Bath time

October 2011:

June 2012:

Is three kids really a big family?

I was in the park with my three children recently.  Freyja and Theo were on their scooters ahead of me and I was walking after them with Noah in his pushchair.  An older couple were coming towards us in the opposite direction and, as they passed me, the man said to me 'Where are you going to put the next one?' It wasn't said unkindly, just intended as a humorous comment -  as I'd had so many kids he obviously thought me fair game.  I didn't mind, just laughed it off, but it made me think about whether 3 really is so many children to have.  It is, after all, only one more child than is considered the 'normal' number to have. But I know quite a few people with 3 kids and most of them say that they frequently find people look at them as if they have grown another head when they say they have three children.

I always felt that between 1 and 3 children was pretty standard.  I'd say you need at least 4 children before you can start claiming the 'big family' badge. I don't think 3 is a small family by any means but I also don't think 3 makes a big family.

People with two, when asked about their children, often say they have 'just the two' or 'only the two'.  How does 'only the two' jump into the realms of crazy big family by adding just one more?

Our Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

I have been determined to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee since Kate and William got married and, much to my surprise, I ended up glued to the telly really wishing I'd made an effort to do something to celebrate it. 

But it felt that everything was against me celebrating this Jubilee.  We contemplated holding a street party, but ran out of time with the organising.  I then decided we'd go to Battersea Park but by the time I got round to getting tickets they had all sold out.  So a group of us decided to have a garden party which we basically threw together in the two weeks before the Jubilee.  Then one of the main organisers got stranded at her parents', unable to make it back in time, the weather looked set to be dreadful and the night before our party the host's daughter came down with chicken pox.  Not to mention our disastrous attempt to get to Charing Cross to see the pageant on Saturday.   In years to come my children will be able to tell about how they almost got to cross the river during the Diamond Jubilee flotilla.

However, I did get my Diamond Jubilee celebration and I can now look back happy in the knowledge that the occasion did not pass me by.

 
We relocated the party to another friend's house.  We strung up bunting.  We decked tables with cloths and napkins and cakes and scones.

 

 

We roasted a gigantic joint of pork.  We drank bubbles and Pimms. We face painted and tattooed the children.

 
We organised games of Tin Can Alley and bouncing on the trampoline.  We charged the children a 'coin' a go for games and popcorn - and they paid, even when the stalls were unsupervised!

We ate homemade sausage rolls, salads, pork & apple sauce sandwiches, individual trifles and Eton Mess.  The children sang 'God Save the Queen' and knew more of the words than we did! We talked and laughed and had loads of fun.

And it didn't even rain!

Jubilee Kids