Preparing for St. David's Day-Welsh cake recipe.

Tomorrow is St. David's Day in Wales.
The children all go to school dressed in Welsh costumes and generally celebrate throughout the day with Eisteddfod activities (singing, dancing, music etc). There are also competitions, this year Mair had to draw or paint a Daffodil (the national flower) and make Welsh Cakes.
Here is the recipe and Mair making them below. They are really easy to make and are lovely on their own, warmed with butter or butter and jam.
I had one! then ran it off later (my excuse anyway)

Recipe for Welsh Cakes


8 oz (225g) self raising flour
4oz (110g) butter or hard margarine
3oz mixed fruit or just sultanas
3 oz (75g) caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice.


Method


1. Put the flour and mixed spice into a bowl then rub in the butter to make breadcrumbs.

2. When the mixture becomes crumbly add the sugar and the dried fruit and mix it throughly.

3. Beat the egg lightly and add to the mixture. Mix to a dough, adding a splash of milk if the mixture seems to dry.

4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to about 1/4 inch (5mm) thick. Using a 2 1/2 inch cutter (6.5cm) cutter cut the dough into rounds, re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used.

5. Using a piece of kitchen paper, lightly grease the pan using lard or butter. Heat it over a low to medium heat and cook the Welsh cakes for about 3 minutes on each side. They should be fairly brown and crisp on the outside.

As you can see Mair (Welsh for Mary , and pronounced My-ar) enjoyed being the taster and making her cakes!

Recipe curtesy of Conwy Road Infant School, Colwyn Bay.

Bootcamp blog week 7-going down slowly in the right direction!

I must admit I have hit a bit of an apathetic phase.
I have been on and off this diet and exercise campaign now since the beginning of October.
The meals are getting repetitive and I simply do not have time to research new ones, or shop for the food or prepare and cook them, so I resort to the simple ones.
The twins sleep routines have been broken completely since all this illness and I am very tired, this means more temptation to snack and crave things I shouldn't.
I have really really craved crap again, namely crisps, biscuits, chocolate and cheese.
It has been a daily act of resistance not to raid the fridge. As I am at home with the twins more this is harder. At work it's easy, I don't even finnish the food that I bring as I am just too busy.
I have to stay up late to get everything done in the day, and this again isn't good as it means I am really hungry and wanting to snack around 12 midnight!
I have managed to chase out the door and complete my five sessions. It has proved successful because at least although I haven't lost as much as I had hoped, I have lost inches once again.
I lost another 2 lbs this week, which means I am 1 lb shy of where I was two weeks ago, which is annoying, however I am thinner in inches than two weeks ago.
I am wondering if the slow weight loss is because my fat is turning into muscle which is heavier?
That would make me feel marginally better.
Too fit my wedding outfit, I am at my goal for the hips measurement, I have 2 inches to loose on my bust, but due to the twin pregnancy and my huge waist, I have 6 inches still which is a worry, until I look back and realise that since October I have lost a staggering 8 inches from my waist!
I am so glad I have written my measurements down each week, because looking back long term makes me see that I am getting there, slowly.
I wish sometimes I didn't have the pressure of the wedding, however without the pressure I am sure I would be far more apathetic as well.
I still hate exercise. I think I am fundamentally lazy! However I have really enjoyed the camaraderie at the classes, the atmosphere, and our coach Zara who makes even the most gruelling of exercise routines fun and worthwhile. I have made some lovely friends and have the feeling that we all all in it together. Abie and Susie now come to the body pump classes with me as well and love these too. Soon we will have a room full of Beavans!
So, goals this week?

• Make more time to research recipes and cook and plan meals.
• Avoid all carbs and snacking
• Try to work as hard as I can in the classes.
• Try to build in more exercise at home on the days I don't go to the gym.

Next week, it's the big two month measurements and weigh in. I hope it looks good!

