Killer doll

OK so she's not a killer doll. She's not even that bad.
Not when you compare her to the likes of the scary Sally doll.
But when I pulled this . . . thing . . .  out of the latest box of toys to review for Toys R Us, I may have actually shuddered.

This doll I find, to be perfectly honest, frightening.

Sure she's got quite a sweet face and and she's not even that big. And when Mia clapped eyes on her, her little eyes nearly popped right out of her head. A HORSE RIDING doll.
But she's a bit too starey. And the first night she spent in this house she crossed the line.

Hubby tucked Mia into bed that night, with Lara (for that is her name) lying next to her.
Which is no mean feat when Lara wears a riding helmet and riding boots and has long plaited hair that easily manoeuvres itself into your mouth. And while she's not huge, she's not exactly small.

So later that night I go into Mia's room to make sure her covers are still on and she's OK.
Lara is nowhere to be seen. I mean she's nowhere. She's not under the covers because, well, I'm pretty sure I'd see the giant lump she'd make under the duvet.
I check the floor, under the bed, behind the door, in the wardrobe, in the toy box.
Lara has left the room.
I shall repeat: Lara. Has. Left. The. Room.

In the morning, Mia trots into my room holding Lara in her arms . . .
To this day I really really don't know.

Girls Only Lara Doll, £29.99 

★★★★★
I'm not deducting stars because she's freaky. I'm deducting stars because I think £30 is rather steep for a doll that just stands there (and makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up).
And when Mia sat her in my office chair, yes yes I was ever so slightly just a little bit too afraid to venture in there.

On the plus side Dan was sent an Air Hogs Vectron Wave, £29.99 which while admittedly makes a hugely annoying noise, is a pretty cool toy.
It's a flying, hovering thing which you control by sweeping your hands underneath - no remote as it apparently uses 'altitude sensing technology to effortlessly glide over almost anything'.
And it does magically hover just above your hands almost like some black buzzing creature.
But - for there is a but - you have to charge it up for about half an hour and each 'go' lasts mere minutes. I mean like 5 minutes and that's it, over.
Which is great news for mums who are being driven mad by the thing but not so great when you're a 7 year old in the middle of an awesome move.
So for that the Air Hog gets: ★★★★★

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The Gallery: Food

Do crayon-coloured dessert items qualify as food?
Sure they do. Especially when they're made up to look like Disney film characters.
That green blob with the big mouth? That there is Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc complete with single eye in the middle of his head!
And then there were the lovely creamy Monsters Inc branded pots (that right there is my son necking about his 5th pot in a row.
(I met the wonderful English Mum on this blogger trip to Disneyland Paris for the first time and was sooooo tempted to post a photo of her devouring food, but I'm far too nice for that).

The spread to launch Disney's New Generation of characters and attractions was truly amazing, but sshhh don't tell anyone, everything in that top picture tasted disgusting! Looked great though!

This post is for Week 29 of The Gallery: Food.
If you're new here and want to know what the Gallery is, go and read here, and then come right back and join in!

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

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Casting a shadow

Everything I do and everything I say leaves an impression in the world.
It may be barely recognisable or it may be huge.
But everything I say and do in the world leaves a shadow.
And my children walk in that shadow.

I saw this post called 10 small ways to make the world a better place and absolutely loved it.
I thought I'd share some of them here.

1. Compliment someone: Tell someone how much you like the job they’re doing, their outfit or new haircut, their singing voice – whatever. Be honest and sincere. Don’t expect anything in return.
2. Be totally open with someone: Let someone know exactly how you feel about something on your mind (though not something negative – there’s a different “protocol” for that sort of thing). Letting someone into your confidence can be a great way to show your trust and appreciation of them. 
3. Make something for someone: Bake an extra batch of cookies, draw a picture, decorate an extra Christmas ornament, and give it to someone for no good reason. Give without expectations – whether they return the favour or not, whether they like it or not, whether they’re nice to you or not, these are all irrelevant.
4. Send a letter, email, tweet, or text message out of the blue: Email someone you haven’t spoken with for a while, or text someone you see every day just to be nice. Maybe they’ll respond, maybe not – it’s beside the point. 
5. Commend an employee to their manager: It’s one thing to tip or compliment someone for their service, it’s another to contact their manager and tell them what a great job they’ve done.
6. Teach someone how to do something: Share your skill or talent with someone by showing them how to do something. 
7. Let someone shine: Put a spotlight on someone else’s talent.
8. Connect like minds: Introduce two friends or colleagues who you feel have something to gain from each other. 

