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It’s been a funny-old couple of weeks, with a few highs and too many lows for my liking. I want this to be a happy place – a place that celebrates all that is good in my life – so I’m not going to give chapter and verse on the bad. But by way of explanation for the lack of update – well there you have it…
I can report that the girls and I had a smashing weekend filled with friends and laughter. It kicked off on Saturday with the arrival in the morning of one of Asri’s best friends, Alice (she has three friends called Alice… at the moment we distinguish them by calling one Alice, the second Ali and the third Alice King… but still I manage to become hideously confused during conversations as she rarely sticks to this convention). Alice was staying with us for 24 hours and would be accompanying Asri to dance lessons that day, joining us for general family fun and then staying for a sleep (ha ha) over.
It was a good day, enjoyed by all and requiring surprisingly little input from me. It still amazes me how much difference a year makes. Having a friend to stay a year ago would have involved me coming up with random and frequently changing activities to keep them amused for the entire duration of the visit (leaving me exhausted by the end); these days they disappear off and, erm, play. Strange but true. Apart from breaking up the occasional spat between Asri and Eleni, my input is hardly required and often scorned! Which is both sad and fabulous in equal measures. On the one hand my babies are growing up way too quickly, on the other, I can actually get some stuff done… swings and roundabouts.
The night time was not so successful and not a lot of sleep was enjoyed by anyone (with the exception possibly of Eleni). Asri’s Grandad (who I overheard her telling Alice was “well cool”) has invented a wizard who lives in Barcelona under a cathedral. This wizard (Don Aba da Dab) has made Asri a trainee witch and writes to her via a secret letter box (our under stairs cupboard). She has fallen for this tall tale hook, line and sinker and loves the fact that Grandad was once a powerful wizard and is fully involved in the hunt for the dreaded Squanderwench and the terrible Squiddlies. Now it just so happens that whilst 0n holiday in France we managed to acquire two Squiddlies that had taken the form of a couple of knobbly footballs. Unaware of their cunning trickery we brought them home and they are now living in my back garden. Asri, with the help of the great Anton Gould (aka Grandad) has managed to put a spell on them to keep them frozen in football form, but Alice (who has been drafted in to help in the Squiddlie and Squanderwench hunt) was not so sure. She became utterly convinced the footballs were going to break into the house and kill them in their beds… in the end I had to agree to lock them in the shed at some ungodly hour… oh and leave the hall light on and bedroom door open. This kept Eleni awake and meant she ended up in bed with me. Which meant I got woken up every hour by a foot in the back, an arm across the face or a snore (and boy can she snore).
I was feeling less than chipper when Sunday morning came. But with three kids to get breakfasted and dressed before Alice’s Mum came to collect her and the prospect of Darren and his two joining us at anytime, I had little choice but to crawl out of my pit and start the day. And it turned out to be another mad but fun day.
Alice was collected around 10.30am and within minutes of her leaving the door went and the cheeky face of, erm, Alice greeted me! Swiftly followed by the mischievous giggle of Elisa. Darren, bless him, was bleary-eyed after a night of little sleep with a poorly Elisa (who was now full of the joys of spring), so I jumped into the breach organising a painting session to keep them amused. It didn’t do a bad job for an hour or so… they painted plaster of Paris badges and lovely flower pictures (and my wall…) before giving up and heading off in search of something else to do. They found the dressing up box, and that kept them amused whilst Darren and I prepared lunch.
Lunch eaten they swapped dressing up costumes and generally made a bomb site of my upstairs whilst we tidied up from lunch and chilled out for an hour. All too soon it was time to give them a quick snack and bid Alice and Elisa farewell for another fortnight. It was a lovely day, and I am so happy that the girls all get on so well together.
Our weekend excitement was not over yet… determined to make the most of the daylight, the girls and I headed outside, them on rollerskates. On the second time round the carpark at the back of the house Eleni announced “I saw a rat under the car, Mummy”. The rat turned out to be an escaped pet rabbit. Me being me (ie a soppy animal lover) a good half hour of coaxing followed, but I eventually caught the little thing. Cute it was too; a grey dwarf dutch with beautiful eyes. I think the girls thought all their Christmases had come at once… questions like “can we keep it” were falling from their lips… but after half hour of knocking on doors we found the owners. Turned out the poor thing had been missing for two days, no wonder it was so keen to eat my already cooked and now floppy carrots!
All in all a fun weekend… roll on the next one.