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.