Our life has been really fast paced recently, mostly because of our ongoing kitchen renovation. It will definitely be worth it, but the early mornings and late nights have been really hard. Ava has suffered from night terrors all the way through too, maybe because of the upheaval.
Our kitchen has had a complete replaster, with new ceiling, electrics, and lighting. At our worst point, for about a week we had no kitchen and couldn’t use our living room either as it was full of our new kitchen appliances and units!
Most of the work that is left is cosmetic and the finishing touches, so we are finally getting some normality back. We really wanted to spend more time quality time with the children. I have felt so guilty over the last month, and they have all being so good occupying themselves and at some points entertaining their younger siblings when we were busy.
We have been so busy the end of term has snook up on us! It’s hard to believe that another school year is almost over, and harder to believe that in September Amy will start her school journey by entering the reception class, and Ava will spend two days in the schools 2-year-old preschool. Leaving me childfree for two whole days. My first child free time in almost 8 years!
Celebrating Sports Day
The real mark of the end of the summer term for me, is sports day. Our school put siblings in the same team (which was awesome!) They James and Lily were in the yellow team, but still found time to wind each other up! Amy celebrated her sports day on a different day with the nursery children. She took it all in her stride and won 3 of her four races, but simply sat back down on the mat and was just happy to take part!
Celebrating the end of school (well almost!)
James and Lily have left their old classrooms for the last time. They will spend the next two weeks of school in their new class, getting to know their new classroom, peers, and new teachers. I am so happy that our brand-new school has decided to handle the transition this way, leaving the children two weeks to settle and hopefully avoid all those nerves that come with starting a new class after a six week holiday! James seems to take everything in his stride, but Lily doesn’t find transitions easy and has found our kitchen renovation really hard.
We promised James that he could choose somewhere to eat as a celebration of finishing his SATS a few weeks ago. Our kitchen renovation then got underway and we just didn’t find the time so we decided this would be a good weekend. In fact the last three weekends we haven’t really ‘done’ anything other than focus on the kitchen, so quality time together was really appreciated!
James chose Pizza Express, a good choice because we have never visited before (which I am shocked to admit!) We absolutely loved our pizza, and the dough balls were a hit with the children too. It was nice to see how family friendly they were, they were happy to provide hats, crayons and an activity booklet with stickers for the children.
Visiting the park
The park at our local designer outlet is pretty awesome. It’s all under cover and has two sections aimed at the younger and older children. Ava is at the perfect age where she can climb and play confidently on the toddler equipment and is slowly learning to take turns!
This is my favorite photo of the moment. I love Ava’s expression and how happy Amy is to see her sister having fun!
Amy is also at the perfect age to master the older equipment confidently, last time we visited (last September for school shoes) she needed help climbing and was getting really upset with herself because she desperately wanted to join in with James and Lily. This time she was confidently climbing, swinging and exploring on her own, while James and Lily chased each other around.
Time to live slowly
The best part of the last few days has been the slower pace. We have had time to let Ava balance (below) and to let the girls use the escalator. We didn’t have to say no because we had to rush onto the next thing. This has left time to enjoy the little things in life, and resulted in a much more laid back parents!
With the summer holidays on the horizon, I really cannot wait for some slower mornings and later nights. With no rush to leave the house on a morning, and with more relaxed bedtimes so we can spend that little extra time enjoying the children. Although with four children at home for six weeks, we will definitely still need some bedtime structure so myself and Mr T can have ‘us’ time!
And their favorite part of our day?
The last 10 minutes of the day before we drove home, where I put the camera away and we all played ‘tag’. It really is the simple things!
I am joining Katie at MummyDaddyMe and Donna at Whattheredheadsaid for #TheOrdinaryMoments
