you are now leaving Birthday Central........

Hey all!

I know its been a while since I blogged - unfortunately it takes a bout of tonsilitis to slow me up and make time for blogging! :o( Nearly better now tho....

Well, its just been non-stop birthdays round here! All the photos are on the webalbum so I'll just put a few in here!

Izzy's 4th birthday was lots of fun :o) She got fab presents and had a brilliant time! We discovered that Izzy doesn't like to be sang at!!! ;o) She found that most unsettling! So, what did we get up to for Izzy's birthday?! Well, we went swimming at Splash with Gaby from next door on her birthday morning. Auntie Ros, Uncle Phil and Joe and Finn stayed the night so were with her to open her presents and after Splash, we went to TGI Friday's for dinner - and discovered that Izzy HATES when lots of over excited people sing at her!!! So funny!! ;o)

2 weeks after her birthday she had a party at Crazy Corner, her favourite soft play venue near us :o) We had 20 guests and they were all super well behaved and it was such a nice party :o)

The day after Izzy's party, Caitlin had her bowling party. It was just over a week before her party but we wanted it in term time :o) That was fun - particularly the bit where Nick encouraged them all to let the helium out of the balloons and inhale.....I've taken a few bits of video which I'll try to add to this later!

Then for Caitlin's actual birthday, she had 3 friends, Tejdeep, Charlotte and Aimee stay over on the Monday night for a big sleepover in the cinema room! They're all really nice girls - but man can they talk! Finally, at 12:40am I had to suggest that if I heard any more talking, there would never be another sleepover!!! So, they slept - until 6am?!?!?!!!! They all stayed to watch Caitlin open her birthday presents and then were picked up by their parents. Caitlin had a fab day!

Their main present this year was a shared present which we picked up last saturday - a new trampoline!! :o) Its so cool and big enough for adults to bounce on too! As you might spot from the pics, its not your typical trampoline.....well, we just don't DO typical!!! Its called a Springfree trampoline and avoids the dangers of feet getting trapped in the springs (even with the pads over cos little feet can just slide under!) by having flexible rods under the mat and an enclosure that is fully attached to the side of the mat. No way to slip off, get trapped or anything.... the only danger is Nick thinking he's still 21 and doing handsprings to his feet on the trampoline and damaging his shoulder...... I'm saying nothing!!!

The girls are now on their spring holidays - 2 weeks off. Nick's Mum and Dad came up on Caitlin's birthday and looked after the girls for us on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I spent with them then Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, they've been at holiday club. Today, they're having the BEST time cos Lauren's back in England for 3 weeks staying with her future in-laws!!! :o) They were SOOOOooooo happy to see her! Izzy just squeezed her and Caitlin just shouted Lauren Lauren Lauren and hugged her :o) It was a very special moment! I've been over to see Lauren and Brent's new house - such a perfect first home - 3 bedrooms, separate dining room and a lovely back garden :o) They're working on the decorating etc now ready for them to move in after they get married.

This summer we've been lucky enough to find another aupair to look after the girls through the holidays :o) Another Canadian.....well, the last one was no trouble! ;o) Renee is joining us at the beginning of June and will stay till the end of August. She's almost qualified as a teacher, teaches dance and is French Canadian so speaks French fluently as well as English! We're looking forward to a summer of dancing and speaking French ;o) Hopefully it will give me a chance to brush up on my French too - its quite miserable really cos I finished school pretty competent and now.... pretty rubbish! The girls loved being able to stay at home last summer with Lauren and play in the garden, see their friends, play with their toys, ride their bikes etc etc and we hope they will have a similarly lovely summer with a new friend :o)

I'll leave you with a couple of pics from today - and also a pic of Muffin the huge! We're lovin that cat! Such a character :o)

Love to all

Nikkixxxxoxoxoxoxoxxxxx

Race for Life and Muffin

Hello bloggy friends ;o)

As you might notice from the not-so-subtle box on the right, I'm doing Race for Life again this year - this time with Ros :o) Please feel free to check out my page and donate if you feel so inclined :o) Last year I did super well and got £125 - many thanks to all my sponsors! Can we beat that this year?????!!!! Its for a truly excellent cause! Ros and I are back to training - went well on Monday and we're running again tomorrow and I'll try to get another session in at the weekend. As always, I'm the problem person cos Nick goes away and I'm stuck in the house.....maybe I need a treadmill?! ;o)

You may also have gathered that we have a new addition - delightful Muffin has joined the Joyce family! She's a Pixie Bob which (allegedly) is a breed that originated in the mating of a bob cat and a domestic cat in North America. They've only been an official pedigree breed since 1989 and there are very few breeders in the UK. If you check out the link to Muffin's blog on the right (I didn't set it up by the way! Gertrud, the breeder, has blogs for all her kittens!!!!) then you can also have a look at some of Muffin's friends that she left behind in London. Muffin will (hopefully) have kittens later in the year with Toby. If you have a look under the boy cats on the anson road website you'll find him quickly. He's a big gorgeous cat!!

The only problem with cats is the cat litter - I'm sat on the Mac in the kitchen and Muffin has just poo-ed in the litter tray next to my seat..... scuse me 1 moment ;o).....

Ok, sorted again! Phew!!!!

Nick's away at the moment and we're on the run up to Izzy's birthday on Saturday :o)

there's lots more to blog including mine and Nick's weekend away in London collecting Muffin whilst the girls stayed with Nanny and Grandad plus some general bits and bobs but I think I'll have to save it for a mega blog after Izzy's birthday!

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxox

Noah Jonathon Neufeld

Just to let my blog readers know that little Noah passed away last Thursday night.

All our love and prayers go to Jonathon and Melissa and also to the rest of the Neufeld family.

xxxx

Mother's Day :o)

Today is Mother's Day!!!

I was greeted this morning by Caitlin bringing me tea in bed :o) Bless her, I taught her to make tea 2 weeks ago and she keeps bringing us tea in bed now! I love daughters!!!!! Mum and Dad were also here so they got tea in bed too!

