A bit late.....but I have an 8 year old...!

I haven't blogged for ages, since my birthday whinge....August got better! My sister was here for just over a week which was amazing....and then we went to Turkey - got back last Thursday. Holiday of a lifetime (again!) at Club Med Palmiye and while we were there Oscar turned 8.

I can't quite believe I have an 8 year old son. Sometimes it feels like I've been a mother forever, sometimes I can remember quite clearly getting pregnant with him and having my baby boy like it was yesterday.

Here he is on August 24th every year since 2004. He's such a wonderful boy. He's funny, goofy, hyperactive (obviously), he loves to read, he loves Pokemon and he still loves his stuffed toy monkey more than anything. He's tall and skinny - Toby though, is nearly as tall as he is. I can remember my life before him but I can't imagine my life without him. I love you my lovely Oscar!

Happy F*&^ing Birthday to Me

So it's my birthday tomorrow. It was a big one last year so I wasn't expecting anything huge tomorrow....but still....

Rob just came home from work - early cos I have to go to the chiropractor as I've thrown my back out. He suddenly says "Oh I was supposed to go somewhere this afternoon and I forgot". I asked him where - he said to get "a few bits" for my birthday.

He hasn't even got me a card.

Now for his birthday I got the boys making things, I baked a cake, I planned ahead and got him everything to make him feel special. Because it was his fortieth I even arranged for his friends to come down and surprise him

I've bought myself a birthday cake - I did that already. And I've booked a babysitter and planned my own birthday meal out.

At least he could have thought ahead and got me a card? It's not like he hasn't had 364 days to plan? He was away in America last week for business, which stressed him out. But cards don't go off. He could have thought ahead.

I know he has ADHD and these things are "hard". But I feel as if I'm totally unimportant, not thought of, not considered. Shit on his shoe.

And he's now pissed off with me for being all disappointed.

My parents also went to France today for 10 days. It's nice to feel like your birthday is important....

I just feel like crap. And don't know where else to write this so I've come here. I know I'm a grown up and birthdays aren't like when you're a kid. But I've always liked to celebrate, to feel special, to feel excited.

And I feel like shit. And my back hurts.

He's got the day off work tomorrow so I can go out and escape. That's something. I have no idea what I want to do - maybe I should just forget the whole fucking thing.

Ipiccy.com

So after comiserating and moaning and whining about the death of Picnik.com, I have discovered Ipiccy.com (I think I mentioned it before). It's fab. VERY similar to picnik and I've had a little play. So here are some recent pics....with fiddly bits done on ipiccy!#

So this is what I wore today. I quite love it. And I "styled" it myself! I'm learning how to dress better - or at least dress how I like to dress and not how I think I should as a larger woman.

Playing with the Warhol filter on ipccy - this is Clare and I - we went to Greenwich for noodles today and saw them rehearsing for the opening of the Cutty Sark tomorrow - this is us in front of the stage with a choir and full orchestra on. I do love our cheesy self portraits - must make a collage of them sometime - or Clare will you?

Toby in the bath the other day. Fiddling with frames and cross filtering on ipiccy.

The boys crowned me Queen of the Playroom the other day.....this is me attempting to blur me into youth - or better skin!

Rob had a couple of weeks off now his project is completed. We went to Ikea and were all lovey dovey in the queue for meatballs! This is a colour filter that picnik didn't have and I quite like it!

My baby boy posing in the jumper his auntie knitted him....I always did love the Orton effect on Picnik, combined with a vignette.....and I can still do this! Yay!

Didn't do much to this one at all - the light did it for me. Toby is desperate to learn chess. Rob is amazingly patient with him. I cannot play at all so am happy to leave the Grandmastering to Rob!

So a brief snapshot of my snapshots recently (since people are still complaining I'm not taking pictures like I was). I think discovering this website will inspire me a bit cos I do like faffing around with filters! And when the weather brightens up, Clare and I will be going on some photowalks.....

Watch this space!

Meh

So...I haven't really been posting much in the last few weeks - no photos, no fatshion posts, minimal facebook updates, not a lot of anything really and I'm trying to work out why....I've kind of lost my creative mojo I think - no particular reason why...Life is kind of ticking along - nothing spectacularly good, or spectacularly bad.

My other half has been uber-stressed over a project at work (it's taken 6 months and sucked him dry) but that's kind of finished now. The kids (apart from an OBSESSION with Alvin and the Chipmunks) are doing OK - we have our good days and bad as usual. Maybe it's the constant background noise of high pitched rodents that's been sapping my inspiration.....

