Today was a good day!!
To all my fellow Canadian mums or moms, you are awesome no matter how it’s pronounced!
I hope your day has been as lovely as mine, & you were spoilt & pampered by your offspring.
My boys were queuing at the bedroom door at 8am very excited to present me with a large bucket of tea & gifts.
First came the very personal hand made gifts from school that are always special. Elder child had written a poem that he wrote out on card & help up in a photograph of himself. The words were lovely & the photo was a particularly good one of him. I will proudly hang it in my craft room. Younger child had made a large card with many kind things written inside about my cooking & crafting. That was accompanied by a tin can (that I saw him helping himself to from the recycling last week) he’d cover in pieces of coloured paper & glazed. It has made the perfect pencil pot for my grown up colouring pencils. Then there was the special mysterious gift they all disappeared off to purchase last weekend…
It was quite a big box that made an odd rattling sound when I moved it slightly. Wrapped in bright green foil paper with a teal coloured bow it was already perfect (some of my most favourite colours). I’m one of those people that likes to take their time opening gifts – I’m not a ripper! I opened the ends carefully, occasionally glancing at the boy’s faces; the look of excitement & anticipation was all part of the joy for me. When I finally opened the paper to reveal their thoughtful gift I saw why they where so eager to have me open it…
LEGO!!! Finally, I have the VW camper van. I can build it all on my own, & nobody can say ‘no mum you can’t help, it is mine’, it’s exactly the opposite – IT’S MINE… ALL MINE!!! I haven’t started it yet but now they are in bed the night is young.
They then made me breakfast – eggs & toast. We iChatted to the grandparents, then hubby walked the dog with younger child while I pottered in my craft room (my leg is really bothering me today or I would have loved a family walk in the forest). It was then out for an early dinner at one of my favourite restaurants downtown, we were even lucky enough to get a patio seat (Joe Fortes has one of the best, if not thee best, patios in Vancouver & are super kid friendly). We all enjoyed a beautiful meal & enormous desserts, it couldn’t have been more perfect.
I’m really one very lucky mum!!
Oh I do love sunny Saturday mornings. You wake up at some ridiculous hour (when hubby disappears in head to toe lycra for a ride), the sun streaming in through the curtains, & you discover it’s only 6am! I can turn over & snooze for another couple of hours.
08.30 – Just me & the kids for breakfast. Elder child has a hockey game so we fed Boris (the imaginary tapeworm for anyone new reading) waffles, berries & maple syrup.
09.15 – I was just about to shower when a rather sweaty hubby returned. We quickly discussed a plan of action for the day & I left him to feed his own tapeworm.
11.00 – We decided that I’m not going to watch the hockey game. Today he was playing in goal & it was all the way over on the north shore. I had a mountain of laundry to do (& tomorrow is Mother’s day so there will be a strike), the dog needed a walk, & my body was craving a stretch out.
12.30 – I get a text from hubby, younger child took all his gear just in case they were short of a player & they were. I knew he would be absolutely made up by this even though he’d be playing with & against some kids 3-4 years older than him.
14.30 – By the time they all returned I’d done 3 loads of laundry, a pilates routine, walked the dog, watered the garden, made chocolate strawberries for dessert, hung the hammocks up outside & chilled out in the garden for half an hour reading my book! Younger child had thoroughly enjoyed playing a proper game & apparently did really well. Elder child let in 3 goals & declared he was a useless goalie & it was also boring!
15.30 – Hubby took him out on his road bike so he could let off some steam. Meanwhile, younger child had me (now Wonder Woman) up in their playhouse hammering nails into the wood so they could hang all their (plastic) Black & Decker tools up & make it into a workshop.
16.15 – I now need a glass of something pink & a lie down. The bikers return & of course are starving (yes I know this is hard to believe but true), so I fire up the barbi & open a bottle of rosé.
17.00 – Yells of distress from the garden, the hammock elder child was sat in has dumped him on the concrete. I know he’s a drama queen but I genuinely think he’s hurt himself this time. Tylenol & Advil for his dessert then.
