children

3rd Time Lucky?!

Posted on by Libby Price

Today is piglet number 3’s first day at school! Well, I say day, it’s actually 2 hours and 20 minutes – but it’s her first proper foray into reception. Here she is looking very grown up and proud:

P1010901

She has the same reception teacher who taught the older 2 – and the teacher is in for a bit of a shock – as she is very different to her elder siblings!! We can look forward to our first parent’s evening (unfortunately at our first parent’s evening with the same teacher for the boy, the teacher was bent over in a cupboard as we walked into the classroom – husband commented ‘nice arse – shame about the face’!  Yep – I was really proud that evening……..)

But back to reception starting – and the big difference for number 3 child, is that she is entitled to the new Government scheme of free hot meals for all.  Lots of people have been chuffed with this – saving them the £2.20 per day it would otherwise cost (or the faff of making packed lunches each day) – but I have to say I think it’s ridiculous.  We could easily afford the cost – and surely there are better things that the cash strapped local authorities could spend money on?  I realise that some children don’t eat properly – and addressing that is fine – but the broad brush of ‘everyone’ seems a bit mad.  My daughter?  Kai Rooney?  Harper Beckham next September?!  My husband was entitled to free school meals as a child as his parents didn’t have much cash – and then, as now, there could be a stigma attached to this – so maybe extending the scheme to more people would have been sensible – but everyone??  Perhaps people claiming child benefit (although let’s face it, that is also a controversial cut off – but a line has to be drawn in the sand anyway!)?

As well as the fact that people who can afford dinners are being given them for free – there are also the practical issues for the schools – many don’t have the canteens to make the food, or the space for all of the children to sit down to eat them – so we will see how they cope.

For me it was seen as a vote winner and is political posturing that hasn’t been properly thought through at all.

It would appear that my poor 3rd child’s start at school has been hijacked by me having a rant – but then with the title of this blog being ‘This Price is Usually Right’ I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened sooner!!

New school daze…….

Posted on by Libby Price

So – in the next few days we have 3 of the 4 children starting new schools – all a bit of a new school daze here!!!

Today children 1 and 2 have their ‘first days’. For number 2 this shouldn’t be too much of a stress – he’s moving from First School to Middle School which is in the same building, and all of his friends are moving too. Some other First Schools feed in, so the classes will be bigger (yet more potential girlfriends – he is his father’s son after all!), but it shouldn’t be too much of a change. I am slightly concerned that he’ll now be responsible for his own homework / planning etc – and even getting him to do his reading in First School was a battle – but hopefully he will rise to the challenge – we shall see!

(And looking at the photo of his first day at First School – it was buying that first pair of his school trousers that caused me to weep in M&S in Redditch and decide we needed more children!  It was them that caused the vasectomy reversal and extra 2 children!!!)

First day at first school - cheeky chap!
First day at first school – cheeky chap!
First day at Middle school
First day at Middle school

For eldest daughter it’s all a bit more complicated. Husband had wanted the kids to go to private school from day one – but I have dug my heels in saying I would prefer for them to go to the village schools, where we can walk to school and they can build a friendship group of people in the village. This is totally what’s happened – and the support network to us all as a family of other village families is fabulous, However, I’d always said we’d reconsider at 11. In our bit of Worcestershire we have the Middle School system – so she could have stayed in the village for another 2 years – but this was the best time to move her, if that was to be the plan. She did AMAZINGLY well in all of her 11+ and entrance exams – passing for the local grammar school (where I went, and husband’s first wife went, there’s a whole other post in that one day?!), the high-flying academic private school in the middle of Birmingham, got a scholarship for another all girls private school in Solihull – and in the end is going to a small all girls school in Droitwich. The dealings we’ve had with them so far have been great – and everyone I know with girls there is really happy. She can go on the train every day (eek!) and be more independent. She is beyond excited.

First day at first school
First day at first school
First day at Senior school
First day at Senior school

How quickly they grow up…………

2007
2007
2014!
2014!

(It was the boy’s idea to recreate this – honest!!)

This post is for this week’s ‘The Photo Gallery’  topic of school over on The Sticky Fingers Blog. Pop across and see what other people have posted (and weep at their photos too!!)

 
Sticky Fingers Photo Gallery

Cooking mama

Posted on by Libby Price

On Saturday I was hoping to be able to do a blog post about a fabulous family day out – but a stinking headache for me first thing (not a hangover may I add – no, honestly!) and an evil wasp sting on the husband mid morning meant a day at home instead.

So in the afternoon I made apple crumble ready for Sunday lunch with the parentals today – and one to pop in the freezer (domestic goddess that I am!). I had ‘help’ from the odd numbered children (whilst children 2 and 4 played Minecraft and slept respectively – to be honest the first would induce the second for me, but children seem to LOVE it!)

Baking 1

The 4 year old was chief ‘rub-er in-er’ – and as you can see was VERY proud!  And, surprisingly, she did a really good job.  Usually she gets bored before all the butter has been rubbed in – but not on this occasion.

The eldest did all of the weighing.  I’d told her the ‘half fat to flour’ rule – and that the sugar needed to be the same as the fat.  Now the fat wasn’t the 150g I’d suggested – but 163g – so we even had a bit of a maths lesson at the same time!

