This is it

I was reading through a note from Toby's school about upcoming dates to remember - the bake sale, international day, sports day, parents' evening, etc, etc - when it hit me. I've been waiting my whole life to get to this point. Since I was six years old and carried My Friend Mandy everywhere with me and cried my eyes out when Darla Bannister dropped my Baby That-a-Way on the swings. Since I was 10 and would put pillows under my T-shirt and walk around holding my back pretending to be pregnant. Since I was 12 and making up stories with Megan Vance about us, our husbands, our children, houses and cars.

[For the record, in those stories my name was Chastity Massengill, Chas for short, after Cher's daughter and a douche commercial. Why the douche commercial, you ask? I thought the name sounded classy. And my husband was named Landon... Landon Massengill. Can't remember the names of the children but I'm sure they were something equally pretentious.]

I'm not just dreaming about babies. I'm not waiting for a family. It's all here, it's all happening now. It was a shock to realise it and my very next thought was that I better cherish every second of it because before I know it time will pass and this era of PTA meetings, school uniforms and rosy-cheeked children will be gone.

Maybe we should have another baby.

Teething pain

Poor Rosie. She's really suffering at the moment with her teething. With Tobes his teeth just seemed to appear. Apart from the occasional use of Bonjela, he never had any problems. Not so with Miss Rosie Rae.

It started with on overproduction of mucous and a cough. I took her to the doctor many times but since she wasn't running a fever they just said to let it run its course. The English docs are big on non-intervention, building up the immune system and riding things out. I grew up getting a penicillin shot if I sneezed funny. I don't know if things have changed in the States too but here it's very hands-off.

OK, so Rosie wasn't running a fever. Perhaps she wasn't ill. Could it be allergies? The doctors didn't want to prescribe anything because Rosie is so young. "You don't want to give a baby a lot of drugs and if it is allergies she'll probably outgrow them eventually." Okaaay. Hmmmm. So what I'm hearing is that instead of giving her medication to make her more comfortable we'll just let her be miserable for a year or so until she outgrows it. It is an understatement to say that I was not thrilled with that answer.

Next step, the homeopath. I've dabbled in homeopathy over the last year or so. Someone recommended arnica before my cesarean with Rosie. I was dubious but was very surprised at the positive results. When Toby had terrible gastroenteritis last year and the GP took the usual 'let it run its course' approach I decided to talk to the Neal's Yard homeopath and the remedy worked within two hours and Toby slept through the night for the first time in weeks. So I'm a convert and now have my own little homeopathy kit at home but this time Rosie needed professional help.

After an hour talking to the homeopath (appointments with our doctor are limited to 10 minutes each!) I was told that it was probably related to teething rather than an allergy and Rosie was prescribed a couple of remedies. Within a day her symptoms improved but, as I'm discovering with homeopathy, it seems to bring a condition to its head and at the moment Rosie is drooling like a tap and has developed an unsightly rash on her chin. Poor little thing is falling apart. I turned to my home kit to deal with her other symptoms and added some Calpol for good measure and things seem under control now. Rosie is more comfortable than she was and will hopefully be back to normal as soon as those teeth break through.

Spring has sprung

Milk break this afternoon

This is how I found them in bed last night. God, they're lovely.

Rosie doing her own version of street theatre. She likes to get in the window at Starbucks and wave at people walking by.

Beautiful morning. Our street is so full of wisteria, jasmine and honeysuckle that it smells wonderful. The big lavender bush at our front door is starting to give off its scent now too. I can even smell it laying in bed at night with the window open. You'd hardly believe we were in London. Such a beautiful time of year in England. It always seems to be at its best in the changing seasons, spring and autumn. Summers seem to get hotter and more uncomfortable every year. Winter is still lovely but it doesn't compare to springtime. Everything is blooming and so green.


