Category: 2007 4pk News

We set off on our expedition at 10.30am on Monday morning so that we would arrive at the site nice and early to get a good pitch. The car was laden down with all our camping equipment and the 5 of us – so you can imagine it was rather full, we even had to invest in a roof rack (how grown up).

The trip up the M6 was interesting as Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) wondered if all the stuff packed on the roof rack would survive the trip up the motorway – it did make a lot of funny noises especially when Daddy (Tim) put his foot on the accelerator.

We met our camping companions, Gez, Lorna, Jack and Sam, at Lancaster Services and then using the power of Sat Nav we headed off for the campsite. We left the M6 and the Sat Nav told us to head back south which we thought a little odd but being as trusting as we are we followed it’s directions, after 20 minutes it became apparent that we had been misguided as a result of Postcode Pete (Tim) entering the incorrect postcode into the magical device. The device was reprogrammed and we set off again for our campsite.

We arrived at the campsite an hour later than anticipated, due to our little detour and a stop for some sandwiches in a lay-by. The campsite was quite full when we arrived and we had to search out a good place to pitch our tents.

Daddy (Tim) and Gez decided that as the men of the families that they would pitch the tents whilst Mummy (Alli) and Lorna, being the women of the families, could entertain the children. We were more than happy to go off exploring with our new friends Jack and Sam. After a little walk we found the adventure playground/park and spent an hour or so running around like lunatics burning up some of our pent up energy.

Eventually Mummy (Alli) and Lorna decided that we had given the men ample time to erect the tents so we made our way back to the site. When we arrived back the Reeves abode was erected and our abode was a work in progress. It was then a case of all hands on deck for the adults whilst we played football.

After what seemed like an eternity we were allowed to go and look in our tents and see where we were sleeping. For the holiday Joshua and Emilie were sharing an upper deck bedroom compartment whilst Daniel had his own lower deck compartment – Tim had pitched the tent on a hill!!!

The tent was massive and as a result of being on a hill we were able to play anew game with our new friends, we called this game sliding down a hill inside a tent – it was GREAT fun.

Eventually it was time for dinner which Gez rustled up, he is an excellent cook, and we all demolished a very healthy serving of chilli con carne and rice followed by chocolate swiss roll.

As it started to get dark we were told it was time for bed, we were excited about sleeping in our new sleeping bags so we didn’t protest too much about having to go to bed. We were told to be good and to try and not touch the sides of the tent as by this time it had started to rain a little and we were told if we touched the sides the tent would leak.

When we woke up on Tuesday morning it was still raining and Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) were very tired as they had not had much sleep as their bedroom compartment was a little on the small side and Mummy (Alli) was trying not to touch the sides of the tent which is quite hard when gravity is making you roll down a hill!

We really enjoyed staying in our tent, but unfortunately it wasn’t up to Mummy (Alli) and Daddy’s (Tim) high expectations as the bedrooms were too small for them which resulted in them spending 2 nights in the central area of the tent. Therefore when we packed up to come home the tent didn’t come back with us as Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) have promised us that they will buy a better tent for next years camping holiday!!

We are delighted to announce that a new baby has been born in our family!

Auntie Carrie and Uncle Graham had a little boy this morning – he was 7lb 15oz.

We do not know his name yet and if Auntie Carrie and Uncle Graham are as slow as last time the little baby will be without a name for a while!

Update 18 August

We have been to visit the new baby today and have some cuddles with him – he is absolutely adorable and very small.

He still doesn’t have a name though!!!

Update 24 August

The baby now has a name – Luke Samuel.

This weekend we were very happy because Grandad and Uncle Chris came to visit us. This is the first time that Grandad has stayed at our house and we really enjoyed his visit!

Our visitors arrived on Thursday evening and apparently Grandad treated Mummy (Alli), Daddy (Tim) and Uncle Chris to dinner to save Mummy (Alli) the job of cooking when she got in from work – Mummy was VERY grateful for the rest!

On Friday Mummy (Alli) and Daddy (Tim) had to go to work so Grandad and Uncle Chris had to entertain themselves – they did some jobs in the house, which was very nice of them. Josh arrived home on Friday evening and then spent a couple of hours in the garden playing football with Grandad and Uncle Chris before he reluctantly went to bed so that the adults could have some dinner.

On Saturday we went to Walton Park and Josh was treated to a play in the park, the bouncy castle, trampolines, a ride on the train, football in the park, a walk round the children’s zoo AND ice-cream! Unfortunately Daniel and Emilie were on their way home from their holidays with their Daddy so didn’t get these treats!

At 5pm on Saturday Daniel and Emilie arrived home and the mad hour started where all 3 of the 3pk run around the house and garden like maniacs, this is a usual event every other weekend however it was much more manic this weekend as there was the added excitement of Grandad and Uncle Chris being here.

