Mother's Day

I am a daughter, a mother and a grandmother.

 I am blessed with 2 beautiful daughters and the cutest, cheekiest little grandson and I am so excited to have another grandchild in September!

I am so proud of my two girls. They have such good hearts and sweet souls and I hope I raised them well. I had a good mentor; my own mum, the best mum I could have wished for, sadly taken from us far too soon.

So, today, I say thank you to my daughters for just being, well....just fabulous! And I will raise a glass to the most amazing woman I ever met...my mam x

To my Mam

How can it be 11 years since I last saw your face mam?

Grief is rotten. Grief is consuming. Grief takes my breath away.

I miss you mam.
I miss you with all my heart.
Time does heal, it's true. But if I let myself think too hard about you; if I let myself remember the details; if I think about the pain you went through;  if I think about the damned injustice that somebody so beautiful and kind could be taken away from us when you had so much living left in you....well.... the pain is as sharp and deep and cutting as it was in those first weeks after you left us. So I don't go to that place in my mind very often mam. And then I feel guilty. I feel like I have let you down.

But know this mam; I love you.
I love you and I long for you so much it wells up inside of me and I feel I will burst and cry and cry and never stop.

Eleven years.

Lincoln University Science Week

This week was the National Science and Engineering Week and The University of Lincoln had loads of interesting stuff going on for kids and adults alike.
On Wednesday we went along and met up with a few HE families there.

Katie was thrilled that there was a class about dog training! She enjoyed the class so much, she sat through it twice! Of course she got to train the dog herself and feed it treats. She was in heaven.

She also had a go at extracting DNA from frui  but she declined the invite to ride the bicycle to generate electricity; her friends had a go though!

Extracting DNA from strawberries

Ruby pedalling hard to light the bulb!

There was a CSI display with finger printing and a "crime scene" to investigate.

Crime Scene!

Katie and her fingerprint!

We got chatting to one of the uni lecturers; he had a fascinating collection of skulls, mainly mammals including wolves foxes and different breeds of dogs... Katie's favourite subject! He told us how he had spent time in Italy studying wolves and foxes and it all sounded so magical. Katie asked him how you got a job like that, and he told her he had studied for a degree in Zoology at the Uni.
Later, on the way home Katie announced she loved the university, and she thought she might go there when she's older. Well, that was unexpected! Watch this space....

Whisby Nature World

Katie and I were out and about again this Thursday. This time we spent the day at Whisby, about an hours drive north of us.

We met up with our home ed friends at The Natural World Centre.

The weather was lovely and we mums sat in the sun drinking coffee and putting the world to rights, while the children played in the sand. Hmmm..the sand; Katie and her friends had a great time digging holes and burying themselves but her clothes were in such a state afterwards as the sand was  wet below the surface. Katie had a very damp bum, but it didn't seem to bother her that much. Her leggings were so badly stained with the wet sand that they made their way into the bin as soon as we got home.
Thankfully the leggings weren't expensive!

Today we headed off to Bedford as Katie had been invited to her friend Lara's 10th birthday party.
Dave and I dropped Katie off at Lara's house and spent the afternoon shopping in Milton Keynes.
Ooooh! A whole three hours to ourselves. Lovely!

Belton House

Today Katie and I visited Belton House in Grantham with our home-ed friends. We joined up to the National Trust and got a special HE rate too!

Belton House in the background

The weather was so lovely and there was so much to see outside in the beautiful grounds and play-park, that we never got to go into the house! We will do that another day.
We did get a "free ride" on the train though!

Train Ride!

Play Time

Katie was thrilled with the deer roaming freely in the grounds.

Piano!

We had some great news.
Katie got the results of her ABRSM piano exam that she sat last week. She passed with a merit!
She was chuffed to hear she had done so well.
Well done Katie!

Then today, Katie entered Grade One piano at the Grantham Music Festival. It was held at Christchurch in Grantham and it was another early start for us.

Katie played beautifully and in spite of making one mistake, she came 2nd place out of her class of 12. The competition was stiff, so we are very proud of her. All her practice has paid off.

Better get saving up for a proper piano!

Wooohoo! Well done Katie!

Off to Shotley

Charlie's little legs can walk a long, long way!

Yesterday, Katie and I drove the 2hrs to see Jaime at her home in Shotley Gate.She's pregnant with our 2nd grandchild and it is so exciting.

Charlie was as cute as ever and surprisingly well behaved! He has been a bit of a handful lately for his mummy (terrible twos we think) but he was on his best behaviour for his nanny and aunty Katie.