The weather is crap. So I haven't felt like going on a stroll with my DLR camera. Picnik closed which made me think editing my photos was going to be a pain in the arse but as you can see from the shot above I've found a new website called Ipiccy.com - thank you Clare - which is almost the same (except I can't work out how to put text on my image).

I have been going out with my friends quite a lot, so my social life isn't as meh as my online existence! But people have commented so this is kind of a response to "why aren't you posting anything". I have no idea!

The only thing I can think of is that I've become quite addicted to Sidereel.com and have been watching inordinate amounts of American TV online - GCB, Smash, Subugatory, Dance Moms (and Dance Moms Miami - a totally guilty pleasure).....so when I AM online, I'm not producing, just absorbing crap TV!

But I'm still here. And I'm still hopeful that my creative juices will kick in again. So don't fret (not that I imagine anyone still reads this blog). I will be back (NOT said in an Austrian accent)

India Knight is brilliant

First off, I know...I haven't taken any pictures. I've kind of lost my photo mojo so I'm resigning from Photo A Day for this year - I'm proud as hell that I managed to do it last year every day, but I can't sustain it. And a few people mentioned (well, my Mother did) that they missed my writing, and nice as my photos were, it's nice to hear from me in prose....

I haven't been inspired until today. And I'm kind of cheating cos I'm sharing someone else's writing....but I just started reading Comfort And Joy by India Knight and I love it. One passage resonated utterly with me:

 "I know for a fact that the following are demonstrably true, unless of course a child is born with disabilities:

a. It doesn't matter if you're breast or bottle fed, or born naturally or by Caesarian

b. everybody learns to walk

c. everybody learns to talk

d. everybody learns to pee and poo in a lavatory e. and wipe their own bottom

 f. everybody learns to read and write

g. nobody gives a crap about when any of this happens. Nobody goes around as an adult saying 'I learned to walk when I was barely one' or 'I was potty trained exceptionally early'. (Some people do say 'I was reading fluently by the age of three', admittedly, which pinnacle of achievement kind of tells you everything you need to know about them.)

 h. it's okay to have sweets or bad additives every now and then

i. giving your son a toy sword isn't going to turn him into a serial killer; giving your daughter a dolly doesn't mean she'll never read Proust

j. it's okay to ignore your children on occasion, if you're busy and they're safe but merely a bit bored

k. in fact, occasional boredom is good for children: it makes them self reliant

l. children usually turn out fine, unless of course their parents become demented with all of the above

m. its impossible to say any of this to people whose children are younger than yours without sounding unattractively like Old Mother Time, so there's no point in even trying

n. which is fine by me because it's boring 

 ...it's such a waste of time, all this lunacy about what they play with, or how they play, or how well they do or don't do at 'homework' when they are five, or how many activities they do after school, or how early they learned to ride their bike without stabilisers, or how they have dried fruit for treats because it had been decreed that chocolate shall never pass their lips...these children...will always be fine. They are lucky, loved, wanted, privileged children. The end. Everything else is bourgeois hysteria. "

Slightly edited (to remove some plot stuff that isn't pertinent to this post) but taken from this wonderful book.

Just got me thinking. I don't know anyone that hysterical about child rearing in real life. (certainly none of my friends) But I have encountered slightly similar parenting practice or competitive parenting and it tends to make me wobble and doubt what I'm doing. So I'm blogging this to remind myself not to.

Thank you India. And thank you for replying to me when I tweeted you! ( sad fan I know)

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56/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Clare, Suzanna and I escaped our children and went to Hyper Japan festival at Earl's Court. Clare and I bought fab frocks, we ate fab food, we had a fab time.....and it was a glorious day weather-wise!

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55/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Remember all those elephants dotted randomly around London? Now there are Faberge Eggs all over the place - this one is by Trafalgar Square and I love the colours....

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54/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Thursdays are the only day in the week I'm not working so was planning a boring day of washing and tidying followed by Zumba...then Mum rang and enticed me to The Crispy Duck for lunch since she was headed to town! Lovely surprise and lovely lunch - thanks Ma!

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53/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Couldn't resist this shot from yesterday! I do love Clogsilk and Me self portraits!

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52/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Oh yes - I'm a good pancake tosser!

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51/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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The ice cream van was outside school today for the first time this year so I relented and let the boys have screwballs - but wouldn't let them eat them in the new car! So I sat and watched them eat!

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50/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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What can I say really?

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49/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Sapporo of course! With Claire S for her birthday - loved it.

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48/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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We went to The Dumps adventure playground and the boys had fun until a gang of kids picked on Oz so it all ended rather badly....they were loving this net though

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47/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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I took this by accident - but I quite like it!

