Schools Runs and stuff

We are settling into a good routine at the Silverwoods. Weekdays are a succession of school runs with a short spell of peace in between, especially in the rain when the older 2 girls get lifts they would not normally get because Dad offered. It does not seem to have stopped raining since the offer. Even today Dad was just about to shear the sheep-like fleece off of Maxwell, when Max did a superb rain-dance and brought down so much rain that using electric clippers out doors would have been a bit hazardous.

Weekends are for 'activities' for children and events like parties. The girls all go to baton-twirling on Saturday morning and on the most recent one there was a Birthday party for neighbour Emma (11) which involved hired in bouncy castles in a Sports Hall at the school. Impressive towering bouncy castles these. The children were all ages from babes in arms up to 'older sisters' of some of the same-age party-goers, so Em-J was there along with J-M Silverwood, one of Emma's "best mates". J-M then also had a sleep-over at Emma's.

For the grown-ups the main entertainment was painting three rooms using an electric pumped-paint roller thing called a Dulux paint pod, which Mrs S has said "we" can borrow for the Roscommon house when we get to the painting stage. The main plan was to get the two rooms which have had new floors fitted painted before Tommo-the-Builder returns to do the skirting boards, thus saving the job of cutting in round the new boards.

Having got themselves onto a roll, however, they didn't stop, but carried on into the kitchen. This involved a fair amount of clearing space at the walls so that painters could walk about and stand on chairs and thus generated a bit of tidying up. The gang started the work at about midday after a good fried breakfast done by Mr S, but then Mr S had to skedaddle on yet another taxi-run with No. 1 son, so Mrs S and Dad carried on assisted by Em-J on the roller and J-M on the brushes.

The two little ones had been given "Magic paint" (an empty tub) and brushes and their own bit of wall to paint to keep them quiet. Dad thought this "Emperor's clothes" solution would never work but the two little ones got really into it coming back every now and then for more paint, asking grown ups for an opinion of how good their work looked, washing the (non-existent) paint off their hands and even complaining later that they were tired from all the painting. Kept them amused for hours while the grown-ups got on with painting. Didn't work quite so well at the end when the walls had real new wet paint on them, so that kids with dry brushes, on a mission, might still make a mess, but by then M was out with Mr S and little R had moved on to other things. In the last knockings, Em-J disappeared for a bath and was then given the two little ones to bath too! Stitched up.

By 20:30 everyone was tired from the decorating and then tidying away and Mrs S phoned out for pizza. The pizza arrived bigger than two feet across and accompanied by buffalo wings, 2 types of garlic cheesy bread, chicken dips, chips, coca cola and Mars flavoured ice cream.

Get in there!

Deefs

Deefs

School Runs

Sorry we've done no pictures lately, but we still have a mess of 'junk' in the car and only part of the contents of the C4 are moved indoors. We are all settling into the Silverwood routine now here, with 'school mornings' filled with readying the little ones for school, getting some breakfast into them, making sure they have clothes, lunches, school bags etc. and getting them there. This will all be familiar stuff to anyone with children of their own, of course, but it's all 'different' and a bit exciting to us.

Dad is loving having something real to do after the stir-crazy inducing Pud Lady's routine and being properly helpful again. Mrs S is laid low with flu-ey symptoms, head aches and snuffling, sustained by cups of tea so she's not about to turn down the offer of taxi runs and shopping missions. Also, no-one has yet asked him to play them at Scrabble, which is a major bonus!

The local dogs are growing up fast - when Dad last saw Maxwell he was a boisterous 6 month old and Lily a tiny slip of a pup, just barely old enough to leave Mum. Coco the Yorkie was older but is very slightly built. Now Maxwell is coming up to full size, is a bit less mad but is now bigger than Coco and starting to think like the alpha-male. Their normal home is a nice comfy kennel on the decking in the back yard, around which is a wooden paling ranch fence, through which Coco can still slip if Maxwell gets a bit too much. Lily, being female does not get duffed up by Max but likes a good bark on occasions, so you generally know they are about. We've been out there a few times to say hello, but we are happy to stay 'indoor dogs'.

Ah well. Tommo the Builder is back in today laying laminate in the hall way, with his lad Owen. The two of them are chatting away in the hall among the clatter of sheets of laminate and the occasional rattle of the jig saw. Toddler R (now 4) follows Tommo round like a shadow up till the point one of the power tools start up. She doesn't like that noise so retreats to the kitchen with a pained expression till the saw stops and she can go back into admiring Tommo again.

Happy Days

Deefs