So I thought I’d try something a little different with this half term blog, I’ve attempted a ‘day in the life’ version of half term instead- just a bit less detailed than I’d normally do in those posts or this would be a chapter book instead! So here is our fairly standard half term-

Saturday-

Henry is milking and has left before we’ve all woken up (something that is repeated every morning!). The kids and I have a chilled morning, colouring, admin, Polly opens a nail salon and we watch some Modern family.

Henry gets home at lunchtime. The girls and I have eggy bread and fussy Seb has cheese on toast. I then do a bit of studying whilst Henry watches a film with the kids. He then goes back to work as it finally stops raining. The kids and I go for a run around the orchard.

Come home and give them a bath- they quite like an afternoon bath and it means I don’t have to faff round drying everyone’s hair. I then cook tea, toad in the hole tonight. We facetime Uncle Oli and Auntie Faye.

Henry makes it home just before bed. Put them all to bed then downstairs for some chill time.

Sunday-

Henry is milking. We have breakfast then head up to the allotment. Two hours of digging and playing up there.

We head home for lunch, I do the kids a platter of bits for ease. Henry is also home for lunch. I then do some admin, hoover the house, sort washing out, repair some holey clothes. The kids play with every toy they can get their hands on.

Mid afternoon we then take Henry to work where the kids have some calf cuddles and we have a little potter around. We end up leaving Polly behind to milk with Henry and I pop home with the little 2. They play and watch Bluey whilst I cook tea- honey, garlic chicken tonight. We eat ours then go and pick up the milkers. I’ve still not managed to get my driving confidence back to pre-children standards so country lanes in the dark in our giant car are my idea of hell. Cue Seb from the back of the car when I met a car coming the other way down one of these shitty lanes- “this isn’t Taylor Swift! I want Taylor Swift!” Thankfully we made it back down to the farm in one piece and the kids then had a play with the gorgeous excitable farm dog before we head home.

Polly and I have a shower, we put the kids to bed then head downstairs to chill.

Monday-

Henry is milking. We have a casual breakfast. I do a shit ton of ironing whilst the kids watch some Camp Cretaceous. We then get ready to leave and catch the bus to Crealy.

We meet their friends Frankie and Cooper for a great day at the theme park. The kids have a blast going on lots of rides, we catch the pop show after lunch and Toni and I freeze our nips off following our excitable brood round. Henry arrives towards the end of our stint there and gets dragged on a ride immediately whilst Clara and I try out the pirate ship that no-one else will set foot on. I think I left my stomach on there! Clara thought it was brilliant though- “my tummy was laughing.”

We leave the park and drive over to see Nanny and Pops. Lots of cuddles, laughing and 2 cups of tea to warm back up.

When we leave we have to pop to Lidl on the way home as we realise the fridge is empty, this turns into a pizza night. Seb unfortunately drops his plate of noodles on the floor (the strange little rascal doesn’t like pizza) so he has a major tantrum. Tantrum fixed and the boy puts some hoof GP videos on the TV whilst we are eating which is a great mix! We share a giant heated cookie for desert. I ignore the washing up, put the kids to bed, shower then head downstairs to chill.

Tuesday-

Henry is working all day. We have a chilled breakfast. The kids then play whilst I do a shit ton of washing and all that ignored washing up from last night. I have to come in and break up a fight of course- the little 2 this time.

We then head down into town to run some errands. We pop into boots for the pharmacist to have a look at Polly’s leg- she’s got a little skin tag that we just thought another pair of eyes should look at, got some reassurance and then headed down along the seafront to see the massive waves. We bump into some friends to say hi but don’t stay for a play as the kids are having meltdowns between them.

We get home for a snack. Seb bites his tongue providing some more screaming. I sort out yet more washing, then have a cup of tea. I sneak in a bit of studying whilst the kids play Jurassic Park. We then head up to the allotment for an hour and a half. To distract Seb from being a rascal up there I stupidly suggested he bring a couple of dinosaurs to play with. Of course he then lost the smallest of these and threw a full blown meltdown when we couldn’t find him after searching for 10 minutes. I have to drag him home screaming, promising the dinosaur will eventually turn up.