The girls then sang a wonderful "Mother's Day" song that Caitlin learned at school last year and taught Izzy to sing this year - quite brought a tear to my eye. Caitlin had also made me the most gorgeous card and did an acrostic poem where each line started with the letters of "MOTHERS DAY" - another teary moment cos my special big girl had put so much thought and effort into it and expressed the most gorgeous sentiments :o) So, I certainly felt like the most special Mummy on earth this morning and I know I'm truly blessed by these wonderful little girls.

Anyway, to all Mums everywhere - happy Mother's Day. I know how special my Mum and Mum-in-law are to me - their love, support and encouragement know no limits - and I am always grateful for them in my life. Much love to all Mums :o)

Big hugs

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxxx

quick update

last week was half term :o)

We started rather fantastically on Sunday with a trip to the Gruffalo :o) If you haven't read it - then do!! After the Gruffalo, which the girls totally loved we had lunch and a play at Fun shack. Izzy bounced so well on the trampoline this time!

During the week, Nick and I were both at work so the girls were either at home with a working parent (and the server hacker meant that the day Nick had planned to spend having fun with the girls was spent doing computer stuff :o( ) or at holiday club. They had fun with their friends though and then on Friday Caitlin went to spend the weekend with her Nanna and Grandad. She went down the mine with Grandad at the National Coal Mining Museum and to Cannon Hall (again!!) to look for baby lambs being born. Unfortuantely she didn't see any but still had a
wonderful time. Mum's taken pictures which I'll post when she sends them through.

Meanwhile Izzy and Nick and I had a nice weekend at home, we went to Pizza Express, booked birthday parties for the girls, bought new shoes (Izzy's now a size 10!) and played in the garden with the rabbit and guinea pigs :o)

That's most of the news really - other than our sponsor child through PLAN international has now turned 18 so we were sent details of a new sponsor child - a little boy in Zimbabwe. He's 4 weeks younger than Caitlin which is actually really nice because Caitlin can better relate to the differences in her life and his. He's called Joseph and I've just sent him a football as a "hello" gift! I'm more au fait with what girls like but I'm sure I can't go wrong with a football! ;o)

Other than that, life continues to be crazily hectic with work - both Nick and I are rushed off our feet but really - better that than not, so we're not complaining!

Big hugs to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxx

update on email status

Hey again

This is where having a techy for a hubby is great - he's managed to forward my emails from nik@nikkijoyce.co.uk to a new google mail address. So, if you use that address, I'll still get it OR you can be the first to use my new google mail address speechynikki@googlemail.com :o)

Much love!

Nikkixoxoxox

hackers are not nice people :o(

Hey all

Just had a call from Nick. His server that hosts his website, the BLAST website and various other websites was hacked at some point by mindless, nasty, thieving idiots who put one of those things on that emails people to say that their paypal account needs checking and please reply with account details etc etc (phishing right!). Fortunately, I think people these days are too wise to fall for that nonsense but someone managed to chase the root of the problem back to Nick's server.

The server is now off line whilst they investigate who hacked it and try to track that person down. In the meantime, our websites are all off...I seem to still be getting email to my nik@nikkijoyce.co.uk address but I don't know if it will keep working.

So, if you need us - we can still get on the internet so leave a comment here, message me via facebook or use my work address nikki.joyce@nhs.net

Love

Nikkixx

blog-iversary :o)

Hey all

Izzy just wanted me to go back through all the blog entries & look at the photos - fortunate as it turns out as it is exactly 1 year ago today that I posted our first blog :o)

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day yesterday :o)

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxox

note to self - nobody's last words are ever "I wish I'd spent more time at work"!!

Hello lovely people - I know - where have I been - no blogs!

I'll try and catch you all up a bit on what we're up to - first though, if you haven't already done so, check out the photo link cos I won't put too many photos on here :o)

I'll work backwards to Christmas I think - that makes most sense.

First then - congratulations to Melissa and Jonathon on the safe arrival of baby Noah. For those of you who've read my earlier blogs, they found out quite early on that the baby had trisomy 13, a chromsomal syndrome with (usually) many challenges and difficulties. Noah arrived at the weekend and, thank God, has come home today. I only have a little news for now but for those of you who did keep them in your prayers - thankyou - he's a little miracle.

What's the big news in the Joyce household then?! Both girls are continuing to do well at school and have lots of friends :o) I'll post a couple of recent pictures of them shortly! Izzy is starting to read some words and can write her own name and count to - well, almost 100!! Caitlin is continuing to be a maths genius. Caitlin has now got her girl's brigade uniform and she looks very cool in it :o) I'll try and post a picture of that soon when I upload it from my phone :o) She's loving Girl's brigade and has made lots of new friends there. Izzy has been told that she can start too :o) She decided not to cos she didn't know people and was a bit nervous but now has made firm friends with a little girl called Abbie who's just 4 weeks older than her and goes to her sunday school group too. Abbie goes to Girl's brigade - so how long do you think it will be before Izzy decides that she maybe IS big enough after all ;o)

2 weeks back we went to Center parks for the weekend with our fab neighbours and good friends the Riordans :o) We had such fun :o) We swam, relaxed and enjoyed walking in the fresh air. Izzy had her first pony ride and totally loved it :o) She was so confident and didn't even need me to hold her :o) Izzy now asks on a daily basis when we're going back and "can we live at Center parks"?!?!?! :o)

New Year this year was great fun :o) My Mum and Dad joined us along with Ros, Phil and the boys as usual - such a joy to have a house big enough to hold so many guests :o) Caitlin and Joe were supposed to be asleep but, as they were still awake at 11:40pm, Ros and I decided they might as well come down so they saw the New Year in for the first time :o) It was really special! Caitlin was flapping her hands and rubbing her head in excitement! She's so wonderfully enthusiastic about things :o) After midnight, a bunch of neighbours also came in! It was crazy! Ros, Mum and I had cleared up in the kitchen but then, suddenly, what appeared to be a chemical lab appeared on the counter as Nick pulled out all the spirits and mixers and started creating some wild and wacky concoctions - needless to say, I didn't try them!

Nick's birthday was lovely too :o) We were somewhat partied out by then so it was a quiet one. I bought him a game playing chair which rumbles and has speakers in it.. that accompanied by Call of Duty 4 on the PS3 has basically kept him occupied ever since! He keeps crashing in bed at 2am having been trapped on a vital mission!!!! Boys and their toys eh?!

