a new blog post - how exciting

Almost at the summer holidays and our house still isn't really set up for blogging i am afraid - couple that with the craziness of a University assignment being due then perhaps i can be forgiven for my tardiness.

I should probably start where i left off - Sophie turning 5. thanks to everyone who helped make it so special and thanks for the gifts - Sophie has had an amazing birthday and we really appreciate
the efforts everyone went to to come and visit, it was great to see you all.

I should probably get the house bit out of the way first - the architect wanted to get some professional shots of the extension for her website so here is the extension looking more ridiculously today than it will ever ever again - i think Katie even pointed out that it was cleaner and tidier than for Sophie's party. Thanks for everyone's positive vibes about it when you visited.

You will be delighted to hear that that is the end to the photos of the extension work and that you need never worry about another one darkening the blog again, I have only included them so people can check the progress. Now that we have no money in the bank there should be no more building and no more sharing excited photos of development work.

Sophie had her last induction dat at primary school last week and it went really well - turns out 13 members of her new class are people she knows. I can't remember knowing anyone when i started in P1 so she is doing well already - working in schools I know that relationships are a major factor in whether people enjoy school or not but i also know that it is pretty much out of the control of the parent who can only dispense advice.

Sophie got her school uniform to try on and she looks so grown up....

The kids however just like hanging around down the skatepark and the sandy park - they have a riot. We have also taken to doing tricks in the back garden and we also visited a wee bike trail which they also loved.

Sophie  also got to have her graduation from nursery it was brilliant but we can't really share videos or photos - this photo isn't the best but you can't really identify the other people so it should be ok to share.

This weekend we decided we needed a bit of rural life so we headed for the Royal Highland Show. It's a really great day out but if you asked our two for the highlights they will tell you that their favourite bits were the "double decker bus" (the shuttle bus to get us there from the parking area), "eating pizza out on the grass" and "feeding the sheep". Was a long day and we were all pretty tired but a great wee adventure.

And then........there was some excitement when Lauchlan got his new big boy bed - here's hoping that this will help him sleep through the night - in his defence he has been really troubled recently with something that really resembles an allergy so we took the opportunity to cleanse his room. If sleep isn't fixed then at least there will be a full single sized bed for me to retreat to whilst Lauchlan takes over our bed.

Goodnight!

Annual birthday madness

In the olden days all I had to plan for my birthday was where i was going to be and who i was going to be with - the rest took care of itself and often it revolved around the May ball at Jordanhill or the end of season night out for some random football team. 

Nowadays things are a wee bit more complicated - especially this year.......I should also add into the mix that Sophie's nursery to Primary transitions have started - a busy time indeed.

Sophie had to attend a Teddy Bears picnic at her new school which she really enjoyed and she also found out this week who is going to be in her P1 class next year - turns out her best friend in the street (two doors down) will be in her class. her nursery graduation happens in a week or so - i cannot believe it.

Meanwhile - Katie has had a significant birthday worth celebrating - she's only went and just turned 40! If you cast your mind back ten years ago - easy I know - I made the romantic gesture of booking into a youth hostel in a place called New Plymouth and we were joined by our friends Lorna and Iain for Katie's 30th. Not much of a competition between that and what Katie did for my 30th - taking me on a road trip to San Fran, San Diego and Las Vegas.........in my defence, for Katie's 39th we were living in a fair amount of financial turmoil.....just as we are for Katie's 40th actually...

So we went out for dinner on Katie's birthday to a local restaurant and the kids got to celebrate with Mum and Dad. The corresponding fixture last year at the same restaurant was far from relaxing, this year was much better.

We then had to reset and look forward to Dad's birthday where we actually did very little (I am very much ok with this) and we swung into full secretive mode - the kids were packed off to Gran and Grandads and Dad took Mum off for a surprise dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants he has ever known. SO expensive in fact that absolutely nobody I know or speak to has EVER been to the place!!! Katie was suitably impressed - less so when I then took her to a crazy pub because we were too early for her surprise party where all her friends had made a fantastic effort to come along. I had been planning this since January.

Then we were all about resetting the house for Sophie's big birthday party - Sophie was trying to ban Lauchlan from coming as it was a full on girls fest but we managed to get her to mellow a wee bit so Lockie could join in.

It was a big success with all her girlfriends in the morning and then family in the afternoon - thanks to everyone who came - it made it very special to us and of course Sophie who just had a ball.

Sophie received many presents and many thanks to everyone for their gifts - we got her skiing lessons for the summer (dry ski slope locally - I wonder how i didn't get this as a kid ;o) and we bought her roller skates and elbow/knee pads - she loved them and just had to try them out in the rain. She was very good at it as it happens.

both kids continue to amaze us, Lauchlan is just following in his sisters footsteps and the levels that Sophie operates on socially and verbally are out of this world - she is a special wee girl that we are very proud of and love so much - Happy 5th birthday to our wee baby girl.