Just some pics...

Making mud pies!



Can I help you? Toby checking us in at the hotel in China

At The Peak in Hong Kong

Mummy, when you tell a lie does your tongue turn green?

Another fab quote! I felt I had to tell him No, but then I wondered if this would encourage him to tell a few porkies, so I told him your nose grows, which is far more acceptable!

I'm back!

I hadn't completely neglected my blog, honest! But for reasons known only to Blogspot, I have been unable to upload any posts for months, and when I realised I had managed to publish an empty post I thought I'd better try and update my reader! Hello Uncle Jim:)

Toby is nearly 7, where has the time gone? He's a great kid, although I may be a little biased, very shy until he gets to know you!

He's in Year 2 at school now and getting on well, he doesn't take after me thankfully and is proving to be quite good at maths which I hated, he seems to enjoy most subjects but science stuff seems to excite him most, we have to do lots of experiments, he loves a good explosion!

It appears that you can't attach photos on the iPad so I shall have to do that when I have finished my PTA duties this weekend, we have an ice skating event on if you fancy coming down to keep me company!

Christmas is coming

We've just finished making the Yule Log, just needs to be iced in a log like fashion. Lets hope we can finish it before the bowl gets licked, could be a first.

Toby has been very busy at school, his reading is coming along although he does tend to guess rather than sound it out. His class were part of the schools Christmas Pot Pourri, (what's wrong with a Nativity Play I wondered) so we practised Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells, only to find that at the performance it was two completely different songs and he had been pulling our legs, still he did a wonderful job and seemed to really enjoy it. The whole school all went to see the Panto in Horsham which was a real highlight, especially as they got ice cream in the interval and had a ride in a bus.

I took Toby to Fishers Farm to see Father Christmas in his grotto, other than being a little overawed by it, he loved it, we sang Jingle Bells with the man himself (thankfully we had already practised!) but then we went to see the elves who said he could choose any present from the shelves that he wanted, that took some time, but he came away very happy with a new tractor and trailer.

We will be having a nice quiet family day for Christmas, then we head off to visit friends and family on Boxing Day.

We have started some new after school activities to keep us both busy, swimming on Wednesdays and following in his Cox family footsteps he trampolines on Fridays, which he is surprisingly good at, he has already got 2 badges which he is very proud of, then in the New Year he will also join Multi Sports which is held in school after lessons on Tuesdays and hopefully cooking on Mondays so busy busy. (I've just uploaded the Yule Log, but it doesn't look much like a log, more a splodge!)

Back at school

A new term is here at last, Toby had an extra 2 days added on his holiday as the school building works weren't quite finished, even now they are surrounded by builders but apparently the disruption is minimal, but they would say that wouldn't they. So he is now in Year 1 and has a new uniform to go along with the new school name, so all change. I have seen a huge improvement in his reading skills already, I think there is more 'work' and less play this year, he seems to really enjoy it though, long may it last.

Toby and I spent our extra couple of days up with Nanny Jan and Grandad Brian, we fed the ducks and swans at the local park and Toby finally took a bit of interest in his bike which we took with us, pictures to follow.

We had a family day at Legoland which although we have been before was unusual as Kevin came too, and we tried new places we haven't found before, and discovered an adventure playground which Toby was in for over an hour, it was a great opportunity for a sit down and cup of tea! He also discovered the delights of a roller coaster, he's never wanted to try one on previous visits but Kevin tricked us as Toby and I thought it was a gentle ride through some lego dragons ... before we knew where we were, we were whizzing up an down at a rate of knots! He also earnt his first driving license at the driving school.

Is this Summer?

I think Summer was in June and it's all over now. We had a week in France and when we got back last week we sat huddled under a blanket, it's very unpleasant to say the least. A request has been made to return to Antigua on a full time basis so fingers crossed.

We had a lovely week in France with Mark and Nadia so warmed our cockles there, Toby had a fab time in the pool and Mark was a great substitute Grandad and was followed around all day being 'helped'