We headed down to the harbour, despite the chilly wind. Charlie's little legs can walk a long way!
We had a lovely lunch in the pub overlooking the harbour then headed back home. Charlie insisted on walking part of the way, so it was slow going with the wind blowing in our faces.
Thankfully, he retreated to his pushchair so we could hurry home, and he was fast asleep by the time we'd climbed the hill to Jaime's house.

Jaime is about 3 months pregnant and she looks as beautiful as ever. We don't know the sex of the baby yet, but she has booked a 4d scan for next month, and we will find out then. Can't wait!

Lovely Lincoln

We did something really unusual this morning; we got up before 9am!

Katie had a piano recital in Colsterworth. We were really good, managed to get up and out with plenty of time to get there. We never made it in the end  (that's another story) Just as well it wasn't too important. Katie sat her Grade 1 on Wednesday gone, and I think that's enough piano excitement for one week!

So, since we were up so early, we headed off to lovely Lincoln. There was so much to see but I wish I had worn my flat boots, cobble stones and heels are not good together.

The "Olympic" post box!

Cuddles at the Cathedral

We found a gorgeous little shop that sold Lincoln Soap moulded into the most delicious looking cakes! Honestly, they looked good enough to eat.

Katie treated herself and I know where to go for those special Christmas presents!

A lovely Collection!

Today we went to THE COLLECTION in Lincoln with our lovely friends Michelle & Lucy.

It's a fab art gallery/ archaeology museum right in the middle of historic Lincoln. The parking is rubbish but we hitch a lift with Michelle.




Stained glass windows

It's great for the girls as they are safe to wander freely and there are lots of areas geared specifically for children. They  designed their own mosaics and stained glass windows, dressed up as Romans and had a go at scribing with a feather quil and ink (messy!)
It's great for us mums too as there's a lovely café serving delicious coffee and snacks.

Scribing,,it got a bit messy!!!

The girls were happy to pose for pics!

Amazing Lamda

Yesterday Katie had her very first LAMDA exam and she was amazing! It was musical theatre and she performed two lovely songs. When will my Life Begin from the movie Tangled and one of my favourite songs, Part of that World from The Little Mermaid.

We didn't get to see her perform as we had to wait outside. I would have loved to see her performance, after all we have spent months singing and perfecting her act, but her only audience was the examiner and a lady who sorted out the backing music. So, you might be wondering how I know she was amazing? I know, because she told us! How wonderful is that?

She was so nervous on the way to the exam. Fortunately the exams were running ahead of schedule, so Katie was straight in as soon as we arrived at the Theatre School in Grantham. She didn't even have time to sit down!

She skipped out of the exam 15 minutes later, buzzing with excitement and so happy that she'd performed her songs the very best that she could.

We have to wait six weeks before we find out her official grade, but it doesn't matter; she's already a winner!

I am so proud of her. She is one gutsy little girl!

If there was a grade for baking jam tarts I think Katie would be grade 8 already. The chief taster is Katie's dad, and he is in total agreement...grade 8!

Rain and Rockets!

The last few weeks has seen rain, rain and even more rain.

I am not complaining too much though. Some poor folk around the country have lost their homes and their farms to flooding. The worst the storms have inflicted on us, is limiting our outings and reducing the garden to a squelchy, clarty mush. Roll on the spring!
Nevertheless we have been making the drive to Bedford to see our HE friends. We have also headed north to Lincoln and joined in with the HE group there.

Best Friends

Dave is still working hard, and coming home for weekends. This weekend he has been working with Katie on producing spread sheets of all the hundreds of Pokémon Species.. Pokémon are her latest interest, as well as Minecraft and Lego.

Last weekend we drove to Leicestershire to visit the Space Centre. It was great, and so much to see! We got ourselves a year pass, and it will be good to re-visit during term-time when the kids are at school.

 

Get ready for Blast-off!!!

Time's a healer...........16th January

16th January

They say "time's a healer". I don't know who they are, but they are liars.

Today would have been my mam's 70th birthday.
It's more than ten years since you left us, Mam and even now I find it inconceivable that you are not here.

You would be 70 today Mam. I wonder how we would have celebrated this milestone?
 I wonder how proud you would be, surrounded by your beautiful grand-children, and the sweet grand-children you never got to meet.

I feel angry today. And so, so sad.

I miss you. I miss you with every fibre of my soul. I will miss you 'til the day I die. I want to believe I will see you again: maybe that would give me comfort?

How much "time" has to pass before the healing begins?