Baking 2

 

I assisted with the apple peeling (or we may still have been doing it whilst making the Christmas cake later in the Autumn!!)

Baking 3

 

They were very chuffed with their finished results (so much so they were dancing about and the photo is blurred!)

 

Baking 4

So no exciting day out to report – but 2 very excited girls who very much enjoyed cooking with me (and a husband was was visibly shocked I’d done actual cooking with the children when he got up from his post traumatic nap!)

We had happy customers at lunchtime today when the crumble went down very well with Nanny and Grandad too!

 

 

A Daisy shaped hole (for 6 sleeps)

Posted on by Libby Price

This week the eldest has gone on International Guide Camp.  There are 800 Guides there from all over the world – their field has girls from Denmark, Hong Kong and Australia  and the location of this exotic camp – is 2 miles up the road!!  This is actually a great plan (mostly for the husband – who would be even more stressed if she was in another country) for her first trip away – and the fact that she’s with her lovely Guide pack friends – and that the leaders are 2 Mums from the village that I know and trust – means all in all, it’s fine.  Honestly….

 Price Family November 2013-6127

But….

It just feels weird with one of us missing and there ‘only’ being 5 of us.

Price Family November 2013-6090

Admittedly the bickering is loads less (she and her brother know exactly which buttons to press to wind each other up) but she’s my right hand woman.  She is BRILLIANT with her little sisters, and helps me so much with them.  I also keep seeing things (loom band models on Facebook, news stories about One Direction) that I want to share with her – and I can’t.  I can’t even text her or email her as it was a strict NO PHONES rule.  She’s now 11 and spending time with her is (mostly!) a joy.  Going shopping with just her is now a fun trip (throw in the other 3 and it all gets a bit stressful still!) and I really enjoy her company.

Yes – we still have our moments:

Getting her to wash her hair and music practice being the key areas for ‘discussion’.  Recently I was helping her with her aural for her Grade 2 piano exam.  One section involves identifying whether a piece of music is in 2 or 3 time – so basically a march or a waltz.  She watches Strictly – surely she should be able to hear this?  But seemingly not.  It all got a bit heated and I ranted ‘SURELY YOU CAN HEAR IT’S A F*CKING MARCH’ – which pretty much sums up why despite having my Grade 8 I have never been a piano teacher………

But most of the time I am super proud of my kind, caring, beautiful, clever, thoughtful, talented (she did pass the piano exam!) and loving first born.

Thankfully the no phones means she can’t read this and be mortified!!

Every night at bedtime the 4 year old asks ‘How many sleeps until we can get Daisy back?’ – and I think we all feel the same.  Roll on Saturday morning when we can pick her up (and no doubt by Saturday lunchtime I’ll have moaned at her at least once – so will need to re read this post!!)

To blog or not to blog……

Posted on by Libby Price

Some time ago – in the thing called ‘The Real World’ – Running Rufus said to me that my living of my life through Facebook amused her immensely – and I should write a book! This ignited a long held (but repressed) desire to write.  I’m an accountant by trade – I do numbers, I don’t do words (well, apart from correcting the grammar of everything I read in my day to day life , my reputation as a grammar pedant is far spread , which gives added pressure to anything I do write!!) 

I suspect everyone thinks they have a book in them (not literally – although after 4 kids perhaps not totally physically impossible?!) – but isn’t that like property development – easier in your imagination than reality (said through gritted teeth and a ‘non Kevin McCloud , no living in a caravan, nor having a baby during the process – but still hideous overspend on the budget’ type way)? 

It’s all well and good baring your soul on social media at any given time (so much so that the consultant upped the levels on the oxytocin drip during the birth of piglet number 4 as he couldn’t believe my contractions were strong enough if I could still tweet and post to Facebook during the latter stages of labour) but actually writing a book – that’s a frightening commitment.… 

So maybe a blog would be the way forward?  Find my inner voice? See how it’s received?  But when / how / where?  My husband already thinks I spend FAR too much time on social media and trying to be ‘down with the kids’ (although by writing that phrase I have pretty much proved that I’m not!)  If I was to spend any more time sharing family secrets whilst secreted away in my office and not partaking in family activities – it could result in a divorce.  Although that would involve him filling in forms – and given I fill in every form that comes here for him (in the past week that’s been a speeding fine and congestion charge penalty notice) I could be on safe ground. 

But what to blog about?  

The 4 children (and the 2 vasectomies and 1 vasectomy reversal that brought some of them about)?

The 5 stone weight gain babies 3 and 4 in quick succession (and associated addiction to frappuccinos, steak and vegetable paninis and rocky road) brought about and the never ending quest to lose this whilst also consuming vast quantities of gin and tonic and cake – or on a particularly lucky day gin and tonic cake? 

The construction company that’s now the day job – yes, I’m a hairy arsed builder – which leads me on to the husband’s waxing experience whilst we were recently on holiday, segway-ing into holidays ‘sans’ and with children – and back to those pesky kids again….. 

So lots of scope for blogging, not much time for it, to blog or not to blog – that is the question…………