Toby started having lunches at school yesterday, or what they call school dinners here. This really confused me at first. Isn't dinner the evening meal? I asked around and it seems that a dinner is a hot meal regardless of when it's served. Most people have one hot meal a day and call it dinner whether it's at noon or 7.30pm. OK, fine. So Toby has started having school dinners and it's gone very well. Yesterday they had fish, chips and peas and today it was lasagne and fresh garlic bread. His school is taking part in the Jamie Oliver school dinners scheme so nothing is fried (it's all either baked, grilled or steamed) and all fruits and vegetables are prepared fresh at the school. I'm very relieved to know that Tobes is getting a healthy lunch. I peaked around the door today and saw him tucking into his lasagne and talking to his friends. So sweet.


J took Tobes to school this morning so Rosie and I got on with some chores around the flat. The first one was emptying the nappy pail. It was way overfull, as usual, and there was a big ball of dirty nappies jammed in the opening of the bucket. I was trying to pry them out when one of the nappies exploded and spewed everywhere. Have you ever seen the stuffing of a dirty nappy? They're full of some kind of gel that turns into little blobs when they get wet. These little blobs were all over the nappy pail, the floor, my trousers and feet, along with a fair amount of poop. Rosie ran in to see what was going on and I could hear her shouting over and over again, "Yuck! Oh, christ! Yuck! Oh, christ!" as she ran back out of the room. She's like a little parrot. I've got to start watching what I say. Toby just looks at me and says "Mom, don't say 'shit'. It's rude." Not sure if that's better or worse.

Lazy Sunday spent watching other people sweat

I thought it was 10,000 runners but apparently it was 35,000! When Rosie and I left the flat this morning it was surprisingly quiet. Apart from the fact that there wasn't a single parking place available on our street and half a dozen helicopters flying around, it seemed like a normal peaceful Sunday morning. By the time we turned off of Quentin Road we could see the police out in their dayglo jackets and the roadblocks up. The whole village was closed off but still fairly quiet. It was nice to walk down the middle of the road knowing that no crazy bus drivers would run us down.

We headed straight to Costa and the guys working there said it had been busy but not too crazy. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces drinking coffee which did feel strange as I often know every single person in the cafe. As Rosie and I left Marija walked up. Perfect timing. We walked down into the action to find J, Andy and the boys. The children ran around and we watched them take down the hot air balloons then wandered over to Montpellier's for tea and coffee. Afterwards the children ran around the heath some more then we headed over to Zero Degrees for lunch.

The afternoon has been even more lazy though J did go out and replace the spare tire on the car. We've had two flat tires in the last six weeks. Did you know that you can cause a flat by regularly hitting the curb? I did not know that. How on earth am I going to parallel park now?!

London Marathon

No, I am not running in it. Heaven forbid! But it is today and it starts right here in Blackheath. Our little village will be overrun by 10,000 runners and their family and friends this morning. J and Tobes have gone down to watch the start and Rosie and I are about to go down and enjoy the stalls and entertainment that's set up for the race. If you see the start on TV then look out for a little boy in a red jacket. Probably sitting on his father's shoulders and shouting "Power Rangers Mystic FORCE!"

Various things

Toby's first week at school went very well overall. He never got upset about going and came home everyday talking about all of the things he did with his friend Thierry. The only cloud is that there's a little girl in the class who isn't very nice to Toby and keeps calling him a fat-head. I actually saw her being mean to Toby one day when I went to pick him up. She seems to be a very unhappy child and was using phrases that I would guess are said to her at home like "Look what you've done! Can't you do anything right!", etc, etc. It's really upsetting Toby so I'm going to talk to his teacher about it on Monday. I'm not too worried about it but it is unfortunate that it started his first week of big school. My main concern is that it taints his feelings towards St Margaret's. We'll see.

I got the date for the second lot of filming for the TV programme. I start using the patches on Monday and will let you know if they are the miracle answer to weight loss. I'm guessing not. I keep meaning to tell you about the first day of filming. I'm just in a small part of the programme and so do my own hair and make-up. I turned up all ready but did take my make-up bag and hairbrush so that I could freshen up once I got there. The funny thing is that there were eight of us filming that day and not a single woman brushed her hair, powdered her nose or even looked in a mirror as far as I noticed before we started filming (except for me, of course). Now, if that was in Texas the place would've been covered with cosmetics and I would guess at least once straightening iron or set of hot rollers. The cultural differences never cease to amaze me.

