Well we have had hair cuts, packed toys and toothbrushes, and cashed in all Ethans penny's for Dollars. We are now ready to embark on our first ever holiday abroad as a family.

Are the kids excited? .... YES, Is the hubby excited?.... Unbearably!!! Am I excited? Well Duh - Of course I am.

I shall catch you all in two weeks - Happy blogging.

So is anyone else on My Space??? How addictive is it? I have only just created my site but after just a few days it has crept to the top of my favorites list. If you are on there add me as a friend please because I have none!!!! My link is on the left.

I am enjoying the lunchtime supervisors job. I am told by the class I supervise that I am the best in the world and that I should be a teacher as well. I would hazard a guess thats because I dont know all the rules yet and they are getting away with many a thing they shouldnt. Ethan saw me in the playground yesterday, and without any emotion said "Miss can I go to the toilet?" I was shocked - he totally blanked his own mother!!

And OMG panic panic 10 days and we are all going on our first ever holiday abroad as a family. I have lists of my lists of things I have to do. If I could just take everything in the house with me it still wouldnt be enough. Happy weekend all!!

Living in my house could never be described as boring. The last two weeks have been a mad hectic confusion involving travelling thousands of miles from visiting my sister in law in her college digs to travelling to France and Belgium over the weekend just for the sake of it. The new car hubby decided needs running in, so off we went (minus kids) for an extremely long spin. It was nice and fun and we really got a kick out of doing a Kate and Leonardo moment on the end of the ferry in front of loads of people, Some people have no sense of humour!!!

As well as this it was half term last week which meant various cake making afternoons, cress growing experiments and paddling pool/mud baths. I am not even going to go into the plaster of paris mould set thingy!!!

Sports day was eventful too with Ethan proving he has his fathers sporting abilities and competitiveness. This week is the summer Fayre - another greeeeat school event, Think I may sneak in a bottle of Vodka to make things go quicker for me.

And finally I have a job (Ok maybe job is a bit of an ambitious word to be using here) as a lunch time supervisor at the kids school. I keep wondering who the kids are talking to when they say Mrs Rees, Sounds to grown up to be me.

20 Days and I go to America - guess I better start packing or something then ;)

Last Saturday was a strange day. I woke up with a "Wouldnt it be nice if we all went out to dinner" feeling. I had this image in my head of a nice meal out with the kids and hubby which we would all enjoy - all Mother's get this mental picture - Its where the phrase 'quality time' was invented. And as all Mother's can tell you it's a deluded idiotic myth - there's no such thing.

My 'perfect family meal' predictably plummeted into a competition between my two children to see who could win 'Most disobedient child' award. And I can tell you it was too close to declare a winner. Joanna sulked through most of the meal, scowling and declaring as loudly as possible "I wont eat it, I dont like it, you cant make me eat it". Whilst Ethan persistently pointed at other people's food shouting "Ewww your food it yukky" I was suitably unimpressed - needless to say there were harsh words spoken later in the day.

I also made the very deadly mistake of mentioning to Gary that the windscreen wipers on the car needed replacing this week. Normally this would be fine, but apparently windscreen wipers for our Audi can only be bought at Audi and not in any normal car parts shop. I knew I should have got them myself - I can only compare it's effect to letting me loose in Cadbury world and saying "eat as much as you want!!" We never even got to the service counter before he had found a car to drool over. Shall we say the rest is history - shame the bill isn't. We pick our brand new car up on Saturday morning. I am excited, but not thrilled at the idea of spending the whole weekend driving around pointlessly.


This is what our new car will look like. 

Dearly Beloved

We are gathered here today to witness the passing of a special friend of the Rees household. One that has been with us through thick and thin, through babies and cats, through sickness and health.

Our friends passing was quiet and for that we are thankfull. He had reached the old age of nine, We celebrate his faithfulness and thank him for all he has done for us. Old friend you are gone but not forgotton.