Christmas was brilliant. We had Anne, Jim, Nige and Rich up and had a lovely time :o) Not too hectic - just good food, good wine, good company and a wonderful visit from Santa :o) The girls loved all their presents and got just what they wanted - they're still enjoying all of them, this year, everything has been well used! The girls did really well in the Nativity at the Tab too :o)

My birthday was also daft fun - cos I decided we should have a barbecue! I've never had one before for my birthday - no kidding!! So, I sent Nick out (heheheheheheheee) to barbecue food and invited lots of friends and neighbours in and we had a really fun night :o)

As well as a barbecue, I also went out for the evening to a Teppanyaki restaurant in Hartlepool with Ros and Phil - here's some photos of that evening! It was great fun - and didn't the chef do an accurate job with my age ;o)

In between Christmas and New Year we held an engagement party for Lauren and Brent which turned out really well :o) It was lovely for us to meet some people that we'd heard about but never met before and everyone got on so well! The night finished with a big SingStar competition between 2 teams - Nick heading one team and me the other. Nick's team did a lot better than my team - but then, boys are more competitive!!! ;o)

I think that's all for what we've been up to. Coming up soon are the girl's birthdays :o) They've decided what kind of parties they want and their joint present is going to be some play equipment for the garden. At the moment, they've got a toddler set which Caitlin can now almost step over! Despite that, they played on it all last summer so we want to get something that they can have more fun with this year :o)

Lauren's back for a visit in April also - the girls miss her a lot and every so often Izzy will ask when she's back. They've coped well without having her in the house but they're excited to see more of her in the summer :o)

My job at the moment is crazy busy - hence the title for this blog.... I need to remember that work is not the only thing in life and if there isn't enough time to get it all done - then it doesn't get done. I've volunteered to help out with Sunday School (Razmatazz) at church - so that should keep me out of trouble at the weekend!!

Oh, we're going to see the Gruffalo live this weekend in Sunderland :o) The girls don't know yet ;o)

There you go - I'll just go and fetch a few pics for you and say "bye for now"

Lots of love

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxx

wow - its been nearly 3 weeks - oops!

Hello all

Sorry - its been HECTIC round here over the last couple of weeks - Nick's been doing a massive job in Sunderland so he's been away a lot, my work has been chaotic and the girls have been busy little bees at school and church!! That and trying to squeeze in Christmas preparations of course!

Well, 1st december Ros and I had our annual Christmas shopping trip to Leeds and stayed with my parents. The chucks were Soooo cute - poor little scraggy things! They're plumping up though and learning to peck and scrape for food like proper hens - amazingly they've only ever eaten poultry mash so are clueless how to eat proper hen food - they're starting to peck now though but I guess it must be so confusing for them. 1 year in a tiny wire box with hens above, below and to the side (hence the feather loss - stress and hens above weeing on them :o( ) then free roaming, free range, high quality food and affection!!

The shopping trip also went well, Mum, Ros and I shopped til we dropped and managed to find some really unique presents for some people and a few bargains too :o) FAB!

The girls are both performing in the church nativity on my birthday morning :o) Caitlin is an innkeeper and Izzy (with the beginners group aged 3-5) is singing "away in the manger" - that'll be a tear jerker eh?!?! So, they're both rehearsing for that every Sunday morning.

Last night was Caitlin's school Christmas performance and I was the proudest Mummy in the room :o) Caitlin was the only one with a radio mic cos she had this beautiful solo - how proud was I to watch my beautiful girl up on stage in front of a full hall and just opening her mouth to let this gorgeous pure voice out :o) She was awesome! Her voice was so strong and pitch perfect and she sings so unselfconsciously without really knowing quite how incredible it is!! Her head teacher waited for me at the end just to tell me how amazed he was when she started to sing cos it just comes out so effortlessly :o) and her teacher from last year, Mr Shildrick, just kept on and on saying how amazing she is. I'm so happy for her, cos she's in a school where her talents are recognised and encouraged and she feels supported by all the teachers - and they think she's as special as I do :o)

Think that's about all for now - hope you are all doing really well with your Christmas preparations - and remember, no stressing, Christmas is about so much more than the presents and the dinner - and whatever's not done won't matter on the day ;o)

Love to you all and God bless

Ho ho ho

Nikki xxoxoxoxx

Saving chucks....

Morning all :o)

Just thought I'd share with you what my parents are up to this week :o)

Mum and Dad have a gorgeous 3hundred year old cottage in Yorkshire with a big garden. At the bottom of the garden they keep chickens - happy, free roaming chucks :o)

A couple of weeks ago, my Mum found out about a place that rescues battery hens. At 1 year old these poor birds are culled cos they don't lay enough any more. At this point, they've spent a year cooped in a tiny battery cage, with weakened legs and their feathers all pulled out from the stress. No wonder they stop laying eh?

This place rescues the hens before the farmer kills them by buying them off the farmer for 50p a bird. People can then buy the rescue hens for the same 50p (tho, of course, most people spend more in order to support the charity).

Last weekend, Mum and Dad bought their first group of battery hens. As you can see, they're in a bit of a state when they arrive - they look ready plucked :o(

Their legs are really weak so they just kind of sit in the coop and Mum and Dad have given them this small run area to build up strength. Here's a close up of how one looks.....

poor little thing :o(

One of the hens however, is getting stronger and healthier and has now made it for a walk in the wider chicken area :o) here she is....

in about a month, they'll all be as healthy as her :o)

well - just thought I'd share that one with you cos I thought it was a wonderful thing to do! Many of the battery hens DO go on to lay again when they've recovered - but they lay like a normal hen should do, 2 or 3 times a week NOT 2 or 3 times a day as they're forced to in the battery farms. Even if they don't ever lay again, they'll have a happy retirement at the bottom of my parent's garden :o)

Love to all

Nikki xxoxoxoxooxoxoxxx

news from Snotsville...

Yep, you guessed it - the winter snotty grotties have hit again this weekend!