Now that Toby is settling into school I've been looking forward to having more time with Rosie. We decided to take her out of Monkey Music and put her into a class at the conservatoire here in Blackheath. Monkey Music only goes up to age 4 but, with the conservatoire, she can keep going until adulthood if she wants. I've put Toby down for an instrument class at the conservatoire where the children learn the basics of seven different instruments over a year. It's to help them decide what they enjoy and what they would like to take further. Toby loves music so I'm hoping he does decide to learn an instrument one day. There's a long waiting list for the class though so it'll probably be next year before he starts.

We're having a lovely weekend. Yesterday I took the children into the city to have lunch with J. We visited his office and then went over to Borough Market to do some browsing and shopping. There's a salt seller that I've always wanted to try. He sells Noirmoutier salt harvested from marshes in France. You can get plain fleurs de sel or sea salt mixed with various spices and herbs. I bought some sea salt mixed with herbes de Provence and used it on some duck breasts for lunch today. It's delicious. We also bought some English asparagus and some of the most beautiful prosciutto di Parma sliced so thin that you can see through it. You can see why I love the market so much.

Today we've been hanging out in the village, going to Costa, the library and J has taken Toby to the heath twice. I think we'll have some very tired children tonight.

Introducing Ian

I swear my ovaries actually lurched when I first looked at these photos. Isn't he beautiful!

Just reminiscing

Just looking through old photos and found this. It's Toby's first day at nursery over two years ago. It's funny to think that I wasn't even pregnant with Rosie yet, though it was only a few weeks later that I discovered she was on the way. Seeing this photo and its similarity with the one taken yesterday makes me think about all the times in the future I'll be standing next to one of the children as they do something for the first time.

Toby's first day at big school

Toby had his first morning at St Margaret's today. He was very brave and he had a good time. J was home this morning for the big event. I made pancakes "like Nana's", one of Toby's favourites, and we had a fairly calm morning. Well, at least by our standards.

We all walked to school together, stopping for the occasional photo opportunity. Tobes looks so handsome in his uniform. When we got close Toby could see the older children playing football in the tennis court and he developed a death grip on Rosie's stroller. Once we got inside the school gates and found his friend from nursery, Thierry, Tobes was fine. He went happily into the classroom and was all smiles when I picked him up at noon.

He does a week of mornings, then a week of mornings plus lunch, then starts full days of 8.55 - 3.30. When I was waiting for him today I saw some of the children eating lunch in the hall. It was so sweet. The tables are laid with the cutlery and cups, everything in its proper place. The children go to a kitchen window for plates of hot food and there are pitchers of water on each table so they can help themselves. It all seems so grown up.

Amazingly, J and I didn't cry this morning. I think it's going to take a while to sink in that this is a big step for our family. J and I talked about it a little bit as we walked into the village. I've loved having babies. It's been the happiest time in my life so far and there's a part of me that would like to have another baby to prolong the experience. But then, we've been very lucky so far and things are so nice right now.... hmmm, maybe I should start thinking about what I want to do next.

End of an era

Today was the last day of Toby's half term. His last day before starting his formal education at the end of which he'll be a young man. God, it makes me want to grip the desk and take deep breaths just thinking about it. We've gotten to this point so quickly. It seems like only a few days ago I was laying in a hospital bed with my new baby boy tucked under my arm. I still remember the smell of him, his tiny hands and hairy ears. I can't believe he's starting school tomorrow.

I had loads of chores to do today but decided to cancel them all and just have a nice day with the children. We went to Cafe Rouge for lunch and Tobes had a citron presse. He loves them because he says it's like making a potion. His potion always contains an awful lot of syrup. Afterwards we flew kites on the heath, bought ice cream and just goofed around for a few hours. When we got home I finished putting labels in Toby's school uniforms and got everything ready.

