Where is 2013 Going?

It appears that we have neglected our family blog, and looking at the photo’s on the home page I realise it is time to update them.

We have had all the girls birthdays (including mine), and NJ’s is this months and then FJ’s is in October, which is rapidly heading towards Christmas.

We have also had 2 camping breaks, one at spring bank with friends, and the most recent was the last 2 weeks, where we visited Northumberland and camped for 10 nights.

All the children are moving up a year, and AJ is also moving to a new school, which one we don’t know as we have gone to appeal and have another 10 days to wait until we know. FJ goes up into year 2, and TJ moves into Pre-school.

NJ is still working hard, but actually managed to switch off from work whilst we were away.

I’m still doing my Phoenix Cards, and hope to be building a team soon.

I’ll try to post about our holiday and about Phoenix cards this week, we will see how life pans out!

KJ x

Back to Work

So this is day 2 of the 365 project, and it was NJ’s first day back at work.

2012

2012 blogging for The Five Joneses seems to have been very quiet, so we have decided to join the 365 Project and take a picture a day, hopefully this will help us to remember 2013 with words and pictures and help you get an insight into our life.

Here is day 1.

The kids in their prime position watching telly!

Time to Work

Now that TJ has started playgroup two mornings a week I decided it was time to do something for me, but also try and earn a bit of pocket money at the same time, with a view to making more as the months / years go past. So with that in mind I have now become an Independent Phoenix Trader, I am really excited about my new venture, and hope that I will earn enough (eventually) to help with the ever growing outgoings we have as the children choose to do more activities!

Phoenix Cards can not be found on the high street, they are sold by independent traders, selling in their own home, your home, at fairs, school events, for charity events, this list could go on and on, and that is what I like about them. I looked at various other sales roles I could take up selling from home, but found many that also had items for sale on the high street and on the internet, mostly at greatly reduced prices. As a family with dwindling funds (remember the ever increasing activities?) I would always look for the cheapest way to buy a product, and therefore would not feel able to try and sell a product at full price knowing that you could have it for half the price in town.

The other factor which completely won me over was the way in which Phoenix Cards works, there are no targets, you do not have to sell X amount of cards in a month, you don’t have to have so many parties to make make the grade, you just get to have your cards and sell them (if you can face parting with them) to your friends, family, neighbours, anyone.

I have already given out several brochures, and even sold 2 cards, my launch day will be in a couple of weeks, and I hope everyone that comes will like the cards as much as I do.

A Boyfriend!

AJ is now 9, and although is far from being a teenager, she is growing and maturing rapidly in front of us, I wanted to record this little special time, so when she is older she can look back and hopefully remember how the first steps into relationships felt like.

Last week AJ brought home a gift from a boy at school, some bath salts (I am guessing mum didn’t want them anymore!). When I questioned if this boy was her boyfriend she went all coy and smiled and said maybe, “he said he loves me”. When asked if she loved him, ” I don’t know”, which I was quite happy to hear, 9 is far too young to be in love. However I do think it’s sweet that she has a boyfriend, and I have been assured that there has been no kissing, and I have commented back that there is plenty of time for kissing when you are older.

She went off on her first residential this weekend (another blog post), I asked if she would be sitting with her boyfriend and she said on one of the journeys! True to her word, as I saw her off on the coach on Friday she was taking a seat next to him. I hope on the return journey she sits with her best friend, although I think they may all sleep on the way home, it sounded like it would be a tiring weekend.

One friend of mine felt unsure of the use of the word ‘boyfriend’ at such a young age, what do you think? What age did you and or your child have their first ‘boyfriend / girlfriend?

Beauty #TheGallery

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so it is said. Therefore anything can be a thing of beauty, and that makes this a very difficult gallery, how am I to pick just one thing that sums up beauty? Of course there are my 3 beautiful children (although they really are not pretty when they are in full tantrum mode!), there are then flowers and trees, views or country and coast, pictures and photo’s, so I am now struggling as to what to pick, I think a collage is the way to go.

 

 

Joining in with The Gallery at Sticky Fingers

 

Back To School #TheGallery

After several tries NJ finally managed to get all 3 children together, AJ is moving into year 5 (the last at first school, eek!), FJ into year 1 and TJ starts playgroup on Monday.

The Next 4 Weeks

I have decided that it would be great to record a whole summer holiday, what we have done, who we have seen and hopefully how much fun we have had!

So in that vein, I am going to do a post at the end of each week (Mon to Fri) for the next 4 weeks, to talk about our adventures, hopefully post some pictures too. The last two weeks NJ is off work, so that will be a separate post, all about the family together.

I have some plans already in place, seeing friends, visiting family and hopefully some crafty things, we shall see though how it all goes, fingers crossed there will be lots of smiles and laughter and not too much tears and tantrums. I have a feeling though AJ will not feature much as she has already spent most of today playing on her bike with friends.

