I miss chrismas..

was sam's favorite saying today. Actually he started saying it on the way home last night. When I asked what he meant he explained that he would miss getting presents and they way the people seem to be nice to everyone at this time of year. I reminded him that we could keep the christmas spirit all year long just by being nicer and more considerate to others. he seemed to accept this but what bothered him most was not getting presents again until his birthday!! The song Material Girl could have been written to for him (except the girl bit!!) He did eventually reluctantly conceed that getting presents everyday migh get a bit boring but he reallly wasn't convinced. Guess one of our goals for next year should be kindness to others.

We had a nice christmas eve and christmas. Christmas eve was busy with the cinema and the crib service. We were all so keen to see Narnia but all left feeling vaguely disapointed. Sam has enjoyed the book and the cd but the movie did not capture his imagination and he was put out by the bits they changed. M thought the beginning was too slow and I too was put out by the bits they changed and the casting. Lucy seemed too young and Peter too wet behind the ears. Not really sure why they added in the beginning bit about the blitz, except maybe to educate american audiences who may not know about the evacuation of children in the last war. I have to say that that bit was well done and I was crying as the train pulled out. I can't imagine sending Sam away not knowing the people he was go to or how long it would be before I saw him again. All in all we decided that Polar Express wins our vote for best xmas movie we have seen as a family.
We had a mad dash from the movies to church-where we made it just in time for sam to carry in one of the crib sets. He did a great job and I was proud of him. It was a nice service with lots of friends from the village there. Everyone is always so welcoming there, we reallly must make more of an effort about going next year.

After church we had our usual xmas eve supper of party food and champagne (not for sam though-he was drinking mango juice!) and sam got to open one gift. he chose dad's gift and then spent the rest of the evening building lincoln log houses for his new hot wheels to knock over. Once he was safely asleep we finished up the final bit of wrapping-not too much this year thankfully..

Christmas came early in our house with Sam bounding in about 5am. We managed to get him back to sleep until about 7 when we all trooped downstairs. he was delighted that santa brought him acceleracers swamp beast and he and M spent most of the morning putting it together. We went to M's parents for xmas lunch and had a lovely time. It was nice seeing everyone, especially B & J. J is geting so big now, he is only 8 months old but desparate to walk. The boys got on really well and were lucky to get lots of nice gifts from their grandparents.

Today M had to work so Sam and I have spent the day exploring his new toys (code for mommy putting together lots of lego). It was a nice chill out day

thank you grandpa

thank you grandpa, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

xmas eve pressie

xmas eve pressie, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

santa's been!!

santa's been!!, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

yeah it is hotwheels swamp beast!

yeah it is hotwheels swamp beast!, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

almost there

almost there, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

more pressies

more pressies, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

A cheerful guy

A cheerful guy, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Uncle P and J

Uncle P and J, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

You know you have spent too much money when..

one of the sales assistants in lush knows your son's name! We walked into tonight to pick up a few last minute things and sam was greeted by "hi sam" by the assistant (who is also called sam). She helped him select the things we needed and treated him like a vip. shame she didn't give us a discount though! Everyone was very jolly in town tonight and there weren't many people out shopping thankfullly. It was a different scene at tesco though-it was packed and the shelves were empty-especially in the xmas section. they are alreay moving things around, no doubt the valentine cards and easter candy will be out next week.

We have had a good tidy up downstairs and it is looking very festive. I just wish that I could catch some of the xmas spirit. It is not that I dislike xmas it just has sad memories for me. Even almost 20 years on I still find it hard to be festive. I really should be more jolly and make more of an effort for sam's sake, I want him to have only happy memories of this festive season. we do have our little family traditions that are starting to become established and I hope that we will be able to build on these as the years go on. I think he does believe in santa, at least I hope so. I know that I do. I started to wrap his santa pressies tonight and realised that I am going to have to sneak out for paper he hasn't seen tomorrow. It will totally spoil the magic if santa has wrapped his gifts in the same paper that we have used.

