Garden clearance - phase 1 underway

So this week we've had the gardeners in to clear our garden. It's a 3-phase plan, phase 1 being to tear down the broken fence, clear all the unwanted plant matter and convulvulus, move the roses to the side beds and turf over the old rose beds, the vegetable garden and underneath the fruit trees. Once the turf has grown in, they are removing the old concrete paths and shaping the lawn into two long ovals (a figure of 8), with stepping stones as in our old place. We are also going to get a tree surgeon to reduce the ash tree at the end by a third as it's casting a big shadow.

I forgot to take pictures of the piles of rubble after day 2 but anyway, here's the before and after of the clearance.

Obviously the before looks a lot more appealing than the after, as it's all in flower in midsummer, but it will actually be great to be able to walk from the patio onto the lawn without having to squeeze between the rosebeds and the holly tree (which has gone). And the garden feels much bigger now you can imagine actually using the back half of it.

Here's the back half of the garden, which was once covered by convulvulus.

In the ultimate dream world phase 3 the garden studio and spa pool would be where the shed and back patio are just visible at the top.

Sofia is very pleased that the heavily pruned bay tree is now climbable and Willy has been having a whale of a time, running about with sticks and 'helping' the gardeners. 

A golden day at the rowing

Jules flies the flag, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The alarm went off at 5.30am yesterday and we leapt into the shower before our babysitter arrived punctually at 6. Our timetabling was probably a bit on the paranoid side as we were in Slough waiting for the shuttle bus by 7am and arrived at the venue after a long walk through the Windsor race course just after 8.

We were greeted by armies of happy smiling volunteers and the happy smiling actual army, who performed the world's most efficient security check (take note Heathrow - it's really not that difficult!)

We made our way down to Lakeview Lodge, where there was a big woodchipped area at the edge of the rowing lake that people had set up their picnic blankets on. To get a little extra height, people had made little mounds out of the woodchips and were sitting on them like nesting penguins - I think Jules took a picture of them from the rear which I will share when we download it.

The website had gone on about healthy and delicious food being available at the venue. I did see that the coffee and donut stand had a porridge or granola option but the rest of the stands were fish and chips, hog roast, sausage in a bun and pulled pork. Delicious yes but I'm not so sure about the healthy part. And then there was this sign saying alcohol would only be available from 9.30am which seemed a bit of an arbitrary time to start drinking - not until after breakfast??

So after our healthy and delicious breakfast we made our way to our seats and then discovered the first two hours were full of the F to B finals i.e. sorting out how every boat in the competition ranked, all the way up from the bloke from Niger who finished 33rd out of 33 (to a massive cheer from the crowd) after taking up rowing three months ago.

Our seats were probably only 50m from the end of the course so we had a great view. It's a very strange spectator sport - you can't even see the boats until they're about 500m from the end.

And the rest is history - we cheered on our guys surrounded by cheering English people cheering 5 seconds behind us (ha!). Don't know which was more impressive - the distance that Bond and Murray won by or Mahe Drysdale's close finish.

Hoping to take Sofia and Willy in to watch a bit of the women's marathon tomorrow morning.

William at Stonehenge

William at Stonehenge, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Apart from everyone staying up to watch the opening ceremony, our Olympics started with this great free event at Paddington Rec - a life-sized Stonehenge bouncy castle for all the family. It's touring London's parks over the next two weeks.

My first time on a bouncy castle and I loved it!

Jules and I are off to the rowing at Eton Dorney on Friday morning. Our babysitter arrives at 6am!

Weird and wonderful features of the new house - Exhibit A

Leadlights from inside front door, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This was taken this morning from inside our front door looking out.

And then we got cocky...

And then we got cocky..., originally uploaded by Racmol.

Probably should have quit while we were ahead, rather than cycling back through the 'puddle' to get pictures for the blog!

A confident cyclist

Straight through the deepest part , originally uploaded by Racmol.

But anyway, we're taking the adverse weather conditions in our stride.

Enough with the rain already!

Enough with the rain already!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This is what greeted us as we came through the park today after school. And before you say at least it wasn't actually raining, it had been chucking it down all the way to school and back. Very sick of wiping off the bike seat with a tissue for Madam to get on it.