Where we live-Rhos On Sea

I decided sometimes to write about our favourite places. As many who read this blog do not live locally I thought I would start by writing about where we live. I will write about places we love on our holidays as well as other more local spots we haunt.
As you may, or may not know, we live in North Wales. No we are not Welsh, we moved here 12 years ago from Prague. I thought I had died when I came here. It rained constantly for three months. I was considering building an ark! The shops all closed at 5.30pm and nothing much was open on a Sunday. In Prague it was hot and sunny and all the shops were open till 10 pm, because there were so many tourists something was always happening.
It's fair to say it took a very long time to adjust to my new lifestyle. The designer jackets and short dresses were packed away as the climate was never that hot. Eventually they were totally exchanged for jeans, wellies and boots!
I love where we live now. For children it is amazing. There is the beach on our doorstep, as well as the Snowdonia Mountains and lakes. It is truly peaceful and very safe.  Yes, it rains a lot! and I do wish summer was actually sunny and not wet and rainy too!
We went out for a Sunday stroll along the prom for an ice cream and then to the park. I took some pictures to try to capture the beauty of it all.We look like any average family with two children for once!
Enjoy!

Spring blossoms-yahoo winter is nearly over now.

Mair on her scooter along the prom that runs from Rhos on Sea to Llandudno in one direction or the coastal path all the way to Rhyl in the other.

The sea was like a pond today and very calm. Looking along the coast to Abergele and then Rhyl.

Mair trying to figure out where all the sand has gone.

Jono and Mair scooting along the cycle path. It is always very busy here at the weekend, lots of people come to visit from Liverpool and Manchester.

The lovely stick men sculptures we have all along the town.

Jono in Rhos Village.

The main village and shops.

The harbour where we catch crabs and have crab races to see the first back to the sea.

Mair trying to have a sneaky paddle.

View from the harbour.

The pub, craft shop and tea rooms!

Part of the beach.

Our local ice cream stop!

You can book fishing trips here as well. Simon wants to take Jono on one. I hate small boats.

Rhos park. I love the park all year round, theres always someone to play with and something to do.

Ella (granddaughter) joined us today.

Ella- a year younger than Mair.

With all the play equipment this tin contraption was more interesting.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Beautiful spring crocus's. My mothers flat in the distance, she always used to sit at the windows and watch us in the park.

Trying to figure out the exercise stuff.

I hope you have enjoyed a brief insight into where we live!

Making connections with your children.

My boy at 3.5 years.

I once heard some very wise words.
Not from someone famous.
Nor a 'child' expert.
A mum from the church I went to, who was a leader.
I was very young. I think Abie (now 24) was a baby.
I was very new to the whole 'mummy' thing.
This speaker had three children.
She spoke very openly about the two she got on with and the one she did not.
She didn't speak in a negative way, but rather she spoke about never wanting to make him feel any different because they did not connect so well.
She spoke about her struggles to find out his interests and share these. One was fishing which she hated with a passion. Instead of just continuing to hate it, she asked questions, read magazines and went out with her son.
She said to be encouraged because as an adult he told people what a great relationship he had with his mom when he was growing up.He never once was aware of her struggles.
At the time I could not imagine there would be a point where I would not have any common ground with my children.
Now, 24 years later her words of wisdom have, so many times rang loud in my ears.
'Don't loose them'
'Show an interest in their lives and the things that are important to them'
'Take time to find out'
'stop being so busy'
......and many many more.
Recently I have found I have had to work hard to reconnect with my 10 year old son. As a baby and then toddler we were very close. He was 2.5 years old when Joshua died. I lost a son, he lost his playmate. We both felt the pain acutely and still do. In the long very dark months after Joshua died he kept me going, gave me hope and gave me a reason to get up and not crawl immediately back to bed. Up until about a year ago we were still very close. Then he began to drift. His interests changed and so did he.
We no longer had the same 'middle ground'.
I had to start to find one.
With my eldest son this is easy as he is good at art and we share this common ground.
I looked hard.
I found two things, his love of the outdoors, and his passion for Star Wars, it's fair to say, neither were that appealing.
I bought some seeds and we have planted and grown carrots and tomatoes.Not world changing but enough for the little times we were together in the garden to really count. We chatted about how we will do things better this year and what other things to en corporate and grow.
Connections.
Star wars was harder. I loved it as a teenager but since then it has not had any lasting influence on my life. I gradually broke my way in at Christmas with a Star Wars game. I have read my way through the characters and can now tell a clone from a droid from an alien. Be impressed!
I am about to embark on watching the full series of films with him. I think I am mentally ready.
He is very excited and we talk a lot about the story lines and how important they are. He is proud I can tell appart the characters of the game, if a little disapointed at my blinding run of wins against him.
Connections.
These connections have helped re establish a relationship that could have so easily got lost. It happenes so gradually that we do not realise.
As I go through the child rearing motions with so many children I have had to make and remake connections. I have learnt about lego building, grit elite scooters, musical artists whose names fail me and endured concerts listening too, hairdressing techniques (involing being the 'demo' head pain extreemes!) , horses (urgh I still can't stand them), product designing and much more. Although most of these things I was initally not interested in, because my children showed such enthusiasm, I became interested.
It is so worthwhile.
I will always be grateful to June, and her speech. Without it many connections in my realtionships with my growing children would have been lost I am sure.

