The Christmas Story

The story for us, not the original! There were no virgin births here, although I haven't checked the shed...

We had a really nice, peaceful Christmas, although I think Mae missed her cousins a bit- she is looking forward to a trip to Edinburgh that we may make at the end of the week. We had a great time though, with Lilian and Ross, thanks for coming! As usual, Lilian was helpful in the kitchen (and I only burned my eyeballs when I sent everyone out for a walk) and Ross entertained Mae with her Lego and even Just Dance on the Wii!




Mae asked for dolls from Santa this year (yes dolls!) and LOVES them! How crazy is that? But she was also pretty excited about her Justin Bieber pyjamas!

And making sure were not too age appropriate in the house, she got a couple of Sing-a-ma-jigs, which are the cutest things ever. Me and Lilian also liked them (see below!)

I got some posh slippers, no seeds in them yet from feeding the birds.....

It was grand. I hope everyone else had a great time and spent it in their pyjamas.

Berry Chrithbas

We're all a bit sick but getting better- how did my mom do it for so many years? Christmas, a time of peace, but only when I am alone in the kitchen, preparing roast potatoes. No, I am really looking forward to it, and thank god for Buckely's that's all I can say!!
Mae says it doesn't feel like Christmas at all, and by the looks of my outdoor lights they will be fully under water by New Years! Hopefully we will get the snow that is passing through Nova Scotia at the minute.












How sad having to even tart up the house plans- but next year I promise I will have a mantel!

It's beginning to look alot like, well...

After living in Britain for 14 years I have finally got the Christmas tree topper that I have wanted all these years! Almost exactly like the one we had growing up, and it suits our 1948 house perfectly! Thanks Etsy- all the way from California!!

It's freezing, wet and very very windy outside, which is generally Christmas in Scotland. It feels like we have had no summer at all (because we haven't) and Mae has picked up a new hobby. Skating. She loves it, and that's great, but I wished she enjoyed something more like scuba diving in the Maldives. I guess at least skating is accessible here......

She's really quite good, especially going backwards! I couldn't really do it well as a child but I don't mind it now; maybe I'll even get some skates from Santa myself......

Trouble

Dear Santa

Is it true you put coal in people’s stockings?
I am very sorry about night times.
I dint mean it.
I will try harder.

I am only going to ask for 3 things this year.
I would like a fuzzfling and a cabbage patch doll and finally a frosted drinks maker.

DON’T FORGET THE PEOPLE IN AFRIKA!

Love Mae

My Beautiful Neice

Happy Birthday Lovely Pants!!

My Best Friend Ever Forever

Sharon is Awesome!! Really, she is the coolest person I know. I don't even mind driving four hours to her house on the far north east coast, and when I get there she and a few girls have got runny noses. I don't mind catching their colds. It's all worth it!

Boke

Just last week we thought it was going to be a

And then Mae got worms.

Hence the title of the blog, which is Scottish for puke, bark, vomit, etc.

But they are gone now (fingers crossed and NOT in mouths), so life is a bit easier.

And she chopped her hair off! It looks great!

And we are so busy with stuff at the moment, Geoff is hopefully finishing his dissertation soon, and I will be so happy when it's done, it will be nice to have him back at weekends after two and half years. Maybe we will get away for a nice weekend....

And at Christmas, we may be eating some brussel sprouts from the garden. The tomatoes, below, just popped up out of some compost I spread earlier in the year- anyone want to make chutney??

Winding down and clearing up

We're not really winding down at all, we are busy as hell and trying desperately to fit in cleaning up the garden!! Roses are still blooming but now we have the autumnal plants coming to life- these are by far my favourite: nerines. I must get more. Where to put everything is the problem!

I do, however, need to get something started on my new birthday trellis (thanks Lilian and Ross), maybe a honeysuckle and I have another climber, Chilean Potato Vine, growing in my newfangled nursery bed.

In other news, and to get said crap out of the garden, I have just purchased this new car! Well, not new of course, as I got in in Glasgow and through ebay, but it will be handy nonetheless. It's not yet too handy, as we have to get it to our mechanic, Mr Huntley, already. It idles really low and seems to be on the verge of stalling a bit. Mr Huntley will be able to sort it, if anyone, but I hope he doesn't give me a lecture. He's a bit stern if you leave something too long and I heard a legend of him stripping a length off a consultant at the hospital for letting his tires go bald. So he will be honest, anyway. Everyone join in in hoping that I haven't thrown good money away!!