Random acts of kindness; one of my very favourite things.
Do you have any to add?

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And right after my heart melted she stamps all over it . . .

Mia: "When I grow up I want to be just like you. Can I mum?"


Me: SWELLING with pride. "Of course you can my love."


Mia: "I want my hair to be all lovely like yours and I want my little girl to play with it for me, like this."


Me: DEEP sigh.

Mia: "And I want to be as tall as you and be strong so I can pick my children up like you do, even when they're really too big to be picked up."


Me: "I'm sure you'll be all of those things my love. I'm sure you'll be even better than me though when you grow up. You're going to be a lovely young woman, I know it."


Mia: "Hmmm. I don't want those though" she says pointing with great disdain to my ample boobage.
"I definitely don't want ones like that" great emphasis on the THAT.

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Stroking my Kodak Pulse WiFi digital frame

The introduction of digital photography has been a wondrous wondrous thing.

Take 102 photos, delete at your leisure, left with a handful of real corkers.

Only thing is I never print them out any more.

Sure a handful make it into various frames around the house, but still I have SO MANY I want to showcase.

So check out this baby. Yes 'baby' for this is how much I love it.

When I was sent the Kodak Pulse digital WiFi frame I thought, yeah yeah another digital frame.
But you can upload photos via the frame's own email address! I mean come on, that is so cool.

You could give it to the grandparents who live 150 miles away and email any new pictures of your munchkins to their frame . . .

Or you keep it for yourself and stroke it just a little every night . . .
(By the way, you never have to switch it on or off as it has a self timer you can set via your internet page).

You also might need to bribe someone to buy it for you - it's not cheap.

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6 of the worst mums in the movies

We all feel like crap parents at some point in our 'career'.
Like we've failed. Like we've fallen short. Like we could have done better somehow.

I felt slightly better when MamaPop did a great post listing TV's worst fictional moms. But I was all, who? I didn't really know any of them (as they were mainly American shows).

Then BlogUpNorth tagged me with a post about being good to your daughters and asked what we learnt from our father or mother.

At the same time Liz Jarvis at Living With Kids was asking the question What Mums Do You Admire? Hmm, I confess I struggled.

So I rolled all of these things up into a ball and came up with my own list. Of rubbish mums.
Read this and realise that actually, even on your really really bad days, you're a whole heck of a lot better than this lot.
(Of course it's not a definitive list. It's a list of films I've seen and felt like writing about. I'm sure you can add some of your own . . . )

6. The Home Alone Mum

I've left the house and forgotten the nappies/the wipes/the DS charger before now. Hell, I've even forgotten my camera and that thing is attached to be like an extra limb.
But forget a child? And she didn't just do it once.

Sure we've all suffered when our brain turns to mush after becoming a parent but this is Unforgivable. Even if your child is as annoying as Macaulay Culkin.

5. The 'Other' Mother: Coraline

She's perky, perfect and always has a roast dinner on the table.

Until that is her 'daughter' decides to rebel and suddenly she grows great wirey legs and a bad case of black lipstick and tries to put her offspring on the dinner table.
Oh, and she wants to remove her eyeballs.
It might 'only' be an animated kids movie, but dark and sinister enough for me.
Frightful.

4. Mama Fratelli: The Goonies

She walloped her sons around the head on a regular basis and ruled with an iron fist.  Plus she dragged them into armed robbery and bullying little kids -  I mean what kind of upbringing is that?

Then, just as they start to take a liking to one of the Goonie crew, she has them sticking his hand in a blender.
Abusive, shouty and rather cruel for a short, cranky woman. Plus she wears a beret.

