Things have been crazily busy lately!!! We are having choir two evenings a week now. This is the standard pre-mod-panic that we have every August/September... I'm finally starting to feel more confident with the choir ones, only one to go that I'm not sure on... and the Piseag choir ones I feel much better about after the Saturday rehearsal that I went to - although I have quite a bit of memorizing to do before the 12th! I've almost got my first solo memorized - I have to have it confidently by the 12th (local mod) then I'm going to cram like mad to learn the other one (the Eriskay Love Lilt) by the National Mod. I've spoken to my accompanist though for it and I'm quite confident that I can learn it too.
I have, over the past week and half, finally managed to get my house looking a bit more presentable! I was really depressed about it for a while as it was SO overwhelming, but I've managed to tackle it one room at a time. It's not done yet but at least it's getting there, there are less toys in the living room & conservatory which make a HUGE difference, and over the weekend Adam took out all of the stuff that had to go under the house that had been living in the Conservatory so finally we have some space in there again! :) Alexander really likes playing up in his bedroom now too which is lovely. (I went to ikea recently and bought new shelves for their room and swapped rooms over so they have the bigger room now!) It also means that I can go up and put clothes away or tidy up or whatever else and they're happy to play up there, whereas before they'd just come in my room and try and climb all over everything i was doing! I still have a lot to do but I'm feeling happier with it all so that's good! :)
Kathryn now says 'hiya,' 'yeah,' 'wow' and 'yay' and signs for Help too (patting her chest) which she uses to her full advantage :) And she has JUST learned to put her arms up for 'all done' which is very cute too. :) Adam claims she has said banana at least three times but I'm yet to hear it!! :) I think she said bath the other day too - she pointed at it excitedly and went 'BA!' several times!! :) Her and Alexander are playing together more now too, it's so sweet to watch; he takes great pride in making her giggle! :)
Alexander is loving playgroup, there are a few changes this year with it being in the school, but he's taking it in his stride and we're hearing a bit more about what he's doing now which is nice!! :) He's finding it strange that none of his good friends are there any more, there are only one or two that he played with last year that are left, but his best friend Jamie's wee sister is there and he likes her, and he's starting to make friends with a few more too. We had another friend Ava around to play yesterday which was nice, she's just 3, same age as Keira, but Alexander really gets on well with her and misses seeing her. She has started going to the playgroup in Salen so she doesn't come to Dervaig toddler group on Friday any more, which we still go to, so we arranged a play date so they could see each other again. Michelle (her mum) came too, with her wee boy who is just coming up to a year. Michelle is about my age and we chat at toddler group all of the time, so it was lovely to have her over for the afternoon, and Kathryn & Johnnie pulled out all of the toys in the living room together. :)
We also had Jamie around to play on Thursday afternoon, which was lovely. They were as good as gold, they went upstairs to Alexander's room just before 2pm and they stayed up there playing happily until Jane arrived at 4.30! He's actually coming over this morning for a couple of hours too which Alexander is looking forward to.
On another note! I've finally managed to get a childminding job, it's only one day a week, but it's a start, and she's interested in more days next year, possibly. Her wee boy is only 15 months, so same as Kathryn, she also has a little tiny baby 4 weeks old who I won't be watching at the moment but maybe next year I will. She came to meet me on Wednesday and seems nice, her little boy seems very laid back too. Kathryn slept for more of the time that they were here so she didn't really get to meet them much, but I'm sure they'll have fun together. I'll have him on Wednesdays from 9-5, so a long day, but at least it's Wednesday, as we'd be goign to toddlers in the morning anyway, so I can take him, and also Adam's home in the afternoon so Alexander won't be as left out!
Tomorrow I am going to Bunessan, to take pictures of the Argyll Arms Hotel, for their new brochure, which I'm quite looking forward to! I hope the weather is half decent, doesn't need to be great but I do need some outdoor pictures! I've also had a couple of photo shoots for friends, one last week and one coming up this week, so things are starting to get going with it. I've got a Golden Wedding Anniversary party to take pictures of at the beginning of October, too, and I think I'm planning a Christmas photo shoot open day sometime in November if I can!! :) Here's a link to my website, for anyone who might be interested! :)
http://www.donnadugdale.webs.com/ My Open University course starts this week - I'm doing an Openings course called 'Understanding Children.' I'm a bit nervous about it... but I'm excited too, I really hope it goes well. It looks like an interesting enough course, it's just whether or not I'm capable of writing essays and doing research any more!! But that's the whole point of this course, to teach me how to do that again, so I hope it goes well! :)
We are thinking about taking a holiday at the end of October. Adam hasn't asked for the time off yet, but his boss is on holiday, so he will ask him on Monday when he gets back - I hope! If he does get it - we are going to drive over the course of a few days, to Birmingham, and visit
Thomasland. :) We think we'll stop in Glasgow first, then in the Lakes to visit Joanne (Adam's cousin who is 12, Alexander adores her!), then down to Thomasland, maybe stopping at Blackburn in either direction if there's a possibility of the boys going to a football game :) (It'd be a long time for Alexander to sit through a game, but on the other hand, I think he'd LOVE the special treat with Daddy! and nothing would thrill Adam more), and then back to Joanne's on the way back (Neil & Grace offered us the bed both ways so we can hardly turn it down!! :) Joanne is going to make a list of things that are fun for the kids to do while we're there!!) and then stop back in or near Glasgow and then back home. The longest stretch of driving is actually Oban to Glasgow - and we think if we travel in the evenings there will be less traffic and the kids will be more likely to sleep so it should be easier. We're not 100% decided on it but we really want to take Alexander to Thomasland while he's still obsessed for one, but also while he's young enough that he'll still appreciate the magic - it'll be like Disneyworld to him! There's also a zoo and other theme park things there and the admission pays for the lot. Sooo anyway we're really excited about it (well, I am. Adam's indifferent at the moment but I think that's just cos he has to ask for time off work! I think he'll be more excited once it's a reality!). We'll probably be away for about 10 days (allowing for 2 day stops at each interval) but if he's got two weeks off work it means he'll get a couple of days at home to relax when we get back.
I think that's all of my news for now ;) I know I haven't updated in ages, I was hoping to write personal letters to a few people before I updated my blog but I haven't quite finished doing that and I thought it was far too long since I'd written in here! :)
Will be back soon! x
