A particularly long holiday saw Florence break up a week before everyone else and get to enjoy nearly 3 and weeks of rest. Just what she needed after working so hard. Both big kids really had tried hard last term and made us proud with end of term reports so some fun was required. Of course we didn’t get away Covid free as it finally caught up with me but we did still have a great break despite me (and Gram) going down for some of it. Here’s what we got up to before we hit the ground today for the final term this year and the final term before Raffie, gulp, starts big school! He got his place at our local village primary and I want to sob thinking about him going to school every day so for now I’m focusing on all the fun we will have together this term and for the summer. Baby stepping into it! Here’s our Easter!
With Florence breaking up a week earlier than everyone else we kicked off the holidays with Mother’s Day which we spent on the beach! Mothering them is my happiest privilege! And I have a great role model myself!Beach day boys!All the rides!Florence had a pal for a sleepover!So I did what I do and made them treats!This little cherub!We went to Pensthorpe!Big sister help!Is the best help!He is so lucky she adores him so!Freedom!As Pensthorpe geared up for Easter!We had a lovely chilled day!Waving Daddy off for his last day of term!Then girl’s day at The Rooftop Gardens!Before Grandad and Grusie came over for Easter treats!And I got to practice my Easter table!With brownies and yums!All my favourite things!An Easter egg is the perfect vessel!Decorated with the rabbits Sam and Tom as named by Raffie!A family day at Roarr!Where everyone had a great time!With something for all ages!We all loved it but especially Raffie!And Posie had so much freedom!A great little place for all of us!Great day!Before Saturday match for Jimmy!Where after a sleepover with his cousin the energy levels were stupendous considering!We watched while Daddy went to London to see Spurs!And more freedom was enjoyed!Raffie just wanted to play!Then it was a double trolley trip to the supermarket!A swim!What a treat!Before McDonalds!And then… It had to happen didn’t it! Jimmy was off on two days of football camp while Florence was on a sleepover and thankfully daddy was around to look after Raffie and entertain him so that I could just cuddle Posie in between working and feeling SUPER grotty!After 5 days of feeling quite unwell, with the kiddos being entertained by Daddy and leaving me to rest, I finally made it out of the house to play with the littlests in the park!They loved it, I only managed about 5 minutes!While they played with Daddy, I slept in the car!I felt robbed of the Easter holidays!There’s nothing I love more than watching them play and I was just whacked by COVID!They, of course, loved the time with Daddy!Then Saturday I just felt well again. So odd! And got to make plans with my tribe! Here’s Posie wearing a bib I had when I was little!A little tabard, or Tabib as I call it!Gram copied the design and made some more!Great for any messy play!And look so cute!Sunday we had a full on day out at Pensthorpe with the cousins but poor Flobo wasn’t feeling well and went off to be with Gram who also isn’t feeling well! What an Easter break!Another ace day at Pensthorpe despite missing key players for our team!Always with a big stick! Or up a tree just like his brother!Pond dipping!Picnic-ing!Brotherly love!Jimmy and his perfect pose!She is so independent and wants to do what all the big kids are doing!All aboard the Daddy train!More trees!The zip wire, a personal fave of Daddy!Sharing a swing!Fresh air and walks!Big cousins!Yet more trees!And slides!Before a pizza tea at ours!Chalking the patio!And ourselves!Borrowing Jimmy’s scooter!Footie lads!Back in the pool!Little fish!My girls!Finally some sun!To try on some of our summer clothes!Of which we have many!Oh Posie!Swing!And more swings!Climbing!Sliding!Roundabouts!And Daddy on a zip wire again!Our local park is fab!Florence made cupcakes!Posie sang Happy Birthday when she saw them!Tuesday was adventure day!We rode to the station!And got the train to Cambridge!First stop pastries!And shopping!Recreating a picture with an extra one on the end!Sightseeing is hard work!More sitting downs needed!Sun bathing!Sleeping even!And yet more sticks, of course! Wherever we go!Family photo, oh Jim!Can’t ever get everyone looking, smiling and not putting their feet up!Time for Pizza Express!Which was so welcome!Probably the nicest Pizza express we have ever had!And all went smoothly despite four children at the table!No drinks were