3. Stifler's mum: American Pie
My 7 year old son won't allow me to kiss him at the school gate any more lest I embarrass him.
What the heck would he make of this cougar who seduces her son's friends with little class or elan?
Sure his friends think she's the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, but eeuwww, is there anything more embarrassing than a horny mother?
Questionable parenting (although I suspect some men will disagree!)

2. Beverley Sutphin: Serial Mom

Sure she just wants what's best for her kids. She provides a nice home, lovely meals, dresses like a 'real' mother and keeps the neighbourhood in order.
A perfect mum.
But, err hello, this Stepfordesque, pinny wearing wife is a MURDERER.
Criticising your child's homework is one thing but most of us storm up to the school in a fowl temper. Not cut a swathe through the town with a giant pair of scissors.
Not much of a role model.

1. Eleanor Iselin: The Manchurian Candidate

Sure she went on to star as the loveable but sharp as a knife detective writer in Murder She Wrote, but Angela Lansbury was unlikely to win any parenting awards as the mother to a Korean War vet in this classic movie. 

Cold, calculating, scheming, manipulative and deadly ambitious - and she uses her own son in a plot to overthrow the government.
And by use I mean had her son turned into an assassin without his knowledge.
And then there is the kiss she gives him to prove just how much she loves him.
A real monster.

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The Gallery: Week 29

Hello and welcome to week 29 of The Gallery.

Have you ever noticed when you get a bunch of people together and get them talking about food, how passionate they can get?
Chocolate, what to cook for dinner, dinner parties, what to make for the children, what biscuits to have with a cup of tea (ahem).

And so to cut straight to the chase, this week's theme is: Food.

Could be a someone enjoying food, cooking food, buying food, growing food, preparing food.
Could be actual food, food around your mouth (you'd never catch me doing such a thing . . .) anyway, you get the idea.
Interpret it any way you like. 

But as always, come back on Wednesday to add your link, visit as many others as you can, say hi, discover new people, welcome them in when they discover you.

Appreciate the wonderful words and photos that are opening themselves up to you.

The link stays open until the following Tuesday, so don't worry if you don't manage to post on Wednesday.

So what are you waiting for, get clicking!

The Gallery

If you're new to The Gallery, here's the brief: I will give you a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have.

The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt.

Post it on your blog and write about it.

That's it.

It's not about taking technically brilliant photos - although if you do, I'd love to see them too. It's about having a passion for pictures; any photos, all photos whether you took it with your all singing all dancing SLR or snapped it on your camera phone.
You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your photo and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Wednesday and via a groovy widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for a week.
Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support amateur photographers out there.

The more support you give, the more you will get back.

And if you want to add a pukka linkable Gallery button to your blog (instead of the amateurish one I've been using!) the code is just under The Gallery picture in the right hand column on this blog.

Come back on Wednesday and join in. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you want to make sure you don't miss any prompts or entries in future, make sure you subscribe to my RSS or email feed.
Go on, clicky click away, you know you want to ...

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How to make me smile

This turned up on my doorstep yesterday from Interflora. It came with the note:

To Tara

We've sent you these flowers simply because we love your blog.

The bouquet has been designed around your blog's colours.

We hope you like them!

Love Interflora

Well Interflora, I love them and will be instructing the husband that this is the standard he's going to have to match from now on . . .

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The Gallery: A Smile

I have a trick for taking photographs of my children when they flat refuse to smile at the camera (which to be fair, isn't often because they're quite vain and huge show offs).

I pull my sternest face, I point and in a really angry voice, yell: "Mia! Stop being so darn cute. No. NO! I said stop it. Stop it right now" (big emphasis and extra jabby pointing on the 'right now'.

Works. Every. Time.

This post is for Week 28 of The Gallery: A Smile.

It's a photo of Mia when she was 2 and a half and just radiates happiness to me. Which is why it's still my screensaver of choice!

If you're new here and want to know what the Gallery is, go and read here, and then come right back and join in!

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

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Mummy therapy

The advantage of having two children grow up with a camera pointed at them constantly is that they are happy to pose whenever and wherever we are.
They even make 'suggestions' for poses.
"Take a photo of this mummy", says Mia wearing mummy's knee-high high-heeled boots with her nightdress, looking like some horrendous new villain from the Batman comic books.

