Sunday Mistakes:
1 - Max did his stage-diving trick from the rocking horse onto the couch. Usually OK but Issie had removed all the cushions. Ouch - tooth through lip, blood, tears and nothing I could do. 10 mins later, all forgotten!
2 - Amazingly, apart from that, nothing I can remember

Sunday: Good Moves:
1 - Having Mum here to help. Great
2 - Inviting Ian for dinner, had a really relaxed and enjoyable evening
3 - Cooking curry without a recipe. Turns out I can do that pretty well. 

Later on, Max helped me with the DIY before dropping the ruler into some inaccessible place. After another good bath and bedtime, Mum and Dad arrived to provide moral support - in fact Mum was just in time for Issie stories, and then we had a lovely dinner with Ian. 

And after lunch, I was much in demand as a hammock filler 

Sunday was our friend Julia's birthday, and she came over for lunch with young Aiden. The weather was great, so we dined al-fresco. Max did a hamster job on the crackers. 

Saturday: Mistakes:
1 - Oversleeping, all of us till 8:30, and missing dancing class
2 - Overzealous crushing of a can for recycling and cutting my finger

Saturday: Good Moves:
1 - Still going down into town despite the rain
2 - Not caring about wet clothes, puddle jumping etc. We all had a great time
3 - Successful on-time bath and bed giving me a free evening

and Jesus Green is a great place to be after a rainstorm! 

Max and Issie had great fun with the big long puddle in Portugal Place 

Saturday - and we went down to town to see Ian Sheldon's art exhibit at the Pitt Building. It was a wet and rainy day but we had fun between the showers. Issie played in the puddles on Trinity Street 

Ian Sheldon - Art Gallery - oil, watercolor paintings, prints

For those of you that don't know, Ian is a college friend who I shared a house with in my 3rd year at Magdalene. Ian is a tremendous artist and a wonderful friend, and it was great to see him back in town and and looking happy and relaxed despite the stresses of organising an exhibit across an ocean and preparing, packing, shipping, hanging and talking about many works of art over the past week or so. To find out more, here is Ian Sheldon's Website.

Friday: mistakes:
1 - Not forcing Issie to go back to bed when she got up at 5am
2 - Letting her take a nap mid-afternoon
3 - Staying up till 11:30pm playing stupid mindless computer game when I should have had an early night.  

Friday: good moves:
1 - remembering that Playdoh keeps kids quiet for hours.
2 - getting them fed and into bed on time by 7:30
3 - finally painting the bathroom ceiling and bing able to put up the trim on the fan after only 18 months...  

Friday was supposed to be a non-work day but these days that means only doing 4-5 hours when Max is napping. We had a good day in-between having to nip down to the office and deal with emails, but we were at home all day. Abby came round in the afternoon with Liddy and Saul, which was fun, but Issie had fallen asleep on the couch and was in a grump when she was woken up. She was only just brightening up by 5pm when it was time for them to go. C'est la vie. 

While Mummy's away - the family will play.... Gesa has gone for a week in Canada to see her parents, and I am left in charge fo the children! Eek. Fortunately, my Mum is coming for Mon / Tues and the nursery takes care of them on Weds / Thurs, so I have a fighting chance, and I thought I should post a few notes every day, so here goes.  

Gesa in decisive mood

We were clearing out the bookshelves and giving away all the books we'll never read again. Gesa has about 6 'organise your life' books which I am determined to get rid of one day.

At one point, I pick up 'The Idiots Guide to Avoiding Procrastination' (seriously!) and ask 'Can this go?'. The answer was 'uh, probably.'

Maybe you should read it first, dear

Owen came to stay for a last visit before jetting off to the US for a couple of years, and whilst he and I staggered through our Saturday morning hangover, we refurbished and refilled the kid's sandpit, much to the delight of the little people.  

Owen decided to relax in the hammock, but Issie spotted him and jumped in to tickle his tummy 

After all that, Mr P clearly deserved a hug