Well, I've only had Lady Flu.

Hand Eye Foot Co-ordination

Sammy was perched on the edge of the sofa, leaning on the coffee table, writing his classmates' Christmas Cards when he put his feet on the table in front of him. The next envelope he came to he decided to put the pen between his toes and write one of his friends' names.

Very neatly as it turned out ... infact neater than most of his classmates can write when they use their hands !!

Happy Christmas
Regards
Competitive Parents

P.S. and if any of Sammy's mates parents read this at any point - we all have our little stars !

Les Dawson does Facebook

I have resisted facebook for months although I am registered but I get too many requests like 'adopt a pink puppy' or join the 'alcohol is great' cause (oh I think i must have joined that one!) that mostly seem such a waste of time (not wanting to offend anyone) I delete the emails.

Then I got a message and a 'friend request' from someone I was not expecting to hear from at all and that was the beginning of my latest journey down memory lane with lots of old school friends and school trip photos and cast lists from school plays...

It is very easy to spend too much time browsing facebook, as your friends list grows there are more and more things going on but occasionally spending time browsing someone else's photos really pays off !!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

HOW ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.
Youngest F1 World Champion

Golfing Companion

I've often thought about getting a dog. We've never had a family dog, only cats when I was growing up which was lovely but now I fancy a bit more character and some exercise !
Top of my doggie list is a black labrador - but not this one.

"Oscar had to have 13 golf balls removed from his stomach after eating them on walks around a Fife course.

Owner Chris Morrison had been taking five-year-old black labrador Oscar round the Pitreavie golf course in Dunfermline for several months.

He took Oscar to the vet after noticing a rattling sound coming from his pet's stomach.

They then discovered that 13 balls - each weighing 45 grams - were lodged in his stomach. The balls were removed two weeks ago in a successful hour-long operation." Full Story

How much do they love Florida?

Mum and her best mate; Norma, have just spent two weeks in Florida.... again ! The Florida Floozies as I now refer to them, only wanted to go for ten days but "Oh Helen, we couldn't get a return flight for ten days so we had to go for a fortnight." Like that was a hardship for them.

Not only did they have to extend their stay but they went only having booked the first weeks accommodation ! Yes. You heard right. Two conservative seventy-plus year old ladies who are usually so very proper and organised, took a 10 hour flight to Orlando ON THEIR OWN (no hubbies in tow) and after the first week they'd be homeless !

THAT'S how much they love Florida !

After they'd done their daily quota of 5 hours shopping, an OAP meal at Denny's and 2 hours of bingo, somehow they had time to find themselves some alternative digs for the second week although they've been pretty quiet about what sort of accommodation it is...let's face it - it could be the 'Mission for the Destitute' closest to the Florida Mall.

That's how much they love Florida.

Had a brief call from mother today (she still had 3 minutes to use up on her phone card) "We're flying back today and I forgot to ask you what you wanted from here but now I haven't got time to get you anything."
"That's OK. As long as you guys had a good time - I'm sure you did"
And then it dawned on me - it's the second day of Wimbledon today and they're missing it!

That's how much they love Florida !!

Sammy's end of year school report.

Rebeca wrote this... (in Spanish obviously)

Sammy is very intelligent, hard-working and a perfectionist. Throughout this year he has become more independent and sociable.
In terms of reading, writing and mathematics he is a child who stands out. He also speaks and understands spanish very well.
Finally I would say that it has been a pleasure to be his teacher.

Aaaaaawwwww

And the winner is...

The Darwin Awards are always worth waiting for. If you've not heard of them before they are the Best of collected true stories of people who do monumentally stupid things and kill themselves in the process thus removing themselves from the gene pool. The Awards are a small way of honouring those who improve the species.

Zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt ( Paderborn, Germany) fed his constipated elephant 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally got relief. Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive oil enema when the beast 'unloaded'. The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked Mr.Riesfeldt to the ground where he struck his head on a rock as the elephant continued to evacuate 200 pounds of dung on top of him. It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that proves... 'Shit happens'

Sammy's 4th Birthday

Being a thoroughly technically aware young man; Sammy would like to say...