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46/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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My lovely husband isn't the most romantic man on earth but after 20 valentines days together, he finally came up trumps on this one. He works at the Royal Observatory who run a special Valentine Evening With The Stars - which I've always wanted to go to but Rob doesn't want to go to "work"...

But this year he was presenting the planetarium show so thanks to my lovely Mum, I got to attend - hence the pink light - that's us behind the control panel in the planetarium. As well as watching him deliver a fantastic stargazing experience, he managed to add our wedding sonnet "let me not to the marriage of true minds" to the presentation. I melted!

I also got a rose....We then went to GBK for luscious burgers (and Rob's James Dean impersonation) and then I had a hot bubble bath with the chocolates Rob had bought me.

An utterly perfect Valentine. I do love him.....

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45/66, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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The boys and I baked Valentines cookies today - great fun- decorated with sprinkles and love hearts....

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44/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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First day of half term so we hit the Southbank - were planning to go to the Festival Hall for their book festival but nothing was really on for their age groups and it was heaving. So we watched boats, ate our picnic and played on the carousel. A good day!

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43/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Toby on time-out or "jail" as he was shouting...."I'm IN JAIL!!!!" "Help me!!"

Crazy naked kid. He seems to prefer naturism to anything in this weather which is insane since I was wearing my coat indoors for most of the day....

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42/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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In the hope of getting a lie in on Saturday I left this out for the boys. It worked! I didn't wake up till 9!

Had a fab day with my friend Liz and her family - saw the Muppets and had sushi at Greenwich Market. And forgot to take any pictures!

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41/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Couldn't resist the caption! Snow came again to London but didn't really last long....

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40/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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New dishwasher! Unfortunately in an effort to economise we hadn't paid for installation and it was a PAIN IN THE ARSE to do ourselves....well I say ourselves - Rob was doing it - though I had to go out in the snow to get a washer fitting.....

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My lovely friend Suzanna invited a gang of mums round to hers for a Malay feast for her birthday. We had chicken soto with rice cakes + egg noodles and condiments, chopped coriander leaves + spring onions, boiled bean sprouts and fried crispy shallots and Epok-epok (Malay curried potatoes patties). Utterly lovely. Great company and great food.

Unfortunately I'd fasted for 24 hours for a blood test which actually never happened. And after eating I felt really ill so couldn't stay too long to catch up with the gang. Still - bloody amazing spread eh?

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38/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Clogsilk has been taking some darned amazing photos of the moon recently. I was trying to get this as it was really full and low - handheld which is why it seems blurry I think. I've done NOTHING to this picture apart from add the caption and although it's no where near as gorgeous as Clare's I'm quite proud of it...

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Got a "make your own" gingerbread men decorating kit for the boys. Toby looks quite scary in this pic doesn't he - he's attempting to smile proudly.....

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36/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Here are two of the professional shots - taken by Diana of www.fashionlovesphotos.com - NOT me....but had to share them. With me on the left is the wonderful Claire who organised the whole thing. She's amazing....

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35/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Plus London was my first official Fashion Blogger event and it was utterly brilliant. I blogged about it here - fatsallyre.blogspot.com/ - way too much detail to put in this little box....got caught in the snow on the way home which wasn't fun....but thoroughly loved my day.

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In preparation for Plus London tomorrow, where I'll be walking the catwalk, I had my hair cut! First time since I had it all chopped mega short about 2 years ago and regretted it thoroughly. Have a fringe in - and was quite assertive with the hairdresser who wanted to make it chin length - yay me.

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And finally my car arrived! Well I went to Croydon to get it - drove Jeremiah the Renault for the last time - was actually quite sad in a wierd way...but drove the shiny new one all the way home - slightly scary - terrified I'll ding it! It has been christened Starry by Oscar but I call it Fairy Pants for the first two letters of the Reg....

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This is a bit of a cheat as we went out last night - but it was the busiest Netmums get together ever! 2 people arrived after this was taken so you can see we were squished around a small table! Bloody good fun though....

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30/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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So, on recommendation of the Occupational Therapist, we had Oscar's eyes tested. I was really hoping he'd inherited his father's 20/20 vision but it looks like Oz has my crappy eyesight. I started wearing specs at 11....

He doesn't need to wear them all the time - just for reading, computers and looking at the board in school.

Oscar, being Oscar chose the brightest pinkest frames. So now he'll be the speccy ginger kid with pink glasses. God I hope 7-8 year olds are more forgiving......

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29/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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We swim almost every Sunday. Well, I say "we"....I never get in - I watch from the balcony while Rob splashes with the boys.

Both my kids are real fish - they love the water. Toby has always been super confident but, unlike Oscar, has never had a swimming lesson.