Poor little Iz, having only just had one bug when we were in the Seychelles, has pulled another stonker this weekend :o( Rotten cough, streaming eyes, raging temperature, sleepless nights.... started Friday evening and she was still very hot at 1am this morning. Since then she's cooled down and is now just gunky! Fingers crossed she'll be ok for school tomorrow - but we'll see how she sleeps tonight.

Aside from that, Nick and I are still busy busy busy at work - I was down in London on Thursday presenting at a national conference and Nick's away doing team development workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday. Around that, Caitlin's still loving Girls Brigade on a Thursday night and they are still having lots of fun playing with Gaby and Jess on the street :o)

Next Friday is the annual Christmas shopping pilgrimage to Leeds where Ros and I went to University ;o) Its an annual event for us to break the back of the shopping, spend a night with my mum and dad and leave hubbies and kids behind :o) For the last 2 years, my Mum has also joined in the shopping exhibition and is now one of the gang :o) So that's both exciting and very necessary cos I'm so NOT on top of the shopping this year!

One Christmas related thing was achieved today - the Christmas cake is currently in the oven and the smells on nutmeg and fruit and brandy are permeating every corner of the house - mmmmmmmmmmm ;o)

Think that's really it for now - just a quick one but I'll try and update more in the week.

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoooxxxxx

news from the Joyces

Hello all

Well, Nick went away to Mauritius 10 days ago and arrives back at 10am this morning :o) He's had a busy week involving filming each of the 7 resorts (I think its 7!!) in Mauritius so not the usual "fun in the sun" (he'll kill me for saying that! He usually does work, but he also has some fun and free time with a bunch of travel agents - this time was just work!!).

So, Caitlin, Izzy and I have had 10 days on our own!

Bit of an update before that - Wednesday 7th November we had a bunch of very important visitors to the SLT dept. There's a national review of services for children with speech, language and communication needs and the politician leading it came to see how we managed our service, cos we're a bit different and don't have waiting lists and see pretty much everybody :o) He brought with him the chief executive of our professional body, the chief exec of the main voluntary charity for children with speech and language difficulties (AFASIC) and the SLT advisor to the Dept of Health - wow!! I bought a new suit for the occasion ;o) It went really well, they asked some really tough questions and, at the start of the day, simply didn't believe that we were able to do what we said we did! Still, I'd convinced them by the end of the day and I think we impressed them so that was cool - just exhausting! Its hard work having to be on your toes and give clever answers all day!!!!!!!! ;o)

Thursday 8th November, Caitlin started at Girl's Brigade at the Tab - which she totally loves! Its run by Helen (Lauren's good friend) and Caitlin loves her so that was a bonus. Caitlin went again this week - a logistical challenge cos it finishes at 7:45pm when Izzy's in bed and Nick wasn't here - but our lovely next door neighbour Jan came and sat with Izzy whilst I picked Caitlin up..... then she sat with me and we had a lovely evening of chat and some wine ;o)

Rewind then - I picked the girls up from school at 3:15pm the Friday that Nick left and we went to stay with Mum and Dad for the night. On the Saturday, we went to Cannon Hall (again!). I think this blog is full of Cannon Hall pics but we LOVE that place so much and always have great fun! Here's a few pics for you :o)

Saturday night, my friends Paula and Sam from work came to stay with Sam's 2 little girls Chloe and Emily (aged 4 and 3) so that was fun too.

Sunday was remembrance day and Paula and Sam stayed til 11:30am so we could watch the remembrance ceremony and do the 2 minutes silence together - even little Iz and Emily managed it!

Then - back to work! The girls have been really good all week and tried hard to be ready on time every morning. Caitlin went into school with all the Arabic stuff we brought back from Dubai on Friday and dressed up in her dish dash and did a presentation on Dubai which the teachers told me was fab :o) Its been a REALLY hectic week tho cos getting them home and having tea and keeping the house tidy and playing with them and doing their homework and the washing AND full time work (oh and shopping and feeding myself!!) - so I basically did all that and went to bed each day!! Sorry to people who phoned me after 9pm (or at all really cos I keep missing calls)! Izzy's also back in the habit of waking at 3ish in the night again so I've tried to go to bed early to compensate!!

Friday night this week, Ros and Joe and Finn came to stay and then for most of yesterday we had Jobe and Gaby from next door round playing on the Wii and doing our new High School Musical Sing Star!! (oh Lauren - you're going to LOVE that!!!!!!!)

That's about it I think - just off for breakfast then off to get Nick! YAY!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see him and the girls are excited too!

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxx

on another note...

I didn't want to post this in the same as below but just wanted to share something with you all - and ask for the support of all mums and dads for a couple of "friends of friends"....

Over the last couple of months, 2 of my really close friends have shared with me the news about people they are close to - the first is someone who's first baby was born with an incredibly rare genetic condition, she lived a few months and then sadly died. They became pregnant again - and against all the odds - this baby too had the same condition and they lost the baby. Just this week, another friend shared the news of her brother and sister in law who just found out that her baby has trisomy 13 - a chromosomal disorder which means that the baby may not survive birth and is very unlikely to live past early infancy. As parents, it hits close to home and we can only empathise and pray for them.

Can I ask that you keep these parents in your thoughts and prayers? For strenth to deal with what has to be endured and comfort in their grief. Particularly for Melissa and Jonathon who are currently trying to come to terms with their news.

Thanks guys

lots of love and God bless

Nikki xoxoxoxoxx

engagement news

Hey all

For those who know Lauren, our nanny for the last 2 years, well - she's engaged!! Brent proposed on Wednesday in Canada - super news :o)

We're having a MAJOR fireworks party tonight - 40ish friends and neighbours, ridiculous stack of fireworks, chilli and jackets, hot dogs and beer ;o) Should be great fun! Will update hopefully tomorrow with all the news.

Halloween was great fun :o) Caitlin went to a school halloween disco and then went out trick or treating with the neighbours. Izzy and I went out early in the evening and Izzy got LOADS of sweets - what comes of being cute and 3 and reciting the "sky is blue, grass is green" rhyme ;o)

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxxxx

....meet Lauren..... ;o)

Hello again!

Hope you all caught up with the mega blogging session from last week!