"Mummy can you scan that in and put it on the blog please for everyone?"

And so I did.

Sammy's Story

Sammy wrote this story with Paul yesterday and he read it to me today because he decided he wanted me to put it on the blog for him. This is what it says (according to Sam):

Welcome to the island and the 7 show bottles and 16 parents and samuel or sam. Sam and you is very good and can stand on your head. samuel and sammy and blogs, they want to play. We did and rock the print and put it on your head.

Then Sammy has written a collection of animals and these he has typed here all by himself:
cat dog gato perro vaca oveja pajaro cerdo leon tigre
gato(cat) perro(dog) vaca(cow) oveja(sheep) pajaro(bird) cerdo(pig) leon(lion) tigre(tiger)

Why?

I have looked forward to this day - ish. Paul apparently used to do this A LOT when he was little and to now hear Sammy doing it is quite comforting; to know that he's following the same path. After all Paul turned out alright.

So the conversation went like this:
Me: I have to get the keys out for the other apartment.
Sammy: Why?
Me: Because Donna will be here shortly needing them.
Sammy: Why?
Me: Because her son will be using it for a couple of nights.
Sammy: Why?
Me: He's got some work to do and he can use my wireless router from there.
Sammy: Why?

and so on the conversation went.

Our Little Sunflower.

The artist is very meticulous in handling the ugly details. He provides almost every possible unflattering angle.
All of the flowers appear to be in various stages of decay; some have only begun to droop, others are completely broken. One head already lost its colour, others are on the way, having lost all of their petals.

Differences in value also account for these metamorphoses: the darker the yellow, the closer the sunflower to the total withering. But even the livelier, fresher flowers are somehow exposed.

It seems as though the artist makes this still life a botanical study — a painterly herbarium.

Swearing like a small trooper

Paul and I are pretty careful to not use colourful language in front of Sammy.

What am I saying ? We don't swear, ever.

So when Paul exclaimed "Flippin' Nora!" a few days ago, it was something Sammy had never heard before. Paul made a joke of it as a distraction and it was forgotten.
Or so we thought.

On the way back from school today Sammy was climbing on a wall, had a little slip and in his mild shock he exclaimed "Flappin' Norris!"

I think I prefer Sammy's version.

Our Earthquake - if anyone's interested.

Not wanting to be outdone by Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, we in Spain, had our very own earthquake early Sunday morning! Paul and I were in bed, 5.03 am, and we were immediately woken because suddenly our bed was moving as if it was trying for a part in The Exorcist !

We could hear glasses chinking together (just like in the movies) but because it was dark we couldn't register anything visibly moving. It lasted about 4 to 5 seconds (I reckon) and there was an impressive rumbling noise throughout which sounded like it was coming from the depths of the earth !

The epicentre was south west of San Miguel de las Salinas (2 miles from us) and measured 3.3 on the Richter scale. So just about under my bed then.

Disappointingly there was virtually nothing about it in the news the next day but I did some research on the net to find that in actual fact earthquakes in this region are quite common. There have been 5 quakes registered since the beginning of January 2008.

San Miguel, March 2nd magnitude 3.3 on the Richter Scale
Almeria, Feb 24th, 2.8
Almeria, Feb 6th, 4 (!!)
Santa Pola, Jan 27th, 2.3
Murcia Region, Jan 8th, 2.2

So that's why there was nothing in the news - Spain is so used to them they're not even worth reporting.

And another thing: Sammy slept through it.

Musical Christmas

Cruising towards his teens...

Move over Take That.

Sammy gave a stunning performance with his backing band 'The Rest Of The Class' at the renowned venue; 'The Playground' on the last day of term.

Friday 21st December 10:30am saw a pride of parents, grand-parents and die-hard fans waiting for the 3 and 4 year olds to take the stage.

As expected the choreography was excellent. The stars were obviously used to performing on a larger stage but despite the cramped conditions they shone through, with only the slightest of jostling, like true professionals.

Sammy's guitar solo coming soon...