We are really looking forward to seeing The Chronicles of Narnia tomorrow afternoon. Sam is as excited about that as he is about xmas. We have started to read The Horse and His Boy as our bed time book. It is not one of the books that I remember very well so I am just as curious about what is going to happen as he is. I could read head but that would spoil the surprise.

In case I don't blog tomorrow night a very merry xmas and hannauka(sorry about the spelling) to everyone!!

Party time , excellent!!

sorry for the bill & ted reference, it just seemed an appropriate title for tonight's blog. Today was the xmas party with the boys, it was the first time we had all been together since half term. It was lovely to see everyone, especially A & C who live about an hour away now. All things considered everyone got on really well and a good time was had by all. It was so nice to see them all together again. As we left sam hugged everyone and said "I love you". That about sums it up for me as well. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends. We may not see each other as often as we would like but when we are together everyone just clics. Thank you to the NCT and to jesca for bringing us all together. Can't imagne what the last 5 years would have been like without you all!!

We have unintentially slowed right down in the build up for xmas. Thought I would be able to manage everything but somehow haven't. Sam seems to be using this break to be reading everything in sight. It took us ages to go round sainsbury yesterday (apart from the crowds that is) because he wanted to read the labels of everything I was putting in the trolly! We have done lots of math though having to measure out all the ingredients for our holiday baking and then divide up all the goodies equallly between the boxes. Just one more batch of biscotti to make and then we are done for the holidays. I am glad, I don't think my waistline could take much more! Tomorrow we have to finish making the xmas crackers for the family and pick up a few bits and pieces in town and at tesco. The cat also has a check up at the vet so we will be out and about all day.

We are really looking forward to xmas eve-we are going to the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. going to the movies is fast becoming a family tradition, I just hope that we dont' also end up in casualty like we did last xmas! after the movies we have to rush to the crib service as sam has asked to carry one of the nativity sets into the church. I was amazed that the asked but pleased, it will the first time we have been to church since easter I think.

I have a couple more sections to finish up on my list of 7 things

7 things you year me say

1. sam be gentle
3. just a minute. let me check email
3. I will be there in just a sec.
4. yes, sweetheart
5. Sam!
6. love you
7. leave the cat alone please



7 things that attract me to my spouse

1. his confidence
2. his smile
3. the way he takes care of sam and i
4. his sense of humor
5. his intelligence
6. he puts up with me!!!
7. he walks to the beat of a different drummer

7 people that I want to do the quiz (If you havent got a blog you can use my comments box)
1. Mary
2 Cheryl
3. Justine
4. fiona
5. Matthew
6. Melanie
7. the girls

Asleep at last..

The boys are finally asleep. I think that I heard the last few noises about half an hour ago. For two tired children they certainly managed to stay awake. At one point I snuck up and to see what all the noise was about and heard sam reading to peter from one of the bob books! Sam stopped the story half way through and said to P "I am a good reader you know!" It was all I could do to stop myself giggling. The sleep over seems to be going well so far. There have been a few squables but P hasn't asked to go home and Sam hasn't told him to leave which is always a good sign. If tonight is successful from sam's point of view this could open the flood gates for sleepovers. Today P and tomorrow all his other friends!!

M's aunt and grandmother came up today to take us out to lunch and exchange pressies. It was lovely to see them and Sam was remarkably okay with not being able to open the gifts they brought. This was aided I suspect by the fact that Nan arrived with a lego car for him that he was allowed to open today. I hope they like the fruits of our baking day. The chocolate bark turned out very well and was dead easy to make. I think that I will make a couple more batches for the girls for next week.

What is it with people suddenly doing their grocery shopping on line? I went to book my usual delivery slot yesterday and discovered that not only are there no slots for next week but there are none for the week after either!! I am outraged. As a loyal on line shopper I want my delivery slot. They should have given their regular shoppers first grabs at the holiday slots. Now I have to go to that maniac infested place to do battle with everyone else. I only want my usual shopping list, nothing fancy, nothing different. I will be glad when the holiday madness is over and life returns to normal.


