Happy Halloween from the Farrells......enjoy!

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Party number 1.....

...of this week is over. Natasha turned 4 yesterday and we had a lovely little tea party. Was only a small affair this year what with the big Halloween bash coming up on Saturday and another 2 birthdays in the next four weeks. Saying that, little Miss Mayhem (for that should be her new name) had a fantastic time, with some great presents, me butchering her with facepaint and the cake that she wanted (even if the mermaid WAS blonde).

She did a great job on the candles though and blew those out in a oner. Not the greatest photos I know, but I just love the expression on her face in the second one!

She seems to have taken a shine to the little Ponyz toys that she played with at her cousins house so she got some of those and a Barney DVD (what is it with that purple monstrosity that kids love so?). She also got a barage of gifts from the family......her toy Dyson being a favourite although I didn't manage to get a photo of that last night as it was a bit chaotic but will take some more later.

I bought proper facepaints for the first time last week in prep for Halloween but thought it would be a good chance to have a little play before the party. What was confirmed was my complete lack of artistic ability! A very wonky butterfly on poor Natashas face. Stupidly i'd done the outline first and then managed to smudge everything doing the rest. But I guess it'll take practice......and anyway, Natasha thought she looked great ..... possibly only because of the glitter.

Emily's wasn't as hard to do as she just wanted some trailing flowers so there was at least a little more room for error. Thank goodness that I don't have to be quite so precise with the Halloween face painting! Again though, kids are luckily easily pleased and Emily loved it.......in her eyes I am Michaelangelo!

So another birthday over, Robs in a fortnight, Emilys in 4 weeks and then Xmas! Credit card is about to take a hammering I think.

Half term has started and again it's no let up of activity. Today is a bit of a slow one although Em has a friends party to go to this afternoon. Tomorrow I'm picking up Paige who's coming to stay for a couple of days. It's been a while since she stayed, a couple years I think and now that Freya has a little more of an outside social life she can't wait to show Paige around and introduce her to some of her friends.

She wanted me to take some photos of her yesterday as she didn't like the profile pic she had on MSN so I took a couple shots and I adore this one. I'm definately going to get this one blown up and put on the wall. It's strange how she suddenly looks so much older than she is. Scary in some ways. All she has is a little mascara on and yet she looks about 16! Or is that just me panicking?

It's been a nice few days here. Pete and I managed to escape the kids on Sunday to go to the cinema to see the new Saw movie. It's been slated a bit although I still enjoyed it, then we went for a bite to eat in Old Orleans where my eyes were definately bigger than my stomach. Now that the girls are a little older, it's nice that babysitting isn't so hard to come by. The last few years have meant very little home time for Pete and we seem to be making the most of this 10 weeks home so far. I know it won't be too long til he's back at sea again......life in the armed forces eh?

Talking of which.......has everyone got their poppies yet?

A new challenge......

that I thought I would give a go. Can't even remember where I saw this blog but as it's portraiture photography that I'd like to learn, I thought this would prove a very helpful little website!

Well, the challenge for this week (week 42) is Halloween or some kind of dressing up photo where the emphasis is on the face. Well, as our Halloween bash isn't until Saturday, I thought about this photograph of Emily that I took for World Book Day last year. Seemed like a contradiction at the time....Em going as Little Miss Sunshine, however her little sister has taken over the title of 'Farrell Household Resident Misery Arse' so it's a little more apt now!

Anyway, today was Natasha's birthday so I will be back on tomorrow to add some photos taken today. Finally got the camera out which hasn't seen the light of day for the past few weeks!

X

Half Term madness begins....

...and there is so much to do! It's been so nice having Pete home though as this time of year is so hectic. Tomorrow is Natasha's birthday and the cake is bought. I'm running out of original cakes from Waitrose though unless I start buying the £50 ones which, let's face it...isn't going to happen. Not with 3 birthdays in the space of 4 weeks on top of hurtling towards Christmas.

So this year, Natasha has picked the mermaid one but when we went to pick it up yesterday, all hell broke lose because the mermaid was blonde....oh well, can't please them all. If I had a penny for everytime i've told her that her birthday this year will be cancelled in the last week i'd have at least 20p. OK so that's not a lot in monetary value....but you get my drift. She's just become such a whingebag over the past month or so that I'm glad she's still at nursery this week!

Tonight, I'm leaving the brady bunch in the hands of my sister as myself and Pete are off to watch Saw VI, which by all accounts has been slated by all that have watched it so far. However, as going out to watch it means having a bite to eat afterwards (and no doubt several cocktails) and being child free for at least four hours, I wouldn't care if I was watching a wall dry for two hours first.

