Yesterday Dave was back at work so we decided to get some fresh air and go for a walk up Cunswick Scar, the fell just behind our house. We decided to head for the road bridge over the dual carriageway but managed to wander off in the wrong direction! We still had a lovely walk in the frost and sunshine and the kids got to play on the big Cairn at the top and then came back down through the woods. We treated ourselves to hot chocolcate and home-made banana cake when we got home.
Today we woke up to a covering off snow but it didn't last too long beofre it started drizzling this afternoon. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to go sledging on and we had a quiet afternoon in front of the fire.

A Whole New Year....

We spent a few days over New Year over with Dave's mum again, meeting up with family and friends. We had a lovely dinner at Barbara and Alan's and Barabar showed us some of her glass bead making which was fascinating. I had a go but only managed a wimpy looking bead, just couldn't get the spinning bit right!!! Dave also met up with a friend he found again on Facebook, he hasn't seen this guy for about twenty years so they had loads to catch up on.

We had a good day out on New Years Eve with Dave's mum, went down to the coast and had some lunch. It was absolutely freezing, I have never seen frost so white before, it looked like the trees were actually made from it! After driving around all day in our car we got back to Consett and popped in to get some more fuel before going back to his mum's house and the car wouldn't start again! Typical, just what you don't need on New Years Day plus it would be the one time we didnt get breakdown cover on the car as it was meant to have been sold by now! GRRRRRR! We managed to get towed back to the house by a nice man and then quickly got on the phone to arrange breakdown cover. Cheeky, but it worked, you have to wait 24 hours before you can call them out, so we left the car for a day and then rang them on the Friday saying it had broken down!! Ha, Ha!!! We ended up being recovered back home (much to Ben's delight) as apparantly it is the alternator (again!) So now we are without a car again!

Yesterday was a really rubbish day, we had two cottages to sort out and Dave then realised he was on duty at the church as well. Great! I ended up having to take the truck and the kids to do both cottages on my own while Dave had to cycle to church and back and do his bit there. Actually they aren't really cottages at all, one is a two bed, two bath house and the other is a big house with four bedrooms, one bathroom, toilet, shower and large kitchen. Needless to say that after New Year the places were a mess, the smaller one took three times as long as it normally does and all the Christmas decorations had to be out away as well. I was NOT impressed, the kids were bored , I was completely fed up and we didn't finish until about 5.30pm after much screaming and shouting. Ho Hum!!
However we did get home to a yummy dinner already cooked and I got some Baileys which was left behind at the cottages so it wasn't all bad!

Christmas and all that!

Well, Christmas has been and almost gone. We had a reasonably quiet Christmas day,the kids were up at their usual time of six and whispering loudly across the landing to each other!I caught them creeping downstairs looking for their stockings which were hanging very obviously at the end of their beds! Then they piled onto our bed to open them all very excitedly, they then went off to play with all the bits and pieces while we tried to get some more sleep before facing the day!

After a yummy breakfast and a few more presents we headed off to church. Back again, prepared dinner, more presents, ate too much, more presents, watched telly, more presents, played, played, played and then the kids went off to bed.......phew!!! Although we didn't think we had brought them much this year they still managed to end up with stacks of new things and both were very happy with everything they got so a really good day! We had an evening watching my new Mamma Mia DVD (GREAT!) and drinking my new Ginger Wine and eating yummy chocolates......heaven!

Boxing day was a lovely clear sunny day so after a late brunch we decided to head off to get some fresh air and went for a walk around Troutbeck village. It was a lovely walk of about 3.5 miles, beautiful scenery and lovely weather, what more could you ask for?
Unfortunately today it was back to work, while Ben and I went off to sort out one of the cottages, Dave and Eilidh went shopping and trying to sort Eilidh's new (to her!) bike out with a new wheel. We ended up having a very late lunch at 3pm and then the kids put on a Circus show and then we all read a book together while Dave snored loudly in his chair!!

It's been a really nice Christmas this year, not too much rushing around and just seemed to be so much more relaxed than last year, I actually felt quite calm most of the time (unheard of!) and of course Christmas Dinners are the best!!

Christmas Eve!!!