Messy days

Mair doing her homework, with amazing hairdo by Bella, I am so fortunate when I am hastled to have so many really helpful teenagers.

Don't you have these too?
All I have done today is try to get through a whole list of tasks, and none seem to work!
Ebay refuse to let me list pictures, the site I am trying to download too needs pictures less than 1mg and I spend 5 hours trying to resize these, every other task either took twice as long or did not get achieved.
Our cooker is broken and we needed to get a cheap second hand one fast, we missed the reclaim shop by 15 mins!
Just so frustrating.
I feel like I have just constantly said to the children 'in a minute', whilst trying to achieve at least one task.
Oh well.
Off to bed.
Ready to start again tomorrow.
This time I am taking the children to the park and beach first. Then I will have done the most important thing, spend quality time with some of them!

Reasons I love to teach

Of course life in the world of teaching is not all rosy.
I have taught for 27 years now.
Good Grief!
On and off with maternity breaks.
Over seas in a Private International school, state schools (secondary) Private boarding school (primary) College (14-16, adults) and Night Schools.
All very different but each one unique and special.
I now teach in college. Vocational Futures. The kids that are allowed to take one day off school to attend college and do a vocational course.
I teach Childcare. I know, funny , with 11 children!
I love this job!
It is never a burden to go to work.
The kids enjoy the break from school and the opportunity to follow a more practical course that will help them in the future. There's a point to my lessons!
It is not all plain sailing by any means and I have had my fair share of my complex personalities and difficult situations let me say.
I have learnt over the years mainly through trial and error, strategies to deal with these problems. They maybe somewhat unorthodox and a bit mad but they do work.
Today, one of my more 'challenging' students came to see me. We first met when I was in my first week at the college and so was she. I was a bit nervous, she was a bit angry. To say we had some bust ups would be the understatement of the century. Eighteen months later, we had a truce. I think maybe she finally saw I was on her side and wanted to help her. She did really well and has progressed. She came in today with her gorgeous baby. She looked great. Calm, mature and so content. Students like her make my job worthwhile. To see how far she has come and how much she has achieved is an honour and also a huge privilege.
I remember very clearly a great seminar I once attended on Managing challenging behaviour. The speaker said that behind each bad behaviour there was a reason and it was our job to see behind the initial outbursts and work with this. That has been one of the best pieces of advice I have ever had. It stops you taking things personally and gives you something to work on. It also helps you to see that every student has a potential and how to reach it is the challenge sometimes.
I love my job because it isn't always easy. I like a challenge. I like that each week is different. I love chatting to the students and finding out about their lives. I enjoy the laughs we have, the 'in' jokes and also watching them in the two years they are with me, grow up, and mature into wonderful young women.
Today one of my students sat with me as we were going through a particularly hard assignment and making corrections. She said ' i would hate to be a teacher Miss, all that planning and marking and going over things'. I said how much I loved it, helping them to see their mistakes and improving their work gave me a satisfaction.
Many of my own Facebook friends are in fact past students. It is great to see them growing up online and wonderful to know that somewhere in the timeline of their lives you played a very very little part, perhaps encouraging a talent, helping self confidence and self belief, or just being there as someone to listen.
I cannot think of a better job in the world!