Farewell banana cake for the flat

Farewell banana cake for the flat, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Jules made a banana cake to say goodbye to our flat and use some of the excess bananas at the weekend.

We still have 7 bananas and the people who were refusing them when they were just a little bit ripe are now even less inclined to eat them now they've got black spots.

Packers arrive tomorrow - my friend Ali is kindly taking W away for most of the day and Sofia has a playdate after school so it should work out ok.

Next blog post will be from the new house. Roll on Friday!

Full flight in the relay!

Full flight in the relay, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I must not drop the egg!

I must not drop the egg!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

First ever school sports day today, and despite days of pre-match anxiety, Sofia did not drop the egg in the egg and spoon race or the baton in the relay.

Her team (Saturn, the yellow house) won the overall day and although her own mini-team of four didn't place in any events, she had a good time after a few nervous tears at the very thought of the sack race.

Inexplicably, the day finished at 1.30 - all very well if you're a stay at home mum but incredibly inconvenient otherwise. So glad Mr W was at Hopscotch - he would not have coped well with 2.5 hours of not being allowed to participate.

Last chance to relax in the garden

Last chance to relax in the garden, originally uploaded by Racmol.

It's our last weekend in WInchester Avenue so we got out the sunloungers and the swingball, ready to relax and enjoy it.

The weather didn't really cooperate.

It's a bittersweet time for us - we've been really happy here. But we're all excited to be getting a whole house - roll on Friday!

Lots more photos are up on flickr - click on the photo to go straight there.

Exchange of contracts!

Exchange of contracts!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Yay - it actually happened! This morning we exchanged contracts. Our lovely flat is no longer ours and the new house has our name on it.

We are relieved beyond words. As you can see, I stuck closely to Jules's new diet for the first course but out of shot there was a thick wedge of Brie de Meaux and a sticky toffee pudding in the kitchen. So delish!

The hard part's over - now we just have to physically move.

Willy has spent most of the day asking what is coming i.e. 'Is Mr Dinosaur coming?' 'And the cars?' 'And the toy chest?' 'And the toilet?'. I try to reassure him as best I can, but anyone can see that for him it is a huge deal.

Sofia is a bit distressed that she still doesn't get her own room (we're using bedroom 3 as a study) but thrilled about having a cat (after our NZ holiday).

Moving day is next Friday 29 June. Hooray!

Flat out Saturday

Just had a little nap while Jules did bedtime stories and woke up dazed and confused at 9.15pm, saying 'Is it morning?' Must have been a tiring day.

Started with a long run at 7.30am, then breakfast in front of the rug-berry, then off to Primrose Hill to take Sofia and Willy to best-friend Leah's Stagecoach (performing arts school) birthday party. Willy fell asleep in car so missed most of it but we had a nice walk down to Camden with the pushchair while Sofia was rehearsing the show for the parents (to be performed after the cake).

Found a completely amazing Whole Foods store where we got coffee for Leah's mum and dad and me - could have happily spent up large on the fabulous collection of champagne truffles and the like. (In what way are champagne truffles whole food? Lentils and other pulses I get, but surely some processing is involved in a champagne truffle, even if the chocolate is organic!)

Then back for the birthday cake and the show. Willy joined in the show despite having missed all the rehearsal and just sat in the middle of the floor smiling while everyone danced around - very funny. They sang 'When you wish upon a star' and Sofia couldn't stop jumping, she was so excited. Apparently she likes drama - drama day is Wednesday at school and she always looks forward to it, unlike PE day (Tuesday) which she seems to dread.

Wildlife spotting - juvenile fox in our garden this afternoon right down by the clothes line and also I saw a rat under one of the bridges over the canal this morning.

Morning visitor to our garden

Visitor to our garden, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Jules was out picking up Sofia from her sleepover, but William and I had a good long look at the fox through our french doors in the kitchen. We looked at him and he looked at us for several minutes, until Funnyfoot, our next door neighbours' cat, ran him out of town.

William and the Queen

Willy and the queen, originally uploaded by Racmol.

School tea party with Jubilee cupcakes

School tea party with Jubilee cupcakes, originally uploaded by Racmol.

