I haven’t done a lot of blogging recently, but thought I should make the effort before the year is out. So here it is; a little round up of the year. Hopefully it will not end up sounding too much like one of those hideous letters that old ladies write to everyone they know at Christmas, outlining all the medical conditions they, and all their neighbours, have had throughout the year, or the letters you get from old schoolfriends, whose soul aim it is to make you feel inadequate with stories of their wonderful life, glamourous, well paid job and intelligent and good looking children (probably named Jocasta and Tristran).
January did not get off to the best of starts with Jessica coming down with chickenpox on New Years Day. She was followed by Ben, two weeks later. My dad underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured stomach ulcer.
February was Jessica’s third birthday, and Andrew and I spent the day in London at a friends wedding. We celebrated Jess’s birthday the next day, she didn’t seem to mind too much.
March – my dad died on the 10th. Not much more to add really. Almost a year has passed and I am still filled with anger that he died so suddenly, and so unfairly.
After Easter in April, Ben started Reception at Infant School. He was, and still is excited by going to school. In fact most mornings I have to call him back out of the gate to collect his lunch and book bag, and say goodbye to me. Jessica started pre-school and absolutely loves it. She had been raring to go for some time, and so far the excitement and enthusiasm has not worn off.
May was my birthday and saw Andrew and myself, my sister Jayne and her then bf Mark, and our neighbours Wendy and Gary (whose birthday it also was, and who happens to be Marks brother) having a very nice meal, and far, far too much alcohold. The party continued at home until mostly all of us of the female persuasion were unconscious.
The first week of June was one of the only two sunny weeks of the year, and was when we had been due to go on holiday. However, because of Ben starting school we postponed the holiday until the end of July.
The second sunny week of the year, the last week of July saw the four Smiths and my mum travelling to the Isle of Wight for a week in a caravan. With our newly acquired roof box, we did actually have a fair bit of room. We all enjoyed the holiday, I think we wore my mum out, and the children both enjoyed the ferry rides. The journey home for me was not entirely pleasant, as before we boarded the ferry to leave, in order to kill time, Andrew taught Ben to skim stones over the sea. Sadly Ben made up in force what he lacked in direction, and a rather large stone (rock!) hit the side of my head with quite a lot of power. Cue me falling to the beach with my head bleeding. Nice. At least it was on the way home, and not the start of the holiday.
In August we went to both a wedding and a christening, both of which were very nice, and blessed by good weather. I also signed up for a GCSE in Biology, a step nearer to starting a PGCE, a plan a few years away yet.
September, the children both went back to school and pre-school, I started my Biology course, which I am greatly enjoying, and I also got a tattoo, cunningly planned for when my mother was out of the country in Seattle.
In October the children went to two Halloween parties. Jessica went as various combinations of cat and princess, Ben attended both as an actually quite scary skeleton. At the toddler group party, he had groups of small children running screaming from him. Success. We also had the first, and only, snowfall of the year, just about enough to scrape together a small snowman. Andrew missed this as he was out of the country.
November would have been my mum and dad’s wedding anniversary. A couple of days before the date, mum, Jayne and I went to a tree planting ceremony that a local gardening charity had arranged in honour of my dad. Dad had helped raise a lot of money for new greenhouses, and they wanted to plant a tree for him, to say thanks. It is an oak tree.
And now to December. Again, this month did not start well, with Tilly, our cat of 8 years dying. The month did get better though. Both children had very busy social calendars with school plays, carol services, sing alongs and birthday parties to go to. Frequent readers of the blog will know that after a few false starts from me, Ben did manage to complete a competition entry for the School Fair programme cover, and his was in fact chosen as one of the winners. Christmas this year was quite strange without my dad, although I think we managed to enjoy the day, with two excited children it was hard not to. I think my dad would have had a bit of a laugh at Jayne and I, as we attempted to set fire to the Christmas pudding. This was normally Dad’s job and involved a small stainless steel jug and brandy, which he carefully warmed before setting it alight and pouring onto the pudding. Jayne and I had a large stainless steel teapot, with lid, and a large quantity of vodka, which I heated until boiling point, swirled around for good measure (releasing lots of alcohol fumes), and which then Jayne set fire to. The mini explosion almost cost us our eyebrows. The pudding was then lit, as was the plate and surrounding tablecloth. The vodka in the teapot continued to burn for some time, the flame coming out of the spout looked very pretty.
So one year ends. and another begins, and we start all over again. I am hoping this year is better than the last. It is looking good so far. Andrew’s job seems to be in an area if not of growth, then of steadiness, Ben and Jess both look set to continue enjoying school and making friends, Ben is continuing his judo, and Jess is progressing with her swimming. My GCSE course is interesting, and I am quietly confident for a good result. Building work and landscaping have finished on mum’s house, which is certainly less of a worry for her.
I think all is left is to wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year.