Times they are a changing

A few significant things have happened since I last wrote. First of all we had a night out on Saturday thanks to my Mum and Dad (who are working double time these days what with Arthur as well - it must be absolutely knackering but I am sure they love every minute)

It was my friend Campbell's 50th birthday surprise and an opportunity to catch up with old school friends who we rarely ever get to see all in the same place. A real shame Karen and Paul couldn't be there but hopefully we can book them in for a party with all the  gang when it is their 50th birthday.

We were however completely double booked on Saturday which is absolutely typical - you never have a reason to go out and then two things that you do not want to miss come along on the same night. Our dear friend Andrea had her 40th birthday this weekend and had a party planned, we were absolutely mortified when we realised we were double booked - it wasn't an easy or pleasant decision to make. We will make it up to Andrea - we promise!

Also this week was the final preparations for getting the house ready - the VW Golf finally had to go from the side of the house to allow the scaffolding to go up - we were sad to see her head off but proud of the service we got from her over the years. The scaffolding is now up although work hasn't started yet.

We had a wee family day out today - Sophie loves getting the train and the underground (although it is noisy) so we headed out on a truly horrible wet and windy day for a wee adventure - we have done this before with Lauchlan but he doesn't remember. they both had a great wee time. I have to say though it isn't exactly a cheap day out - £8 return train tickets (the kids are free by the way) and then almost £5 for the subway to go one stop. Ok, so it isn't a fortune but no wonder people would rather drive which would be cheaper - but hang on, they have also actually trebled the parking cost at the Museum recently so driving has also become more expensive - it's a total rip off.

Anyway....

Here are some photos I forgot to post last week;

Finally - it should be noted that about a week and a half ago was the 10 year anniversary of me proposing to Katie on the beach about three days before we left to go to New Zealand for our two year stay. So, you could also deduce from this that the blog has celebrated its 10 year birthday as well. The very first post was 23rd September 2018.

Congratulations to anyone who has actually read every post ;o)

visits to the adventures now stand at 29, 912

Unbelievably we are almost at 30,000 views of the adventures since I started this ten years ago - that's like 3000 visits per year which isn't exactly record breaking but shows how often Auntie Joyce visits the library x

We're expecting another!

ONLY JOKING - well, I mean adventure,  not a baby. Well at least I hope we aren't expecting a baby? Katie?

The work on our house starts in a week and a half and whilst it is truly exciting it is also absolutely terrifying and we are all going to be living in chaos for four months at least. But hey, won't it be good when it is finally done? Hopefully.......

Anyway - the weeks fly past, the storms come and the leaves fall of the trees - there are many inevitables about life and change is another. Change is good and cannot be resisted especially because there are many changes outwith our control. This change to our house however is all of our own making.

Sophie and Lauchlan continue to change and continue to be hilarious - it is really the thing that life is all about these days. And of course, it cannot be resisted either - both of these fabulous wee people are on an amazing adventure themselves - I just hope we do a great job of being Mum and Dad.

Autumn is definitely with us and we spent some time making Autumn leaves pictures - time spent collecting leaves = 30 minutes. time spent on the pictures = 10 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised with the attention span.

These two truly are hilarious - especially when they have those good moments of being mischievous
together - they love to lie down and kick the door until we come through and give them a telling off.

They had a wee party to go to today for the two year olds born around the same time as Lauchlan. Here they are all dolled up for the party.

We have moved some furniture around in preparation for the work - this allowed us to have a living room tent pizza party - the kids loved it....

Finally - I just thought I would also share this belter from my work this week

That's all for this week - stay tuned for some demolition work in the back garden - we will not bore you i promise!

As if by magic, it is fair to say that summer is well and truly over.

It certainly feels that all the warmth is leaking out of Scotland now and we are gearing up for the long, dark and wet winter ahead. It will provide some fun times though - Halloween, Bonfire night and of course Christmas just around the corner.

We got the party started this week with Nuria's birthday - a great day out and even had a magician to keep all the kids amused.

We also took a trip out to a cafe on the road up North - there were animals and tractors, just what we were looking for. Oh and the biggest burger and chips Dad has had in the last 8 years.

Injections, Gran Hillary visits and all go in the house

At the time of writing it is 4 weeks until work starts on our house - which is both exciting and scary at the same time. There is a lot of work to be done in preparation and in reality our house will be chaos for the next 12months. Thanks to Gran Hilary I was able to make a start at emptying the garage which will be demolished as part of the work. a really good reminder of how much crap you accumulate in your life and a good opportunity to declutter.

To make matters worse I have also been accepted onto year 2 of my Uni course - I wasn't going to do it but then at the last minute some goalposts moved and it made it a better idea to do it sooner rather than later. This could add considerably to the chaos over the next 4 months but I am looking forward to the challenge - and those late nights in the library eating snacks and drinking coffee.

In other news Sophie finally had her injections that she was due to have last year when she turned 3 - the excuse when we called was that they were just mega busy with a backlog, a one year backlog!!

Here are some of the photos from the week....

A reunion with Iain and Lorna! Iain's brother got married on Friday and Iain and Lorna were in town - unfortunately the catch up was far too short but it was still amazing to see them.

an old folder of mine from Secondary school

A hectic time and a couple of colds

I have regular conversations with a colleague about how in today's society people only post good news stories on social media and how this creates the illusion that people have a perfect life - I understand the pressures this can put on people and especially youngsters who think that everyone is having a great time apart from them (when that isn't actually true).

I would like then just make it clear that, although you know this already, life is far from easy but i don't think you or anyone is interested in photographs of children crying at 4am. Or a photo of a fight after bath time. There are no pictures of screaming arguments and biting each other - but this is just a bit of fun. This blog was always intended to be happy highlights but not fake news as the bumbling so called president calls it.

We are a very lucky family and take nothing for granted - we love each other and have the best of times even at the worst of times. It's not always easy but at least we are able to put food on the table and have a roof over our head. And for that we are grateful and for the laughs and the good times they are just the best thing ever.......ever.

This week the kids have had a bit of a cold - it didn't stop them trying on Dad's PE gear.

We had some swimming lessons in the bath and everyone took the safety of the babies very seriously.

We also played football with Lauchlan's new goal - the match ended all square.

Lauchlan got new wellies this week and we went in search of puddles to road test them......

We also went to soft play - these children know no fear.

Hope you have had a good week - see you next week!