"Mummy, mummy quick take a photo of us now. We're MEAN!" they yelled here.

It took me 10 takes because I swear to you internet, I could not stop laughing!

They did not crack their faces once.

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4 days in Portaventura. In pictures

Late last year I spent a fabulous weekend in Portaventura with a bunch of bloggers on a voyage of discovery.

Portaventura asked if I would like to go back with my family.

I snapped their hand off right up to the elbow.

I love it there.

The hotel. I mean look at it. It was gorgeous. It was probably the best hotel room I have ever stayed in.

This is the appropriately named Lucy's Mansion and our room was all chandeliers, oak panelling, heavy drapes and guilt-edged picture frames.

The children walked in the door and in low, almost whispered tones said in unison: "Wowwww."

I may or may not have done a starfish on the bed . . .

Out the back there is a private pool set in Victorian-style surroundings. Gorgeous.

Portaventura is a theme park in the north of Spain.

It's less 'twee' than Disney, but no less fun.

There are thrill rides, children's rides, shows, shops and restaurants all set in four themed areas.

And boy did we made the most of our four days.

Park, shows, water park next door (where Mia managed to shut herself in a tiny locker after hubs had returned the key to the other side of the park . . . )

Personal favourites of ours were the shows which we absolutely loved.

A wild west show with shootouts, horse riding and a brilliant warm up act, a Can-Can dancing show, a Maori dance show, a quite magnificent bubble show - all free and all superb (I thought the children would do that head in hand, deep sigh, we're only tolerating this for you mummy look - especially as some aren't in English - but they were transfixed).

Still, I said it before and I'll say it again, the Spanish are a very very grumpy people. I kind of got used to it, but it does grate sometimes.

Factfile:
We stayed at the Hotel Gold River, a complex of hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, all in a fabulous Wild West theme.

All the wagons, horses, trains, stagecoaches used on the set? The children are totally allowed to climb all over them.

If you stay at the Hotel Gold River your park tickets are included.

It's a little misleading as the Hotel Gold River is a whole complex of places to stay in the 'town', from grand hotels, to rooms in the local jail and even fabulous family 'bungalows' set in their own private little corner complete with rocky scenery, bird song and a rocking chair on the porch. Very Waltons!

For further information, online hotel and park ticket booking visit the Portaventura website.

Details of availability and rates care also available.

I'm not sure how much our stay would have been. Expensive, I'm sure. We paid for our flights from England which cost about £400 for all 4 of us.

But our stay included a lovely buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner where dishes ranged from every salad under the sun to steak, salmon, stews, pasta, burgers, veggies and, nom nom nom, a big dessert section.

There does seem to be quite a few discount offers available throughout the year if you browse the website though.

I don't think they market themselves particularly well in the UK because before these trips I didn't know much about the place at all.

Now we recommend it to anyone who will listen!

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The Gallery: Week 28

Hello and welcome to week 28 of The Gallery.

Today we are talking masterpieces.

No no, stop shrieking, I'm not expecting you to come up with one.

I have a different, altogether more simple plan for you all . . .

When I very first started blogging at the newspaper I worked on about 3 years ago, someone used to leave cheeky comments on a regular basis and make us all smile.

And from such simple beginnings I became, I like to think, good online friends with Dave Fowler - easily one of the nicest, most genuine people I've never met.

A former policeman, a stay at home dad to four children and a big ole heart.

And now he's launched a venture to raise money for charity and help promote your website at the same time.

Called the Mona Lisa Million Project, he's looking to, well, help others.

Go read and join in the feelgood factor.

So, this week's theme?

As Dave blogs about the Mona Lisa (and is currently encouraging bloggers to get their children to draw the masterpiece for him) I've set this week's theme as: A Smile.

Simple eh? I don't think it requires any more explanation, other than, as usual you can interpret it any way you choose.

But as always, come back on Wednesday to add your link, visit as many others as you can, say hi, discover new people, welcome them in when they discover you.

Appreciate the wonderful words and photos that are opening themselves up to you.

The link stays open until the following Tuesday, so don't worry if you don't manage to post on Wednesday.

