Silent Sunday: Watching the waves

I love this picture of Mr6 and the lad watching the waves, it’s such a special memory already.
Happy Sunday my lovelies x

The sixes day of Christmas

A Six tradition

Hi again. How have you been? The Six household has been very busy; I shall endeavour to tell you why……to enjoy this post to the maximum please play this whilst reading !or any other of the tracks highlighted in the text!

It’s the October half term, and the Sixes have a now long standing tradition. We have a day of Christmas. Now, before you all close the page with a bah humbug and rants about Consumerism, let me explain.

INSERT YOUR OWN TIME WARP NOISE HERE…. Its 2001, it’s the October half term and we take a day trip out to a local arts and crafts centre ( where in fact we got engaged two years earlier)They had their Christmas decorations up, and Mr6 and I share a big love for the festive season and couldn’t resist buying a decoration each for the three of us. Then on the way home, we decided that that day would be a great day to bake the Christmas cake, as they need time to mature and be fed with brandy!

So there you go, there started the Tradition. The next October came around again, and this time we allowed ourselves to have Christmas music on at home whilst we made the cake again after buying decorations. It kinda puts the magic into the atmosphere and thus into the cake! We then snuggled down that evening to a Christmas movie; I do believe it was it’s a wonderful life.
I don’t think there is a better feel good Christmas movie ever made.

The Years move on, we get married and have another baby, but every October the cake was baked, decorations brought, music and dvds enjoyed. We now even have a newer car with a cd player which enabled us to take the Christmas music with us!! Oh the looks we get as we pull into the garden centre car park with Christmas tunes blaring out the car with added bad singing thrown into the mix. But you know what, who cares! We are not doing anything wrong, were not cashing in to Christmas, we are taking all its values and holding onto them for one more day. We unite as a family; get excited together; enjoy everybody’s decoration purchases. I love the eclectic look of my tree knowing that each decoration holds something special to each person, reflects their personalities and although a heady mix it represents unity, family, love and togetherness.

The decorations we have all brought today will stay wrapped up in their paper until the first of December when they are unwrapped again and the children delight again in their purchases. We of course have other decorations we have brought on our travels, and each one holds a special memory for its owner.

So today it’s that day again, we’ve all chosen new decs, mine are mostly owls as I collect them. I always enjoy watching the children’s taste’s change over the years and they are never predictable! They don’t care about colour schemes and trends they just go with their hearts and what delights them. This year the lad made a bee line for a little china train which made us all laugh as he’s obsessed with trains! We have a budget each so no over spending is allowed unless it’s completely divine and I can’t possibly live without in my life!

We’ve sang our hearts out to The Darkness played air guitar to
Mike Oldfield in dulci jubilo and the kids sang every word to I want an alien for Christmas!

The cake is made, each taking a turn to stir and make a wish, whilst I play Christmas music to put the magic in the cake. My favourite is Prokofievs Troika can’t beat it ! The Aroma has been spicy and warm and made us cosy whilst we all snuggle down to watch family six favourite, Elf. Which might just be accompanied with a mince pie or two? And the family six are just a bit excited about the upcoming season, embracing the change in temperature and the kids are allowed, just for tonight, a Christmas story, just to fire up their imagination and build the excitement just a little more.

Now I can guess what you are thinking, how do we bring the kids back down from the ceiling? Well to be honest, they do it themselves, they know tomorrow is just a normal day and Christmas is a way away yet, they are just a little more excited about it but now they have that Christmas feeling floating in their bellies and makes their lives a little more special.

You see that’s what’s it’s all about, not the decs or the cake; it’s the good feeling it produces, its togetherness and knowing that they can take that feeling with them for the next few months and keep them warm inside when maybe things aren’t all that easy to get through.

I wish you all an early Merry Christmas and I hope that maybe you will start a little family tradition of your own that brings you all together and gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

Until next time my loves… Jo xxx

Ps I’m off to watch Love Actually – it’s one of my favourites! x heres my favourite bit

Team work a parenting approach

I’ve just been asked on Twitter ” How do I do it ?”

Do what ?

Look after four children .

Now with only having a 140 characters to answer, one word spang to mind TEAMWORK.