We seem to have gotten everything ready for the big Halloween Party next weekend. It's the first time in three years that Petes been home so we've pushed the boat out a bit with it this year. Perfect that it's on a Saturday night so we've got the kids party til 7...then the adults take over. Not only drunken singstar...but drunken scary singstar courtesy of the voice changer that comes with Pete's costume.....should be an interesting night.

I've managed to do a little crafting, although all in the cause of Halloween. Got all the bits out to make the invitations and i've got a few other titbits to make before next weekend. I'm hoping it may give me the buzz again that's been missing for a while.

Of course, I'm also trying to get stuff planned for Xmas, and not being the kind of girl who likes trawling through Plymouth in the cold (am I female?) that means being cosy and warm, infront of a PC, placing orders with various establishments online (and smiling as I rack up the airmiles which someday I may get round to using!).

Freya's drama production was a massive hit and (biased or not) she certainly stole the show. A couple years ago she was a very shy and quiet girl and now she looks completely at home on the stage. During the interval everyone was talking about her performance....it's the second comedic role she's had and she was really funny. I can't wait now for the DVD to come out.

Talking DVD's, the new Pink concert comes out in the next couple of weeks so thats on pre-order for Freya for Xmas although I may have to check it out first....obviously only as a responsible parent! I've also ordered her some living dead dolls although one won't be available til after Xmas so I'll put that back for her birthday. It was a must buy though as she played the Mad Hatter in her production

......Living Dead Dolls eh? Think my daughter is turning Emo! I blame my creepy sister. Mind you saying that, she went to her youth club on wednesday in fishnet three quarter length tights, black shorts and a neon green tutu......I thought i'd fallen asleep and woken back up in the mid 80's staring at myself....she even had lacy fingerless gloves and loads of bangles....all she needed was a fake mole and blonde hair ala Madonna circa 'Get Into The Groove'.

So not too photo heavy today. Although I will leave you with a little collage done by the talented photographer that was Emily. Packed with her dads old instant, she had to photograph her journey to school for Walk To School Week and then submit it for a competition...shame the email address for the competition didn't work but I was really proud of her efforts so am thinking of letting her have the old camera anyway. Believe me when I say that every photo turned out better than Freya's efforts when she took the same camera to her Isles Of Scilly Trip and not one photo was comprehensible!

Life getting hectic.....

....but then again at this time of year I suppose it's to be expected. But if I didn't have my diary (or several of them if truth be told) then I wouldn't be able to tell you whether or not I was coming or going. Hopefully my auntie Susan will wrestle with her technophobic demons and get on here to see some of the photos from her daughters wedding last weekend so excuse me for having a photo overload but it's just incase she gets to see them here and tell me if she wants any emailed up to her to print off.
























Emily also had a first last weekend (guess it was a weekend of big firsts!). She lost her first tooth. As it was quite late on the Saturday and I had little change left I told her to keep it safe until the following night when we'd leave it out for the tooth fairy. Well, that night never came as Emily (and I'm sure it is ONLY Em that could do this)......swallowed it! Yup, she decided she'd try to put it back in and swallowed it instead. Well, I couldn't imagine the tooth fairy would want to go anywhere near it if it did make an appearance (and I decided not to wait for the appearance either) so she has been warned that swallowing her teeth will not make her wealthy and has promised not to try the same trick again.



I did mention that it was my birthday last week and I had a lush chocolate cake from the girls in the morning (yup chocolate cake at 7am......good eh?) and a new bead for my troll bracelet along with slabs of chocolate everywhere I looked.



Later in the day I also had a nice delivery from Interflora of some gorgeous flowers and yet more chocolate (needless to say there hasn't been much weight loss in the last couple of weeks).

Sunday was a bit of a blur, with getting all ready for Pete's homecoming. He came home late Monday afternoon and was surrounded by girls demanding hugs and kisses. The jet lag certainly kicked in though and he was a gonner til gone midday on Tuesday. Strange to think that he's literally home now for about 10 weeks but having been given a 'to do' list as long as his arm it'll keep him out of mischief (and the beer fridge).

So we celebrated his first weekend home with a lush meal at Yukisan and pushed the boat out with some oysters thrown in. I realy should take my camera next time I go as the way they present the food is gorgeous. I've always resisted the authentic Japanese sit down tables though as I'd never get up again. I do love this place and it's so special. We're blessed to have two Japanese restaurants now in Plymouth and I've eaten at both. Koishii is really good too and the food was delicious but the menu is less extensive. I will however say that the staff at Koishii were so friendly when we went.