Stuff and Nonsense

We have been busy, I have been using Facebook, and the blog has been suffering. I wait for really new things, not things we have done a million times. So, onwards and upwards!

Mae is back in school, in a P3/4 class, which will hopefully mean she is pushed a little harder this year. She put herself up for Eco rep for her class, and got voted in! So many other kids went for it that in getting only 5 votes, she still won! So she is proud of herself, rightly so.
She is also reading loads at the moment, which really is great- I think I would struggle if she wasn't interested in reading, I know that's terrible of me as a parent but the world of books is wonderful. Here she is reading Peter Pan on my Kindle. If any of you have any other recommendations for her age, please let me know! We (mostly reading to her) have been through all the Roald Dahl books this summer, and she recently finished Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang, which was one of my childhood favourites. We are awaiting some Madeleine L'Engle being sent from a friend in Canada, I hope she likes that as well.
I know I am bragging, but who knows how long she is going to enjoy school, must make the most of it! She did well in Maths today, her teacher said she was a 'Mathmetician'- she doesn't get that from me, that's for sure!!


She's also glad to see her school friends again, as although all us mums have the best intentions at the beginning of summer, by the end of it we realise we haven't seen each other at all! So Mae is here with her friend Rory, whose mum took them both in town this afternoon to get their picture taken with the Olympic torch. Pretty cool!

We took another of Mae's friends out the other week to a play in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle, The Fantastic Mr Fox, which was brilliant. In the car on the way up, Mae called me Jennifer for some reason. Her friend said ' Is THAT your name..? Huh. I think I will still call you 'Thingy''

Thanks, Lizzie!

Thingy.

Smiling

Mae takes a while to smile when we are out, and doesn't always show that she is enjoying what we are doing. Usually later she will say what a good time she has had, how brilliant something was, or how funny she found it.

This weekend we went to visit friends and had a lovely time. We spent time just hanging out and catching up, and there was a lot of catching up to do, as well as relaxing and sitting in the sun. Mae tagged along to Beth's horse riding lesson and got a half lesson herself where she even learned to trot (it looked hard!), and later we went to a really nice country park and the girls went on a highwire course in the woods. Mae was a bit nervous, but did complete it.

And she said she loved it. Can you tell?

Strawberries

Yes, it's been a long time and yes, I know I am lazy- but we have been very busy!

Mom was here for 5 weeks, during which time we had a great break in London. We have had visitors and we have visited friends. Mae has finished grade two and we are now having a little summer break. We have grown and eaten lots of spinach and strawberries. And raspberries. So we decided to stay with the berry theme and colour Mae's hair! Geoff hasn't seen it yet so I imagine there will be some sense of shock later today!!

But we will be doing some of the same things we always do in the summer: beach, garden, visits here and there and I really need to know if people are interested in seeing all this AGAIN. Let me know or I am going to have to have a really extended holiday from bloglife.....

Holiday Holiday Holiday

April has been like that. Two weeks off, then Easter long weekend and next weekend the Royal Wedding and May Bank Holiday, so all in all, Mae will have been in school for a grand total of eight days (yes, Eight) this month.

BUT! If it means we have a great birthday and a grand weekend with the Mitras, then that's fine. These kids get along so well, and just do their own thing for their visit that we dread the day when they might not have anything in common!! But it was lovely, so much so that this is the last day and the only time I thought of gettting a photo of them. See you in August!!



By the way, Mae has not got a squint- this is her default goofy look, although I did warn her if she kept doing it, it might get stuck that way!! I am turning into my mother.

Holy Cow it's a birthday!

Well, she said it was her best birthday yet, and no way am I ever having a big party again! I didn't even have to make a cake, as she wanted a birthday Pizza!! And, it was 6 hours long. Amazing, eh? Mae and her two best friends, it was great. They are nuts and have a great time together.

They got to open their party bags right away as they had matching pyjamas. Gorgeous!!

Even the games were quiet! Jelly eating contest and a memory game.

It was a close run.

But Lizzie went the extra mile and gulped down her Jello in record time.

Mae blew out candles on her pizza. The guy who delivered it was surrounded when he arrived, he was out of there like a shot. Nothing like girls seeing how much power they have.

Then it was movie time and you would think they had never eaten in their lives. I really should have given them each their own bowl of popcorn, competetive eating is never a good thing...(except for Jello). After this it was mini sausages, jam tarts, Pringles, grapes, etc etc!!

Mae started to lose it very slightly about 15 minutes before the others went home, so I cracked out the glowing jewellry and sorted it. What a brilliant day!