J is going in to work later so we can all take Toby to school on his first day. I did ask Tobes who he wanted to take him to school and he said all of us so we'll all be trooping down at 8.45 tomorrow morning. This is going to be a big change for me too. No more rolling up an hour late to nursery because we had a bad night or long morning. Nope, I'm going to have to start setting an alarm which is something I haven't done regularly in over five years! Big changes for all of us. We're moving away from having 'babies' to having 'children' now. Ahhhh. Big sigh.

My fifteen minutes continues...

For those of you in the UK, the May edition of Practical Parenting magazine has a small photo of the four of us and a quote from me (page 24) about how old the children were when we started taking them to the cinema. Not terribly exciting but fun to see ourselves in print again.

Springtime

Yesterday was the last day of Toby's half term so we went into town. I was thinking a casual day at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. They have events for children during half term and good cafes for lunch. Our plans changed when, on the train, Toby said that he would actually prefer to see the dinosaurs. So we got off the train at Charing Cross and hopped in a taxi to South Kensington and the Natural History Museum. We got there fifteen minutes after they opened and there was already a line at the door. It's a very popular place when school is out.

We were lucky though and managed to get tickets to the most popular exhibit, Dino Jaws, which ended today. We also got one of the adventure packs that include binoculars, games, activities and a hat for little explorers. The exhibition was all about what dinosaurs ate and had lots of animatronic dinosaurs and loads of info about dinosaur poo. One of Toby's favourite displays was a big pile of dinosaur poo that even smelled bad. He thought it was so funny. They had some coprolites that children could touch too and that made Toby laugh as well. Ah, four year old boys and their sense of humour.

Today was a gorgeous sunny day and we were all dressed in summer clothes and sandals for a change. I dug out some summer clothes for Rosie that I bought last year in the sales. I try to buy ahead for the kids when I can get a bargain. The problem is trying to guess what size they'll be the following year. I obviously got it wrong this time. Rosie is 17 months old but she is firmly in a size 2 already. The outfit I bought her is 18 mons - 2 years and you can see how small it is on her in the photo. She's going to be a tall girl.

Rosie's communication is really coming along. She's just started two word phrases and can communicate in whole sentences using a combination of words and signing. Tonight is a good example. She is very good at procrastinating going to sleep. She'll ask for more milk, another story, another song, a drink of water, etc, etc. Tonight she asked me to change her nappy by signing. I checked her nappy and told her that it was clean and she didn't need a change. She then signed 'medicine' which is the sign we use for medicine, nappy cream and teething gel. I asked if she needed some medicine and she shook her head no. I asked if she needed some nappy cream and she nodded and then pointed at her nappy and said "bits" which is what we call her vagina (it's an English thing). Of course, I had to check and sure enough she had some nappy rash so I put some cream on the rash and took her back to bed and she finally went to sleep. So nice that she can tell us what's wrong. I'm sure it saves a lot of tantrums and frustration.

Congrats Jon, Angie and Dyl!!

Ian arrived yesterday safe and sound. Angie ended up with a cesarean but Mom said that she's doing well. I've only spoken to Mom so far and have been told that Ian weighs 6lb+, is a very alert and peaceful boy and already has curly hair. Mom has been staying with Dyllin so that Jon can stay at the hospital with Angie and Ian. Can't wait to get all the details!

Ian Black

OK guys, send some positive vibes out Texas way today. My sister-in-law Angie is being induced so baby Ian will be here sometime in the next 24 hours or so!! I'm so excited for them. New babies are just the most wonderful thing in the world. I hope it all goes smoothly and with minimum pain. Can't wait to see photos of the precious little dumplin'. You can tell from his 3D ultrasound that he's a cutie already!

Someone kill me. Now.

