Saturday was an earlier start than I’d have liked really with my Dad arriving just before 9am. Everyone else was already up though I think we’d all have been better with a bit more sleep. Davies was being all pathetic and floppy on the sofa but I decided it was tiredness alone and nothing more sinister so kept insisting he had plenty to eat and drink and refused to let him wallow.
It was raining on and off all day so no chance of reducing the laundry mountain so I sat and chatted to Dad instead. Scarlett did some melted wax crayon art (a bit like painting but with really intense colours) and Davies did some drawing, a lot of DSing and plenty more lolling about.
Dad stayed for lunch and then finally headed off about 2pm. Ady made some potato salad and I made some pesto pasta to take with us then we all got changed ready to go to Tasha and Ryan’s wedding reception. Ever since I met Tasha (over 2 years ago now) she has talked about her plans for her wedding reception and how she wanted it to be like a village fete – in a field, with straw bales to sit on, oil drum barbecues, bottles of drink in ice filled tin baths, food contributions from all her friends, home made bunting, lit by candles as it got dark, everyone camping overnight and a load of mismatched old lady style crockery, bone handled cutlery and an eclectic mix of glasses. She was going to wear a Corpse Bride dress designed by one of her mates and made by another and a big pair of knee high, tartan lined DM boots.
It sounded fabulous, utterly, utterly Tasha and that was exactly what it was. 🙂
The rain didn’t matter as everyone was in wellies or DMs anyway, the music pumped out via a mix tape played on a big old stereo, the wedding ‘cake’ was a huge stand crammed with loads of gorgeous purple iced cupcakes with blue glitter, the kids went off to play in the woods and the tree house, the sound of ducks, chickens, geese and turkeys came across the fields and when it got dark the marquee was transformed by hundreds of tea lights and candles and some friends doing fire and glow-in-the-dark poi and staff displays.
I’ll drop some pics in when they had finished uploading to flickr.
We decided not to camp in the end as we were simply camped out, the kids were really tired and likely to crash and burn and we all felt just one night in our own beds hadn’t quite been enough so we waited until Davies and Scarlett started to edge closer to us and become a bit demanding before calling home time, it was about 930pm. It was a really magical gathering; we’d taken food, drink and many candles and it was lovely to be part of the whole event. Tasha’s dress was gorgeous and it was fab to be at a wedding that was so much about the bride and groom rather than what everyone else expected (rather similar to our own really, I even wore the same bright red shrug I’d worn to my own wedding reception as it matched my boots 🙂 )
Back home the kids had some toast and then went off to bed while I dredged my memory to start blogging the week and gave up and went to bed too.
Sunday was the lie in we’d all needed – even Ady slept til 9am 😯 I was more like 1030am and felt all the better for it.
I finished blogging and then as Ady had invited my parents over for dinner and we had a huge joint of pork I decided to cook it really slowly and got dinner on. Cooking it for so long meant the rest of the dinner took lots of moving about but was worth it.
Scarlett and I went to the CoOp as we needed some butter and she was fretting about not having got him anything for his birthday yet. She chose him some chocolates and wants to pick something else up for him tomorrow so we’ll try and nip into Lancing in the morning for her to do that.
Davies was feeling much better and both kids spent a fair bit of time outdoors. Saying goodbye to the chickens and ducks is going to prove very difficult indeed for Scarlett. I know she will get over it quick enough and we’ll be around plenty more birds but this will be a big deal for her and I’m trying to work out the best way to handle it, whether talking about it lots now so it becomes commonplace or whether to keep quiet about it and let her process it her own way is best.
I also sewed up (loosely, by hand, with tacking sort of stitch) the fleeces we have been covering the sofas with on two of my cushions that keep slipping down and looking scruffy. I have a big long mental list of things I need to get done and they were on it and therefore taunting me while I sat around on top of them not doing other things on my list ;). So that shut them up!
Davies and Scarlett polished and then laid the table (which reminded me that one of my Sunday morning jobs in my parents restaurant was stripping the tables of the place mats, side plates, knives, forks, spoons, sugar bowls, napkins, salt and peppers and fancy glass stoppered vinegar bottles to clean and polish them before relaying them. I used to really enjoy that switching off task, finding quicker and more efficient ways to gather stuff up and stack it and lay it back out again. It was really theraputic and I did it from the age of about 14 to about 18 so covered a lot of teenage angst working through ground – oh how I shudder at the thought of some of the dilemmas I faced then, along with smiling indulgently at the ones which felt like a big deal at the time but turned out to be nothing in the grand scale of things…).
I finished sorting out dinner, my parents arrived and sat down with the kids while Ady came out to help me serve up and we all ate. Mum had brought over a pudding but not looked at the packaging which advised 3-4 hours defrosting at room temperature but she’d shoved it back in her freezer at home. I felt like a bitch afterwards for pointing it out, she must feel like she never does anything right in my eyes :(. Dinner was nice, Davies told my parents all about the Sleepout and then they did their usual trick of staying way past the logical leaving time despite me having said on the phone earlier we didn’t want a late night – dinner was at 630pm, they left at 1030pm. I think it’s really hitting them that we’re going and Mum particularly is trying really hard to be good with the kids, hopefully they will make the next six months really count and we will see them over the course of the year anyway.
So Mum and Dad finally gone, kids finally asleep and me finally caught up on blogging. Woohoo and into yet another busy week.