She's Back!!!

Phew, my brood is complete, my biggest girl is home! I do feel better having everybody back under the same roof, even if the bickering commenced almost immediately.

I had a very full social calendar yesterday, in the morning Little Miss and I were invited to my friends sons 2nd birthday party, luckily as it was a little way away we got a lift there. We were going to the Model Village in southsea, now my friend is a much more social mummy than I and there were approximately 20 kids (!) plus mums and the occasional dad. I used to take eldest boy to this place when he was about eighteen months old and to be honest it hasn't changed much. The kids loved it, Little Miss was bending down to peer in all the little windows, she was fascinated by the miniature pots and pans and the tiny cakes and fruit. There was of course a railway complete with Thomas and Percy et al, my girl stood near the entrance of the tunnels shouting "Tommy!" whenever any of them appeared (she's not up on the names yet). My only worry was the little streams and bridges, I wasn't certain the littleuns would distinguish between path and water, they did though so no soggy feet (couple of soggy bottoms but for entirely different reasons).

My pal had organised a picnic of epic proportions, in fact she had called the night before to consult on what she was bringing, I looked at the spread and smiled saying to her "so you felt the need to check on how much to bring" there were two tables bursting with goodies! I was also reminded of how disorganised a mum I am when all of a sudden many and various picnic blankets appeared from nowhere, all of the mums seemed to own them, and not just tatty old tartan rugs (go on you know the ones I mean) these were super duper fleecy, plastic backed affairs. Oh the shame of not having one to produce out of my bag , I'm lucky if I'm carrying a spare nappy and a juice cup.

The kids sat and ate their grapes and sandwiches but of course cake was much more interesting, another phenomenon I encountered was Baby signing, I overheard a mum saying "do you know the sign for cake K***?" Beg pardon thinks I? Apparently it's very big round their way, I'm afraid I was slightly amused and thought "I wonder how many children you have?" because I suspect by baby number two they might not find it quite so interesting... who has the time? Maybe I'm just old fashioned and should be more open minded .

We returned home about one o clock and big girl was due back at two thirty, so time for a quick cuppa (dying for a cuppa at this point, no tea all morning!!!) and a tidy up (don't know what's up with all this tidying) then we set off to retrieve eldest girl. Little Miss thought it would be fun to walk the whole way, I thought it would be very, very slow, we were both right. A compromise was reached when we were nearly there and it was 29 minutes past two, she was placed in the buggy with a promise that mummy would run, yep you read right, run! So mummy ran (all of two hundred yards, not exactly the london marathon) and we got to the coach just as the kids were disembarking. They all looked shattered and bedraggled , my girl saw me before I saw her and another mum said "she's there Karen!" Ooh yeah there's my girl waving frantically, yay.

Us parents had to collect from the school hall and not the coach so we all followed the kids back to the school, then luggage and child were partnered up and we could have 'em back. It was a bit early for collecting Chay from school so me and my girls went back to another mums house and had a cuppa, this mum has a little girl four months younger than littleun and it was lovely to watch them. My girl was playing with a toy and her little friend was not pleased, she gave a look that could curdle milk,Little Miss being the sensitive soul she is completely ignored the disapproval and continued to hog the aforementioned toy all the while we were there. They did make friends though and ended up playing together, just before we had to leave of course, so getting back in the pushchair wasn't favourite.

My big girl had bought pressies for everybody (she is such a thoughtful child) and so when we got home the boys descended locust like to see what they had. There was no moaning and groaning (suprisingly) so I think the girl had made good choices (of course she had, she's her mothers daughter).

It was so nice to have her home and even the argument over whether her brother was in her way or not, didn't phase me, just good to be back to normal.

They all seem to be emerging from their rooms (at last, she must be knackered!) so best get on with breakfast duty. Wonder if I'll be smiling indulgently at them today...shouldn't think it'll be for long if I am .