So what are you waiting for, get clicking!

The Gallery

If you're new to The Gallery, here's the brief: I will give you a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have.

The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt.

Post it on your blog and write about it.

That's it.

It's not about taking technically brilliant photos - although if you do, I'd love to see them too. It's about having a passion for pictures; any photos, all photos whether you took it with your all singing all dancing SLR or snapped it on your camera phone.
You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your photo and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Wednesday and via a groovy widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for a week.
Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support amateur photographers out there.

The more support you give, the more you will get back.

And if you want to add a pukka linkable Gallery button to your blog (instead of the amateurish one I've been using!) the code is just under The Gallery picture in the right hand column on this blog.

Come back on Wednesday and join in. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you want to make sure you don't miss any prompts or entries in future, make sure you subscribe to my RSS or email feed.
Go on, clicky click away, you know you want to ...

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I love. I hate #2

I hate:

• People who lack compassion
• When the weather in the UK bypasses summer and autumn and moves directly onto winter
• When one of my children is ill and I feel powerless to help
• When I get yelled at by my 5 year old for not making her toast the right shade of brown.
• When I've run out of milk and all I want is a cup of tea
• The fact that my 7 year old STILL finds farting hilarious
• Confrontation
• Coffee

I love:

• Cosy afternoons in watching a DVD while we're all huddled under a blanket on the sofa
• Being surrounded by good friends - both on and offline
• Random acts of kindness
• A bar of Green & Black's Almond chocolate
• The school run
• A family roast dinner at the dining table
• Walking with the sun on my face
• Holding hands
• Hugging

Here is my original love/hate list.

What are yours?

And don't say 'love/hate lists' please!

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The Gallery: A celebration

We've had a lot to celebrate this month.

My little girl started big school, just days later it was her birthday and then a few days after that she had a party at home.

But my wedding day - just over 9 years ago now - was my first big celebration.

My husband to be and I had been together for 10 years before he proposed on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence, Italy.

I hate being the centre of attention, so our wedding was a small affair at a local golf club. No official photographer (we asked friends to take pictures for us), no cake, no florist (my very creative mum did it all for me), no fancy place settings.

My wedding dress was from Monsoon and cost about £150 and I borrowed my shoes from a friend.

We had a jazz band playing instead of a disco (so no first dance) and a barbecue in the evening.

It was perfect.

This picture sums it all up for me. We laughed and giggled and had the best time with close friends and family and didn't care a jot that we were going totally against convention.

And look, I'm posing in front of a gorgeous tree . . . it was meant to be!

This post is for Week 27 of The Gallery: A Celebration.

If you're new here and want to know what the Gallery is, go and read here, and then come right back and join in!

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

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Princess & the Frog and a cosy afternoon in

I have a bit of an obsession with movies.

Before children I would be at the cinema at least once a week. At LEAST.

Sometimes I would go on my own if I couldn't get someone to come and see whatever superhero film I was obsessed with at the time.

Now my children are old enough to have developed a love of films too (this is me doing a happy dance around the room).

We've just introduced my 7 year old to the Back to the Future trilogy ("wow, sooo cool") and one of our all time family favourites is Iron Giant. Surely a perfect family film?

When I told them we would be dimming the lights and getting out the bowl of popcorn for the Princess & the Frog (on Blu-Ray no less) Dan was distinctly unimpressed.

"A girls film? Aww, mum."

I confess when it landed on our doormat as part of the Disney Blu-Ray Ambassador programme I was chuffed to bits (Mia and I saw it at the cinema and we loved it).

So the proof would be in the pudding - is it a film for girlies, or will the boys like it too?

What mummy liked:

Such great themes in this movie. That it's OK to dream but if you really want your wishes to come true you have to work hard to get them.

That family is the most important thing.

That friendship, real friendship, is enduring.

I love that is has a slightly old fashioned feel to it. I loved the jazz (it's set in New Orleans), I loved the songs and I LOVED the heroine Tiana - a Disney princess to really celebrate.

What the children liked:

Dan sat transfixed through the whole movie. He may have even sung along to a couple of the songs. The boy who never stops talking only stopped once to ask "how exactly do fireflies work? Is it really their bottoms that light up?"