Aren't you sick of women's magazines too?

I hobbled into the Co-op today, having forced myself after last nights 'body pump' class to endure yet another 45 mins of hell on earth. I cannot go tonight for the session as we have yet another parents night. Taking advantage of the fact Susie (18) was ill, I got the twins organised and fed and left them playing happily with her to go to Bootcamp.

On the way home I needed washing powder (wow what fun my life is), hence why I was hobbling into co-op. As I was for the first time in ages child and baby free, I hovered over the newspapers looking at all the headlines before skimming the magazines.

So what made me feel so sick?

We had front page covers littered with stars who seemingly have lost weight in a flash. Amanda Holden, 19 days after her near death birth experience going back to work looking like someone else had been pregnant for her. The headline could be criticised on so many levels, but having come from a gym full of mothers sweating their arses off for months on end to shift the pregnancy weight this seems wrong. It is these images that feed children's and teenagers obsessions. We do not buy into these stereo typical images however they are out there. Martha (then 13) visited me in the hospital shortly after I had given birth to the twins and commented genuinely shocked 'mum, you still look pregnant'. I tried to explain that this was all perfectly normal (and I have been pregnant 14 times resulting in 11 children!) but in her mind filled with stars who shed the weight so fast this seemed wrong. It made me feel a fat failure even though I am not, and worse still these girls will grow up expecting this miracle to happen to them and when it does not will be very disheartened.

So too the next before and after image of one of the girls from 'Little Mix' the winners of X factor this year. She had taken a lot of flack throughout the series for being a very normal size, although to the rose coloured stick thin eyes of the press obviously too fat! She has spend 3 hours every day in the gym and has dieted and lost two dress sizes. Okay, fair enough and well done to her, but please! who in normal life can afford (both money and time wise) to spend this amount of time each day working out. Again it makes girls feel they have to achieve this level of fitnesses and emulate her.

And finally dear old Kerry Katona. Lord! how many dress sizes has the woman been over the years. Once again she is featured looking radiant and size 8, having spent each day running for two hours and then a further 2 in the gym. Okay, she has 4 young children. My question is what is happening to them whilst she works out? Undoubtedly, she will be featured at some point over weight once again as well.

The magazines scream at us, 'do this and you will be happy', 'eat this and you will be thin'.....

The harsh reality as I have found out through weeks of hard work, aching muscles and healthy eating is very different. Looking that way will not make you happy. I freely admit to all my students as a teenager and then again in my 30's I was anorexic. I had the joy of walking into any shop and looking good in anything I put on. Yes it was great, a real adrenaline rush. Was I happy, no. The two times I have suffered this disease have been the two most stressful points in my life. Looking like a supermodel does not bring you happiness. It is also for most of us an unrealistic goal.

Loosing weight, just like gaining it happens slowly. No get thin fast fad will keep the weight off for life because we have not re educated our minds and changed our life style and habits. Getting fit is hard, hard work. I thought I was very active, running around all day after children, at work dashing around. I never sit still but neither do I burn up much fat! Going to bootcamp has made me appreciate how unfit I am and also what an unfit life style I led. As most of you know I have small babies. I want to be around and be healthy to see them grow up and get married. I won't if I carry on in my old lifestyle.