It is with sorrow that I must say goodbye to my friend, My ever enduring washing machine, Mr Tricity Bendix 1000. Washing clothes wont be the same without you. RIP.


In other news take a peak on the left at the photos of the "Mum's garden excavation project" No cats were found (although that didnt stop me pretending to have found one to my sister - I am sick I know) And now that we have found the garden path Dad is suddenly interested in Gardens again - Dad likes his garden path - Dont ya Dad???

I mentioned to Gary in passing just over a week ago that my mother wanted him to sort out her garden. When she asked me to ask him the words "snowballs chance in hell" sprung to mind, However to my absolute astonishment he said yes, followed by "this weekend ok?"

Now you may be thinking what a good son in law to mow her lawns, However my Mother's garden is no ordinary garden. Not only is it 100 feet long, overgrown with brambles and 15 feet conifer trees but is also infested with Japanese knotweed. Which in short means you cannot find the garden path, see the shed at the bottom of the garden or even attempt to imagine what just bit your foot should you take one step in.

Seriously this garden makes the Amazon look good, Its so scarey they should make a film about it.

However bravely a team of four of us (Gary, Sister, Mum and Myself) fully equipped with industrial strimmers, gloves, scythes and other implements of destruction set forth last Saturday to endure what Mum's garden could throw at us.

(Just to clarify Dad has renounced all claim to the garden and fails to acknowledge it's exsistence)

I wish I had taken before and after photos to show you what we achieved in one day. Next weekend we have a machine coming to finish the job (or at least finish getting the undergrowth to ground level!!!)

Only problem is the garden doubles as a pet cemetry and we shall be digging up the remains of approximately 20 cats (we like cats ok!) a budgie and a hamster called Lara. I will try and get some pictures of our progress.

My dear hubby had a moment of weakness at the weekend and during that time I took full advantage of the situation and got him to buy me a laptop. Always wanted one - dont know why.

So then of course its no good having a computer without having the internet, its like having a broken tv. So yesterday my new wireless modem arrived and then followed ten and a half hours of fiddling, installing programmes, following instructions and then later on tantrums, swearing at the computer and a frustrated hunt in the kitchen cupboards for chocolate.

Finally its working and I am now blogging on my new laptop whilst comfy in bed. And I must say theres something strange about surfing the web whilst in bed, It kind of feels like when you first got the net and sleep was something you vaguely remembered doing before the discovery of Ebay and other such sites.

Last night I hardly got any sleep and by tomorrow shall probably be walking around in a zombie like daze, but screw that, anyone got any good sites that will amuse me and keep me surfing till late into the night???????

Today I was blessed with an unexpected visit from my Grandad and his best friend, which would normally be fine if it wasnt half term and I wasnt burried in endless amounts of mess.

My grandfathers friend I have only met a few times and today I learnt a valuable lesson - Dont ask old people how they are, because it will result in a half an hour conversation (of time you cant really spare) of babble about their health resulting in a 'lets bash the NHS' moan. "Fine thanks" would have worked so much better for me.

And I absolutely object to any old people, who arnt related to us in anyway, refering themselves as 'uncle' to endear them to children. Kids arnt stupid you know - Whoever thought they are is very very mistaken.

And one last thing, it is not polite to visit someones house and pull the cats tail just because its long, pretty and fluffy. I am not wrong about this am I? Poor Posh the cat was horrified.

It was however nice to see my grandad, he doesnt really visit often enough and I love him to bits.

Dear family centre

Did you stop for one second to realise how your "Staff training day" would effect our lives today. I mean I dont mean to be picky but since you are only open three days a week for a measly four hours did it not occur to you to pick one of the other four days of the week to sit around discussing how well your doing? (What you call training)

Did it not also occur to you that during the school holidays your centre would be busier? I mean where is your sense.

Now I have to put up with two bored children for the rest of the day who are dissapointed that they have walked all the way over to you to find you closed. Four year olds dont really understand "staff training" as an excuse.