Mia's lone outburst was: "I'm not kissing a frog for anyone."

So there you go.

Was it worth waiting for on Blu-Ray? Not sure. But having said that, as this has a classic in the making written all over it in this house, I'm sure glad we've got one in our collection.

A keeper.

(And yes, yes, I know, very dirty feet in that photo. We'd just come in from playing in the garden and, you know, washing your feet is so booooring when there is a film to watch . . . )

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A 5 year old's party designed by Twitter

My 5 year old wanted a swimming party to mark her 5th birthday this year, but as a bunch on hunky lifeguards (they were hunky in my head anyway) had taken over the local pool I had to let her down.

So she opted for a party at home with an 'underwater' theme.

Preferably with a killer whale as the centre piece please mummy.

HELP!

I love parties at home. Last year I staged a 'haunted house' party for my son's 7th. It was pretty awesome even if I do say so myself (hubby dressed up as Lurch to answer the door - I mean come on!)

But don't take my word for it. One boy went home and demand of his mum 'why can't you do parties as cool as Daniel's mum?'. Score!

But underwater? Where can I buy a killer whale exactly? And if I've got to actually make decorations, where do I begin?

Well, let me tell you. I turned to the Twitter Brain for help. Google? Pah. I said 'help me wise Twitter to give my girlie a party to remember'. And Twitter answered.

ToniHargis (Expat Mum) said to try making a giant stuffed fish. Mia and I followed her instructions and made a dodgy looking fish and a seahorse . . . Easy peasy. lemon squeazy.

Even Dan gave a 'wow mum, that's pretty cool'.

Cosmic Girlie said how about blue balloons as bubbles, no mean feat since I hate balloons with the heat of a thousand suns. But I did it. For my girl. Different sized blue balloons festooned all over the place. Shiver.

Liveotherwise came up with the games.

HannahSam suggested strips of different coloured tissue paper as seaweed hanging from the ceiling (we did from the walls and doors).

Throw in a few card cut-out sea creatures with googly eyes, a 70s-style disco door curtain and some strange looking jellyfish hanging from the light fixture, and voila, welcome to our underwater grotto . . .

(Melvin the octopus is currently at the bottom of the garden looking a bit bizarre propped up the playhouse)

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Am I the only one with fond memories of 9/11?

I'm sorry this is quite a provocative title, but I wanted to show that we don't have to remember this date with fear and anger as so much good came out of it too.

I spent the first night of my honeymoon sleeping with more than 200 strangers on the floor of a cramped Salvation Army church in a small town on the east coast of Canada.
The rest of the world watched in horror as terrorists attacked the United States and showed just how evil mankind can be.
But on that day in Newfoundland, my new husband and I saw the flipside of that coin.
As unimaginable terror was being perpetrated on innocent people, we witnessed first hand the incredible spirit and kindness of strangers in times of crisis.

I dedicate this post with the warmest and most sincere thanks to our Canadian friends, the Russelll family, who helped show two English newlyweds the very best of human nature . . .

It wasn't exactly the Hawaiian paradise we had planned after our 2001 wedding.
Hubby and I had been together for 10 years before deciding to go down the marriage route. We didn't want anything overly fancy. Just a nice, simple affair with our close family and friends.
But we were going to all the way with out honeymoon. Vegas, San Francisco, Hawaii. Helicopter trips, fancy hotels - we were pushing the boat out.

We were onboard a United Airlines plane bound for Chicago on September 11 when terrorists struck the Twin Towers. Obviously, we never made it to America.
Instead we ended up on an altogether different adventure.
We were just two of the 6,500 airline passengers who disembarked at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland on that dreadful day.
Thirty eight planes were stacked up on that runway (a very bizarre sight!). And not one of us knew about events unfolding on the American mainland.

After 20 hours being left on the plane, we were anxious, hungry and desperate for information. People were starting to complain and tensions were starting to rise.
Then they hooked us up to the BBC World Service and we finally heard of the horror unfolding.
An eerie quiet swept through the plane like a thick woollen blanket being pulled across every head, as everyone tried to take in the enormity of what had happened.
You hear the phrase 'stunned into silence' all the time, but that very moment I truly understood those words.