So, Lauren left on Thursday night and there were a few tears all round - especially from Caitlin (and Lauren!).. she's tootled off before of course but I think the empty bedroom was especially tough this time cos she's never packed up before and it does look very odd. Well, only to be expected cos its a new development and a change in that relationship and kids don't really do change all that well!

Fortunately, our best mates Ros and Phil and their boys Joe and Finn offered to come round on Friday night and that saved the day cos we were able to console Caitlin with a sleepover with her best friend Joe :o) We also planned some nice treats for this weekend and, after a cuddle and a chat with mummy & daddy, Caitlin settled to bed nicely on Thursday night with lots to look forward to between now and Christmas :o)

One of the treats planned was to go to the pet shop. We now have a big chicken coop with a run in the garden (thanks to my Mum and Dad) which our 2 little guinea pigs, Lulu and Daisy, have been happily living in (short aside - it saves mowing the lawn cos they do it all!!). Whilst we were on holiday, our old cat Phoebe died :o( She's was about 12 years old and we'd had her for 10 years and was starting to show her age. Cats are amazing creatures, I've heard from friends about their old cats knowing that their time was up, just going off on their own and not coming back.... well, that's what Phoebe did. That was sad too so we thought the girls might like a "new friend" in their lives....

We went into the pet shop planning to get a couple more guinea pigs to go in the big coop but when we got to the pet shop and looked in the guinea pig and rabbit cage, a gorgeous white rabbit with black around its eyes and black patches on its body hopped over to us... to be honest, she chose us!!! She was a bit cheeky, enthusiastic, cute and friendly and we all agreed that she should come home with us :o) The chap from the pet shop went off to get a box for us and we had the "what shall we call the rabbit" discussion...... you've guessed it...... the girls have called the rabbit 'Lauren'!!!!!! :o) We thought that was SOOoooooo sweet!!! I took a quick pic of her on my phone yesterday as she settled into her new hutch.... its not a great pic and I'll try and get a better one this week however.....

Off to church at the Tab this morning and then we'll play with Lauren and play on the Wii this afternoon so another fun day (the weather is GRIM btw - rainy, cold, cloudy and windy - hardly worth the sun getting up this morning cos its still so dark and grotty :o( )

Well, we remembered to put the clocks back last night - of course it made no difference to Izzy who got up at usual time.... which is now 5:45am!!!! hhahahahahaa

Love to all

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

reflecting on aupairs

I know I've left you all with LOTS of blogs to read!!!! This will be the last one for at least a few days so you can catch up - just don't forget to check out the blog entries below too cos this is the 3rd for today!! ;o)

So - we're just about to say "au revoir" to Lauren, probably the end of our aupair experience. I say "probably" cos we don't know for definite what's to come... I just thought I'd share with you all some of my thoughts, feelings and reflections on the experience. Any of you in the future might want an aupair, be an aupair or (most likely) have children who grow up and WANT to be aupairs - I know its already on Caitlin's "things to do" list!!

We've had 3 and a half aupairs ;o) I include the "half" because she's a very very special person to us.... and the story there is quite interesting, I'll come onto that shortly.

After Izzy was born and I was about to go back to work, Nick and I had a long discussion about how we would manage the childcare. Many of my friends with children have family nearby and that makes a huge difference to them - there is somebody that they can trust to babysit or to pick up the kids if there is a problem or just to help out if they need. We don't have any family nearby - our choice cos we moved away from our family so that's just the way it is. That left us with a problem - Izzy in daycare, Caitlin in school and both Nick and I in full time jobs. How to get both girls picked up from different places at a decent time so that they're in their own home in time to enjoy it before bed..... so, we decided to have an aupair! Nick and I also like to have people around - I think its a throwback to our uni days - we like house sharing!! We also thought that an aupair would bring new culture and experiences to us and the girls - also a bonus :o)

I guess I should also add something about the fact that we DO both work full time.... both Nick and I are, not exactly ambitious because that implies solely material gain, more "driven" or "committed" to what we do. Both of us went to Uni and both of us are passionate in our work. I never used to think of myself as a feminist - in fact I still don't think I am - I just totally believe in equality, to my core I believe that women are equal to men and should have the same opportunities in whatever area of life they choose. I know that not everyone feels the same way - Lauren and I have had lots of good discussions about this topic ;o) - fortunately for me, Nick feels the same way! He actually never did want me to work less and has been as supportive of my career as I am of his. Just as noone expects a man to work differently after he has children, I don't think that a woman should necessarily change either - the difficulty then is in being the best parents you can be whilst still working.

Here is where biology or human nature kind of scuppers a girl's best plans!! Whether we like it or not, and however involved and fantastic a dad is, the main responsibility for children sits with the mum ;o) All my working friends report the same - its the mums who know which PE kit is required, when violin lessons are, which friend is coming to tea etc etc etc - and whether its a working day or not, they have to keep that in their heads. There's a lot in the papers and women's magazines at the moment about women trying to have it all - and in doing so getting very stressed and tired out... so what's the answer? Should women forgo their personal dreams and stay at home (if their dreams include working that is - I'm not assuming that all girls are like me!!)? Should men fight biology and take more responsibility? Should both Mum and Dad equally reduce their hours at work?

I'm not even going to try to answer those questions!! I'm blessed by the best husband in the world - a brilliant Dad to the girls and I wouldn't want to change him at all. Equally, I've got a job that I care passionately about and I strive every day to improve life chances for large groups of disadvantaged youngsters who can't access the curriculum and can't achieve their full potential because of their communication difficulties. So - the balance for us was to find an aupair. Someone who could be like the family we don't have nearby. Someone who could support us with the routine pe kit, violin kit etc etc and enable us to spend quality time with the girls when we're home - because they are the priority and they do get really quality time with us and that's incredibly important.

Onto our aupairs..... our first two aupair experiences taught us a lot.... we learned from the first that its very important for the girls to have someone who speaks fluent English. Both girls have active imaginations and Caitlin (at that time aged 5) needed someone to play and interact with her easily. So, we got that right the second time and successfully played host to an Aussie who we all loved and who stayed with us for as long as she'd planned.

