Paul n Helen's Family Blog

Don't watch this Granny !!

2009-06-23T15:08:00.000+02:00

Well, I've only had Lady Flu.

2008-12-19T01:41:00.003+01:00

Hand Eye Foot Co-ordination

2008-12-09T19:47:00.004+01:00

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

2008-11-14T13:58:00.005+01:00

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!!

2008-11-02T20:01:00.004+01:00

HOW ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.
Youngest F1 World Champion

Golfing Companion

2008-09-05T20:14:00.005+02:00

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?

2008-06-24T21:00:00.012+02:00

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.

2008-06-20T21:51:00.005+02:00

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...

2008-05-21T23:31:00.007+02:00

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

2008-05-17T16:56:00.003+02:00

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

2008-05-17T16:14:00.008+02:00

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?

2008-03-20T13:44:00.001+01:00

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.

2008-03-13T22:18:00.010+01:00

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

2008-03-07T20:50:00.007+01:00

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.

2008-03-03T12:06:00.008+01:00

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

2008-01-03T19:46:00.000+01:00

Cruising towards his teens...

Move over Take That.

2008-01-01T18:25:00.000+01:00

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...

Competitive Mum

2007-11-29T14:07:00.000+01:00

Picked Sammy up from school at lunchtime yesterday and straight away I clocked a silver star stuck to his jumper. Not a standard matt blue, yellow or green star but a shiny silver star. So I scanned the rest of his class to see who else had one of these little symbols of success to find there were no other silver stars.

A ha, I thought - what can my clever little boy do that no-one else in his class can do?

To my frustration I couldn't get it out of him, he wouldn't tell me what they had been doing that morning but then he rarely does when I ask him. It was later in the day when Sammy said that his class had been using a computer in the morning.

He got his silver star because he was the only one who could type his name on the keyboard.

Smug and proud mum.

Firsts

2007-11-25T00:25:00.000+01:00

Sammy went on his first school outing last Wednesday and he was away for the whole day to the royal palm park in Alicante. It was the first time he'd been on the coach or his 'big school bus' and it was the first time he'd been out away from myself and Paul for any length of time. It was also the first time he'd had to manage the contents of his snack box AND his lunch box !

In the last few weeks Sammy has also been freely saying spanish words for the first time; he happily tells me that he is a 'niño' (boy) and Jessica is a 'niña' (girl), that he is in 'azul' (the blue team) at school and Cole's name is actually pronounced 'Co-el' (The way Rebecca says it)

Last week in one of those peaceful moments Sammy has when I am working away at something online and Sammy is concentrating on something and I realise he's been very quiet for a while and I ask him, or I creep over to have a peek at, what he is doing and it was this...

and I forget all the time but he's only three and a half.

Toilet Paper

2007-11-13T17:33:00.000+01:00

Now I always thought that taking a newspaper to the toilet and spending ages in there is a male Rebera thing. Having lived with a Barton for 6 and a half years I realize that it is probably just a male thing.

Chip off the old block... eeeuuuwwww

Silver Surfer

2007-10-20T18:17:00.000+02:00

I'm not a regular X-Treme sports participant although I have done a 360 flip on a quad bike down an incredibly steep sand dune - unintentional. I have also jumped off a snow-covered mountain in the Austrian Alps with nothing but a nylon sail to get me to the ground safely - intentional although I did question my sanity as I leapt into space. These activities are quite rare in my life but I do really enjoy them - they take me out of my self, put me momentarily on a different planet.

I had an X-Treme phone conversation with mother today.