Good God, it's the second day of Toby's week off of school and already we're ready to kill each other. Tobes is having a time out in his room right now for pushing Rosie. He's bored out of his mind and so am I. We tried going out on the heath today but the weather is horrible, grey and threatening rain, so we came back home. I seem to have a bug or something and feel totally exhausted and just the thought of going into London makes me feel worse. We talked about going to Bluewater to see a film but Tobes couldn't decided what he wanted to see, I dreaded the half-term crowds and we ended up doing nothing. All my plans for days out have evaporated. All I want to do is lie down with a book and rest but of course that's not going to happen. I think we'll just stay home, bicker and pray for bedtime. Yuck.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Lazy Holidays

A couple of photos taken in the last couple of days. The top one was taken this morning in our home from home - Costa Coffee. The bottom one was taken yesterday of the children playing with friends on the heath.

We're just hanging out and taking it easy. Both of the children have coughs so we're having a home day today and watching Toby's Happy Feet DVD. Well, the DVD is on right now but Toby and Rosie are fighting over a train station and I'm pretending that I don't hear them. Same difference.

Deep in the bowels of PMS

Any guys who read this blog might want to skip this entry. It's going to be a lot of woman talk. Very much Our Bodies, Ourselves kind of stuff. Then again, stick around and you might learn something.

I always thought that as I got older the whole period thing would get easier. It seems logical to me that my hormones would be more unstable as a blossoming 18 year old than they would be as a pretty settled 36 year old. It seems I'm wrong. The older I get the worse my PMS gets. The image that comes to mind these days is someone covered in bees. The natural desire is to swat the bees away, stand up, run, find water and get the damn things off of you. Problem is, if you do that you'll probably get stung about 1000 times and drive yourself mad so you just do your best to sit still, breathe slowly and hope that they eventually go away. This is what I'm like with PMS. It's like tension crawling all over my skin and all I can do is try to stay calm and wait it out.

A good example is the other night when we ordered pizza for dinner. I went to put Rosie down for the night and by the time I went back to the kitchen ALL of the pizza was gone. I thought I might self-combust but decided to give J the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had put some pizza away for me. We had a little conversation that went something like this:


Me: Is there any pizza left?

J: No. I didn't think you wanted any.

Me: OK, I guess I'll have some cereal then.


Of course, in my mind it played out a little differently:


Me: Is there any pizza left?

J: No. I didn't think you wanted any.

Me: OK, I guess I'll have some cereal then... [pause]... since there's no pizza left you selfish greedy BASTARD. You didn't think I wanted any pizza?! For future reference, if there's any pizza in the house then yes I would like a slice. Just one measley slice would do. I don't think that's too much to ask. Did you really even consider for one single second that I would want some pizza? Noooooo. You just considered YOUR need for pizza and didn't spare a thought for anyone else's needs. And you know, that is just the problem with the world today. No one considers anyone else's needs. It's all me, me, me. It starts with pizza and then it's other food and then water and then petrol and then.... and then a bunch of other stuff and the next thing you know it's WAR. And killing and global warming and nuclear weapons and then the whole world is a big fucking fire ball and NO ONE is getting what they need. And then how will you feel mister?? You and your belly full of pizza!

And that is how J eating all of the pizza led to the destruction of the planet and the end of all life as we know it.

Our chocolate bunnies

Easter morning and already Toby has had one time-out in his room and I feel like my head might explode. I guess that's what happens when children start eating chocolate at 7am. Rosie has been enjoying her special dairy-free chocolate egg and some Jelly Babies made with all natural fruit juice (plus loads of sugar). Tobes has been eating chocolate eggs, Jelly Babies and all of the white chocolate bits off of some really sweet ducks and a lamb that J brought home.

We seem to have fallen into an Easter tradition of going to the circus. Last year Jenny, Kieran, Jack and Kate came down and this year we went with Marija, Andy and James. It's Zippo's Circus on the heath and it's a lovely, little circus. All of the performers are in more than one act and even take turns selling popcorn and drinks during intermission. We had a great time.