To effectively look after and parent our four children Mr6 and I have to be a team. We have to pull together, be a unit and mutually support each other every day. I suppose you could compare us to a football team, it certainly feels like it half the time. Picture, if you will, myself and Mr6 as the managers, but of a small unprofitable club of which we have to fulfill many roles. Such as, Coach, physio, accountants, first aiders, kit washers, PR managers even the team psychologist, and most importantly a referee !

We have to have a carefully considered game plan every time we leave the house as a family; who’s going where, what position in the car is the most unconfrontational, who has the first aid kit, and spare clean kit for the inevitable fall (probably deliberate) into a muddy puddle, for which I hold bloody Peppa Pig personally responsible !

Then when out on a day trip or family occasion, the coach comes out in us both. A full on pep talk on how behave ensues. ” No arguing, no fighting, be polite, smile and talk to great-aunt flo even though she scares the living bejesus out of you, don’t get too silly and please for the love of God,don’t tell the relatives how much mummy swears and tweets, yep there’s the PR manager for you !

But still MR6 and I remain solid, if one has said no to something,no matter if the other really thinks it would be ok, it’s still a NO ! This we have learnt over time, many an argument has been started when one of us has said no, then the other has said ” oh go on it will be alright, it wont hurt them, or the worst one, when a grandparent has asked to do something with the children you know the other wont agree with, that one by the way IS GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE !!!X

Ok we do get times when we think the other is perhaps being a little unreasonable, think that a bad mood/day has fogged their judgement. I know im guilty of this and so is Mr6, but we have to stand together and agree with their decision, if you don’t you are giving your children carte blanche to exploit gaps in the party line, they are crafty little buggers and it doesnt take long before they are playing you off each other. This is when the rows start and chaos begins !

Ok, when the kids have gone to bed or out of ear shot, then you may lay in to the other half for being completely unreasonable and utterly grumpy old fart, and if they side with their mother again I WILL FILE FOR DIVORCE AND BEAT Sorry I mean we will dicuss it rashionally like adults and come to a compromise !

I have a real pet hate of parenting left to just one parent, whilst the other gets to be the good guy, the kids favourite. This is unfair on the other parent and on the children it leads to disputes and unreasonable requests. So be a team, work together: it took two of you to make these babies, mind you I bet one of you came first and not together !!! ( ooh Mrs 6 outrageous ! )

New path … not knowing

Tonight I’m not quite sure where to start ?

Its been a really busy week, I’ve had no time to post, and quite frankly neither the inclination. My week has been taken up by the lad. It’s hard to say whats been going on because we are still not sure ourselves and I really don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to us or the situation.

He has spent nearly three days in the hospital with odd symptoms which continue to baffle the consultants and us, two visits in one day to A and E, a Dr visit then another trip to A and E with him being admitted. So yep its been stressful and as always these things have a knock on effect on the whole family.

The night he was admitted, Mr6 and I should have been attending our eldest daughters first senior school parents evening, and we were gutted to have missed it, but being a parent makes you make choices. Often unfair choices and undoubtedly someone will lose out.

It upset our middle daughter she really dislikes sudden change, but thankfully wonderful grandparents stepped in and calmed the house once more.

 And again whilst in hospital with your child, come more decisions, who should stay, do you let them poke and prod your precious little one, But luckily the Drs take those decisions away from you and most of the time you follow their lead. But what when they turn to you, look to you for clues, look at you with baffled expressions. Then what ?

We look at he Drs for answers and expect them to just know with one look whats going on, and sometimes they don’t. This is not their fault, but It just made me realise how much we look to them and expect just to know. The pressure these Drs and nurses have on them is phenomenal.

So what now……

We wait and watch, as he continues to bemuse the Consultants. It’s not serious, this we have been reassured of, just odd and the words never seen it before keep cropping up. But all involved were brilliant, all worked really hard for my boy, and continue to do so. His consultant called me today to see how he was and that he had spoken to another hospital for advice. Now that to me is good service, and we knock our nhs!!

So, this is a new path as a parent, one of not knowing. But one thing I do know is that we have had the best care given to us, who continue to work for us, and we are lucky to have such a system in place.