After an hour or so we went to The Olive Press for our dinner (another night off for Mummy (Alli) and another treat from Grandad!), we had a really good time and ate lots of food and had lots of lemonade to drink!

When we got home it was quite late and Emilie was very tired so she went to bed, however Daniel and Joshua wanted to play football so they played football in the garden with Daddy (Tim), Grandad and Uncle Chris until it went dark.

On Sunday morning we played some more with Grandad and Daniel went for a drive with Uncle Chris in Uncle Chris’ new RED Golf gti – apparently it goes very fast!

Unfortunately Grandad and Uncle Chris had to leave at lunch time – We really hope that they will come back soon and visit us as we had a really good time!!!

Since he was born Daniel has been the proud owner of 2 gastric hernias which were 2 lumps on his tummy that made him look a little different to everyone else, after a consultation earlier in the year with a lovely Irish professor it was decided that Daniel should be operated on and today was the big day!

Daniel and I left home at 10am and made our way to the hospital where he was to be a day case – this meant he would be in and out within the day.

We arrived at the hospital and after a little wait and the application of some magic cream on Daniel’s hands, we were told which ward we had to go to. We made our way to the ward where we were to be for the rest of the day.

We then had a very long wait until the surgeon was ready for us in theatre – we whiled away the hours by playing Doctor Who Top Trumps and I-Spy.

Eventually at 3pm Daniel was called down to theatre, he got changed into his hospital gown and I made sure his bum wasn’t showing! It was then time for Daniel & I to walk to theatre with his nurse. We went into a room where we were greeted by the Doctor who was going to make Daniel go to sleep, Daniel jumped up onto the bed and then proceeded to watch the Doctor as he inserted a needle into the back of his hand.

The nurse and I were trying to distract Daniel from watching and asked him about his holidays – the Doctor then injected Daniel with the “sleep” medicine and I told Daniel to start counting as he had told me he was going to count to 10 – he didn’t even make it to 1 before he was asleep (not nice to watch and I would be happy never to have to do it again).

An hour later I was called back to theatre to collect Daniel as he had come out of the operation and was starting to wake up – he was still very sleepy. He remained like that for about 30 minutes and then he was wide awake and demanding a drink and some toast as he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since 7:30am and it was now 4:30pm – I have never seen him eat toast so quickly, it must have been nice as he gave the nurse 200 marks out of 10 for it!

At 7:30pm Daniel was discharged and we came home – since getting home he has devoured a bowl of baked beans and cheese and some chocolate so he is well on the road to recovery – he is fast asleep again now.

I have just returned from accompanying Daniel to his first “pop” concert – we went to the MEN Arena to watch The Scissor Sisters.

Dan has always been a fan of them and always makes sure he dances with me when he hears “Take your Momma”

When he returned from the childminders today there was a letter waiting for him that he had to read himself which said:

To Daniel

Would you like to come out with Mummy tonight?

To say “well done for a good year 3” I thought you might like to go and see the Scissor Sisters.

If you want to come – find me and say “I’m gonna take my Momma out all night”

Love from

Mummy

xxx

Once he had deciphered the note I was greeted by a very excited 8 year old! From 5pm onwards he was constantly asking when Tim would be in from work as that was when we would be leaving to go to the concert.

Tim arrived home just before 7pm and Daniel and I departed shortly thereafter. We drove into Manchester with Daniel getting more and more excited with each passing mile.

When we entered the Arena it was very busy, I bought Daniel a programme so that he can remember the evening and then we made our way into the concert area. We were shown to our seats which to our amazement were only 4 rows back from the stage – we had a brilliant view!

The music started and Daniel’s face was an absolute picture – he looked so overwhelmed with excitement – it made me feel all tingly, as only a Mummy can. He was then up on his feet and he didn’t sit down again until we got in the car to come home.

The concert was fantastic, The Scissor Sisters definitely know how to put on a good show – we both had a brilliant time and enjoyed dancing and singing the night away.

When the concert finished we left the arena and Daniel bought a big poster for his bedroom wall.

He is now tucked up in bed and is fast asleep and I am sure he is dreaming of The Scissor Sisters!

This morning we ate our breakfast, got dressed and brushed our teeth very quickly as we were excited about going to Amy’s 4th Birthday Party at Joe Crow’s Playbarn.

The party started at 11am but we were ready to leave the house at 9.30am – which is unheard of as we usually leave late.

When we arrived at the party it was straight off with the trainers and into the ball pool where we spent the majority of the next 2 hours. We did get out to eat our lunch and have a bit of a disco but other than that it was play, play, play!

Daddy (Tim) came into the ball pool as well and a load of us buried him under the balls which he seemed to enjoy a lot – we think he might like a ball pool of his own installed at home – maybe in the office!