A few more things for the 7 list-

7 things I can't do

1. Draw
2. Sing in tune
3. Keep my house organise for more than 5 minutes
4. Keep my house decluttered
5. Wear nail varnish for more than a day without it chipping
6. pass a book store without going in
7. stop procrastinating

7 movies I would watch over and over again

1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Paint your wagon
3. The Slipper and the Rose
4. Disney's Cinderella
5. High Society
6. Always
7. Raiders of the lost Ark

7 favorite books

1. Atlas Shrugged
2. A Traveller in Time
3. The Amazing Mr. Blunden
4. Girls Forever Brave and True
5. The Flambards Series
6. Calvin & Hobbes
7. The Fountainhead

Will finish the rest of the list tomorrow as my eyelids are beginning to droop. Need to be well rested for the onslaught tomorrow morning.

martha stewart I am not..

but I think that everyone enjoyed themselves and I think that everything we baked was edible! The puddles came round to join in with baking day and I hope that they enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed ourselves. We managed to bake almost everything on the list, what we didn't do I finished up tonight. The girls were a great help and the gingerbread cookies they made were fantastic. Unfortunately they were so good that they have all been consumed so will have to bring something else to the end of year mudpud party tomorrow! Everyone got on really well together and Merry and I got to have a good natter. It was fun sharing our holiday baking day with them, I hope that they enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Sam fell into bed exhausted tonight thank you puddlers! With any luck he may sleep until 7am! I am always impressed at how well the girls take sam in their stride. His enthusiasm can be a bit much but they seem to cope with it very well. sam for his part loves playing with them, long may that continue. I hope he never goes through the phase where he thinks girls and boys can't play together.

I enjoyed reading the 7 questions quiz on the beans blog and was flattered to have been asked my answers to the questions. Can' think of them all tonight but here are my answers to the first 7

7 things to do before I die(in no particular order)
1. see sam graduate from college
2. Learn to fence
3. learn japanese and visit the country
4. live in the caribbean
5. dive in the south pacific
6. research my family tree
7. make a patch work quilt


A busy few days ahead. Sam is most looking forward to saturday, when his friend P is coming for a sleep over. I just hope that they do sleep! Both are very excited and with P being 6 he should be a bit more level headed. I expect we will have a movie night after dinner-sam is very keen to madagascar again. I just hope P i okay as it is his first sleep over too. M is working and had the big car so I won't be able to run P home if he wants to leave. I am hoping that all will go well. I just can't believe that my little one is big enough for sleep overs! Before you know it he will be wanting to learn to drive and to go on dates.

procrastination

Am supposed to be working on my fossils course but as I am in major procrastination mode have decided to blog and watch life in the undergrowth. M is on nights all weekend so will have lots of time to do my studying-that's the plan anyway. I am sure that I can find something else to distract me when the time comes. I am enjoying the course and have learned lots. Sam loves looking at my course book and is always nagging me to do my studying.

Tonight was the belt presentation at karate. The school held a presentation/demonstration night so in addition to being presented with his belt we also got to watch the older children stage a tournament. Sam was very intrigued by the tournament and decided that he would like to do one when he is older. I think he liked the fact that you get to hit and attack someone and you don't get in trouble for it! If there is anything he likes it is to rough house, especially at 6am!

We have had a good week, lots of fun and lots of learning. Our next science set came from sonlight and sam has spent ages looking through all the books. The magic school bus book really caught his imagination so I am off to ebay to see if I can get more at a reasonable price.

I am very psyched because my friend M, (zelda's mom) is hopefully going to come visit in Jan. It will be the first time we have seen each other in about 13 years. It will be great to catch up in person, sam is very disapointed that she can't bring zelda. I have explained about quarintine laws but he still doesn't think it is fair. I have promised that we go out to boston to visit zelda and that cheered him up.

Tomorrow is baking day-lots of mess, lots of washing up and hopefully lots of yummy things to eat.