Mother: Helen, I want to send an email to Roshanee & Noel
Me: Yes ok.
Mother: But I keep getting a message back saying there's no such address.
Me: Right, what address are you sending it to?
Mother: erm www.rosh...
Me: That's not an email address. you need 'something-at-something-dot-something'. I'll get you their addresses, hang on....
Right this is Noel's (and I said Noel's) and this is Roshanee's(and I said Roshanee's)
Mother: Oh don't they have a joint one? I want to send an email to both of them.
Me: Yes send the same email to both of them.
Mother: No, I want to send it to both of them together.
Me: Well in the body of the message write 'Dear Roshanee & Noel,' and send it to both of them. Put Noel's address in the 'To' field then a semi colon and then put Rosh's address.
Mother: Oh now you've lost me.
Me: The 'To' field, above the message, where you put the email address.
Mother: Oh 'To' I thought you meant '2'. So I put Noels address in the top one and then 'Dear Roshanee & Noel' in the next line down.
Me: No, the next line down is the 'CC' field. In fact use that one for Roshanee's address and then you won't have to bother with semi colons.
Mother: OK.
Me: Have you looked at the new paulnhelen site. I've finished it now.
Mother: No. Your father had it on the computer upstairs but I can't get it on this one.
Me: Mum, you have internet access on that one, you can look at the new site. (and I gave her the address)
Mother: Hey, I didn't know that Sammy was going to school in the afternoons now.
Me: You read that on the blog, so you've looked at that.
Mother: The what?
Me: The Blog.
Mother: Yes. We've both looked at that.
Me: Good so from the blog you can get to the new family site. At the top of the blog is a link to www.paulnhelen.com in the intro paragraph.
Mother: Well I can't because I can't see my list here. Your father can but I can't see mine.
Me: You mean your email?
Mother: Yes, I don't have it.
Me: Well I have just given you the website address so you can see the new site and the blog.
Mother: Well where do I put the address?
Me: You open your internet explorer, your blue 'e' that you use when you want to check your bingo pages or tennis pages or whatever and you type in the website address beginning www. OK?
Mother: OK then. But I don't think your Father has seen your new website.
Me: He has because he sent me an email through the new site.
Mother: Well I need to send this to Noel now. Although I don't know how to get the message out of Drafts. I'll probably have to type it all again.
Me: I've put a message on the new site for Noel & Rosh - On their wedding day with some pictures.
Mother: Yes , I've seen that, lovely pictures.
Me: So You have seen the new site.
Mother: Oh, I thought I was looking at my email.

At which point I knew that one of us was on a different planet.

Silver Surfer of the Year 2007 - Dora aged 92.

Teaching - Best Job in Spain.

2007-10-11T15:14:00.000+02:00

Well it's the end of another week here in Spain.

"What?" I hear you cry. "It's only Thursday!"

This is true and actually it's only Thursday lunchtime and it's raining which seems to be good enough reason to close the school as far as the little ones are concerned. Actually it's barely spitting by British standards.

And there's no school tomorrow, Friday, as it's a 'Fiesta' - Dia del Pilar. Don't know who Pilar is, a saint presumably although pilar actually means post or pillar. So tomorrow instead of going to school we are dancing round a big stick.

Wednesday was a normal day; school for everyone as usual 9 to 12:30 and 3 to 4.30.
Tuesday, however, was a fiesta. El Día de la Comunidad Valenciana so that's like having an Essex Day !

And you'll love this...
On Monday there was no school because Tuesday was a fiesta and Monday, being the first 'working' day after the weekend, becomes a 'bridging' day. Yay !

So, it's actually been a busy week what with one and a half normal school days, half a day off because it rained (a little bit), 2 fiesta days and a bridging day. Phew !

And this is how we keep Sammy busy when he's off school. Which is a lot.

Sammy Barton Rebera (P.E.E.)

2007-09-27T22:11:00.000+02:00

So I'll tell you what we've been doing. Sammy's about to complete his third week at school; no tears, lots of new friends, not a single bag of wet stuff although a faint smell of wee one day. Oh the glamour of being a mummy in Spain !

Sammy has been doing a bit of work on the side this week; last Sunday, not a school day so practically moonlighting. He's establishing himself as a Playground Evaluation Executive and he had his first assignment at Polaris' La Torre, 45 minutes south of us. Paul and I did chaperone him but we didn't force him in to it - we're not pushy parents or anything.

Here's Sammy's Executive Overview:

Sammy's been...

2007-09-20T10:45:00.000+02:00

looking through the photos again.

"I love Grandad, I want to see him again."

Runner Beans? My foot !!

2007-09-19T12:19:00.001+02:00

2 weeks is all I could manage before my right foot decided it was going to flex its authority. So last Friday, don't know where or how, I damaged my foot whilst running and have been hobbling since. The packet of frozen beans has been in and out of the freezer for 4 days and my foot is healing but I'm really frustrated about it and my super new trainers are probably feeling quite neglected.

When I next go for a run, hopefully in two days time, I'll be keeping you posted on my progress. I can hardly call it 'running' at the moment as there's a fair bit of walking going on but two miles, in the heat, mostly running and lots of heavy breathing is having a positive effect. I may be increasing my stamina and fitness levels but I've also noticed that the scales didn't go up after three packets of butter popcorn, a bottle of champagne and plenty of naughty Birthday nibbles. I wonder how long my metabolism will take to slow back down again?

