Rosh Hashanah

Tonight marks the start of Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish new year.

Every year we try to celebrate some of the Jewish festivals as a nod to The Boy's heritage.

The Boy is a secular Jew, but we figure that it's only fair that the kids have an idea of their background and what goes with it.

I'm mean, come on, Christian, Jewish, black, white - there's a lot going on here and we don't want them to feel lost in what amounts to be a rich heritage.

Of course, I focused on the on food and sweet things seems to be the order of the day (as a symbol of a sweet year head).

So it was chopped apples and honey for breakfast, and in the afternoon The Peaceful One and I made a delicious honey cake.

The Boy made yummy latkes, gefilte fish eaten with challah bread for supper.

As the years go by, I hope the children will be confident in who they are and where they belong.

Until they have a better understanding, we'll be literally given them a taste of where they come from.

Happy New Year.

6 x 6 = 15

Six years.

Six whole years I've been meeting up regularly with my NCT friends.

That is a lot of tea and biscuits.

Doesn't sound that long, but they really have been a lifeline.

I say 'NCT friends' purely to distinguish how we met, but actually I need to stop saying that because now we're just a great bunch of mates.

There have been good times, sad times, and thankfully laughs aplenty.

Who would have thought that six couples sat in a room, filled with expectation, hope and a healthy dose of fear (regarding childbirth) would still be hanging out through thick and thin?

We've been lucky as our group has stayed together. No one has moved away, no one has fallen out, and only one person works full time and she's a teacher so we still see her in the holidays.

We're all from completely different backgrounds, but inspite of the fact that we met through our children, we just get on fabulously. End of story.

And my how we've grown. In a relatively short amount of time, we've produced fifteen children between us, with the newest arrivals being twins.

Wowzers!

Might not be great for the world population, but when we all met up over the weekend (to celebrate our kids being six years old), it really was ace to see a group of one time nervous first-time parents, all relaxed, chasing after the chiddlers and reflecting on our friendships.

All credit to the National Childbirth Trust as I have another group of lovely pals who I met through having my second child.

I didn't sign up again when expecting The Goddess, not only would I not have time to see a third group, but I almost don't want to jinx it - you can have too much of a good thing.

Do you still see your antenatal friends?

Back to School

So that was it.

Just shy of six weeks holiday, done and dusted.

I admit, at first I was dreading it.

Alone with three kids with just my imagination to fill the gaps between meals.

But as I got my head around the fact that we didn't have to rush anywhere, we got into the flow of things and had the summer has been lovely.

There have been moments I literally wanted to bottle. Den-building for hours, laughing at films, dancing competitions, day trips out. Simple and fun things that stick in your mind forever.

Asking Minxy what she enjoyed doing, she said: "Picking flowers from her bedroom window at grandma's house."

Ah, the joys of being six years old.

A long holiday to France helped massively, and with our batteries recharged, it was finally time to embark on The School Run.

I had almost forgotten how to get up and out the house before 11am, let alone be eating breakfast by 7am. Urgh!

A shiny new lunch box, new uniform and the anticipation surrounding Minxy's new teacher were enough to get us to the school gates alone.

This year there were no tears, just a buzz in the playground as friends reunited, parents lamented the end of the summer and a crisp freshness in the air signalled that autumn was just around the corner.

More than that, I surprised myself with how well I managed (shock, horror, mother looks after her own children) especially as this could be my first and last summer holiday I spend with them before I return to work.

What have been your best memories of the holidays?

Retail Therapy

There's nothing like hitting your local shopping centre with your children for a spot of retail therapy.

No, there's actually nothing like it.

I need real therapy after that experience.

I went out with the purpose of buying some goodies for the kids with some vouchers I found in the cupboard.

I came back with a headache and possibly a stress-induced ulcer.

Some chocolate buttons would set the tone, we would stay for a maximum of an hour and then we would meet The Boy for lunch.

What could possibly go wrong?

For starters, The Goddess was rudely awoken from her nap by the older two squabbling over whose turn it was to turn off the inside car light (switched on because we went inside an underground car park of course).

Off to Waterstones we went to buy an audio book. It should've been so easy. I knew the one we wanted, but despite instructions not run off, I found myself chasing The Peaceful One around the shop.

Ironically, I finally caught up with him down the child psychology aisle.

After that I reduced the number shops I had planned to visit, headed to one more store and then got the heck out of there.

At times the sibling rivalry is intense.

In that short amount of time, we had 'But she pressed the lift button before me.'

'I'll put the ticket it, you put the money in and I'll collect the change.'

'No, I want to put the ticket in.'

'It's not fair, It's my turn go into the car first.'

It's exhausting being caught in the 'he said, she said' crossfire. I'm trying my best to encourage them to work it between themselves but it's early days.

Meeting The Boy was a welcome break, or an extra pair of hands at least. Lunch was a tasty but rushed sandwich as we passed The Goddess back and forth between us.