OMG I have heartburn from hell this morning - And I havent eaten anything yet so go figure. I must have drunk about three litres of water and have taken tablets. So now I am trying to occupy myself with anything until they kick in hence the blogging.

Anyone else notice that Blogger has been an absolute pain in the arse today?? Bet ya have.

I finally have peace from my lovely but very strange children, Ethan decided to kiss all his money goodnight (and as he has over £3 in small change that takes a while) He has an abnormal obsession with money and I have no idea how to curb it.

And Joanna has successfully finished her first playstation 2 game (Crash Bandicoot Tag team racing) which means she is itching for a new challenge and a new game (which is costly)

Myself I have decided its that time of year to crash diet again and I am back on the slimfast. Hubby has decided to embark on the challenge with me - only problem is he will stick to it and I will end up cursing him in a few weeks time (look out for the rant on here shortly)

Have to go and do a ton of Ebaying now - Have been putting it off all day.

So its all change around here, I guess after the last post I figured I should put a bit more effort in. Thanks to all who emailed me and thanks to family members (who shall remain nameless) who told other family members who then lectured me on why I should be thankful and yes they are right....I should be.

I am feeling much more cheerful now - especially today, because last night after a week in hiding, the wart on my face fell off. (cue laughter) Yes this may not seem like much to you but having a huge witch wart on your face for nearly a year does nothing for your confidence. You seen the Austin Powers film and the mole scene - Well that was me. So I bought some special stuff from USA (because my doctor refused to give me anything) and the end result is today it is gone. So now my sisters nickname for me (moleeeee) is history.

In other news my sister got a seventies style haircut (she made the error of letting my mother cut her hair) I discovered there are only nine weeks till we all go to USA and crap I havent got the kids passports yet, Ethan proved he was is hard as nails by not crying whilst getting his MMR (when I asked him how he was so brave he said it was because he couldnt possibly cry in front of three lady nurses!!!!) and finally Joanna has developed a disturbing addiction the the playstation and playing it for eight hours at a time - I am not sure if this is bad or good - I will get back to you.

I could spend ages apologising for not blogging but I am not gonna bother.

I am trying to cut back on the time I spend online - Otherwise I may just spend all of my thirties sat here as well. Call it a midlife crisis if you will but I am really restless at the moment - I am currently in the middle of compiling a top ten list of things to do before I die .... What does that say huh?

Its not intentional I dont intend to moan but I dont see my husband from one week to the next and whilst my children are in school all I have to do is pick up after them, sometimes it just seems pointless.

Soooo I am trying with all my resolve to be more proactive, But it all takes time. I am only changing small things at the moment and thats hard enough.

It will all be ok though because very soon easter will be here and I can eat tons of chocolate without needing an excuse!!!!

one down, just finished a 4500 word essay and now I have to start another. kicking myself for not getting done sooner. ah well.

Anyone heard of Tamagotchi's? Apparently they are fashionable again, so Joanna used her pocket money to go and buy one. I remember them being popular when my sisters were in school - didnt take them long to get banned then or now.

Thats all well and good but now I have to babysit the damn thing in the day, It beeps at me constantly if I dont give it attention, feed it, play with it and even wipe up its mess.

So today I left it in the car for 6 and a half hours. Well you can imagine the rest right??

So please join me in saying a prayer for Spot the tamagotchi, RIP.

I got tagged by Gabriela so here goes (sorry it took me so long to get around to it hun)

* Four Jobs you have had in your life...
Checkout assistant at Kwik Save (when I was in college)
Stock control manager.
Off licience manager.
Public House manager.