17.15 – Everyone is full of ribs & chocolate strawberries, & we are basking on our sunny patio – I love, love, LOVE this weather!
18.00 – I help elder child finish his Mother’s day card – odd I know but I don’t trust him to use all my stuff on his own, & at least this way I get to have some say what I get.
20.00 – Tired boys are in bed, the dog is patrolling the fence & warning off falling leaves, hubby is reading in a hammock (interestingly not the one he just re-hung after the earlier drama), & we each have a glass of something pink.
CHEERS!!
08.30 – YAY! A sleep in!
10.00 – Hubby & elder child have disappeared off on their shiny bikes wearing smart new lycra. Younger child & I are going to build BB8, R2D2 & C3PO – a book he bought with his pocket money at the school book fair. He had done quite a lot himself but they are just made of strong cardstock with flaps & slots to hold them in place – quite tricky for a 7 year old to do. We set up in my craft room & begin.
11.00 – We have built BB8 & put a joint of beef in the oven to roast.
12.00 – We have almost completed R2, attended to the beef & prepared the potatoes.
12.40 – R2 is finished, the potatoes are roasting & the beef is almost done.
13.00 – Hungry smelly bikers return after 33kms & elder child didn’t fall off once. They also saw some friends from school & caught the tail end of the emergency services clearing up after a hit & run. Slightly more eventful than our morning in the craft room!
13.30 – We are sitting down to a proper Sunday lunch for the first time ever – I think (we normally have this at about 5pm). Elder child declares war on the chef because she forgot to buy Yorkshire puddings!
14.30 – I abandon hubby with all the dishes to head to the hospital to have a CT scan of both my knees this time.
15.00 – I arrive bang on time. No need to get changed because my cropped pants will roll up – even better. However, in the process of doing this in front of the radiographer (a guy, of course it was a guy) I discover that I must have dropped chocolate into my lap when eating my dessert. I large blob of melted chocolate was sitting between my legs in an embarrassing spot! I scoop a bit off & lick my finger announcing that it’s definitely chocolate. He did not find this amusing. The scan takes all of 2 minutes & I’m on my way home.
16.15 – We all sit down to play Cluedo, a game the boys only just learnt yesterday at our friend’s house. Considering they are not quite tuned into listening what is being said beyond their own turn, they didn’t do too badly. There was also gin involved.
17.30 – I make 2 Spiderman cards for a birthday party younger child is attending next weekend, while the boys get bathed & pj’s on early so daddy can finish reading the Narnia book to them.
19.00 – I organise everyone’s life for school, work & the morning boot camp routine.
19.30 – I thought getting ready for bed early meant that they should be in bed by now, but hubby is still reading.
19.45 – I gently remind him of the time, & he promises he’s nearly finished. They are going to be disgusting tomorrow mark my words.
20.00 – Finally! So much for their early night before school, after having two late nights over the weekend.
20.15 – All is calm & right in the world again. It must be time for wine?
08.05 – I opened my eyes this morning & the first thing that popped into my head was… no pain in my knee. Although I still have issues with getting comfortable I had slept the best in a long time – might have had something to do with the craziness of the week & a large G&T.
08.30 – No sigh of hubby (who was dead to the world when I exited the bedroom), the boys don’t seem too bothered about breakfast, & the dog hasn’t barked once. I make a bucket of tea.
08.45 – The boys appear (starving of course because they could smell the croissants) & a very sleepy who is still not quite back to normal. I need a comforting bowl of cheerios.
10.30 – We finally leave the building to take my poor abandoned dog for a long walk (knowing she will be abandoned again this afternoon).
We dissect the previous evenings events & how I could have improved the prize table while we stroll through the forest. I discover not to be too quick to use the words ‘pain free’ & ‘knee’ in the same sentence, although I am walking better.
13.30 – We arrive home & should be at our friends in half an hour. So, quick changes all around. I empty my bag that still only the essentials I needed the day before, including a very small purse because I didn’t want to take my full purse of everyone else’s junk to the school event. When I go to put my cards & money back into my regular suitcase sized purse… no bankcard! I knew the last place I had used was at the bank on the way to school yesterday, but not since.