I wish these magazines would stop projecting all these images. As I walked along the shelves they seemed to scream out everywhere. Either those who have lost weight and are now happy, or those who have gained and subsequently are not. What material values are we trying to sell to our children? Yes we want to look nice and be healthy but not at these extreme costs. Looks and figures before looking after children and a family life?

I must admit I hobbled away glad I am generally too busy to stop and read such things. I hobbled away happy that although each bootcamp session is dam hard work, I am achieving my goals slowly, my children can see I am doing things healthily and keep complimenting me on how well I am doing. I hobbled away content I may still have a belly but my children are aware pregnancy is hard and draining and it takes time for your body to recover. I hobbled away feeling deeply sorry for the stars and the image they will now have to maintain for however long they remain in the spotlight.

Julia Roberts quotes in 'Notting Hill' - ' I have been on a diet for two decades'.....I do not want to follow that! but rather to be happy, to be a reasonable size, and to more importantly be fit, and content both in my body and my mind. I want to be like the older lady I see at my body pump classes who, well into her 70's can lift weights three times havier than mine. That's the type of person I admire!

Planning, cooking and shopping for a large family.

A common question in all my classes when the students find out how many children I have is "how much is your weekly food bill.It must be HUGE'.
They are amazed when I tell them, and often it is far less than there's.
Over the years our meals and eating habits have changed and adapted according to many factors:

• size of family
• budget
• where we lived
• time we had to cook

So we have modified our lifestyle and our meals quite frequently.

We have lived with quite a large budget, and we have lived on a very very meagre one. The large budget involved more treats for the children and shopping in more expensive shops. The meagre one involved a lot of lentils! Lentil burgers, lentil stew, lentil curry, lentil chilli....you get the picture. Now, needless to say we cannot face lentils! although I would recommend the book 'Not just a load of old lentils' which was my bible for a few years.

We are now careful.We run a tight budget, mainly because we have realised that you don't have to actually spend vast amounts of money to produce healthy and nutritional meals. In our house everyone by and large eats the same meal. It is only adapted for someone who absolutely detests a certain food. An example of this being fish. When we have fish we have an alternative as well.

I feel very strongly that everyone should sit together at meals times where ever possible. It is a time we can reflect on the day, re group and generally chat about things. Everyone has after diner jobs to help tidy up and get the house straight for the evening so these are done as soon as tea is finished.

We always plan the weeks meals so that we only buy what we have too and not have lots of food leftover that we never use up. I am very very fortunate that Simon loves to cook. When we first married I did all the cooking as I was staying at home with the children. As I returned to work, we shared the cooking more, and then Simon became very interested in Italian cooking and took over virtually all the cooking, other than any puddings which are still my domain.

For those living in the UK and Europe the shops we choose will make sense. If you are reading this further afield I will explain. We used to shop in Tesco and Asda (medium on expensive) never M&S or Sainsburys or Waitrose (more expensive). Then we went to Prague.At first we shopped in Kmart as it was the only supermarket there. We got used to lots of American brands and products-Peter Pan Peanut butter has to be the best! Then it changed to Tesco-don't get excited a few products were brought over and immediately snapped by every ex pat! and finally a year before we left Devita opened. We came back to Wales, went to Tesco and had a cardiac arrest at the bill. £200!!!!! in Prague we would be hard pushed to spend in Tesco more than £60! (Prices have since gone up). We had a serious re think.

We now shop in Aldi and Lidl. We shopped there way before the recession and when they were not popular shops to be seen in. Infact one of my children hid in the car when I went in years ago. People were very funny about the brands as they were 'foreign'. Many however we recognised from living i Europe. Now our future son in Law is the assistant manager in the local Aldi! My husband who generally does the bulk of the shopping (as he does the bulk of the cooking) is well known in both places. Mainly because our weekly shopping spills over the end of the conveyer belts! Everyone is very friendly too us and they are lovely personable places to shop in. It's fair to say Asda gives me a headache even trying to find the food!

