If I had to describe this past weekend in one word it would probably be "blah".
Not because the weekend was blah, far from it, it was just how I felt.
You see I hadn't been feeling well since Wednesday afternoon. It was one of those viruses you don't see coming, one minute you are absolutely fine and then BANG...horrible feverish cold.
By Friday it had well and truly got hold of me and I was sent home early from work. Normally I would treasure these extra few hours of weekend and get a head start on chores and washing, but not this time. I basically spent the rest of the day curled up under a blanket.
Normally I'm the first one awake on Saturday mornings, but when I came down Dylan was already up and had made himself breakfast and a drink. He's such a good boy.
Simon had to go to work so it was just me and the kids for the day.
I had a long list of chores in my head but not the energy to match. By late morning I actually did manage to polish and tidy up a little bit.
Emily did crafts for most of the day, she watched a video on you tube where someone made a house for their littlest pet shop toys and she wanted to make on of her own. We rummaged around a bit and found a decent sized cardboard box and some craft bits.
She did quite a good job so far I think.
Dylan played wiiU in his room, and every now and then he came down to check if I was OK. He kept asking me if I needed a drink or something to eat and I felt really cared for.
I had made myself comfortable on the sofa with a blanket and a book, it was all I had energy for.
Emily was actually quite excited all day because she had a sleepover to go to. We packed her bag with everything she needed and wanted to take and when Simon got back from work he surprised her with some cute new pyjamas. She was one happy girl.
When evening came I started feeling better and I thought I'd actually turned a corner.
I hadn't.
Sunday I felt even worse and on top of that I'd lost my voice!
My husband joked it was going to be a quiet day.
Dylan got up early again, he'd made plans with a few friends to for a bug out. Basically they spend the day outside in the woods behind his friends house doing camping and scouting and they always have a great time. We picked Emily up by lunchtime and found out the girls only fell asleep around two in the morning! Naturally she was a bit tired in the afternoon, early bedtime it will be.
The afternoon has been quiet. We watched a movie and ate cookies.
I really didn't have the energy for anything more.
Right now there's a chicken in the oven and I really need to start prepping the vegetables and potatoes. Dylan is back home and all played out. Emily is getting more inspiration for her littlest pet shop house by watching another video. She should really do her homework instead!
Simon is watching some super hero movie.
the cat is asleep....I feel I should be too.
We've had such a fun filled weekend!
Last week was my brother in law's 40th birthday so his lovely wife arranged for us all to have a big family weekend away so we could celebrate together. She booked a lovely house in Ramsgate, which isn't too far of a drive from where we live, but still far enough to feel like like we were away from home.
We left Friday evening. Normally Dylan would catch the bus home after school, but we went to pick him up instead and drove straight there. The kids were quite excited and so were we. It's always nice to get away isn't it! We were second to arrive and the kids immediately went to check out the rooms. I must say, the house was beautiful, spacious and lend itself exactly to what we needed it for...a big family get together / birthday bash.
Once everyone had arrived and settled in we decided to have pizza for dinner, we all knew the next day would be hectic, with more family and friends popping down, so we just wanted a fairly stress free evening. It was the birthday boy's choice and he couldn't have made a better one!
Afterwards we all headed up to the cosy lounge and chatted until late while the kids were playing.
Saturday started out in style and as all good Saturdays should...
with an amazing cooked breakfast!
We had sausages, mushrooms, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, bacon, toast, fruits, and croissants...and it was GOOD!
More family arrived in the course of the morning and we all sat around the huge dining table, chatting, drinking cups of tea or coffee and generally enjoying family time together.
I think the big kitchen / dining room is what I loved most about the house. Wish we had that amount of space in our house!
When our bellies were full we all went out for a beach walk.
We wrapped up really warm, it is after all January, but the weather treated us well. It was quite chilly but we had blue skies,sunshine and smiles on our faces.
The little marina we walked past was very quaint and charming, with little restaurants, art galleries and tiny shops. Dylan and Emily were looking at all the boats and pointing out which one they would want. I might have even seen one I wouldn't mind sailing away on.