even spilled!It was just lovely!We said like the perfect day!Smiles the whole time!Everyone loved it!Of course just before we got on our bikes back at the home end there was an incident of over zealous brother piggy backs which resulted in a bit of a fat lip, an egg on the head and a grazed cheek for our poor little Raffster!Easter Gymboree! His poor face! We followed Gymboree with a trip to Gressenhall with some besties! Me plus 6 kiddos – walk in the park! Ha! They were all so good!And spent ages playing games on the lawn even before we went into the museum!I mean why move if you’re having fun?! Obviously Florence helped!We recreated the statues because they weren’t there! Apparently just being cleaned after the sand storm! Raffie is such a character! All the boys worked together! Posie made light work of Raffie’s discarded Magnum. He ate the chocolate! It was messy! Managed to get this beautiful face to stop kicking a ball and look at the camera for all of 2 seconds! Gang! Tractor rides! Lots of fun! Seeing the baby piglets! A highlight! Crafting! Always concentrating! Never too big for a swing! Not too little for a big slide either apparently!Super grubby = a super day! Fab time had by all! Another lovely day – making up for the lost ones after isolation last week! We had a chilled day at Gram’s in the garden before launching into the Easter weekend!Posie could get up and out of the trampoline on her own now we realised!Florence the fashion Queen!Raffie the herbert!These two in cahoots in the play house!They’re a real little team now when they want to be!So lovely watching her play with the big ones!The two travellers off to Manchester for a boy’s weekend of football!We wanted them to have fun but hurry back!They had a great time!Loved Manchester!The food!Drinks!The stadium tour and museum!They did a few things and also watched the Man U vs Norwich game which was an incredible 3-2 result for Manchester – they support both teams so it was win/win for them!Meanwhile the little two and I went back to have fun in Gram’s garden!Taking pictures!Of Posie’s reversible dungas!They’re from Frugi!They’re great!And Posie just loves the freedom in the garden at Gram’s!As does Raffie!Who is the greatest climber!Watched on by his baby sister who is learning from him!She studied him on the trampoline and even gave it a proper good go at bouncing!But Raffie is the master!And we were so lucky with the weather!We also did the egg hunt and bought Raffie, missing his big boys, a treat in the NCFC shop!Then we got take out!
Before welcoming home the wanderers with open arms – so glad to be all together again!We did our Easter Sunday on Easter Monday as we couldn’t have done it without Jonny and Jimmy!Let’s just say there was a LOT of chocolate!And bath bombs!But mainly chocolate!And cutesy picture opportunities!Bunny ear babes!We had an Easter egg hunt in Gram’s garden!Which they all loved!Even the big two!But especially the little ones – Posie even ate a bit of tinfoil she was so egg-cited to find eggs!What fun in the sun!Super special!And then we came home and set up the table for a big family Easter Monday lunch!I did kids outside!And before we ate they had an Easter challenge trail to earn, find and scavenge more eggs!I think they loved it!They mostly immersed themselves in the tasks!Egg and spoon race!Daddy’s girl!The food was spectacular even if I do say so myself! I mean anything doused in lashings of Tzatziki is usually a winner right?!Slow roasted lamb Kleftico courtesy of my friend Bistro Bec’s recipe which was YUM!Honest Mum gave me her Mum’s Greek chips recipe which was a Chef’s kiss of deliciousness! The other potatoes were the ones cooked under the lamb and they might not look great but they were perfection!I did Honest Mum’s recipe for Greek Salad which her dad created – it’s lovely too! The full kaboodle – so yummy!Kiddos relegated to my new outdoor dining table!They mainly ate chocolate, which is allowed at Easter I reckon!The crackers were ethical ones from George and everyone got an origami inside theirs!Then there was the dessert table!This is where I like to shine!And beating my own drum though I am, I think I managed it!More chocolatey chops!Before Easter bonnet decorating!Where the youngest ones had fun!And Posie took some more adorable photos!Covered in chocolate of course!I was 95% Prosecco at this point!
I see that you have taken all the comments off the EDP article about train travel. Can’t stand it when you are found out for being in the wrong but weren’t in your eyes! I thought you didn’t mind negative comments according to t but is site!