I can see now though how both those experiences helped us to find Lauren cos the missing link with the first two was the Christian element. I remember reading Lauren's profile on Great Aupair and as soon as I read it, I knew we'd found the right person - fortunately the feeling was mutual!!!! Lauren fascinated me because she was so openly Christian and clearly stated from the outset her commitment to God. That's very different to how things are here - its just not "the done thing" to talk about your faith or beliefs at all, at least in my experience, and I don't think that I ever really mentioned anything that I believed to anyone.... ever!! I've often said to Lauren that I think there needs to be more missionaries in England! Its not just Africa that needs the encouragement and support!

So, what have we learned..... well, the very fact that I'm happy to discuss this and share these thoughts on a blog is testimony to Lauren... she helped me to see God's hand in my life.... which brings me onto our "half" aupair!

Before Breanna, our 2nd aupair, arrived we'd been looking for quite a while and one girl who I'd got quite chatty with was Katherine. In the end, she didn't come to us and found another family in the UK but, totally randomly cos I didn't do this with anyone else, I told her our phone number and said that if she had any problems to give us a call... not expecting it - but why did I do it??! Well, Katherine did have problems - not her fault at all, just a slightly strange family - and she phoned me from an abandoned position in London and we organised for her to get on a train and come up to us. Katherine lived with us (in our dining room!!!) for 4 weeks and in that time, became very special to us - and also a good friend of Breanna. She also formed a close bond with our neighbours and their 3 children who we were very fond of.

Katherine found another family in the UK and left the dining room but we stayed in touch with her and, when she'd finished with that family, she came to visit us twice (by which point Lauren was with us) and also formed a close friendship with Lauren.

Katherine finished her stay in the UK and returned to Sydney.... shortly afterwards, our friends over the road decided to emigrate to Australia. The Dad got a job in.... SYDNEY!! He knew noone there - except Katherine.... so he stayed with Katherine and her family and found a home for his family and then they moved out... WOW! Thinking that through - the perfection and organisation of it, how everything was planned so that it worked out beautifully for everyone involved - it sends shivers!!!

Lauren has totally helped me in that walk and that understanding and I can see the role that was planned for her in my life. Its not difficult to see why Lauren came here and what the plan for her was.... you only have to see her with Brent to understand that! Its not just Brent though - we've also seen Lauren mature and grow in confidence through her 2 years with us and that's been a privelege and a pleasure. The girls too have benefitted hugely from Lauren's example and influence and truly feel loved and treasured by her - and I know they feel the same about her.

So, there we go, we hadn't planned for Lauren to become such a part of the family as she has - but then, as I now know, its not about MY plans anyway! (should say - I KNOW that, but I still TRY to keep control cos I'm a control freak!!) However, as we'd always known that she'd leave, its not as hard as you think it might be - maybe made easier cos of Brent and knowing that she won't ever fully escape from the North East of England! Wherever she lives and wherever she goes in the future, she'll always have reasons for popping back here :o) What it does do though, is make it very hard to think about having another aupair - cos she's an impossible act to follow!! Well, the girls are older now and both in the same place at the end of the day so we think it will be manageable without an aupair - and we live in hope of persuading some parents to move closer!!! ;o)

What would my advice be to someone thinking of having an aupair? Well, yes, do it BUT you have to be prepared to open your home AND your heart cos it could be really lonely for a girl stuck in a foreign country if you didn't plus there are so many benefits to really integrating well. Its not all roses - there's another person with their moods and needs to take account of plus always having someone else in the house - but for us its been a 100% positive experience that we wouldn't change for the world.

Beyond what we could have ever expected, Nick and I have acquired a "little sister" in Lauren - someone we love dearly, are concerned to protect and support and someone to tease too!! Next week is going to be strange and odd and probably sad and we'll really feel the gap but we're also very excited for this next stage in her life. Like a little sister, I guess you know that you won't have them for ever, so its not so bad when they go! The girls also are going to miss her a lot, but they know they'll see her again at Christmas and are just content to know that she'll always be in their life.

Phew, what a long ramble that was...... does it make any sense??!?!?!?!?!?!!! hahahahahaaa - I don't normally do 'deep and meaningful'!!!!

Well, bye for now Lozzie - love to all your family in Canada and have an amazing time there with them... we can't wait to meet them all hopefully next summer (and all your friends) and to see your Mum and Dad again.... they've done an amazing job bringing you up to be the person you are and I just hope we do an equally good job with Caitlin and Izzy - if they're like you then we'll be VERY happy!

Love to all and God bless

Nikki xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

izzy's arm and parents evening

So - just a quick update on "other news"!!

Last Thursday morning (yep the first day we were back) Izzy and Caitlin were having a bit of rough play and Izzy fell off the sofa in the cinema onto the carpeted floor - something she's done many times and just picked herself up off the floor. This time though she SCREAMED.... and wouldn't stop. There was no comforting her and she couldn't move her left arm so we had to phone in work to explain why I wasn't there on the first day back and take Izzy to hospital.

The dr who first saw us said that he was sure it was a fracture and we went to x-ray - no fracture evident. Izzy was still in lots of pain and crying and holding her arm with her other hand so the dr put her in a sling and we came home. Thursday night and Friday night she continued with the sling and still couldn't move her arm at all - or suck her thumb cos she only sucks her left thumb :o( anyway, we were still convinced it must be a fracture and she was on constant medication but by sunday afternoon she was much better.... and by yesterday she could once more suck her thumb!!! So, whatever it was, it's all better now ;o)

Last wednesday evening we had parent's evening at school for both girls. Izzy has settled at nursery really well and is already counting to 28, backwards from 5 and recognises a few letters so they're really happy with her.