Today, Eilidh and Dave went out for last minute shopping and taking Customers Christmas cards around. Ben and I had a quiet morning, watching telly, having baths and getting presents wrapped. Ben still has a nasty chesty cough and snuffles but seems ok in himself. Eilidh managed to come back with a bag full of sweets from one of Daves customers whcih was really sweet of them.

This afternoon we packed up a big box of Christmas dinner goodies and a few presents for our friend Paul. We havn't seen him in ages and he has had a horrible year, backwards and forwards to about five different hospitals all over the country for Cancer and other treatments. I had spoken to him yesterday and he had said he was staying at home with his cat on Christmas day as he didn't feel like being sociable so we wanted to make sure he had something decent to eat!!! He has a very bad habit of having no food in his house! I think it's just as well we took a load of stuff over because as usual his cupboards looked bare!! The kids love Paul and were very excited to go and see him for a while, it was really good to see him.

This evening the kids had one present to open each as it was a new pair of pyjamas and then we finished reading the last chapters of our Christmas book we have been reading and then to sleep. The presents have all been put out in the living room (how many????) and stockings are stuffed ready to go!! I think we are reasonably organised for a change!

Last Friday was the kids Christmas party with the home ed group. They all seemed to have a great time, running around, playing lots of games, dancing and eating lots of food! It was a really good day, we took along our friends two kids, Zeph and Isaac and they were all absolutely worn out by home time!

On Saturday we had to go and turn on heating and christmas lights at the cottages and then went straight off to see Dave's mum in the North East for the night. Sunday was spent rushing between family and friends and then heading back over for the Carol Service at church in the evening. Dave was singing in the choir, they have only had about five practices together but they sounded amazing, really professional!!! Hopefully they will keep it up after Christmas!

Ben has come down with a nasty cough just in time for Christmas(!) but everyone else is ok and the kids are very excited already. We haven't done a lot else, tidied the house up a bit, done the washing and ironing so we can have a relaxing Christmas! Dave has just finished working for Christmas although he is on duty at church on Christmas Day, (not quite sure how he ended up being lumbered with that one!)

Ummmmm, can't actually remember what we have been doing for the last few days, I think my brain has gone into pre-Christmas melt down!! Ahh yes, we went shopping, managed to get most of the Christmas presents sorted and now have no money again, hurrah!! Dave has been busy working when the weather is up to it and I have been attempting to amuse the kids whilst wanting to curl up in a ball and go to bed most days! Think I might go and have a glass of Schnapps and a warm bath and then to bed! Maybe my brain will be in gear after a decent nights sleep!!!

Eilidh had a dance workshop on Wednesday which our friends Jayne was taking her to so we headed over there in the afternoon to drop her off. They apparantly had a great time, dressing up in wigs and things and dancing, it was all being filmed and linked to another dance workshop in Canada! Something to do with a new arts initiative or something, she seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

Meanwhile I had some time with Ben, just the two of us. Apart from sometimes popping to the shops with him we don't seem to get any time on our own any more and it was lovely. He wanted to go to Cartmel as there is a couple of great toy and gift shops there, unfortunately the one he wanted was closed but we wandered through the other one looking at all the lovely things we couldn't afford!! Then we headed off to a tea shop for drinks and a piece of cake overlooking Cartmel Priory. Ben then decided that he wanted to have a look around the Proiry but it had just shut when we got there so we had a wander looking at the Christmas lights and then back to pick Eilidh up. He was as good as gold, he walked through the shops nicely, looking at everything and chatting away happily, sat still and chatted some more while in the cafe and held my hand while wandering around. What a difference!!! We have recently come to the conclusion that he really need to have some one to one time with us but I didn't quite realise what a change it would make!! We had a lovely time, it was so nice to be able to relax and enjoy his company without worrying about what was going to happen next!

The conclusion being that both the kids would really benefit from having one of us to themselves every so often, not so easy to put into practice but I think it's something we have got to get sorted.

We got back to Jayne's before they arrived so Ditch (Jayne's hubby) installed Ben on the computer to watch Tomas the Tank Engine on You Tube to wait.

Dave has been busy building walls and putting up fences and today was back onto decorating the windows on someone's house so was absolutely frozen being outside all day. We took him down some gloves, scarf and hats this morning and then headed off for a walk by the river in Kendal with a stop at the play park for the kids. Not much else happened!