View down the river over Embankment Gardens

View down the river over Embankment Gardens, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The Royal Barge

The Royal Barge, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Watching the Diamond Jubilee boat pageant

Sofia, Willy and Olivia watch the boats, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Today we all trooped into central London to watch the Diamond Jubilee boat pageant on the river from the comfort of Jules's office.

Willy fell asleep at Piccadilly Circus and woke up again as Jules put him down on a couch, having carried him all the way to the office from Charing Cross. It was quite busy but not impossibly so - I guess the rain must have kept the numbers down.

Jules's office has great long windows so even the little kids had a great view. We were allowed out on the roof terrace but I found I just got too nervous about the kids trying to climb up on chairs. And the windows near Jules's desk were actually closer to the river.

Also, when we were out on the roof terrace Fia kept saying loudly 'Why can't we stand on the tables? That man's on a table. What's he doing up on that table?' (That man was a founding partner of the firm.)

We got quite wet coming home. Now Fia has gone off on her first ever sleepover at her best friend Leah's house. Jules dropped her off and apparently she didn't even say goodbye but just squealed with delight and ran up the stairs so I think she'll be fine.

More photos of the boats to come.

Swan family on Regents Canal

Swan family, originally uploaded by Racmol.


You can just about make out the cygnet. In my defence, I only had my iphone with me on my run and they were on the far side of the canal. 

London wildlife on Regents Canal

Geese family, Regents Canal, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Lovely run this morning. Left before my 6.30am alarm and already could tell today was going to be a scorcher. Along Regents Canal I met this family of geese and also a family of swans which I will post next.

Today we walked from home to Willesden Junction with the kids on their bikes. We did stop for lunch at Gracelands and an ice cream at Roundwood Park but I still thought they did very well - must be about 4km all up.

Weekly round-up

So it looks as if we're really going to move to a new house - a proper family home with our own front door and nobody living above or below us. Hopefully we'll come to an amicable agreement with the vendors in the next day or two and then we can set a moving date. The date we're discussing is 30 June - better start sorting out our stuff.

In other news, we have a Star of the Week certificate this week (Sofia) for 'trying very hard in every area'. The scary headteacher reads this out in whole school assembly and you get to go up to the podium and collect it. We've had a few weeks of 'I never win ANYTHING!' and 'I never get a sticker' so it was great to finally get something tangible to hold onto. I might mention that she did NOT get an Attendance Award after her wicked parents took her to Florida for the last day before half-term in February!

Willy has graduated to using the big toilet instead of the potty chair and I couldn't be more thrilled. They've both just got into my bed and want to see plane photos of the plane we're going to New Zealand on so I'd better stop blogging. Our latest in-car CD is 'Kiwi JIngle Bells' - clearly we can't wait for our big holiday at Christmas...

Lovely family day out in Brighton

DSC02062, originally uploaded by Racmol.

On Bank holiday Monday we went to Brighton on the train, just for the hell of it. £10 return each for Jules and me and the kids were free.

Sofia found a £2 coin on the beach and was beyond excited. 'I'm rich, Mummy!' etc. Spent it immediately on a merry-go-round ride.

Poured with rain while we had lunch and then the sun came out afterwards and we wandered along the beach and looked at the little galleries under the bridge. Bought a little wooden pig for our new garden...more on that in the next post.

We love Minipicassos

We love Minipicassos on a Wednesday - Sofia gets to do proper grown-up painting with acrylics and canvas and I get to relax with a coffee and a book. And then we pick up Willy from Hopscotch. Win-win-win, as they say :)

Willy's latest hobby

DSC02045, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Long may it continue! It takes about an hour to do the breakfast dishes and the floor gets very wet, but he's getting pretty good at it :)

Big and Small

Big and Small, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's 5th birthday party

The Dinosaur Assembly

Princess Cake - never again

Princess Cake - never again, originally uploaded by Racmol.

If you suspect (as most women do) that Barbie's legs are just a tad longer than is strictly necessary or realistic, try making a princess cake for a Barbie doll.

So, we have a glass bowl which is a good shape for a skirt but alas nowhere near tall enough unless you hack Barbie's legs off at the knees. Which I did consider as a viable option at one point.