I’m afraid I’m not in charge of whether comments are published on the newspaper I write for, there is a team of moderators who work for Archant. If you would like to take your concerns to them then I’m sure they will be able to assist you with answers to your queries. I do however have full control over comments sent to me directly at my blog and I’d like to reply to your comment here. I absolutely do not shy away from difference of opinion and welcome any constructive argument. You say that I have been “found out for being in the wrong”/ Can you please elaborate? My column is factual and I have presented it with accuracy. I sat in First Class (something the guard was aware of) without a First class ticket because there were no available seats in Standard class, despite my having booked two and as I was feeding a small baby and with another infant, we did not feel safe either standing or sitting on the floor. It is common place for Greater Anglia to ensure the safety of their passengers but again, I don’t make their rules and would direct you to them if you have issue withe the ways they conduct their business. My children were not noisy, in fact quite the opposite as one was sleeping and breast feeding until about 15 minutes before we arrived at the end station, when she cried, I stood up to jiggle her back to sleep and that is when the two passengers, a man and a woman, summoned me over to explicitly, using bad language, tell me to shut my children up. I at no point raised my voice or lowered myself to being unpleasant but engaged with them to explain how unpleasant their conversation directed at me was. I was, at this point, told to go away, again with the use of offensive language. At this point I decided I wasn’t going to simply walk away but I would stand up for myself by continuing to try to discuss the matter with them, only at this point I informed them I’d be filming the rest of the conversation due to their bad language. I wanted to try to educate them on politeness and the value of understanding you don’t know someone else’s situation and I pointed out that my children had not actually been disruptive in any way. They then told me I didn’t have a first class ticket and that was their issue. The female traveller went to see the guard but of course came back without his support. I then was looked after by other passengers who had witnessed their unpleasant language and abuse of my children and I and one walked me to the gate where a police officer came to help me as I was visibly distressed. At this point she took a statement and told me I was within my rights to share the video, clearly displaying their antisocial behaviour, and in fact she encouraged it as it would give them more chance of circulating the couple’s image enabling them to make contact and speak to the pair about their behaviour. I hope this clears up your concerns. Thanks so much for reading and I hope that you continue to do so. I welcome all feedback as long as it is directed in a pleasant manner and will continue to do so whether opinions are in agreement with my own or otherwise. Please take care for now and enjoy your day. Ruth
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I see that you have taken all the comments off the EDP article about train travel. Can’t stand it when you are found out for being in the wrong but weren’t in your eyes! I thought you didn’t mind negative comments according to t but is site!
I’m afraid I’m not in charge of whether comments are published on the newspaper I write for, there is a team of moderators who work for Archant. If you would like to take your concerns to them then I’m sure they will be able to assist you with answers to your queries. I do however have full control over comments sent to me directly at my blog and I’d like to reply to your comment here. I absolutely do not shy away from difference of opinion and welcome any constructive argument. You say that I have been “found out for being in the wrong”/ Can you please elaborate? My column is factual and I have presented it with accuracy. I sat in First Class (something the guard was aware of) without a First class ticket because there were no available seats in Standard class, despite my having booked two and as I was feeding a small baby and with another infant, we did not feel safe either standing or sitting on the floor. It is common place for Greater Anglia to ensure the safety of their passengers but again, I don’t make their rules and would direct you to them if you have issue withe the ways they conduct their business. My children were not noisy, in fact quite the opposite as one was sleeping and breast feeding until about 15 minutes before we arrived at the end station, when she cried, I stood up to jiggle her back to sleep and that is when the two passengers, a man and a woman, summoned me over to explicitly, using bad language, tell me to shut my children up. I at no point raised my voice or lowered myself to being unpleasant but engaged with them to explain how unpleasant their conversation directed at me was. I was, at this point, told to go away, again with the use of offensive language. At this point I decided I wasn’t going to simply walk away but I would stand up for myself by continuing to try to discuss the matter with them, only at this point I informed them I’d be filming the rest of the conversation due to their bad language. I wanted to try to educate them on politeness and the value of understanding you don’t know someone else’s situation and I pointed out that my children had not actually been disruptive in any way. They then told me I didn’t have a first class ticket and that was their issue. The female traveller went to see the guard but of course came back without his support. I then was looked after by other passengers who had witnessed their unpleasant language and abuse of my children and I and one walked me to the gate where a police officer came to help me as I was visibly distressed. At this point she took a statement and told me I was within my rights to share the video, clearly displaying their antisocial behaviour, and in fact she encouraged it as it would give them more chance of circulating the couple’s image enabling them to make contact and speak to the pair about their behaviour. I hope this clears up your concerns. Thanks so much for reading and I hope that you continue to do so. I welcome all feedback as long as it is directed in a pleasant manner and will continue to do so whether opinions are in agreement with my own or otherwise. Please take care for now and enjoy your day. Ruth
Hello,
Can I publish a guest post on your site?
Please email Ruth at [email protected] for all collaboration enquiries. Thanks, Helen