* Four Movies you could watch over and over...
Lord of the Rings
Star Trek
Waterboy
Pirates of the caribbean


* Four places you have lived...
Only ever lived in good old Wales


* Four TV Shows you love to watch...
Lost
The biggest Loser
Eastenders
The Simpsons

* Four places you have been on vacation...
Italy
Holland
Corfu
Seattle

* Four websites you visit daily...
Loud Ladies (my msn group)
Emails across the ocean (my sisters website)
Fairydust on Ebay(cos I work there)
The met office (because of my obsession with the weather)


* Four of your favorite foods...
Chocolate
Prawns
Chicken tikka
Chocolate

* Four places you would rather be right now...
Holidays
In Bed
In a nice big bubble bath
In thorntons (a choc shop)

* Four Bloggers you are tagging...
Natalie (cos she needs to update)
Jilly (cos I know these bug her)
and anyone else who wants to take part

Crap I am such a lazy cow. I have left it till the last minute yet again and now have three essays to get in that are far over due. I have no excuses (apart from being a full time mum) I always get to this point and wonder whether it would be easier just to drop out. Anyways if anyone has any deep and meaningful insight into shamanism (yes I said shamanism) please let me know

We all had a fantastic holiday although we must have been in the only part in the UK that it didnt snow. I love snow but for some reason I repel it - If I went to the North Pole it would melt. Hubby says its because I am hot stuff **sticks fingers down throat**

Joanna enjoyed her horse ride (and so she bloody should for £16 for 30 mins) although she was unimpressed when Byron the horse stopped to do his business lmao.

Gary did not enjoy the bike riding even though he went on and on and on about buying bikes before we went up there. Of course that may have had something to do with the fact that most of the park was up hill and he was pulling a trailor with both kids in (70lbs)

Ethan enjoyed terrorising all the little bunnies who had up until now had no need to fear human life.

I enjoyed the spa because it was quiet, involved no exercise and meant if I sweated long enough in the sauna's I may lose weight (I didnt though - gained 7 - Sulk)

It wasnt as depressing when we got home because its only 4 months until we go to America. But it was difficult to get out of bed this morning and get back into routine and a normal day - except its never a normal day, Ethan fell in the school yard and cut all his face before school, There was a reporter outside the school questioning people including me about stuff I dont know about because I was away and Ethan just threw up everywhere.

Holiday pics on the left :)

I cant believe we need soooo much stuff just to go away for 5 days. I cant believe it is taking so much organising and I cant believe my hubby (who moaned and moaned when I booked the holiday) is soooo excited. Big kids huh?

This will be the first break we have had since Ethan was 6 months old (4 now) - so its an exciting time for the kids too, They keep asking 'how many sleeps' which would be fine if it wasnt 3am.

It will be so nice for us all to spend some time together, I have the perfect idea of a holiday in my head but I know from experience it wont go like that and we will probably end up screaming at each other.

oh btw I had an excellent night out on my birthday, I had the worst hangover of my life on the Sunday.

Catch you all in a week bloggers. Au revoir x x x

OMG Today I hit the big 30 - I still feel like a teenager and tonight I shall probably act like one. I have had my hair done, my nails done. I have a new top and new jewelery and tonight I am off partying.

And tomorrow since the kids are staying at my mother in laws I wont be surfacing early. Bliss.

How inconsiderate - Nearly everyone of Ethans friends turned up at his birthday party costing me a whopping 115 quid. I mean surely some of them could have been 'busy' or 'sick' but noooo it seems little Ethan is quite popular.

That said you wouldnt think him smacking a school friend in the face with a bat yesterday would do his popularity any good but he was in fact the only one out of our family to get a Valentines card (yes a proper one at the ripe ole age of 4)

And yes thats right not a whiff of a card insight for me! But yes I am married now so perhaps I shouldnt expect. His excuse? I tell you I love you all the time - isnt that enough????? nuff said

We are going away in just under two weeks to center parcs I nearly needed a bank loan to pay for the holiday then I got my holiday planner back detailing the costs of everything else ..... and omg I think I am gonna have to pinch the crown jewels just to cover the costs of the first day there.

Saturday also looms - you know what happens Saturday? Apart from me going out with a few mates and having a few (ok more than a few) drinks. I dont care, really I dont. It doesnt bother me one bit....honest.