Back after the weekend then :-)

And what a weekend it was.

Friday In the morning I did some last minute food stuff while the children played with geomags. At lunchtime Lucy, R and R arrived with Em, R and E. We had lunch, Davies and Em’s R either remembered each other from camp or were struck by adoration at second sight as they were pretty much inseperable with Davies genuinely quite upset that they were not staying here for the night and were returning to Lucy’s instead. 🙂 We persuaded them outside with the bribe of ice lollies, tested whether Lucy’s R could carry off a pony tail in his long hair and Lucy attempted to perform non surgical cosmetic enhancement to him using micro tape, much to his big sister’s dismay and upset!

They left and the children and I had a quick whip round tidy up in preparation for the next lot of visitors. Chris arrived with SB and BB about half an hour before Katy and Becca so plenty more playing and chatting carried on inside and outside with BB almost but not quite able to join in with the older ones – won’t be long though 🙂 Ady arrived home and somehow we managed to get children asleep and adults fed. I think we were all in bed by about 11.30pm though.

Saturday Seemed fairly unchaotic in the morning actually. All probably due to Ady being so fantastic at just staying in the kitchen meeting everyone’s food and drink needs before they are even aware of them themselves ;-). Lucy arrived with Em and her two and I had made the last few bits of food (sandwiches) so Lucy and I did a couple of trips to the hall to set it all up with food and decorations, I dropped her home to collect her children and headed back to the house. Si, Layla and Claudia arrived, Ady, the children and I got changed and we headed off in convoy to the hall. We kept the children outside on the grass while we made the last few preparations to the venue, then we allowed them all in.

I lasted in my unfeasibly high heels for all of about half an hour and I spent most of that sitting down. 🙂

We had a complete guest list, which for a couple of cases where I’d been convinced people wouldn’t come was a very pleasant surprise. There were obvious gaps though and various people were missed 🙁 Davies seemed to spend most of the first hour and a half opening presents – I long since lost track of who gave him what and he appears not to have a clue either, but he does have a fantastic haul of ‘stuff’ so thank you very much indeed for all his gifts. 🙂 They are mostly still residing in Ady’s boot due to there not being a spare inch of house to cram them inside during most of the weekend. We’re planning a full day of exploring them properly and playing with them tomorrow. 🙂

With possibly only two exceptions none of the children seemed particularly interested in playing party games, so given I am an autonomous home educator it seemed a bit out of character to suddenly become anything other than an autonomous childrens’ party host. And to be honest, much though I have really enjoyed planning, organising and preparing for the party I am not really that keen on the being in charge once everyone is there – not to mention having totally the wrong disposition to deal with children – my own included – upset by not winning musical statues, judging who sat down first on musical bumps or being the one to stop the music in exactly the right place to ensure every child gets to unwrap a layer of pass the parcel. So ably assisted by Layla as judge and chief hand-over-your-eyes-spin-you-round person I managed possibly the worlds longest game of musical statues to the Wallace and Gromit music – interupted by a phone call from Ady :lol:, a pin the bow tie on Wallace game and a game created by Ady and I when drunkenly panicking about not having enough themed party games called The Wrong Trousers. We didn’t bank on quite what a mixed age and ability range we’d have, quite how many of the littler children would all want to be in Davies’ team and just how tricky it is tp count 21 participating children and organise them into 3 teams however so the setting up of the game lasted way longer than the game itself, but I do think it was a fair sequel to The Popcorn Game from Halloween. And it did spawn many a photo opportunity 😆

Ali then brought on the bubbles, which were such a hit at Freya’s party and I think may have gone down even better at Davies’. Thanks for that Ali 🙂 Ros did sterling work, assisted by Chris F the Milk Fetcher in providing second rounds of tea and coffees and there was a veritable army of helpers for tidying up the hall and returning it to it’s usual ‘glory’. Top mention has to go to Bob and Katy’s Libby for her carpet sweeping :-).

I think anyone who didn’t live locally came back to our house, the children made full use of the garden, those who got there first made full use of the limited sofa seating, various men were sent out for alcohol and made lots of drinks for people, Ady returned to his rightful place in the kitchen and produced a steady stream of toasted sandwiches, leftover party food and Katy’s baking. When darkness fell a beauty salon appeared to have been set up in Tarly’s room, with a parade of beautiful little girls made all sparkly, glitterly, sticky and scented. Oh and Davies, who appeared to have been the modern day equivalent of the Girls World head and shoulders model I wanted for Christmas when I was about 7! Must take that pearly pink nail varnish off him before he goes to Badgers later tonight! 🙄 😆

I confess to having a quiet hour closeted away with Layla and Kirsty while we got Tarly to sleep and chatted as I was pretty much hostessed out by that point. Then as wherever you sat in our house on Saturday night you were in ‘someone’s’ bedroom we all headed off to bed.

Sunday A lovely lazy morning with lots of chatting and enjoying the last of Katy’s baking as we waved goodbye to Katy and Becca, then Barbara and co and then Bob and Katy leaving just Kirsty and James with us. Despite the temptation to just sit around for the day being very strong we roused ourselves and drove down to a local beach. Slightly further than the one at the bottom of our road but slightly prettier and with the added attraction of a lagoon. The children played on the rocks, got wet and enjoyed the last of the summer sunshine, Ady and James also played on the rocks and took lots of photos, Kirsty and I sat on the pebbles and chatted – and looking at the photos I mostly frowned ;-), then we had an ice cream. 🙂

Home again via the local airport where we’d hoped to play football and watch some planes and helicopters, but lack of green area (all being used by the fairground which is due to set up ready for a massive airshow next weekend) and very tired children, drove us home again. Pizza for the children’s tea and then they defied our predictions that they’d all fall asleep really quickly and were awake for ages, I cooked a curry, which the other three complimented with Bob and Katy’s chickpea and veggie dish, we watched a US musicians show on one of the cable music channels which had us all reminiscing and laughing about childhood and teen years before turning in for yet another early night.

Today Ady was up and off to work long before any of the rest of us surfaced and we had a leisurely morning with Davies, Scarlett, Marcus and Alex playing and watching Charlie and Lola. They all left late morning headed the same way as at least one other set of houseguests – in the direction of Ros’ shop. The children have played with geomags, watched films and done plenty of tired whinging while I have done several loads of washing, attempted to exercise patience and caught up online. Davies is back to Badgers again today and I am going out for a meal with my Mum this evening (bad timing really, as I could do with a quiet evening and an early night far more!).