Yesterday we did a whirlwind tour of Cambridgeshire visiting J's Mum and Dad, J's Nana and then Jenny & Kieran. Barry & Brenda were camping in their motorhome in Godmanchester so we stopped in for a cup of tea and an egghunt that the "Easter Bebe" had organised for Toby. Then we visited Nana at her place in Sawtry. Nana is 92 and looking quite frail though her spirits were up yesterday. She gave Toby a ten pound note for Easter and told him to give Rosie half for her Easter treat. Toby promptly tore the note in half and handed it to Rosie!

We stopped at Burger King for lunch and then went to see Jenny & Kieran at their house. The children played in the garden, the guys read the paper and talked football, Jenny and I peeled potatoes and gossipped in the kitchen then we all watched the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race (Cambridge won!! Hooray!!) and had some gorgeous Moroccan Lamb for dinner in the garden. Lovely day.

Today we're off to Greenwich Park for some Easter festivities. That is, once we get the children cleaned up and dressed. There seems to be chocolate EVERYWHERE.

Happy Easter!!

Conversations with Toby

After a discussion about evolution and how people evolved from apes:

"Mommy, Daddy is quite hairy and he does like bananas. I think there's some gorilla left in him."

**********

Me: "Toby, if you don't behave the Easter Bunny won't bring you that Happy Feet DVD you want."

Toby: "That's OK. If the Easter Bunny doesn't bring it I'll just ask Nana."

**********

When Rosie started crying in the night:

"It's OK, darling. I'm here."

**********

Playing Twenty Questions at dinner tonight:

Me: "Are you thinking of an animal?"

T: "Yes."

Me: "Is it hairy?"

T: "No."

Me: "Does it have four legs?"

T: "No."

Me: "Does it have a tail?"

T: "No."

Many, many questions later...

Me: "I give up what is it?"

T: "A horse, silly!"

Tv debut and my gorgeous boy

Well, I filmed my British TV debut today. It seemed to go very well. There really wasn't much to it. I was in a group with three other women and we had to stand in front of the camera, look at the camera, look away from the camera. Look at each other, look away from each other. Chat with each other, etc, etc. I'm going to be testing a celebrity weight loss plan and I've been very lucky. I was afraid that I would get Beyonce's maple syrup diet or something disgusting like that but we've got the Slim Patch. It's like a nicotine patch and you stick it on your bottom and eat normally. The patch is supposed to release something that makes you lose weight. Sounds like my dream diet!

The other girls were very nice and we've exchanged email addresses to keep in touch over the next six weeks until we go back to film the results. I really can't imagine that this thing is going to work but it sounds good.

Toby also had his last day at nursery. J took him in along with the cakes and presents and I picked him up after filming. They had a leaving party for him this afternoon and when I asked him how it went he said it was really nice but his eyes 'melted a little'. My sweet boy.

Ms Suki sent home a big envelope of his work including his diary which he would write in every Monday. It says things like "At the weekend I played with my sister. At the weekend I went to the park. At the weekend I played with James." It's so sweet to see it in Toby's wobbly writing and to see how his writing has improved since he started. We were also given Toby's nursery report, a copy for us and a copy for St Margaret's. Please bear with me for the next few seconds, I'm so proud that I have to include some excerpts:

"It has been a joy to have Toby at the nursery. He is a popular member of class... he is a caring and happy child. Tobias is helpful and will help the younger children to wash their hands or do up their coat if necessary."

"Tobias likes to pretend he is the teacher and reads a book to all his peers, turning pages one at a time and showing them the pictures." [He does this with Rosie too.]

It also talks about his skills with letters, numbers, sensorial skills and things like cooking, computer work and physical activities. Tobes left with certificates in French, dance, music, swimming, writing and math. I am so incredibly proud of him.

After I picked him up from school we went to Starbucks and went through his folder looking at all of his work. I was reading his school report and Toby said, "Mommy, are you proud? Is that why you're crying?"

