I have not had a change to touch base now for what seems like months, but I see it is a little over two weeks since I have posted on my blog.

The Christmas meal went without too much trauma and dramas. Nigella Lawson's Potato pancakes were a culinary triumph. The rest of the meal was "bootiful" (as Bernard Matthew would say). Although I did manage to make DH's gran sick. This is not strickly true - she ate like she hadn't seen food in years. With the size of her this is clearly not the case. The fork clearly wasn't big enough but our garden shovel was in use propping the shed door closed so she she was going to have to make do. I was so glad she was at the other end of the table from me - her eating habits are let's just say an animal has better table manners. It is all her own fault she was sick. She couldn't say no to anything and piled her plate high and insisted on eating the lot. I have to say though it is just desserts. We have never had a meal prepared by her and not had a dose of the trots after it. It is that bad that we don't go there to eat now and she doesn't get leave to cook anything for the kids!

On a brighter note, Santa came and J is sure he heard him! We hadn't had a chance to go and see Santa anywhere in the lead up to Christmas. We wanted to but due to one thing and another it wasn't possible. The Sunday before Christmas though we went for a walk in the grounds of a local Castle and it so happened that Santa had popped along and there wasn't a queue. So we took the kids into this lovely grotto in the castle dungeons and he spoke to the kids and gave them a gift. J was funny afterwards. He's 5 and although he believes in Santa I think he thought we were pulling his leg a little too. He was overcome and said "he is real...I wasn't sure mummy, but he is real and we have just seen him".

Our house is now overflowing with toys. Our attic is becoming full with toys we have put in the "departure lounge" until they forget about them and I can either take them to a car boot sale or give them to a children's charity. We have even had to get another storage unit from Ikea to help control the chaos. Lego, Playmobile, prams, dressing up clothes, DVD's, and 101 other things. To say I have three very happy children is an understatement. My next problem is what to get my daughter for her second birthday on Friday.

New Year was a quiet one, we stayed up to the bells for the first time in years. Young kids and late nights do not mix well!! The following day we first footed my sister and some friends - we had our tea there at night.

At the weekend we had my sister's ex for tea, he gave the kids Christmas gifts and we had one for him so it was a nice way to catch up. The poor guy had wanted to tell us that he was seeing someone else but hadn't know how to tell us. So he sent a thank you text the following day and dropped it in as a foot note. I am pleased and it won't stop us seeing him. He is our kids' uncle and Godfather to my middle one. I told him I hoped she was better than his last one (my sister)!

Better go and get things sorted here. I feel like I haven't done any proper housework for weeks. THe dinner is in the slow cooker so that buys me some time this afternoon.

Here's to 2009 ...bring it on!