Tom’s weekend

By all accounts TK had a fab weekend and wasn’t even hardly aware that J and I were away!

Tom, mum and dad just played and played and popped to dad’s school to play and painted and went for walks and mum even managed to get a last minute hair cut for him!

(one mum (who I don’t know) did say to me last week that she has been trying to achieve the exact look with highlight for 10 years that Tom had naturally!)

Thanks mum and dad!!!!!!

weekend fun

Well we had a fun weekend! Clearly TK was missed a lot (it’s just not right to not have him there with us!) but we got a lot done that would have been tricky to do with a toddler and were able to catch up with a lot of people.

Our first stop on arriving in Aberdeen was to head to the beach to catch up with the Jones’

we then went to J’s granny’s for lunch and a lovely catch up before checking in to our hotel.

Late afternoon we met up with Jude and Adam (who were also staying at the hotel) and headed over to Jo and Andy’s.

Andy turns 30 this week and Jo had arranged a surprise party for him on Saturday evening. Before the party, though, we went out for dinner

which was lovely!

Actually getting Andy to walk into the hall where everyone was waiting was somewhat tricky and involved a lot of laughter (on our part!) but eventually he walked in and was suitably surprised!

The party was a lot of fun – there was a pub quiz and some ceilidh dancing. We also managed to play zilch and the alphabet game (paper tablecloths are GREAT!!)

apologies for the balloon string in between Jude and Sam

The next day J, Jude, Adam and I spent a good whack of time watching the Australian Open men’s final and chilling out. In the afternoon Jo and Andy’s daughter (Skye) was being dedicated

(I’m godmother to Jo’s elder daughter – Chloe – and Jude is now godmother to her youngest – Skye)

We hot footed it down the road after the dedication and picked up TK and my mum before making it home just in time for Tom to go to bed.

Today we had the joy of meeting Tom’s youngest cousins – Anna and Rachel. Kate, Phil and the kids popped in on their way north – lovely to see them!!

train travel

J, TK and I took the train from Edinburgh to Perth today. Tom loved it! It took just over an hour and so was the perfect length to keep a toddler entertained. I reckon the highlight was going across the Forth Bridge (funnily enough I remember going across this bridge as a kid on a train and enjoying it too)

And then when we got to my parents we watched the end of the tennis semi final while TOm played with the new toy library toys (he was especially taken with the ride on digger and didn’t want to be parted from it even for a snack)

Tomorrow J and I are heading up to Aberdeen… by ourselves!! We are leaving TK overnight for the first time ever and I have to say it’s tugging on my heart strings more than I expected. I know he will have a fantastic time with my folks and they and he are so comfortable together I’m not worried about that at all; I just think I’ll miss him a lot!! Anyway, we have lots of fun things planned for Aberdeen!

Fun days

making tents; eating haggis, neaps, tatties and whisky sauce; sliding down the hallway with daddy; playing pooh sticks; and TK’s first taste of hot chocolate (he had his own proper china cup and loved loved loved it!) Just five fun things from the past two days!

grandma days

Monday and Tuesday are now designated grandma days. Tom and grandma hang out all day and laugh and giggle and read books and play at the park and (ridiculously!!) my mum is even willing to give TK shoulder rides and horsey back rides (she says it’s cheaper than going to to the gym!) I have a great couple of days to catch up on house work, plan the rest of the week’s menus (is that apostrophe in the right place dad?), do some reading and chill out a bit – works for all of us!! It does mean, however, that there are fewer photos taken…

I joined mum and TK at soft play on Monday which was great and because mum’s there it means I can have ‘proper’ chats with some of the other mums. It’s also great because my baby bump is such that doing a lot of bending down or picking up is tricky!

Thanks grandma for coming through!!

Happy birthday!!!

Today is Pappa’s birthday!! Almost, almost another BIG number to celebrate…

Tom and I headed through to Stanley early yesterday morning (we left Edinburgh at 7am. J was working a long day yesterday which meant he started at 6am and finished at 6:30pm) and spent the day hanging out with Grandma and then Auntie Jacqui, Naomi and Lois for lunch. We went to Pappa’s school in the afternoon for some fun (TK does love it there – so much to do!!)

Today after a lazy morning in Stanley (for me and dad – mum and Tom were pretty active!) we were very kindly driven back to Edinburgh (and dad did some DIY while he was here – what a star!) It feels like tomorrow should be Monday and yet we have a whole other weekend day – woohoo!

thursday

J had his day off on Thursday this week and so we headed out in the morning to explore a local (ish) forest

my jacket almost doesn’t zip up anymore!

And then we came home and in the afternoon the boys made scones – yum yum yum!!!

music session

This afternoon just after Tom’s nap  J and TK got the musical instruments out and had a session…

J hastens to point out these photos are not a true representation of the session but they made me laugh! I think J was singing ‘No woman no cry’!!!

storytelling

Yesterday mum, Tom and I headed to the Scottish Storytelling Centre. It’s such a great space! Tom and mum headed for their tiny tales while I sat in the cafe reading Vanity Fair drinking peppermint tea (ah bliss!) They have such a good space for kids with a partition wall of boxes for all ages of children to investigate

We’ll be back!

It was also lovely to be in the centre of Edinburgh – what a beautiful city!!!

Learning from the masters – guest blog

Tom has a toy bear. A number of toys actually and a number of bears. However his favourite bear happens to be Chelsea Bear, a handsome looking brown bear who’s only physical flaw is an annoying “I love you” voice thingy in his paw (which makes him sound like a girl when we all know he’s a boy). Sadly he is not called Chelsea after the bun or the flower show even the little known American jazz trumpeter; no he is named after the football club. For this I (as a Man U fan) have the Orr family to thank…

Anyway – to cut a long story short I think Tom’s link with this disreputable Russo-Cockney football club is having an effect on his football.

All good initially…

“check out my skills and my cool blue jacket!”

“butter would nae melt on the silver spoon in my mouth…”

then a 50/50 ball near the edge of the box, he’s lost control and…

Down he went…no-one near him.

“Ref! He took my legs? Didn’t you see that!?”

“seriously go home and get your glasses and your husband!”

It was clearly a dive but with an inexperienced ref and such a wily actor what can you do? The penalty was given.

“where’s that ref….maybe I’ll try that again…”

A sad indictment.

My plan?

nuff said.