Big week

Tomorrow is Toby's last day at nursery. Ever. I know I'm going to cry but I am comforted by the fact that Rosie will be going to the same nursery in about 18 months. The Blackheath Montessori Centre has been so wonderful and Toby's teacher, Ms Suki, is going to be a hard act to follow.

Toby is doing a whole day tomorrow - 9am - 4.30pm - so that they can have a party in the afternoon with all of the children. It's part Easter party and part Toby's leaving party. We've got two Power Rangers cakes to take in. The cake Toby wanted wasn't big enough for everyone so we just bought two of them! We've also got presents for his teachers and we've made some Easter eggs for his classmates. Mom bought us some of those little plastic Easter eggs a few years ago and we've filled them with chocolates and little fluffy chickens for the children. (Note to Mom: Gonna need more eggs.)

Tomorrow I'm also going to film my bit for the TV show! I'm feeling very nervous about it. I don't mind looking silly or goofy but I would hate to look stupid or ugly. Hmmm, I wonder what that says about my psyche... Anyway, I'm heading off bright and early to a studio in some God-foresaken part of London. Wish me luck.

Then we have a four day weekend. Woo hoo!! It's filling up fast though. On Friday we're planning to go to the little circus on the heath with Marija, Andy and James. On Saturday we're going up to Cambridge to see J's family and Jenny & Kieran. Sunday is Easter and I'm doing a traditional lunch then we're going over to Greenwich Park for an Easter egg hunt and other festivities. The Easter bunnny will have made a visit too, of course, and he's been very good this year and found a special allergy-safe chocolate egg for Rosie.

The traditional thing in England is to give these big hollow chocolate eggs. You do get bunnies too and sometimes ducks or lambs but the eggs are the thing. On Good Friday you should have fish which goes back to the time when meat was forbidden food on Fridays though I can't remember why. I'm planning to make a fish pie which should be nice. Hot cross buns are also traditional Easter food as is a cake called a Simnel cake which is decorated with marzipan balls to represent each of the disciples, so it's either 11 or 12 depending on whether or not you count Judas. Most people do not. Then it's roast lamb and all the trimmings on Easter Sunday to represent the Paschal lamb. We're not at all religious but I do like to follow tradition. I'm thinking next year we might celebrate Passover just to even things out.

It's funny but when I think of the "traditional" Easter food of my childhood I think of marshmallow chicks (what are they called??), those candy eggs that are bright colours on the outside and fluffy white sugar on the inside, hollow chocolate bunnies with blue sugar paste eyes and of course lots of boiled chicken eggs. We don't see many real boiled eggs here but we always dye a bunch ourselves using kits that Mom has bought us in the States. (Note to Mom II: Gonna need more egg dye.)

Then Monday is our day of rest. We're thinking Costa for breakfast, Cafe Rouge or Pizza Express for lunch and lots of just hanging around before and after.

Have a lovely Easter!

Fab weekend

Jenny and I had a great, relaxing weekend at Sopwell House. Yesterday we laid by the pool and read the half dozen trashy mags I had picked up on the way. What is going on with old Britney? And Angelina has adopted AGAIN?!

Then we primped and dressed for dinner, stopping for G&Ts in the cocktail bar beforehand. We had a really wonderful three course dinner in the restaurant. I had potted crab with brown shrimp then duck with morels and an amazing baked Alaska for dessert. Afterwards we went to our room, opened a bottle of buck's fizz, painted our nails, tried out some face masks, watched bad TV, talked and laughed a lot. I slept the whole night without having to get out of bed once! It was such a treat after the previous three nights with poorly children. I managed to sleep in until 9am when our huge breakfasts arrived, which we ate in bed.

Today was more active and I actually got in the pool and did some treadmill. I balanced out the exercise with a full afternoon tea with four kinds of sandwiches, homemade scones with jam and clotted cream plus a tiny chocolate eclair and a raspberry tart. Gorgeous.

The journey home was a bit of a nightmare with railway problems every step of the way but I made it back still feeling blissed out from my weekend away. Must do it more often.