More Competition than the X-Factor!

After much debate about which pet Megan would get for her 8th birthday, hooray, she decided to have High School Musical Sing it (go on Dad, click the link!) for the Playstation instead! As her parents, we're so pleased with her decision! But, oh...what did we unleash?!?

As we were buying a game the kids like, we had to find one for the grownups too - we already had the microphones so it would be a shame not to buy the 80's songs!

I always knew the Hastings were performers, but add an element of competition (the PS2 game listens to your singing and gives you a score) and there's your afternoon filled!

As a warmup, Delores taught Megan some Irish dancing...

Then the serious competition began. A queueing system had to be put in place to make it fair for all!

It was like Madonna and Billy Joel were in the room with us!

And the microphones were definitely used as much by the adults as the kids.


The overall winner was Lorraine with out a doubt (how could she beat me at Ice, Ice, Baby when I'd secretly practiced the night before??). Delores said that Lorraine's success was only down to the fact that she knew the songs better! I think we'll have to buy the SingStar Legends next - a bit of Dusty Springfield or Unchained Melody should settle it!

Sunday with Auntie Margaret

Delores and Auntie Margaret went to the Vitality Show in London on Saturday and came back full of ideas and enthusiasm for a healthy lifestyle...of course the cookies and the muffins that we brought didn't exactly fit in with their new ethos!

And luckily for us, they also came back with some lovely chinese-style flavours and so our own Martha Stewart threw together a chinese lunch for 11!It was a lovely, relaxing Sunday afternoon (maybe not for Delores!) catching up and playing.

It seems Bill set up office in the conservatory and conducted a few interviews - first with Leah over chocolate... ...then with Liam for a few hours, about the usual - legal matters and property development (in Ireland)!Meanwhile, Grandma coached Leah in how to eat like a princess - she has big ideas for her grandchildren!

Lorraine prefers to teach her neices and nephews how to get up to tricks and mischief...and she's a great teacher with much experience!

The Fishermen Return...

For MONTHS, Liam and Richard have been planning a 3 day fishing trip to Horse Shoe Lake in Gloucestershire...Liam bought a new bivvy especially and it turns out it was a good job he did, 'cause except for last weekend when it snowed, they picked one of the worst weekends possible! It was windy and poured with rain and was altogther horrible! And to make matters worse, right until the last minute, they didn't catch any fish! Richard saved the day by catching a 10lb pike as they were packing up their things on Sunday morning. Here they are returning, exhausted! I cleaned up the pans they had been using and I'd say that the kids were right in their prediction - we guess they ate loads of burnt sausages - I'd say Liam will be in PILES of trouble from a bad diet!

Here's one for Grandad John...

Not a West Ham Strip in sight!

Gardeners in training...

At the weekend, Dad talked me through our plans for the new vegetable plot that Liam has created in the garden. I went out with Megan and Leah tonight to plant our tomato seeds but realised a flaw in our plans - I haven't bought any tomato seeds yet (should have pinched some of Dads when he wasn't looking)! But we have got some herb and sunflower seeds, so we planted those instead.

I've not got a very good record with plants - this is the ONLY plant we have in our house - from mothers day - all others have died from neglect, and it seems this one is on its way to the compost heap too! But Megan assures me that she's taking on the responsibility of watering...we'll see! Don't think Alan Titchmarsh has anything to worry about yet!

Exhausted!

We just can't take it! That was a busy weekend and we're light weights! Okay, me and Leah are, everyone else seems okay! I forgot to take my phone (alarm clock) to bed with me last night and didn't wake up until 8.40 - not even any snoozing! The kids have to be at school at 8.50 so its a miracle we got there any near on time! And this is Leah yesterday afternoon!

She NEVER sleeps in the afternoon, but even High School Musical 2 was like a lullaby for her. Roll on the end of term!

Time to go...

Thats it! Another jam-packed weekend over. Just time for us to go and pile on Nanny for half an hour before leaving for Essex.

Sam grabbed one last story... and then nanny could breathe a sigh of relief...'cause we were gone!

Don't worry, Dad, we'll be back soon!

Nice Green Walls

Last visit before we went back to Essex - Laura, Jim and their new house...FANTASTIC new house, I should say! Full of character, and HUGE rooms - we were especially envious of the attic - Liam wants one like that in our house now!

And never mind that in this picture there are 5 kids playing nicely together with Duplo, although that is amazing in its self, look at those lovely green walls! Wish I'd got the courage to go for a colour like that 'cause it looks fantastic.As always, I could have talked to Laura for hours! And I'm sure I still will - 200 miles doesn't seem to stop us spending hours on the phone!

The Reduced Egg Hunt

When Mum arranged for Karen and Hilary (and families) to come round on Easter Saturday, I was thinking we'd have a nice spring Easter Egg hunt in the garden, but we soon realised that the weather forecast was awful! In the end, the kids didn't need any entertainment - they played nicely together on their own. But as Great Grandma had bought us HUGE bags of mini creme eggs, we had a mini easter egg hunt!

They played very fairly and made sure every one had an egg - although I think that Maddie looks the most pleased with her winnings!

John's spotted one more egg!

I think Leah's after Eleanors eggs!

We Go Up North and What Happens?

Would you believe it - you drive a few hundred miles north and what happens? Blizzards! Well, a nice snowy shower, anyway!
It started just as the Bradburys arrived - and Hilary is NOT good in snow! She started reminiscing about past near-death experiences in snow (actually, little skids, but from the way she talks, you'd think she had written off several cars!) and she threw out idle threats about leaving if it continued! She calmed a little when Jim arrived - he seems to be the one she trusted at snow driving her home! Not sure why she doesn't trust the rest of us! Anyway, even though they'd only just taken off their coats and shoe, the Hastings and Bradbury children wrapped up and rushed out the the back garden...

They hurled snowballs (and abuse I think!) at some children visiting mum's next door neighbours. Nothing like improving neighbourhood relations with a good barney!

Mega Catching Up...

Its a weekend for us all to catch up with old friends - last night was my turn, Saturday morning was Megan's turn. We picked up Lucy and went to the Mega Centre - slight ulterior motive for going there - all 4 kids could go and play and I could go and read my fab book "Twilight".

It was really quiet 'cause we got there early and the kids just ran round for 2 hours...and I sat and read a few chapters with a hot chocolate! All they needed was a slush puppy to keep them going.

We all miss Lucy - she fits in like one of the family - we're glad we could fit in a few hours with her.

Liz is 40!

Liz invited us to her 40th birthday party at the Rutland Hotel on Friday - what a treat! It was great seeing Sue, Annie and Jo again - I REALLY miss them in the playground...and at netball, book club, meersbrook mums nights out, invisible women discussions, playgroup, etc ,etc, etc!

The best part of the night was when Pete stood up to do a speech to congratulate Liz on her 40th birthday and announced that they had got married earlier in the day - what a fab surprise! I love birthday parties but I love wedding receptions more!

...oh, and the curry was great too!

Can i also advise against using the Wogan pose again.

Phew, we're back!

We're back in the north for a long weekend at my mum's - 15 minutes from Great Grandma's, 15 minutes from Costco, perfect!