Caitlin is in a mixed year 4 / year 5 class. She's in year 4 but her teacher told us that she's working at the top of the class in all subjects - even better than most of the year 5s :o) That was good news but better still is that she's popular, works well either on her own or with others and is mature and enthusiastic - always keen to join in :o) It does appear that Caitlin will do year 6 work next year, the last primary school stage.... so I did make the point that, whilst that's fine, we'll need to have a plan for what she actually does do in year 6!! She can't spend the last year of primary school just playing!! Great to have such bright kids but its also a bit worrying cos I don't want Caitlin to get bored or frustrated and I want her to be challenged and achieve everything she's capable of. Fortunately, she's in a really excellent school and Nick and I are confident that her needs will be well met :o)

Lauren leaves us tomorrow - its a really interesting feeling. On the one hand its just the start of something new, and we don't lose her - we kind of gain Brent!! It will be very strange not to have her in the house - I think we'll all take some adjusting to that. I'm more excited for the next stage of her life and knowing that she'll always be a part of our family takes away the worry of losing her - it's kind of like my little sister moving away, she'll always be my little sister and part of our lives, just not in the house anymore. I plan to do a bit of a big reflective blog about our aupair experiences and some of what I've thought and learned and experienced cos its been an amazing time - and has brought some special people into our lives. Above all else, its brought us Lauren :o)

Well, more on that soon

Love to all for now

Nikki xxxxxxxxxxxx

few more photos

Well, as the photos didn't load up before - here's the rest!!

A few fish.....

spot the shark!!

view across the lagoon at Sainte Anne

naughty Nick with the sheesha!!

Nikki on a camel!

Hope you enjoyed!!

Lots of love

Nikki xxxxxxx

Holiday Blog part 2

.... so scroll down & read part 1 first if you haven't already!!!


Okey dokey - so we arrive at the very small airport on Mahe in the Seychelles. As you can imagine, we're quite tired having basically missed out on a night's sleep but VERY excited! It was a beautiful morning - clear blue skies and amazing palm trees. Mahe itself is the main island in the Seychelles with the capital Victoria. They drive on the left which is always a bonus!!!! ;o) As with many of the Seychelles islands, as they were created by volcanos, they are quite hilly / mountainous with just a flat bit of coast round the edge.


We drive along the coast road with the bay to our right and across the bay we could see Sainte Anne island and one or two other little islands. The driver takes us to the jetty - typical Beachcomber styley with nice comfy chairs and we're given a quick drink before we and our luggage are loaded onto the boat.


Across the bay to Sainte Anne where we are greeted by Sandrine and a golf buggy to take us first to breakfast (though after all the travelling we were truly most keen to get a shower and change!!) and then we got changed in the transit rooms. By that time our room was ready and we were taken there - here's our room, a lovely big bedroom with a sitting area, massive bathroom / dressing area, outdoor shower and the beautiful veranda :o)

I guess it took us a couple of days to chill out, the first Sunday we couldn't just sit still - by the time we got to Wednesday, we were pretty chilled ;o) Its very easy to chill at Sainte Anne really - lovely food, fab service, amazing views, hot weather and some rather nice frozen cocktails ;o) As always on our travels with Beachcomber hotels, we were well looked after! Chilling was improved for me by 2 hours in the beautiful spa - a lovely massage and facial :o) The therapist was fab - although she did tell me that my skin was in awful condition, I really needed to moisturise more and "madam is getting lines and bags round her eyes. This eye gel is for 40+ however, as madam has lines already, its not too soon to start"!!!! SNIFF!

The first Sunday was beautiful weather but then we had a few days of rain and cloud - Monday through to Wednesday. It didn't really spoil the holiday at all cos we just snorkelled even more!


Yes - I learned to snorkel!!!! Nick's much better at it than me ;o) I'm a bit too worried about rocks, waves and urchins to do more than snorkel around the sandy shallows! As you can see from the pics (check out the online album cos I couldn't get any more pics into this mega blog!!), the main lagoon beach is enclosed with rocks - within the rocks it's very calm and the staff can check for urchins etc which makes it really safe to bathe. The waters around Mahe and Sainte Anne are a protected reef so, there's no motor water sports like water skiing. Nick did a bit of sailing but with these amazing reefs just waist high beyond the rocks, its too tempting just to snorkel above the reefs! Here are a few of the pics Nick took when snorkelling and the view around the lagoon over to Mahe (having blog probs so no snorkelling pics at the mo - sorry!).


One of Nick's highlights was seeing a little shark, about 80cm long swimming by the shore. Apparently it was a lemon shark, not dangerous or aggressive but still pretty cool. Even better was the Mummy Shark swimming just out by the reef. Apparently that too was a lemon shark but it seemed a bit big and had black tips to its' fins - indicating a black tip shark, slightly more aggressive - apparently they don't usually come in that close but...... at least it wasn't a tiger shark, well we're pretty sure anyway!! Nick really wanted to swim with them but everytime he was ready to snorkel, the sharks disappeared! Maybe they were shy??!?!?!! He got a couple of pics tho but really its like "spot the fin" in the middle of the ocean!!!!


We took a trip on Monday to Victoria for a look round and some souvenir buying - Nick was delighted to see the models for the "Miss Intercontinental 2007" competition (which we later discovered in Dubai was won by Miss Venezuala!!). I was more interested in the shops ;o) In the centre of Victoria is a mini model of Big Ben! Its a strange mix of tropical, french and early 1900s Britain! Works well tho :o)


Other than that, we fell into a nice pattern of breakfast, snorkel, sunbathe, return to airconditioned villa for lunch and a cool down then, when it cooled a little, more snorkelling, a bit more sunbathing, back to villa to change then drinks and dinner :o) Very civilised!


We took a lovely walk one day when the tide was out up along the coast of Sainte Anne to an amazing banyan tree. For those that don't know, these ancient trees grow their roots from their branches and they grow down until they touch the ground and them bury down from there. As you can see from the pic, it makes for a pretty amazing tree!


We also had a couple of lovely dinners in the little restaurant on the resort called Mont Fleuri. Most of the dinners were buffet dinners in the main restaurant but we booked for 2 nights at Mont Fleuri and I had the BEST DESSERT EVER!!!!! It was so nice the first time, I had it twice ;o) Strawberries with a rosemary icecream and a meringue top done to look like a capuccino - yum! Here we are at Mont Fleuri.


All in all, we had a really relaxing time - Nick got a brilliant tan, I got a bit of a tan - which is fairly amazing for me!