I’ll put my first post up on Friday / Saturday and if anyone wants to join in it would be great to see how everyone else spends their summer holidays, I’ll put a linky up if there are any takers!

Graduation Memories

Taking AJ to gymnastics tonight I drove past our town’s university (as I always do) and noticed that graduation was in full swing. I was reminded of my graduation almost 15 years ago. Seeing the students (or graduates as they now are) in their gowns, that were the same as mine made me smile and think back to what my day was like.

I don’t remember much of the day, my parents took me & NJ out for dinner (although that may have been the night before) and I remember siting in the Town Hall waiting to hear my discipline read out and then my name, it felt strange sitting there, but that is another story.

My biggest memory of the day comes after my parents had headed for home, and a few of us were left in the Students Union still drinking and still in our smart attire. NJ got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, (I told him to get up, he would get his suit dirty), I didn’t believe him at first but he insisted it was real and took my amethyst ring off my right hand and put it on my left hand. I did say yes, even though we had only been together for 6 months I knew that he was ‘the one’ and it was what I wanted. I don’t remember much else apart from lots of alcohol flowing, excited friends and many phone calls to friends and family. There was no facebook, or mobile phones for me to get the information out quickly without actually talking to people. If I remember rightly we had beans on toast for our tea and then headed out again to celebrate at the student unions night club.

It wasn’t a romantic proposal, and it wasn’t a planned proposal, NJ will often say that he was drunk, and had taken painkillers, so he wasn’t thinking straight, but whether that was true or not, the proposal was not taken back and almost 15 years later we have 3 children and are still together.

They are my memories of the day / event, it might be interesting if NJ would write a post on his memories and see if we remember it the same.

What was your biggest memory of your graduation?

Pixie

A tiny Pixie at about 7 weeks.

Pixie is our Tabby and White kitten, life has been quite traumatic since she joined us, and today she has been to the vets to get neutered, I am sure she will not be happy with us at all!

We picked Pixie and her sister Willow up when they were approximately 9 weeks old, unfortunately within a week Willow got so ill that she had to be put to sleep, this was very traumatic for us and Pixie, she suddenly was a little kitten all on her own. The kittens had come from the RSPCA, and they were very unhappy with what had happened, of course the kittens seemed fine when we took them home and unfortunately sometimes these things do happen. Moving forward though we decided we wanted another kitten to keep Pixie company.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we were to pick up Merlin a Ginger and White kitten we had chosen, it was a couple of weeks before we were due to go away, which we thought was plenty of time for them to become friends. FJ had other ideas, poor Pixie got her paw squashed in his door! We heard a very loud screech and on inspection (once I could get near her!) we found her paw bleeding, on a Saturday evening this was not good timing. Off to the vets I went, Pixie was bandaged and booked in for the Monday morning, and then a phone call to the RSPCA to let them know we couldn’t get Merlin yet as Pixie was injured and it wouldn’t be fair on her. Pixie did look funny with her paw bandaged up and a lampshade round her neck, especially when she started running with it pushed forward!

Pixie with her bandage and lampshade on!

Luckily the wound healed (after a week of having a bandage on), but it was too late to get Merlin before our camping trip. So poor Pixie was to be left alone, but would get some company twice a day from a very helpful friend, as we did not want her going in a cattery after all she had been through.

Once back from our holiday, she wasn’t given time to recover from our absence when we introduced this very playful Ginger kitten! She was not best pleased, I have never heard a kitten or cat for that matter growl, I thought that was something dogs did! She growled and hissed quite a lot, and then the poor thing was taken to have her second lot of vaccinations and a microchip put in. Gradually though as the week progressed the nasty fighting, growling and hissing calmed down and the playful fighting ensued. Now they will even sleep together, it is lovely to see.

The kittens are friends

The story is not yet finished though as a week after the chip was put in I found the microchip on the living room floor, a phone call to the vets and then a visit to the local Pets at Home store (with a vets inside) we discovered that the microchip was Pixie’s, we have no idea how it happened, but apparently it can happen.

Last night she (and Merlin) were starved of food and then she was bundled into the carrier, after only 1 escape, and taken to the vets. I had a phone call at midday, and I did have to hold my breath, luckily all was well, she was coming round from the aesthetic and we just need to make an appointment to collect her. NJ picked her up on the way home, and was told she needed to keep calm and have a light meal and to keep her away from her brother!!

Merlin was not impressed at being kept away and Pixie is not too impressed either, I’ve put her a lampshade on again, stops her from licking her wound and also slows her down! She is currently sat under the desk with her back to me, she is definitely a grumpy kitten.

Pixie after her op, definitely grumpy!

I am hoping after her return to the vets to get her stitches out there will be no more visits to the vets for quite some time. The next adventure will be letting her out into the big wild world!

Watching the washing