This weekend we also had the sponsored Pom Pom walk to raise money for Devonstar Twirlers. Despite it being a bit on the windy and chilly side, the girls did themselves proud and the rain only first appeared after we'd finished and ended up in the park. Can't wait to see how much we raised.

We had our first training session since moving to the new hall in Ernesettle and what a difference. We now have a great hall with loads of space and plenty of height. I took advantage a little too enthusiastically and have only now begun to be able to walk properly again but each week I do hurt a little less. I'm going to take the camera along with me this week and get some more shots of the girls for the web page. I also got my troupe tracksuit which looks great and I've bought one to put back for Emilys birthday next month.

The onslaught of birthdays began last month and now we have Natashas, Robs and Emilys all before Xmas.........me thinks it's going to be an expensive couple of months. Especially as I'm now saving madly for course fees.

Freya is up to her eyeballs at the moment with drama rehearsals. She has a full dress rehearsal infront of a couple local schools today and then the big performances are tomorrow and Thursday night. So I'm off to see her tomorrow and to be honest I can't wait for it to be over and done with as this has taken a hell of a lot of time in rehearsals.....I'm beginning to think of Freya as some strange ghost type figure who occasionally occupies the front bedroom...we hear her but never see her!

A long emotional week....

....which ended with my cousins wedding. This was a day of very very mixed emotions. My girlie being Bridesmaid, looking all grown up and knowing that she has grown up more in one night than she would have wanted to cope with. Seeing Freya with Paige is always a joy....they don't get to see each other very often but there is a very special bond between them. As I was proud of Freya, I know that Emma would have been looking down on Paige filled with pride at just how beautiful her daughter had become and how wonderful her little sister Louise looked.

They really do make a special couple and the love was there for everyone to see. I'm so grateful to my friend Kath for sitting for me with the little ones today so I could go to the wedding. Was nice to see a lot of the family had come over from Guernsey with a lot of promises made before I left to keep in touch that bit more.

It's been a tiring end to a tiring week. I've been poorly since before last weekend and am only just now coming out the other end with it and yet I've had so much to do with prep for the wedding today, getting ready for the imminent arrival of Mr F on Monday and major stuff going on with twirling, drama, swimming and mountains of homework.

The car has once again been freaking me out. It conked out three times on the way from South Brent to Saltash last night, once on Carkeel roundabout at rush hour...luckily I'd cleared the roundabout just about or I would have definately had a car up my arse!

It was also my birthday this week although with the really bad cold i've had it did take the shine off slightly. However, my little beauties welcomed me in the morning with a chocolate birthday cake, copious amounts of chocolate and a new bead for my troll bracelet which is a silver heart. Then I had a little interflora delivery of some beautiful flowers and yet more chocolate from Mr F. I was a happy snotty bunny. Will post the photos of that when I'm stuck for some photos!

XXX

Spreading the love....

love this video...so feel good.

Kevin the Teenager strikes again!

I remember watching that first episode where Kevin from the Harry Enfield show turned into a teenager for the first time...a dramatic transformation that lasted seconds and yet was so profound. No gradual change, just whooooosh and the teenage years and all that entailed was evident.

Well in the space of a couple of weeks I've gone from 'cool mum' to 'embarressing mum' apparently. Such is the changing opinion when my darling first born comes of age in secondary education! The first hint was a couple weeks ago when one of her friends stayed over and before we picked her up I was told not to embarress her.....that's my job, take that away and I have nothing.

But for me, this weekend summed up the transformation perfectly. Freya finished school on Friday afternoon, went straight to rehearsals, came home, ate (enough to sustain a herd of wildebeast) spoke to her dad on the phone, then disappeared doing what hormonal girls do (i.e messing with hair, texting mates, msning...probably the same mates she was texting) and then went to bed. Saturday morning, once out of bed, showered and groomed (which seems to have gone from taking 10 minutes to at least an hour and a half), then disappeared off swimming with her mate, then rang to ask to stay there for tea. Finally she comes home.....but only to collect some stuff to go stay at her friends house!

Sunday morning she came home, ate....then off to 4 hours of rehearsals again! By the time she came home, did her homework, spoke to her dad and ate again it was time for bed! Mind you, could be worse.....at least I know she's doing stuff and not sat around waiting for things to happen or sat in front of a screen for 14 hours at a time!