After a week at Sainte Anne, time to move onto Dubai. An early start (4:30am) was improved by the news that England had beaten France in the rugby semi finals!!! Back to Seychelles airport where everything was shut until 6am!! Its small as I said!


Back on Emirates where one of the funniest things is the number of hot towels you get in business class - I counted 5 hot towels on the 4 hour journey between Mahe and Dubai!!!! Another lovely flight until we started the descent over the desert into Dubai. I should say, on the way into Dubai we came in from the north across the sea at night and could see all the incredible lights on the buildings. This time, we came in from the south across the desert in daytime. Its really bizarre - all you can see is desert then the odd random rectangle of green, then a few more, then more patches of green than desert then BAM major city... truly incredible views.


Anyway yes, across the desert, descending, strange thermals from the desert - MAJOR turbulence!!!! I was proud of myself tho - only grabbed Nick's hand a few times ;o) Fortunately we were only 20 minutes from landing but it was an interesting experience coming in across the desert but at least I'd be prepared if we did it again!


Into Dubai - where Emirates seem to send business class customers by a totally different speedy route!! Baggage out first, express security lanes - I really am getting used to this now!!

Wow, Dubai, what to say - I'll probably run out of superlatives but here goes......


We were greeted by our chauffeur in an Escalade with cold towels, chocolate and water who drove us to the Park Hyatt hotel - here's the link to the hotel if you want all the details http://dubai.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp


We were taken to our room - 2101 - never have I seen so much marble, so many amazing rugs, so much glass, so many chandeliers - truly breathtaking. Our room totally blew us away, from the massage table just inside the door where the masseuse will come up to do a facial, the pedicure / manicure chair, the wet room / steam room / shower area to the patio with the garden out to Dubai creek marina filled with the most incredible cruisers we'd ever seen - including 2 100foot cruisers side by side, Sultan One and Sultan Two - cos clearly the Sultan NEEDS two huge boats?!?!??!?!?!!?!?! Here's some pics anyway....



Sunday afternoon we went to the gold souq - an amazing arabian market area with 350 gold shops!!! Dubai truly is amazing - bits of it are so Arabian and bits of it are so western, gorgeous mosques side by side with huge ornate and ostentatious malls, towering office blocks next to traditional arabian Dhows on the river. The people as well are fascinating - from the Dubai natives wearing the long dish-dash (for the men) and the abeyas (for the women) to endless Brits and Aussies in tank tops and shorts... but all completely harmonious. It was a good lesson in how its possible for people with widely different cultures and views on dress and religion to live together successfully.



Later on Sunday afternoon, we were picked up by Nick's cousin Alan and his eldest daughter Harriet who have lived in Dubai for 2 years and we went to their beautiful house where his wife Kate and the other 2 children - Alice and Joe - were waiting to see us. We haven't seen them since they moved out there so it was a great opportunity to catch up and eat a delicious English Sunday roast!!!! We were getting a bit fed up of prawns and lobster by then!!!!! :o) We arranged then to meet up with them again the next afternoon for a "desert safari".


Monday morning, Nick and I went for a walk around the creek but by 12pm it was 36degrees so we didn't last long! Alan, Kate and the kids joined us for lunch and then we were picked up by our safari driver Badar in the landcruiser. We played "spot the camel" as we drove out along the roads into the desert then pulled in at camp one for drinks, toilets and time for the drivers to let some air out their tyres ready for dune bashing.


At this point I should say that really Nick needs to blog the next event too - so you can hear from both sides how it went....


OK, Kate and I are woosses - neither of us like roller coasters, fast whippy around things, major up and down things and hanging off the edge of cliff high dunes. Unfortunately for us, dune bashing involves all of the above!!!! Alan, Nick and the kids were whooping with delight as we ploughed into and up hill high red sandy dunes and then slid and drifted back down the other sides at speed. After the first 10 minutes which finished with a truly gargantuan big dipper of a dune, Kate and I were pea green and feeling horrendous. Truly, if a camel had appeared we'd have hijacked it and found our own way home!! The second 10 minute session of dune bashing was less intense - well, apart from the scary moment where our driver didn't make it over the crest of a dune and we started sliding sideways down it, imminent risk of rolling the car etc etc etc - hmmmm, lets just say even the driver stopped talking!! It was worth it though to pull in at "camel rock" and watch the sun setting over the dunes - really breathtaking.



From there, a much more placid drive to the camp where we were greeted with arabian coffee and dates, dressed up in Arabian costumes, tried our hand at belly dancing, were covered in Henna and BEST OF ALL I GOT TO RIDE A CAMEL!!!! Lifetime ambition fulfilled :o) It was really special, I rode with Alice and just loved every second of it.


After that, back to our hotel and a "goodbye" to Alan, Kate and the kids - truly special time and special memories with them and we're keen to go visit them again next spring with the girls... I won't be doing the dune bashing again however!! Well, someone will need to wait at camp with Izzy ;o)


Final day, Tuesday, gold souq in the morning where Nick bought me the most beautiful eternity ring as a 10th wedding anniversary present. We were recommended by a friend of Nick's to go to a store called "hemendra" (out of 350 stores, a recommendation was VERY useful) and they looked after us really well and gave us an excellent deal on the ring. Note if you're visiting Dubai - always aim for around HALF of the first price you're given on jewellry ;o)


Finally, Tuesday afternoon to the Mall of the Emirates for more souvenir buying and opportunity to take some more pictures of the amazing modern TALL architecture. The mall of the emirates had a ski slope in it - what will they think of next?!?!?!?!!



Yet another early start on Wednesday morning, 4 am, back to Dubai airport for a bit more duty free shopping and then we had a lovely 7 hour flight back to Newcastle.


So, home safe again with amazing memories.. Nick and I had such a special time and we were so grateful to Lauren and our parents for looking after the girls so well and enabling us to have this holiday together. I missed the girls and it was a real joy to pick them up from school and get their cuddles and kisses but I'm so happy that Nick and I got to spend some quality time together - just to chat and chill and hang out :o) We quite like each other you know!!


I think that's about it for the holiday - I bet your eyes are watering from all that reading! Next blog, parent's evening and Izzy's arm but for now - off to bath the girls


Love to all


Nikki xxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxx