They came, they screamed, they played games, they gorged on sticky sweets.
Halloween was a big big success again this year (I just thank goodness it wasn't me who agreed to have 16 hyped up children in my house . . . )
Oh boy do we love Halloween in this house.
We've been preparing.
Only three days to go . . .
Today I am revealing all.
I am sharing my secrets, giving away my tips crafted over nearly 8 years of taking photos of my children.
Believe me I am no expert, but you pick up things, learn tricks, make mistakes and I want to share my experiences with you.
Seriously seriously awesome.
The children and I have watched this video over and over and over and over.
And every single time it gets a 'woah'.
We sit watching it with our mouths open. Agog (love that word!)
I'm sure some of them are fake (walking on water?) but even so . . .
Enjoy x
Hello and welcome to week 33 of The Gallery.Hubby and I are rowing. Over something insanely trivial no doubt.
I'm not going to give any examples of what it might have been because, well, as I said they are insanely trivial and someone will point and laugh and say 'you daft pair, what are you 15?'
Yes we are daft. We've also been together for nearly 20 years so it clearly works for us.
Anyway, the incident here was so trivial that I can't recall right now what it was.
We're snipping away at each other when this little voice pipes up, filled with the authority of someone speaking from a position of knowledge:
"Stop rowing you two. What's the point? You're both right and you're both wrong, so you might as well stop it now."
And right there a 7 year old boy made his mum and dad feel about 2 inches tall . . .
Cheeky little devil.
Knowing, challenging, opinionated, cunning, stubborn, wild.
Utterly gorgeous.
This post is for Week 32 of The Gallery: The Colour Red.
And just to add to the fun I have two bumper packs of Snazaroo Halloween Face Paints to give to the people who make me laugh/cry/swoon the most this week, so you can go create mayhem on Halloween with the paints and Special FX kit.
The Gallery will close early this week (on Sunday, October 24) so there is enough time to get the prizes out well in time for Halloween.
If you're new 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.
The first I know of his presence is a subtle shifting of the air.
I sense something is not quite right. My mothering radar flickers into action despite the fact that I'm fast asleep.
I open my eyes and I can just make out his little form in the dark; I can sense unease, discomfort, upset.
The digital clock tells me it's 3am.
He reaches out and touches my shoulder, not sure if I am awake or not.
I touch his hand. "What's the matter honey?"
"I've had a bad dream," he whispers with a catch in his voice. "I'm too afraid to be alone."
I shuffle over to the centre of the bed and pull back the edge of the duvet to invite him in.
"It's OK my lovely. Come in and I'll protect you."
He slips under the covers quietly, he doesn't want to wake his dad and incur his wrath. He makes such a fuss of getting his pillow just right and manoeuvring himself into a good sleeping position. Then he gropes for my hand and pulls it around his body so I'm hugging him as he sleeps.
"Night mum. Love you." He slurs his words slightly as though he's drifting back off to sleep already.
I struggle to return to the comfort of sleep.
It's cold here and I'm disturbed.
I listen to him breathe; listen for signs that his fear will return; that he'll need me again.
I lie there awakened by a 7 year old who's now taking up far too much room in my bed. But I lie there on my side as still as I can so as not to disturb him or encroach on the space he needs.
He's breathing heavily now. He's slipped back into a comforting sleep while I lie there just relieved that he's OK.
I feel like sleep will never come for me. I lie there between son and dad praying for sleep to come.
I watch the white digits on the clock. 3:10 . . . 3:11 . . . 3:12
Pleeeease let me sleep.
It must drop off at some point as the next thing I know I wake up to that beautiful little face looking at me, smiling, happy, content.
He's had a good sleep and the fear left him. I hide the fact that it totally floored me.
Sigh. Rough night. Even worse when you're not used to them and you've moved on from the waking in the night phase.
The whole of the following day I am affected by that disrupted night. I can't concentrate, I'm forgetful, I'm lethargic.
But do you know what? I wouldn't give those nights up for the world.
Cuddled up, mothering, watching over him, protecting.
If this is the only price I have to pay to feel that my grown up little man still needs me, then it's worth it.
Of course the most important thing to ascertain after you've had granddad spend most of his Sunday afternoon building your pink Meccano motorbike is, what character is going to ride on it?
Cuddly bulldog with freaky bulging eyes? Hmm, he has to be squashed in to get in the 'cockpit' and he doesn't really fit in with the whole 'pink' theme going on . . .
Hello and welcome to week 32 of The Gallery.
My 5 year old had only been in school for around 3 weeks when I got The Call to see the Deputy Head because of her behaviour.
3 weeks!
Her older brother is all incredulous and 'WHAT DID YOU DO' with wide eyes and a smile on his face and is probably secretly jotting it down to use against her when they're being told off for something totally unrelated.
You see, he has never been to the Deputy Head's office to be reprimanded let alone had his mum called in for The Talk.
So I go in to see the DH in his office. His chair towers over mine and I'm sat there feeling like I'm right back in 1974 and I'm the 5 year old with my toes slightly turned in to face each other and a slight pink tinge creeping up my face.
He tells me that if a child is sent to the head twice in one week for bad behaviour the parent is called in.
Mia had been to see him twice in one DAY!
Now I totally support the fact that children need to be disciplined right from the get go. And Mia is a very feisty and strong willed young lady who needs reigning in now and again.
I mean WOAH reigning in.
And if I'm totally honest, I'm not the slightest bit surprised she's the first one to move onto the Deputy Head's radar.
BUT. One of the reasons she was sent there was for backchatting a dinner lady (come on, stop laughing). And I'm not very happy about it.
Mia was playing outside in the playground and wanted to come in to fill her water bottle.
She trots indoors only to be told she can't have any because she doesn't have the required arm band (seriously, this is news to me too) to be allowed inside.
She gets upset and a bit embarrassed I'm sure, and so is cheeky to the dinner lady who refused her entry.
And yes, while it's totally unacceptable for her to speak to anybody like that, I do question whether after just a few weeks at school she even knew about that rule?
There is so much for them to learn and take in during their first few months.
And, you know, she is only just 5.
Couldn't they have given her the benefit of the doubt, helped her get some water, then explained that next time there were rules she had to follow?
It just feels like they handled the situation badly and it escalated into something it needn't have.
And there was my little girl, sobbing her heart out in the DH's office because she had tried to fill her water bottle.
Of course, I just sat there an nodded like a fool and dutifully came home and told her that she cannot speak to people like that and how it's totally unacceptable.
But I feel a bit aggrieved for her.
I've had this post in draft for a while, but then I saw a whole raft of posts along similar lines:
Kellogsville talking about telling off other people's children, Mocha Beanie Mummy blogged about teaching our children manners and the lovely Julia's post about behaviour in school.
I guess I'm overreacting and it's all a learning curve for her.
Of course she's totally fine about it now and comes home with a proud as punch look on her face saying: "Mummy, mummy, I didn't go to Mr H's office today".
Hello and welcome to week 31 of The Gallery.
Hello and welcome to week 30 of The Gallery.
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