Only a couple of weeks til the man is home....at least that's the last plan I heard. It'll be the first time in a couple years that he's been here for Em, Robs and Natashas birthdays. He's never been home for all four in a year though! Talking of birthdays, we went round to my sisters on Thursday for Edens birthday.

A thousand cupcakes later it was time to go but a good time was had by all! Anyway, twirling tonight so no rest for today at least...got to go a print a million brochures (50% of which will be back to front if my previous experience is anything to go by!). Later!

Back to the routine.....

I wish I was a spontaneous person sometimes, just do something different at the drop of a hat...but I am a creature of habit. I like routine, I like to be in control...not in a dominating way but I like to feel as if I can vaguely plan my life. Funny then how I end up with an other half who's life is far from routine and who's career is at present driving my little brain even crazier than ever. Oh well, at least the little cherubs are back at school!

Freya has started at the comp well and has already identified most of the 'scary' teachers. The homework seems to be being drip fed to them at the moment but God help them come the next term as it will probably be very full on by then. She seems to be enjoying herself though and you can sense this feeling she has of 'I'm a grown up now' which I willno doubt beat out of her shortly as she is becomming a little cheeky at times. But then I remember what I was like at that age and rejoice in the fact that she doesn't know what a devious little minx her mother was! Yup, I'll be fine aslong as she doesn't take after me.



The week before going back was a mass of sorting uniform and equipment..the usual beginning of September chaos really that all mothers dread. Luckily, I am a fairly organised woman (diaries in every room, goes back to the control thing) and the only thing I realised I had forgotten was a pair of appropriately coloured rugby socks (she had white but needed black) so in that respect it wasn't too chaotic.

I've got the cooking bug back again. Partly through necessity. Tight budget means more and more homemade meals. Usually when Petes away we only have cooked meals in the evening about three times a weeks as the girls all have hot lunches at school but I'm immersing myself in frugal cook books and ideas. Some are of more nutritional value than others (some of which are downright scary) but as long as it's a balanced diet (and i'm lucky i have kids who love their fruit, veg and sensible cereal) I'm not overly sensitive to the odd fat ladden dish. I suppose my thought is that almost anything home made must be infinitely better for you than any shop bought ready meal or jar of sauce.

So there has been plenty of cooking going on in the house. From homemade smoothies (watching the kids put their fingers in their ears when the smoothie maker goes on is the best bit) to cakes, to meals, soups and desserts....I've even made a few new nibbly things which when left around tends to stop the kids from saying 'can I have some sweets?' Of course, when it comes to cakes there are plenty of 'lick the bowl' moments to be had. I remember as a kid argueing with my sister over who got the bowl first after we'd been baking with my nan.




Although I've always been a keen cook, I've never been someone to get involved in baking or anything to do with pastry....well not home made pastry anyway. But I decided to try to make pasties for the first time EVER! Crazy considering my mum owns a bloody pasty shop but there ya go and I went for a lamb and mint combination rather than the obvious.



I need to work on my crimping skills a little but the results were very delish and got eaten in about an hour. Tonight I'm making some bog standard steak ones instead. Oggy oggy oggy indeed!


So the girls have been back to school just over a week now. Emily is apparently running for school council. I have to help her with some application form which could be interesting work. That girl is most certainly a leader and not a follower as any one of her hen pecked friends will tell you. Natasha has settled back into nursery life and is wishing away the year to get to Primary School and even re 'reads' Emilys school book each night. The applications online open tomorrow so I'll be hopefully getting her into the same school as Emily as I've been so impressed over the past year.



The twirling is coming along nicely. We seem to have a great group of girls there now that have been there since we started and they're even starting to look the part. There's a while to go before we're ready for competitions but if nothing they're enthusiastic. We are doing a sponsored Pom Pom walk along Plymouth Hoe Promenade on Saturday 3rd October between 10 and 11 am so anyone who would like to sponsor us do please get in touch. You'll find our weblog here.



The hardest part for any new troupe is getting started and we've already met and overcome a few obstacles along the way but we're raising funds to enable us to start competing next year. It's so nice to be part of it again although my muscles are feeling the strain...must remember i'm not 18 anymore.



Good news is that the car managed to escape being damaged last week whilst being fixed. I still have running problems but I'm going to leave that for Pete to sort out when he comes back the end of the month. Right, off to make the most of the last couple hours before the end of after school clubs and drama clubs....now what to cook tonight?