Then it was back to mayhem as I attempted to buy an item for myself. En route home I stopped by a local sports shop. I just needed a pair of running trousers. I've entered a 10k run and need to look the part - raggedy tracky bottoms just aren't going to cut it.

So as I tried on a pair of shiny running leggings (looking like Sandy from Grease only with sausages for legs), whilst the baby cried and the others ran under the clothing rails, I remember why I barely venture to the real shops and do nearly everything online.

Retail therapy now has a whole new meaning to me.

Happy holidays?

So the holidays have officially begun.

And honestly it got off to a damp squib.

Minxy got up at an eye-crunching 5am and refused to go back to sleep, waking up the whole house and generally creating an atmosphere of grumpiness.

Nevermind, I thought cheerfully, it's only day one of the holidays - there's plenty of fun ahead.

Actually, I thought bloody hell if this is the start of things to come, I'm going to be counting down the days when they go back to school.

Off we went to intensive swimming classes. At 8.45am. Goodness knows what possessed me to book lessons that early, but it felt like a good idea at the time.

It seems like the whole planet have children who are swimming like Michael Phelps. I do not. Due to my own rubbishness, mine sink like stones and wail if a mere droplet of water touches their precious faces.

I actually love swimming, so seeing The Peaceful One cry for the entire lesson and Minxy cowering as she was 'helped' into jumping off the side was quite a painful experience. Major motherhood FAIL. Private lessons are now at the top of the list.

With the class over, it was off to meet friends at the adventure playground. This one has a No Adults policy (except the helpers) and it's great to let the children enjoy themselves without the ever watchful eyes of their parents.

Thing is, it's for over fives, so The Peaceful One looked longingly at the others having a gay old time. Then started crying. Again. Poor sausage. He was clearly having a bad Monday.

I'm guessing half of childhood is spent wishing you were older, wanting to be five, ten, sixteen. Then you hit 30 and you start wanting to go into reverse.

Age can really come into its own when you are trying to address the needs of all your children, and it's highlighted further doing a simple activity like going to a play park.

Next year, The Goddess will be toddling about, so maybe it will be time to start splitting up the brood and finding more age appropriate activities.

Until then we'll be ploughing through all the local delights that are on offer.

How are your summer holidays panning out so far - glad of the lack of routine and relaxed, or hitting the wine before bedtime?

Moving on up

Moving house is one always cited as being one of the biggest stresses you will undertake.

Yet, two friends and their families have done just that to massively improve their lives.

One good pal has left the big schmoke for a quieter more affordable part of the country, which also happens to have good schools, great facilities and all round pleasant surroundings.

The other family are about to leap into the great unknown as a job opportunity is taking them Down Under.

Our friend Laura who I believe was literally born wearing high heels, said about her Aussie adventure: "The heels at sea for the next 3 months. Fare thee well, trusty heels. I shall miss you and your agonising beauty."

Good to see her priorities in place. But those heels will still be strutting their stuff in their new home. Sydney is the destination, so beach and city living combined. Can't go wrong I say. But it's definitely not for everyone.

At the leaving BBQ of the soon-to-be ex pats, I got chatting to one lady who had just spent 12 years living in Australia, only to be pining the whole time for the UK.

She told me that a three month trip to Oz turned into over a decade, two children later, the novelty had worn off and she just wanted to be back with friends and family.

Just goes to show that home really is where the heart is.

I'm addicted to property sites and love to have a nose at what I can get for my money in some far-flung corner of Britain, and what I would love, but could never afford.

Currently my heart is near my own family. The children have cousins who live locally, and one set of grandparents are only up the road. We see everyone regularly and it wouldn't be fair to deny them the chance to have these relationships whilst we live so close.

We've moved a fair few times in and around the same area, and I definitely think we have a few more moves in us.

But who knows what the future holds?

What part of the world does your heart lie?

School's out for summer

So many thoughts, so little time.

It's been a while since I put my fingers to the keyboard.

Why?

A combination of being busy, being too tired, and having a six month old baby who doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in the evening, have thwarted my blogging efforts.

Still, I'm here now.

It was a big day today as school's out for summer.

And what an emotional day the end of term turned out to be.

Tears from parents, teachers and children alike.

For the children leaving for secondary school it was an end of an era, for us at the relative start of the school years we could see what we had to ahead of us. And it wasn't pretty.

Most of the mums blubbed their way through leavers church service and it really made me realise how quickly your children grow up.

Minxy came home sad that she wouldn't have the same teacher next year.

A friend lamented: "I feel like whacking on Mamma Mia, putting on Slipping Through My Fingers' and really wallowing in it."

So bring on the holidays. No more crazy mornings, no more ferrying back and forth, no more homework. It's all about freedom and going with the flow.

Or is it?

With six weeks to fill (actually eight for The Peaceful One who starts nursery in the autumn), you need to get your wits about you to keep the troops entertained.

Luckily a visit to grandma's will break it up, and I'm hoping that the weather will stay dry so we can maximise the park action.

The main thing is I'm going to try and enjoy every moment as I know how fast their childhood is whizzing by.