The funniest bit though was watching the kids when we reached the sandy beach...it's like they were let loose for the first time in their life! Dylan ran straight towards the water line, Emily stopped half way to start building a sandcastle.
little cousin Lily soon joined in
And then they found a jelly fish
I would like to say Dylan didn't get wet feet, but I'd be lying!
Even the dogs were enjoying time on the beach
More friends joined us and a after catch up we headed back.
After a lazy afternoon just lounging around it was time to start prepping for dinner.
Stuart used to be a chef so knows his way around the kitchen and even though it was his birthday he still wanted to cook for everyone. Dinner was once again amazing!
We had steak (cooked to perfection), with peppercorn sauce, chips, onion rings, fried onions, mushrooms, homemade garlic bread, salads and coleslaw.
There were fifteen of us all gathered around the dining table, I told you it was a huge table!
My sister in law had a few surprises up her sleeve for her husband, one of them was a really cool / emotional / funny "this is your life" presentation. Even family and friends who live all the way in South Africa and America had contributed to this with pre-recorded messages and video's.
We also had cake and an array of other desserts
It was such a fun evening and some of the conversations around the dinner table were absolutely hilarious! I think the tequila that was had might have contributed to that just a bit too.
But the nicest thing of all was to be able to spend time together with our family. After all that's whats most important.
I think Stuart had a brilliant birthday and my sister in law did an amazing job organising this all.
It's now Sunday. We're back home. Work tomorrow and I'm not ready to let go of the weekend just yet.
When can we do this again?!
I cannot believe it's already Monday.
This weekend has just flown by. I'm sure I just left work on Friday, blinked, and now I'm writing this!
Anyway...
Saturday started out with croissants. We love croissants in our family, especially Emily, it's her favorite breakfast. I had mine with butter and jam...and boy was it good.
We had our breakfast while watching cartoons, which seems to be the norm around here on the weekend. I could have sat there all morning but unfortunately I had quite a few chores to do and errands to run. We all got ready quite quickly and even Simon commented when we were in the car at how early we were all out for a Saturday. I really wanted to go the the Range to buy a new diary, I can't believe we're nearly half way through January and I still haven't got one. I didn't quite find what I was looking for but we did pick up a few other bits and pieces and Dylan and Emily had one of those pick and mix sweets cups which they love. We also found Minion Tic Tacs!
We also hit the supermarket and as we were in the neighborhood we decided to pop around Simon's sister house and have lunch together. It was lovely to have a catch up and Emily loves playing with their dog Rocky. She kept putting a blanket on him and pretended he was wearing a cape, it was really funny the watch. They also had a little tug of war with one of his toys.
Their living room was so cosy with that little log burner, It made ours feel quite cool when we got back home.
We gave Milo a little toy we'd picked up earlier in the day and he became quite obsessed with it, it must be all the catnip inside of it. He's such a crazy cat.
The rest of the day was spend pottering around the house, you know, polishing, hoovering, folding clothes away, preparing dinner and we are all happy just doing our little things. Simon was trying to fix something on the computer, Dylan was playing on the Wii U and Emily had made a whole set up in her room and was playing an adventure with her Littlest Pet Shop animals.
The evening came quick and the kids asked for movie night so we watched Inside Out. While we were watching it Emily got out her crayons and drew all the characters but as cats, she "catified" them as she calls it! Her drawing is really brilliant.
Sunday morning was a lazy one and no of us was in the mood to move or do anything for a long time.
We had chocolate bread for breakfast and it was just divine. That kind of breakfast is right up my street! Must be the Belgian in me.
This is a shop bought one (Aldi in case you were wondering), but I have a recipe ready that I might just try out one of these following weekends.
We did eventually get up from the sofa and Simon took Emily swimming while Dylan and I went to into town. I had a gift voucher to spend and I knew just what to get with it.
I have been a Soap & Glory fan for quite some time now and only just used up all my bit and pieces from last years box. Bath time will be amazing once again.
