I Survived The Half Term Holidays!

Prior to half term I wrote a ‘bucket list’ of sorts outlining the many jobs which I wished to get done throughout the holidays. It’s been a real team effort, both Paul and I have worked our backsides off to get as much done as possible whilst keeping the kids entertained which was a task in itself!

God knows how other families get through the half term but I for one don’t mind admitting that I have found it challenging to say the least. Prior to having children I always promised myself that I’d never be like my Father, I’d try my very best to be the total opposite in fact. However, it’s only now that I am actually a parent myself that I can see exactly why he said so many of the things that he did back then…

“Don’t make me ask you again”

“Don’t push your luck sunshine”

“Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about”

“Stop answering back”

“There’s starving children in Africa who’d love to eat that”

“My roof, my rules!”

“Stop being so god damned fussy and just try it”

All of the above have at some point being said over the past seven days to one or the other of the kids. Whilst I swore to myself that I’d refrain from following in my Fathers footsteps, I will openly admit that my kids seem to have a way of pressing buttons that I didn’t even know existed before now!

Despite the odd telling off here or there we’ve done our very best as a family to cooperate and to have as much fun as possible whilst ticking the many chores from the never ending list. Considering the length of said list I’m more than pleased with all that we’ve managed to achieve, here’s what we’ve managed to get done:

1. Take J to the cinema to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film
2. Sit with J and help him write his birthday thank you letters. – Printer ink ran out so need to sort this out this week!
3. Complete and update my diary
4. Tidy out the cupboards and get rid of the crap I don’t need
5. Take the kids out for the day
6. Bring down all the 4-5 clothing from the attic for E
7. Buy new school shorts for J
8. Stop getting myself so worked up about said speeding ticket, pay the fine, take the points or do the course and just move on.
9. Write a few blog posts
10. Catch up with emails and be sure to comment upon at least ten blog posts a day
11. Take the kids around to a friends house during the week and be sure to relax
12. Update my CV
13. Have my application letter checked by a good friend – Still need to email application letter and CV to teacher friends
14. Apply for at least five jobs
15. Complete the wooden borders around the garden
16. Put down decking
17. Empty the garden of all remaining crap and take it to the tip
18. Paint the wooden playhouse properly this time
19. Put up the new trampoline
20. Put up E’s new bedroom shelves and arrange Lego
21. Complete building the Black Pearl Lego Lepin Ship with J
22. Complete J’s many homework’s with him – We’ve done a few but there’s time yet!
23. Work on writing and reading with E – – We will work on this over the next few weeks
24. Reinstall a certain piece of software on my Mac and pray to the gods of tech that it works this time. – Need to locate the actual software first!
25. Read a book – Stop arsing around reading Facebook and choose a blumming book!

I hope that you’ve had a fantastic half term, it’s now time to put the kids to bed, pour yourself a glass of wine and thank the gods that routine will return come morning!