It’s been a proper circus round here lately. Between trying to sort a basement , keeping up with the kids' football nights, the weird weather, and trips to the lake, things have been a bit mental.
Since we got back from UK, Ollie has been growing plants - One from school and one from daycare. Unfortunately, one of them doesnt look lik eit is growing, but the other one os dooing great. Its a beanstalk and its almost ready for Jack to climb it an dgo up to find te ginats house!
Hannah must have seen these and had them on the brain as when she came home form school today she told me she couldn't find the sock that she put in her school bag. I asked why the sock was in there and she explained that she had found a plant that she liked - a tiny one leafed thing - and dug it up to bring home to grow. The only thing she had to put it into was a sock, which was now somewhere in her schoolbag - full of damp soil - and the tiny plant cowered in the centre. We gently removed it and it now sits on the counter next to Ollies plants - Lets hope it survives and grows!
Basement Bollocks
We explicitly timed the loudest, messiest part of the basement renovation to happen while we were away in the UK. It should’ve been all done and dusted by the time we got back, but instead, we walked in to find it looking like some kind of goop monster had shat a green glob all over the walls. Turned out to be the spray foam insulation—good gear, sure, but it was nowhere near finished.
After that, a couple of Ukrainians moved in under the guise of "drywallers" and treated us to a proper masterclass in bad time management. If I ever hear the phrase "just one more hour" again, I’ll probably cry. They said it at least four separate times, and that "one hour" actually took them four sodding days. To be fair to them, they eventually did a really bang-average job.
Once they finally fucked off, we took over and painted the whole lot in about two minutes, sticking some baseboard on for good measure. It’s now officially finished: fresh paint, light grey walls, and brand-new windows that were fitted a couple of weeks later.
Apart from the house drama, we’ve had nowt to do—except survive the Timbits football season. It's been six weeks of the kids either absolutely refusing to play or being completely mad about it.
Hannah is playing for the Emerald Eagles this year, rocking a bright green shirt. She alternates between wanting to kick the ball during drills (which she’s actually right good at) and doing handstands in goal while the other team bangs them in. Oh well, she's having a laugh!
Ollie stubbornly refused to play for the first two weeks. But after tag-along nights watching Hannah, he finally joined in with her lot before eventually moving over to the team we actually signed him up for. It took another two nights for him to actually play with his own team, but once he did, he went and bagged two hat tricks in his first two games! He puts absolutely everything he has into his kicks and the game, and he gets properly angry when he gets pushed off the ball. They're both doing great at football—honestly, I wish I had had the chance when i was a kid. .
We did have to miss one night of football because Hannah finished her first year at Embers. We went along to the evening stage ceremony to see her collect her well-earned badges.
We’ve managed to get out to the lake a couple of times too. The weather has been hit-and-miss, but we did get to spend some quality time swimming. I also helped Jon and Susan fit a new dock ladder after the old one was smashed to pieces by the ice over the winter. Hannah claimed bragging rights and got the very first climb into the water, armed with her life jacket and a trusty pink pool noodle.
We had Father's Day at the lake too this week , and the kids treated me and Grandpa to some cool presents and a massive poster they’d made themselves.
Once we hauled ourselves back home, we headed straight down into the newly finished basement to open a few more bits. Ollie bought me a pretty cool Nerf gun, and Hannah got me an awesome camo zip-up hoodie lined with fleece—definitely saving that one for the freezing winter school runs!
One of the other big jobs we had planned for the spring was the front yard. We hired a bloke to lay down fresh sod around the front tree, which came with the joy of having to water the bloody stuff twice a day for three solid weeks. That would’ve been impossible if it wasn't for a kindly mate who popped round while we were at the lake (cheers, Mia!) and the massive storms we’ve had.
We’ve had a few spectacular summer storms that kept the grass thoroughly soaked. They also prompted loads of tornado warnings. There were actually two proper tornadoes a few miles south of the city, but everything with us was fine—except for the rain leaking straight into the porch. It left the wood absolutely sodden, with water dripping right through our white-painted wood ceiling panels and straight down the brickwork. Just another job added to the list.
The kids didn't care about the chaotic weather, though. We all piled outside into the rain when we could to play football "tops off" and got absolutely drenched. It was cracking. Hannah grabbed her unicorn umbrella to dance on the front deck and be a right toolbag— she absolutely loves the rain.
So, between a finished basement, a grand weekend at the lake, and a solid Father's Day, it's a busy life. It's loud, it's chaotic, and I now have to go figure out how to stop my porch from turning into an indoor swimming pool.
Everything above was written soooooooooooooooooooooooo long ago! Summers over here are crazy and I DO MEAN LITERALLY. The klds go fucken nuts - like some weird switch in their heads is turned on about a week into the summer holidays and they go insane. Weird breakdowns over random things - I actually had Hannah screaming or grunting at me for an hour one evening for no reason -I asked her to use words but she was incapable at the time -I never did find out what the issue was.
Ollie is the same, for no reason he will refuse to do stuff or just plain ignore us. Then they do the usual fight over nothing - One of them will find a stick or a long forgotten leaf or even a book or long forgotten scrap of paper. They maybe even have the audacity to look at the other one or maybe even MAKE. A NOISE. and then they are off - one will scream at the other and then the scream will be returned and we then try to reason with them whilst trying to stay calm for the 8th or 9th tome in a day.
Then we will either split them up or they resolve the issue and they are besties again - this could last 2 seconds or 2 days - who fucking knows! Buffy and I are studying ways to calm anger and discipline without murder. I know anyone out there who has kids and managed to make them into adults will recognise everything I an saying - Its not all unicorns and rainbows, diggers and trucks - Having kids is absolutely the greatest thing ever and also teh worst at the same time. I have so much respect for my mum and dad now after just 6 and 8 years of these two eejits - my mum and dad had to deal with me AND two other crazy brothers - I know discipline was a littel harder back then, but it must have driven them crazy at times. Respect MJ and Alma!
Anyhoo - life in generally reasonable - I am actually writing this during a week 'home alone' - No the did not get on a plane and suddenly forget about me - The Buff and the kids are at the cabin for a week, but I an on call for work, so need to be in the city. It does give me a chance to deep clean eth house, paint the shed, clean the car, do some maintenance on the house and sleep 4 hours a night - Its been good and they are home again in 3 days. Sounds like they had fin though - The kids spending the weekend with Grandma while Buff took her dad Jon to a small music festival - everyone has had a little break and its only 3 weeks till we go back to school and a routine! Ollie is going in to full time school and grade 1, while Hannah is moving in to grade 3 (Actually a greade3 grade 4 split class, cos she's smart as fuck!)
There's only a few more weeks of sunny weather and only 3 more weeks till the kids go back to school -Honestly 10 weeks off in summer is too much - I wish we had the UK school timetable - 6 weeks in summer and more time throughout the year. I actually asked for a few days off this summer to help Buff with the the kids and my boss gave me 5 bereavement days! hahaha - so 5 wednesdays throughout the summer I have a day off for a death in the family - but I just look after the kids! hahaha - I am so glad that my bosses t work are so great - We have spent a lot of time chatting about soccer/football this year and they even offered me an extra day off to watch the England semi final in the world cup!
Here's a few more pics and stuff from our busy summer - including world cup games on TV in the garden, Hannah's birthday and trips out including camping at Rubber ducky, folk fest, swim lessons - which they both passed, my leg and foot swelling up after wasp stings, tinkertown and cartown, BKKLday and more!
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