We still had some time left before swimming was over so we went into Starbucks and it was just so lovely to have Dylan all to myself. He told me all about a game he'd been playing and all the rules and he was so passionate about it. He really is growing up before my eyes. He's such a sweet boy as well and when we went to his parents evening a few months ago his teachers were full of praise and it made my heart swell with pride.
Our afternoon was very quiet.
Nothing beats a lazy Sunday afternoon really.
We watched a movie, the kids played and Simon fell asleep and had quite a long nap.
The most eventful thing that happened was roast dinner. It was a good one too.
Even if I did burn the Yorkshire puddings ever so slightly!
Oh hi there, remember me...the one who's neglected this blog for over a year? Seems I found my way back. I'll mainly be documenting our weekends for now. I did after all start this blog, so many years ago, as a way of holding on to family moments and memories and I can just image laughing and reminiscing with the kids in years to come when we look back at moments long forgotten, and although these weekend posts might not mean much to you, they mean the world to me.
Saturday started of slow. I really do like when the kids are on school holidays because the mornings are so uncomplicated. No rushed breakfasts, no looking for misplaced homework, no nagging because they are getting dressed too slowly, no nothing. This Saturday we all seemed to take even more advantage of that, knowing the madness would start again on Monday.
I was awake quite early, I say early but I really do consider 7.30 a lie in. I made myself a cup of coffee and enjoyed the quiet for a bit. Slowly but surely my little gang came down. Emily first and she immediately claimed the warm snuggly blanket and Dylan came down shortly after. The morning consisted of Spongebob cartoons and snuggles.
At around 9 Simon came down. He'd just received a message from his dad inviting us all out for an early birthday breakfast/brunch for his brother.
We were all quite excited and looking forward to a good breakfast instead of toast to be honest!
We ended up going to Frankie and Benny's and the food was delicious. Dylan had ordered a breakfast pizza and it was the best thing ever! It was nice for the family to be together again, Simons dad and younger brother travel a lot for their work, and with everybody being so busy over the festive period it was nice to all sit together and catch up on things.
Afterwards we took a quick trip to the shopping center to buy Dylan some new school shoes. It was so busy! I would have loved a walk around but it was way too crowded so off home we went.
As the afternoon went on it just got darker and darker until eventually the heavens opened and it rained for the rest of the weekend!
When we got home I decided to do a bit of a clear out in Emily's room. She's a real bookworm and we are forever buying her new books. She recently got into this book series called Warrior Cats and she's hooked! Good thing Santa brought her a few more. She read her first Warrior cat book back in September and she's now on the third series. Not bad if you consider that each series has SIX books!
Anyway, all these new books meant she was running out of space on her bookshelf. She still had so many of her baby and early reader books, and I was taken back in time for a moment, remembering first flicking through them and hearing her read her first words when she was tiny. Sentimental as they might be they had to be packed away....second hand books anyone?!
We kept some of her favorites though but her little shelf looks so much better now, and it even has space for my Harry Potter books, which since going to the Harry Potter studio's two weeks ago, she's also crazy about! Bookworm, I told you.
After all that sorting it was time for a bit of Trivial Pursuit. Is it just in my family the dad cheats?
It was good fun but Dylan did find the questions quite hard.
Sunday was a quiet one!
I did a bit of tidying, sorting out and just pottered about getting things ready for Monday morning.
I think Emily was a bit jealous because Dylan has an extra day off school, yay, which means I'm home too on this rainy Monday, double yay!
In the afternoon I cleaned out the hamster cage and it's so funny watching her afterwards as she's all confused and trying the figure out where to hide her food this time around. It probably took her 20 minutes, with cheeks stuffed full of food, to decide where to store it all.
We also quickly popped around Simon's brother for a cup of tea, some cake and a chat and then home for dinner which was a delicious macaroni ham and cheese.
The evening came fast and before we knew it it was time for bed.
New work/school week...we are ready for you!
Oh and the cat...all he did this weekend was sleep.
Lazy boy!