So then I made a two-layer cake to go underneath the bowl-shaped cake. Which was all well and good except that by the time I'd hacked them all into shape and stuck them together with jam and cream my enthusiasm was flagging.

Somehow I thought it would be quicker just to dump all the icing sugar and butter in a bowl together and beat them for the buttercream icing, rather than creaming the butter and gradually adding icing sugar.

You may remember last year Ali came to the rescue with the castle cake? This year she arrived to find me enveloped in a cloud of icing sugar with the egg beaters making an odd groaning noise in a weird gloopy icing. (I panicked and added too much milk.) She calmly prescribed more icing sugar and the day was saved. Even if the decorating was a bit slap dash by then and (the shame of it all) you can still see the layers of cake through the skirt.

We quickly decamped upstairs to sing happy birthday to the birthday girl and cut some very long thin wedges of cake. Five minutes later I looked over and noticed that the entire top layer had fallen off and was lying upside down on the table. Definitely not one for the party - I wonder if I can talk her into a simple butterfly? Once I've bought the new electric beaters, that is...

More on Florida later.

Florida rundown - Part One

This is the scene we left behind us as we jetted out on Friday. Thursday night was a bit of an anxious one as the snow was already settling on the ground before we went to bed but luckily it didn't get much heavier and the roads were clear in the morning.

The kids slept through Friday night pretty well, although once they were up at 5, they were up. Luckily breakfast started at 7 am and the shuttle to the Disney parks arrived at 8.30. It's a bit more of a mission to get around than at Disneyland Paris - we had to take two monorails from where we got dropped off to get to the Magic Kingdom, or a bus when we went to Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom. Everything is much more spread out, and Downtown Disney, which was near our hotel, is not in fact right outside the parks, which are not right next to each other anyway. Still there was plenty of variety transport-wise for the transport buffs in the family - monorail, ferry, bus, taxi, rental car...



The first two days we went to the Magic Kingdom - here are the odd couple in front of the fairytale castle on Sunday morning. That day there were severe weather warnings and discussions of frost destroying crops at breakfast time. It was about 10 degrees going across on the ferry (monorail having technical difficulties) and we were wearing every layer we could think of but it soon warmed up and apart from that it was in the 20s every day.


Willy got to meet the 'real' Buzz Lightyear the first day and we all enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride multiple times. You sit in little spaceships that you can swivel in all directions and shoot at things with your laser as you go past.

By Sunday Jules and I were about Buzz-ed out so we rode Space Mountain with the fastpass parent swap option. Sofia qualified to ride it too, just, heightwise, but we decided she would hate it as it was dark and you got flung about in your seat a far bit. We much preferred Expedition Everest and Aerosmith's Rock n Rollercoaster at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios respectively. Sofia did ride the Tower of Terror with Jules at Hollywood Studios so she has something to show off about for Show and Tell on Monday.

I'll stop here as it's time for bed really but here is a charming shot at Kennedy Space Center to finish.







  

Willy turns 3

Ah...I'll just wait for the next one, thanks!

Willy the bus driver, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Fun day out in London today - London Transport Museum in the morning, and then across to the Christmas market on the south bank after lunch. Best part of the day: the fake horse poo under the early London omnibuses (according to Sofia).

Willy's first photo portrait

Willy's first photo portrait, originally uploaded by Racmol.

After many failed attempts, this is Willy's first successful photo. Only a little bit of thumb in the top left - a vast improvement on earlier efforts.

And perfectly focused to show off my 'putting flat on market' coldsores. These seem to be a variation of the holiday coldsore, and no less virulent.

Christmas lights

Christmas lights, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We rode the 98 bus into town on Sunday afternoon, so we could sit upstairs and look at the Christmas lights as we came along Oxford St.

Willy and Fia were less than keen. They really just wanted to stay at home and watch a movie, so the whole getting ready to go out process was long and drawn out and ended up with me bellowing: 'Look, it's going to be the most magical experience - GET YOUR COAT ON NOW!'

The bus took ages to get down Kilburn High Rd, but eventually, as we turned the corner onto Oxford St, it was very pretty - until one block later all the buses were diverted up the back streets and Sofia started saying 'We've been on this bus a very long time - when are we getting off?'