Our weekly food bill for 10-12 of us (depending on who we have staying when) is about £100-£120. On top of this I shop for the toiletries and any things we run out of in the week, usually fruit, bread and milk. This can be another £20-40 depending. We can cut this down considerably if we have to at the end of the month as well.

As we have a lot of growing teenagers in the house who get hungry quickly we encourage protein filled healthy snacks. Noodles and scrambled eggs on toast are favourites. Crisps and cereals are expensive so these are banned at night. We eat a lot of fruit and yogurts as well, and these are also popular snacks as well. Despite all our healthy eating and cooking everything from scratch the teenagers still crave crap and go through an awful phase where they pick at meals obviously wishing the healthy alternative in front of them was sausage , beans and chips. Too satisfy this we have our one 'Crappy meal' night where we buy something they want. Usually chicken nuggets, beans/ sweet corn and oven chips! That's the compromise!

Tasty filling family favourite meals include, cottage pies, curry, lasagne, pasta with carbonara sauce, broccoli and bacon pieces, chicken with mascopne and vegetables, sausage casserole, lemon chicken and potatoes and veg and spaghetti with sauce. We use a lot of garlic and herbs as well to flavour things. We tend to use pasta more than potatoes and rice as it is healthier and works better with most of the meals.

The children have packed lunches for school. Years ago I used to make up about 9 or 10 each night. Now the older children make up their own meals. In the winter they can take a flask filled with hot chocolate, soup or maybe chilli with some bread and fruit. Often they choose to make sandwiches and then carrot sticks, tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers, fruits, a biscuit and crisps. They take water to drink .

Because of the way we eat, none of the children have fillings and the dentist commented "for such a large family' how remarkably healthy all their teeth were. I can only presume she must think as a large family we eat ready made meals??? if we did our budget would be double!

We also look out for reductions in the local co-op . Often both here and Tesco we have picked up meats hugely reduced that we can freeze for meals. We do some baking each week, but thankfully none of the children have very sweet tooth's so we don't need to make up very much.

I hope this has given you some insight into how a larger family manage. We all eat very well as well as very healthily! We do not go without and neither do the children. It shows you do not have to spend a fortune of food to give a nutritional and balanced diet to a large volume of children and I am pleased to say the older ones who have left, learnt from their father and produce lovely meals for their partners as well.