14.10 – We are running late but take a detour to the bank not sure if they will be open – they are not.
14.30 – We get to our friends (who don’t live very far from us at all), very apologetic. I present them with the cake we have brought for dessert – there is only one thing better than cheating & buying a dessert… winning a dessert at the previous nights cakewalk! Nice one hubby.
15.00 – We call the bank to cancel the card but because we belong to their private banking I need to speak to them. They put me through. They are closed until Monday. How is it possible that we pay for this exclusive type of banking but their opening hours are less than the regular system? My card is still AWOL & the only place I could have lost it is at the bloody bank!!
19.00 – After a very enjoyable afternoon with our friends & their kids (Husbands work together & all the kids are at the same school, both elder kids are actually in the same class). eating, drinking & playing games, it is time to go.
19.45 – Hubby drops us off & goes onto the launch of a new bike store he has an exclusive invite to (he obviously spends more on bikes than I thought & owns far too much lycra). Very hungry animals are fed & the mention of food sparks some interest in my boys who suddenly decide they are hungry too.
20.15 – Kids in bed & the dog has clearly missed me over the last couple of days as she tries to hump my foot!!
20.20 – Wine!
We regularly have fondue. Although the boys don’t do the cheese marinated in old socks, we still do broth & meat & old socks for us. It’s usually a weekend thing. There are rules…
Dessert…
Is always chocolate!
So now you know!
Although we all eat together as a family most evenings, we still make point about sitting down on a Sunday to enjoy dinner together. As a kid I was put through the trauma of a roast dinner EVERY Sunday, and therefore grew to hate them for the longest time. It wasn’t until I had kids of my own that really understood & appreciated this family tradition. So guess what I make most weeks – a roast dinner or some variation of, & believe it or not, I enjoy making it & eating it along with everyone else.
Dessert, or pudding as we call it in the north east of England, was not usually anything fancy. We would get excited about a pie or crumble, but often it was rice pudding, or maybe ice cream if it was the beginning of the month. For my family it has become what’s known as a ‘sundae Sunday’. We even have sundae glasses that are only used on a Sunday for this very dessert. Of course we will enjoy ice cream during the week, in fact hubby & I sat sharing two tubs in front of a movie the other night. What is special about having a sundae Sunday is a real Cadbury’s flake that has travelled all the way from England…
This is probably about the only thing (apart from school uniforms from Marks & Spencer) that I ask people to bring us. You can only buy them here in the special candy stores at about 2 bucks a flake. Something that many Brits will talk about is a ‘99’. Mr. Whippy ice cream on a cone with a 3in flake in the top. It would produce discussions about how you eat yours? Do you eat the flake first? Do you lick around the flake so it sticks out of the top smothered in ice cream then eat it as you get to it? Or, do you push the flake down into the cone, eat the ice cream, & then, eat the flake with the cone?
That’s where the flake in the ice cream comes from. In our house there are rules about the sundae Sunday. You are only allowed two flavours of ice cream. You can only have 2 toppings (mini M&M’s, sprinkles, nuts- which are my favourite), caramel sauce is not included in that, & we cut a full sized flake in half, so we only use 2 flakes between the 4 of us – obviously to make our supply last longer, you often never know when your next flakes will arrive! The crumbs in the packet must be distributed evenly between all of us. Then the question of how you eat the flake is brought up all over again…
Hubby & I save the flake until the end, because that’s really the best bit. I personally like to eat around it, leaving a little bit of ice cream in the bottom so when I do eat it all the crumbs fall on that last bit & I don’t leave any crumbs in the bottom of the glass. Hubby eats his at the very end – always leaving crumbs which is wasteful if you ask me. The boys, however, dive in & eat the flake before anything else, gone in seconds, & that’s it!
So there you have it, I bet you didn’t know that there were so many ways in which to eat a Cadbury’s flake, did you?
louiselindley 