Eventually we were herded off the plane, shown onto yellow school buses and driven to the small town of Gambo.
We were not allowed any of our luggage - all we had were the clothes we had travelled in and our hand baggage. We didn't know it at the time but Gambo would become out 'home' for the next five days.

The 198 passengers of Flight 929 arrived at the town's Salvation Army church and were greeted with open arms, provisions and comfort. These were ordinary folk who had dropped everything to help. Truly, they came without question or without complaint. They came in their droves, bringing food, provisions for babies (for there were many on the plane) and offering use of their phones, dishing our toiletries - anything we required.
They never questioned why or how much it would inconvenience their lives. They wanted to help in any way they could. Some just sat and chatted, some listened - a teenager even offered to take groups on walks of her town like some professional tour guide. Others took families with young children under their wing.

But our confusion, discomfort and disappointment would only pale by comparison when a television was hooked up at the church, and finally we all saw the first pictures of the terror attacks.
It was a hot September day in that church, but a cold chill touch every man, woman and child.

Later that night we soon realised we weren't going anywhere fast and this church was our honeymoon hotel.
Families were given offices and rooms for a little privacy while the rest of us were bedding down on the pews.
And that's when our saviours came.

Craig and Brenda Russell were a husband a wife with two children who lived nearby and had heard through the grapevine that there were newlyweds on the plane. They drove up to he church to offer their home as a refuge.
They greeted us with a hug and a smile and opened up their home and their hearts.
They gave us our own room, included us in family meals, drove us around, took us sightseeing and calmed our nerves.

In the five days we stayed with Craig and Brenda, and their two children Megan and Justin, we felt like family. We felt like royalty.
They would say they just did what their hearts told them to do and that it was nothing special. But how many others would take two total strangers into their family home and treat them like long lost friends?
I overheard one of the passengers on the plane, a woman from Chicago, telling her friend: "If we had landed in America I wonder if we would have had the same open-armed welcome?"

It wasn't the honeymoon we planned. We lived in the same clothes for five days (the Russells drove us to Walmart to buy undies!), had been herded around like cattle and endured days of uncertainty, anxiety and frustration.
But it's a story I will be very proud to tell my children and my grandchildren in years to come.

We still keep in touch with the Russells through email.
Our lives have moved on - I had two children of my own, of course - and the emails aren't so frequent these days, but I would just like to tell our Canadian friends that we have never forgotten what you did for us and you will always always always have a place in our hearts and thoughts.

* This is a post originally published in the newspaper I worked on, back in 2008.

It's still as relevant today - 9 years after the event - as it's always been.

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The cute factor

My 5 year old doesn't have much time for younger children.

She likes to hang out with teenagers and chew the fat about music and how a different colour nail varnish on each nail is obviously better than uniformity.

You think I'm kidding don't you? The girl is an adolescent before her time.

Then she met this angelic-faced young man.

I think you can see they bonded.

Seriously my friend, if you're still around in 15 years time, the husband will not be barring the door with a baseball bat when you come to visit . . .

Jay, your son is impossibly cute.

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The Gallery: Week 27

Hello and welcome to week 27 of The Gallery.

This week I'm going to be really really easy on you.

You've had it really quite tough of late and you deserve a rest. Well, sort of a rest. You've still got to find/take a photo and explain it to us all.

So to get straight to the point, this week's theme is: A celebration.

And I dedicate it to anyone marking a birthday today. Which includes the lovely Him Up North who is marking his big 4 0 today.

Happy birthday Northern Bloke. 40 is a grrrreat age, trust me. x

Of course, as usual you can interpret it any way you choose. A birthday, wedding, anniversary, Christening, a big win, an accomplishment, anything.

As always, come back on Wednesday to add your link, visit as many others as you can, say hi, discover new people, welcome them in when they discover you.

Appreciate the wonderful words and photos that are opening themselves up to you.

The link stays open until the following Tuesday, so don't worry if you don't manage to post on Wednesday.

So what are you waiting for, get clicking!