This photo is of Neal St, Covent Garden - the lights weren't all that spectacular but at least there were no cars and plenty of puddles for jumping in!

Social animals

Four in the bed, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This may be why Willy sneaks in with us while we're asleep.

It seems nobody in our house likes to sleep alone - although Fia asked to get back in her own bed last night as Willy's bed was too lumpy. Later, when he had a coughing fit and I went and sat with him, I had to concede she had a point - the best part of a tub of 48 small spiky dinosaurs were in there with him!

We survived half-term (a week of school holidays). Jules and I took one day off work each and then Maria came on Friday. I sent Willy to Hopscotch on my day off (I know, very mean and boy was he suspicious: 'What you and Fia doing, Mummy?') Then Fia and I took the train into town and went to the National Gallery to see the sunflowers from 'Camille and the Sunflowers' (picture book about Van Gogh). She quite liked it (mainly the gift shop though, where we bought some Christmas decorations) but I don't think Willy would have got much out of it. And then, to add insult to injury, we met Jules for lunch and Sofia had a haircut.

Jules took both kids to the Natural History Museum on Wednesday but they ended up seeing the insects rather than the dinosaurs due to the size of the queue for the dinoasaurs.

FInally we have worked out why Willy has been saying (for about 3 months) 'There are dinosaurs in New Zealand' and 'Maria took me to New Zealand - on the train'.Just a mispronunciation of museum!

The pink cast...as promised

Fia in pink, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Photos are up!

Photos from the half marathon can be found on www.marathon-photos.com, under Royal Parks Half Marathon. You can search by surname to find us. Not sure who looks worse, but there are definitely some shockers in there!

The rundown of the run

J pre race, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, we survived the Royal Parks Half Marathon, although we are still hobbling about and going down the stairs sideways.

Tomorrow hopefully the offiicial race day photos will appear on marathonphotos.com, but for today all we have is the few we took before the race.

Anyway I did it in 2.18.41 which I was pleased about as it was 4 minutes faster than Windsor last year and Jules did it in 2.07.34 and was devastated not to be under 2 hours. There were pacesetters running with big flags attached to them for 2.00 or 2.10 - I managed to keep my 2.10 guy in sight until 5 miles and then I never saw him again and Jules had a similar experience with his 2.00 guy.

Jules's friend from work Glenn finished in 1.47 but has no memory of crossing the finish line and woke up covered in ice in a St John's ambulance! Five hours later he was allowed to go home from hospital, where he had his celebratory half-marathon feast (chicken broth).

Later that afternoon while we watched the rugby that we'd missed in the morning, Fia and Willy ran laps of the living room and held medal ceremonies with our medals. Which was quite cute.

I did take some pictures of Fia's cast early yesterday morning before we left from the race, but she has this ominous scowl and with the energy saver lightbulb in the living room, Jules said the photos were too freaky to share. So we will try again in daylight.

Jules runs the Royal Parks

Jules is running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 9 October in aid of Mind, the UK's leading mental health charity. Impressively, he has been leaping out of bed around the time that Willy makes his fifth and final attempt to get in (i.e. far too early) and running in to work along the canal which is about 10km.

You can find his fundraising page and sponsor him online at www.virginmoneygiving.com/runjules.

Unfortunately there was some confusion over sizings, and Mind has helpfully sent him a medium Mind running vest which is woefully inadequate if not downright indecent! Hopefully this can be rectified before the big day...

In other news, Sofia now has a hot pink cast on her arm in place of the temporary one and is enjoying celebrity status at school because of it. Luckily Willy was at nursery that morning, as we spent nearly 3 hours at the fracture clinic.

And I did succeed in growing a (singular) pumpkin or squash of some kind this year but its stalk snapped today so it's now reclining in the fruit bowl looking very green and about the size of a rock melon. Jules saw it and said: 'Face it Rac, we're just not gardeners.'

Sofia's cast

Sofia's Cast, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...and this is the 'after' shot. Soft play rooms are dangerous places, apparently.

The x-ray and the swelling suggest a fractured elbow. She got a temporary cast put on and we have an appointment at the fracture clinic for Thursday to get it reassessed and the long-term cast put on if necessary.