Rob has been teaching him on Sundays and this week he's mastered the doggy paddle - swam nearly an entire length -not bad for a five year old! He loves the fact that he doesn't need his backfloat anymore.

I'd love to sign him up for proper lessons but Rob is confident he can teach him. So proud of my baby boy!

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28/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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I've been trying to get a decent moon pic for ages (inspired by Clogsilk) but haven't managed it - even with my tripod. This was a chance snap as I saw the beautiful crescent moon up in the afternoon - so I didn't have to worry about a long shutter speed. I'm no where near as good as Clare yet but am glad I captured one decentish pic!

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My lovely chum Clare had her birthday today. This pic is actually a cheat as I took it yesterday when we escaped to Yo! in Bluewater for 40% off deal! And their register was buggered and the staff all flustered so I ended up only paying for half of what I ate....I should have paid for yours too Clare - apologies ! I owe you a birthday present.......

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Our school is fab - the Dads' Group often hold extra curricular events and Thursday night was film night. We've never done it before - Toby goes to bed at 7.30 and the film didn't start till 6.45....but it was Kung Fu Panda 2 which we haven't seen or got.

So we went. Toby did fall asleep half way through but woke up in time for popcorn in the interval (they have to stop half way through for toilet breaks for little bladders!).

Really enjoyed it, although the boys sat ON me for most of it - there were mats on the floor for the kids and benches for the parents but I ended up on a mat being used as a sofa!

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25/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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I am the luckiest girl in the world with the MOST AMAZING PARENTS ever. Most amazingly generous. Thanks to the Bank of Mum and Dad I test drove this baby today and we've bought it - it's being delivered on Tuesday next week.

I can't believe it. It's the newest car I've ever had - 2009 - AND it's got parking sensors! No more dodgy reversing!

I remember blogging about getting my Renault on the Used Car Roadshow when Toby was a few months old....and now hopefully it will be longer than five years before I have to replace this - it's a beautiful Toyota Verso - 7 seater so I can take all the boys and their friends - or jam my mates in the back for girls' night out or Book Clurb!

Now what to call it......

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Toby is suddenly coming along in leaps and bounds in Reception. He's reading beautifully - really sounding out words and blending them. And, unlike his brother, he seems to like writing too! Last term he could barely write his name and wasn't interested. Now he's writing jelly beans!

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I've wanted this picture on canvas for ages. In October I got a Groupon for it but it's taken this long to get it!

AND I had to build the canvas myself - it came in kit form! Not what I was expecting but then again it was a tenner....

This pic is actually from September 2008 - a chilly day but both boys stripped off and gleefully cavorted around in the nud. A lovely lady gave me her dog towel to dry them off as they found an inlet puddle and got soaked and shivery. But I love this pic. I picniked it b&w but had to keep their lovely hair!

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While watching the boys swim today I naughtily snapped this (you aren't allowed to take pics in the pool but they couldn't tell in the gallery whether I was texting or snapping!)

Oz and Rob were waltzing in the water. Both my children are utter water babies....

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21/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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This morning Toby was glued to me. No idea why but he's in a cuddly mood and who am I to complain?

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20/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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The other thing I got in Bromley was some new pjs for Oz. He asked for pink. So I got him pink. Yes, they were from the girls department. No I don't give a toss and neither does he. He loves them! And kept thanking me and insisted I took this picture.

Love him.

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19/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Spotted in Bromley - how I wish I could walk in high heels cos these are gorgeous and totally me. Was almost tempted to buy them just so I can look at them and wear them while sitting down.....

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18/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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It was a late Christmas today at our house - my lovely sister sent us a parcel with our presents in - mine was a fairy calendar starring the beautiful Twig the Fairy who I love...

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17/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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Oscar has had a wobbly tooth for AGES....I warned him before dinner that it was hanging on a thread and he should pull it out before eating. But no....he swallowed it.

I was at a loss of what to do until one of my wonderful Stonecutter chums told me what she has told her girls - that the tooth fairy has a magic magnet that can get teeth out of tummies.

So I wrote Oscar a letter from the tooth fairy and he was overjoyed and totally fooled! He's quite naive for a seven year old but I love that about him. He believes in magic unquestionably....

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16/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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At school today, Toby's class made bread! They're reading the story of the Little Red Hen and made bread rolls. He was SO proud of himself and so excited about his bread - he wouldn't share it (just like in the story) and had me butter and jam it for him....
One very happy five year old.

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15/366, a photo by sally_re on Flickr.

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I have a feeling I may have PAD-ed a photo of this before - not sure - it's the wall in one of the new galleries in the Sammy Offer Wing - the whole wall has quotes on it - all Maritime themed - from Shakespeare to prayers....love it. And love the colour of the wood and the fonts too....