The Gallery

If you're new to The Gallery, here's the brief: I will give you a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have.

The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt.

Post it on your blog and write about it.

That's it.

It's not about taking technically brilliant photos - although if you do, I'd love to see them too. It's about having a passion for pictures; any photos, all photos whether you took it with your all singing all dancing SLR or snapped it on your camera phone.
You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your photo and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Wednesday and via a groovy widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for a week.
Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support amateur photographers out there.

The more support you give, the more you will get back.

And if you want to add a pukka linkable Gallery button to your blog (instead of the amateurish one I've been using!) the code is just under The Gallery picture in the right hand column on this blog.

Come back on Wednesday and join in. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you want to make sure you don't miss any prompts or entries in future, make sure you subscribe to my RSS or email feed.
Go on, clicky click away, you know you want to ...

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60 months

Children have such an incredible power over their parents.
They can totally crush you with a few words, a look, a turn of the head when you ask for a cuddle.

My daughter has had this power over me.

She knows how to push my buttons. She knows what upsets me. I actually think she knows that she holds my happiness in her chubby little fists.

It has been a difficult journey of tears, tantrums and fist banging - and that's just me.
She is independent, strong willed, a free spirit, I get that, I really do. And I love that she is such a firebrand. But it's been hard; she gets so angry, really really angry and when I've gone to bed with my head in my hands wondering where on earth I go wrong, I then beat myself up by convincing myself I'm the World's Worst Mother for even thinking such a thing.

And all she needs to do to make all the hurt, the upset, the frustration go away, is hug me. Throw her little arms around my hips and bury her head in my stomach.

When she knows she's really upset me she'll look up with those big brown eyes and say: "I love you so much mummy."

Melt.

Today she is 5. And this week I have seen a big change in her. Almost a leap forward.

It's like she knows she is expected to grow up now and she's rising to the challenge.

It's been a difficult journey Mia, but actually, looking back, I don't think I'd change a thing.

Happy birthday my gorgeous, cheeky, sassy little girl.

Love mummy x

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The Gallery: Back to School

Mia started big school this week and a whole new exciting adventure has opened itself up to her.

And as I stand there at the school gate, watching her skip off into her classroom with a glorious air of confidence and excitement about her, it reminded me of this . . .

Yeah, this is me, aged about 8 or 9 (forgive the quality, the scanner isn't working).

All big collars, blonde hair and doe eyes.

I look at this and see a great future for my two - they clearly love school as much as their nerdy mum did!

I went on to develop and deep love of books and maths. I know, weirdo.

This post is for Week 26 of The Gallery: Back to School.

If you're new here and want to know what the Gallery is, go and read here, and then come right back and join in!

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

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Practising our guilty face

I have to keep reminding myself that she's 'only' 4.

We're sat on the car on the way to Mia's first day at school.

I'm a little apprehensive, a little nervous for her, a little worried I might make a total fool of myself and weep all over the hapless teaching assistant. *

So we're driving and I'm a tad distracted but Mia's fine and she's listening to her favourite ever song, Mama Mia, which ABBA obviously wrote for her.

She learns forward (she's in the front seat now because she's Grown Up) and turns the music right down.

There is an air of importance in the car.

She gives me a 'look'.

Mia: "Mummy. See this face?" She's looking at me from under her unfeasibly long lashes. "Is this my guilty face?"

Me chuckling: "No. That looks like a sad face."

She turns her head to look out of the car window.

Then turns back.

Mia: "How about this. Is this my guilty face?" . . .

I know exactly what she's doing. I've told her I can totally tell when she has done something wrong because her guilty face gives her away.

As the saying goes, cunning as a fox that one.

(* I didn't)

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First day at school. Sob

Uniform ironed

Book bag packed

Hair tamed with a single red hairclip, the sort which usually gets tossed to one side as 'too girlie'.

Big breakfast

Big smiles

Big hug at the school gate as she skips off onto a glorious new adventure.

My baby started school today and I am filled with emotion.

Pride

Apprehension

Excitement

Nerves

And love.

Big love to all those parents with children starting school or returning to school this week. It's been emotional! x

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