Ben’s room, Catie’s room

All our children are growing up 🙂

Yesterday we had a lovely day at FabBabs with Kirsty, James, Marcus and Alex coming over too. The kids all played, outside for ages and ages, until after it got dark. We kept peeking at them all six younger ones on the trampoline together, mostly sprawled out chatting rather than bouncing. Later after they’d eaten they played on the Wii together, dancing to the point of opening windows and stripping off to thinner layers to cool off and then sitting down to sing along to the words together. So funny listening to seven voices singing Take On Me and Video Killed the Radio star drifting in from the next room.

Our family have spent the last week all sleeping in Ben’s room – Ady and I on the bottom of a triple sleeper, Davies above and Scarlett on a z bed. It suits us to all be in together and I think the seperate rooms from other children has played a part in maintaining the fabulous harmony of all the kids this week. It’s interesting to start making observations about the child based on their space though. Ben’s bookshelf is full of such very ‘Ben’ books – dinosaurs, science, whole series of kids books all arranged in numerical order. There is ‘that’ dinosaur picture from the very first secret santa at Christmas camp (down stairs in the lounge is a thank you picture painted by Davies in response to a birthday present from Ben when Davies was five – small pieces of evidence in a friendship already spanning over half their lives). Chargers for consoles trailing across the desk, DS games cases on another shelf. Science kits and two identical boxes of sea monkeys – I have a feeling one of them may have been a gift from us one birthday. A reminder on the wipeclean board to ‘watch Crocodile Dundee’. There are relics of childhood already passed – the Thomas duvet cover that is now a spare rather than the main choice, cuddly toys gathering dust under the bed a la Jessie from Toy Story 2. There isn’t a pair of dungarees hanging up in one of those box picture frames but I can imagine one in my own head 🙂 😉

After Kirsty & James had gone yesterday Babs and Chris won in the challenges to ‘Actually Find a Film That Nic Likes’ and brought out ‘Catch me if you can‘. I’d never even heard of the film before (looking at the date I guess that’s reasonable, I’d have been in newborn and toddler haze then, I’ve never been a big cinema goer and I suspect the last film with a non U rating I saw at the cinema was probably Saving Private Ryan!) but I do adore Tom Hanks so would have given it a go on his appearance in it alone. It was excellent – if you’ve not seen it, then do 🙂

That took us to well past everyone else in bed o’clock and explains my lack of blogging as I went to bed too.

This morning I was mostly being entertained by the suggestion of applying for a nursery school teachers job on Rum 😆

We had very delicious beetroot soup for lunch and then after a false start forgetting Ady’s phone (probably the only thing we simply could not really have decided to do without until the weekend) and calling Babs back to let us back in to get it we finally arrived at Jan & Jonathan’s.

The usual warm welcome, a very delicious dinner and plenty of playing on the Wii here for the kids and chatting to J&J for us later we are all in Catie’s bedroom. I don’t know Catie as well as I know Ben but I’m loving the peek into her world from being invited to sleep in her bedroom – and there is a ‘guest book’ and ‘tourist attractions’ set up in here to enjoy 🙂 Posters on the walls demonstrate the interest in ocean and marine life as do seashells, dolphin figures and a nautical themed clock. Sketches and artwork show Catie’s creative side and the little notes and captions on things show her sense of humour, as does the list of ‘rules’ pinned to the front of the door.

Giving my children their own bedrooms, their own space to create a little world all of their own, to express themselves and control their surroundings again is one of the things I am most excited about happening in the coming weeks. The saying ‘home is wherever we are’ is very true but it will be lovely for it to be an actual destination to return to aswell as carried around with us at all times. I’ve been proud of our children these few weeks – I don’t expect them to be grateful for the beds they’ve been given, that’s our job, Ady and me but they have said please and thank you and praised meals given to them, not because they have manners or because they know it impresses people but because they are genuinely grateful for the effort that has gone into the meals and the providing of the food. We are carrying our own pillows with us and laying our heads down on the same pillows that we slept on in our house over a year ago resting on our actual beds, that travelled all around the country with us in Willow for the last year and are now touching down on mattresses, camping mats and floors in the homes of family and friends means we rest and sleep well wherever we may be.

Scarlett said to me today that she loves being snuggled up safe and warm somewhere cosy when it’s cold and grey outside. I feel this bodes well for a life on Rum ;). Tonight as we snuggle up in the top room of the house the wind is buffeting the house and raindrops are falling against the windows. I’m looking forward to the walls keeping us warm and dry very soon being our own home.