And thank you for my Birthday wishes...

Virgin Blogger hits the net

2007-09-18T18:23:00.000+02:00

Hello all, just checking out how to use this ready for travels to Noel and Roshanee's wedding.

Think I'll manage. As I'm typing Pete is booking accommodation and a hippy van for our travels in New Zealand so I'll definitely send some photos of that.

Thought you'd like to see a photo of Noel leaving for Oz back in August. He looks a strange colour because the setting on the camera was very wrong.

The Wonders Of Exercise

2007-09-16T22:05:00.000+02:00

It's George here again. I thought as Helen sent a few emails it might be important to add things to her 'blog'.
Well here it is everybody. Pilates, and the wonders of it to be precise. Its absolutely grreat (trying not to sound like Tony the Tiger). It does wonders for your flexibility and the fantastic thing is that you don't need to buy anything; spending is minimal and you see differences in a few sessions.
Give it a go!
Love George

Fish Paste and Geography

2007-09-14T21:52:00.000+02:00

Hello, I'm George for those of you who don't know ( Helen's first cousin). The picture was taken at my college award ceremony with my friends Talia and Sam, or Barbie and Kevin as Helen has christened them.
I was collecting the award for World Citizenship; it isn't as pretentious as it sounds. It goes to a committed geography student and I got it this year because I got 100% in my coursework.
There was a little gathering afterwards but the parents wanted to go home so I passed on the fish paste sandwiches.

New Beginnings

2007-09-14T15:21:00.000+02:00

That's one full week at school for Sammy. It's been a slowish week for me - new routine I suppose. I'm sure that in a few short months we'll be looking through University prospectus' !

We are really pleased that on the whole Sammy has done exceptionally well this week.

Monday and Tuesday were totally uneventful (that's good)
Wednesday at 1pm (pick-up time) I was greeted with a carrier bag of wet shorts - Rebecca said it was no problem "no pasa nada"
Thursday there were tears in the playground at 9am not Sammy's at first but then he did succumb to the pressure and had to be coerced to the classroom by Rebecca. Another carrier bag of wet shorts at 1pm.
Friday, this morning Sammy was a bit clingy but allowed himself to be led to his class and not a damp patch in sight at 1pm. Well done Sammy.

We had a sit down chat with Rebecca this week too. She gave us a form to fill in that asked lots of questions about us, family life and Sammy. Rebecca said that Sammy listened well in class, shared really well with other children and we gave her the number of a good optician.

Hi, I'm Natalie.

2007-09-14T14:36:00.000+02:00

This is a bit strange writing about myself to lots of people I don't know. I am 13 years old. I am in year 9 and I go to Oaklands School in Southampton. I enjoy going out with my mates and watching TV. I am the youngest daughter of Lucien who is Helen's uncle.

Natalie x

One of Sammy's favourite things is ...

2007-09-13T20:48:00.001+02:00

to look through photos on the laptop and so this afternoon I indulged him to my amusement. When he saw this picture he said...

"Two Fatties !"

See - it's that easy...

2007-09-12T18:46:00.000+02:00

You've already been invited which means you can register and start 'blogging'

Your latest news
Recent pictures
Dates coming up
whatever you want...

Want inspiration? then have a look at these...

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand" Confucius

Sammy's first day at school...

2007-09-12T18:22:00.001+02:00

Monday morning, 9am and Sammy was in a small queue with his classmates ready to be led into his classroom by his teacher; Rebeca. He was keen to go and so there were no last minute wobbles. They are staggering the youngest ones start days and there were supposed to be 6 starting today but 3 appear to have gone missing already? Not between 9am and 1pm - they just didn't turn up at all!

Paul, Granny and I watched as Sammy was led off down the corridor to his class. He wasn't really paying attention, too busy swaggering with his elbows stuck out and so he briefly joined a queue of 4 year olds waiting to get into their class but Rebeca gathered her ducklings again and off they went together to their new room.

Bless

At 1pm they were waiting in the playground with their balloons. Sammy was a little put out as his balloon had 'SAMUEL' on it and as he rightly said "That's not my name."

His next words were "I want to go to school again." I wonder if the euphoria will last another 16 years.