Get home and have a late lunch. We then do some baking- scones and a crunchie slice. They all turn out pretty good to be honest. The kids have another afternoon bath and get in their onesies. They watch Jurassic World whilst I do some more studying. More washing.

I cook tea- sausage and mash tonight. They have a play afterwards and eat some of our homemade treats. I wash up, Henry comes home, we put the kids to bed, I shower then head downstairs to chill.

Wednesday-

Henry is off really early this morning. We have a casual breakfast. I sort out yet more washing whilst the kids are playing more Jurassic Park games with Polly being Blue the raptor whilst Seb tries to train her- the little one is running around squealing “she licked me, I stroked her!” I attempt to do some studying during all this chaos.

We then catch the late morning bus to Honiton. It’s usually a really nice ride with some pretty good views but it’s raining- again. We head to Clark’s to measure Seb’s feet as he’s had a big growth spurt recently but they are thankfully fine. We pick up some birthday presents and cards ready for Henry next week.

Henry then picks us up and we pop to the M&S in the garage to spend a Christmas voucher. At the till we have an oops moment where we find out the voucher can only be used in the actual M&S shops. The little 2 choose this perfect moment to have a full blown fight at the checkout so in a chaotic scene we just pay for the shopping whilst dragging out two feral children. Shouty mummy comes out in the car though and when we head round the corner to Tesco it’s just Polly who’s allowed out and who benefits from a kinder egg. We pick up a couple of bits then have a car picnic before heading home.

I get Henry to try on his birthday present with his eyes closed to make sure it fits- it does. We have a cup of tea, the kids do some colouring then start playing the raptor game again. Henry falls asleep on the sofa. I sneak upstairs to sort some clothes out- rejigging the kids drawers by having a size swap (just moving one lot of clothes into another child’s drawer). During the organise I find 2 missing toys that Polly had been prime suspect in moving (Clara’s cuddly Bingo and Seb’s favourite dog, Alex), they are nestled together under our bed somewhere they definitely didn’t accidentally find themselves so when I ask her about it she just tells me “Don’t you know they are live toys?”

As Henry is leaving to go back to work I get dragged back downstairs to watch a show they are putting on. Several shows and a couple of meltdowns later and they crash and burn to the original Jurassic Park. I do some studying whilst cooking tea for the kids. Chill out then I cook ours (thanks to our mistake earlier at least it’s a fancy nice tea!- steak pie). I do some admin whilst cooking and the boy arrives home just as I plate it up. We eat then put the kids to bed then it’s time to chill.

Thursday-

Henry is working. Our morning starts with several fights before breakfast. Some food seems to do the trick and calms them down. It’s raining again but with a dose of thunder this time so the walk we’d planned is shelved. The kids go back to playing Jurassic Park which is still set up across the floor. There is a lot of shouting though. Clara watches some Bluey whilst the big 2 keep playing. I tackle the yet again ignored from last night washing up. The kids are quiet so I give the kitchen an actual proper clean, do the bins and fix the broken drainpipe. They eat half a cupboard’s worth of snacks.

We head upstairs to do some jobs- I finally remove the nappy change section of their chest of drawers and leave the kids filling this new area after moving all the teddies out of this space. I head into our room to tackle the wardrobes. This is an actual success even with them coming in and trying on anything they could get their hands on! They then start a game of hide and seek, which ends in screaming. I stick on The Day after Tomorrow and make some lunch- cheese on toast for fussy Seb and scrambled egg for the girls and I. Of course Clara then tells me she no longer likes scrambled egg.

I watch half the film then creep away to do some studying. I gain a Clara at the table when it finishes- playing cars/cows next to me whilst the big 2 go back to playing Jurassic Park. Henry gets home just after 3 then leaves again just before 4 to go back to work. The kids have moved onto playing farms. More cows then arrive at the door thanks to a happy clicking Daddy- the room resembles Christmas morning for a while.

Polly starts crafting. I put the kids tea on then get distracted by the freezer which has been winding me up for days after Henry exploded a beer in there leaving a sticky frozen mess so I scrub that clean. The little 2 are blowing bubbles everywhere whilst I do this.