So at least there was something for show and tell on Monday! She has been revelling in all the attention from teachers, parents and classmates alike - but is outraged that one of the teachers prevented her from climbing up some playground equipment.

Ready for the fancy dress party

Ready for the fancy dress party, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So, anyway, at the weekend there was a fancy dress birthday party at Hopscotch. This is the 'before' shot...

What Willy does when Fia's at school

What Willy does when Fia's at school, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Jules pointed out at the weekend that the blog was getting a bit Sofia-centric, so I thought I'd include a shot of Willy recovering from the weekend before I tell you about the weekend itself (which will be mainly about Sofia for reasons that will become obvious).

Willy has swimming at 1pm on Monday so at 12.20 I went downstairs to search for togs and towels. Five minutes later, this was the scene in the living room. We didn't make it to swimming and he slept for two hours.

Officially a school girl

First day of school 2, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So the first day of school finally dawned today, after weeks of anticipation.

So far, so good. We weren't late. We didn't forget to take the lunchbox out of the fridge. Some kind person had put a princess sticker next to Sofia's name on her coat peg. There was a whole army of dinosaurs for Willy to play with while we got all the bits and pieces organised in the various bins and trays. And she was not a bit concerned when we left, being half way through a puzzle by then.

We had had some discussions over the past couple of days about how you sometimes meet people who say mean things and how you don't have to listen, you can just brush it off. (Particularly after on Tuesday we were at Rascals and some bigger boys apparently said mean things and she dissolved into a flood of tears.)

So it was pleasing that at the end of the day as we were on our way out of the gates, Sofia said casually 'There was one child who was bad, and he hit me and I just went like this' and she did this elaborate sweep with one hand from the shoulder to the wrist of the other arm, and then repeated it on the other side!

I think I'll go to bed now. The stress of the school run plus the late night packed lunch preparation is taking its toll.

Graduation Day

Graduation portrait, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This Saturday marked Sofia's graduation from nursery. As you can see, it is a solemn occasion - not that that stopped her colouring in her certificate when she got home, though...

Getting ready for school...

Trying out the school uniform (winter version), originally uploaded by Racmol.

Hi - after a long silence, we are back in business blog-wise.

Major events in our house - some amateur hairdressing (Sofia, on Maria's watch). William has a couple of chunks missing at the back and a very jagged fringe. No way of fixing that without cutting it ridiculously short. Sofia has some shorter bits at the back which aren't too bad and then a quite short chunk out just behind her fringe which will take at least a year to grow out I imagine. Not the best look for starting school.

We're off to Germany for a few days next week to see Geoff and Heike while they're there. Early plane - Sofia very excited about getting up in the night!

Otherwise not much happening - Jules and I are permanently tired and grumpy as Willy is a ratbag at night. 'I don't like my own bed - it's too little!' and so on. Wearing.

Guernsey in photos

Sofia on the sand, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Great weekend in Guernsey - see flickr for more photos.

Mathesons, my bag is packed and my family have been fondly farewelled. Some of them were a bit too specific about what they want as a present - I hope you can buy tiaras in Dunedin! Looking forward to seeing you all Thursday.

An early morning visitor

An early morning visitor, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had an early breakfast today because we're flying to Guernsey soon to spend a long weekend with Pip and Damien.

This guy wasn't a bit bothered to see us all in the kitchen and hung around for a good five minutes watching us. I took this photo through the glass of the french doors which is why it isn't sharper.

Conversations with my children

Scene: the bath tub

Sofia: (whiny) But I want another baby!

Me: Another brother?

Sofia: Ye-es.

Me: Well, I don't think we're going to have another baby.

Sofia: Or a sister.

(Pause.)

Sofia: Did Uncle Je...did Uncle Je...did Uncle Je...

Me: Uncle Jeremy.

Sofia: Did Uncle Jeremy have Caoimhe first?

Me: No, they had Timo and then Caoimhe and then Lennox.

Sofia: Oh.

Me: But some people decide that they will only have two children. Like Aunty Sara and Uncle Luke, they just have Mia and Isla.

Willy: Isla! I like Isla!

Gainfully employed as social media whizz kid

Work situation finally resolved as of yesterday. I am staying in online comms and will be working three days a week from May. I'm taking on responsibility for social media on my third day and I have the flexibility to work one of my days from home so should still be able to pick up Sofia from school three days a week.

All in all, a good result and it's nice to have something new to focus on at work. Now I can legitimately be on facebook or blogging from my desk!

Learning to skip

Learning to skip, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Sofia's moment of glory at Saturday's ballet show for parents.

Sprained ankle Day 3

Sprained ankle Day 3, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I managed to injure myself on my first lunchtime run of the year, tripping over some uneven paving on the Embankment. Real dignity stripper - flat on face and feet all twisted up.

GP says it's just a sprain, because you can see where the blood is pooling under the skin along the lateral ligament. And it does feel a lot better already.

The main thing I've learnt from this experience is that my children are ten times more annoying when their destructive/creative impulses are confined to the flat! And, as I should know by now, baking with two helpers just turns me into a dragon...

Need a better plan for tomorrow. Roll on the weekend I say.

First picnic in the park of 2011

Grey heron in Regent's Park, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I picnicked in Regent's Park today with my friend Sineva - a fabulous warm day as you can see. Didn't take any form of jacket and wore sandals and 3/4 jeans. Spring has sprung! Of course, this doesn't mean that we won't get snow at Easter like in 2008, but it certainly felt hopeful today.

In other news, I have to have two separate job interviews for the two jobs I'm going for in the new structure at work. That's on top of the 3-hour assessment centre I went to earlier this month. The first of these interviews, helpfully titled L2006 in the meeting request so I had no idea which job it was for(!), is on 5 April. It's in external comms and one of the skills you need to demonstrate is blogging. So I just might be able to do that!

Bunk report - morning after the night before

Bunks , originally uploaded by Racmol.

Actually they were pretty good. Willy was so shattered after his day out in the park and not being able to have a nap due to his bed being in pieces that he rolled over and went straight to sleep. Fia took a little longer, but not too bad.

Willy started patting my face at 5.45am, but then he got in with us and went back to sleep for another hour or so before Fia arrived, so that wasn't too bad either.

It could be remarkably easy to get up to go running at 6am this year...

The man in the (super) moon

Super moon over Winchester Avenue, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, apparently tonight the moon is the closest it's been to earth in nearly two decades, so we went out the front door to have a look at it. I took this rather atmospheric shot - can you see the face immediately to the left of the moon?

In other news, at our house it's goodbye to the cot and the toddler bed and hello bunks. Jules has been a trooper throughout the whole transition - working from home to receive the delivery on Tuesday and then disassembling the cot and toddler bed and assembling the bunks today - on probably the sunniest, warmest Spring day we've had so far.

Fia and Willy's room looks much better with bunks - it's never going to be palatial but there's a good square of floor to play on now and because the bottom bunk has good clearance, we should be able to store all the train track and blocks etc down there and get them out of the living room. Plus they are just so excited about the bunks!

Fia and I took Willy to ballet this morning so Jules could have some time alone with his screwdrivers. He (Willy, not Jules) definitely has ballet envy. The teachers had covered the window in the door with paper, which he ripped off so he could watch the class, and then he said 'I wanna do ballet'. Which was pretty clear, I thought. Maybe next year, although he shows a lot more aptitude for anything involving a bat and a ball. His carer at nursery, Vanessa, was telling me just the other day that she gave him a recorder to play, and he blew through it for 2 seconds and then ran across the room to whack a ball with it!

After ballet we went to the park. Going to the park with Willy is a bit like walking an over-enthusiastic dog. 'That stick is too big!' you find yourself shouting as he drags half a tree across the grass. 'Yes, I can see you're wet - well, if you will roll in the grass...'

And finally, around 4pm, the bunks were erected without injury to either parent - although there were a few near misses. Damned tricky getting the top bunk onto the pegs in a confined space.

Oh, and in case I haven't already told everyone, I miraculously got a public place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon second chance ballot, so I will be busy doing that on 9 October. Jules is doing the Windsor on 25 September and it would be good if everyone could remind him to actually register and pay his race fee before it fills up. Lean Heath Christmas in south east Asia, anyone?

Fairytale happy family at the combined party

Fairytale happy family, originally uploaded by Racmol.