What a tremendously busy month May has been although, to be fair, not unlike most months are in our house. There is always something going on, someone doing something or other and boredom is usually kept away effectively which is good because I absolutely hate being bored.
Work has been busy, hence blogging has not been as much. As well as work, there is life in general. Life is for living, after all. So here is a little round-up of a few of the things we packed into the last few weeks.
I will begin with the two biggest pieces of news. Firstly, Tim has finally joined the rest of his brothers in Boys Brigade… uniform and all! I cannot believe how big our baby has grown and what a lovely young boy he is becoming!
The other piece of exciting news is that I now have a literary agent! After more than a year of to-ing, fro-ing and a multitude of emails, Jon Curzon of Artellus Literary Agency have made me an offer of representation for a book idea I pitched more than a year ago. The contracts have been signed and exchanged so fingers crossed there will be a publisher out there willing to take my story on! Talk about experiencing a melting pot of emotions from excitement to apprehension (and, if I am totally honest, a teeny little bit of fear too)!
We were all pleased to see the warmer weather finally arrive after what seemed like a century-long winter. Of course, it wasn’t a century-long winter as if it were, most of us would have likely died by the end of it, but it felt like it, didn’t it? January alone seemed as though it went on for 50 weeks rather than the 5 it already pushed us to. Still, the sun making its long-awaited appearance as it peeked out through the clouds gave us the perfect excuse to pack up the first family picnics of the year.
With them came the realisation that Winston Churchill may have been reincarnated in the form of our first grandson.
One thing we love about the month of May has to be the old tradition we’ve grown to know and love… EUROVISION!
This year we decided to dress up for the occasion…
Everyone that was around for the evening joined in. Harry and Eddie brought back memories of Trevor and Simon swinging their pants. But goodness, doesn’t that suit look made to measure on Harry? Talk about fitting the part…
Everyone joined in the fun…
The twins… (yes, Anna is bonkers)…
Bel (newly minus a tooth)…
And even Tim who, it emerged, would still exude style and mojo of the highest order…
Some of the boys have headed off to camps this month too but it’s not all been fun and games. Lessons are still in full swing at home. Harry is almost ending his first year of GCSEs and the twins have been working on their reading. Anna in particular is another devoted bookworm, so I was delighted she chose to read one of my favourite childhood books. The Peppermint Pig by Nina Bawden soon became a favourite for Cait when she was younger too after I had told her all about it. This copy was one I had found on Amazon complete with the original cover that I was familiar with as a child, and I was thrilled to find another of my children was enjoying it too.
Anna has also been working on her spelling, albeit not in the most appropriate manner, I admit…
I did have to acknowledge her resourcefulness for using the letter ‘C’s as parentheses. Credit where it’s due after all.
Of course, when one sibling begins something, there’s always another that follows even when they are at the age that they should know better…
My studies have been continuing too and I have finally submitted my last two assignments of the year. I decided to switch my degree from PPE to a BA in Language Studies and I am enjoying it far, far more.
I am looking forward to adding yet another language to the three I speak already (English, Greek and Turkish. I don’t count French as I haven’t spoken it since school and don’t know if I remember much, but I am sure that if I spent a month or two in France I could probably get by quite well by the end of it).
I have chosen to study German for this degree as we travel there often and I do love the country very much indeed. When I was younger I once claimed that I wanted to speak every language in the world. Given that I am now approaching 44 years of age and only just on language number four (or five, if you did want to count French), I have brought my target down to a total of eight. Italian will be one of them. I have yet to decide on the rest.
We haven’t managed to catch many films or any theatre shows this month, both of which we love to do. Some of the middle boys went to see The Avengers which they haven’t stopped raving about. We also took a family trip to see The Greatest Showman which, in my opinion, is the best film I have ever seen. We decided to go and see it on the big screen even though we have The Greatest Showman on DVD too because it’s just not the same watching it in the living room. We are all really hoping that this is made into a West End musical. If it is, I’m grabbing 16 tickets immediately! I cannot express just how much we love this film!
Finally, May was the month that Mike and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in Budapest.
Some days it feels like we only just made it. Marriage, eh?! I would love to say that we were on a romantic break but actually, we were dental tourists thanks to an old sporting injury that resulted in Mike’s tooth finally falling out.
The trip didn’t go as planned but we made the most of the few days we spent there including several trips sailing up and down the Danube. That, however, is another post entirely!
How was your May?