I settle down to do some crocheting whilst they eat tea and they watch some more Camp Cretaceous. I hoover whilst they eat desert. I sack off showers for them tonight and put the start of our tea on, he’s treated us to steak and chips tonight which he finishes off when he comes in the door.

Head upstairs for bedtime, find that Seb for reasons unknown has emptied a tub of toothpaste in the shower. Clean this up (sort of), put them to bed, shower then head downstairs to chill.

Friday-

Henry is milking. We have breakfast, I do some more never ending washing. The kids have a chill out as we’ve got a busy day ahead. Auntie Jen picks us up and we head over to Exmouth to meet the cousins for a couple of hours of soft play fun. It’s a really nice catch up and the kids have a great time. Jen then drops us home, the kids play farm whilst watching Lilo and Stitch. I do a bit of online searching to try and finish Henry’s birthday off.

Henry gets home. We put wellies on and head through the very wet Byes to go to the dentist, which is surprisingly a success. Henry then picks us up and we head to Lidl for a food shop which is also surprisingly a success. We pop into Waitrose to get the last couple of bits before heading home. I put the shopping away and put tea on- it’s a pizza night. We catch up with last week’s Gladiators together which is a family favourite.

Head upstairs and give the kids a shower before putting them to bed. I then shower before heading back downstairs to chill.

Saturday-

Henry is milking. I convince/blackmail Polly to actually sleep in till 7. The little 2 and I have more of a lay in after that. Breakfast. The kids then play farm whilst I clean the kitchen AGAIN! I sort more washing out then round them all up to leave the house.

We have a puddle walk down to the sea and spend the rest of the morning playing on the beach. They all get soaked of course. We chat to some friends on the way home and head back through the puddly Byes.

We get home, passing Henry on the way out as he heads down to the gym. I strip the kids and add to the washing pile. We have lunch, I clean up a milkshake spillage and the kids are playing farm again. Henry comes home and I leave him watching another Stitch film with the little 2 whilst Polly and I head up to the allotment after hair-drying her wellies.

We spend an hour up at the allotment, Polly of course finds the missing dinosaur within 30 seconds. Once we get home Henry leaves for another milking taking the smallest apprentice who’s been asking him every 5 minutes since lunch when is it time to go!

The big 2 watch a Netflix film whilst I study. I put tea on- sausage and mash requested by the smallest one earlier. I then join the big 2 on the sofa for some cuddles whilst we watch some Camp Cretaceous. I put the big 2 to bed and hang around for the other 2 to get back. 10 minutes later they come through the door and eat some tea with Clara chatting away about all the lambs she’s played with. I then take her upstairs and we have a shower. I have to sneak her back downstairs to dry her hair before putting her to bed. Head downstairs to chill but 10 minutes later she wanders back downstairs whilst we’re watching Schitt’s Creek, she curls up in my arms and falls asleep like a cat ironically with the cat. I bail upstairs after one episode and head to bed with her in tow.

Sunday-

Henry has taken Polly milking this morning. The little 2 and I are very lazy getting going. Seb asks to watch funny animal videos on the TV and is soon howling with laughter whilst Clara plays Barbie’s at the farm. We have breakfast and a very chilled morning. They do some dancing and play with the cat.

The milkers return just before midday. We have lunch which is another grazing board then Clara and I get ready to leave. We go for a little playdate which is really lovely, we get soaked of course though thanks to the never ending rain.

When we get home the kids are all a bit caput. Hot chocolate and Moana to the rescue. Henry goes back to work. Polly has a bath. I do some crocheting. Polly throws a tantrum to end all tantrums. We keep the Disney vibe going and watch the original Jungle Book afterwards.

I then cook tea- sticky chicken and rice. The never ending washing continues. The kids play more farming games whilst I wash up and make lunches for tomorrow. I lay out uniforms and put the kids to bed. I head back downstairs and Henry comes back through the door, time to chill.

So there it is- a typically average half term, although I realise I didn’t actually work at all but we did manage a few nice activities and definitely had the chill out time we all needed to reset.

The last few weeks have flown by in the usual chaos of our family style. Today the kids have turned the living room into Jurassic Park again so I’m taking the few minutes of relative calm to get back on here. It was Seb’s turn to go milking with Daddy this morning, the girls each went yesterday. I took the girls up to the allotment for a morning digging, we then went to see Grandparents before doing the food shop, so I’m keen for a chilled afternoon anyway! The digging is the first step in getting going with ‘allotmenting’ finally after a long run of bad weather. It’s quite a project getting it ready to start planting but the kids are excited just by this prospect so we can’t wait to get on with some actual growing fairly soon.

The other weekend we headed back to Crealy theme park which proved a lot of fun. The little one is finally big enough to go on all the rides and we’ve finally found our thrill seeker! I’m not sure why I’m so surprised that it’s the feral little beast. She was in her element- “I’m gonna go on that one, and that one, oh and that one,” the whole way round.

The small one did pull a really wild feat the other day too. It was the middle of the night- the literal middle of the night, I had gone for a wee and I didn’t turn any of the lights on as I don’t want to wake any children up, or myself too much. So I was casually sat in the pitch black having a wee when Clara came wandering down into the bathroom and without a word took the cup from the sink, poured herself a cup of water, drank it then wandered off again. I was sat in silence, still in the dark and now I’m still baffled as to how she managed this without spilling a drop or walking into anything? Not sure if she was sleep walking or if she’s secretly a ninja? Either one would be a valid reason for her.

Seb has been on top form with some of his conversations recently. He’s learning about the geography of the UK at school and has been telling us all the facts he’s learnt and has enjoyed pointing out things on the globe Polly got for Christmas. My favourite chat so far was about the English Channel. I told him that some people swim across it as it’s not too far, Seb’s response- “What don’t they know they’re meant to catch a boat?” He was still shocked a few minutes later and followed it up with- “What about all the sea animals? How will they swim with all of them?”

This was a slightly more cheery chat than the one that came a couple of days later when we were walking into town and he blurted out- “Mummy, when are you going to die? In 20 years?” Urm well no mate I was planning on hanging round for a bit longer than that. He then went on to tell me that I would need to do more exercise and eat more healthy to achieve that. Thanks mate, I’ll take note of that.

Polly has introduced a new dessert that really wouldn’t fit that criteria but it looks amazing nether the less. I told her we had some scones and cream so she could make herself a cream tea if she wanted. She took it upon herself to use squirty cream instead of the clotted and made herself a giant cream tea instead that she was very proud of.

Polly has been taking her trips up to the farm very seriously and loves anything cows at the moment, from setting up all the cows in the living room to milk them, to watching YouTube videos with Henry. I did have to smile the other day when they were sat together watching hoof GP videos, chatting away about how he was helping the cows, also it blew me away how much she takes in and actually understands about all these farming practices. Just don’t watch them when you’re eating if you do take a trip onto YouTube to see what these videos consist of!

A difficult watch that the kids keep putting me through involves one of their favourite films at the moment- The Impossible. Yes I know, not your classic kids pick, but the kids are fascinated by the concept of the tsunami and I think it engages them as it focuses on the kids themselves getting through a truly shit situation. Of course it’s a bloody good film, but oh my gosh it hits different watching it now I’ve got my own kids and I sit blubbing through most of it.

A slightly more enjoyable viewing experience comes each week when we catch up on Gladiators. I love how much the kids have got into this. They cheer everyone on and act out various different games. This morning up at the allotment Clara was running laps round our plot shouting ‘Alligator ready!’ each time she went past the gate- yes she means Gladiator but Alligator is proving a hilarious mispronunciation.

The other day they got so into playing Gladiators that they gave themselves Gladiator names, Polly was ‘Tiger,’ Clara was ‘Clara-bear’ and Seb stole the show with ‘The Bebinator!’ They then proceeded to do various different poses before having a weightlifting competition with tins of spaghetti. Maybe I’ll join in next time and relieve Seb’s fears about my numbered years.

On that note I should probably move, the never ending washing pile is calling out to me again and I could do with another cup of tea.