for a shiny coin, conveniently forgetting her recent attempt at fraud!
Really happy dreams
Posted by Webby at May 7, 2010 09:04 PM | Comments (0)Evelyn is fed up of having bad dreams, so she's begun 'chanting', "Really happy dreams, really happy dreams, really happy dreams..." as Jilly and I settle her down to sleep each night.
In truth, Evelyn doesn't have many bad dreams, she's just had a few restless nights recently when she's had dreams which always involve wild animals (naughty foxes, wolves (!) and squirrels) stealing her food at picnics
Evelyn's 6th Birthday (part 3) - Evie's actual birthday
Posted by Webby at May 4, 2010 09:12 PM | Comments (0)Bright as a button, Evelyn woke this morning to join Jilly and I in our bed. Jilly had purposefully set the alarm to wake a little earlier than we normally would on a Tuesday so that Evelyn could open her birthday presents before leaving for school. Jilly and I didn't mention it at the time, but this present opening in our room is new to the three of us as we have always been away for Evelyn's birthdays in the past.
Evelyn was terribly excited as she opened all her lovely gifts. She seemed equally excited about each of the cards she received; squealing about how lovely each of them was as she opened them.
Jilly and I took Evelyn to school together this morning (as Jilly had organised a slightly later start to her day), and it took the pair of us to bring back a selection of presents and party clothes from five of Evelyn's friends that were to join her for a small birthday party this afternoon.
Having set my alarm for 14:37 (the very minute Evelyn was born six years ago) this afternoon, I rang Jilly to see how she was. Jilly was at home preparing the house and party food for the girls' arrival after school, but she'd still found time for a little 'blub' as 14:37 arrived.
Very bravely (or, perhaps, rather naively) Jilly collected Evelyn after school, along with her five party guests; Millie, Molly, Niamh, Caitlin and Tayla. I arrived home from work a little after 5pm to find the girls quietly finishing their party food at the kitchen table.
"This is the quietest they've been all afternoon! Jilly told me, mopping her fevered brow!
To paraphrase Jilly's description of the afternoons events, it might be wise simply to say that the party had been 'lively and exciting'! Er...'lively and exciting' in the sort of way that holiday brochures describe San Antonio Bay as 'lively and exciting'...but Evelyn really enjoyed herself. And, I'd missed all the trouble.
Evelyn's 6th Birthday (part 2)
Posted by Webby at May 3, 2010 09:41 PM | Comments (0)In order to get Evelyn together with all her little pals from Huddersfield, we went for a spin out to Nostell Priory today, and had a lovely day. Jilly, Evelyn and I were joined by a little over half of the Thornton family (Roger, Harry and Charlie), the Baileys, the Harriseseses and the OzBradFam.
At lunch time, and between hail showers (could we expect to have to endure hailstones at this time of year?) we enjoyed a lovely picnic beneath the trees outside the stables. Surprising everyone, Jilly produced a special 'Hello Kitty' birthday cake for Evelyn but, due to the inclement weather, we were unable to light the candles; Evelyn was a little disappointed, to say the least!
The children enjoyed an excellent 'play' on the adventure playground before we all returned home; we'd had a lovely time, and Evelyn was thrilled to have spent so much time with her liddle buddies.
"Webby, our baby's six tomorrow!", Jilly told me, as we were about to go to bed. "How can she be six?"
Evelyn's 6th Birthday (part 1)
Posted by Webby at May 1, 2010 09:44 PM | Comments (0)In a pre-celebration celebration of Evelyn's forthcoming sixth birthday, I drove Jilly and Evelyn to Scarborough for the day today.
Contrary to Paul the Weatherman's weather forecast on last nights 'Look North' the weather was lovely as we left Huddersfield and remained lovely all day. Eager to take advantage of the fine weather, we made our way straight to the beach after parking up on the road north of the town.
Just after lunch we were joined on the beach by Kate, John, Hebe, Hebe's friend 'Jen', and their new labrador puppy. It was the first time Evelyn had met the dog, and she was wonderfully and surprisingly relaxed around it. As a special treat, Jilly took the girls swimming while John and Kate walked the dog up the coast.
Before returning to Huddersfield, Jilly, Evelyn and I went for a wander around the fairground on Scarborough front. After Jilly and Evelyn had enjoyed a ride on Scarborough's 'Big Wheel', I made the mistake of agreeing to go on 'The Twister' with Evelyn.
Evelyn was absolutely amazing as we sat on the ride. The Twister got faster and faster until, as I was finally becoming squashed against the side of the 'car' with the centrifugal force, Evelyn threw her arms in the air and started screaming...she wanted to go faster! As the Twister span and twisted, Evelyn and I would occasionally face Jilly as she watched from the side; occasionally, Evelyn and I would face the guy controlling the speed of the ride and I would have sworn in court that the guy at the controls increased the speed as Evelyn passed him, laughing!
Having driven all the way to Scarborough, we had to eat fish and chips before leaving and we enjoyed our favourite sea-side dinner at The Golden Grid. Excellent!