Its begining to look at lot like Christmas..

We have decorated the house and put up the tree today. I think that this is the earliest that we have ever done it. Sam was in charge of putting out all the decorations and he did a good job. We haven't quite finished the tree-we still have the popcorn chain to do and the gingerbread decorations. Still not in a very xmassy mood myself but doing my best to put on a cheerful face for Sam. We watched Polar Express this evening. It was just as good as the first time and Sam was spell bound the whole time. It is such a lovely story, I think we will read the book on christmas eve before he goes to bed.

have almost finished the xmas shopping-just lots of baking to do next week. Sam is excited as he gets to eat all the cast offs.

Our box from Sonlight should arrive tomorrow-yeah! Can't wait to see the science stuff. Sam wants to hurry up and finish science K so that he can start the next one! We also have the next two Singapore Math books and some HWT things. Next week we plan to do our holidays lapbook-that will probably take most of the week as we have quite a bit of research to do. Would also like to do some more DWN as he really enjoys it and it will tie in nicely with our dr. doolittle stuff. He finished a hamma giraffe this weekend and is keen to do the lion next week. Just have to figure out what to do with all these wonderful creations-the fridge is getting very full.

Marquesa has hit a plateau-not at all interested in food today so back to lots of syringe feeding. In other respects she is doing better, she actually groomed herself today!

Finding it hard to concentrate on this as M has Madagascar playing on the mac. it is so funny-I hope they do a sequal. I think the Penguins are my fav-they were very funny in the short that ran before wallace & gromit. In fact they were funnier than W& G, please don't kick me out of the country for saying that.

A nice start to the week..

After last week which was full of sick pets, children and parents this week has started much better. Everyone except marquesa is over their illness and things have returned to normal. We have had a lovely relaxed but full week from an HE point of view. Reading is starting to click and sam is starting to read posters and signs while we are out. He is also thrilled with the Draw Write Now book that arrived and has spent ages drawing various animals. I have to admit I was surprised how good his drawings are. This is a child who as a rule does not like to draw and thinks coloring in is a waste of time. We started the House at Pooh Corner for our read alouds and while I was reading he drew his interpretation of the 100 acre wood. Okay it does have a prairie dog, horny lizard and pond skaters but it is all his own work. Today was science day, catching up on all the experiments from the past couple of weeks. Sam had a ball-photos to follow.

Marquesa is slowing coming round. She even managed to clean a paw today so she must be feeling a little better. Her eating is getting better as well but we are still having to feed her every 3 hours. She hates being fed so perhaps that will encourage her to eat on her own.

Have started our holiday baking-sam was in 7th heaven with licking the bowl and eating the mistakes. He can't wait for our baking day next week.

She is home!!

Marquesa is home from hospital!! The blockage in her gall bladder is slowing starting to go, thought its cause and exactly what it is is still unknown. She is still being syringe feed every three hours ( except at night) and is very weak. She is a bit perkier though and I think she is glad to be home. She has to go back tomorrow for testing. We don't know what the long term outlook is, we are just glad that she is home so that we can pamper her and give her lots of tlc.

We are all still a bit under the weather, sam's cold is still lingering and he has passed his tummy bug on to M and I. We managed to make it to london today though. We had a wander around covent garden then went over to trafalgar square to see the xmas tree . I have to say it didn't seem to be as spectacular as ususal, sam even remarked that the one in peterborough was better! We also had a nice walk around the national gallery, which wasn't as crowded as we had expected it to be.

The last week passed by in a haze of running noses, poorly tummies and sick pets. Lots of learning did go on-sam is getting to grips with telling the time and his writing is improving. He spent ages writing christmas cards to his friends-just need to mail them now!

the painted ponies go up and down

DSCF0930, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

sam and the patient

DSCF0896, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

thanksgiving with the puddles

DSCF0895, originally uploaded by mattamsam.

Sam & Nan

DSCF0890, originally uploaded by mattamsam.