Bootcamp Blog week 6...a bit of a fail :(

Okay so I can make excuses.
I have loads of them this week.
It's half term and the children are off, we were very busy, out much of the time and did plenty of baking.
I had the twins sickness bug.
I was on my period.
I was also very tired and up much of each night.
The combination of all these factors lead to my demise it's fair to say.
Embarrassing after winning the prize for best boot camper, one feels one has an image to maintain.
So what went wrong.
Period =chocolate craving! big time, and in fact anything sugary and crap filled. I bought myself a huge bar of fruit and nut chocolate. I mischievously hid in the loo with two large slabs and my book (the only place of peace and solitude in half term). I bit into it, and gobbled it down. Then too my horror I felt violently sick. It was too rich! The rest of the bar remains in the cupboard, until my kids read this blog and go and finish it off that is. They will be doing me a favour!
Sadly the same cannot be said of the chocolate crispy cakes we made.
They were huge and filled the lovely muffin cases and looked so appealing.....I decided just to try a little bit of one. Yum. Managed to walk out of the kitchen. Well you know the scenario. Came back into the kitchen, convinced myself another little nibble wouldn't hurt. Low and behold by the end of the day I had polished off two. I was disgusted at my lack of self control.
Then a godsend (well on the diet front at least ) I caught the twins awful sickness bug. For two days this rendered me incapable of eating anything. The only thing I could in fact bear was cups of tea with a little sugar.
I could not resist weighing myself.
I had lost 2 lbs.
Woo hoo. Worth feeling dreadful for.
My joy was short lived.
The bug lasted all week.
I could eat but only carbs, so I stuck to dry bagels, crisps and porridge and toast. Protein filled meals made me heave at the smell.
I did not over eat, however I have realised that any grains at all are not good for me. I pilled on the weight. Deep depression.
We then had a few days out. As I felt so sick every time I looked at protein I could not face the usual salads I take.
I resorted to either starving myself or just having a coffee and a bag of crisps, even though I knew this was not a good way to eat.
My already screwed up metabolism got even more screwed.
I have also realised that the later I stay up the hungrier I become so late nights with the kids who were snacking were hard. I was up most of each night with puking, and pooing babies which again meant I was exhausted, could not be bothered to cook my special meals and resorted to toast or a bagel as they were easy and at hand.
It would be so much easier if I had a personal chef who would just cook me all these lovely low cal protein meals. Being a celebrity has it's advantages after all!!!
Well, back to reality.
Having now weighed myself and beat myself around the bush for not just not loosing any weight but actually putting it on, I am back on the wagon.
I only managed three excercise sessions last week as we were out and about. I have to so five to see much impact here as well.
I stayed up late cooking so I now have the right foods prepared and on hand now and I am ready to start again.
I now only have three and half months till Abigail gets married so each week has to count.
Because of last week I also have to work much harder to catch up. I cannot afford to gain 3lbs instead of loosing two. All that hard work and I am now 5lbs down where I should be.
The good thing is that I have again realised my bad eating habits and what affects them the most.
I must be a lot more aware of these in future months and years and prepare better for them.
I am disappointed, but not disheartened. Although I have gained 3lbs I have lost 1/4 inch from my waist and hips and not actually put any inches back on, so it's not all bad news.
I will not give up that easily having come so far!!

Why I loathe the end of the school holidays

I always hate the end of the school hoildays.
We never seem to have enough time to do all the things we want to do.
Or just as we plan to go out somehwre the weather misbehaves and we have to re think our plans altogether.
That happens quite a bit here in North Wales!
I miss the times I have with the children.
When they return from school it's all such a rush.
I love the slowness of the hoildays, of sitting around and chatting, watching a movie or doing something together we don't normally get time to do.
As teachers, we are very fortunate to be able to spend every hoilday with our children.
I try to never take this for granted.

School has now started once again and I am always reminded of an ABBA song on the first day as they are invariably late and bags, scarves and shoes go flying around.

Abba - Slipping Through My Fingers
Songwriters: ANDERSSON, BENNY GORAN BROR / ULVAEUS, BJOERN K. / KORTNEV, ALEKSEJ ANATOLEVICH

'Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well known sadnessand and I have to sit down for a while
the feeling that I'm losing her forever
and without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
that funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
the feeling in it slipping through my fingers all the time
do I really see what's in her mind
each time I think I'm close to knowing
she keeps on growing
slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
barely awake I let precious time go by
then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholyc feeling
and a sense of guilt I can't deny
what happened to the wonderful adventures
the places I had planned for us to go
well, some of that we did, but most we didn't
and why, I just don't know'

It fills me with melancholy as well as reminding me to make each day precious and hold onto the memories.

However, I take great pleasure in seeing how much going to school and the huge opportunities it affords gives them.The challenges they face, and the issues they deal with and overcome will shape the people they turn out to become. The friendships they forge and make and the mistakes they learn from.
My children have the most incredible opportunities offered to them. Sometimes they overlook these and sometimes they grasp them with both hands.

I hope they will always see home as a refuge. Somewhere they can relax and chill and be themseleves as well as somewhere they feel comfortable to  bring their friends and partners too.


I love to re group in the hoildays. No matter how much time we get it is never enough.
The things we have not achieved will be put on a to do list. Ready and waiting for the next opportuntiy to come.


I will for now sort out and edit the photos from our last happy times together and scarp book these precious memories of my childrens lives.

Children by Fiona and Simon Beavan 2003-2012