Amy had a brilliant birthday cake it was Dora and Boots – she didn’t like having Happy Birthday sung to her though it made her cry!

We had a really fun filled time at the party and we were very hot, sweaty and tired when we left at 1pm, Dan had to take his shirt of because he was so hot and Josh fell asleep in the car on the way home.

We all ate out birthday cake, from our party bags, after we had finished our dinner tonight – it was delicious!

After Em & Josh had had a little afternoon nap, because they were up very early this morning, we went to the supermarket to buy some ingredients to make cakes with as Mummy (Alli) said she would show us how to make them.

When we got home Mummy (Alli) told us all to go and wash our hands so that we didn’t have any germs on them. Once we had done that we went into the kitchen and Mummy gave us all a job to do:

Dan – measuring out the ingredients (this helps him with his maths but he doesn’t realise!)

Em – beating the eggs together

Josh – putting the paper cake cases in the bun tray

Once our little jobs were done we started the exciting part – mixing all the ingredients together. We all had a turn of mixing the ingredients, including Daddy (Tim) as Mummy (Alli) was teaching him how to bake cakes as well – you never know he might rememebr what to do and surprise Mummy (Alli) with a homemade cake on her birthday!!

When the mixing was done Mummy (Alli) put the cake mixture into the cases and whilst she put the cakes intot he oven we all licked out the bowl – Mummy (Alli) said that this was the best bit and Dan & Em agree!

After a bit of playing Mummy (Alli) got us all back in the kitchen so that we could all decorate our cakes. We all had 4 cakes each to decorate, including Daddy (Tim) – we really enjoyed doing this bit. Mummy even helped us all make butterfly cakes!

We loved our afternoon of baking – so much so that Dan even helped Mummy to cook spaghetti bolognese for our dinner.

After dinner we ate one of our cakes each and they were yummy – must have been all the hard work we did mixing the mixture!!!!

We are pleased to announce that our Wedding photos are now on the site – it took us a little longer than we had originally hoped – but at least we got them up there before we celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary!!!

You can find the photos by clicking on “Wedding Photos” at the top right of the screen.

We hope you enjoy looking at them.

Yesterday, Monday, was Emilie’s last day at nursery – we can’t believe that she is finishing and going to school in September.
It seems like only 2 minutes that I was taking her to Nursery in the pram a week after she was born as Dan’s nursery teachers wanted to meet his new sister – how time flies.

Anyway today was very exciting as Emilie was going to school for her last pre-school session and today she was finding out who her teacher was going to be.
We arrived at school and the lists were on the board and we found out that Emilie is going to be taught by Miss Coley.
Dan informed us that Miss Coley is nice but that she can shout VERY loud – I wonder if he has been on the receiving end?

Emilie flounced into her classroom without a backwards glance and went and hung her coat up on the pegs – I then left her and went back home.

An hour later I returned to find her in a line ready to go out for playtime – she was very happy!

When her lesson was over we had to wait outside the classroom door and she came flying out with a sticking picture that she had done and asked me “Can I come back again tomorrow Mummy?”

I guess Dan and Em are going to be chalk and cheese where school is concerned – oh and according to Emilie “Miss Coley is very nice and doesn’t shout at all”

Dan went for his 6 week progress review at Dore today and I am pleased to say that he is making steady progress – his balance has improved again so much so that he can now fidget and still remained balanced despite having his eyes closed – try it it isn’t as easy as it sounds!

Dan made a new friend – his reviewer was called Dan as well except SHE is Danielle and he was intrigued by her accent as she was an Aussie!

The next review is at the end of August.

We are waiting for Grandad’s blog about this!!!!!

Today proved to be a very busy day for Daniel; this morning it was his assembly and I have just returned from his investiture into Cub Scouts.

Emilie and I took Daniel to school this morning, Emilie (potential future teachers pet) took a picture that she had drawn for Miss Doherty – Daniel’s teacher because she thought it was a nice thing to do.

Once we had dropped Daniel off at the classroom door we made our way to the school hall where we managed to get the last two front row seats. The performer arrived shortly afterwards and took his place for the assembly on India. Daniel is currently studying about India as his geography project.

After a short wait it was time for Daniel to take centre stage and deliver his line, which went as follows:

“Wages are low which bring poserty (poverty) and helpship (hardship) to lots of many families”

After the assembly was over he came to see Emilie and I and declared that before he had done his line his tummy had felt all funny – bless him he had nerves.

This evening saw him taking centre stage again as he was invested into Cubs – he wasn’t confident enough to say his law and promise on his own but he managed to repeat them after Akela. He looked very proud when he received his neckerchief and woggle.

Hopefully he will have lots of fun and make many memories whilst in Cubs.